What Remains

Ok, a couple of announcements before this chapter starts.

1.  As you may have noticed, it has been awhile since the last update.  I do not intend to abandon this story, but with the things I have to do in the real world and my own procrastination, do not underestimate it, there will be no constant update schedule.  That being said, I will attempt to decrease the time between updates.

2.  This is an apology actually.  A friend of mine read chapter 2 and mentioned it had some errors.  I went to fix them which may have caused the story to update and get people excited when there was no new chapter, if this happened I am sorry.

3.  I have a dark tag on this and that will not change.....how dark this will get, we will see.  If you want something truly dark I recommend reading "The Immortal Game" which should satisfy all your dark needs and also probably where I got the quick start concept from

4.  I do not own anything MLP other than my story/OCs.....owned by Hasbero.....don't sue me

5.  This story, while written by me is ultimately enjoyed by you.  I thus humbly ask you to comment/read and review in the comments below.....thanks in advance and now onto.......

Chapter 3-Spirits of Disharmony

Twilight was in shock.  Discord was sealed back into stone after his brief, although by no means quiet, escapade two years age; not only that, but she was staring at said statue before her very eyes.  She was in conflict, the facts that she knew to be true and what she was seeing before her were reaching two separate conclusions.  Despite these facts, she knew without a shadow of a doubt that she was speaking to Discord.

“You should see the look on your face……..priceless,” Discord taunted, rolling on the ground.  “We had almost forgotten how amusing you were to be around…….almost.  You remember what fun we had last time…..breaking you, oh the possibilities this moment represents, but we digress for it has already been set into motion and not even you, Twilight Sparkle, can stop it.”

Finally bringing herself together from the being before her who, despite the voice and attitude looked just like the Palace’s groundskeeper, Twilight faced down the creature.  She could not…would not accept this as Discord.  Despite her uncertainty there was one thing that could not be denied,  “You can’t be Discord, I’m looking at his statue behind you.  You may be like him, but I see his prison so spill it, who or what exactly are you?”

“Your worst nightmare Twilight Sparkle, but all that in due time.  Your presence here is a surprise; your magic must have improved to have not only sensed the magic at work here, but also traveled to Canterlot before the festivities were finished……well done.  For your efforts you have gained the esteemed honor of witnessing our source’s release…unless you make their mistake and try to stop us.”

It took Twilight a moment to comprehend this comment, but when she did there were no words to describe her shock.  The unicorn hadn’t even realized it, but she had been so focused on the disturbance and finding out what was going on, but she had developed tunnel vision.  Even when this happened, she was smart enough not to actually turn away, but sensed her surroundings with her magic…..she felt ill.

Bodies littered the area, some obscured by the darkness and one no more than a hoof’s length from her.  The grass was dark, not its normal green and Twilight knew it was not just the night’s darkness.  They were knights; it was obvious by the armor still attached to their forms and the occasional scattered item discarded to the side.  Despite all her control the unicorn’s face suddenly adorned a look of base uncensored horror and then she threw up.

As her senses kept expanding onward they had reached some of the nearby statues, meant to be memorials to actions and moments of Equestia’s history.  Many held items such as flags, banners, instruments, and other items the respective moment called for, and to Twilight’s disbelief many of them were now tipped with corpses, impaled upon those memorials of triumph and giving the statues a sinister glow.  It had become a garden of death, a dark counterpart to its original sun-filled companion that Twilight had known so well growing up.

As she looked up again at the creature before her, she looked weary and beaten.  Granted she was tired from the teleportation spells that had got her here to Canterlot, but this was something more.  Her eyes seemed both full and deep and her face seemed to darken; to an outsider one would have thought she had walked a thousand miles.  She did not understand what was before her eyes and if there was one constant about Twilight Sparkle it was the need to understand everything.  “Who are you monster?  You are not discord, he said himself that he does not turn ponies into stone and thus would never do this to anypony.  He was twisted, diabolical, chaotic, and warped, but even he would commit these…...  Even after everything he did there were no casualties during his escape.  He caused us torment unspeakable that no pony should endure and yet I find this a small thing compared to what I now see.  So answer me one question, what are you?”  The last words came out a whisper for it was all she could manage as met its eyes.

