The Ringmaster

Chapters

Utopia Part.1
Utopia Part.2
Say Goodbye to the Holiday(Bonus Chapter)
Utopia Part.3
Freedom of choice
Utopia Part.4
Rise
Red Star Part.1
Shepherd Of Fire
Red Star Part.2
The Doomed(Bonus chapter)
The Truth

Utopia Part.1

In a land far beyond Equestria, There was a kingdom named Utopia. Ruled by King Luz and Queen Prodosia, the kingdom for many years lived in state of constant happiness and peace....

"The obstetrician mares are requesting your presence in your room, my King." Said the butler.

"Is it here already? It has only been a few months, tell me what's the meaning behind this calling." King Luz asked.

"Apologies my king, they didn't tell me their reasoning. They only said it was important." The butler explained.

The King frowned for a second, before his body and mind were consumed by anxiousness and fear. Both him and the Queen were anxiously waiting to have a prince, so both of them were immeasurably happy when she got pregnant. But that was five months ago. Knowing that, the King couldn't help but fear for the worst.

Upon reaching his room, his beloved Queen was laying in bed crying, while the obstetrician mares were sat beside her . They all look at the King with a sad expression on their faces. The King quickly realises that his long awaited prince died before he was even born. He embraced the Queen, and shortly after he too started crying. After a few minutes, the king wiped out the tears from his face, and bolted out of the door.

"What was that!?" One of the obstetricians asked.

"He is probably going to see the oracle." Answered the Queen, no longer in tears.

Everyone at the castle had a confused look on their face, seeing the king running through the castle. He then stopped by the butler.

"I'm going to visit the oracle, take care of things while i'm away." the King ordered.

"Understood, my King." The butler responded.

The king set off to the oracle's house. Her house was behind the castle, in the top of a mountain. Despite being in the top of a mountain, there were still quite a lot of vegetation around. In particular, there was one tree that caught the most attention out of everything, it was a very big tree with a very strange shape on the top, it resembled an eye. It was thanks to this particularity, that the mountain was named "Máti tis Kataigídas". It means "Eye of the storm" in the kingdom's ancient language. Although some say i resembles more the number "6" rather then an eye.

A few hours later, upon reaching the mountain top. The king immediately looked for the oracle, she was sitting beside a small wooden cabin. Once she sees the king, she waves her hooves at him and approached.

"Oracle, i don't mean to accuse you but, i have a question for you." Said the King.

"My my, with a look like that, something big must've happened." Said the Oracle.

"Indeed, but my question to you is this. Didn't you tell me last time i was here, that i was going to have a Prince?"

"Yes?" The Oracle answered.

"Well, you never said it would be a dead one!!"

"Oh.... i see, i'm sorry for your lost but, my predictions are still correct. You will have a prince, i just never told you when." Said the oracle "Infact, i'm going to predict it again, just to show you i'm no liar!"

She quickly walked over her cauldron, grabbed a petal from a flower and dipped in the cauldron's water. Rubbing her hooves around the borders of the cauldron, the petal changed colour and started glowing and so did the oracle's eyes and birthmark, she then moved over and touched the king's chest letting out a gasp in surprise.

"This is...strange," Said the Oracle.

"W-what is it!? were you indeed wrong?"

"No no, you will still have a prince, but he looks different this time" She said. "I remember that last time i checked it was a beautiful black alicorn. But this time, is a blue one. And what's even more weird is that he has a sparkle birthmark on his chest, just like mine."

The king took a few steps back"W-what? so you're saying that *gulp* i'll have a foal with you?"

"Nonsense! even if you were stupid enough to betray your wife, with me of all ponies. I'm Infertile." The Oracle shouted. "Besides that, none of my parents or family members for that matter had this birthmark. So is possible that it's just a coincidence."

"*sigh* So you still don't know the time or the date i'll have my foal?" The King asked.

"No, but i do know something is off." Said the oracle with her hoof below her chin.

"What? did you see something else?"

"No, that's not it. The thing about my predictions is that they mostly are true, the only times that i was indeed "wrong" it was because someone messed with them." The Oracle explained. "My cabin for example, it's pretty old, so a few moons ago i made a prediction on it, just to see if it was needing some "maintenance". Sure enough it did, one part of the roof was about to collapse, so i reinforce it, and then i made the prediction again, this time i saw nothing at all."

"So what you're saying that the baby didn't simply died, but someone somehow killed it?" The King asked.

"Is a possibility, but it could've also been something that she ate or drank. i say is best if you investigate it, otherwise who knows, maybe the next baby could die before birth as well." Said the Oracle.

"You might be right, i'll look into that. Thanks for the advice." Said the King while leaving.

"Good luck, and do try to visit more often ok?" Said the Oracle waving her hoof.

On the way down the mountain, a white unicorn approached the King.

"Jester? what are you doing all the way up here?" The King asked.

"Well, i heard what happened earlier i just came here to see you. Are you alright?" Jester asked.

"I'm fine, thanks for checking up on me." The King lets out a smile.

"That's a what a big bro is for, ain't it?" Jester asked with a grin on his face.

"Yeah...speaking of it, i need your help Jester."

"Shoot." Said Jester.

"The oracle thinks that the baby didn't simply died, but that someone or something killed it." King Luz explains. "After thinking about it for a bit, i have to say i agree with her. So i want you to help me out and figure this out."

"Ok... but what figuring it out would i do? i mean the baby is already dead isn't he?" Jester asked.

"I mean yeah, but think about it. If someone really found a way to kill the baby, they clearly want to sabotage my kingdom, and i can't let them disturb our peace." Said Luz.

"If you say so." Said Jester.

Jester Orimos was king Luz's cousin, they had been best friends since they were little foals. The friendship between them took a hit when the previous king died, and luz had to step up as the new king. Jester was completely against the idea, as he was not only older, he was part of the family as well, and also had the right to be the next king. And so the previous Queen came up with a plan to decide which one of them would become the new King, both Jester and Luz would have to fight for it! Jester was a little reluctant at first but he eventually accepted... And he lost. Surprising everypony their friendship didn't end there, for years to come their bonds started to grow again. Jester eventually left the castle and became a bard, now with his own house and wife. He worked on the local tavern, and he would constantly show up at the castle to visit the Luz. And now he was going to help the King figure out what happened to his baby.

A few hours later by the castle's backdoor.

"Ok, let's make this quick! the faster we found the reason behind the "murder" the better. Let's split up, i'll go check up on my wife, i want to know what she has been eating lately. While you to ask the guards if they've seen anypony suspicious around the castle lately." Said the King.

"Aye aye Captain." Jester responded.

The King teleported to his room.

"My Queen, i know you're devastated, but that's no excuse to stop eating." Said a maid beside the Queen.

*puff*

"But this is." Said the King " The baby might have been killed! he didn't just die out of the blue!"

As the King said that, the Queen's eyes widened. And the maid left the room.

"But how? the baby was still in my womb. How could've somepony killed him without hurting me as well?" Prodosia asked.

"Poison!" Said Luz. " If somepony had putted a poison weak enough on your food, it wouldn't effect you much but could've killed the baby."

"I-it might be true. But who could've done such a thing?" Said Prodosia starting to tear up.

"I don't know yet. I'll need your help to find out who is the culprit. Although i have to say that, this is mostly a suspicion that i and the Oracle have. So there might not actually be a culprit. But we won't find that out until we investigate."

"I understand. How can i help?" Prodosia asked.

"I want to know what the obstetrician mares told you earlier today. Especifically how for long was the baby dead inside your womb?"

"According to them, no more than a day." Prodosia responds.

"Then can you remember if you've eaten anything out of the ordinary yesterday?"

"Well i was wishing for a boiled watermelon with plantain, but i prepared it myself."

Luz looked at her in disgust.

"What?" Prodosia asked.

"Nevermind... i'll go look around in the kitchen see if i can find anything suspicious."

And so King Luz walked his way into the kitchen, explaining what is going on to the other residents of the castle. Telling them to keep their eyes peeled for anything or anypony suspicious. In the kitchen Luz started inspecting everything, until...

"W-what is this thing?" Said the King with a slightly gray goo on his hooves.

The chef approached "Indeed what is this thing? i've never seen it before, where did you find it?"

"It's right beside the stove, on the ground right there." The King pointed to it.

"Weird, i swear i cleaned everything up yesterday before going home. I'm pretty sure this thing wasn't there." Said the chef.

(So if he really cleaned everything yesterday. That means it wasn't something she ate yesterday, it was today! *sigh* i still need more information)

The King then turned to a guard, that was standing on the doorway "Is Midas still in the castle?" He asked.

"Yes, my King!" The guard responded.

Midas was a very famous alchemist throughout the land. He was the one who discovered a spell that can turn ordinary objects into gold! He was also very good friends with Prodosia, before she was the Queen. After Prodosia and Luz got married, Midas thought he would never see her again. But Prodosia, offered him a room in the castle, were he can conduct his experiments without being disturbed... well mostly not disturbed.

*Thump*

"Midas i need you knowledge!" Said Luz barging in through Midas's room door.

Midas looked at the doorway, with a somewhat annoyed look and said " Oy i kno you're king and all, but at least knock at the door before entering somepony's room!!"

"Sorry about that. But this is urgent! Here take a look at this, i want to know what this is." Luz asked holding a small cup with the slightly grey goo from the kitchen.

Midas took the cup, he first smells it and then puts it on a microscope.

"Yep, this right here is mercury." Said Midas "But if ya don't mind me asking, where did ya find this stuff?"

"Oh it was beside the stove in the kitchen. But what is this mercury thing? I've never heard of it."

"Well in basic terms is a liquid metal. Very useful tho. This thing is used to make, mirrors, lamps and a bunch of other cool stuff. But what was it doing in the kitchen tho? And this amount too? that's quite a lot of mercury." Midas asked.

"Listen. What would happen if somepony had drank it?"

Midas's eyes widen in shock."D-did somepony drink that!? I mean a very small sip would already cause a bit of harm on your body. But with this amount!?" He pointed at the cup "Has a very big chance of killing somepony in less than a day!"

Luz stopped for a second to think. "So what you're saying is this thing is like a poison if you consume it?"

"Yeah duuuh. Are you even listening to me? come on tell me did somepony drank this thing?"

Luz once again paused to think, after a quick moment he explained the situation to Midas.

"Oh... then somepony definitely putted mercury on her food, but just enough to kill only the baby..strange.*sigh* poor Prodosia, girl must be real devastated, i remember the day she learned she was pregnant. She was so gosh darn happy *sigh* i'm gonna help get to the bottom of this Luz. Somepo... I mean someMONSTER is roaming around feeding a pregnant mare poison!? i won't allow it!" Said Midas. "In fact i already know were to begin."

Luz looked at midas with a surprised gaze.

"There's a coal mine, not that far away from here. If i recall correctly, there's a pretty decent concentration of mercury there." Said Midas with he's hooves under his chin. "Yeah... if i go there i might be able to discover if they had sold any amount of mercury lately. Then i'll just have to found out who bought it, that's our best chance of finding the culprit. But i'll need something tho."

"Name it and you'll have it!" Said Luz.

"Guards, that's it. You kno, just in case." Midas replied.

"Makes sense to me, i'll make sure to send the best guards in the castle with you. I don't wanna lose anypony else!"

"Then it's decided, since the sooner this get sorted out the better. I'll be departing tonight!" Said Midas as he started to pack his things.

After packing up his things, Midas went to mines together with two guards. Prodosia couldn't help but feel anxious, Luz comforted her. It was pretty late in the night, everypony was already in their houses sleeping. But the Queen was wide awake. Walking back and forth on her room.

"Come on love, i've already told you. Midas will be fine, he said he would send us a letter by the morning. So just try to rest up a little." Said Luz while laid down in bed.

"Oooh i just can't sleep, Midas is like a brother to me. I've already lost somepony important today, i-i don't wanna lose another one. W-what if he gets attacked by the traitor? what if the guards are not strong enough!?" Prodosia was panicking.

"Yeah what will happen then?" Said Luz."will you be there to help him?"

Prodosia starts to tear up, Luz got up and hugged her.

"*sigh* Listen, i know how much you are worried about him, trust me i am too. But there's nothing we can do but wait. And you already been through alot today, you need to rest. If you fall sick, it will just be one more problem up my hoof."

She nods and lays down in bed together with him.

"Did the Oracle made another prediction today?" Prodosia asked.

"Actually she did. But it was strange, she said our baby alicorn will be blue and have the same birthmark as her." Luz explained.

"Oh that is weird. Why would an alicorn need that mark?" Prodosia asked.

"What do you mean need?"

"Think about it, the Oracle is a earthpony with powers. And every time she uses her powers the mark glows. Clearly there's a correlation there!" prodosia explained.

"You're right.... That just makes things even weirder *sigh* no point in thinking about it for now. I'm really tired, i'm gonna get some shut eye. You should do the same. Goodnight love." Said Luz closing his eyes.

"Goodnight babe." Said Prodosia looking out the window.

"Meanwhile....."

In that same night. In the oracle's cabin, she was about to go to bed when she is approached by a mysterious figure.

"Took you long enough." She said it while looking a them.

"*pft* I should've known i wouldn't be able to catch you by surprise." They said.

"Betraying a hole kingdom for such...petty reason? you are just as pathetic as i remember. If not even more pathetic than before." She said it as she hits a nearby table with her hooves.

As she hits the table, the mysterious figure grabbed the oracle's neck with a rope, and started suffocating her.

"*struggling* I've already contacted the guards you know!" Said the Oracle.

In surprise the figure loosened up the rope, and the oracle manage to hit them with her hoof. Looking around the figure noticed something glowing on the table, it was communication device!

"You wench!" Screamed the figure as they charged towards the Oracle.

She resisted and manage to land another hit on them. Giving her enough time to run to the kitchen where she grabbed a knife! The figure didn't hesitate, and charged towards her again. The oracle manages to cut the figure in the face, missing their eye by an inch. The figure screamed in pain. Now irritated the figure revealed to be an unicorn, used their magic to grab the oracle by the neck with the rope again.

"G-guards! HE has a scar on his face!" The Oracle screamed.

The unicorn screams in rage.

*snap*

The oracle's eyes slowly lost their color, as her life was taken from her body. But her life wasn't the only thing that came out...

"Huh?" the unicorn looked at the oracle's dead body, and noticed that her birthmark had came out as well. It looked like some kind of jewel. The unicorn grabbed it, and left the place in a rush.

Author's Note

Quite the cliffhanger eh?

If you read my previous fic, you'll notice something is different. Well i took my time to read the writing guide to improve my writing. Hopefully it was effective! Here's a few notes.

Cut me some slack on the oracle's place illustration ok? i'm no artist and i tried my best XD
Part 2 might take a while, since i'm still working on my fangame you kno?
Especial thanks once again to my friends "Salza4president" and "Noizzer" for pre-reading it.
There's no soundtrack for this one, since Noizzer's lazy "flank" wasn't "inspired." lol

See y'all on the next part!

Utopia Part.2

The oracle was a mysterious mare, nopony knew her real name or age. But the most mysterious thing about her, is the fact that she was an earth pony with powers. Something never seen before in Utopia. Her powers were also extremely reliable, she could predict the future and most of her predictions were correct. She was also known in the kingdom as a second mother to King Luz, as Luz's mother died on his teenage years. Luz got very attached to the Oracle, and on his more angst fase, even had a crush on her. Said crush quickly faded away, once he met Prodosia. But that didn't interfere with Luz's and oracle's friendship at all, she always helped Luz on his dates. More especifically, she would use her powers to tell him what not to do on his dates. It worked well, after all Luz and Prodosia married just two years after they first met each other. Even after five years of marriage, Luz would still check with the Oracle not only to have friendly conversations, but to also ask for advice on how to make his wife happier.

While laid in bed, King Luz was thinking on checking with the Oracle once again, to see how he could calm Prodosia down. As she was extremely nervous with Midas leaving the castle, in search for clues. But the Oracle's constant assistance was no longer an option...

Midnight at the castle.

A galloping sounds were echoing through the castle's walls, when suddenly...

*thump*

"My King! come quickly is an emergency!" Shouted a guard that busted through the King's room door.

"W-wa..." Said the Queen still half asleep.

"What is it!?" The King asks.

"Is the oracle, she sent us a message. Apparently somepony attacked her! Captain Ypoptos went ahead with a few guards. He sent me here to inform you!"

Without a moment to think, the King teleported himself to the top of the mountain. Once there the king falls to the ground exhausted. He never teleported so far away before, it drained nearly all of his energy. But he didn't let that stop him, he gathered all of his strength to rise up from the ground, then ran directly to the Oracle's cabin. The place was a mess....

"ORACLE!?" The King shouted.

He first looked around in her room, and then he looked at the kitchen...

"N-no...NOOOOOOOOO" The king Screamed as he starts to cry.

About two hours later, Captain Ypoptos and his crew finally arrived at the top. The King was sitting beside the Oracle's lifeless body, by the garden. The guard
approached with their helmets down...

"What was the message?" The King mutters.

"W-what did you say my King?" Ypoptos asks.

"I said, what was the message!?" The King asked.

"Struggle is what it was mostly heard, but at the end of the message, she screamed and said "G-guards! HE has a scar on his face!". After that we can hear a scream, probably the attacker's. And that..it" Ypoptos explained.

"So a pony with a scar on his face is our traitor huh?" The King said it as he looked directly at Ypoptos, who had a scar on his face, Below his right eye.

"This is nothing but a coincidence my King, i assure you i have no foul intentions against the kingdom. And i swear i will find and detain this traitor, even
if i die on the process!"

