Fluttershy stepped out of the passenger car and onto the platform in Manehattan, her lean muscled frame hidden under an elegant, but simple pantsuit, extensions concealed that her mane and tail were now close-cropped. She took a breath, slipping into her meek and shy persona that most ponies knew. She looked around the platform as the baggage ponies unloaded her luggage and racks of clothes sewn for a fashion show to help the families of the victims of the terror attack that had been carried out by The Mare Who Laughs last year. Seeing Photo Finish being carried up by her assistants, Fluttershy quickly donned a shy and insecure expression.

Photo Finish's assistants placed the platform they were carrying her and she quickly descended, greeting Fluttershy with two quick air kisses on either side of the yellow pegasus' face, "*mwah-mwah* Ah Flootershy! Sho good to see joo again!"

Fluttershy ducked her face behind the extensions in her mane and forced a blush. "Oh...um...thank you?"

Photo Finish quickly trotted over to the rack of clothes and inspect them with her hooves. "Zees are for ze fashion show, jes?"

Fluttershy gave a timid nod.

Photo Finish quickly tugged at at the hems, then took out a jeweler's monocle to inspect the stitching. "Jes, jes. Ze stitching isht exquisite." Putting away the monocle, she kissed her hoof in an over-dramatic gesture. "*mwah* I dare say Flootershy, joo are ze perfect heir to Rarity's empire!"

"Oh...um...er...thank you? But I'm only doing this to help out Rarity until she is able to start making clothes again. Considering she was nearly killed and her shop burning down."

Photo Finish's expression turned sad momentarily. She walked over and gently patted Fluttershy on her wither. "Jes, such a pity zat. She isht fortunate to haff such a good friend." She ascended back on top her platform and quickly clicked her hooves together. "Vell I shall see joo at ze shaw zen. Oh und Flootershy, if joo ever deshide to come back to modeling, I shtill haff a shpot open for joo."

Fluttershy legimately blushed. "Um...thank you."

"Now Photo Finish goes!", the eccentric Germane fashion pony exclaimed as her assistants lifted her platform and trotted off.

Fluttershy put on her saddlebags and picked up a faux leather suitcase with a small padlock on it. She checked her saddlebags, making sure the key to the padlock was secured in it and then made her way to a carriage that was waiting for her, while the baggage ponies loaded the rest of the luggage and rack of clothes on it. Once the last of the luggage was secured, the carriage took off carrying Fluttershy to the historic Ponedorf Astoria.
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Celestia stepped into what appeared to be a plain and unassuming alcove in the palace that held a simple wooden cabinet, she quickly looked around making sure there were no ponies dropping eves and opened the door. On the shelf was an ancient Neighponese tea ceremony set. The diarch of the sun gingerly reached up a hoof and tipped one of the small jade cups on its side. After a few seconds there was a soft, nearly inaudible click and the alcove rotated, bringing the princess with it.

Once the alcove finished rotating, Celestia took a second to pause and look around. She found herself standing at the top of a ramp that gently sloped downwards and curved slightly to her left, leading deep into an ancient part of the castle. Celestia walked calmly down the ramp, small alcoves on the wall containing small clumps of luminescent moss that bathed the ramp in an dim, eerie greenish-white light. Her golden shoes clicked softly on the stone of the ramp as she rounded the curve towards a simple wooden door with soft light creeping through the crack.

Reaching the door, Celestia out a hoof to the handle and opened the door. Walking in, she looked around the room, it was filled with row upon row of new inductees into the shadow guard, each of them criminals convicted of crimes of the highest caliber, murderers, rapists, foalnappers casters of dark and forbidden magics, willful users of dark magic artifacts and those whom had committed high treason, all them selected for training only if they were truly repentant of the crimes they had committed and agreed to the training as compensatory punishment for their crimes.

At the head of the room was a unicorn mare, weaving a spell to implant the inductees with the memory charms that would blank their memories in the event they were compromised and the trigger spells to activate their training when they were needed. Celestia quietly observed the mare as she wove the spells, she had been arrested outside Ponyville after she had used the alicorn amulet in an attempt to enslave the town. Once the mare finished weaving her charms, Celestia approached her. The unicorn turned and silently bowed before the solar diarch.