It only smiled.  “Ah Twilight Sparkle, as usual so lost in your theories you can’t see or accept what is in front of you.  We could inform you of our nature, but that would be telling and besides you should already know what we are, in fact you should have seen us coming, but we digress, for we are about to receive company.  Come join us in welcoming back the Spirit of Disharmony.”  As it spoke, the crack began to lengthen and travelled up the statue’s legs into his torso, but then stopped once again.  “It seems we owe you an apology, this seal is more resilient then we believed, but no matter with time it too will crumble, just like your friendships during our last encounter, just like the world when we are done.”

“NO, I won’t let you,” Twilight suddenly became alive with focus.  She still looked dark and hurt, but her eyes were filled with pure dedicated purpose.  No matter what this thing was Discord was being released in front of her and she had to do all she could to prevent that.  The unicorn planted her hooves in a sturdy position and send out a beam to give some strength to the statue’s seal.  It barely made it half way however, before it was stopped by a green shield created by Discord.  “Were we unclear, nothing shall interfere with his release.  You could have witnessed a great moment Twilight Sparkle, but now you shall simply die like the rest.”

The shield had barely dispersed when a solid green laser was shot from where his horn would have been and in the same time span was met with an identical purple one emanating from Twilight’s horn.  The two met and for a moment and it seemed they were at a standstill.  “You won’t succeed, the princesses will stop you, my friends will stop you, I WILL STOP YOU.”  “No my little pony you won’t.  We give you credit, any normal unicorn would have buckled at first contact.  That you have anything left in you at all is a testament to your study under Celestia, but even after our work on the seal we have enough power to beat you.  The princesses will not save you, we have already dealt with them and your friends are back in that backwater grouping of houses you call home.  You are alone, and alone you have no chance against us.  Good bye Twilight Sparkle, we had a blast.”**

With that more energy seemed to pour into the locked powers and Twilight began to lose ground.  The shot grew closer and closer.  “I’m sorry everypony, I’m sorry Princess, I couldn’t do anything,” Twilight whispered.  Right before the beam broke through and stuck her horn, she closed her eyes and waited.

The second she did, the unicorn heard a popping noise and the pressure stopped.  Shocked but relieved, Twilight opened her eyes to see what had changed and was rendered speechless when she saw the creature slumped against a nearby statue covered in…..was that confetti?  “Stop hurting Twilight you meanie pants.”  Utterly lost Twilight turned to meet the source of the voice she had heard thousands of times before.  “PINKY PIE?  What are you doing here…..not that I’m complaining?”

The pink earth pony was standing in the entrance of the low, but being regrown hedge maze.  Even in the middle of the night she was easy to make out in the darkness by her pink coat and mane.  Next to her was her now infamous party cannon, which had garnered quite a reputation as the fastest known way to prepare a party anywhere in Equestria, although it was rumored somepony was trying to develop a rival to it, smoking from the shot it had just fired.  “How did you get here, what are you doing here, HOW DID YOU GET THE PARTY CANNON HERE?” Twilight rushed towards her friend only to bombard her with more questions.  She was grateful for being saved, but now she had to worry about her friend’s safety and she doubted that…..thing was down for good.

“Why silly willie, I’m here to help.  Spike came around and woke me up and told me where you went so I came to find you.  Good thing too, once he woke me up, I was shaking like crazy, there was goona be a doozy and so I got here ASAP and just in time that pony was going to force you to take something.  You shouldn’t force someone to take something, you just convince them.  Maybe he is just cranky, do you think he needs a party?  I brought the cannon.”

Even with what she had experienced and the scene around her, Twilight could not help smiling, “Thanks Pinkie, I needed that.  How did you get here though?  I sent Spike, but I though Dash was the only one who even had to possibility of getting here?”  “Dash never told you that story?  I could always get ahead of her when she was running away from me.  Don’t worry, she’ll be here shortly.”  Even knowing Pinky’s pinkiness that was a lot to take, “But how did you do it, nopony is faster than Dash?”  “Secrets,” Pinky replied.  Twilight sighed but accepted it.  As she learned from trying to comprehend her “Pinkie sense” some things with Pinky simply could not be explained.  Still there was the matter at hoof, “Pinkie it’s good to see you and thanks for your help, but you need to get out of here.  This pony.....whoever he is, is very powerful.  Go to the castle and check on the princesses.”  “But Twilight, I want to help,” her friend persisted.  “And I appreciate that Pinky but…”

“Saved by the party animal of your motley crew, eh Twilight.  It has been too long Pinky, would you like a party?  Our last one had such a profound impact on you after all.”  Pinky hop gasped, “Twilight could you hold him for a minute?  I need more supplies if I need to throw him a party.  Let’s see I’ll need at least four of all my special surprises, a bajillion balloons, and cupcakes…..lots and lots of cupcakes.”  “Uh Pinky, not the time,” Twilight said in a worried tone.  “While we would love to have a cupcake Pinky I’m afraid that you two are about to reach your limit and crash….one way or the other.  Take a look.”  Twilight quickly turned, the cracked had moved up the statue’s body into its neck.  If this was actually happening, they did not have much time.

