The Everfree Conspiracy

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5

Chapter 1

Twilight Sparkle looked around. The palace was flooded with the scared and confused residents of Ponyville. The large hall they had been placed in was full of uncomfortable cots and various supplies like water, food rations, and extra pillows. Everyone was confused, including Twilight Sparkle, she had no idea what was going on. The only thing she knew was that less than a week ago, she had received a letter from the princess ordering the complete evacuation of ever pony, colt, and filly in Ponyville; and that they would find shelter in Princess Celestia’s palace in Canterlot. So she spread the word around town. At first she was met with resistance, but when a large outfit of palace guards arrived to help the ponies pack their things and offer “protection,” most of the ponies realized that Twilight was in fact being serious when she asked them to evacuate. It hadn’t been easy on anyone either, Fluttershy was over in a corner crying softly, worried sick about the animals she cared for that had to be left behind. Applejack was always uncomfortable in situations that required interaction with “higher society”, and here she was in the palace of Canterlot, surrounded by regal décor and intricately designed tiles and walls. But she kept herself busy, passing out buckets of water and calming the frightened little ones. Rarity looked like she was about ready to pull her hair out being surrounded by ponies that hadn’t showered in a few days, and not being showered herself. The ride to Canterlot had been fast and rough, and when the ponies arrived, they were told that the showers needed another day to be set up in order to accommodate so many ponies. Rainbow Dash was getting a little stir crazy, being stuck in such a small area for so long with so many ponies was not boding well for Dash’s sanity. She stood on her cot, above the other ponies, stretching her wings. She called them “pre-flight exercises”. Twilight was impressed that Rainbow Dash had come along, after all, Rainbow Dash had friends in Cloudsdale that she could have stayed with. But Dash had insisted that she needed to stick by her friends, no matter the situation. Twilight could hardly blame her, as she thought to herself about the option she had, to stay with her parents in Canterlot.

Twilight noticed Pinkie Pie on her bed, sleeping, she had the right idea. After all, the ponies had just taken a day long trip to Canterlot. Most of the ponies were probably exhausted from the stress of being uprooted so quickly, and then being rushed to a crowded refugee camp. Twilight thought about getting some sleep, and decided it would be a good idea to lay down and get a few hours rest before she went to ask and find out why it was so urgently important that they all had to leave so quickly.

Twilight Sparkle had only felt like she’d been asleep for a few minutes before she was rather roughly shaken awake by a palace guard.

“Excuse me miss, but Princess Celestia would like to see you in her private study.” the guard said.

She looked up at him, with a drowsy look in her eyes. “Oh, um yes, of course. Just let me grab a quick something to eat and I’ll be re-“

The guard cut her off, “She needs to speak with you now.” he said in an authoritative tone.

“Oh, if that’s what she wants then I’ll go see her now.” Twilight said, a little taken aback.

“The princess is in her private study, do you know where that is?”

“Yes, I’ll go there right away.”

Twilight got up, she was beginning to wake up more. She began to make her way out of the hall, when Applejack caught up to her.

“Twilight!” she yelled, weaving through the cots and refugees to catch up with her. “Twilight! Hold on a sec!”

Twilight slowed her pace a little, “What is it Applejack?”

Applejack caught up and began to walk with Twilight. “Where’re you off ta? Do you have ANY idea what’s goin’ on?”

“I’m afraid I don’t, but I’ve been asked to see the princess, so hopefully I can at least figure out why we’re here.

“Well thank goodness for that at least, I’m about to lose mah mind here tryin’ ta sit still an’ help other ponies.”

“Yes,” Twilight said, “It’s been hard on everypony, but your help is really appreciated Applejack, we should count ourselves lucky you’re always so dependable for help.”

“Well shoot, t’aint nothin’, I’m just doin’ mah part.” Applejack said gratefully. “But doesn’t somethin’ about this whole thing strike you as a little odd?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, look at these beds, and those blankets, they’re at least a hundred years old.”

“They are a little ratty I suppose.”

“But that’s not the only thing, Twilight. Look at how fast everythin’ was set up, look at how prepared the palace was to hold a whole village full of ponies. Now I know that Equestria hasn’t needed ta hold refugees like this in a time that anyone can remember, so why would they be so ready for us? Why would they know what ta do, when nothing like this has ever happened before?”

“I…” Twilight thought about for a moment. It was odd, but perhaps that would be explained when she got her time with Princess Celestia. “Applejack, I’m sure there isn’t anything to be worried about, but if it makes you feel better, I’ll try and find out what’s happening.”

“Thanks, sugarcube. I’ll go get Pinkie Pie ta help me take care of everyone while you’re gone.” And then Applejack turned away and headed into the crowd.

Twilight headed to Princess Celestia’s study.

It took a few minutes for Twilight Sparkle to get to Princess Celesita’s study. The study was almost on the other side of the palace, and it had been a while since Twilight had been to the palace, so it took her a little longer than she had expected to navigate her way through the rooms and halls. When she arrived outside the study, she was greeted by a group of five palace guards. They eyed her suspiciously.

“I, uh, I’m here to see Princess Celestia.” Twilight said nervously.

The guards continued to stare silently at her, giving Twilight Sparkle the distinct impression that her very soul was being scrutinized.

“Um…” Twilight laughed nervously, “May I go in to see the princess?”

One of the guards on the right looked at the on in the center. He gave a quiet, almost unnoticeable nod to the other guards.

“You are Twilight Sparkle.” The guard asked.

“Uh, yes.” Twilight said.

“Then her highness will see you now, she waits behind us, in her study.”

The guards stepped aside to allow Twilight entrance through the doors.

“Uh, thank you.” Twilight said timidly as she walked past the guards and gently pushed through the thick wooden doors and into the study.

The study was warmly lit. A few candles had been placed in holders amongst the bookshelves, and a fireplace on the far side of the room lit the surrounding area with an inviting glow. Princess Celestia was sitting by the fireplace, surrounded by a large pile of old looking books that appeared to be in delicate condition.
Twilight made her way across the room, taking care not to step on the various papers and books strewn across the floor.

“You wanted to see me princess?” Twilight asked as she got closer.

Princess Celestia looked up from the book she had open, “Yes, Twilight. I’m glad you’re here, I trust you had no problem settling in?”

“Well, you know, as little trouble as you can have when you’re forced to leave your home in less than a day.” Twilight nervously joked back.

“Yes,” Celestia said, “I’m sorry you all had to leave on such short notice. But some very important news had reached me just in time, and I couldn’t risk letting Ponyville become the Trottington of your generation.

“Trottington?” Twilight said, confused. “I’ve never heard of Trottington, is that in Equestria?”

“It was, but that was a very long time ago, and there are not many left alive who remember the name.”

“I… I don’t understand princess, this whole situation strikes me as very odd.” Twilight decided to get a little more bold. “I mean, first we’re asked to just up and leave our homes with less than a days notice, and then we’re forced into some sort of refugee camp with supplies that look like they haven’t been used since last century. The guards are on edge, I mean, they’re always really serious, but lately they’ve been REALLY on edge, like they’re scared or something, and this whole thing seems like it’s been planned for a long time and everyone is scared and dirty and confused and tired-“

“I understand your concern Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia said, stopping Twilight before she lost her cool any more. “And that’s the reason why I called you here, I want to explain everything that’s going on.”

Twilight, surprised at the forwardness of the princess, had a somewhat confused look on her face. “You do? You want to answer my questions?”

Celestia chuckled softly. “Yes, Twilight Sparkle, I do. This is no time for me to be keeping secrets, and I’m afraid that I will be forced to make certain decisions in the near future that will not make sense if the citizens of this land do not understand some of the history that has been forgotten.”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand, princess.”

“That’s ok, Twilight Sparkle.” Princess Celestia motioned to a spot next to her. “Have a seat Twilight. If you want to make sense of the current situation, you’re going to have to know about what happened in the early years of our country.”

