He was nearing the end of his task, and the final piece shortly would be finished. With all these pieces, he finally have the power he needed. The failings of his first artifact would no longer hold him back as the multiplicity of artifacts he had created glistened in an ethereal glow as they soaked in liquid mana. Each piece held a different power, each supplementing the power set of another. True, there were some redundancies in his artifacts, he had even made a lesser copy of his record, placing it upon a clay tablet, but it was all necessary.

Železna Raka smiled, the work of months finally coming together before him. The High Priest Tirek approached him, standing by his side to look down on the artifacts with the same paternal look of affection that Železna couldn't hide. These were their creations, imbued with Tirek's magics and Železna's skill. Each of the pieces crafted into perfect renditions of themselves - lines of arcane energy pulsing across their surface while faint letters pronouncing their purpose and granting them all the more focus to their power glowed in the inner chamber's dull light.

"How much more is needful?" Tirek asked him, looking over their work. Železna sighed, taking a step away from his creations.

"They require time. Soaking in the liquid mana while the proper incantations are spoken over them on occasion is paramount for their true potential to be unveiled to us." The young king said, taking a seat on a small cushion, folding his legs beneath him.

"I see." Tirek murmured, still looking over the variety of items in the dull blue glow of the liquid mana. "Is there more for me to do during this time? I almost feel my contributions are inadequate compared to your great skill and artistry."

"Unless you happen to know a great sorcerer who might cast the ancient magics upon them, I highly doubt it. Time is what we need, the ancient magics can be done without." Železna replied, ready to close his eyes to drift off into another dreamless sleep.

"Well, my liege," Tirek smiled in his ingratiating way, "It so happens I do know a weaver of ancient sorceries who is close at hand."

"It's kinda what I had figured in the first place." Applejack explained. "When we got there and asked if we could look up two names in the directory, they obliged us up and 'til we told 'em what names we wanted to look into. Once we told 'em, they shut us down and told us to stop bothering them."

"That's rather odd. I assume you did some sleuthing towards why they were acting like that?" I asked. I already had a sneaking suspicion about this situation. With ponies who could use artifacts of such power at will, there was little chance a record with the guards wouldn't last incredibly long, despite any crime they might've been caught doing.

"Sure did, and ya'll ain't gonna like this. Asking about if there was some reason why those two names in particular weren't allowed - even goin' so far as reasonin' with 'em that there were hundreds if not thousands of ponies and griffons with those names - they told us that since yesterday they've been flooded with reports about those two, as well as several hundred other ponies all across Equestria. They were so dismissive because it was already developing into an international case and more than a bushel of newsponies had been flocking to get details." That... wasn't what I had expected.

"I mean... that's a good thing all things considered." I pointed out. "It means we might not even have to do anything against them. We might just be able to let the guard take their course and lock them all behind bars."

"Well, you see, that's what I thought." Applejack sighed. "Then I found out why that made me a fool." This wasn't going anywhere good, was it? "We was about to leave when a guard pony came in and told the guards that all charges against the ponies involved in the case were being dropped. When a newspony asked, she told 'em that several 'key witnesses' had stepped forward under questionin' and basically told 'em that it was all just a big hoax. 'Cuz of that, the whole thing is gettin' dropped." I hissed as I turned, feeling the urge to hit something, but not having anything present to sate that desire.

"I should've known it was too easy."

"Yeah, that's why Rarity is goin' back in a bit. She wanted to do some investigations of her own using her 'grace and charm'. I tried an-"

"You mean she's going back alone!?" I blurted out. Applejack looked concerned, but above all else, quite confused.

"Uh, yeah, she's probably headin' over now. Why?"

"AJ, if they were able to so easily dispose of the charges against them, I have no doubt... ok, a little doubt, that they have somepony on the inside of the guard. Knowing, or at least assuming that, we are sending Rarity in alone to a situation where she might very well be taken control of!" Applejack's eyes widened.

"But... then that means..." Horror dawned on her as she realized her friend was likely walking into what amounted to a trap. "We got to go help her." She said, determination dripping from her voice.

