Author's Note

For the record, in this story, Twilight is not an alicorn.

Chapter One: The Wind of Change

Finally another day come to the end for three unicorn friends namely: Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, and Trixie Lulamoon. It had been a fine day, just another casual day like all others and now all three of them were at their house preparing their beds, soon to be having their peaceful slumbers.

"I can't believe that the show did so well tonight!" Twilight exclaimed, the lavender unicorn sounding enthusiastic about what had occurred prior as she took up a bottom bunk in the house they shared. "You've really outdone yourself this time, Trixie."

Trixie looked at Twilight, giving her an exhausted smile seemingly of gratitude.

"Thanks Twilight..." She yawned, smiling to herself. "But Trixie thinks... she could have done far better than that..."

"Nonsense Trixie; you did the best you could," Sunset said with a grin, the golden yellow unicorn looking towards her friend. "Now all you have to do is figure out how to top this show!"

"She'll figure something out," Twilight assured them, adding with friendly smirk, "After all, she is The Great and Powerful Trixie."

"Mhm..."

Trixie made a yawn once again at this, as she lay down on her bed. "For now... the Great and Powerful Trixie needs some sleep..."

"Yeah... sleep sounds good..." Sunset murmured as she too climbed into her own bed and lay down. Twilight settled in bed and felt herself yawn loudly.

"Good night, girls. Sweet dreams," she murmured, feeling her eyes get heavy and start to close...

Only to be interrupted by a series of knocks on the door. Sunset's head snapped up, and then the golden yellow unicorn stood, powering up her horn.

"I'll check it out girls," she said, trying to keep her voice from wavering as she trotted towards the door and grabbed the handle in her aura, opening it slightly before holding it in place.

"What is it? What do you want?" Sunset snapped, not holding her crankiness at getting dragged from her bed right about when she was going to fall asleep back.

"This is the Captain of the Royal Guards!" Came the reply, as the door was knocked once again, this time a little more violently. "I demand you to open this door!"

"Captain of the Royal Guards?" Twilight was sitting up in an instant. "What do they want?"

"What...?"

Trixie woke as she sat up in her bed too, looking a bit annoyed at the commotion at their door.

"What do you want, coming here at this time of night?" Sunset demanded, her horn glowing brighter. "There's ponies here trying to sleep!"

"We have a message from her highness," the guard replied. "She would like to see you and your friends immediately."

Sunset hesitated, before saying. "Give us a few minutes."

Without waiting for a reply, she shut the door, before turning the lock with her magic so as not to make any noise, before turning back to Twilight and Trixie.

"I don't trust them," the golden yellow unicorn said. "Something seems very off about this..."

"Why do you say that?" Twilight inquired.

"Think about it. We're about to go to sleep, and all of a sudden Princess Celestia's Royal Guards show up, telling us she wishes to see us!" Sunset exclaimed. "I mean, why us!? Why now!?"

Trixie was fully wake now, as she made a thoughtful and rather concerned expression. "So... what do we do now?"

"I'll say one more time!" The guard's voice come again. "Open the door!"

"We try and put up whatever resistance we can," Sunset said as she turned back to the door and narrowed her eyes, igniting her horn once more. "Because I, for one, am not going down without a fight."

"Wait!" Twilight reasoned, standing slightly in the way. "We can't fight them. They're fully trained in both magical and physical combat; we're still learning how to even use basic combat spells."

"Do you have another idea?" Sunset asked, her horn still glowing slightly.

"We can run, or we can go with them and find out what they want before giving them the slip," Twilight suggested.

"Trixie has another idea," Trixie spoke up, and then smiled and sounding a bit suggestive. "Why don't we just have a little talk to them?"

Sunset stared at Trixie, before facehooving.

"Why would we... you know what, we don't really have any other ideas that might work," Sunset said with a sigh. "Let's do it. Twi, you want to get the door for them?"

"Yeah... Give me a moment..."

Twilight gave herself a moment to compose herself, then opened the doors for the guards, giving an apologetic smile to the guards.

"Sorry," she said, hoping that her act would fool them. "It took a while to wake our friend up."

The Guard's stance was slightly softened by her tone.

"It's alright... we didn't want to disturb your sleep either," he said apologetically. "We're just following orders."

Mentally, Sunset grimaced, but externally the unicorn walked forwards, giving the Guard a slightly seductive smile.

"So, what's your name, handsome?" She asked, gagging mentally but knowing that this was their only way at getting information.

Spear felt his heart skipping a beat at the change of her tone, and then replied. "S- Silver Spear. And you must be Sunset Shimmer, correct?"

Sunset felt a cold serpent of fear twine itself around her heart as he said her name, but she confidently replied. "That's right, I'm Sunset Shimmer."

"And I'm Twilight Sparkle," the lavender unicorn spoke up, also mentally feeling a chill that they knew her colleague's name. "And our friend..."

"I am the Great and Powerful Trixie, you must have heard of me, right?" Trixie said, managing a little suggestive pose.

"Yeah, I've heard a lot about you... in fact, all three of you," Spear replied to them, now with a confident smile. "The Princess seems to admire your magical talents a lot."

Sunset shot Twilight a confused look, before returning her attention to Spear.

"Why does Celestia want to see us, Handsome?" She asked, blinking her eyes flirtatiously.

"Hmm..."

Spear looked a little thoughtful at the moment, whether he should tell them or not.

"If I let you know, would you girls come along us without any hustle?"

"No hustle at all," Twilight fake agreed, casually rubbing along the side of him ("Oh gosh, why?" she mentally screamed to herself) in a common sensual manner among ponies.

Spear smiled and blinked for once, his confident smile growing some more as he spoke in some dark manner.