"Is your master available?", Celestia asked.

The unicorn mare rose and silently pointed to a small door on the far side of the room.

Celestia gave a quick nod as she walked across the room and opened the door. Inside the room an ancient Neighponese unicorn sat on a mat on the floor in a meditative pose.

"I have been expecting you, princess.", Mistmane said without opening her eyes, "Would care for some tea?" Igniting the magic in her gracefully curving horn, she levitated a small oil pot with wick, a simple jade teapot, an intricately carved wooden box, two porcelain cups and a low table over. Flipping the lid on the wooden box open, Mistmane reached in with a hoof and placed two scoops of jasmine tea into each cup with measured ceremony. Lighting the oil pot with a match, she placed the lade teapot on the flame.

Once the tea was ready, Celestia took one of the steaming cups in her magic, blew gently on it and took a quiet sip. "If you were expecting me, then you know why I'm here."

Mistmane opened one eye and a slight smile made the corners of her mouth curl up slightly. "You're here in concern that an ancient enemy has returned. I assure that it has never left."

"But Stygian was slain over a thousand years ago, leaving the Hoof leaderless all these centuries. Though they never fully went away, all that is left are a few of their clans who work as mercenaries."

Mistmane slowly slowly opened her eyes. "So sure are you? Did the thousand years of sleeplessness muddle your senses?"

Celestia frowned and put down the teacup. "If Stygian is still alive, he'd be ancient. How has he eluded my, Luna's, Bulwark's and Midnight's foresight?"

"Have you forgotten the lessons of Starswirl so easily?", Mistmane replied with a smile, "Out of the tribes, neither the unicorns nor the pegasi have the gift of foresight. When we found you and your three siblings all those centuries ago in that earth pony village, you all were nearly a hundred years ago, but still barely taller than ten year old foals, your flanks were still blank. None in the village knew where you all had come from originally as they found you four wandering the woods."

"I don't need a history lesson about my own foalhood. Bulwark, Luna, Midnight and I are the last survivors Hippolytia." Celestia stared off to the distant wall. "An even more ancient enemy brought that golden kingdom down in flames, only to have himself into the void between all things."

"What of your grandnieces and nephews? Your own descendants? Are they not also heirs of that grand city-state?", Mistmane asked, "As for Stygian, you know as well as I that one does not make deals with dark forces and tamper with dark magics as much as he without receiving punishment. His was to be banished from death. As far as him being able to hide from your and your sibling's foresight, who says that one of your siblings hasn't seen him and has been working to undermine his works from the shadows. Remember that even the wisest of us cannot see all ends. Though Stygian eludes my sight for now, he has forgotten his lessons about letting his reach exceeding his grasp."

Celestia licked her lips in thought. "Two last thing I wish to ask you. What is Stygian planning and what of the elements? They're broken now and cannot be called upon until new bearers are chosen."

Mistmane curled the corners of her mouth up enigmatically. "Still asking questions that you know the answers to? Very well, I shall humor you for now. Stygian's plans are the same as they always have, burn society and rebuild it in his own image. As for the elements, four still stand, metaphorically, though if you were to open the vault, you'll ind two of them gone, along with your older brother."

Celestia scowled as she rose to her hooves. "These last bits of information I give without prompting...", Mistmane called, "Stygian is the one who slew Starswirl with a drop of poison and had Somnambula slain. Once the Crystal Empire returns, search the libraries, you'll find who gave Sombra the page from Grogar's book."
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Once the fashion show was over, Fluttershy walked into her hotel room carrying three checks. She sat down at at the desk and filled out the deposit slips from the Ponyville bank. One check was from the take from ticket sales, the second was from the sale of the clothes and the third was her modest commission of three percent she received. She slipped the first two checks along with the corresponding deposit slips into an envelope for the blind trust she had set up for Rarity if she ever turned up again, she had set up a special notice for the account in the event her friend never turned up for the money to go to Sweetie Belle when she turned eighteen. The third check along with the deposit slip she slipped into another envelope. Sealing them both, she applied stamps and addressed them for the First Bank of Ponyville.