“You must realize how futile this is.  Twilight let us entertain the possibility of your victory over us right here right now.  It would mean nothing.  You are exhausted as it is.  Even if by some fluke you defeat us, you have nowhere near the amount of energy needed to restore that seal.  So why don’t we all just sit and await the return on one of Equestria’s oldest sources of power?”

“No, I won’t give up, I will stop you,” Twilight immediately responded as she charged the possessed pony.  Even running on reserves at best, Twilight couldn’t just let this happen, but she really hoped the princesses would arrive soon.  She tackled him and the pair tumbled to the base of Discord’s statue.  Before she could do anything, however, she felt herself being lifted into the air.  “Twilight, Twilight, Twilight are you sure you have the right element?  You truly are loyal to a fault when it comes to the princess.  But honestly, you are a fool to think you can defeat us and it shall be your final mistake.”  “Let him go you meanie,” Pinky cried as another shot was launched from the cannon, just to have it seemingly vanish.  Pinky only had a moment to ponder this as she was hit by her own shot, which had been teleported behind her and caused her and the party cannon to tumble into a nearby statue.  “PINKY,” Twilight yelled, but could do little else.

“We would advise you to focus on yourself Twilight.  Your friend is fine….for now, not that it matters.”  Then it began.  Twilight felt something…alien reach inside her and she began to feel…..weaker.  It took her a second, but the unicorn realized that she was being drained, but not just of magic, this went farther.  She was being drained of power, of strength, of something deeper and innate to her.  Twilight was suddenly very afraid.  She had to think fast, but it was getting progressively harder to do so; then it hit her.  Pulling her focus on one spell she reached for the energy and suddenly Twilight found herself falling.  She had no time to recover and thus hit the ground hard, feeling completely exhausted.

“What did you do Miss Sparkle?,” the being spat.  Despite everything that had occurred, Twilight could not help but grin.  “It’s your….own fault,” she panted out.  “You tried to drain me of everything…..that connected our magic…..which I just sealed.  I had difficulty controlling….my magic as a filly….Celestia taught me to lock my magic temporarily in case it ever got out of control……again.  You trying to completely drain me……bridged our powers enough for the….spell to affect you as well……Your magic should return in a few hours…..long enough to settle and expend any excess……and long enough for you to be detained and become well acquainted with the Canterlot dungeons.”

He laughed.  Twilight could only look on as it laughed.  Despite everything, despite her efforts, despite her rendering him temporarily powerless, he laughed. “Bravo, Twilight Sparkle bravo.  You never cease to amaze us and we’ll admit we did not see that one coming, but all you do is prove our point.  You have brought this to a draw and with your own magic sealed, you cannot stop the seal from breaking.  Face it child, YOU HAVE LOST, and it looks like in more ways than one.”

Just then two spots of darkness, barely discernible against the night sky came out from the castle and into the pony before Twilight.

………….

Impressive as always Twilight, the being thought.  Locking both their magic when they had gotten careless, well she wasn’t the princess’ student for nothing.  Just as they were responding to the unicorn’s ploy they sensed it.  The others were returning, this would be their complete victory after all.  One of the blots reached them moments before the other, and suddenly the picture became clearer.  They had overestimated their abilities.  While their plan would continue regardless, having Luna still in play meant another element to account for and, WHAT THEY BOTH WON OUT.  The thought screamed it its head as the second darkness joined the form.  Wonderful…..just peachy, there goes the element of surprise and both Celestia and Luna were still alive.  Why the anger?  This result had been expected, planned for even, and yet the hope remained that at least one could have been felled this night and saved so much trouble.  No matter, they could be dealt with.  Even with the turn of events there was nothing to stop the source’s escape and, although weakened, with the shard’s reunion came power and more importantly magic.

………….