"...as far as I can tell, Princess wants to recruit you so she could have you strength at her side."

Then getting a little hungry look in his eyes, he closed himself towards Twilight a little more. "But if you're not okay with this, then maybe we can arrange for something... more fun..."

"Mmm... Maybe another time," Twilight said, quickly dropping the act and powering up her horn. Before Spear could react, she had cast a blackout spell on him, and the last words he heard from her was, "Sorry I have to do this..."

As Spear hit the floor, the three mares heard a growl from outside the door, followed by a sinister hissing sound as a figure dressed entirely in black stepped inside the room, a black hooded cloak obscuring his face, but not the gleaming metal blade that extended from a band on his foreleg.

"Looks like her Majesty was right to send me as back up after all," the figure sneered, staring at them with what appeared to be pure black eyes. "I have to mop up this idiots attempt at collecting you."

"Don't come any closer!" Sunset said as she powered up her horn, before yelping as the figures other foreleg flicked forwards, and then a metal ring snapped closed around her horn, the glow of her magic vanishing in an instant.

"Or what, Sunset Shimmer?" The figure said tauntingly.

"Stop that! What do you want with us? What have we done wrong?" Twilight demanded, scared to death by now. Trixie had charged her horn and pointed at the figure at the moment, threatening to attack any time.

"Look here, mister! Trixie don't like it when some pony threaten her friends!"

The figure narrowed his eyes, but just before he could speak there was movement in the door of the room, followed by a crystalline clear female voice yelling. "Icy Winds: Flash Freeze!"

There was a suddenly blast of white light, and then the intimidating figure was encased in a layer of ice as the three mares savior stepped around him. It was a tall, lithe female unicorn, with light blue fur and a stark white mane and tail, along with blue eyes. She was wearing an icy blue cape and wizards hat, each decorated with white snowflakes.

"You're welcome, for the record," the unicorn said, looking meaningfully at those she had just saved. Twilight nearly dropped her guard at the newcomer's arrival, but not for long as her horn powered up again.

"Who are you?!" she demanded. "I've already taken enough as it is, so if you don't start talking I'll- I'll fire..."

"The name's Crystal Shard, Ice Mage of the first degree, as well as the last living expert in ancient combat magics," The unicorn said, giving a slight formal bow.

Trixie was the one to speak first at this. "And you're here, because...?"

"To save you three and get you away from Celestia and her influence," Crystal said. "I know this sounds ominous, but I'm going to need you to come with me. Your freedom depends on it."

"Uh, do you think you could help with Sunset's horn then?" Twilight inquired, gesturing to the magic inhibitor around her friend's horn. Crystal looked at it, before her horn suddenly ignited with white magic and she shouted.

"Icy Winds: Precision Freeze!"

There was a sudden hissing sound on the inhibitor as the locking mechanism froze over, and then with a snap it broke, falling off Sunset's horn as the golden yellow unicorn let out a grateful sigh.

"Well..."

Trixie yawned once again as her horn stopped glowing. "Can Trixie go back to sleep now...?"

"You can do that once we're back where we're safe," Crystal said as she turned and ignited her horn, and then a swirling portal of snowflakes and her white magic opened before them.

"You really expect us to go with you? We just met you!" Sunset yelled, and Crystal paused, before looking back.

"If you don't, feel free to get taken to Celestia, where she will then break you and force you into her service." The unicorn said coldly, her blue eyes boring into them and showing no lies in what she spoke. Twilight's face looked scared.

"Wh-what?" she stuttered.

"The world isn't what you think it to be, little ones." Crystal said. "And there are a good number who have learned that the hard way... and then even more who payed for what they learned; with their lives."

Sunset's face looked like she was in shock, her mouth hanging open slightly and one eye twitching slightly.

"So... what should we do now?" Trixie asked to her friends.

"I-" Sunset managed, before shaking her head and sighing. "I guess we go with her. After all, they won't stop until they get us, right?"

The last part was directed at Crystal, who nodded confirmation of that sentence.

"I hate to say it... but I'd rather take you over this creepy one here," Twilight said to their rescuer, gesturing to the still-frozen figure nearby. "But still, how do we know if we can trust you?"

Crystal stared at them, before her horn ignited and she pulled her cloak to one side, revealing a long, wicked looking scar that ran from almost her front shoulder to her flank, where her Cutie Mark could be seen, comprising of a flurry of snowflakes and a sword.

"Because I'm one of the ones who very nearly payed with my life," Crystal said levelly. "You can trust me, I promise."

Trixie almost seemed convinced at this, but still she waited for whatever her friends had to say.

"I- I... I believe you," Sunset said after a few minutes, before looking towards Twilight. Twilight looked between her friends and then to Crystal, before finally sighing.

"Alright... Where are you taking us?" she asked, the tone in her voice saying that she was on board too.

"For reasons of secrecy, I can't disclose location," Crystal said, a sad smile crossing her face. "If Celestia and her forces discovered us... a lot of good ponies would die."

"Oh..." Twilight said, and didn't ask about it further.

”So... then how you plan to take us there?" Trixie asked. Crystal raised an eyebrow, before jerking her head at the portal she had opened up a while back.

"That," the mage said simply.

"Alright... let's get going, girls."

Trixie said as she began to trot towards the portals. Crystal went through first, and then Sunset walked towards the portal, catching up quickly to Trixie and falling in alongside her, glancing back at Twilight to make sure she was keeping up. Twilight followed behind, not having much a choice as she saw it. When they reached the portal, Sunset paused, glancing between her friends.

“Together?” The golden yellow unicorn asked with a small smile.

Twilight smiled slightly and stepped besides her.

"Together."

"Together."

Trixie said, a little hurriedly in her tone, before they all went through the portal.