Twilight sat down next to Celestia. “Is this about Discord? Or Nightmare Moon?”

“Not exactly, Twilight. This goes back about five hundred years before Luna’s banishment, when the world was a much more troubled place, and Equestria had to fight for its very existence on a daily basis.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“This may take a while to explain, but I have to start from the very beginning. You know, Twilight, I wasn’t always princess, and Equestria was not always a happy place.”

Twilight settled in a little. “I’m listening princess.”

“Good, because you are about to find out how Equestria came to be a monarchy, how I became a sun goddess, and how Equestria was almost conquered after only existing for a hundred years.”

And so the story began.

“When I was a young filly,” Princess Celestia began, “I didn’t know my parents, I grew up a poor orphan in the small village of Hoofton. You see, back then, Equestria struggled. Ponies didn’t laugh and play in the sun, and sleep peacefully during the night. Everypony was required to work from a very young age, and you didn’t get to do what your cutie mark showed. In fact, many ponies didn’t have cutie marks, they were a sign of status and happiness. If a pony was lucky enough to have a cutie mark, it meant that he or she was rich enough, or happy enough with what they did, that they could enjoy a life of happiness and comfort, knowing that the work they did was the work they had been born to do. The weather was unpredictable and often violent. Fierce unexpected storms could whip up out of nowhere and destroy an entire village overnight. And the creatures that dwelled in the forests between towns were as mean as they were deadly. A successful trade route could be ruined during a normal caravan ride, just because a hydra ate half of the travelers.”

“That’s odd,” said Twilight, “I never realized that Equestria was such a dangerous place.”

“It isn’t taught in classes to young fillies. The past can be a painful place to visit, and while some may disagree that the past should be hidden; the truth is, most ponies don’t want to hear about it anyway.”

“I can see why.” Twilight said with a shudder. “That doesn’t sound at all like Equestria today.”

“Yes, life was hard for everyone, especially if you had no family to watch over you. Luna and I grew up amongst the poorest of the poor in Equestria, and I doubt either of us would have survived if we didn’t at least have each other, most of the other orphans didn’t. But Luna was smart, and she saw the value of a decent education, so between stealing food from market stands and digging through the trash, she was often known to be snooping around some of the higher class homes for books.”

“Books? What kind of books?” Twilight asked.

“All sorts of books.” Replied Celestia. “Books on creatures, books on how to prepare food, or safely treat minor injuries and sicknesses. But she especially loved books on magic. Being unicorns, we knew that magic was in our blood, but without a profession to train in, or any knowledge of basic magic, the most we could do on our own was light up our horns for seeing during the night. Any other magic performed was purely accidental, and couldn’t be repeated on purpose. Luna never had a specific goal in mind when she stole books about magic, sometimes, the books she took didn’t help at all, only telling stories of magic. But every now and again, we would come across an instructional book, something that taught us how to perform certain tricks. These books were often purely about show tricks, as that was where we had gotten them from, the backs of traveling shows. But we read them nonetheless, and practiced how to create sparks and small flashes of light, even if they had no practical use to us. It didn’t matter though, Luna and I studied and practiced every spare second we could, learning new things and trying new spells. We quickly became very adept in the art of magic, and enjoyed showing off for the other orphans, but we had yet to find any books that taught anything very practical. Until one day, when Luna lifted a book off of a stranger visiting through town, he had come alone, and kept to himself…”

Chapter 2

“Come on!” Luna shouted, “Stop falling behind sleepy head!”

Celestia groggily made her way across the muddy road, taking care not to step in the slimier puddles of mud. “Alright, alright, calm down Luna, I’m coming.”

“But you have to hurry!” said Luna, prancing around impatiently, “If we don’t hurry, then we’ll have to stand in the back and we won’t be able to see the show!”

Celestia picked up her pace a little. “Ok, don’t worry so much, the show doesn’t start for another hour at least.” Celestia laughed a little at Luna’s excitedness.

“I know, I know, but I really want to get a good spot. And, if we’re lucky, they might leave some nice things laying around.”

I don’t know,” said Celestia, “Maybe we should stop for a little while, we got so close to getting caught last time, I don’t want to risk it again for a while.”

“Oh don’t worry, we won’t get caught. Besides, they probably won’t have anything good on them anyway. Then after this show, we can go to the market and get some food.”

“The market?”

Luna smiled a little, “Didn’t you wonder where I was yesterday?”

“Well, yes.”

“I was doing some work for Dusty, the shopkeeper who runs the trinkets and antique shop. I helped him run the shop and clean up the place, so he gave me a few bits so I could buy some food.”

“Really?” Celestia asked with excitement, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I wanted it to be a surprise.” Luna said, still smiling.

It was a very nice surprise, Celestia had never paid for food before. They always had to steal it, or if they were lucky, a pony running a stand would take pity on them and throw a loaf of bread their way. But for the first time, they would be able to walk up to a stand, find something they wanted, and be able to honestly pay for what they were about to eat. Celestia found the thought very exciting.

“Oh thank you so much!” Celestia said, giving Luna a loving nuzzle, “I can’t wait for lunch now.”

Luna laughed gently, “Me either, now let’s hurry and get a good spot for the show.”

They ran the short distance to the show, arriving to a small crowd already gathered around a small stage being set up. Luna began looking around innocently, taking in her surroundings. No doubt looking for hiding spots and escape routes. She was quick to pick up on a small stack of books behind a crate on the stage, on the books was a small rusty pendant. Luna eyed it with mild curiosity, assessing the value of it. But her attention quickly turned to the performers, who began setting up their various props for the show. They were dressed as most performers, outlandish costumes and heavy make-up. Every item of clothing on them was decorated with various jewels, not all of them real, and they didn’t seem to walk anywhere, but rather strut, choosing to walk in such a way that it looked almost uncomfortable. As they were setting up, Luna walked back over to Celestia.

“Celestia,” she whispered, “I think I can get to those books, they’re right out in the open.”

“Isn’t that a problem?” Celestia whispered back, “If everyone can see them, can’t they all see you trying to take them?”

“No, because ponies only see what they watch, and they won’t be watching me. They’ll be watching the show. And when they’re watching the show, I’ll lift like, two books from them. The performers will never even know they’re gone.”

“I’m still worried Luna, I don’t want you to get caught, the punishment is really harsh.”

“I won’t get caught sis, everything will be fine.”

“I hope not.” Celestia was still worried.

The show was beginning to start, a larger crowed of fillies, mares, and stallions had gathered. Celestia saw why Luna had wanted to get there early, if they had had to stand at the back of the crowd they would never have been able to see anything.

Fireworks started off the show, dazzling the crowd with the bright lights and loud noises. Celestia could tell that magic was powering the fireworks, otherwise they would never be so bright so early in the morning. Celestia looked over at Luna, she was still watching the show, enjoying the spectacle before she had to risk getting caught. Celestia decided to enjoy the show too, it would be nice to just be entertained by the theatrics.

There was a story to the performance. The actors talked of the birth of the sun, accompanied with sparks and booms. Then they acted out the birth of Equestria, adding their own story to the history. There was a battle scene, with explosions and dramatic dialogue, and a love story subplot. The whole thing was very good, even if it wasn’t historically accurate. Celestia watched, observing their movements, their level of concentration. They made it look easy, but she could still see a break in their cool every now and again. A bead of sweat here, a small twitch there. Little things that showed how hard they had to work to create the illusion of ease. It made Celestia feel good, to know that even professionals still had to work hard at using their magic.

She looked around, noticing Luna was gone. She started slipping through the crowd, looking for any sign of her sister. When she got towards the left of the crowd, she noticed her Luna, eyeing two things. She walked up to Luna.

“Luna?” Celestia asked suspiciously, “What are you doing?”

“I can’t decide.”

“Decide what?”