"I'll trust you...for now. As the most important thing now, is to investigate this place. Maybe she left some other clue behind." The King then looked at one of
the guards " You there! take the Oracle's body to the pathologist, i want a detailed autopsy!"

The guard nods and takes the oracle's body away.

Everypony started to investigate the place, just a few minutes later...

"My King, i found something." Said one of the guards, handing over a piece of paper.

It was a letter.

"Luz my dearest King, if you're reading this it means i'm dead. Now you might be wondering, why did i let myself get killed?, why didn't i contacted the guards when i made the prediction that i was going to die tonight? the answer is quite simple. I've lived for hundred of years, if not millions! to be honest i lost count. I was also unsure if i would ever die, thankfully i was wrong. You see Luz, being immortal sounds like a good thing to some, but in reality is torment. Outliving everypony you love, the pain gets quite heavy sometimes. That's why i decided to accept my fate, i just couldn't handle the pain anymore. You're a grown colt Luz, you don't need this old mare anymore. I wouldn't be able to rest in peace if i didn't helped you at least one more time, so i have two things to say to you. First, you're way too absent minded, you don't pay attention to details enough, try to keep that in mind. Second, i remember i once said that my birthmark was a mystery. That's not true, there's an old building in the middle of the mountains by the north. In there, there's a book that explains this "gift". It will be worth taking a look at, since your son will have this gift. Oh my precious Luz, i hope everything goes well for you and your wife. And i'm sorry for having such a sudden departure."

The king let out a deep sigh.

"Typical Oracle...."

Something was bothering him."First, you're way too absent minded, you don't pay attention to details enough, try to keep that in mind."

(She wrote that for a reason, she knows who killed her thats for sure. Yet she gave no description, that must mean... that i probably already met the culprit. I just don't know who it is...) The king was thinking, when suddenly he remembered something.

<----A few hours ago----->

King Luz walked his way into the kitchen, explaining what is going on to the other residents of the castle. Telling them to keep their eyes peeled for anything or anypony suspicious. In the kitchen Luz started inspecting everything, until he finally found something...

"W-what is this thing?" Said the King with a slightly gray goo on his hooves.

The chef approached "Indeed what is this thing? i've never seen it before, where did you find it?"

"It's right beside the stove, on the ground right there." The King pointed to it.

"Weird, i swear i cleaned everything up yesterday before going home. I'm pretty sure this thing wasn't there" Said the chef.

<--------------------------------->

(Wait a second..yesterday? then that goo was just laying around there all day and nopony saw it? especially the chef? something is off...)

The King looked at Ypoptos.

"Investigate every corner of this place! there might be a trace left of the assassin. In the meantime, i need to check something."

|Timeline of events|

11 AM - News of the baby's death.

15 PM - Luz meets the oracle.

19 PM - Luz is back at the castle.

19:10 - Luz finds mercury in the kitchen.

21 PM - Midas leaves the castle.

23:50 PM - Oracle's death.

00:00 PM - News of the oracle's death.

00:02 AM - Luz finds the oracle's dead body.

02:00 AM - The royal guards found the King beside the oracle's body.

Upon coming back to the castle, the King ran directly to the residential area. Looking for the chef's house, he eventually found it. And with no
surprise, there was nopony inside. It looked like the chef and his husband left in a hurry, as there were a few clothes on the ground right beside an empty
wardrobe. The king started to investigate the place, seeing if he could find any clues to where they could've gone. Eventually, near the bathroom he found a train ticket to Equestria. Without a minute to think, the King started to run towards the train station.

After finally arriving at the station, he sees that the train is long gone, and there's nopony at the station. But he does find something interesting, another
ticket to Equestria. The king grabed it, and makes his way back to the castle. On the castle he meets the Queen, once again in tears.

"Don't worry my love, i promise i will figure this all out!" Said Luz while hugging her.

A few hours later...

"My King, we investigated the Oracle's place like you asked. We found signs of magical use just a few steps away from the Oracle's cabin, i can tell it was teleport magic." The Captain informed.

The King lets out a disappointed sigh.

"If that's all then send the guards to rest, we have an important mission in a few hours!" The King said as he hooves over the train ticket.

"Equestria? with all due respect my King, but what are we going to do in Equestria?" Ypoptos asked confused.

"I already have a prime suspect, is the chef from the royal kitchen! I found a suspicious substance in the kitchen, that apparently was there all day, yet nopony noticed. Not only that, but when i went to confront him about it, both him and his husband were gone. After investigating their place, i found a ticket. I then went to the train station, where i found this other ticket!" the king explains.

"So you think they went to Equestria, and you want us to go there look for them?"

"Not exactly, it might be a trap. Think about it, they "lost" both tickets, so they couldn't had taken the train. Or at least that's what they might want us to
think! they could've easily had another two tickets with them!" The King says it while walking back and forth.

Ypoptos was staring at the king with a concerned look.

"So here is the plan, by the morning we send guards to search around the kingdom. While we go to Equestria, just to be sure. Understood!?"

"Y-yes my King. I'll inform the guards about the situation and the plan." Ypoptos said.

By the morning, the King woke up a little earlier than the guards. He made an announcement to the kingdom, that there was a traitor among them, and the prime suspects were the royal chef and his husband. A reward would be granted for whomever finds the suspects first. After the announcement, the guards started the search, while the King and the Captain entered the train to Equestria.

In the train....

"So captain, do you know anything about this Equestria?" The King asked.

"Not much, what i do know is that Equestria is a rather new kingdom, if you can even call em that. They only got officially founded recently, and by recently i mean ten years ago. Apparently the land was having problems with some magical creatures named wendigos, after the problem was dealt with was when they started building and creating their own royal system. I'm not sure if said royal system has been completed yet though." Ypoptos explained.

"Interesting. Then even if we don't find the suspects there, this trip might not be a complete waste. Depending how this royal system of theirs, and what kinda of products they have. It might be worth making some commercial deals." Said the King with a slight grin.

After a few hours, they finally arrived in Equestria. The place looked like it was only a small village, and there were still quite a few ponies building houses.
Kinda showing the King that Equestria has not fully recovered from the wendigos attack yet. The king and Ypoptos started walking around, looking for some sort of authority figure. Eventually a grey unicorn approached them.

"By the looks of your attire, i can tell both of you aren't from around here." he said it with a slight grin. "Welcome to Canterlot my friends, my name is
Starswirl the bearded, and you folks are?"

"Name is Luz, and this here is Ypoptos. We came from Utopia."

"Utopia? i think i've heard of it before, if i recall correctly is the wealthiest kingdom in the world! Why would anypony from such place come here?" Starswirl asked.

The King looked around and saw a few ponies staring at him.

"Are you an authority figure around here?" The King asked.

"Not really, the one in charge here at the moment is Princess Platinum. I'm just an adventurer, i stopped by to see an old friend." Starswirl responded.

"Then you know where can i find this Princess? i need to discuss some things with her."

"Define "things"." Starswirl responded.

The King ignores Starswirl, and started to walk away.

"Wait! she is the friend i mentioned, i know where she is, i'll take you to her." Starswirl approached. "But i want answers when we get there."

Starswirl then lead them to what i looked like a small café. They were greeted by a unicorn mare holding a baby.

"Welcome back Starswirl, looks like you brought some friends with you." Said the mare with a cheerful smile. "Please come in and make yourselves comfortable."

Following the mare's request, the King came in and left his coat on a nearby coat hanger. From the corner of his eye, the king saw a beautiful white unicorn mare, wearing a luxurious robe and hat. That took the King by surprise. (This whole village looks really.... modest, would it really be possible to find such clothes like that around here?) the King thought, and proceeded to approach the mare, but Starswirl went first.

"Good thing you're still here Platinum. These folks here say that they got some "things" to discuss." Starswirl said while pointing at the King.

"Hum.... doesn't look like they are from around here. So what do you two want with me?" Platinum asked.

"My name is Luz, this here is Ypoptos."

"Luz!? you mean like.. King Luz!?" Platinum asked.

"King!?" Starswirl and the mare behind the balcony asked.

"Yes, but please avoid speaking about it in public." Luz responded.

"W-why?" Platinum asked.

"That's what i want to discuss with you, i'll make explanations quick. We are currently having a problem with a traitor back in Utopia. But the prime suspect disappeared, according to the clues we found there's a possibility they came to hide in Equestria."

"So you want my help to find them?" Platinum asked.

"Not exactly, but it would be appreciated. What i really want is permission to investigate the village, without anypony interfering."

"Without anypony interfering you say? strange." Starswirl pointed out. "Some random pony, comes out of nowhere saying he is a King, and that he wants to
"investigate" the whole village without anypony interfering. Surely that sounds a little suspicious, don't you think?"

"Fair enough, then this should be enough proof i'm not lying." Said the King as he puffs up his chest, and moves a little bit of fur, showing a mark on his skin.

"The royal mark... hum then i suppose you are indeed telling the truth." Platinum said.

"Royal mark?" Starswirl asked.

"The royal mark is something created to identify those of true royalty, only true Kings and Queens possess said mark. As the methods of getting them are unknown to the public, is very unlikely that this one is fake." Platinum explained. " With that in mind, i suppose i can grant you permission to investigate the village with nopony to stop you. But, with one condition."

"Ok, what would that condition be?" The king asked, as he sits down.

"Even though you got here not that long ago, you must've noticed our situation right?" Platinum sat down. "And let's not forget that Utopia is the wealthiest kingdom in the world, surely you must know were i'm heading with this?"

"You want to make a commercial deal with us, that's no problem. I was thinking of doing this anyway, depending on what source of products you can offer."

"Well... currently we don't have much, besides apples. We got a iron mine, although... with the amount of mercury that the miners have been finding
lately, it sure makes it more of a mercury mine than anything *giggles*. But mercury is ver....."

Platinum gets interrupted.

"Did you just say mercury!?" The King asked.

"Yeah, we got tons of it. If you're interested in we ca...."

Platinum once again gets interrupted.

"Can you tell me where this mine is!?"

"Uh.... sure, is all the way to the north of the village. Big entrance you can't miss it." Platinum said it with an annoyed look.

The King ran to the door. "Consider the deal done, let's go Ypoptos."

As the king bolted out of the building, Platinum and Starswirl looked at each other with a confused look.

"Well... at least we are going to make some good bits in a few days." Platinum said.

"I sure do hope so, the café has been pretty quiet lately." Said the mare behind the counter. "With the amount of bits i've been receiving, i'm afraid i wont be able to keep paying for Celestia's school."

"Oh come on Gloom, i already told you that if necessary i could mandate the school to stop charging you." Platinum said.

"And i already told you, that i don't want to have any special treatment. Just because i'm your friend, doesn't mean i'm special." Gloom answered.

"I can help you too, you know? i can stop charging you for my babysitting services." Starswirl said.

"Really? i mean it would help me quite a bit, but... what about you? of course you need money too." Gloom said.

"Don't worry about me, as a nomad i'm used to not have bits. But i can live just fine." Starswirl responded giggling.

"Are you sure you don't mind taking care of the girls for free?"

"Of course not, they're absolute sweethearts. And i can already tell that Celestia is going to be a great mare in the future." Starswirl responded.

Meanwhile on Canterlot's iron mine entrance.

"This is strange, there's nopony here." Ypoptos said, as he look up to the sky. "It is still afternoon, do these ponies only work at night?"

"Well everypony could be inside, either that or something happened. Let's get inside." The King responded.

The inside of the mine was quiet, all that could be heard were drops of water echoing from the depths of the mine. As they walk along the mine's tunnels, they could see a greyish goo oozing out of cracks from a few rocks, clearly Platinum wasn't lying, the place was indeed full of mercury. Eventually they saw a strong light at the end of the tunnel, they quickly picked up the pace and trotted towards the light. After being blinded for a few seconds, they found themselves in a huge open area, with a massive hole on the ground. Yet they still couldn't see anypony, but they did see the entrance to another tunnel. They decided to go in, however this tunnel seemed a little different than the first one. All lanterns were turned off, the tunnel was not pitch black, but it was still pretty dark.

"Maybe we should go back from here, looks like there really isn't anypony around." Ypoptos said concerned.

The King agrees. But before they could even turn around, they saw a figure running in the tunnel. Without thinking, both of them rushed to the tunnel. However, not long after getting in, they found themselves in a bifurcation.

"Darn!..." Luz shouted.

Suddenly, Ypoptos got pulled over to the left, by a mysterious force. Luz tries to catch up, but the force that was pulling the captain was way to strong, and eventually Luz could no longer see Ypoptos. But he kept running, until he finally found him. With a terrified look King Luz saw the captain's body slashed in half, and on his very last moments alive Ypoptos shouted.

"DUCK!"

Luz did just that, and just barely avoided a boulder heading towards him. But the boulder hitted one of the tunnel's support beam, and the tunnel started to collapse. Luz ran away as fast as he could, after getting outside. He was near the massive hole, when another boulder came flying towards him, he dodged and used his magic to create ice skates, and he slided his way down the hole. Nearing the ground, Luz jumped and landed terribly, hurting one of his front legs. When he looked up, he let out a surprised gasp.

"I-it can't be..." Luz said.

He was looking at a yellow mare, with the same sparkle "birthmark" that the oracle had. Just a common earthpony, Luz was stunned for a second. His first though was that this mare was just super strong, but she quickly proved him wrong. She jumped in the hole, with her back faced towards the ground, she then stared at the place's wall. She then made a gesture with her head, and to Luz's surprise, the big chunk of the wall she was staring at, flies out towards him. Luz panicked, but he manage to create a magic shield at the last second, the shield broke and so did the chunk of the wall. A piece of the broken chunk of wall, managed to scratch Luz on his back, he lets out a grunt in pain. Before he could heal himself up, the mare was already on the ground, staring at him, she once again made a gesture with her head, and Luz got pulled towards her with extreme force. When he was close to her, she started doing the gesture again, Luz saw that and quickly teleported away. He teleported to her left, he was planing to do a surprise attack, but she saw him. Luz noticed that her face got covered in mud, it looked like she pulled a piece of the ground towards her face.

It was there when Luz realised, the terrifying power he was facing against. If he didn't had teleported at that moment, he would've had the same fate as Ypoptos. For a second he thought about escaping, but he decided to stay and fight. The mare smirked and charged towards him, and he did the same. When they were close to each other, she once again started doing the gesture, this time instead of teleporting, Luz just jumped out of the way and tried to hit her with a magic beam. She quickly changed the direction of her gesture, pulling a rock towards the magic beam. The rock explodes creating a small grey cloud, the mare used the cloud for her advantage, and manage to kick the King in the stomach. In the fall, he hitted his back on a rock, letting out a shout in pain. The mare smirked once again and started doing the gesture, ready to finish him. But at the last second, Luz teleported beside her. And the rock that Luz fell on, was pulled towards her face, she couldn't dodge in time, taking the hit right on her face. While she was stunned, Luz used magic to make his horn as sharp as knife. And he proceeded to stab the mare in the stomach, and with her belly stuck on his horn. Luz ran towards a wall, and slammed her body against it, as she lets out a scream in agony. Luz finally pulls his horn out of her, and her body falls to the ground.

"Who the hell are you!?" Luz asked.

The mare giggled. "Somepony you were not supposed to know...*cough* The hell are you even doing here King?"

"I'm the one asking questions here! now tell me, what's the reason behind all of this? is the chef really trying to sabotage my kingdom!?"

"*cough* *cough* You really expect me to just tell you?" the mare grined. "Fuck you, and your kingdom, it wasn't meant to be yours anyway *cough*"

"Don't you care about your life!? if you tell me the truth, i can reduce your penalty in jail."

The mare started to laugh. "Keep dreaming *cough* if there is one thing i'll tell you is that.... i really could care less about you and your shitty kingdom,
i was actually paid to kill the chef you're looking for. *cough* *cough* The chef was supposed to come here to "start a new life", but apparently he messed up his part of the plan, and he wanted to come here earlier. *cough* *cough* Of course our boss didn't like that, so he sent me here to kill both the chef and his husband. But the plans changed when he got the information you were coming here instead, and he wanted me to kill you, as it could be beneficial for him. *cough*"

Luz took a step back, he had so many questions.(What happened to the chef? how did the traitor knew i was coming here? how can my death be beneficial to him?) But it was clear that she wouldn't answer any of them, Luz took a deep breath and thought of a question she might answer...

"What is you name?"

She stares at him blankly for a few seconds."Aurora Lunamoon." right after that, she takes Luz by surprise and does the head gesture once again. Pulling another rock right at her face, this time it got her good, and she died with the impact.

Luz stares blankly at Aurora's dead body, until his adrenaline finally drops and the pain of his injuries kick in. He used a spell to create temporary wings,
and left the mine. In Canterlot, the King was making his way to the train station, as someponies stared at him. Suddenly a white unicorn filly went to talk to
him.

"Are you okay mister?"

"I'm fine, now go back to your mother, is getting late."

"Are you sure? you look like you're in pain."

"*sigh* I said i'm fine."

"You're clearly not!" Starswirl showed up. "Celestia, be a good girl and come back to you mother, i'll take care of him."

"Okay mister Starswirl." she says it, and troted away.

"Now you there, better get that cut on your back checked, an infection is no joke." Starswirl said.

"*sigh* I can already tell, you're going to annoy me to death if i don't go to the medic."

"And if you don't tell me what happened in the mines, now let's get you treated before that cut infects."

The king and Starswirl made their way to the medic in silence, and after Luz wounds were treated, he explained the whole situation in detail to Starswirl. After that, Luz was thinking about his next step, Starswirl said he should wait for Midas return and see where things go from there. While Luz wanted to found more information about Aurora, but Starswirl pointed something out...

"That name "Aurora Lunamoon" doesn't sound like a utopian name, you guys still use quite a bit of your ancient tongue to name yourselves."