Twilight suddenly became very frightened for three very important reasons.  One, she was now completely done.  Oh she would put on a good face and not back down, but ultimately the magic lockdown had left her rather defenseless.  She could try to physically defend herself, but she was no Applejack; not to mention she was physically exhausted from the night’s events.  The unicorn knew she might be needed when she left to rush to the palace, but this had pushed her to the limits.  The second reason was that the creature was right.  She no longer had any hope of stopping Discord’s release.  Whatever this thing before her was, it had ultimately won and all she could hope to do was survive.  Third, magic aside, she became very unnerved when the pony before her seemed to absorbed pieces of the night.  Magic abilities locked or not, she could sense negative energies off those blots and she was uncertain she could survive any more surprises tonight.

What happened next caused the unicorn to freeze.  It was nothing abnormal; the pony before her only spoke, but its voice had changed.  What had been a deep crackling drawl was now deeper and holding great authority.  It was the voice of something more than the pony before Twilight Sparkle, even resigning to the chance that this was Discord, it was the voice of something heralding only darkness.   A sinister grim appeared upon its face.

“And so it comes together, with more delays than expected, but my goals are proceeding nonetheless.  You see my little pony this has been planned since your victories long ago, a few inconveniences will not stop me.  Do you even realize what has occurred this night?  I fought you, the guards, both princesses and still  my goal  will be achieved.  Your magic lock was clever, but it only sealed the section before you and while much of my magic has been used already, I have enough for this.  Enjoy the view Twilight for it shall be the last thing you do.”

And with a flash Twilight was gone.

…………….

Time seemed to slow momentarily.  Twilight did not know quite what had happened, until she looked down and saw…….air?  “I’ve been teleported…..UP!”  Just as she came to that realization, it brought another, she was falling……and there was nothing she could do.  So this was how it ended: Twilight, faithful student of Celestia and talk of the court, dead on impact through being teleported by a deranged pony, sigh.  She thought of her teacher, her assistant, her friends…..Celestia had been right.  She had never said it outright, but being sent to Ponyville was one of the best things that had happened to her….. “thank you princess, thank you Spike, thank you my friends.”  These thoughts had taken no longer than a few seconds but Twilight was only getting close to the ground.  She closed her eyes.

…………..

It was finally coming into view.  Anypony could see the outline of Canterlot for miles in all directions, but for Rainbow Dash the details of the city could begin to be distinguished from the general shape of the city.  “Why couldn’t that egghead wait a few minutes to explain this to us, now she has got everypony concerned?”  Rainbow tried not to think too hard, it was only worrying her excessively and she knew that, but it wasn’t working.  Spike had used Twilight’s balloon to reach her house and called out for her.  It had taken a few minutes to get her up, and she was having such a nice dream too, when the irritated rainbow mare had forced herself up to answer the night call.  She had been ready to give the dragon a piece of her mind, but the second she opened the door Rainbow was drowned out as the dragon quickly related what happened.  He had barely finished before Rainbow Dash had taken off towards Canterlot after her unicorn friend.

While such a journey would drain most pegasi, Rainbow was in good shape.  Being weather manager forced her up early sometimes, one of the aspects of the job she hated, but between that and the constant need to be on call to respond to dangerous weather pressures, she could be up on a moment’s notice.  Some of those storms were bad too.  There were entire days when the team had to be out in order to control the systems that went unchecked over the Everfree before they reach Ponyville.  Those were some of the hardest days and Rainbow was always exhausted afterwards.  That being said it was those factors that were helping her now.  All those long days had built up endurance and she could last much longer than some other pegusai.  It was the combination of that and the speed training she constantly put herself through for her spot on the Wonderbolts that allowed her to get to the Canterlot gates in such a short time, but now she was really worried, there was no one at the gates.

This was unheard of, Rainbow may not have been much for politics, but even she knew that even in peace there were always guards on the doors, if for no other reason than to check the goods coming into the city and keep the peace.  “Why couldn’t the egghead be wrong….just this once?,” and yet the very sentence was absurd.  Twilight was the most knowledgeable pony she knew, and had good instincts to boot; she had been right every time it had counted.  Why would tonight be any different?  She had to find Twilight, if the unicorn did beat her here, then she would have the answers.