“I can’t decide whether or not to take a book from the show, or from him.” Luna pointed at a stern looking pony. He was a rough looking figure, he was dirty but it was the kind of dirt that came from traveling rather than working. He looked around at the stage, looking past the performance. Celestia noticed that he was looking at the books on the stage too.

“What do you want from him?” Celestia asked.

“Look at his satchel,” Luna said, “He’s got a book on him that looks important. It’s got designs on it that I’ve only seen in story books, this could be what we’re looking for Celestia!” Luna was whispering more excitedly now, “This could be the book that gets us out of this stupid village! We could be like those performers, or we could get hired to a store, and then we would have enough money to eat every day without stealing!”

Celestia thought through Luna’s reasoning. The book poking out of the strangers satchel did indeed have some very old markings on it, the kind that she thought were only used in story books to impress young fillies. If the book could teach them something useful then it could be their ticket out of starvation, at the same time, if they were caught, the consequences of stealing from such a tough looking pony could be deadly, and nopony really cared if a few trouble making orphans lost their lives for attempted theft.

“I won’t do it unless you’re ok with it,” Luna said, “But if you do want to take something, you need to decide fast, we don’t have much time before the performance is over and the firework finale is our best shot.”

“I…” Celestia thought a little more, “I, I think we should do it.”

“Awesome!” Luna began to perk up a little in anticipation, “What book do you want? The stage books or his?” she said, gesturing to the pony’s satchel.

“I think we should take his book,” Celestia said a little nervously, “if you think we can do it, that is.”

“Of course we can, you just leave the hard part to me, and if anything happens, try and create a distraction, ok?”

“Ok.” Celestia replied, as she watched Luna get to work.

Luna began to slide over to the stranger, she walked through the crowd being as discrete as possible. As she got closer, she began to get more cautious. Eventually she had made her way next to the stranger, about twenty feet away from Celestia. Celestia could barely see Luna and the stranger through the other ponies, but she could make out Luna concentrating on magically undoing the clasp on the stranger’s satchel. She had just gotten the clasp undone when the show’s finale began. Fireworks began to light up and make loud noises, there were lots of them to celebrate the finale, and Celestia could see that it was giving Luna a hard time to concentrate. But Luna carried on, trying to lift the book out as softly as she could with magic. The stranger didn’t seem to notice so far, he had been focusing intently on the show, and hadn’t taken his eyes off of the stage since the finale had started. Luna almost had the book out now, but she was having trouble lifting it out so precisely and so slowly. The finale was dying down and the stranger was beginning to lose interest in the show, Celestia had to do something or else he would be sure to look down and notice a small pony trying take a book off of his back. Celestia tried to think, what were some ways she could distract the stranger? As she looked around she noticed another pony standing in a soft patch of dirt next to the stranger. Celestia began to concentrate, she looked at the front right hoof of the pony, and tried to use her magic, she concentrated on both the hoof and her horn, trying to harness her magical energy so she could move the hoof. It wouldn’t take much, she just needed to make the pony stumble a little. After a few seconds focus, Celestia succeeded in pushing the pony’s hoof forward abruptly about two inches. The pony stumbled forward and almost knocked completely into the stranger, the force jostled the stranger forward just enough that the book slipped the rest of the way out, giving Luna ample opportunity to make off with it.

Luna ran up to Celestia, “Come on!” she whispered hurriedly, “Let’s get out of here before he notices!”

Luna and Celestia took off through the alleys and roads, where they could study their newfound treasure in peace.

The two sisters stayed up all night reading. While Celestia had at first been a little tepid about looking through the pages, she soon found curiosity got the better of her and before she knew it, both she and Luna had found themselves too enthralled with the lessons to run to the market that day to buy fresh food. So they ate the food they had stored previously and continued to read into the night. The book had turned out to be very useful, there were tips for how to create fireballs, or make light bright enough to blind enemies. The book was about magic used in combat, which meant it had plenty of dangerous spells, but Celestia was more interested in using the spells safely, and in such a way that they could be used in daily life. Luna agreed that this was probably the best thing to do, but Celestia could also see that Luna was itching to try out some new spells.

“Oh please Celestia!” Luna begged, “I just want to try the fireball spell! It’ll be really small, nothing would happen!”

“But something could happen, and what if that something burns down our tent? The ponies around here barely tolerate us as it is.”

“Yeah, but nothing will happen! If I could learn how to create fire, we could work in a bakery or something. How can I learn if I never try? Anyway it looks simple enough.”

“Oh alright, but you absolutely have to keep it small! If anything does happen, we might not have anywhere to sleep!”

“I promise nothing will happen Celestia, I promise.”

Luna stood up and began to scrunch her face in concentration and effort. The tip of her horn began to glow orange like a dull ember, but as she scrunched her face harder, the tip of her horn began to glow a little brighter.

“Careful Luna, please be careful.” Celestia continued to say as Luna tried to muster her energy.

Luna squeezed out a quick nod of acknowledgement, as her horn grew a little brighter. The tip was now glowing a fiery red-orange, and a few small sparks flew from the tip.

“Almost… got it…” Luna grunted as she continued to focus.

Suddenly, a small ball of fire no larger than a small pebble shot from the tip of Luna’s horn, causing her to let out a small yelp. The miniature fireball shot through the tarp and into the darkness outside. Celestia and Luna heard a small cry come from outside their tent.

“Ow! What the hay!” said a squeaky little voice. The voice belonged to a young colt named Skamper, and seeing the small burnt hole coming from the lit tent, he walked over and into the tent. “What the hay was that! I’m tryin’ to sleep and you girls won’t let a poor pony get his rest?!”

Luna giggled, “Aw I’m sorry Skamper, I didn’t mean to hurt you. It was just a new spell I was trying that went wrong.” She shot Celestia a playful look. Celestia gave a teasing scowl back.

“A new spell?” asked Skamper, suddenly forgetting about his annoyance at Luna. “Can I see? Where’d you learn it from?” he looked down, “Did you learn it from that?” he pointed at the open book on the ground.

“Yeah.” Said Luna.

“Can I see a spell?” asked Skamper, “I bet there some really cool ones in there!”

“There are. There are ones for fireballs and lightning and all sorts of stuff!” Luna was getting more excited again, talking about magic.

“Really? Can I see one?”

“Well I don’t know, maybe…”

“No way!” Celestia cried, cutting off Luna before she did anything.

“Why not?” Luna and Skamper said in unison.

“Because fireballs and lightning are dangerous! And we’re not even supposed to have this book, if something happened, we’d be in huge trouble!”

“Oh come on Celestia,” Luna said, “They might be dangerous but it’s not like I can actually do any damage. You saw me try and cast that fireball, it was pathetic! I could barely do it, how would I cause any damage?”

“And I wanna see a cool new spell, Luna promised me she would show me something cool when she learned something new!”

Celestia sighed, “Did you promise him that Luna?”

Luna shrugged, “Well… yeah.”

Celestia sighed again, “Alright, show off your new trick.”

Luna and Skamper’s faces lit up.

“But keep it safe and small!” Celestia warned.

“Ok, you got it.” Luna said to Celestia. Then she turned to Skamper, “Now, I’m gonna go for something with a little more flare.”

“What is it?” he asked in wonder.

“It’s a cross between two spells, a flash spell, and a fireball spell.”

“Whoooaaaa,” Skamper said in awe, “I can’t wait!”

Luna smiled, her showmanship side taking over, “Now, I will need absolute concentration,” she said dramatically.

Skamper nodded in compliance. Celestia had a concerned look on her face next to him.

“Now, I shall begin!” Luna closed her eyes and began to concentrate again, she bowed her head and started to try and use her magic. Her horn began to glow slightly, this time with a more bright, luminescent glow, rather than the previous orange glow she had given off. She kept working at it, and steadily the glow grew brighter.

Then, Celestia heard hooves. There sounded like there were five sets of them, and they were getting closer.