Fluttershy sighed as she walked over to the coffee pot, picked up the carafe in her teeth and filled it from the sink in the bathroom. Filling the back of the coffee pot with the water, she placed a filter of grounds in the basket and turned the automatic drip on. Slipping out of the pantsuit, she hung the "do not disturb" sign on the outside of the door and stepped into the shower, the fashion show was over, now her real job was about to begin.

As the hot water cascaded down her body, Fluttershy trembled in anticipation. Tonight was the first real patrol, she had spent months training her strength and endurance to match a stallion of subsequent size. As the hot water streamed down her and the steam curled up around her hooves, the butter-yellow pegasus mare felt the nerves get the best of her and her stomach heaved, causing her to retch. Fluttershy gasped for air as she watched the small pool of stomach bile slowly swril down the shower drain.

Fluttershy stepped out of the shower and wiped the condensation off the mirror with a hoof. She scowled seeing she was still wearing the pink extensions in her mane and tail. Unsnapping them, she she walked to the bed in her hotel room and stashed the extensions in her saddle bags. Taking the key from the saddlebags, she unlocked the suitcase and pulled the black suit she had painstakingly sew all those months ago. After slipping on and adjusting the suit, she slipped on the cowl the slipped on the wing covers.

Walking over to a nearby floor mirror, she looked the suit over that made her look like a rare thestral and gave it a few last minute adjustments. "Criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot.", Fluttershy recited the mantra, "Make them think your are one of the lords of Tartarus come to collect their souls and they shall cower before you and flee." Grabbing the carafe from the coffee pot, she poured the steaming dark liquid into a ceramic cup and drank it down unsweetened, grabbing a thermos from her saddlebags, she filled it before strapping it to her body.

Fluttershy flipped off all the lights and made sure there was nopony in the hallway, she then opened the window to the fire escape. Grabbing a piece of tape from the nearby dispenser, she placed it on the window lock so it would latch back and stepped out. Spreading her wings, she flew off into the night before alighting on the roof of a building several blocks down.

Fluttershy leapt, flapped and glided from rooftop to rooftop, occasionally clicking her tongue or softly nickering to the creatures of the night to help guide her. Pausing on a rooftop, she listened to a bat telling her about some muggers sneaking up on a couple. Gliding over the rooftops, a nightingale chirped guiding her to the alleyway where the muggers had the couple corralled in.

Fluttershy perched on the edge of the roof watching the five muggers close in wielding broken bottles and rusty pipes, while the stallion tried to valiantly defend his marefriend. She quickly assessed the situation, spreading her wings, the black-clad pegasus mare swooped down, lining up her four hooves on one of the five muggers in the center of the group. The pony turned his head at the last second seeing what looked like a black shadow swooping at him before he was sent tumbling across the ground. Fluttershy quickly bucked her hooves into the head of a second mugger, knocking him out almost instantly. The three remain muggers began slowly backing away.

Fluttershy sprang on one of the muggers that separated from the other two. She struck out, shattering the broken bottle he was holding with one hoof while knocking him out with a follow-up strike. Two of the muggers rushed her from behind and she ducked down under his attack. Lifting her body up, she flipped the mugger over her and bucked into the last one, knocking him unconscious.

The mugger who had been flipped rose to his hooves trembling. "Wh-who are you?"

Fluttershy gave a predatory growl before responding in a soft, gravelly tone, "I am the terror that flaps in the night. I am the bunny that chews up your garden. I am the uninvited guest to your tea party. I am the Dark Mare and I have come for you."

The last mugger decided running away was the better part of valor. Fluttershy turned to the terrified couple and whispered, "Are you okay." The stallion found that for that moment he had forgotten how to use words. Unstrapping the thermos from her body, unscrewing the lid, she poured some lukewarm coffee and offered it. The stallion extended a shaking hoof, then withdrew it in fear, Fluttershy took a sip of the coffee to show it was okay to drink and offered it again. The stallion took the thermos lid and took a couple of hasty swallows, then passed to to his marefriend. Taking the lid back, she poured the last few drops back into the thermos and strapped it back to her body. "Be careful, neighborhoods like this aren't safe at night.", she said before pointing to the exit of the alleyway. After the couple had left, Fluttershy looked around the alley to find anything to tie the unconscious muggers up, she didn't notice a unicorn mare wearing black body armor with several guns strapped to her back watching her through a pair of field glasses from a nearby rooftop.