"Now that you mention it, you're right. That doesn't sound like a common name on my land at all, now i'm even more intrigued by her." Luz responded.

"I'm intrigued aswell, this whole situation is intriguing. I think i might look up for information about Aurora myself."

"That would be of great help, i'll be sure to pay you for your time. It's getting late i should be going back home, before my wife gets too worried. I'll be sure to follow your advice and wait for Midas." Said the King walking away.

"Safe travels." Starswirl said.

It was late at night when the train finally arrived, the king was exhausted, it's been years since he fought somepony. He laid down in one of the train's couch, and received his desired rest.

Author's Note

This chapter took way longer to make then i wanted, sorry for that. Besides my own incompetence, part of the reason this chapter took so long, is the major update i've made on my game(yes i'm making a fan game aswell).

Anyhow i hope y'all enjoy this chapter, hopefully i can release the next chapter this year still. If you spot any grammatical errors, please comment them, it would be a great help to improve my english.

Say Goodbye to the Holiday(Bonus Chapter)

Author's Note

Happy Holidays folks!

As mentioned in the title this is a bonus chapter, it was created mostly for world building, and the timing AKA this story starts on "christmas" and WE are on christmas, it was just a perfect occasion to post this chapter.

ps1. I tried to avoid using google translate on this one, hopefully there aren't many errors(if you find any, please mention them in the comments so i can fix it.)

ps2. No i don't hate happy endings XD

Say Goodbye to the Holiday(Bonus Chapter)

Heartwarming day, a typical utopian holiday. A whole day dedicated to spend time with family and loved ones. A day full of presents, good food, and good company. The holiday being celebrated in winter was just a bonus, everypony could stay cozy inside their homes, near a fireplace, just watching the snow fall from the sky. Truly a season loved by all....

"Thank you so much Aurora, i'm so sorry for coming by at the very last second." Said an old mare, caring a few bags with groceries in them.

"Is no problem, Ms.Cherry peacks, enjoy the holidays!" Said Aurora waving her hooves goodbye.

*Deep breaths*

"Time to close the store."

Aurora Lunamoon was originally from Equestria, but the constant fight between the three different pony especies started to annoy her more and more as she grew up. She left Equestria shortly after it was funded, and became a nomad. Looking for a new place to live, she eventually found herself in Utopia. Things were not easy for her at the beginning however, with a very short amount of bits, she couldn't find a place to stay, or even buy fruit from the market. Luckily for her, she met a young colt, he introduced himself as Ánthropoi Efcharistiménoi. He just recently opened a convenience store, and he was looking for a cashier. He said that the payment would be fair, and she would have a place to sleep, the place being the storage room.

Without much of a choice, she accepted the job. And things went well, not just on her job, which she actually enjoyed. But also her relationship with Ánthropoi, as they started dating shortly after she started working on his store. Five years later, and they're now a happy couple. She still works in the store as cashier, but the store is much bigger. The biggest store in the city of kýrios, the closest city to the castle.

Heartwarming day, was a very exciting season for Aurora. Because not only it meant less hours of work, but it was also her husband's birthday. She was always blooming with happiness at that time of the year. At least for the last five years....

"I wonder what his reaction will be for my present this year." Said Aurora with a large package tied on her back.

It was already night time, it wasn't very late but the streets were very quiet. As most ponies were enjoying the holidays on their homes. Even though the streets were quiet, the city was bright and colorful, full of decorative lights and snowponies. Aurora was enjoying her walk back home, murmuring a holiday song. She quickly stopped when on a nearby alley, she saw a huge figure go by. Her curiosity took the best of her, and she decided to investigate. She kept following the figure's shadow, until she finally manage to catch up to it.

When she noticed, she was already out of town, near a cliff. When she turned around to see the figure she was following, she let's out a scared gasp.

"W-w-what are you?"

The creature was a pony at least twice as tall as her, With a dark gray fur and huge orange mane, they also had a sparkle mark on their chest, the pony looked terrifying. The pony then dropped an object close to her, it looked just like the mark on their chest, but it was solid. The pony then speaks...

"Grab it."

Aurora was scared, so she reluctantly went to grab the object. However, the moment she touched the object, it flew directly at her chest. Her eyes started to glow, and her body went numb for a second. When she opened her eyes, she had the same mark as the pony.

"W-what!? i-it can't be..." She said in confusion.

When she looked up, the pony was gone, and she hears a voice behind her.

"There you are, i was worried about you. What are you doing here?" said Ánthropoi, who was together with two guards.

Aurora turn around surprised, revealing the mark on her chest. She quickly regretted turning around like that, as she accidently made a specific gesture with her head. After the gesture, one of the guards was pushed towards her with an immense force, she dodged his incoming body and the guard fell to his death. Both the other guard and her husband stared at her in shock.

"W-wait! i-i didn't mean too, it was an accident!" Aurora said in panic.

Ignoring her word, the other guard pins her down and tied her up with a rope. Her husband was just staring at her, still in complete shock and confusion, how could a simple earthpony have powers?

She was taken to jail at the same night, and as King Luz wanted to enjoy the holiday with his marefriend, Prodosia. He decided to judge her right after she arrived in jail. While the preparations for the trial were being made, she was approached by a mare.

"Are you... *gasp*" Aurora was about to ask something, but she got surprised with the mare that approached her, that mare also had the same mark on the chest.

"I just came here to tell you to not worry about getting convicted, but i do hope you have somewhere to go once the trial is over." Said the mare with a blank look on her face, she left without saying anything else.

Once the trial began, Aurora saw the mysterious mare again, she was right beside King Luz, apparently she was the Oracle. And the Oracle was indeed right, Aurora wasn't convicted of murder. Instead she got exiled from the kingdom, Ánthropoi tried to have her sent to jail for a few years instead, as she had nowhere to go. But his efforts were pointless, and by the end of the night she was escorted out of the city.

"Don't worry my love, i will find a way to get you back. Until then, try to stay by the border, it will be easier to find you after this situation gets sorted out." Ánthropoi said.

Aurora followed her husband's request, and was making her way to the border. But just a few minutes later, the mysterious pony appeared again, this time Aurora wasn't scared.

"YOU! what have you done to me!?" Aurora screamed furiously.

"All i did was my job, now is time for you to do yours." The pony said with a menacing tone. "You were given a gift, said gift will be your tool for now on."

"What are you talking about!? my job? gift? don't make me laugh, you gave me a power that did nothing but possibly ruin my life!"

Suddenly everything went dark, and when Aurora noticed, she was on the backyard of her house.

"W-what is going on?"

"Your life was about to be ruined anyway."

She could hear his voice, but the pony was nowhere to be seen. She approached the house's window, and she saw her husband talking to an old mare. Aurora had never seen that mare before....

"Why did it took so long for you to invite us today honey?" the old mare asked to Ánthropoi.

"Oh mom, i had to take care of some emergency business with the store, so i wasn't able to call you earlier." He answered.

(Mom!? but he said his parents were dead, and that was why they didn't came to our wedding.... what is going on?)

Suddenly another mare showed up, this one was much younger, she got into the room running. And to Aurora's surprise, kissed her husband in the lips.

"Do you have any idea how much i've missed you?" The mare said.

"Baby i already told you, i'm a very busy colt with very important things to do."

"I know, but you could at least stay at our house more often."

(W-what is going on? our house? baby? i-i....) Aurora starts to hyperventilate, and tears started to fall from her eyes.

"Haven't you figured out yet?" The pony speaked once again. " Is quite simple, your marriage with him was a lie. You would've had found this out today, if you weren't distracted by me."

Aurora started to cry even harder.

"Two "wives", constant "business" trips. On the holiday you always stayed at work all day, and only came back home at night. "Why did it took so long for you to invite us today honey?" just think on what that could be referring too." The pony said.

"Stop... this is not real! this is your doing... i know it is!"

Suddenly she was back outside of the kingdom.

"W-what!? huh? how d-did..."

"Now this is my doing, if you don't believe me about your "husband" then is your problem. I'm merely a messenger, i wasn't even supposed to show you your husband's secret life."

"T-then what is that message you want to tell me." Aurora said still tearing up.

"You've been chosen to be part of a special event, if you can even call it that. Follow the steps i tell you, and you will have a even greater life then before. First you will need to use that gift of yours to create a name for yourself in the mercenary business, the second step is the simplest. In five years, if you've followed the first step, you will approached by a white unicorn. All you have to do, is to accept his contract."

"You must be joking, and what if i don't follow those steps? what will happen to me then?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, i've already told you i'm a messenger. What you choose to do or not to do has nothing to do with me." The pony disappears once again.

Aurora spent the night thinking on what to do, she decided to check on her "husband" to see if what the creature said was indeed real. She snuck up in the city, and went straight to her house. And to her surprise it was real. She went inside in tears...

"A-aurora!?" Ánthropoi screamed in surprise.

"Wasn't this the mare that killed a guard today?" Ánthropoi's wife said.

Aurora was just staring at Ánthropoi with teary eyes.

"Y-yeah, get out of here murderer!" Ánthropoi said.

"That's no way to speak to your wife!" A voice came from behind Aurora, it was Ms.Cherry peacks. "I came here to see how you were doing, after having your wife exiled. But i see you are a real scoundrel!"

"Wife? what is going on here?" Ánthropoi's mother asked.

"Those two crazy mares, are just trying to cause a scene. I'll call the guards if you two don't get out of here now!" Ánthropoi screamed.

"You-" Ms.Cherry peacks gets interrupted.

"Forget it, it's pointless." Aurora says as she gives one last look at Ánthropoi and closes the door.

"I just can't believe that scoundrel, how could he be so heartless?"

"Just forget about it Ms.Cherry peacks, i'm thankful that you stood up for me but.... why? i killed a colt tonight. On Heartwarming day! now there's a family out there that won't missing a pony, all because of me."

"I stood with you, because i've been frequenting that store for years. You're one of the nicest mares i've ever met, so when i saw you killed somepony, i just knew it had to have been an accident. But do tell me, what do you plan to do now? "

"I have an idea, i'll get a job..... and i will make my name known on the business."

Aurora proceeded to leave without further explanation, leaving the old mare confused.

On the kingdom's border, Aurora joined a group of outlaws and started her job of mercenary. She got famous in the business in a very short period of time, her power was something never seen before, and it was extremely lethal. She named her power "Good Riddance", and soon that name became a rumor around the kingdom.

"Dude did your hear about that crazy mercenary?"

"Good Riddance right? i heard she became more of an assassin than a mercenary."

"Either way, i don't think i want to ever meet her and her crazy powers."

"Yeah, i heard that Ánthropoi colt was killed by her, his body was slashed in half!"

"Yeah that was brutal, how can an earth pony do this kinda of thing anyway?"

"No idea, but it sure is concerning."

King Luz chose to ignore those rumors...

Five years later, in the desert of Pepromeno. Aurora was currently living in a shack on the desert.

"Who's there?" Said Aurora as somepony approached the shack.

A white unicorn revealed himself " Are you the so called Good Riddance?" The unicorn asked.

"Let me guess you're here for my services? if so then yes."

"Well that was faster then i expected, you don't even want to know what you're job is first."

"No need, just tell me what to do."

"Sure, i want you to hunt and kill the royal chef and his husband. That's all, don't worry about payment, do your job and you will get your money."

"Consider it done." Aurora said with a determinated look.

(So far, what that pony told me to do five years ago, has definitely made my life better, i've never been happier with my current situation. The thrill i get when i kill somepony is indescribable. And i get paid for it *laughter*)

Utopia Part.3

Finally back from his trip, Luz went straight back to his room.

"What happened over there honey?, you look terrible!" Said Prodosia with a worried look.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me." Luz said as he lays in bed. "I have a request for you babe, can you please ask Jester if he found anything?"

"Jester? i haven't seen him since yesterday, do you know where he is?"

"He was supposed to be with a group of guards, looking around for anypony suspicious. Were could he possibly be right now....." Luz said while thinking. "Then could you please ask the guards if they've seen Jester around?"

"Yes, but when i come back i want to hear what happened with you and the Captain of our guard."

"Oh yeah, about that, we have to find another captain."

"What!?why!?"

"I'll explain everything to you when you come back."

Prodosia left the room with a troubled look.

(So the traitor is also looking for the chef huh........) Luz thought to himself.

The castle was quieter than normal, all of the staff ponies were being interrogated in their rooms, while a few guards roamed around the area. Upon entering the castle's residential area, Prodosia saw nothing but empty streets. The only ponies around were a few guards here and there. She made her into the guard station, upon entering it, everypony bowed down to her...

"Attention guards! i have a question, did anypony here know were Jester is?"

A blue pegasus with crimson hair approached her and said. "No my Queen, we haven't seen him or our Captain since yesterday."

The Queen lets out a sigh. "Listen everypony, i'm not sure of the details myself, but the King asked for me to find a new captain!"

Everybody let out a surprised gasp.

"I must admit, i'm not capable of choosing a competent Captain, so i'll let the decision to your hooves! decide the new Captain amongst yourselves then inform me who it is. Understood?"

Everybody bowed down in silence, as the Queen left the station.

(Just were in the world are you Jester?) The Queen thought to herself.

Back in their room, Luz was explaining everything to Prodosia.

"Wait you were fighting Aurora?" Prodosia asked.

"Do you know her?"

"Don't you remember her? you exiled her on heartwarming day, a few years ago."

"I did?"

"Yeah, you really don't remember?"

"No...."

"I believe you exiled her because she killed a guard that night."

"Oh right, i remember now. You're right, i remember i was quite pissed off, that day. Maybe that's why i don't remember her."

"I don't blame you, after all it was our first heartwarming day together. We had just started dating...... two weeks i believe."

"Yeah... i kinda missed those times. Back then i didn't have nearly as much responsibility as i have now, not mention...the Oracle." Luz said blankly.

"Yeah.... we also used to be more like bunnies back then." Prodosia said it while giggling, trying to shift the mood.

"What do you mean back then? it's only been five months since the last time we did it."

"Oh come on, i'm not that horny."

"But you're a unicorn...."

"Oh HA HA" Prodosia laughed sarcastically.

Luz laughed.

*knock* *knock*

"Come in." Luz responded.

A blue pegasus with crimson hair comes in, he bowed down and said, "New Captain reporting for duty!"

"So you're the new Captain huh? what is you name?" The King asked.

"Efiáltis, sir."

"Well Efiáltis, as your first order in command, i want you to go look for Jester!" The King ordered.

"Understood, but i do have a question sir. If you don't mind that is."

"Go on."

"What happened to the last Captain?"

"He died in duty, it was a surprise attack, neither of us saw it coming. I was lucky to survive."

Efiáltis nodded and left the room.

Just as the guard left, Jester's wife, Perci Cherrytop showed up.

"I'm sorry for entering like this, but i have a question to ask, my King." Perci said. "Have you seen Jester around lately?"

"Well i just asked a guard to go looking for him, i haven't seen him since yesterday. And with a traitor running around, i'm a little worried myself..." The King answered.

"Oh... i hope they find him soon..." Perci said with a sad look, and left the room.

"Ok, i think i can continue explaining everything to you now." Luz said.

Prodosia was startled for a second, as she heard a giggle outside the room.

"Is everything alright babe?" Luz asked.

"Yeah, yeah... do continue your story."

Luz finished explaining what happened in Equestria, and went back to sleep.

Two days passed and Midas was finally back, with no major discoveries. Luz explained everything to him, and how he wanted to go to the building the Oracle mentioned in her note. While the guards were looking for both Jester and the traitor, Luz was convinced that learning more about that "birthmark" or "gift" would be beneficial for them, after all the traitor could also have one. And it would be helpful to know more about that power, Midas agreed. And so they left the kingdom in Prodosia's hooves, while they were about to start their trip...

"Aight mate, this is your last chance to change ya mind." Midas said. " According to the map, that building ya talking about is hella far, it will take us bouta month or two to get there."

"Yes, i'm positive!"

"Aight then, time ta go."

And so Midas and Luz start their adventure. A few days later, they stopped by a waterfall at night time, and set up a camp so they could rest. But before sleeping they started having a friendly conversation...

"Beer?" Midas asked.

"Nah, you know i'm not very good with alcohol right?"

"Yeah *laughs* remember your bachelor's party? oh yeah ya was wasted after two lil cups of rum. Ya looked like a totally different pony tha day, is was funny as heck, seeing ya running aroun in a dress *laughs*"

"Oh ha ha, very funny." Luz responded annoyed. "Urgh, all i remember from that day was the hangover. It didn't help that i woke up, upside down because my tail was tied to a tree branch!"

"Oh ye i remember that *laughs*, man that day was awesome, but looking back on it, we did some not so great stuff too."

"Like what?"

"Oh, we played a prank on ya butler, and we did a pretty nasty roleplay with the ladis."

"Go on, i'm listening."

"So ya butler showed up to ya room like "CoUld YoU KeEp iT DoWn SiR? YoUr StAfF iS HaViNg a HaRd TiMe SlEePiNg" and we were all like "sure", but instead we just waited for him to get out. And we stated stomping the shiiz outa that floor, he came back shortly after. And boom, we threw a glass of wine in his face." Midas was laughing uncontrollably, but suddenly stopped. "At the time it was hella funny, but the next day, we learned that it stained the bloody tuxedo. And i was the one who had to clean it*sigh* it was a pain in the arse to get em stains off."

Luz was laughing."And what about the nasty stuff you did to the "ladis".

"Whacha mean "you", it was US, ya was part of it too. Anyhow, the "gizt" of it, was that le dudes were coyotes and the ladis were hares. And ya know the coyotes were supposed to hunt down the hares, and when we found them we "forced" our way with em, ya kno?"