She heard other scared orphans crying, “They’re over there! We didn’t do anything! Please don’t hurt us!”

The sound of hooves got closer.

“Uh, Luna, maybe we should-“

“Hold on!” Luna grunted, “Just give me a sec! I’m so close!”

Skamper looked around, terrified.

“Hold on, hold on…” Luna kept saying.

Suddenly, a guard poked his head into their tent. Upon seeing Luna, and glancing at the book, he let out a shout. “Hey! Hey they’re over here! I found ‘em!”

The shout startled Luna, but what Luna did next startled everyone.

Her eyes began to glow a sudden bright white, and the glow from her horn grew into an intense white shine. Luna was losing control, and the glowing white stare in her eyes only got brighter.

Energy began to emanate from Luna’s horn, giving off sparks and beams of light.

“Hey! What’s she doing? Make her stop!” the guard cried to Celestia, he turned to Luna, “Hey! Stop that!”

“She can’t stop!” Celsestia yelled, “I don’t know what she’s doing but she can’t- Skamper! Get out of here!” She turned past the guard and out of the tent, yelling into the alley, “Run! Everypony run!”

Skamper scrambled past Celestia, Celestia ran too, but she didn’t get very far.

The blast knocked Celestia nearly unconscious. She was thrown against a wall, and a blazing white light left her mostly blinded. The noise from the blast had rendered her temporarily deaf, but she struggled to her hooves after a few seconds, adrenaline running through her.

She began to make out the scene before her. Skamper was a few feet away from her in a small heap of rubble, she couldn’t tell if he was unconscious or otherwise. Most of everything around her looked or smelled singed, and just about everypony was either as dazed or as confused as she was. But the guards who hadn’t been caught in the blast were regaining themselves, and advancing on Luna.

Luna. Celestia suddenly remembered Luna. She tried to clear her head as she looked toward the epicenter of the blast, she feared the worst for her sister. But Luna was alright, in fact, she was just fine. She stood amid the destruction, trembling and afraid, but otherwise unharmed.

Luna backed into the wall, stammering out questions and apologies. “Oh no… what happened… that wasn’t me was it… Skamper?”

The guards began to close in on her.

“Take her in!” one shouted, “Yeah! We’ll show that hinny a lesson!”

“You can’t take her!” Celestia cried!

The guards continued to advance cautiously on Luna.

“No!” screamed Celestia. She ran past the circle of guards and stood in front of her sister.

“Celestia?” Luna asked dazedly. “What are you…”

“I said NO!”

Celestia was suddenly overtaken with a very odd sensation. She couldn’t see anything, but had a keen awareness of something she had never felt before. It felt like something inside of her was showing itself for the first time, and as worried as she had been, she now felt tranquil, and had no intention of restraining this new and powerful force inside of her. Celestia could hear the echoes of the outside world around her, but they were far away, and the feeling inside her told her that it wasn’t something to be worried about. Celestia could see only white, it was so bright she wanted to closer her eyes. But when she did, she realized that the blank white world in front of her didn’t go away. Just as she felt herself about to be blinded from the light, Celestia began to make out three blurry shapes. The one on her left came into focus first, as it stepped closer to her, she made it out to be her sister, Luna. Luna didn’t say anything, she merely smiled, and faded away into the light. The figure in the middle came into focus next. Celestia didn’t recognize the pony standing in front of her. It was a purple pony, with different shades of purple in her mane and a sparkle for her cutie mark. The purple pony looked around for a moment, as if lost. But when she looked at Celestia, she smiled, and gave her a bow, before running off and out of sight. Celestia struggled to make sense of what she saw, and a sudden wave of uncertainty swept over her, as the third figure stepped closer. The third figure never came into focus, nothing except its’ eyes and its’ cutie mark. The eyes stared at Celestia, they gave a look of blame, and of sorrow and anger. The eyes gave a look of disgust. Not only of Celestia herself, she felt, but of something much bigger. The blurry figure turned away, leaving Celestia with only the image of a cutie mark resembling bubbling smoke behind.

The feeling of intense worry and hatred began to overtake Celestia as the brightness began to fade. The echoing of shouts and cries drifted off into the distance, and when Celestia awoke, she at first noticed that her head hurt.

Chapter 3

Celestia looked around. She was in a room, it appeared to belong to an inn of some sort. There was a small chest and a satchel in the corner.

Celestia stood up quickly, realizing that that was the satchel of the pony they had stolen from. She looked around, trying to find a better escape route than the door. After she got out, she could look for Luna.

Finding no better option, Celestia decided to try and walk out the door. As she made her way out, she bumped into the last pony she wanted to see.

“Whoa there,” he said with an inviting voice, “Calm down now, you don’t need to be in a hurry to get out, you’re not in trouble.”

“I’m sorry, I mean I don’t know what, I- You’re not mad?” Celestia stammered out.

“Well I won’t lie,” the strange pony said, “I wasn’t too happy when I found out my book had been stolen, and I bet the ponies whose homes you wrecked aren’t too fond of you right now. But no, you’re not in trouble.”

“I, I don’t understand…”

The pony laughed again, “No, I can’t imagine you do. Come on, walk with me to the infirmary and I’ll explain everything to you. I think you’ll find today to be a very important day for you.”

As the strange pony began to leave, Celestia followed. “What do you mean? What happened? Why am I at the Inn? Why are we going to the infirmary? Who are you?”

“Well, we’re heading to the infirmary to see your sister. Now don’t worry, she’s alright, but after I had to subdue you she got a little protective, and the guards may have been a little harsh when they held her back. As for what happened, last night was rather interesting, don’t you think?”

Celestia gave him a puzzled look.

The strange pony chuckled again, “Last night, I had enlisted the guards to help me recover my lost possession. One of them suggested that a pair of young fillies with a reputation for taking items like mine might have it, so we began the search for your community of orphans. Sure enough, we found it. It would appear that when your sister was startled in during her casting, she accidentally overcharged somehow, although I’ll admit I’ve never seen anypony do something like that, except for you.”

Celestia remained quiet, but gave him another quizzical look.

“You see,” he continued, “After your sister overcharged, she sent quite a shockwave through that alley, and that light disoriented a lot of others. After that, you jumped in to try and protect your sister from the guards, as I’m sure you remember.”

“I remember that, but I don’t remember anything else.”

“Interesting…” he muttered to himself. “Anyway, after you jumped in for your sister- I presume she is your sister, right?”

Celestia nodded.

“Yes, well after you jumped in for your sister, you did almost the same thing your sister did. Albeit you didn’t do any of the damage your sister caused. You mostly just hung there by your horn, but the guards didn’t take any chances, so they backed off. Once I realized you weren’t going to hurt anyone, I rushed in and gave you quick thump on the head to make you stop that.”

Celestia rubbed her head tenderly.

He let a nervous laugh, “Yes, um, sorry about that. It was necessary though. But after that, we brought you to the inn when we confirmed you weren’t hurt, and your sister stayed behind to treat a bruised rib.”

“Um, thank you I guess.” Celestia said, “But who are you, and why would you help us? We stole from you, most ponies would have us jailed or killed if they could.”

“Yes, I suppose most ponies would, but I feel I could get more use out of you and your sister than if I had you just rot in a cell somewhere. Now, what are you and your sister named?”

“Uh, I’m Celestia, and my sister is Luna.”

“Those are rather interesting names.”

“Well, my sister and I never had actual names, so we thought it would be fun if we called ourselves by the sun and the moon.”

“An interesting choice, Celestia.”

“Thank you, I guess… But would you mind telling me who you are?”

“I will explain more inside.” He said, “But since we have arrived, I think I’ll just explain it once to you and your sister.”

They walked into the large tent that was the Hoofton infirmary. Celestia scanned the area for her sister, spotting her toward the back.

“Luna!” Celestia ran to her sister and gave her a hug, “I was so worried about you! Are you alright?”