Fluttershy flapped into the air, leaving the alleyway and the tied up muggers behind before the couple could return with the police. Flying through the air, the adrenaline rushing in her veins, she gave a midair twirl. The pegasus mare felt good! Better than good! She felt alive! More alive than she had in many months. In her adrenaline-fueled celebrations, she failed to notice the unicorn mare tracking her from rooftop to rooftop, teleporting with red flashes of light.

Once the adrenaline had burned off, Fluttershy felt shaky as her stomach began doing the lambada. The pegasus mare decided that she had enough for the night and decided to go back to the hotel, hopefully there was some pink bismuth in the medicine cabinet. Landing on the fire escape outside her room, she opened the window and slipped inside, pulling the tape off the lock.

Sunset watched the black-clad mare slip in the window at the hotel through her field glasses. She waited for the light to come on in the room before teleporting onto the fire escape. Peeking through the crack in the curtain, she watched Fluttershy slip out of the outfit and cram it into a suitcase before walking into the bathroom. "Time to introduce myself.", she said softly before teleporting inside. She heard the pegasus mare retching in the bathroom. "You're just a rookie that got lucky.", she whispered. Sunset took out a pistol and decided to take a seat and wait for her to come out the bathroom.

Fluttershy spit out the last of the acidic bile mixed with saliva into the toilet as she watched the mixture of coffee and stomach juices swirling in the bowl. Reaching up with a hoof she flushed the toilet and walked over to the sink to rinse out her mouth. Opening the medicine cabinet, she grabbed the small bottle of pink bismuth, cracked it open and chugged down a few swallows. Walking out into the main room, she froze seeing a unicorn mare wearing black body armor with a stylized skull, her face painted up like a skull, a black bandanna on her head and a strange box levitating in a red magical field.

"Don't make any sudden moves or I'll put three in you before you can blink.", Sunset said in a calm tone, "You should really learn to pay attention to you surroundings, I was able to track you easily enough and if I wanted to kill you, you'd have never made it out of the bathroom. I'll have to admit your little bat cosplay is impressive and you've had some training, not military, but you can handle yourself."

"I...uh...um...don't know what you're talking about."

"Bullshit!" Sunset rose to her hooves and kicked the suitcase over, causing the black outfit fall out.

Fluttershy looked down at her black costume and then back to Sunset, she knew she was had. She looked around sizing up the situation, she didn't know what the strange box the unicorn was levitating could do, nor the two strange long objects she had strapped to her back, everything inside told her that this mare was extremely dangerous.

Sunset gestured to the bed with the muzzle of her gun and Fluttershy complied. Walking over to the desk and looked at the envelopes laying on it. Behind her she heard shuffle forward. "Don't get stupid, 'Fluttershy Breeze', I've killed more people and ponies than you can guess."

Fluttershy say back down on the bed. "What are 'people'?"

"They're kinda like ponies, except they walk on two legs, have hands, no fur except on their groins and only mane-like hair on the heads. Think of a taller and more intelligent ape with less hair." She levitated a piece of stationary and a quill, hastily scrawling out a letter to Twilight, then teleported it in a flash. "I just did you a favor by going ahead and sending a letter to Twilight. She's smart enough that she'd figure out who you are and send someone to summon you to her."

Fluttershy held her tongue as she didn't want to put Twilight or her colt in danger from this mare, even if she was in the castle in Canterlot. But one thought nagged at the back of her mind, how does this mare know Twilight?

"So what do you call yourself?"

"What?"

"Did I fucking stutter?"

Fluttershy set her jaw for a moment, everything in her wanted to give this unicorn The Stare and scold her for cursing at her, but she restrained herself as she didn't know if it would work on this mare, so instead she decided to answer the question, "Dark Mare."

Sunset snorted, trying to restrain her laughter. "It's not as dumb as I thought it would be. If you had called yourself something like Batmare or Batpony, I would have pissed myself laughing." Sunset collected herself before continuing, "Why do you do it?"