"Good lord, you finally gave me reason to enjoy not having any memories from that day."

"Ah, the ladis enjoyed it, so i'm whatever with it. Altho it does sound hella weird."

"Weird, is an understatement."

"Oh come on, dosia was probably doing as much weird shit as we were."

"Probably, but she doesn't remember either. I actually think she had a worse hangover then me that day, we both stayed in our room all day, but with the slightest of noises she screamed in pain, and i screamed because of her screams. Urgh, man i swore to never drink again that day."

"Ya don't kno whacha wasting."

For a moment, both of them were silent...

"What if all of this was just a big coincidence?" Midas asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe, somepony did try to kill ya'll and sabotage the kingdom, but maybe the baby was already dead you kno?"

"Coincidence or not, doesn't change anything. Not only that, i trust the oracle, i always did. Think about it, she said i was going to have a black baby alicorn, and then poof, that foal dies and now i'm going to have a blue one with that birthmark thingy. If i was really fated to have a blue foal, the the oracle would've never predicted that black one right?"

"Ya got a point..."

"Well... goodnight." Luz said while laying on the ground.

By the morning, they continued their journey.

Meanwhile at the King's room...

"*sigh* i hope they're ok..." Prodosia said to herself.

"They will be fine, is Luz that we are talking about." Said a voice behind the door.

"Who's there?"

And so a jester entered the room.

"I didn't know we still has jesters in this castle."

"You do now, after all." He approached. "Is my plan to catch the traitor!" the jester said.

"How does dressing up as a jester helps? and who are you?"

"Oh come on, don't you recognise your brother in law's voice?"

"Wait, Jester!?" Prodosia asked surprised.

"Of course it is, see my plan is working. No one knows is me in this costume, and it also hides my name you know?" said Jester wearing a jester costume.

"Clever." Prodosia said.

A month passes. Midas and Luz are finally nearby the building, meanwhile in the castle....

"Perci! Perci!" Prodosia shouted and she entered Jester's house.

"Woah, what's wrong? did something happened?" Perci asked.

"Yes! something terrible! how can i live with myself after this!?" Prodosia said while freaking out.

"Calme down! talk to me, tell me what happened."

"I cheated...." Prodosia responded.

"YOU WHAT!?"

"Shhhhhhhh!"

"With all due respect, Prodosia. We've been started to have quite the pleasant friendship this past month, but it is no reason to say jokes like this!"

"I'm not joking! i wish i was!" Prodosia was slowly starting to cry.

"Oh it really is serious then....?"

"*Sigh* tell me what happened." Perci said.

"I-i was feeling really lonely without Luz, and my hooves were just not cutting it anymore. So...so... i seduced the captain of the guards*sobs*. First thing in the morning i thought it was just a stupid dream, but then i looked beside me in bed, and the captain was there!" she breaks down crying.

"Oh dear...." Perci hugged Prodosia.

"W-what do i do now? if i tell him, he will definitely divorce me, or worse! but if i don't tell him, i'll have to live with this guilt for the rest of my life. Or worse, what if i get pregnant?"

"Calme down! listen, do you really love Luz?"

"More then anything in the world!"

"Then live with that guilt, it should be a good punishment for you, and should also serve as a reminder that you have to control your primal urges!"

"Ok...." Prodosia said.

"Now, if you really turn out to be pregnant, then at the moment Luz comes back, try to mate with him as fast as possible. That way he will think the baby is his."

"I will feel so wrong doing this..."

"Doesn't look like you were "feeling wrong about it" when you were cheating."

Prodosia let out a sad sigh and said "what have i done?"

Meanwhile....

"We've been walking for so long, i started to grow a beard." Said Luz while rubbing his chin. "How com your face is still beardless?"

"Special anti beard lotion, made it maself."

After passing through another wall of bushes, they finally reached the building.

"There it is!" Luz shouted.

"Finally, ma hooves are killing me." Midas said.

"Let's go inside." Luz said while taking the initiative.

Upon entering the building, the place was completely abandoned, full of cobwebs and bushes. It was also a surprisingly small place, whit a just a few bookshelf and tables as furnitures, it looked like an old library.

"Well shiiiiii, did the oracle said on tha note how did that book looked like?" Midas asked.

"Unfortunetly not *sigh*, let's start looking. The quicker we found that book the better."

*thumb*

Luz looks behind him as somepony threw a book at him.

"That one, my King." A pegasus appeared and said.

"Who are yo..." The King stopped as he noticed, the sparkle mark on the pegasus's chest. "Let me guess another mercenary, sent by the traitor to kill me?"

"Quite the deduction skill you got there king, name is Kira by the way. Although, i don't really feel like killing you."

The King stared at him confused.

"Yes my boss did sent me here to kill you, but the thing is his payment. All i wanted was a tranquil life, on my own, without the need to pay taxes or work. And he promised me that if i did what he wanted, buuut when i got here i fell in love with the place. Is exactly what i wanted! completely isolated, it sure needs some improvements though..."

"So you really won't try to kill us?" The King asked.

"I mean, only if you try to force me to pay taxes, even though i live nowhere near the kingdom."

"Fair enough, then you stay away from the kingdom!"

"Deal!" Kira answered. "Now if you would excuse me, i need to grab some wood."

Midas looked at Luz. "Well tha was easy..."

"Now let's see what this mark is all about...."

Author's Note

Shorter chapter then usual, cause i'm tired, made a mega update to my game, plus some other IRL chenanigas or whatever you call it. Plus demotivation, that also helps slow the progress of this thing down.

Anyway, this is the end of the "Utopia" arc.

Freedom of choice

Author's Note

Yet another small chapter, cause i've been dealing with some health problems and that made things hard. I just couldn't push myself to write anything, but these small chapters will do well as a build up for the next arc. Anyhow progress on this fic might be slow but i will complete it someday!

Vector : Osipush

also, i've finally completed my fan game, it was released about 15 days ago, if ya want to check it out there's a link to in my profile.

Freedom of choice

Upon opening the book, Luz was surprised to see that it was blank. He kept flipping the pages till he finally found a page with words in it...

Relics, a bright yellow four point star that somewhat resembles a sparkle mark, they can be found all over the universe. They were created by the goddess of creation, the one above all. She watched over all mortals for millennia, and eventually grew tired of things always ending the same, it was all just getting to predictable. So she decided to create the relics, to make things more "interesting" for the mortals. Each relic has their own name and power, and if the creature that finds it is deemed worthy, they will be granted the relic's power. The relic will manifest itself just above the creature's thorax. It is not possible to know what kind of power one would receive from a relic until they touch it, and that's when things get complicated for a few, because relic powers are mostly helpful, some however can cause harm to it's own user, making a few scared to even attempt to use a relic.

Not everyone has to find a relic, some are born with it....

Upon reading that line, Luz eyes widened.

Those who are born with a relic are extremely rare, because it's believed that those born with it, were personally chosen by the goddess to have a great impact in the lives of the mortals.

Those were the final lines on the book, all the other pages were blank.

"Ell that explains some things...." said Midas.

"Indeed...."

"E that was not the reaction i was expecting, come on ya son was chosen by the goddess righ? that mean the lad will be important righ?"

"It said the chosen one will have a great impact in the lives of the mortals, but it didn't specify if it would be for the good or bad." Luz responded.

Midas let out a sigh. "Well, we got the information we wanted maybe we shou..."

Midas gets interrupted by sound of a scream outside, Both him and Luz run outside. On the outside they see Kira getting up...

"What happened?" The King asked.

"Relic user!" Kira answered.

Both the King and Midas assumed a battle stance, then suddenly...

"Grha!!"

"W-what happened?" The King asked.

"I dunno, something hit me." Midas responded.

"We should probably get inside, we don't know how he is hitting us, so we might have an advantage if we are inside." Kira said.

Just as they were about to enter the building, the King gets hit from behind and his body flies over, breaking one of the building's walls. Midas rushes over to the King.

"Oi you ok?" he asked.

"I-i'm fine." The King answered.

The relic on Kira's thorax started to glow, as a cat like figure appeared beside him.

"Show yourself!" Kira shouted, he heard no answer, but instead he got hit as well. "Thsk!"

Inside the building things didn't change, they were still being hit from every direction without a clue from were the attacks were coming. Midas called the King and Kira, to get near him, when they did Midas created a barrier around them.

"This should give us som time to think." Midas said.

The attacks didn't stop, the barrier was being hit from every side, in very short intervals. And then Kira noticed something. He made his cat like relic touch the King's robe.

"I've got a plan...well more like a gamble than a plan." Kira said.

"What is it?" The King asked.

"Midas, i need you to open the barrier, and king when i want you to throw your robe upwards and duck on my signal. Got that?"

"Just how throwing my robe away will helps us?"

Kira tapped his thorax.

"Ok...got it." The King answered, while getting ready to get rid of the robe.

Midas opened the barrier, and everyone distanced from eachother a little, and so the attacks stopped. When suddenly....

"NOW!" Kira shouted, and the King threw his robe in the air and ducked, and as he did that....

BOOOM!!

The robe exploded! but it wasn't just a explosion, some red smoke came out of it as well. Once the smoke was cleared, the robe was in the ground, it changed color from it's original golden to a crimson red, and right beside it, there was a injured blue colt.

"What the?" The King said in shock.

As he was about to get closer, the colt got up and disappeared in an instant.

"Everyone back to the barrier!" Kira shouted.

They got closer to each other again, and Midas set up the barrier again.

"Looks like i was right, that guy's relic gives him super speed! Oh sorry about the robe by the way." Kira said.

"Forget about it, how do you know that guy has super speed? also, what the hell was that explosion!?"

"My relic has the power to cause explosions on anything that it touches, in this case your robe. " Kira answered. "As for how i know his power, simple look at the ground, there's always a small dust trail around the area of his latest attack."

"I see, then what do we do now? the same plan clearly won't work twice." The King said.

"Let's thi..."

Kira stopped talking when he realised they were in a different room of the building, he looked down on the ground and saw that the colt was pushing the barrier to massive hole on the ground.

"Tsk, another one of these holes?" The King shouted.

"This is good actually, see he is only attacking from one side, he is trying to push us into the hole!" Kira explained.

"And how is that a good thing!?" Midas asked.

"It means that if we time things right, i might be able to hit him directly, if i do is over for him." Kira said.

"Makes sense, just gimme the signal and i'll open the barrier."

A few seconds go by, the barrier getting closer and closer to the hole....

"NOW!"

When the barrier opened Kira's relic rushed forward to hit the blue colt, but it missed! The blue colt avoided and went straight at the king, kicking him in the hole, and before the King had time to react, the colt kicked him again in mid air! The King's body flew with full force towards the ground.

*thumb*

Echoes the sound when the King hits his back on the ground, he tries to get up but its futile, he couldn't feel any of his legs. All he could feel was the blood coming out of the open wound on his back . Shortly after another *thumb* echoes through the hole, it was Midas! And he was unconscious, the King tried to shout, but he couldn't say a word, his vision started to fade away, when suddenly everything went black and....

"This would truly be a tragic ending would it not?" Said a mysterious voice from the darkness.

"W-who are you?" Luz said in such a faint voice, it seemed like he was whispering.

"It would truly be a shame if things end this way right? but what if i tell you that, that's the best case scenario?" The voice said.

"W-what are you talking about?"

"Well your death of course, you dying here is the best possible outcome for your kingdom."The voice giggles. "But i know you must not want to die here right?"

"......." No response from Luz.

"I'll give you a choice,because i'm feeling generous today." suddenly a relic appeared right in front of Luz "Peace or annihilation? it's your choice..."

Meanwhile....

"Gryha!!"

Kira was being hit from all sides, one of his wings were broken, it seemed like the colt was just playing with him.

"Such an idiot, and i though you were a competent assassin." Said the blue colt.

"*pant* *pant*"

"Farewell Kira!"

As the blue colt was about to finish Kira off, a dark crystal came from below him, and impaled him. And so the King and Midas rose from the hole, Midas looked a little shook, but the King had something off about him. Kira ignored it,and used his relic to finish the colt off.

"Why did you do that for? he could've had useful information for us!" The King said.

"*pant* I have all the information you're looking for..." And so Kira passed out.

By the morning.....

"Sorry i'm not good at treating wounds." The King said.

"It's fine, but just to be sure i guess i'll have to go back to the kingdom and find a medic." Kira said.

"*sigh* so you said all information we want we can get it from you right? then tell me who is the traitor of my kingdom?"

"With pleasure, that assrat sent another assassin in, even though i was already here, and worst of all he waned to kill me too. So screw that guy, if anything i might even help you deal with the traitor.... His name is Jester Orimos."

Midas let out a gasp, but the King was strangely calm with this information.

"B-but that can't be righ!? Jester the traitor!? why would he?" Midas said.

"I don't know his intentions, but what i do know is that he wants the King dead."

Both Midas and Kira looked at the King, and there was a strange static around him, not to mention his horn looked different than before....

"Luz?" Midas asked, but there was no response...

Suddenly the King gets up, and put on his now red robe on, when he opened his eyes it was clear that something bad happened to him.

"Now that we know our target, it's time to go back to my... kingdom." Said the King.

Utopia Part.4

"Urgh...oh, this is bad..." Said Prodosia leaving the bathroom feeling sick.

"Well you asked for it" Said Perci. "Now you just have to hope Luz doesn't find out."

"Yeah, otherwise i'm doomed!" Said Efiáltis.

Suddenly Prodosia's eyes widen.

"He does have a point....." It was King Luz, with a evil grin on his face! Along side him, the walls were turning into dark crimson crystals.

"My King please wait, i can expla..." Before Efiáltis could finish his sentence, he was impaled by a crystal underneath him. Before even letting out a scream in pain, he was impaled once again in the head. Dropping on the ground immediately.

Prodosia and Perci stepped back terrified.

"Luz..p-please calm down.." Said Perci

"Calm down? i am calm. Also you can call me King Sombra now." Said Sombra chuckling. "Guards! throw these two on the catacombs!"

Prodosia was strangely quiet through all of this, but her silent was cut out shortly after the guards started leading her to the catacombs. Not just the castle but the entire Kingdom seemed to be covered in crystals. Even the streets were covered. Everyone looked scared and helpless.

"What is going on!?" Prodosia asked one of the guards, but there was no answer.

A few minutes later they reached the catacombs, and were throw in a cell.

"Prodosia!?" Said Midas, who was imprisoned on a cell beside them.

"Midas!? why are you here!? what happened to Luz!?" Said Prodosia with tears running down her face.

"I don kno either, it kinda just happened." Midas answered. "Luz was acting weird the hol way back, i'm no sure why."

"You guys found out who the traitor was?" Perci asked.

"It was...Jester, yes Perci ya husband." Midas answered.

"WHAT!? That can't be true, why would he betray Luz!? they were such good friends...i-i don't understand....." Perci was freaking out.

"*sigh* i don kno what's going on at all, everything just don make sense no more." Said Midas.

As the room grows silent, Prodosia is no longer crying, she is just sitting at the corner of the cell, looking depressed. Perci was nervously walking back and forth. And Midas was just laying on the ground...

Suddenly the silence is stopped by a large BOOM!

"Come back here you coward!" Said Kira running after Jester in the castle's garden, above the catacombs.

"What's the meaning of this?" Said Sombra rushing out of the castle.

"Jester! he's running away come on!" Kira shouted.

Sombra quickly started following Kira, once he finally catched up with him, he threw a energy blast at Jester. Hitting one of his legs. But he kept running. They started running upstairs at the mountain were the Oracle's home was. Sombra then launched another blast, this time it hit the ground in front of Jester, making he fall down the stairs.

"Luz, please wait a minute my brother! i can explain!" Jester pleaded while struggling to get up.

"Explain? there's no need for such thing anymore. Although i have to thank you, is thanks to you that my mind was opened for far greater things then this small piece of land that i once called a Kingdom." Said Sombra pointing at the relic in his chest. "I want much more know! and killing you just so happens to be one of those objectives."

Sombra started laughing, and then Jester tried to shot a energy beam towards Sombra. But he was to slow, and he was blasted instead.

7 Months later....

Kira walked in the throne room. "The baby was just born Sombra."

"I'll be there shortly, also you really should start calling me King." Said Sombra.

"Keep dreaming, i'm only still he because i have no other options."

Upon entering the catacombs, Sombra sees exactly what he was expecting. A blue alicorn baby, with a relic on his chest. Prodosia was holding him on her hooves.

"What should we do with them my King?" One of the obstetrician mares asked.

Without saying anything, Sombra looked ready to shoot a blast at both Prodosia and the baby. But then...

"SOMBRA! there's a few guards on the gate calling for you!" Shouted Kira.

"Tsk. Get rid of those two for me will ya?" Sombra said to the obstetrician.

After Sombra left with Kira.

"Take the baby and run away from here!" Said Prodosia. "Don't worry about me, j-just save the baby."

The obstetrician reluctantly obeyed, and ran away from the Kingdom as fast as she could. Sombra caught onto what happened and sent Kira with some guards after the obstetrician. Minutes later she found herself in an old coal mine, with no idea on were to run she decided to hide the baby inside a mining cart. And continued to run away.

Author's Note

This chapter didn't take long at all right? lol speaking of "not long" this chapter has to be the smallest one yet. Reason for this is cause this is the end of the "Utopia" arc. So say goodbye to these characters cause ya aint gonna be seeing them in a loong time.

Were have i been this hole time? well i finished my fan game "Tales of Discordia" it has two ending and two gamemodes, i also did my own original game "Ibanuje" AND i also released just a few days ago a prototype of my second fan game "Tales of Discordia 2". So yeah i've been busy :v

But ima still end this fic someday!