Luna smiled, “Yeah, I’m doing great, how are you?”

“Confused,” Celestia said, “But the stranger says he’ll explain something to us.”

“Yeah, he told me that too,” Luna said, “I think we can trust him though, he even let the guards leave their post outside on the condition that I wouldn’t run away.”

“And I’m glad to see you kept your promise.” The stranger cut in, “Now, I’m sure you two are more than a little curious about your situation, so I think I’ll get right down to business.”

The two sisters sat down on the small bed, waiting for answers.

“You can call me Fillius, I am one of the lead artifact hunters for the Grand Equestrian Army, more specifically, the archeological unit, part of the Magical Studies and Combat Regiment.”

Luna looked worried, “You work for the army? What are you doing in Hoofton?”

“Well that’s a bit of a secret,” Fillius responded, “But that doesn’t matter, the real find was you two.”

“What do you mean?” Celestia asked.

“Well, after that rather impressive display of magical ability and prowess, I am confident that the Grand Equestrian Army would love to have you join their ranks.”

“They want us?” Luna asked. “How do you know?”

“I have a few ways of communicating my finds throughout the world, and after explaining the events of last night, High Command has said that they would be willing to give you a chance to prove yourselves worthy of joining.”

“But, what if we don’t want to join?” Celestia asked. “What if we don’t pass the test?”

“Well, that’s why today is important for you.” Fillius said, “You can either head to a training camp and join up, or you both will spend a good long while sitting in a dungeon in Canterlot, for stealing from an official Equestrain Army Officer.” Fillius laughed at the look on the sister’s faces, “It’s not that bad, most ponies don’t have half the ability you do, and if you join, you get a place to stay, plus three meals a day.”

Luna perked up, “Three meals a day?”

Fillius laughed again, “That’s right, three meals, now what do you say? An honest job protecting your country? Or dark, damp, dungeon, where you’ll pay dearly for your crimes?”

The sisters looked at each other, then at Fillius, “We’ll take the job.” They both replied in unison.

And so the young sisters made their way from the southern reaches of Equestria in Hoofton, to a northern camp, near the village of Prancville.

One night, as the sisters drew closer to the camp, Celestia had trouble sleeping.

“Hey Luna?” she asked, as she poked her head through the tent flap, “Are you up?”

“I guess I am now,” Luna said groggily as she turned to her other side, “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing, I guess I can’t sleep because of the cold, I’m not used to the chilly weather.”

“Yeah, I know how you feel.” Luna looked at her sister in the soft glow of her horn, and could see something else was wrong, “But what do you really want to talk to me about?”

“Oh it’s nothing really, I just…”

“Just what, come on Celestia, you can always talk to me.”

“Well, what happened to Skamper?”

Luna smiled, “Is that what you’re worried about? I thought you already knew. Skamper’s fine, he got kinda banged up in the blast but nothing serious. Now, the guard in the tent on the other hand…”

“What do you mean?” Celestia asked with worry.

“Well, I overheard one of the guards talking when I was at the infirmary that night, and he said that the guard caught in the blast would be lucky to ever see again. I guess he must have looked directly at the flash when I went off, and I may have permanently blinded him.”

“Oh my gosh, Luna, that’s awful!”

“Hey!” Luna said, looking hurt, “I didn’t mean too! I don’t even remember there being an explosion, I had no idea what I was doing!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Celestia said, “I didn’t mean to make it sound like it was your fault, I just feel bad for the guard.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t exactly feel good for him either.” Luna said, turning away in her bed.

“Hey Luna, um, there was something else I wanted to talk to you about.” Celestia quietly stepped back in case Luna didn’t want to talk.

Luna mumbled back. “Yeah?”

“What did you see?”

Luna froze up under her blanket.

“Luna?”

“What did you see?”

Celestia responded in confusion, “What?”

“What did you see?” Luna sat up and faced Celestia, “What did you see when you lost it too?”

Celestia timidly responded, “I’m not sure what I saw, just some bright light and-“

“And three silhouettes?” Luna asked, cutting Celestia off.

“Yeah…” Celestia said, “You saw them too?”

“All I saw was three silhouettes, I couldn’t make out any faces though, but each of them gave me some weird feelings.”

“Like what kind of feelings?”

“Well, I saw one, and I felt really mad. Well, not mad, but jealous. I’m not sure why, but I hated that figure. But when I looked at the second figure, it all went away and I felt sad, really sad. It was like I wanted to say sorry for something I’d done, but I didn’t know what.”

“And what about the third?” Celestia asked.

Luna sat there for a moment, thinking. “The third one made me worried, very worried. When I saw it, I got the sudden feeling that the whole world was going to fall apart, be completely destroyed. But weirdest of all, when I saw the third figure, I felt like I had died.”

“What?” Celestia said in shock, “What do you mean died?”

“I don’t know, I can’t explain it, I just know that I had died, or felt like I had died. And when I thought for sure that maybe I had died, I came back and all I saw was the alleyway.”

Celestia stood there in thought, contemplating their conversation.

“But what about you?” Luna asked.

Celestia jerked out of thought, “What?”

“What about you? What did you see?”

“Nothing really, just what you saw, except that one of the shadows was you.”

“Me?” Luna asked in surprise.

“Yeah, one of them was you, and the other one was somepony I didn’t recognize. A purple one with sparkles for her cutie mark.”

“That’s odd.” Said Luna, “Did you see who the third one was?”

“No, but it gave me the same bad feeling as you, all I could see was its’ eyes.”

“Hmm…” said Luna in thought, “That is really weird.”

“What do you think it all means?” Celestia asked.

“I don’t know,” Luna yawned and laid down again, “Crazy magic doing crazy things, but staying up will do us no good. You should get some sleep, Celestia.”

“Yeah,” Celestia said as she left the tent, “I guess you’re right.” And she went back to her tent, and slept soundly.

The next morning, training for the sisters began. They started in a small outfit with other ponies, unicorns, and pegasi, but as time went on, and each member of the training squad grew in their talent, they were eventually moved away into more specialized training. Luna and Celestia had been nervous at first, but they soon found that they adapted to military life quite easily. In the military, they were encouraged to play rough, and a tight schedule gave them a source of stability they never knew they craved. Both of the unicorns excelled in the use of magic as well, becoming one of the first soldiers in the squad to move into specialized training. And although they were not happy to leave their beloved squad mates, they warmed up quickly to the strict and informative lessons they were taught from other unicorn instructors. They were able to train only in magic, rather than having to wait for other ponies to receive basic training. In only four short years, rather than the usual six, the two sisters were ready to move out into their first assignments.

The first assignment had both of them together, even at the objection of their immediate commanding officer.

“That’s crazy!” Celestia heard a muffled voice coming from behind doors, “You can’t send two out to an assignment like that when they have no field experience!”

Celestia, her curiosity piqued, moved closer to the door. She had only been passing by to the barracks, but now she felt like eavesdropping. She pressed her ear up to the door, making out a second voice, this one coming from a mare.

“I am afraid that your objections will do you no good officer, you don’t have the authority to stand in the way of a senior of the artifact hunting outfit, those two are going on this assignment, whether you like it or not.”

Artifact hunting? Celestia couldn’t make sense of why two new soldiers would be called upon for a job she was sure required more expertise.

“I wouldn’t be so stubborn on this if he would just see some common sense!” She heard her officer say, “Fillius may like to see himself as a bit of a genius, but he could very well be sending these poor girls to a dis-honorable discharge, or even their deaths. Two new soldiers who have grown up their entire lives in Equestria, and you want to send them to a foreign country? And Griffallion at that, you could at least send them south, the Zebra’s are a friendlier lot.”

“I understand your concern, but he has the final say. Besides, he has already had his request approved by the Grand Equestrian Council, it would appear he had anticipated resistance.”