Fluttershy held her tongue for a moment reading the non-verbal cues of this mare. "My friend was attacked and left in a wheelchair by a very bad pony. Then that pony foalnapped me and two of my friends. She tortured us and nearly killed one of my friends."

Sunset sighed and put her pistol back in its holster. She turned to face Fluttershy, "You're one of Twilight's friends."

Fluttershy winced slightly in the realization she had revealed too much, but now that the unicorn mare was facing her, she would take this opportunity to use one of her natural talents to study her and better understand her. Fluttershy looked deep into Sunset's eyes, after a few moments she could see it all, the intensity, the training, the hurt, the loss and something else...trauma, this mare did what she did because she didn't know how to turn it off. "I'd ask why you do what you do, but you don't know how to turn off, so you use it to hurt those who hurt others." She shuffled slightly and stood up off the bed, slowly walking towards Sunset.

Sunset gasped, this pegasus had just read her like a book. She backed up slowly as Fluttershy was slowly walking towards her. She wanted to run, jump out a window, something, but she found she couldn't as her legs wouldn't comply. She thought about charging forward and barreling over this pegasus, but she couldn't bring herself to do it, the mare radiated nothing but kindness and empathy.

As Fluttershy reached Sunset, she reached out a hoof and gently touched it to the mare's foreleg. She gave a gentle smile and spoke in a soft, reassuring tone, "Shh! It's okay."

Sunset found herself crumbling as her resolve melted, deep inside the years of hurt and loss began welling up as tears began welling up in her eyes. Her legs failed her and she slumped forward. She found herself caught by the butter-yellow pegasus mare in a hug and Sunset began to cry. "Oh God!", she said between sobs, "I've seen my friends ripped apart by bombs and bullets! I've had to kill kids just to survive!"

Fluttershy said nothing as she let this hurting mare get everything out.

After a while Sunset finally calmed down and gently pushed Fluttershy away. She felt, not better, but that some of the weight was no longer on her. "Thank you.", She whispered, "I have to go, there's a pony I have to go and see." In a flash of red light, she teleported out of the room and on to the roof of a building across from the hotel. There was a crime boss who had tried to frame her that she had a meeting with. Taking the compact out from inside her armor, she flipped it open and touched up her tear streaked skull makeup, then stole out into the dark.

Fluttershy hastily donned her Dark Mare outfit, rigged the lock on the window again and took flight out into the night. Something inside her said this mare would need help.
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Langley, Virginia The Human World

A car pulled into the parking garage of the CIA. Once it pulled into a parking spot, a young woman stepped out wearing a simple gray suit with white button-up shirt, her dark hair was highlighted by a single magenta stripe. After adjusting her wire-framed glasses, she clipped a badge to her lapel that read "Hailey Gordon", the the insignia on the badge indicated she was a part of the occult investigation division.

Hailey walked up to a door with biometric security. Taking off her glasses, she placed a thumb to a small screen and her eye to a small lens. With small flickers of red light, the biometric scanners read her thumbprint and retina, she leaned away from the scanner rubbing her eye in frustration, then put her glasses back on. The door opened with a soft click and she pushed it open. Inside were two guards wearing dark blue pants and light blue shirts, each holding a shotgun. They quickly relaxed and snapped her a quick salute, which she returned before walking past them.

Hailey stopped at the metal detector. The took her pistol out from under her jacket, pulled the magazine out and shucked the chambered round, then placed them in a small plastic bin. She did the same with her glasses, the change in her pocket and her car keys.

"Some of us from the office are going out for drinks after we get off, you wanna join us Hailey?", the guard asked.

"After I see what old iron ass wants, you're on Jim.", Hailey said with a smile. She took a breath and stepped through the metal detector. She gave an aggravated when it beeped. She stood still as Jim walked over with a metal detecting wand.

"Sorry about this Hailey.", Jim apologized, "It's probably picking up you zipper and bra clasp again."