Rise

It was a nice sunny day in Unicornia, and a group of fillies were playing in the fields. They were playing tag, running around without a problem in the world, until one of them had an idea....

"Yew... i'm beat, let's play hide & seek instead?" said one of the fillies.

"Sure...you're it!" Said Millia as she ran away to find a hiding spot.

Millia was light yellow earth pony, she was rather popular on the orphanage due to her generous and overhaul kind heart. She was the oldest one in the orphanage. Thanks to that, everyone found it weird that she never got adopted, it seemed like everytime someone wanted to adopt her, she would simply disappear.

She ran for quite a while and eventually found a abandoned coal mine, she was hesitant to went in at first but as she heard a far away scream "READY OR NOT I'M COMING FOR Y'ALL". Millia decided enter the mine. Inside of it was extremely dark and cold, there were a bunch of mine carts laying around, full of coal inside of them.
In the corner of her eye, she noticed a bright yellow light coming from a deeper part of the mine.

"*gulp*"

She was scared to investigate it, but her curiosity took the best of her. As she got closer to the light, she could hear faint crying sounds that got louder and louder as she approached the light.

Minutes later back in the orphanage....

"Ms.Bella! Ms.Bella! look what Millia found in the old mine!" said one of the fillies, while gasping for air.

"YOU GIRLS WERE IN THE MINES!? Just what in the world are yo...." Ms.Bella was saying furious, but suddenly stopped when she noticed the basket Millia was carrying.

Inside the basket was a crying little alicorn baby.

"A alicorn baby!? oh goddess just how did this baby got in a mine of all places." Said Ms.Bella taking a hold of him.

*belly noises*

"Oh you must be hungry right little guy? Millia could you please grab a bottle of milk for me?" Ms.Bella asked. "If its cold, put it on the stove for a bit to heat it up."

"Will do!" Millia answered.

"You sure are lucky huh little guy?" Ms.Bella said.

"So what do we name him?" One of the fillies asked.

"Oh oh oh look! he has a cutie mark! maybe his name can be related to that!?" Said one of the fillies.

"Hum... you're right, he does have a cutie mark." Ms.Bella said. "It looks like a heart with seaweed around it? that's a very strange cutie mark...."

"Why does he even have one!? i'm eight and i'm still a blank flank!" Said one of the fillies.

"That is a good question, i mean it is possible for a baby to be born with a cutie mark, but it's quite unusual.." Ms.Bella answered. "Especially one so...unique?"

"Yeah, what kind of name would be "Heart Weed"?" Said one of the fillies.

"What about "Bottom Heart"?" Said Millia handing a bottle of milk to Ms.Bella.

"Bottom Heart sounds cool!"
"Yeah! i like it!"
Said the fillies.

"Then Bottom Heart it is!" Said Ms.Bella "Also! before i forget, you girls are grounded!"

"WHAT!?" All three of them said in shock.

"I told you girls multiple times, to NOT go near that mine its way too dangerous! what if something had happened!?"

"We're sorry Ms.Bella" Said the three of them.

"But to be fair, Millia was the only one who went in the mines." Said one of the fillies.

"Then i have the perfect punishment for you Millia." Ms.Bella said with a grin in her face. "You're going to be the one responsible for changing his diapers!"

"WHAT!!!!"

"Hhahahahahahhaha" The other two fillies were laughing hysterically.

Eight hours later, it was a lovely and quiet night. Surprisingly Millia got quite attached with Bottom Heart, she was tucking him to bed, singing a lullaby for him. After she stopped singing and he was asleep, she said....

"Looks like we're somehow related little guy, at least i think so..." Millia said with her hoof placed on her thorax "We have the same four point star mark on our chest, and we were both born with a cutie mark. Maybe we were destined to find each other?*yawn* good night little guy."

Millia fell asleep beside Bottom Heart.

Six years later....

It was another lovely morning in Unicornia, or what it used to be Unicornia, the village is now known as the new Canterlot and has grown big enough for it to be considered a city. Most building are no longer made out of wood, and now they were made with concrete and bricks. The orphanage now was twice the size, and had many more kids living in it, even kids that had parents! the reason for that was because quite a few houses were still in construction so some kids didn't have a nice and cozy place to sleep.

Millia is now a teenager, and started working on the orphanage as a caretaker. Although some questioned her position as caretaker, as it seemed like she would only take care of Bottom Heart.

"The great contest of young talents! the winner's parents will receive five hundred bits as a reward, and the young talent will have the opportunity to attend the Canterlot school for the gifted!" Millia was reading a poster on the wall. " The school for the gifted eh? what do you think little guy, should we try this out?"

" (\ =|) (\ /) =|)(|=?"

"You're right, what can we do in this contest?" Millia placed one of her hooves in her chin.

Most kids of Bottom Heart's age normally already speak, but it seemed like he was mute and only talked with sign language. But his sighs were also unusual, as apparently those sighs were something he and Millia created, so Millia was the only one who actually understood him.

"*gasp* I know, i can sing and you play the guitar!" She said. "Oh wait you never played it, also i don't think Ms.Bella even has a guitar lying around."

"/) =|) =|)(|= /)?"

"Even if we borrow one from Peach you still can't play it right? also i don't think the owner of a guitar shop would just let random kids take a guitar." Millia stated."*sigh*We have to figure something else...."

"Got any ideas Heart?" Millia asked. "Bottom Heart!?.....Bottom Heart where are you!?" Millia started to look around, and then she saw his shadow near the guitar store. She went in and noticed he was playing a small guitar.

"Wow you can actually play, since when can you do that...." She stopped talking for a second and noticed his cutie mark was glowing.

"What a peculiar cutie mark to represent such talent." Mr.Peach walked behind them.

"Oh Mr.Peach, sorry barging in like that."

"Don't worry i already said both of you are welcome at my store, and is good to see that the little one has some talent, have you though about him entering the Canterlot school contest?, it might already be a good time for him to attend school don't you think? "

"I think that's the reason why heart came in here in the first place, we were just thinking on entering, i would sing and he would play the guitar, but we don't have a guitar or the money to buy one."

"Oh you can borrow one, i don't mind."

"Are you sure Mr.Peach!? we'll probably not win."

"It's okay, the important thing is to have fun! besides you both help around the store all the time, guess is my time to help out."

"Thank you so much Mr.peach! come on heart we gotta come up with a song for the contest." Millia said as she walked out of the store with Bottom Heart.

A week later....

"Oh we're next! *heavy breathing* i'm so nervous , what about you little guy?" Millia asked.

"(|\"

"Oh of course you aren't...."

Their time came and they went in on stage to perform, Millia despite being so nervous she sang gracefully, while Bottom Heart played the guitar like a pro. Strangely enough during the entire performance he had his eyes closed. But it wasn't because he wanted to show of, he was actually feeling some sort of presence nearby, it was nice and warm presence it reminded him of the sun in a way. When the song ended and he opened his eyes to see the crowd cheering them, he noticed the presence right in front of him, it was a white unicorn mare with a pink mane. She looked slightly taller than the other ponies in the crowd.

When they went out of the stage...

"/) /|) (|=?"

"Oh her? she was the reason why i was so nervous to perform. She is the headmare of the school!" Millia answered. "Look! look! they're going to announce the winner!"

"Ladies and gentlecolts! we had quite a lot of great young talents today, but unfortunately only two of them will be making the cut, and receiving the opportunity to enter the Canterlot school of the gifted! and these two ponies are................ Millia Dazzle and Bottom Heart!"

The crowd cheered in excitement.

"WE WON!!!" Millia screamed as she hugged Bottom Heart, and he hugged her back.

"Congratulations to Millia and Bottom, both of you please go see the headmare at her office on the second floor."

A few minutes later in the headmare office....

"Welcome my little ponies, congratulations on winning the contest. My name is Celestia! and i'm the headmare of this school."

"Thank you so much for the opportunity miss! and the money is really going to help the orphanage too!" Millia said.

"I sure do hope so. Anyway i wanted to see you two here for another reason." Celestia said. "I want to adopt you both!"

"YOU WHAT!?" Millia screamed.

"If that's okay with you two of course."

"Umm i mean i guess i'm okay if he is okay, so what do you say little guy?"

"/|)"

"Then we're just got our selves a mother!" Millia said. "You know what that means right?"

"That you two are officially siblings?" Celestia said.

"That too, but most importantly i can change my name! my friends at the orphanage gave it to me but "Millia Dazzle" sounds kinda lame, any ideas?"

" /)(\ =|) /)(\ "

"Ada? hum.... Ada Dazzle also sounds kinda weird.... wait i know! what about "Adagio Dazzle"?"

"/)!!"

"You liked it!? yeah Adagio Dazzle sounds great! can that be my official name mom?"

"*chucles* I wasn't expecting for you to call me mom so quickly. Sure Adagio sounds like a sweet name!" Celestia said.

"Yay" Bottom Heart said.....

"*Gasp* D-d-did you just speak!?" Adagio asked.

Bottom Heart noded.

"Say something else!" Adagio said.

Bottom Heart just stared at her with a goofy face.

"Aw come on! come here you lil hayjumper!" Adagio hugged Bottom Heart.

Celestia chuckled.

Author's Note

I'm gonna TRY to do 1 chapter per month

Red Star Part.1

It was a rather cloudy day, the winds were strong enough to tilt some trees, it was clear that a storm was coming. And heavy one! But that was not enough to keep Adagio at home, she had a rather unhealthy liking for hot cocoa, so when she saw there was none left she stormed of to the city to buy some. That way she could enjoy a nice reading session with Bottom Heart. Now that she was adopted by Celestia, which was a very wealthy mare; Adagio didn't need to work anymore, and she was beyond happy about that, after all it meant she could just be lazzy all day.

With a bag of cocoa in her mouth, Adagio was rushing back home trying to avoid the storm.

*BUMP*

"Glad to see you're still as energetic as ever Adagio!" Said the pony she ran into.

"Mr.Peach!" She hugged him "Is so good to see you!"

"Is good to see you too. Haven't seen you around in a few weeks, how are you doing on Celestia's home? is she treating you and Bottom Heart well?"

"We've been good, Celestia is awesome....when she is home of course." She lets out a slight smile. "When she is home Bottom Heart follows her around all day! he keeps trying to play with her massive tail *chuckles*"

"*chuckles* That's great to hear..." *LOUD THUNDER NOISE* " And i think that's your que to go back home." Mr.Peach said.

"You're right, gotta jet! Later Mr.Peach!"

"Be careful!" Said Mr.Peach waving good bye.

A few minutes later Adagio managed to avoid the storm and enter her house.

"Hearty! i got some cocoa!" She shouted. " Hearty? were are ya lil guy?"

Just as she was about to go looking for him, he waves at her from the kitchen.

"Hey lil guy what are you doing in the kiiiii..... MOM!?" She gave Celestia a big hug. " Weren't you supposed to be working today!?"

"Yes, but i talked with Weather Report today and she said this storm is going to last a few days, and since i don't want my students to go out in such a big storm i decided to give everyone a small vacation of sorts." She said with a smile. " That means i don't really have to go to school either, i can just do the rest of the paperwork from home."

"Awesome!! that means you'll finally have time to play some board game with us right!?" Adagio asked.

"Yes honey i will, but later okay? first lets eat dinner, your little brother here has quite the talent for cooking *chuckles*" Celestia pointed at Bottom Heart which was whisking some batter in a bowl.

Adagio helped them finish cooking dinner, they made some hot cocoa and enjoyed each other's company for a few hours.

"Okay kids is time to go to bed..." Celestia said.

Adagio was already asleep on the couch, while Bottom Heart was making some drawings on a piece of paper.

"Adagio honey get up, you can sleep on the couch."

"*Yawn* yeah...yeah.. night mom...." Adagio slowly went to her room.

"And you little one, come here let me brush that bush you call a mane! *chuckles*" She said while putting him in a chair, and started to brush his mane. " How can a pony this small have such big mane? *phew* all done"

"Now time to go to bed."

Celestia took Bottom Heart to his room, and tuck him in bed. As Celestia was about to leave, everything started shaking, it was an earthquake, and a big one!

"Kids! below my wings now!" Celestia shouted.

Both Adagio and Bottom Heart jumped from their beds, and hid below Celestia's wings. After a few seconds the shaking stopped.

"What was that all about!?" Asked a terrified Adagio.

Celestia didn't have time to answer, as she was about to talk a red light reflected through the window, falling towards the horizon.

"Mom look!" Said Adagio pointing towards the sky.

"The Apollo Highway!" Celestia was shocked. " I-Its destroyed!? b-but how!?" In a panic Celestia stormed out of the room and putted on a rain coat. "Kids, stay in your beds! i need to talk with Weather Report. I'll be back shortly."

"Okay mom be carefull...." Said Adagio with a concerned look.

"//) =|) ||)( =//"

"Oh that's right they didn't teach you about that in school yet. The Apollo highway is a big road made of stars, the sun and the moon travelled through the road in circles, that's how the day and night cycle worked." Adagio Explained. " Without it, the sun and the moon won't move anymore, so there's no longer going to have a day and night cycle!"

Bottom Heart looked at the sky, the place were the highway was; was completely shattered.....

After the earthquake the storm was even stronger, and the city was covered in a deep fog. Despite all of this Celestia still manage to go into the town hall, a hooffull of other ponies were already there.

"The storm is way to strong! it ripped apart a portion of my roof!" Said a mare.

"Yeah, and there's also the lake nearby , if the storm continue on like this it might cause a flood!" Said the mayor. " You have to stop this Weather!"

"*sigh* For the last time, my power is to PREDICT the weather, NOT control it!" Said a very annoyed Weather Report. " I can't do anything about the storm!"

"The storm might be the last of our problems!" Said Celestia. "Didn't any of you saw!? the Apollo highway has been shattered!"

"WHAT!?" screamed everyone in the room.

The Mayor poked his head outside the door.

"S-she is right! i can barely see it, but its definitely shattered!"

"Oh good heaven what do we do!?" said one of the panicking mares.

"Panic isn't going to help with anything! we need to keep ourselves calm and think of something!" Said the Mayor.

"That's why i came here, looking for you Weather..." Celestia said.

"No! i can't control the highway either!" She answered.

"I know, but listen. When the highway got shattered i saw a red star falling in the horizon, it didn't look like it was too far away, but then again i could be wrong because of the fog." Celestia said.

"And so you want me to go there investigate it?"

"Yes, there's nopony else in this city more suited to travel in a storm then you. I'm really not sure if that star is the answer but is the only thing i can think about right now." Celestia said. " Please go investigate it, you can name a price, i'm sure we can come to an agreement."

"*sigh* No need to pay me, i'll go. After all i live here too ya know? and is not like we can do anything else either..."

"Thank you, thank you so much! the star fell in the north direction." Celestia said.

"We wish you good luck in your journey, Weather." The Mayor said. " Now everypony else, we need to bring everyone to the town hall. This is the most durable building in the city, everyone will be safer here!"

"But can everypony fit in here? i know the place is big and all but..." said a colt.

"Maybe if we get rid of some of the furniture. Either way we still have to bring as much ponies here as we can!"

As much as Weather Report denied, everyone knew that her powers were more then simply predicting the weather. Multiple ponies claim to have seen her walking on rain drops, so she basically had the ability to walk on air when it rained. Her strength was also abnormal, she could lift giant boulders with little to no effort. She was quite the famous pony in town, not just for her predictions but because she was a rather peculiar pony. No one knew what she was up to, pretty much all day, she would only occasionally appear in the town hall to give her weather predictions.

After leaving the town hall, she went north, and as to be expected she was having no trouble moving through the storm. with a some stops along the way, after a few hours she found herself in a abandoned village. The place was completely torn apart, and there were explosion holes all over the place. Weather knew that this village wasn't simply abandoned, it was attacked! and it seemed rather recent too. As weather cautiously walked around she found the corpse of a dead mare, confirming that this attack was indeed recent. Just a few seconds away from the body, Weather saw a destroyed red orb on the ground. Just as she was about to investigate it, she is blown back by an explosion in front of her. Once she gets up, she saw a purple mare with dark mane and armor, her eyes were glowing in a blinding shade of yellow .

"Urgh... who the hell are you!?" Weather asked.

The mare simply chuckled, and more explosions happened right beside Weather. But this time she noticed something, these explosions weren't coming out of thin air, it were small rocks that came from the sky when the mare blinked. These rocks were coming at a shocking speed, Weather was barely able to dodge them. Weather then jumped on a wall and used it to propel herself towards the mysterious mare.

She manage to hit the mare right in the chest,that caused a huge shockwave in the area . But the mare stood still. It didn't even fase her. And then Weather was hit right in the neck with one of the rocks, it exploded and Weather was sent flying towards a building. Her body hit the wall as she let out a scream in pain.

"W-who are y-you?" Asked Weather while she was bleeding out on the ground.

"You can call me....Elliptical Orbit."

Author's Note

i wrote this at 2am, i'm mega tired so if theres any mistakes sorry...

vector used to make bottom heart was made by : Blitzkatze

Shepherd Of Fire

It's a damp and dark room, the walls were made out of mud bricks, there were multiple pieces of cloth scattered around the place. Dripping noises echoed throughout the place, it was the kind of sound that could drive anyone crazy if they heard it for long enough. There were two ponies in this room, one of them was sitting at a corner, while the other was an unconscious mare. Her neck was completely covered in bloody bandages.

Droplets of water started falling in her face, slowly waking her up. The pony in the corner stood up and sat down next to her...

"So you're alive huh?" He said.

"W-were am i?" She said while trying to get up.

"Woah there slow down, you're hurt pretty badly." He tried to convince her to stay laid down, but she ignored him. "Spunky one eh? what's your name?"

