The New Problem

The train ride had been an uneventful affair despite having a kirin and a griffon with her. Moonlight had told Luster Dawn that she could've handled this easily on her own, but both Floral Blossom and Ginger had elected to come with her as they had never seen the Crystal Empire before. The unicorn turned to her companions who were looking at the train station in awe, it was as if had been carved out of crystal. Which to the investigator, was to be expected from some place called the Crystal Empire.

"How do you know where Princess Cadance is going to be?" asked the Griffon.

Moonlight shrugged and pointed at the large spire in the middle of the city, "I don't, but if I had to wager a guess, I'd place all my money on that building right there," she replied with a smirk on her face.

"You could do without the sarcasm, Moonlight," Floral Blossom said, slightly annoyed at this.

The unicorn shrugged as she started to make her way to the spire in the center of the city, "I wasn't being sarcastic. I've never been here and there's no Crystal Empire where I come from," she stated.

This caused the other two to pause as the investigator continued walking. Neither of them knew much about the world that she had come from. Curiosity took hold of the two creatures and the kirin ran towards her friend as the griffon flew towards her. "Say, Moonlight, you don't say much about your world. Why is that?" Ginger asked.

The unicorn stopped in her tracks, her brow furrowed and a grimace reached her face. She was obviously unhappy that she had been asked about this and as her muscles tensed up, the other two became a little defensive. Without Luster Dawn or Twilight Sparkle here, they wondered if they could calm her down. Moonlight looked up to the sky above them as memories of her past life had started to flood her mind. Was it worth it to go back in the first place she wondered. She was nothing there, no one even knew she was alive aside from a handful of people. Her name had been erased from the record, she was treated as just a number. An expendable agent that the Special Investigators didn't care if she lived or not.

"Not here in the open. Follow me," she stated firmly.

The investigator led her companions to an abandoned house. Much to her surprise the door was unlocked and they gained easy entry. She closed the door behind them and was sure to lock it. As she turned to the other two, the look in her eyes was enough to chill them to the bone. The two of them worried that all of the progress that they had made with her over the last month was being undone.

The unicorn started to walk towards one of the chairs as she relaxed somewhat, "I apologize for my reaction, the memories are deeply unpleasant and it's not your fault. Four years ago, my life was ruined by Sunrise Standing. He attacked his own father because he felt like his father had given me everything and had given him nothing. The truth of the matter was, his father wanted to make me a teacher's assistant at some point, but he was going to give the school to his son. Because I had first showed magical prowess that night and had survived an encounter with what we know as an aberration, I was conscripted into what is known as the Special Investigators by my world's Twilight Sparkle."

Moonlight Gleam sat down in the chair and looked at the two creatures before her, "An aberration is a person that had turned to dark magic for whatever reason, corrupting them into a monster of some sort. Instead of timberwolves, I had to face down werewolves. Instead of bat ponies, I had to face down vampires. I've faced down all manner of demons instead of the terrible trio that were faced twenty years prior."

The jaws of both Floral Blossom and Ginger dropped as they heard the kind of horrors that their friend had to face in her world, both of them were thankful that Equestria was far more peaceful with far fewer monsters as the investigator continued speaking. The two of them started to shift a bit uncomfortably with the anger that was still written on the face of the unicorn.

"All within four years and with sub-standard training. When Twilight Sparkle was the director, she was insistent on giving me the best training that I could be given. Within six months, that all changed. She was removed from the position and our world's Filthy Rich was placed in the role. I was geared up and thrown out onto the field without any more training."

The sharp look on Moonlight's face shifted into one of sorrow, she looked down at the table and let out a heavy sigh, "On top of this, I'm listed as deceased in my world. No one, not even my parents know that I didn't succumb to my injuries that day. To be honest, I didn't have many injuries in the first place. I passed out because I used so much magic that night that my body couldn't handle it anymore. I've seen my parents in secret, posing as a friend while hiding my identity and my appearance, but that's been the last four years of my life. Before then, I lived my life in poverty," she told them.

Floral Blossom walked over to the unicorn who was starting to cry and embraced her in a hug. "You have us now, you don't have to worry anymore," she whispered into her ear.

The investigator started to cry into the shoulder of the kirin. The two stayed there in a gentle embrace while Ginger watched out for any danger. "You've had it rough, which explains why you weren't trusting of us and wanted for us to stay away for our own safety. I can understand now why Sunrise would try to go after your friends to see you suffer," the gray kirin said gently.

Moonlight broke up the hug and wiped her tears, she looked away shamefully, "I also wanted revenge. Out of everyone where I came from, the only people who ever treated me or my family well were Sunrise Standing and his father, Cloud Runner. Sunrise took his father from me and from himself. I'm sure if the dark magic wasn't corrupting him and twisting his mind, he'd regret what he had done. I came here to capture and bring him back, yes. But I wanted it to be me alone who did it. Now I see that I can't do it alone," she stated.