Hailey held her arms out to her sides as Jim waved the metal detector. Just as he said, it went off where her zipper and bra clasp was. She walked over to where there were some blinds set up. A female guard met her behind the blinds with a pair of sweat pants. Hailey quickly unsnapped her pants and the slid them off, then reached under her shirt unsnapping her bra. She dropped her pants and bra in a nearby plastic bin and walked through the metal detector again.

The female guard pointed her over to a small side room. Hailey stepped in and got dressed. Stepping out, she tossed the sweat pants to a guard. Walking to a guard behind a cage, she surrendered her pistol and the walked in the offices. Walking through the offices, she stopped at the receptionists desk. "Hey Rosie, how's the kids?"

Rosie looked up to Hailey. "Spoiled as usual." She turned a picture frame around holding a recent picture of her, her husband and three kids holding ice cream cones at the beach, the youngest had ice cream all over her mouth. "This is from our most recent trip to the cape."

Hailey chuckled as she looked at the picture. "You know what old iron ass wants with me?"

"Nah. I only know that he wants a video meeting with you."

Hailey frowned slightly. "I'll take it in my office unless he wants to talk to me somewhere else."

Rosie smiled softly. "He didn't tell me anything to the difference."

Hailey nodded and waived bye to Rosie as she made her way to her office. Stepping in, she flipped on the light switch and looked to her desk. Besides her computer, there was a box with several wax seals on it. Sitting down she looked over the box and seals. She recognized the standard CIA seals, but what caught her off guard was the MI-Five and BND seals. "What does British and German intelligence have to do with this?" Breaking open the seals, she pulled out two books, one was a copy of the Dresden codex that had the seal of a university in Berlin inside the front cover, the other was a much newer copy with the seal of the Equus county library back in her home state of Iowa.

Hailey rubbed her chin in thought. "What does the Dresden codex have to do with this." Taking out the two files marked "classified: authorized eyes only", she broke the seal on the first and flipped through it. It contained a USMC file on a woman with red hair with blonde steaks named Danielle Steinem, her eyes were drawn to the part that said AWOL. She continued to flip through the file, it contained a school file, a juvie record, a psych evaluation from when she was younger and security camera pictures of her stealing the newer copy of the book that sat on her desk. She drummed her fingers together. "What does this have to do with an AWOL marine."

Hailey opened the other file. It contained a complete record on Canterlot High School, including the complete records on all strange occult happenings. "Did this Danielle Steinem get herself involved in some cult or some supernatural occurrence?" After stacking the files and books on her desk, she turned on her computer. After it finished booting up, she typed in her password and connected to the secure server. Almost immediately there was a message blinking for her.

Hailey clicked on the message and opened up the video conference. Three small windows popped up, containing the pixilated and blurred images of two men and a woman. "Director.", she said in a clam and professional tone, "Am I safe in assuming that these two are from MI-Five and BHD?"

"Yes you are agent Sparkle.", the first pixelated man said, "This is agent Gekritzel and agent Scratch. After your report several months ago about the energy residue from suspected occult activities, we checked all known history on Canterlot High and found it to be a hotbed in the past of supernatural occurrences. After one of the sweep teams recovered the book stolen from the county library, we had to contact our allies to see if they had any similar records of that particular book."

Agent Sparkle tapped her fingers together. "So this is what it has to do with the Dresden codex."

"Our best occult investigators have determined that many pages of the Dresden codex contains several passages from no known language.", Agent Gekrtizel said in near-perfect English.

"The Queen's book also contains similar passages.", Agent Scratch replied, "But we couldn't get the clearance to send the CIA any copies."

"What are my orders?", Agent Sparkle asked.

The director replied, "You have a month to decipher the available script before going to Canterlot High and determine whether the supernatural activity is a danger. You will be assigned a standard containment team for protection. Good luck and Godspeed." All three windows went blank.

Hailey sat at her desk, drumming her fingers in deep thought before sighing, "Looks like I'll have to cancel those drinks." She opened a drawer on her desk and fished out a simple black medallion, slipped it on and tucked it under her shirt.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy.

I will try and take all comments and criticisms as constructive.

Just a little look into my thought process, the name Hailey Gordon is a tip of the hat to two characters Tara Strong did the voice to. If you figure them out, you win a free invisible cookie.