"Weather Report."

"Mine is Love and Meth, nice to meet you." He offered a hoofshake, she reluctantly shaked his hoof. "You must be hungry, follow me, lets get you some food."

She started following him through the hallways, the whole place was very poorly lit, with very few torches. There were jail cells all over the place, most of them were open. Ponies of all ages and sizes, wearing worn out cloth coats , were all over the place. The celling was so high up it could barely be seen.

"What is this place?" Weather asked.

"This is the Catacombs! well... whats left of them." Love answered. "This place was once owned by the old Mayor of Salvamare, but after he died the place just got abandoned, until recently at least." Love stopped. " Here we are, hey Soft taps, two bowls of worm soup please."

They sat down near a wooden box.

"So i presume you got that injury while fighting against Elliptical Orbit right?" Love said.

"You know her?" Weather asked.

"Everyone here does, she was the one who threw us in here in the first place." Said Soft taps while putting the bowls of soup on top of the box. "Eat up, it will help with your recovery."

Weather looked at the bowl, it was full of worms and had a light brown broth. "Isn't there anything else on the menu?" She asked.

"Well we got rock soup, water soup, dirt soup, mud cake..... oh! and we also have beetle soup!" Soft answered.

"Why so many soups and dirt stuff?" Weather asked.

Soft sat down. "Because is all we have..." she lets out a big sigh. "Elliptical threw us in this abandoned ruin of a place, with absolutely nothing. No tools, food or even water. We are lucky that there's a big hole in the celling, thanks to the recent storms we manage to stock up on water with some old ceramic urns."

"Unfortunately he's right, and we can't do anything about it." Love said.

"What if all of you attack at once? she can't be that strong right?" Weather said.

"You think we didn't try that already!? is pointless she is far too strong." Love explained. "One of the lumberjacks hit her with his axe and the thing just broke, she didn't even flinch!"

"Yeah, you better just try and get used to life down here." Soft said. "Because even if you knew how to defeat her, you wouldn't be able to get to her anyway."

"Why not?" Weather asked.

"The one and only entrance to this place collapsed not too long ago, without tool or a powerful enough unicorn around we're kinda stuck down here." Love explained.

"Is there really no other exit? i mean how did she even brought you guys here?" Weather asked.

"As i said the entrance collapsed not too long ago, it was in the same days she brought you here so i say it was about.......four days ago."

"I've been unconscious this whole time?"

"Yeah, i'm honestly surprised you lasted that long without water." Soft said. "Well we talked for long enough, enjoy your meal." Soft said while walking away.

"There might be..." Said Love with his hoof on his chin.

"There might be what?" Weather asked.

"Another exit, i think there might be one in the right section of the catacombs." Love answered. "But nopony can go there, and the ones that can are too scared to go."

"What do you mean?"

"You need to cross a bridge to get there, and that bridge has been collapsed since the day we first day we got here. So only a pegasus or a unicorn can go, but no one wants too anymore, after a certain incident." Love said. "Turns out there are things living in the cells of that side of the catacombs, monstrous things, the poor pony didn't stand a chance, his screams of terror scared everyone now no one wants to risk and go there again. *clears throat* welp i already talked a lot the soup is gonna get cold lets eat, we can talk more later, i'm curious to know more about you."

Weather let out a sigh, and tried to eat the soup without vomiting. She failed.....

"There there, let it all out. You'll get used to our soup soon enough." Said Love while softly taping Weather's back while she was vomiting in a corner.

A few minutes passed, and they were now walking around.

"So Weather, were you're from?" Love asked.

"Canterlot."

"Oh city of riches eh? then why did you come to our little town?"

"I guess no pony can see it from down here, but the Apollo highway shattered, and the mare who saw it happening said a red light fell in this town's direction." Weather explained. "I came here to investigate, and i ended up running into Elliptical Orbit."

"Oooooh! that would explain why this place has been so dark lately...."

"I need to find a way to get out of here, and find out whats happening. Without sunlight this part of the world is going to become a frozen wasteland in just a couple of months."

"That sure sound terrible, but what were you going to do if find that red light?"

"I would've figured something out i don't know.....*sigh* contact an experienced wizard, they would probably know what to do."

"Well i say we should probably just get ready for the frozen wasteland, because basing things on a "probably" doesn't sound like the greatest idea."

"I-i guess you're right." Weather looked sad.

"*sigh* I know our situation is pretty bad, but i'm sure we can figure something out, everypony down here can!" Love said. "Speaking of everypony, there's somepony i want you to meet, she used to be from Canterlot aswell."

Weather followed Love through the hallways talking about themselves in the way, until they reached a cell near the the bridge. Weather looked blankly at the other side for a second, when she turned to the cell, she saw a white mare with a crimson mane laying on a worn out mattress. She looked really tired and weak, half of one of her back legs was missing, it looked like something took a huge bite out of her. The area of the wound looked all purple with dark red spots, it was badly infected. Beside her was a small colt, he was brushing the wound with a wet rag. On the other side of the room was a mare, it looked like she was trying to churn butter.

"Oh somepony new?" The white mare spoke slowly and softly.

"Carmesim this is Weather Report. Weather this is Carmesim Cherry." Love said.

"Is nice to meet you ma'am." Weather said.

"Oh, no need to be so formal, you can just call me Carmesim." She lets out a small grunt as she tries to raise one of her front hooves.

"No no no, don't force yourself, here..." Weather laid on the ground and put her hooves on top of Carmesim's.

Carmesim softly smiles at her, and lays her head on the mattress.

"That wound is beyond infected, just a rag with water is not going to do anything..." Weather was thinking. "Also i'm wondering...." Weather looked at the other mare in the room."Whats the deals with that thing you're using, isn't it used to make butter?"

"Yes, yes it is, this was actually Carmesim's request." The mare answered. "You see the little colt over there, that's her son he hasn't been eating well lately, so she at least wants to give something nice for her son to eat before she passes away." The mare explained. "She wants me to make cheese, but is just not coming out right...i'm not sure if its because i'm trying to do this with mare milk or i'm not churning enough."

"It's not it, to make cheese you need something acidic, like a lemon or vinegar." Weather explained. "With pure milk all you can do is butter and buttermilk."

"*sigh* I don't care about the cheese, i just want my mom to be okay." Said the little colt.

Weather stormed out of the room and looked at the bridge once again, this time she was preparing to jump to the other side.

"Woah woah there, whatever you're think you're doing is not a good idea!" Said Love blocking the way.

"I need to find an exit so i can at least bring some medicine."

"Oh don't be stupid! no one knows if there's actually an exit on that side, not to mention the monsters! also you get out of here and then what? get killed by Elliptical!?" Love said frustrated.

"*tsk* I just want to help...."

"I know, so do i. But there's nothing we can do, we can at best make sure she will have a tranquil death and a proper funeral ok?"

"Ok...."

Weather looked at Carmesim one last time before following Love back to the cell were she woke up.

"Carmesim is a strong mare, she must still have a few days left to live. If you want to help, i say the best way you can do that is befriending her." Love said. "Even though i'm always telling her to save her energies and stop talking, she just doesn't listen and loves to talk about her past life in Canterlot."

"I'll be sure to listen to every bit of it."

"I'm sure you will. *yawn* Tomorrow is gonna be a long day, good night."

"Good night." Weather responded.

Hours passed and Weather was still wide awake, all she could think about was the bridge and a possible way out. Her thoughts came to a halt when she heard a loud thud behind her. She looked back and all she could see was a big brown wall of bricks, she stood up and decided to examine the wall. Near the corner she noticed a very dim light coming out of one of the bricks, she pressed the brick and a hidden passage on the wall opened revealing a big room. The room was well lit, and even had a basket of fresh apples. In the corner was a bed with messy sheets, it looked like it had recently been used. On the other side of the room was a big metal door, it was what weather assumed to be the cause of the loud thud.

She carefully grabbed one of the bottom apples in the basket, and started investigating the room. She found plenty of broken armor pieces, and on the table she found a book, the book didn't have a tittle and the cover was simply a red star. Weather opened the book and started flipping through the pages.

From the book she learned that the red star is called the "Apollo Heart" and its the relic that holds the Apollo highway in space, without it both the earth and the moon are unable to orbit around the sun, essentially stopping time on earth. The relic was made to never leave the earth's atmosphere, and if does it will automatically come back to its original position.

"hum...."The relic was made to never leave the earth's atmosphere, and if does it will automatically come back to its original position." just how long does it take for it to come back?"

Weather wanted to learn more about it, but then she heard hoofsteps coming towards the room. She quickly closed the book, and went back to the cell. She presse the brick again for the passage to close, through a small gash in the wall Weather saw Elliptical enter the room.

The next day, when Weather woke up she immediately went to Carmesim's cell.

"Wow Carmesim barely said anything and she already got a fan *chuckles*" Love said to himself while getting up.

When she reached Carmesim's cell, Carmesim was already awake.

"Oh its you again, good morning." Carmesim said with a soft smile.

"Good morning Ms.Carmesim!" Weather responded cheerfully.

"Oh stop it, i already told you can just call me by my regular name. There's no need to be so formal."

"Ok ok, then how about i call you Carmem?" Weather said while laying down next to her.

"If that's easier for you then sure."

"Hey listen, don't tell this to anyone okay? i got a gift for you." Weather said that and pulled the apple that was hidden in her mane. "Ta-da."

"I-is that an apple? how...were did you find it?" Carmem asked with her eyes wide open in surprise.

"Oh.... i didn't thought this through at all! i can't just simply tell her i found a way out, she's gonna freak out! i need to find an excuse..." Weather thought to herself for a second.

"As i said don't tell this to anyone okay? i jumped the bridge." Weather whispered in Carmem's ear. "While exploring the place i found an open area full of smashed apples on the ground, i was lucky i managed to get this one when it was falling. I guess on that hole in the celling is right beside an apple tree."

"You shouldn't have done that, what if one of the monsters went after you."

"I actually didn't see any of those monsters you ponies talk about, but i did see some very big piles of bones and busted cell doors."

"You got lucky that's all, please don't do this kind of thing again ok? We are a very small community here we need to stick together if we want to live."

"Don't worry about it! just enjoy your breakfast." Weather said.

"Are you sure you don't want it? you went trough all of that danger to get this just to give to a sick pony?" Carmem said concerned.

"Yes i got this specifically for you! i went there to try and find something to take care of your wounds, didn't have much luck with that." Weather answered. "But on the bright side, at least once, you can eat proper food."

"T-thank you, you're way to sweet with me." Carmem smiled as she picked up the apple. She let out a soft moan as she took her first bite. "Oh i forgot how delicious a fruit could be." She took a second bite, and putted the apple on the mattress beside her.

"Whats wrong? you're full already?" Weather asked concerned.

"No no, i'm leaving the rest for my son."

"But you're injured" you need on the energy you can get."

"Oh stop worrying about me, my little boy is all that matters to me right now."

"I'm sorry if this sounds rude was this type of mentality that caused you to be wounded?"

"*chuckles* Kind off. As you already know a pegasus flyied to the other side, well that pegasus was the dad of my son. Yes, my son was the result of a one nighter but in the end that guy wanted to be part of the kids life. So when i heard his screams the first thought that came through my mind was I can't let my kid without a father!, and so i flyied to the other side and tried to help him. But it was too late, and when i tried to escape the same monster that killed that guy bit my leg, he started to pull me back it was horrifying! but thankfully my leg was ripped apart and i managed to fly back." Carmem explained.

"Good lord...i'm sorry to hear that."

"Don't be, it was a foo.... ow!" Carmem squirmed in pain.

"Woah whats wrong!?"

"There's something on m-my leg..."

Weather looked at her leg a saw a small maggot, she quickly removed it got a wet rag and started cleaning the area.

"Oh thank you...i feel a bit better now."

"It's no problem.... listen i gotta go, where is that mare that was here with you yesterday?"

"She should be here in a few minutes, don't worry about me i'll be okay."

"Don't die before i come back ok? i need to give you something..."

"Another gift? you don't have too."

"Is not exactly a gift, it will be more of a necessity thing." Weather stood up and smiled. "Is something you need asap!"

Weather than stormed out of the room leaving Carmem confused.

"Something i need?" She thought to herself.

Weather went back to her sell and immediately opened the secret passage and closing it behind her.

"Ok i need to find antibiotics, bandages and alcohol! Hopefully i can also find a way to lead everyone out of these catacombs without Elliptical noticing."

Weather made her way to the large metal door, she opened it slightly to see what was behind it. She ended up getting shocked and fully opened the door to see that behind it was a huge hole on the ground, it looked like it didn't have a bottom while the celling was rather tall but it had a massive hole on it aswell.

"Well shit! i will only be able to get up there when it rains.....*sigh*"

Weather closed the iron door and started looking around Elliptical's room, she couldn't find anything useful at least nothing that wouldn't be too obvious if she took it. She eventually gave up and made her way back to Carmem's cell, but when she was approaching she saw a bunch of ponies gathered around her cell and faint cries could be heard. She made her way through the crowd and saw Carmem crying while Love was trying to make her calm down.

"What happened!?" Weather asked.

"Weather where were you!? you know what i doesn't matter know. Carmem's son flyied over to the right side!" Love explained. "Please you two became friends right? please try and calm her down."

"Calm her down? is no one here even thinking in a way to save the kid!?" Weather shouted but got no response for a second.

"Is not worth the risk....I'm sorry but that's just the reality of things." Love said.

"Weather looked at him in disgust and prepared herself to make the jump, Love tried to stop her but she just slapped him out of the way and made the jump. She started to run and shout, looking for the kid. However she didn't take to long to find him, he was laying on the ground near a open cell, he wasn't injured or out of breath either but was unconscious. Upon getting closer to him she started hearing soft growls, they were coming from the kid's stomach he was clearly hungry and malnourished. Weather then torn apart the kid's cloth robe and made a improvised child carrier, and putted him on her back.

As she was about the leave she saw a massive creature behind her, it resembled a bull but it was twice the size of a normal bull and all of its fur was pitch black. Almost as if it were a shadow. Weather prepared herself for a fight and the creature looked like it was about to charge at her, they stared at each other for a few seconds when suddenly a cracking noise broke the silence. When the creature charged forward the ground below them collapsed, Weather was about to grab the kid and hold him on her hooves to try and protect him from the fall, but she quickly gave up on the idea when she saw water. After falling in the water she swam out of it as fast as she could so the kid wouldn't drown. Weather turned around and looked at the water expecting to see the creature again, but it was gone....

*cough* *cough* The kid woke up, Weather putted him on the ground.

"You okay kid?"

"*couch* C-c-cold..."

"Ok hold on tight." Weather putted the kid back in the carrier and started looking around, she found a open cell full of broken ceramics and old mattresses.

"Well...... that's convenient. Here kid..." Weather grabbed an old sheet and started drying the kid up. "By the way whats your name kid?"

"Crimson Cherry."

"Huh, that's your mother's name on my native language." Weather smirked. "So Crin why did you come here for? what were you thinking?"

"My mom's leg keeps getting worse, i want to help somehow!" Crin said while tearing up. "The mare that usually helps me take care of my mom said that she needs at least some alcohol..."

"It's okay i get it, but you can't just go out on your own like that! you know how worried your mom got!? she was crying her lungs out!" Weather scolded him.

"I-i'm sorry...." Crin responded quietly.

"*sigh* Don't apologise to me, you'll apologise to your mom when we get back am i clear?"

Crin noded.

"Now stay here, i'll go look for something for you to ea.... oh!?...." Weather was talking to Crin but stopped mid sentence as she noticed something on the corner of the room. "These grow down here?" she said it pointing at a plant that was in the corner.

"Oh these plants are in some cells in the lower levels of the catacombs, i remember someponies saying they aren't edible."

"And they are right but.....if my suspicions are correct..." She said it while pulling the plant of the ground. "Yeah my suspicions are right! this is inhame!"

"Iii what now?" Crin asked confused.

"Inhame, is kinda of like a potato. The leaves aren't edible but the root is if cooked properly!" Weather explained as she ripped the leaves from the root.

She stored some water in a mostly intact urn grabbed a few of the rags that were around the room and made a small campfire.

"Hum... i need something sharp to peel the skin of this thing."

"Here i got it on my old house before that bad pony appeared." Crin pulled a small glass shard from his mane. "Mom said i needed something to defend myself."

"Smart!" Weather took the glass shard and peeled of the inhame skin, she then putted it on the boiling water and closed the lid. Weather's ears twitched.

"Hey little guy, keep an eye on the fire okay? if it starts to dissipate throw a few pieces of cloth in it." Weather said. "I need a little bathroom break, don't worry i won't go far and i'll come back quickly ok?"

Crin noded.

Weather lied to Crin she didn't need a bathroom break, she actually heard a noise outside of the cell and didn't want to scare Crim. As she got out of the cell she saw a big figure running at the end of the hallway.

"Is that bull monster thing from earlier!"

Weather walked along the wall quietly constantly looking side to side. She lets out a gasp as the figure passed right in front of her and went straight through a wall, but it didn't break it. Weather was starting to get nervous. When she saw the figure again she had to hold her scream in pain as the figure made a small cut in one of her back legs.

"How can something so big be so fast!? and how is it going through walls!?"

Weather didn't have time to wonder as she was thrown all the way to the end of the hallway and smashed her back against the wall. She once again held her scream in pain as to not alarm Crin. When she stood up, right in front of her was the bull looking creature from before. Once again it charged and so did her. She avoided the bull's horn and went forehead to forehead with it. Both were using as much force as they possibly could it seemed like they were evenly matched in physical strength. But the bull had an slight edge thanks to its size and it manage to push her away a few steps. And he quickly went through the wall again.