"As much as I agree, we can't go right this second. We have to wait for Twilight, Rainbow, and Starlight." I said plainly. I could tell she wanted to punch me for that, but I pressed on. "If we leave now, and provide them with no warning, we're putting them in danger. We need to hold back until they arrive, and then we can go out and help her."

"She might not be at the guard station yet! We can still get to her before she gets in danger! Ain't we got enough ponies that I can just get up and go out there and get her!?" She protested.

"Fine." I acquiesced. "Berry, join AJ and Pinkie. The three of you get back here by noon, you understand? If Rarity reaches the guard post, try and remove her quickly and as inconspicuously as possible, but don't go digging too deep. If you can't find her, come back here and we'll sort out a plan of action when Twilight gets back." Berry nodded, standing up to join the party.

"I ain't a filly." AJ hissed, looking at me. "I don't need an escort."

"Applejack, you could be the most seasoned member of the guard and I'd send Berry with you. No pony, and I repeat, no pony is leaving this house alone. Now the three of you need to hurry." I pressed. Applejack looked like she wanted to say something, but kept it to herself as she turned and headed up the party.

"Do you really think they're in danger?" Fluttershy asked from the table, her untouched stack of pancakes in front of her. I sighed.

"I do..." I said, not at all comforting her. I couldn't comfort myself in this situation, and I wasn't entirely certain if I could comfort somepony else. "I want to help them and keep them safe," I began, "but at this point we need to gather everypony together, otherwise we're in more danger. I can't have us going in blind! If we do, we lose ponies. And then we'll-"

"We'll have a troop of Starlights..." Raven muttered solemnly. "If not something worse." I winced at that. It was true, we had no idea whether or not Starlight had received the worst or the lightest possible treatment. It might yet be reversible, but somepony might fall into a scenario where they get it much worse.

A knocking came to the door, and I felt relief wash over me. Even as I approached the door, I felt it was Twilight. With her here we'd be able to set off after the others. If we were lucky, the two groups might've met up as Twilight came in and save us the trouble so that we could set out in one cluster. Opening the door, I wasn't prepared for what I saw.

"Hey~!" A particularly well endowed, and scantily clad, young stallion said.

"Button?" I looked around behind him for any other pony in sight.

"Heh heh... you said 'butt'." Button said dreamily before a sudden sharpness returned to his gaze. "Hey, you wanna have me suck your dick? Maybe you could suck mine too!" He offered, and I couldn't help but feel something was terribly wrong.

"Button, what happened?" I said, pulling him inside quickly, closing the door behind him to make sure there were no more intrusions.

"Hm? Whadya mean?" He asked, his hand grabbing at my crotch. "I juz' wanna have some fun is all." I jerked away from his grasp despite the boner that was developing of its own volition. Looking him over, he seemed... roughly put together. That wasn't to say he was roughly in a state of readiness for the outside world, but that the put together he was was a very rough style. The kid was wearing eyeliner and some gosh darn blush, and I couldn't be sure if he was wearing lip gloss, balm, or a particular well suited lipstick.

"Button!" I said, shaking him, trying to bring him back to his senses. "What happened?" I said, saying each word forcefully, vainly hoping he'd be able to take the hint.

"Woah, could you do the shaky thing again? It was pretty fun." He giggled. Hissing to myself I let him go, walking in further, grabbing at my hair. This was bad, this was very bad. "Hey, you feelin' alright? I can still suck your dick if it'll make you feel better. I'd do it anyway, but it looks like I can help you while helping me, so~." I clenched my fist. Despite myself, my boner was raging already. I would need some relief, but couldn't let it be Button - not like this. The other ponies, who had been talking, were starting to take notice, and were moving to see what the commotion was about.

"What's going o- Button, is that you?" Periwinkle stopped short, looking at the nearly unrecognizable stallion.

"Hey~, wanna go for a ride?" He said, pointing to his crotch. "Or do you want me to eat you out? Maybe suck your boobies a bit?"

"What happened to him?" Raven asked, coming up beside me. I shook my head. This was certainly not good.

Author's Note

And that's a whole month of daily updates down!