The city itself seemed to be eerily quiet.  Rainbow did not live in Canterlot, but being an element of harmony had resulted in her spending a fair share of time here.  Canterlot had a night life.  Plays were performed, concerts attended, bars filled, and several other activities and yet there was barely anypony on the streets.  Rainbow decided to go higher to get a better view,  “What is going on here?,” a flash.  She caught it out of the corner of her eye; a flash in the sky above Canterlot Castle.  Even though she was still miles from the castle, away Rainbow thought she heard a cry through the air and somehow knew that her friend was in trouble.  “Hang on Twilight.,” she said, as she flew down and towards the castle, there was only one way to get there in time.

Rainbow had spent days perfecting the sonic rainboom.  At the wedding, Rainbow had broken the barrier extremely quickly and without the downward angle.  However, what few knew was that she had actually done a few circles around a back tower to build up some speed before that; the rainboom required some extreme speed to pull off and that velocity needed buildup.  She had spent countless hours making sure she could do it under almost any circumstance.  The biggest problems here were the lack of time and space.  There was no time to go higher and even with her training, she needed some space and downward gravity didn’t hurt either.

Luckily the flash was high above her, so she had some time, but even with that it would be close.  She sped on with the street coming closer and closer.  It happened, just above the roofline, she broke the barrier.  Luckily due to the slowdown from pushing through the barrier almost put her at a neutral reset, it was how she made extreme turns when she pushed through.  Even with that she was flying at street level for a moment before gaining altitude.  Windows shattered, carts were strewn asunder, and the few elite still out were thrown to the sides, Rainbow didn’t care in the least; her friend needed her and that was all that mattered.

................

It was a complete and utter disaster, no question about it.  First-lieutenant Shadow was trying to figure out what was going on.  With Captain Shining Armor nowhere to be found, he was next in command of the royal guard.  The return of the Night Princess had prompted changes with many matters, mainly finding fair ways of dividing the kingdom’s responsibilities, which Princess Celestia seemed almost too willing to share.  Since Celestia’s guard was already established and in force, they obviously retained formal control, but she had allowed Luna’s troops the second-in-command.  This was good in theory, but the problem was First-Lieutenant Shadow had no experience.  Ever since his appointment, any true threat had been dealt with by the elements of harmony or the Princesses themselves.  The only time the guard had yet to see true action was during the Changeling invasion which, to Shadow’s shame, had given him nothing as he had been ambushed at the start of the conflict.

Now suddenly everyone was looking to him for direction and he had no idea what to tell them.  They had suddenly been cut off from both Princesses and his command could do nothing to the sphere of dark energy before them.  It had been humiliating, but they could do little but wait.  When another energy had been confirmed in the gardens, he managed to focus himself long enough to send a squad to investigate and report, but his first duty was to his rulers, so he stayed by the shield.  He had just been about to send another party to the gardens, the first one still had not reported back, when the shield before him came down.  He was outside the Princess Luna’s quarters and immediately rushed in, only to find both her and another pony unconscious.  Before he even acted he saw a similar dome come down through what had been the back wall, why is nearly half the room gone?  Focus Lieutenant, take care of what’s in front of you.

“You two, secure the princess and get her somewhere safe, call the doctors immediately.  Have the other two checked out too, but detain them.  At best they are bystandards that can tell us what happened, at worst they are guilty of an attack against the crown.  I’m going to check the other site.”  He did not wait for their response before he spread his wings and went off to what appeared to be CELESTIA’S BEDCHAMBER.  “Of course, what else could possibly go wrong?”  He found the scene similar to the one he had just left, but the surroundings were more intact.  “You solider, what happened here.”  The guard turned to him and replied, “We have no idea Lieutenant.  We couldn’t do anything as we were shut out by some kind of dark barrier and our efforts to break it were met with no success.  When we tried to force it, we were shot back.  Some are still out.  It finally came down on its own accord and we found Captain Shining Armor and the Princess inside.  She started ordering us to take Shining to a hospital but collapsed before she could say more.  Are there orders from Princess Luna, sir?”

I wish there were soldier.  “Princess Luna was found unconscious as well.  There was some kind of altercation in her chambers.  You said Shining Armor was here?”  “Yes sir, he seems to have been involved somehow, but we just don’t know anything yet,” the solider responded although slowly.  I can’t blame him for that, if I wasn’t supposed to be in charge…….focus.  “I’ve already ordered physicians to look at the Princess, gathered them all in one room and lock it down.  I’ll send them up when they arrive and they can attend to everypony.  This is crazy enough as it is and I have no solid information.  The LAST thing we need right now is mass panic throughout Canterlot when they see us admitting the Princesses.”  “Yes sir.”