The two others were shocked by these words, she had never said them before and they never thought that she would ever say them. It was a massive step up from the old Moonlight Gleam that they had known. However, Floral Blossom was curious about something, she placed a hoof on her green mane as she looked at her friend with purple eyes, "If you face creatures that have been tainted with dark magic, then do you use light magic?" she asked.

Moonlight's horn lit up, but instead of the usual blue aura, it was a mix of white and blue swirling together. She cast a spell, a basic illumination spell that used light magic. "Very few people where I come from are born with a natural ability to use light magic," she said.

Ginger arched a brow, "I suppose you're one of them," she interrupted.

The unicorn shook her head causing the orb of light that formed on her horn to move with it, "I'm one of those who were infused with light magic after repeated usage of it. Unlike dark magic which corrupts and twists us, light magic purifies us. When Twilight Sparkle was part of the Special Investigators, we used light magic in the purification process for the aberrations that we captured. Ever since Filthy Rich came into power..." she hesitated on that last word. Something deep down told her that she knew the truth, but she didn't want to accept it. Nor would the creatures here be able to handle it.

The two of them eagerly hung onto her words, but she merely stood up from the chair with a heavy sigh, "We have a job to do here in the Crystal Empire. We still need to find Princess Cadance and Princess Flurry Heart. Twilight wants us to find Prince Shining Armor and pass on a message at some point," she stated firmly to stop talking about the previous topic.

"You're just going to leave us hanging like that?" the griffon replied angrily as she folded her front forelegs in front of her.

"Just like that," Moonlight confirmed.

"You're hiding something and I want to know why!?" Ginger replied as she flew in front of the door.

The unicorn's response was to merely jump out one of the windows and keep going about her day. She wanted to ignore the topic for as long as she possibly could. Her friends joined her, a very annoyed griffon and a concerned kirin. The three of them walked towards the spire in the middle of the city, the ponies around them going about their day as if nothing was out of place.

As the investigator reached the spire, a pair of guards blocked her path, "State your name and your business," they ordered.

"Moonlight Gleam, I am here speak with Princess Cadance about an important matter. Apparently, the first Princess of this empire can be restored to being whole again and brought back from the statue she was imprisoned in. As for these two," she pointed at the kirin to her left, "this is Floral Blossom", she then pointed with the same hoof to the griffon on her right, "this is Ginger. They are friends of Princess Twilight Sparkle's star pupil, Luster Dawn and they are here to accompany me," the investigator stated.

The guards looked at each other and one of them turned to walk into the spire. The other guard didn't move his weapon away from the door, "The three of you will wait here," he commanded.

Something didn't sit well with Moonlight, she felt that something was off about all of this. Nowhere else in Equestria had such tight security, not even Canterlot. She quietly concentrated and cast the detect magic spell to see if there were any traces of dark magic. Everything in her vision glowed blue, except when she turned around to see the center of the city which glowed a bright white. It was almost blindingly so. How could one place have so much light magic, she wondered.

"Is something wrong, you seem to be trying to avert your eyes," Floral Blossom asked out of concern.

"No pony would dare to avert their eyes from the Crystal Heart!" the guard behind her bellowed.

The investigator's intuition screamed in her brain and she dodged to the left, avoiding a blow that would've knocked her out. "I'm using a detect magic spell. It's something I can't cast as often as I'd like, but during the duration, I can see magic, whether it's mundane normal magic, dark magic, or light magic. Your Crystal Heart has extreme amounts of light magic in a concentration that I had never seen in my entire life," she turned around to face the guard in question, "and it's my job to utilize light magic to capture monsters that would haunt your nightmares," she pointed out.

The guard wasn't very impressed, thinking it was a mere boast, but he did know about magic detection spells. He shrugged and a pink alicorn exited the building. "I hear that you're here to talk to me about something important. I'm Princess Cadance and I'll hear out what you have to say. After that, I would like for you to stay in the Crystal Empire and enjoy our hospitality, I apologize for the treatment that the guards have given you," she said.

Moonlight smirked, "It's no problem your highness, however. As I told your guards, I heard that we can bring back Princess Amore. I thought you would perhaps know more," she stated.

Surprise was written all over Cadance's face, she had no idea how to take this, but she hurriedly led her guests inside. The investigator knew that she had shocked her host quite a bit and retreated to a guest room to wait until she was summoned. She knew it was going to take a bit, but she didn't mind. She had a lot to talk to the alicorn about and it would take her just as long to gather her own thoughts.