Celestia heard her officer grumble a bit, “Very well, but you make sure they come back safe and their reputations unscathed, I wouldn’t want word getting back that I trained ponies who couldn’t handle a first assignment. Now, when do they need to be on their way.”

“As soon as possible, no later than two days from now.”

“Very well, we can have them on their way by next morning. I’ll go give them their orders now.”

Celestia heard them approaching the door, she quickly trotted away, hoping to look casual and innocent. No sooner had she gotten a few feet down the hall did the door open, and the two ponies walked out.

“Celestia! Just who I was looking for actually, come here, I have your first assignment!”

Celestia turned around in mock surprise, saluting, “Yes sir!” she said, as she went to the two ponies.

“Celestia,” the officer said, “This is Angela, she’s going to explain more about what you’re going to do. It would seem you’re going for a trip out of the country.”

He introduced the older looking mare, she had a youthful look in her, but the work she put in showed through. Celestia greeted Angela, and together they brought the news to Luna. By the next evening, the sisters were on their way out of the country, to Griffallion, home of the Griffons.

Chapter 4

“The king will see you now.” Heffer said in his snooty voice.
Celestia didn’t much care for Griffons. Or, she didn’t care for Heffer at least. Heffer was the only Griffon she’d met and heard talk for any amount of time, and he treated every one of them with the kind of disdain that even upper class equestrians known for their contempt of the lower class would call unfair and extreme. But even if it turned out that every other Griffon was the cheeriest, friendliest person in the world, that still wouldn’t excuse Griffallion’s weather. Celestia had trained in the northern part of Equestria where it was chilly all the time, and before that her home of Hoofton had seen some brutal winters. But nothing compared to Griffallion. It was a rather large kingdom, filled with large mountain ranges with peaks that stretched to the sky. Celestia and the small outfit she was traveling with had entered the kingdom through one of the precarious mountain roads placed already high up in the ranges. The sight was impressive, being surrounded by massive rock formations had a way of putting her in awe of the world around her, while strangely aware and scared of her own size in comparison. But for all the amazing sights, the cold was horrible. In spite of how many layers she had on and how close she would huddle around the campfire at night, the cold had a way of penetrating her various coats and cloaks, and beating back the warmth of the fire at night. She could see why Griffons would have a reputation for being tough, you’d have to be to live here and call the freezing mountain tops your home. The homes, speaking of which, were a sight to see as well; Luna had been fascinated their whole trip through the country at the sight of entire villages and towns built up and into the sheer cliffs of the mountains. Travel through the country had been difficult as well, the roads in Griffallion were scarce. Seeing as most of the inhabitants could fly, Celestia could see why roads wouldn’t be much of a concern. They were mostly used when a storm rolled in that made flying difficult, and by visitors such as herself.
The Palace was incredible. Luna had been interested in the towns and villages, but she was absolutely enamored with the palace that housed the king and other royalty of Griffallion.
“It’s… impressive…” Luna stuttered out as they arrived around the bend of a cliff side.
“Yeah…” Celestia responded. Just as amazed by what she saw.
And it was amazing. Really amazing. The palace was placed high up towards the peak of the tallest mountain in the area, giving it a wide long view of the direction it was facing, which was every direction. The palace was built around the entire peak of the mountain, giving it a three hundred and sixty degree view of the entire surrounding area for miles in every direction. The palace hung out over the cliff, showing off various windows and rooms. Celestia thought about what the inside of the palace looked like, and considered that in all probability, the palace was the peak of the mountain.
“Celestia? Luna? Are you coming?” Fillius looked at them with a small smile, Taking enjoyment from the sister’s amazement at the interior of the palace.
“Oh… Uh… Yeah. Sorry about that captain.” Luna said, as she motioned for Celestia to follow along with her.
“Girls, I keep telling you, it’s ok to call me Fillius. I may be your superior but I never really did enjoy adhering to most of the military protocol. When we’re not at any official meetings, with higher-ups, you can just call me by my name.”
“Thanks, Fillius.” Celestia laughed nervously, still getting used to calling her superior officer by such a casual title.
Heffer did not appreciate all of the side talking. “If you would all please hurry along, the king’s time is important and he would enjoy it if you didn’t waste it gawking.”
“Sorry about that Heffer. Some of us are a little new to being in new places.” Fillius said, as he smiled jokingly back at the sisters.
“Hmph. Just hurry along and don’t waste our time.”
King Sharp-Eye sat at the end of a long banquet table. Along the table sat various other griffons that held various positions of power and honor in Griffallion. Nearest to Sharp-Eye however, were three empty seats.
“Come on!” King Sharp-Eye shouted across the hall. “Take a seat! Don’t be shy! I haven’t got all day so hurry on up!”
Fillius, Celestia, and Luna quietly took the seats that were left for them. They sat for a few moments in awkward silence before Sharp-Eye spoke.
“Well? What are we here for?” He said in his naturally bellowing and loud voice.
“Ah yes, about that.” Fillius responded, as if snapping out of a trance. “As was discussed beforehand, we need access to one of your old tunnels.”
Sharp-Eye looked at Fillius with minor suspicion. “And why is that?”
“Well, in the particular mining tunnel we wish to explore, we believe that something of value is located there.”
“Value, eh? How much is it worth to you?” Sharp-Eye said with a mischievous grin.
Fillius was expecting this response. “Well, it’s not so much about what it’s worth to us, as it is to you. Which is to say, nothing. It is worth nothing to you.”
“And how do you figure that?” Sharp-Eye asked, obviously annoyed by Fillius’ games.
“Well, I suppose I shouldn’t say nothing. It might look good to you, as a trinket of sorts. But hardly worth the value of extracting it.”
“It’s worth something to you, that is all I need to know.”
“I suppose, but we would appreciate the favor if you let us retrieve the artifact from your mine. Perhaps you will recall the favor that arrived a few weeks before us?”
Sharp-Eye laughed. “Indeed I do. Quite a generous favor it was too, I’m still enjoying it.” He said as he motioned to the food in front of him. “Ok Fillius, I concede. I like you, and I like the game you play. It helps that you did indeed send me quite a gift, though I suppose I will take that as payment for using my mine.” Sharp-Eye laughed some more. “You have my permission, and the permission of Griffallion to use that mine. Just be done with your business and be out of my land within three weeks from now. It’s nothing personal, but some subjects of mine are weary of outsiders, and I cannot guarantee that they will let you stay longer than that.”
“You’ve given us more time than we could have hoped for, King Sharp-Eye. On the behalf of the Grand Equestrian Council, and Equestria, I thank you.” Fillius bowed, while Luna and Celestia awkwardly bowed after him. They quickly left the hall, and were escorted outside of the palace by Heffer.

As they packed up their supplies in front of the palace, Celestia found Fillius and began to help him pack.
“Hey captain-… Fillius,” she said. “Can I ask you something?”
“What is it Celestia?”
“Why did you bring us along?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I mean, why did you bring us inside the palace. I know there were more people in there suited to handle something of as much diplomatic importance as talking to a king, but you brought Luna and I in. Come to think of it, why did you have us selected for this assignment at all?”
Fillius laughed a little. “Well for one, you like to ask questions. I need ponies who can think, and aren’t afraid to. You like to think, and you like to voice it. But more importantly, I see something in you.”
“And what is that?”
“I don’t quite know yet, Celestia.” Fillius said, getting a little lost in his own thoughts. “But you and Luna both, you’re special. I knew when you lost control of yourself in Hoofton. I brought you along because I know you and your sister can do well, and if I can, I want to speed up the process for you in showing everyone what I know. So I’m giving you a chance, Celestia. A chance to see the world and learn about it, and a chance to show yourself to the world around you while getting to skip a few of the typical military hoops they normally make you jump.”
Celestia didn’t know what to say. It was an odd sensation, having someone look out for her when she’d been looking out for herself her entire life. “Th-thanks…” She stammered, “I don’t know what…”
“I’ll tell you what you and your sister can do for me Celestia. You can do me a favor and not screw this up. Do me a favor and show the world what you can do.”
“You got it, Captain.”
“Good to hear, soldier.”
“Celestia! Celestia!” Luna came yelling with glee. “Did you see that palace!? It’s AMAZING!”
Luna was smiling with a huge grin.
Celestia laughed. “Yeah, I saw it Luna. We were in it after all.”
Fillius looked amused. “I’m glad you like it, Luna. It’s what we based the idea of Canterlot off of. Although I’m afraid that after seeing Blazing Star Palace, Canterlot may be a disappointment.”
“It’s absolutely incredible! I almost want to live here the rest of my life!.”
“Oh don’t worry,” Fillius grinned, “You haven’t seen anything yet.”