Ok, whatever happened seems to be over, now if I could just hear back from the garden everything should be accounted for. A flash, he saw it out of the corner of his eye and turned.  Something had flashed in the sky, but he couldn’t discern what.  Moments later came an explosion of color from over Canterlot headed straight for them.  I had to open my mouth.Before he could do anything however, the streak circled and seemed to land on the gardens.  What is going on down there?  Ok everything is settled here, which leaves one thing to do.  “You three, come with me, we are going to find out what is going on here.”  With that they headed off to the castle gardens.

…………….

It came as a rush.  A sudden change in direction and the feeling of hooves under her, the direction also changed from vertical to horizontal.  Twilight opened her eyes and was stunned.  Rainbow Dash was holding her as she left a complete rainbow in her wake; she started to cry and embraced her friend.  “Rainbow, I thought that was it for me…….I thought…..I thought.”  “It’s alright Twilight, I’ve got you.  Just give us some warning next time egghead.”  She smiled, “thank you, but it’s not over something is trying to release discord.”  “DISCORD!!!!,” Twilight nearly jumped as her friend screamed the name.  “Yes, we’ve got to go get pinky and figure out something.”  “What’s Pinky doing here?.....you know what never mind, but we need to help her.”  With that the Pegasus circled and landed back where her confrontation began and where it waited.

“Will wonders never cease?  First laughter and now loyalty saves you.  You are one very lucky mare Twilight Sparkle, but tell me why come back?  Has it not been made apparent that you are outmatched?  Or do you want to die?”

“Whatever it takes, you will be stopped.  Even if I can’t beat you, I won’t let you hurt my friends,” the unicorn retorted.  “Ummm Twilight, is he who you have been having trouble with.  I mean I know you aren’t exactly a physical fighter, but he isn’t even a unicorn, how……ow.”  “RAINBOW,” Twilight called.  The pegasus had been interrupted as a blast that sent her to the ground.  “Foolish, but I guess I can’t expect everypony to recognize me.  Now why don’t we pick where we left off Twilight, with me draining you dry.”

Just then it happened.  Energy; new energy and yet so very familiar, emanating from……. “no.”  “Why hello everypony, did you miss me.”  There on the pedestal where the statue was a moment before was Discord, looking no different from his previous break-out.  Twilight’s face wore an expression of hopelessness.  It’s over, we were being pushed handling……whatever this was, but now DISCORD.  Pinky is still out cold and Rainbow Dash can’t defeat them alone.

“Why the long face Twilight?  We are going to have so much fun when I get back.”  “Back?....You’re……leaving?”  “Well yes dear, you see as much fun as it would be to catch up, I’ve been able to witness this little skirmish of yours since my prison started to break and I must say I am deeply distressed.  As you so correctly pointed out, ten points for that by the way, I do not turn ponies into stone and I certainly don’t condone killing them……where’s the fun in that.  Now this entity wasn’t lying, I would know.  I do sense myself in him and that GIVES ME SUCH CONFLICTING EMOTIONS.  Another of me…..think of the possibilities, oh the chaos we could wreak….and yet something is very wrong if my principals have fallen this far.  Besides you have no idea the crick in my back after not being able to move, I have to get that checked out.  So you just collect your friends and move along.  I look forward to our quality time later on.”

And just like that Twilight felt them leave.  Discord flew over the pony and his claw went right through him.  When it reappeared there was pure darkness in his claw, deeper than any color she had seen and he flew off into the night clutching it.  Twilight felt a sense of relief and exhaustion.  They were alive….it had been the worst night in recent record, but they were safe and that was all that mattered at the moment.  “Would somepony care to explain to me why I just witnessed Discord flying off into the night?”  Twilight looked to her right and saw four guards, three in Celestia’s golden armor and one in Luna’s black workings.  The dark Pegasus stallion before her had a confused but stern look on his face.  “I would sir, but frankly I think I’m completely spent.  Would you be so kind as to bring us to the castle?  Thank you…..goodnight.”  With that Twilight fell to the ground and spoke no more.  Shadow facehoofed.  “That has to be a record.  Somehow in one night the castle has been breached, both Princesses, the Captain, and five unidentified ponies are unconscious and this Pegasus looks about to join them.”  He sighed, “Bring them along men it seems answers will come tomorrow.”  It was only then that he noticed the rest of the garden and the dark scene it displayed.  “Why me?”