"Dam it!"

The bull was once again ready to hit her by surprise, he set his sights on her right flank and charged at full speed. Weather was concentrated, trying to predict were the creature's next attack would be. As the bull got near her she felt a soft breeze from the right. And as the creature was about to hit her, she jumped out of the way. In surprise the bull lost its footing and crashed his body against the wall, destroying it on the process.

Crim heard the loud crash and walked out of the room scared. Weather noticed him on the corner of her eye.

"GO BACK TO THE CELL AND HIDE NOW!!!" She shouted at him.

But he just stood still for a second. "CAREFUL!!" He shouted back at her while pointing at the bull who was once again standing and ready to charge at her. When it did she once again jumped but this time it wasn't to dodge the incoming attack. She pulled all of her strength in her back legs and used both to kick the bull right in the forehead. The creature got disoriented for a second. But Weather didn't give it time to recover its senses and once again delivered a double kick right on the bull's forehead. This it simply fell down to the ground unconscious. It body started to dissolve almost as if the creature was made out of some kind of goo.

"You killed it!?"

"*Feew* guess so... Thanks for the warning little tike." Weather said it while petting him. "Let's go back to the cell, i have to put some sheets on the entrance so we can bring less attention to our location."

An hour and a half later....

"There it should be ready now." Weather said.

"Why do these things take so long to cook?" Crin said as he took a bite. "....I-it doesn't really taste like anything."

"I know right?" Weather said while chewing. "*gulp* Back on my city we normally eat these with butter, or fried with salt. But we can't really afford any of those things right now."

"Is a lot better than worm soup." Crin responded and Weather just chuckled.

They enjoyed a nice and quiet meal and continued exploring the catacombs right after it. Unlike the left side of the catacombs, were it was dark but it still had a few lit up torches and overall lighter areas. This side was pitch black, all torches were of. But in the end that turned out to be a good thing for them, as they encountered other shadowy creatures along their way, but thanks to the darkness of the place they manage to sneak by the creatures with little to no issue. Eventually they saw what it looked like a staircase, and the area around it was slightly brighter than everything else. When they got to the staircase and looked for the source of light they both gasped.

"Is that....."

It was a gateway, the actual gate was all smashed on the ground.

"One of those creatures must've scaped..." Weather said. "Oh i don't care, we found a way out!"

"Yay!!" Crin said in happiness.

They walked out of the catacombs and found themselves on a big open field, while the catacomb's gate was in a small plateau full of apple trees on top of it. Everything was going well for them... maybe a bit too well. They climbed the plateau to grab some apples, once there they could see the village from afar. Elliptical could also be seen very faintly. Weather saw something that caught her attention....

"Jackpot!" Weather said.

She was looking at a small cabin that had a red cross painted on the side.

"If were gonna find something to help your mom little tike, it will definitely be in that building." Weather said pointing at the building. "Listen, were gonna need to be extra careful and quiet, stay as close to me as you can okay?"

Crin noded.

They carefully made their way into the building, inside Weather found a bag, she used it to store all kinds of different medical supplies and tools. As they were about to leave Weather heard Elliptical say something right outside of the building's door.

"Hide." Weather whispered and they both hid inside a cabinet.

"Should the tower be built here?" Elliptical said. "Hum... maybe the mayor's house will be a better spot? oh decisions decisions." As she walked away it became harder and harder to understand what she was talking about, Weather didn't think much of it and just took the opportunity to leave quietly.

A few hours later...

"Come on Carmem you have to eat something!" A mare was trying to feed Carmem but she was refusing it, she didn't even want to drink water.

Love was at the cell's door and he lets out a gasp.

"Kill me.." Carmem said.

"Mom!?" Said Crin tearing up as he rushed to hug her.

"MY BABY! oh you're safe!? thank goodness!!" Carmem said in joy while crying.

"Y-you...w-were did... how?" Love asked Weather who was on the resting on the ground with two big bags on her back. One of the bags was full of medical supplies while the other was full of apples.

"We found an exit." Weather responded.

The mare that takes care of Carmem approached. "There's all kinds of medicine here, i can finally take care of Carmesim's injuries." She said it while taking a few bottles of pills and siringes from the bad. "Wait... you got viagra too? seriously!?" The mare looked at Weather disgusted.

"Are those drugs or something? i've never heard of them." Weather answered confused. "Honestly i just threw everything that saw laying around in the bag, i don't know what half of these things do."

"Humph.." The mare walked toward Carmem.

"For someone who just heard about there being an exit you sure do look unimpressed." Weather said.

"Well what are we supposed to do with this information anyways? we get out and then what? get thrown in here again?" Love said.

"I'm just glad you two are safe. I just couldn't imagine living without my baby..." Carmem said while crying. "Thank you so much Weather, you're truly a blessing."

"It was nothing, i'm just happy to help."

"Crimson dear could you let go of her for a second? i need to disinfect her wounds." The mare asked. "And Weather lend me a hoof will ya?"

Together Weather and the mare gave Carmesim a bath, cleaned her wound, applied fresh bandages on the wound and gave her antibiotics. A few hours later she was sleeping in her mattress. Weather then remembered about the inhame plants Crimson mentioned, and she started looking around and collecting as much as she could. She didn't find as much as she wanted but it was still a good amount. According to Soft taps that amount could feed all the ponies in there for a least four days and that's not counting the apples.

Soft started cooking the inhames while the ponies waited eagerly, while also thanking Weather for everything she has done to the community so far. While everypony waited, Weather was messing around with two unlit torches it looked like she was trying to make something. In the middle of her shenanigans Love approached sat down next to her.

"So what's the plan?" He asked.

"The plan for what?" Weather responded.

"You found the exit you were looking for, now what?"

"I'll come back to Canterlot and inform the situation to the Princess, if she believes me she'll most definitely send the royal guard after Elliptical." Weather explained.

"And what if she doesn't?" Love asked.

"Then i guess i'll just have to figure out a way to defeat her on my own." She said as she stood up. "Is going to rain later today, i'll leave as soon as it starts."

Weather went to Carmem's cell holding the wooden contraption she had just finished.When she got there Carmem was already awake eating an apple.

"Hey Carmem, how are you feeling right now?" Weather asked.

"It still stings a little and i feel kinda woozy but is much better compared to these couple of days i've been here." Carmem chuckles. "And mostly thanks to you, thank you so much for everything!"

"Don't thank me yet, i still have something else for you!" Weather responded showing her wooden creation, both Carmem and Crin looked at it curiously.

"What is this?" Carmem asked.

"Is supposed to be a prosthetic leg, but i'm not too sure if it will work properly. Want to try it out?"

"Oh heavens absolutely! my legs have been nothing but numb these days."

Weather struggled a bit, but after a few minutes she managed to attach the prosthetic leg properly.

"Ok, put your wing around me and try to get up." Weather said.

Carmesim stood up with little to no issue but.... "Oh i feel even more woozy now..."

"Its ok, it must be motion sickness or something, it should go away quickly. Now try taking a few steps."

Carmem took a deep breath and started moving with Weather right beside her.

"Mom! y-you're walking again!"

"*chuckles* Yeah i guess i am.....*sob* oh i even feel a bit better now."

"See i told you the dizziness would go away quickly! but lets not push it okay? you're still not fully recovered yet, lets sit down for a bit." Weather said.

"No no i'm fine, i want to go for a little walk."

"Are you sure?" Weather asked concerned.

"Yes! i've been in this cell for far too long!" Carmem said determinated.

"Ok, but if you feel anything tell me okay?"

"Ok mom....*chuckles*" Carmem responded.

Carmesim, Crimson and Weather slowly walked out of the cell and started wandering around the hallways, all the ponies were waving their hooves at them and cheering them. After a few minutes walking Carmem stopped holding Weather on her wing, and started walking on her own.

"I never thought that walking could feel so good." Carmem said with her usual soft smile. "Say Weather why are you helping me so much? not that i'm complaining i'm just curious."

"Hey little tike, can you go to Soft's to see if the inhames are cooked?" Weather asked and Crin noded.

"Is because i feel just so useless.." Weather said. "Since i was little all i had the ability to predict the weather hints the name Weather Report, but that's all i ever did. Whenever anypony asked me to do anything else i always fail. So the first time that i saw you laying there injured i just knew i HAD to help you somehow."

Weather then proceeded to explain the reason why she was there in the first place. She also gave explanations about the red star and her plan to get rid of Elliptical Orbit....

"If i can't get the Princess's help, then trust me i will find a way to defeat Elliptical! that's a promise."

"You don't have to be so harsh with yourself, i'm sure you did your best to help ponies in the past." Carmem held Weather's right cheek. "Elliptical is just way to strong for, besides she also caught you by surprise. And now look at what you've done in just over a day, you brought food for starving ponies, and you saved a dying mare!"

Weather didn't respond.

"*sigh* Do you really have to go ask for the Princess's help today?"

"Yes, today will be the last rain for the next ten days. I have to take my opportunity to leave as soon as possible."

"Well there's at least a few hours left before it starts to rain right?" Carmem said. "Then mind spending some time with me, because the mare that usually takes care of doesn't have patience to hear my stories *chuckles*"

Weather and Carmesim spend hours talking, laughing and overall just enjoying each other's company. And then they both heard the sound of water dripping in the cell.

"Is it time already?" Carmem said.

They made their way to the water collecting area and found out that it indeed had started to rain.

"Well.... i guess this is goodbye for now." Weather said as she hugged Carmesim.

"Already? can't i accompany you at least to the bridge?"

Weather approached Carmem and said on her ear. "With rain around i don't need that." She said it as she jumped in the rain drops and started going up almost as if she was in a staircase. Carmem just stared in awe.

"Wait? how is she doing that?" She asked to herself. "Eh.. whatever the pony that threw me in here was a meteor throwing pegasus, and now i'm in some underground catacomb with shadow monsters as my neighbors. This should be the least weird thing i've seen in a while."

Weather finally made it outside and got so high up she could almost touch the clouds.

"Ok, Elliptical shouldn't be able to see me from up here."

She said it as she started to run towards Canterlot.

Author's Note

Tried doing something a lil different with this chapter, instead of going for the usual straight forward "go go go" approach. I tried to add a lil bit more of substance to it.

Red Star Part.2

What it seemed to be a light rain slowly became a storm as Weather Report rushed back to Canterlot; The storm was getting more and more intense as she approached the city, becoming increasingly difficult to walk on the rain drops. She was using far more of her stamina to keep running on the skies but that proved to be a bad idea, as she gasped for air she ended up choking on a raindrop making her lose her footing and went face first into the ground. She almost passed out on impact thanks to how tired she was, "*pant* *pant* I need some more exercise...." Slowly she got up and continued trotting her way to the city while in the shadows of a few trees a masked pony watched her.

After a few hours she was in Canterlot's main gate. The city was bright as a beacon since the lights in almost all houses were turned on, ponies were way to scared to sleep. Weather started to run along the streets making her way into the city hall.

A few minutes later upon entering the city hall...

"Why is everypony on their houses right now? i thought you guys said y'all would scout everyone here." Weather asked.

"You're back! what did you find!? is there a way we can fix the highway!?" A bunch of ponies surrounded her and were asking a bunch of questions.

"None of you answered my question...." Weather said.

"Everypony was here when you left five days ago, but since the storm died down a bit they just went back to their own homes." The Mayor answered. "Now is your turn to give us answers."

"Not until Celestia is here, i'll go call her." Weather responded.

As she was about to go to Celestia's house the Mayor stopped her and said. "No need for that, she is on the second floor with her kids, my secretary can call her for you."

Weather then sat down on the ground waiting and a few seconds later *poof* a bright light flashes in the middle of the room for a second, Celestia had teleported to the middle of the room.

"Thank goodness you're back! i was starting to worry." Celestia said. "So what did you find."

"*sigh* Ok here is the deal. On my search i ended up on Salvamare, a small village not too far from here. The place was almost completely in ruins and....."

Weather proceeded to explain everything that happened as well as her theory on how they can fix the Apollo highway....

"I think that Elliptical has the Apollo heart, and she somehow is preventing it to come back to its original position. Why would she do that? i'm not sure..." Weather explained. "What i am sure though is that the royal army can definitely take care of Elliptical, and then we can figure out a way to send the Apollo heart back into orbit."

"But how are we going to contact Princess Luna?" The Mayor asked. "The telephone is still a experimental tool , and it doesn't work properly with the current weather conditions."

"I can go on my own." Weather said.

"The guards will never let you in." Celestia said. "My sister only lets commoner ponies inside her castle if they have a special permit, you can request it but it takes about five days to be accepted or declined."

"What!? that's stupid!" Weather said. "Also can't you just go with me? they must let you in without a permit right?"

"I'm sorry but i can't, years ago right when Luna implemented the permit system, i said to her i didn't want to get any special treatment just because i'm her sister." Celestia explained. "So i need a permit as well, and i'm afraid they wont let me in even if i say its an emergency."

"Then you teleport us inside! is that simple." Weather said.

"*sigh* You're right, but were going to need to be quiet i don't want an army of guards following us around."

Celestia quickly went back to the room upstairs.

"Ok kids i need you two to listen, i'll be away for a while and i need you two to behave ok." She said. "Keep an eye on Bottom Heart and by no circumstances go outside ok Adagio?"

"Okay mom, be careful!" Adagio said.

Celestia kissed both on the forehead before leaving with Weather closely behind her.

"Hold on to me." Celestia said.

As Weather held Tia's right wing, they were both teleported in the middle of the throne room.

"Sis....ter?" Tia looked around, there was nopony around and all light were turned off.

Both of them walked around the castle but there was nopony in sight, they went to Luna's room and all the other rooms around the castle but in the end they didn't find anyone.

"This is strange....the place looks spotless." Celestia said.

"You're right a battle definitely didn't happen here..." Weather said.

"I'm sorry Weather but i'm staying, i need to investigate this further."

30 minutes later....

"Chapter one hundred and eight, the very hungry caterpillar is on trial for his war crimes..." Adagio was reading a book to Bottom, but got interrupted by rumbling stomach noises.

Bottom looked down.

"You hungry lil guy? c'mom let's get you something to eat." Adagio said while leaving the room with Bottom closely following behind her.

On the kitchen downstairs they were peacefully eating some snacks when suddenly a huge flash of light comes through the window and the lights go out, Adagio looked outside and saw that the light on the entire city was out. Some of the ponies in the hall started to panic.

"Everypony calm down! there's no need for panic again." The Mayor said. "The same happened yesterday, don't any of you remember? the energy should be back soon."

Adagio and Bottom just continued to enjoy their snacks. A few minutes later they were about to go back to their rooms but then Adagio saw a silhouette go by on the window, it was Weather. "Stay with me lil guy."

They took the darkness in the hall as the perfect way to disobey their mom and go outside. Adagio wanted to ask Weather were Celestia was, while Bottom was just following his sister. They were running after Weather but she was too fast and the storm sounds muffled Adagio's shouts. She then grabbed Bottom and putted him on her back, "Hold tight Bottom!" She shouted and Bottom entangled himself on her mane. They manage to barely keep up with Weather until they were outside of the city gate, but then Weather started to run upwards on the rain drops, leaving them behind. Feeling defeated Adagio lets out a big sigh and beggined to walk back to the city, she stopped shortly after as she heard a scream in the distance and decided to investigate...

Going deeper into the woods everything started to look more and more similar, they were lost. "Oh man, mom is gonna kill me!"

She continued walking for a few more minutes when she noticed that Bottom was shivering, "I'm sorry little guy, *sigh* i need to find a place for us to stay the night." After a few more minutes of walking aimlessly she found a cave entrance. "Perfect!" Adagio said as she putted Bottom on the ground. "Stay here okay? i'm gonna try to find some dry sticks so i can make a campfire." She said while leaving the cave. Bottom shook of the water and was about to sit down on a rock, it was then the he heard a loud thud coming from within the bottom of the cave. He kept note of the sound and laid down patiently waiting for his sister to come back, each minute that passed more and more sounds could be heard but Bottom Heart ignored all of them.

Adagio came back frustrated as she couldn't find any dry material to make a fire.

A few minutes earlier....

Weather rushed out of the city, since there was no sign of the Princess and her royal guard Weather decided to try and face Elliptical on her own again. She ran for a while until she got enough buildup to go upwards and run on the raindrops, not long after that something hitted her out of the sky. She fell on a river and got attacked by piranhas, she tried to defend herself but stopped when she noticed that the piranhas weren't actually attacking her, they wanted to guide her somewhere, so she followed them. She was led through a underwater tunnel and got out of the water inside of a cave. In there a masked pony waited for her...

"Who are you?" Weather asked.

"My name is of importance to you." The pony answered and approached her. "Answer me this, are you familiar with the story of Apollo?"

"No. Why?" Weather asked.

"He was the unicorn that watched over planet earth, he was the one responsible for the night and day cycle. After falling in love with a mare he became negligent, some days were far longer than others while some nights seemed to never end. Until one day the mare betrayed him, he was devastated! broken... He created the Apollo heart a relic that would be responsible for the day and night cycle, not long after that he killed himself." The pony explained.

"...Ok why are you telling me this?" Weather asked.

"You see that unicorn had two siblings, a young colt by the name of Black Star and a pegasi named Elliptical Orbit."

Weather gasped.

"Apollo was a fool, his siblings always warned him about that mare but never listened! and in the end he died for it in a pathetic way. There do is a way for him to redeem himself though but first he has to be brought back to life, and that's exactly why we needed to destroy the Apollo heart."

"You're Black Star aren't you!?" Weather said getting ready to fight.