Chapter 5

The darkness was unsettling. Celestia and Luna both had good spells to counteract the darkness, but in the dark, cramped tunnels, the light could only shine so far.
The mining tunnel Fillius had requested to explore wasn’t too far from Blazing Star Palace, about a three day trip north. It had somehow gotten colder, and the weather had gotten more ferocious. Apparently almost nothing happened north of the palace, so by the time they had found the entrance to the mineshaft, the storms and the decreasing quality of the roads had made what Celestia was sure a cruel deathtrap set up as a joke by whoever ordered their expedition.
Fillius had ordered the expedition.
He didn’t seem the least bit bothered by all of the trouble either, at one point when Celestia commented about how she was sure they were going to die horrible deaths tumbling down the cliff sides, Fillius smiled and recounted a story about one of the times he had been in a much worse situation, for a much less valuable item.
“What is it we’re after anyway?” Celestia asked.
“Yeah, come to think of it, why are we going to all this trouble?” Luna chimed in, with a hint of surprise in her voice. Surprise at the thought that she hadn’t wondered what they were after in the first place.
“Well,” Fillius responded. “I’m afraid that I can’t tell you that right now. As much as I’d love to, it’s a bit of a secret right now.”
“So… are you the only one here who knows what we’re trying to find?” Luna asked, looking at the other soldiers in the expedition.
“Yup, the only one. In fact, I’m fairly certain I’m the only one in the entire world who has a good understanding of what we’re after.” Fillius said.
Luna’s curiosity was piqued. “And why is that?”
“Well, I’m afraid I can’t tell you that either right now.” Fillius chuckled to himself a little when he saw Luna’s exasperated reaction. “Trust me, if you think that you have it bad, you try explaining to the council why you need to head into a troubled country after sending expensive supplies to its’ leader, so that you can find an artifact who’s value nopony but you understands.”
“And how did you convince them?” Celestia asked.
“I had to pull a lot of strings.” Fillius shuddered.
“Well let’s hope it’s worth it.” Luna said.
“Oh it will be. It will be.” Fillius said with a determined voice Celestia had never heard from him before.
They had been wandering through the caves for almost two days. Or maybe it was three? Celestia couldn’t be sure, there was no sun and no moon to tell her at the moment. Daytime was when she and the other unicorns in the party decided in the tunnels. The darkness was making it hard for everyone to sleep though. Having no real sunlight and then switching to the blackness of a moonless night was making it difficult for anyone to sleep well. Too unnerving. She and Luna had been getting by practicing new spells on each other, spells that were meant to make somepony drowsy, or downright pass out. Everypony else had their own methods, some of the other unicorns had taken the sisters’ idea, and were helping other ponies sleep. But Fillius decided that he would work, work until he passed out. He spent hours pouring over his map, checking to make sure they were going the right way, and wouldn’t get lost trying to get back out. His hard work seemed to be paying off, he was able to confidently lead everyone through the tunnels, and that courage helped everypony else too, allowing everyone to avoid the natural claustrophobia that came with being so deep in the earth.
“Hmm, well this is no good. No good at all.” Fillius said with a very concerned tone as they found themselves at a fork branching off into three separate, smaller tunnels.
“What’s the matter, Captain?” One of the ponies asked.
“Well, the map says that we should be at the end. But, as you can all see, we’re obviously not.” Fillius seemed agitated. “This isn’t right. Not right at all.”
“Maybe we went down the wrong mine to begin with?” Luna speculated.
“No!” Fillius shouted, surprising everyone with his anger. “I- I mean, no. My source for this map is very reliable.”
“Uh, sorry. Fillius.” Luna said sheepishly.
“It’s ok.” Fillius said as he drifted off into thought.
He stood there for almost an hour. Just staring and thinking, sometimes muttering to himself. Celestia was starting to become worried for his sanity.
“Luna.” Fillius said, suddenly jerking out of his self-imposed stupor. “Shine your light brighter and down this tunnel.” He gestured at the one in the middle.
Luna brightened the light at the end of her horn, focusing it down the middle tunnel.
“No… It can’t be…” Fillius sounded shocked. “Fiona! Come look at this and tell me if it is what I think it is!”
One of the pegasi from the back trotted forward to look at the same wall Fillius was looking at. She stared intently for a moment at the wall and then raised her eyebrows in surprise.
“Well, is it?” Fillius asked hurredly.
“I do believe it is, Captain.”
Luna was excited at the sudden turn of events. “And what is it?” She asked.
“Ancient Zebra symbols.” Fiona said.

They followed down the middle tunnel for another twenty minutes. A few twists and a few turns, but nothing really special. Except, of course, the ancient Zebra language written all along the wall deep in an old cavern that was even deeper in Griffon territory. Then, they came across a cavern. It was extremely large, especially for being in a mountain. The search party came out overlooking the cavern, near the roof. They were close to the ceiling, giving them a clear view below. At the bottom near the center, was a small hut, built in traditional Zebra fashion. Which was a small dome-shaped domicile that appeared to be made out of mud. Where the mud came from was a mystery to Celestia considering that there was no water and not a whole lot of dirt to be found anywhere.
Fillius was very excited. “Alright everyone, I think we’ve found what we’re looking for. Go down the steps to the right one at a time and be careful. I don’t want anyone dying because they slipped and fell.”
The hut was just big enough to let all eight ponies in. None of them except Fillius seemed particularly comfortable with what they saw.
Inside, two magically lit torches lit up the room. In the center was a rather disturbing statue. The thing looked to be made of several different creatures, only a few of which Celestia could name off the top of her head, and it had a wicked grin on its face. All around the room on the walls were various symbols, with the statue in the room they suddenly came off as very menacing.
Everypony was staring at the statue. Everypony except Fillius, who was staring at what was on the statue. It was a large necklace with a huge purple gem in the middle. The gold chain that hung around the neck of the eerie statue was probably worth enough to feed her for the rest of Celestia’s life. She shuddered at the thought of how much the gem was most likely worth.
“Priceless.” Fillius said through a rather large grin, as if reading Celestia’s thoughts. “I don’t know how this ended up here, or why it’s surrounded by Zebra writings that haven’t been used since before history was recorded, but THIS, is what we’re here for.”
“What’s the statue of?” One of the other ponies asked.
“No idea.” Said Fillius, who at the moment obviously could not care less about the statue. “Probably an ancient deity the Zebras used to worship, but I don’t know. Why don’t you get that wonderful item off of his neck though, and ‘relieve’ him of his burden, Celestia.” He said excitedly.
Celestia began to slowly lift off the necklace from around the thing’s neck with her magic. While she was excited that they had found what they had come for, she was nervous at Fillius’ reaction. She had never seen him act this way before, the kind of greed and devious excitement she saw in his eyes worried her.
But she had a job to do, so she lifted the necklace off. As soon as the chain slipped off the statue’s head though, the symbols flashed. They flashed brightly, but only for a moment, before dying back down again and fading back in to the walls they were etched in. Everypony looked around nervously, which seemed to annoy Fillius greatly.
“Oh come on everypony, no need to worry. If that spell were going to kill us it would have already. I’ve dealt with much worse than glowing symbols before, if you all calm down we can leave faster. We have what we’re here for.”
They all looked down at the floor timidly, then filed out of the hut. Nopony wanted to be seen as a paranoid chicken, or a coward. Just to make a point to Fillius, Celestia made sure she was the last one out of the hut, hoping to show everypony that she didn’t mind staying longer with the statue. As she walked out though, she could have sworn she heard a crack, a very small crack, come from the statue. She dismissed the noise though. After all, she was not a coward.