"Oh you already caught onto it? *chuckles* when my brother comes back he will be our weapon of mass conquest! we will rule of the earth! no, the entire universe!" Black Star let out a evil laugh. "And you've been a nuisance for far too long, now begone!"

As he said that dozens of piranhas came out of the water flying towards Weather, this time they wanted flesh. She managed to dodge them and went to kick Black, but he dodge and she hitted the wall. After quickly getting up she once again had to dodge the piranhas, these things were flying everywhere. Continuously dodging the piranhas Weather was waiting for an opening to try and attack again, on the very first opportunity she kicked a rock up in the air and threw it right in eye socket on Black's mask. He flinched and that's when Weather striked again, this time she managed to hit him from the side and he crashed on the wall.

When he got up even more piranhas came out of the water and launched themselves towards Weather, it was becoming more and more difficult for her to dodge the attacks. She was once again dodging and waiting for an opening when suddenly Black was pushed to the water, Weather didn't saw exactly what happened but she took the opportunity jumped really high and kicked a stalactite that was above the water causing it to fall. It fell directly into Black's back, killing him on impact. His death caused the piranhas to disappear in a cloud of smoke. When the smoke died down Weather saw Adagio near the water.

"Is he dead?" Adagio said.

"Probably...but what are you doing here!? didn't your mom tell you to take care of Bottom Heart!?" Weather asked.

"I am taking care of him!" Just as Adagio responded Weather felt a tap on her left back leg, it was Bottom Heart.

"What the!? what were you thinking going so far out of the city like that? and with you little brother no less."

"Is not my fault you're so fast, i wanted to ask you were mom was but i couldn't keep up with you and we ended up getting lost." Adagio explained. "We were going to rest up in this cave and that's when we heard the noises you and that guy with the mask were making."

"*sigh* Ok kids lets go back to the city i'll scout you two there, you're mom is on the Castle by the way."

"The Castle? why did something happened to auntie Luna?"

"Hopefully no, but only time will tell. Now follow me."

"So that guy was responsible for the Apollo highway destruction right?" Adagio asked while following Weather.

"Maybe, but i think Elliptical is the leader in this plan of theirs. After all she seems far stronger than him."

"How so?" Adagio asked.

"Well when i hitted her she didn't even flinch, a straight kick to her chest and she didn't even move."

"Hum.... that might be an artificial barrier." Adagio said.

"A what?" Weather said.

"An artificial barrier i read about it on a book, ponies of any kind can do this spell. The book said the barrier only protects against physical stuff."

"So in other words only magical attacks will have effect on her?" Weather asked.

"I think it depends on the magic, also i believe environment stuff doesn't count."

"Interesting...." Weather thought.

A few minutes later they were back in the city hall, Weather left the kids there and went made her way back to Salvamare. In the way there she came up with a plan on how to make Elliptical vulnerable enough to attack and she would use the storm to her advantage. First she grabbed Elliptical's attention...

"This ends now!" Weather shouted in the entrance to the village.

Confused Elliptical ran to the gate looking for Weather but she was nowhere to be found. Then Elliptical felt that something cold was thrown at her, it was a lightning rod. It got stuck between her armor and her wings. Elliptical tried to remove it but she wasn't fast enough and lightning striked her back making her scream in agony. Her pain was far from over, as Weather came running and kicked her right in the neck. This time Elliptical did feel the hit, on impact her body crashed on a wall making it fall on top of her.

"Looks like Adagio was right about the barrier..."

Elliptical was trying to get up, Weather felt bad for her and decided to help her get up. That didn't end as expected however as another lightning striked Elliptical, killing her on the process. Weather stared at her lifeless body for a second and removed the rod from Elliptical's back, she then proceeded to bury Elliptical.

While she was doing that she thought to herself....

"Not really sure how you would've been able to bring your brother back to life by bringing misery to everypony else, but i can't help but to think you weren't all that bad. After all you could've easily killed everyone in this village, including me...but you never did. I'm sure there's something else to your story that i'm missing but its a bit too late to ask now...."

After the burial, Weather looked around trying to find the original entrance to the catacombs. Once she found it, she used her strength to move the rubble out of the way. The noise she was making attracted all the ponies inside the catacombs, and they all gathered near the entrance...

"Stay behind me." Carmesim said to Crimson.

"Weather!" Carmesim shouted as the rubble got moved out of the way.

Weather ran to hug Carmesim. "Its kinda over."

"Kind off?" Ponies asked confused.

"Well Elliptical might be gone but so is the Apollo highway, and the only thing that could've fixed it was destroyed by Elliptical." Weather explained.

"So that means we are stuck in an endless night?" Love asked and Weather simply noded.

"Is there really nothing else we can do?" Carmesim asked.

"I-i don't know... listen i'll come back to Canterlot, i know a very smart unicorn there and maybe she can help.... Hopefully"

"You leaving again?" Crimson asked.

"Is ok little tike, when this is all over i'll be coming to visit regularly ok?" Weather promised. "Also everyone, i would recommend staying in here for a while, the storm out there is a bit too strong.

Weather waved at everyone and once again returned to Canterlot, this time heading straight to the castle looking for Celestia. After a few minutes looking around she simply couldn't find Celestia anywhere so she went back to the city hall. In there the ponies told her that Celestia took her kids back to her house as apparently Princess Luna was also there. On the way there Weather saw the royal guard, they were all over Celestia's garden. "They were here this whole time!?"

After entering the house she saw Luna, Celestia and Adagio sitting on the living room talking while Bottom Heart slept peacefully near the fireplace.

"You're back! that means you won right!?" Celestia asked.

"Yeah...." Weather responded.

"The why is it still night time? something went wrong or is it actually night time right now?" Adagio asked.

"Hold on hold on, first let me ask this, why is Princess Luna and her guards here? wasn't she missing or something?"

"*chuckles* I understand your confusion, you see i was already here. I got worried for my sister as i didn't heard any news from her in the past five days, so i came to her house looking for her. And as you know she wasn't here, she was at my Castle looking for me *chuckles*" Luna explained.

"Oooh got it. Anyway here's the deal, the thing keeping the highway working is broken, what do we do?" Weather asked.

"Isn't there a way we can fix it?" Luna asked.

"Wait! Didn't that Black Star guy said that Apollo controlled the sun and the moon while been a unicorn?" Adagio asked.

"Black Star? Apollo? Missy did you disobey me!?" Celestia angrily asked.

"Leave that for later! Black Star was Elliptical's brother and he told me about Apollo, obviously the pony that created the highway. Apparently he was a unicorn, so maybe if a strong enough unicorn try, they could probably be able to move the sun or the moon on their own." Weather said.

"Mom here is the strongest unicorn in this city i just know it!" Adagio said.

"What, me!? Don't try to sweeten things with me, you're still going to get grounded for disobeying me!"

"I'll give it a try." Said Princess Luna.

She concentrated all of her energy in her horn and as she did so her body started to glow and the moon started to move, as the moon slowly went in the horizon and things started to get darker Celestia also concentrated and started to glow. As the moon went down the sun rose. Finally after five days the ponies of both Canterlot and Salvamare were able to see the daylight, the storm also weakened and became just a drizzle. With that a really bright light emanated from Celestia and Luna and as the light grew weaker a moon cutie mark was revealed on Luna's flank while a sun one was revealed on Celestia's flank....

Author's Note

as you can probably tell by now, fights in this fic are super quick. Let me know if that's a good thing or a bad one.

also next chapter will be a bonus one, is the same arc but on Elliptical's POV.

The Doomed(Bonus chapter)

Author's Note

Weird chapter ahead yadayada. Also i'm terrible at being sutil XD

The Doomed(Bonus chapter)

Across the valley stood tall 1 large mountain, which was lair to a unnamed Deity the changed it's appearance every 1 year.

Each year the Deity would change the law of the valley forcing it's inhabitants to constantly change their way of living, making their lives harder for no apparent reason. One day 2 small dragons came across said valley, the first just passed by while the other seemed to have other motives....

It was a rather small dragon, some say it was a baby dragon. He had purple and green scales, with a rather innocent look to his face, nothing seemed out of the ordinary for the valley folks after all it was normal for creatures of all sizes and shapes to pass trough the valley at least 3 a week. Yes three times especifically, the reason for such bizarre phenomena was unknown.

The dragon walked around the valley seemly aimlessly but to some it was clear he had hidden intentions. After about an hour the dragon stopped at a small wagon, it was owned by a pink gypsy mare, she was selling all kinds of goodies but a few things in particular caught the dragon's attention, jewelers. He bought 5 of them and left the wagon. Slowly nibbling the jewelers away, he walked towards the large mountain the the center of the valley. While others had trouble climbing it, the dragon manage to hit the top in just a few seconds thanks to his surprisingly strong wings. At the top there was a huge palace with a roof made out of jade bricks, it had huge white walls and small stone statues here and there.

On the other side he could see the entire valley from the top, he didn't noticed until then but the inhabitants looked rather sad or extremely tired. They didn't seem to have motivation to do anything, simply living for the sake of living. The dragon was filled with great sadness from the view, he wanted to do something about it but he was unsure of what exactly was the cause of the problem. He decided to jump down back in the valley and started asking around, looking for an explanation. There was no clear answer to the problem, some said it was the Deity's fault while others simply blamed themselves. However there was a name that was constantly mentioned when talking about the valley's problems, "Tear Away". It was a rather strange name for the inhabitants but the dragon payed no mind, it looked like he was very interested in this "Tear Away" guy. He found out were Tear lived and knocked on his door 8 times, but there was no answer, no one was in sight the area was completely silent. However dozens of creatures could be seen from very far away minding their own business. Looking around the dragon found a bunch of letters on the ground, praising Tear for his amazing work on a certain book.

The dragon investigated around a bit more and found out that Tear Away was a rather famous author, he wrote a book about Princess Twilight, said book seemed to be rather popular across the valley, but only the valley. Still after all that investigation he was still nowhere to be found, after 5 hours just aimlessly walking around again he was starting to annoy the inhabitants of the place, They were beginning to be extremely annoyed at his presence "Why doesn't he just give up?" creatures thought to themselves. He persisted on his search and he ended up finding out that Tear left the valley a few days ago, he was looking for reviews for his story, and that's what made some creatures sad apparently because Tear simply ignored their letters.

Still only a very small minority were sadden by that, there was still no clear answer to the general levels of unhappiness so the dragon decided to talk with the Deity. Once again he flyed to the top of the mountain, he avoided the guards and went straight through a open window in the Palace. Inside he found a small mare with a luscious black mane, she looked rather weak and didn't really react when the dragon barged in her room knocking down 3 bottles of ink while he was at it.

He asked her if she knew the reason why the valley was so unhappy but she couldn't answer either, not because she didn't know the reason but because she was far too weak to do it. However she did gave him 2 green sticks without explanation on what he was supposed to do with it.

He took the sticks and sat down beside her for about 1 hour, wondering what to do. Eventually he got up and went to leave the palace.

"You're on your own." He said it and left 1 of the sticks behind.

The Truth

Walking along a huge white hallway, Black star was making his way towards Elliptical's room.

"Sister! Where is Apollo!?" He asked.

"I don't know, haven't seen him all day....night..? What's the problem?" She asked.

"That's the problem! The moon has been up for twenty hours!" Black answered. "He needs to take care of his responsibilities with powers like that!"

"Come on, don't be so harsh with him, maybe it hurts when he moves the sun or the moon, so he just doesn't like doing it?"

Without saying a word, Black Star left the room, slamming the door shut.

Elliptical let out a sigh and looked at the window. She noticed that the moon was slightly off, it wasn't on the usual position Apollo would normally leave it at. She wore her armor and left through the window, she climbed her way to the roof of the Palace.

The entire land of Tempest, an ancient Kingdom inhabited only by those of great power and wealth. The buildings were tall and fancy with dome like roofs, some walls were covered in garrya elliptica it almost looked as if the Kingdom was abandoned. The Palace was right in the middle of the city, it had three big towers, each representing a member of the royal family.

Although he didn't want to be addressed that way, Black Star was the King and a very strict one at that, he was the most disliked pony of the family. On the other hoof Apollo and Elliptical Orbit were very well liked by the community. Apollo was very energetic and a bit of a jokester, he was the one responsible for the night and day cycle. His behavior led many to believe he was the youngest one in the royal family, but he was actually the oldest one, he has been alive for longer then Black Star and Elliptical yet his origins are unknown. The youngest one in the family was Elliptical Orbit but that didn't meant she was a young mare, she was already nearing one hundred years.

Elliptical roamed trough the rooftops until she arrived at a small platform near a cliffside, said platform was used as small garden on the roof with many flowers and vines coming out of clay pottery around the place. Sitting right in the middle of it was a alicorn, he had long wavy black hair, light brown fur covered his full of scars body. What once was a pair of dark brown eyes in his youth turned a pale gray, followed by a constant look of fatigue. Apollo's appearance differed a lot from his personality, he was very out going and cheerful with a seemingly endless catalog of so bad they're funny jokes. However by simply looking at him sitting at that platform aimless Elliptical could tell something was wrong.

"Hey sister." Said Apollo in monotone.

Instead of responding she sat beside him and asked "Something is wrong isn't it?"

"*chuckle* is the obvious huh?" he answered.

"Well the moon has been up for over 20 hours now and it also looks like its on a different position than usual" she replied.

"It's been that long!? my apologies" he says as he closes his eyes and a red aura surrounds him, as the moon went down the sun slowly illuminated the land.

"So, what has happened, brother?"

"She left me...." Apollo replied as he lets out a sigh and closes his eyes for a moment, letting his thoughts wonder about Kemika. A mare of unimaginable beauty, straight long brown mane with stunning and alluring eyes that could hypnotized anyone, her beauty marks were the cherry on top. Apollo and Kemika seemed inseparable since the day they met, with Apollo following her around like a dog on a leash.

Elliptical in shock with the news said "Oh....I..... I-I'm sorry to hear that brother" she places her hoof on his back.

"*sigh* it's alright, we departed in good terms......at least I think so" Apollo said "It might've been for the best whoever, this break-up revealed something I knew already but I wasn't so sure if it was true"

"What could that be?" Elliptical asked.

"*chuckle* I'm dying"

"Brother this is no time to play around, what did you find out?"

"I'm not joking, her comments about my demeanor are what made me realize it specifically" Apollo answered.

"What? that makes no sense? how?" Elliptical clearly taken aback by such news, a wave of despair was cursing trough her body as she tries to calm herself while looking at her brother in horror as he held a sad smile on his face.

"My power is finally getting a strain on my body, I fear that if I don't find a way to circumvent it I will be dead in a matter of moons." Said Apollo with a smirk on his face, like he already knew his fate a long time ago but never acknowledged it.

Elliptical just stood there in silence for a moment as her brother leaned in for a hug. After a few moments, they walked their way over back to the palace, it was a somber moment, both in silence lost on their own minds. Upon arrival they were greeted by a hysterical Black Star "Where in the world have you two been!? just wha-" Apollo put his hoof on Black's mouth and explains the situation. Just like his sister he was completely caught off guard and couldn't help himself but to fall in silence. After a couple of moments Apollo explained that he planed on making an artifact that would control the day and night cycle autonomously, so that no one else had inherit his burden.

With that the "Apollo's Heart" was created!

Later that night.....

Elliptical heard a knock on her door and a few second later her older brother walks in, with sadness and concern in her eyes she looked at him without uttering a word. "Hey sister, I have something that uh...." he takes a long pause, second guessing himself "I want to trust you with something, you must not tell this to our brother or anyone else"

"Of course brother, I always keep our secrets sealed in 7 doors. What is it?"

"You see the heart is a lie, it won't actually do anything!" Apollo exclaimed while the look in confusion from his sister grew thicker. "It's merely a ploy so Black Star doesn't take over with his tyranny!*

Baffled, Elliptical took a step back and asked: "Wha-what do you mean? this doesn't make any sense!".

Although they were siblings, it was not by blood. Apollo, the ancient god of truth and prophecy, had lived for centuries but had grown weary of his immortality. Seeking change, he approached the parents of two young foals, certain that one of them would become the catalyst for a new, prosperous era in the world. In exchange for being accepted into the family, he promised the parents a royal status for both foals. They agreed.

Apollo watched as his adopted siblings, Black Star and Elliptical Orbit, grew into highly successful and respected members of society—or at least one of them did. Blinded by love, Apollo overlooked the darkness brewing within Black Star’s heart. Black Star wasn’t content with royalty or even becoming king; he wanted more. He wanted to rule the entire world with an iron hoof. Only after his heart was broken did Apollo see his brother’s true ambition. Realizing the danger, Apollo knew that if he didn’t act quickly, disaster would follow.

That is when he came up with an idea, he got himself a large Ruby and called it the "Apollo's Heart" and claimed it was a magical artifact, when in reality it was just a normal Ruby stone enchanted with a light magic spell that caused it to glow. Apollo also wrote a multitude of ciphers to explain the powers of Apollo's Heart, decrypting the cipher would explain how to use the heart to control the sun and the moon, which of course was a lie. He explained to Elliptical she needs to keep this information a secret, and use this information to keep Black Star busy, chasing something he'll never be able to achieve.

-||============================================================================||-

"Tthaaaaaaaaaah!!!" Elliptical lets out a harsh gasp for air as she emerges from the shallow grave Weather Report made for her; taking short, desperate breaths she lays on the dirt thinking what her next move will be.

Author's Note

3 Years later and I'm back to writing, with much better writing skills and renewed enjoyment for writing. Can't promise anything because I'm extremely busy lately, but I will try my very best to release at least 1 chapter every week/weekend. Also I know I didn't explain what ended up happening to Apollo, the rest of his tale will be explained in a later flashback.

So see y'all then! If there's even anybody reading this lol....