Sunlight greeted the weary ponies. For the first time since they had entered Griffallion, Celestia had seen the sun. No clouds, no obstructing peaks, just pure blue skies and bright, albeit still cold, sunlight.
“We must have ridden out one doozy of a storm in that mine.” Fillius said.
Celestia was glad. Both for riding out the storm, but also because it seemed that the closer they got to the outside, the more Fillius was starting to become his old self again. It helped put her at ease.
“I like it!” Exclaimed Luna. “The snow looks beautiful when the sun is completely out like this!”
“Indeed it does.” Fillius remarked. “Well everypony, what say we get a move on and get back to home, eh? Looks like smooth sailing from here!”
That was when Fiona pointed out the figures watching them from the rocky ledges above them.
They landed fast, bringing a gust of wind beneath them, and clearer focus on their features as they dropped in, surrounding the search party. There was about twenty of them, Griffons, and all of them looked angry. There were eight ponies, and they all looked nervous.
“Well, well, well, look at what we have here.” Said what Celestia figured was the leader of the pack. He laughed and stepped closer, getting in Fillius’ face. “Ponies, in our kingdom.” He said with disgust.
“Yes, as a matter of fact we are ponies.” Fillius remarked, “Though if you want to get technical about things you might say four unicorns, one pegasus, and three earth ponies. In your kingdom.”
“Don’t talk smart to me, pony.” The griffon snarled in Fillius’ face.
“I might take that order a little more seriously if I knew who it was coming from.”
The Griffon laughed. “You stupid Equestrians! Always cracking wise to your superiors! I am Leon Sharp-Claw, and I would suggest that you take what I say very seriously if you want to live past the next few minutes.”
“We’ll certainly try, but it would help if you did something other than make vague threats to my soldiers and I.” Fillius said, still keeping a calm demeanor.
“Soldiers!” Sharp-Claw laughed, “You call these soldiers? You do like to make jokes, don’t you?”
“Keep up that attitude,” Fillius said, “And they might just go ahead and prove it to you.”
Sharp-Claw wasted no time in grabbing Fillius by the neck and slamming him hard against the ground, drawing a little bit of blood at the tips of his claws. The other ponies moved in to help, but stepped back once they realized again that they were still out-numbered.
“You filthy sack of rotten goat cheese!” He yelled. “You will give me, and the warriors of our great leader Talon’s army the respect we deserve!”
Sharp-Claw then noticed the gold chain sticking partially out of Fillius’ now opened carrying sack.
“What’s this?” He said, lifting up the rest of the necklace out of the bag. “The fruits of your labor? Stealing valuables from our country!”
“We have… permission.” Fillius choked out.
Sharp-Claw hissed. “From who, Sharp-Eye? That worthless being who calls himself a king has no authority to let foreigners take what is rightfully the Griffon’s! All he does is sit in his palace and gorge himself on food that should be given to his subjects! …I assume that his latest feast, his tribute to corruption and decadence was provided by you? You consider it a trade, don’t you?”
Fillius glared at Sharp-Claw.
“Well,” Sharp-Claw went on, “It’s not a trade, or at least not a fair one. But I’ll tell you what is, we take this shining treasure, and we’ll use it to benefit the natural inhabitants of Griffallion, and in return, you and your ‘soldiers’ can live. We’ll be taking this now.” Sharp-Eye clutched the necklace tighter.
Fillius’ voice broke through Sharp-Claw’s choking grip, the same look that he’d had in the hut returning again. “Over… my… dead… body…”
Sharp-Claw grinned and began to squeeze Fillius’ throat tighter. “I’d be more than happy to help with that.”
A gust of wind and the body of a flying pegesus pony slammed into Sharp-Eye, causing him to lose his grip on both Fillius’ throat and the necklace. Fiona’s victory was shortlived, however. It didn’t take more than a second for Sharp-Claw’s talons to find their way into Fiona’s side and neck. It took another second and part of Fiona’s side, as well as her entire throat, was torn out. Sharp-Claw had simply grabbed on to her and let Fiona’s momentum do the rest, killing her as she tumbled lifelessly off the cliff.
In the distraction, Fillius managed to grab the necklace and scramble to get upright on his hooves. He made a run to where the rest of his search party was gathered, confused by the sudden attack.
Wings and claws began to cloud out Celestia’s immediate view of the sky, as they swooped in ever closer to the group of petrified ponies backing against the rocks behind them.
A bolt of bright light, followed by a miniature explosion in the chest of the Griffon who was struck by it, brought Celestia back to focus. Luna had fired it into the crowd of approaching Griffons, helping to disperse and delay their attack. Celestia followed suit, casting her own large fireball into the sky above her. The Griffons spread out above them, attempting to swoop in from different angles.
This was their opening, their chance to make it to the bridge twenty feet away and ultimately make a run for it away from the attacking Griffons completely.
“GO!” Celestia shouted, motioning at the bridge.
Luna, Fillius, and the other ponies didn’t need to hear her twice, they bolted for the bridge. One of the other unicorns took point and began casting lightning bolts in random directions in front of him to help keep their path clear. Celestia took up the rear, turning the end of her horn into a giant flame thrower that spit hot, whispy fire twenty feet out.
It seemed to be working. The Griffons had the advantage in the air, and they were determined to use it. But Celestia and the other unicorns firing off spells were making it too hard for them to get close. Celestia noticed about half a mile away, that there was a small mountain pass through which they had come to get to the tunnel in the first place. If they could make it to there, then the Griffons wouldn’t be able to fly after them anymore, and the ponies would have the advantage, being able to run faster on hoof. The ponies picked up the pace. Unfortunately for one of the earth ponies, he lost his grip on the ground beneath him on some ice hidden under the fresh snowfall. He tumbled off, screaming as he fell the thousands of feet to the bottom. Celestia thought she could hear some of his bones cracking on the way down, but she pushed the thought out of her head, she needed to concentrate on staying alive.
The pass was coming up. Safety wasn’t too far away. Everypony else made it through, continuing their mad dash for survival. Celestia almost had made it through, when Sharp-Claw landed in front of her only eight feet away. She ducked out of instinct, much to the surprise of Sharp-Claw, managing to slide on the snow and beneath him until Celestia regained herself a few feet away. Celestia hadn’t slidden far enough though, and as she looked up, getting her orientation back, Sharp-Claw was advancing on her. She backed up, but Sharp-Claw was gaining ground.
“You stupid filly!” He screamed at Celestia, “You’ll pay for this! And when Griffallion recognizes it’s true leader, our strength will know no match! We will reclaim what is rightfully ours in Equestria! And we will take more! Compensating for the injustice we suffered at the hooves of your kind! You should be grateful!” Sharp-Claw raised his claws, he was within striking distance. “You should be grateful you won’t be around to see the fall of your republic! Today! Equestria’s downfall begins with you-“
Sharp-Claw was struck in the eye with a small, but powerful, and precise, bolt of lightning. He screamed in agony, backing way and swinging wildly with one arm while clutching his face with the other.
“Don’t you DARE, threaten my sister!” Luna screamed, almost frantically. “Come on! Let’s go Celestia!”
Celestia ran faster than she thought was possible. She and the other ponies ran, and ran, and ran. They ran until they started to cough up blood, stopping not because they felt safe, but because they realized that if the Griffons didn’t kill them, their running would.