Like Father Like Son

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A Casual Visit
The Predator
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A Casual Visit

Twilight was panicking. Zipping this way and that, fixing everything that looked out of place, dusting the same spot five times before deciding it needed to be dusted again, just to be safe. Spike was also running around, dusting and putting books away, and making sure the crystal walls of the Castle of Friendship shone and gleamed, completely unblemished. So far, things were looking good.

The lavender alicorn woman clad in a long scholarly robe didn't even bother sighing or showing any sort of fatigue, she was too busy worrying. "Come on Spike, the princesses are going to be here this afternoon. We can't let anything be out of place."

"Come on Twilight." Spike said putting a book in it's place. "They're here for a casual visit aren't they? The letter said they were looking simply to spend a bit of time away from the ponies in Canterlot and with someone they can simply talk to normally. Don't you think that fussing over everything kinda defeats the purpose?"

"Of course not!" Twilight burst out. "Yes they're here for a casual visit, but that doesn't mean that we can't show them the common courtesy of making sure that this place isn't a mess. If you went to visit Fluttershy or Rarity would you want to walk in on a giant mess?"

Spike deadpanned at Twilight. "This place is never a mess! We get books out sure, we do things in here, but it's not like we don't pick up after ourselves. Honestly, all this dusting and polishing is completely unnecessary."

"Spike, they're still the rulers of Equestria." Twilight insisted. "Even if it's unnecessary we should at least show that their visit means something."

"I think it's clean enough Twilight, besides they should be here soon. We should be putting these cleaning supplies away and getting ready for them to get here." Spike said simply. "So instead of dusting and polishing we should be making tea and gathering some snacks."

"Oh no." Twilight cursed, her face going pale, "I forgot about snacks! Spike, get on that!"

"Already got it Twi." He said as he jog-waddled out of the room, and to the kitchens to get some refreshments started.

The Apple family was known for their apples, some of the finest in Ponyville, heck not some of, they WERE the finest in Ponyville. But they didn't grow on their own. It took work, hard work over the entirety of the year to grow the apples right, luckily though, the growing season was ending, and the harvest had been finished. They weren't done processing all of their produce, but now was a bit of a recuperation time for the Apple family, Big Mac was free, Applejack was free, Granny Smith napped, and Apple Bloom went to school as usual.

Applejack had nothing to do, so she decided it was as good a time as ever to go visit Twilight, and see if she needed help getting ready for the princesses' arrival. Clad in her usual jeans, workboots, hat and flannel shirt she walked across the packed dirt that made up Ponyville's streets. Passing by the familiar sights Ponyville had to offer, there was the flower shop, the salon, the Sofas and Quills shop, honestly whoever decided to pair those two together had a strange mind.

And of course, there were a few other places that were a little more important to her. Carousel Boutique was one. She was never one to worry too much about her appearance, aside from basic hygiene of course, but Carousel Boutique was a place run by a dear friend.

"Howdy Rarity!" AJ called out to the purple-maned unicorn exiting the building.

"Well Hello Applejack!" Rarity called out. "What brings you here on this fine day?"

"Ahm headed to see about helpin Twilight with gettin ready for the Princesses comin down to see er." She told her. "Ahv got a feelin she might be fussin over stuff, and I thought I'd lend her a hand."

"Perhaps I could be of use in that endeavor." Rarity responded, closing the door of her Boutique behind her. Her plain but beautiful and well-made dress flowing behind her as she spun back around.

"Ah reckon you could." Applejack chuckled. "Come on."

The two friends walked fairly quietly on their way to their other friend's castle. A large treelike structure of crystal, a mix of white and varying shades of purple made up it's color palette. A beautiful structure, but very, very out of place in Ponyville, it stuck out like a sore thumb, considering most if not all houses were constructed of wood with straw roofs. Whereas the castle was constructed entirely of crystal, crystal walls, crystal windows, crystal balcony, crystal roof. Everything. Even the doors were crystal.

Applejack knocked on the large door, and within minutes it was opened by a lavender colored alicorn in a scholar's robe of dark blue. "Oh, AJ, Rarity, what're you girls doing here? Aren't you busy?"

"Not at all Darling." Rarity assured her, "In fact we came along to see if we could help you out. We know how you tend to stress about these sorts of things and we decided we should come and alleviate your worries and help you get ready for the Princesses' visit."

"Eeyup." Applejack confirmed in a similar manner as her elder brother. "Ah figured you'd be runnin poor old spike ragged with your worryin and fidgitin. So we popped by."

"Thanks girls, I am pretty nervous really." Twilight admitted, while ushering them inside.

"Why are you nervous darling? You're a princess now too." Rarity pointed out. "You're their equal, which is probably why they decided to drop by for casual talk in the first place. As much as life in Canterlot seems glamorous, it must be pretty stressful if you have to run the nation too, and I don't imagine anyone is willing to speak casually with them aside from each other. So it must be refreshing for them to have someone to talk to about just anything."

"Maybe, but they're still the rulers of Equestria. Which means we need to make sure things are alright for them." Twilight said closing the front door behind the two mares as they came in.

She brought the two mares into the castle, and they got to work. The castle was already pretty clean, so making sure that it was in good condition was far from a difficult or time consuming task. They finished the work before fifteen minutes had passed. And just in time too, as less than thirty seconds later, there was a knock at the door. They were here.

Princess Celestia had been tired for a while. Bureaucrats were an absolute pain to deal with, paperwork was mind-numbing and other than that she had to deal with tons and tons of each. Luna wasn't too much better off, she being seen as the younger sister who was very far behind the times, and so Bureaucrats and nobles who knew their proposed legislation wouldn't go through Celestia, often tried to bypass Celestia by sending it through her instead. Luckily for the country, Luna was far from oblivious to this and stopped such attempts when the popped up. But that didn't make it any less tiring for either of them.

Celestia was looking forward to seeing Twilight again, she wanted to see how her former student now fellow princess was doing and hear about what she'd been up to. It had been a few weeks since last they'd spoken or exchanged letters. It would be an refreshing meeting, to catch up with her beloved student, see how she'd grown. It would also give her something simple to talk about, no dodgy politics, no backstabbing, threats, bribes or attempts at appeal, just a conversation between equals who trusted one another, a conversation between friends.

Luna was also anticipating this meeting quite a lot. It had been a long time since she'd seen or spoken with Twilight. She'd grown rather fond of the lavender mare, she was one of the few ponies aside from her sister that she'd had the courage to truly approach. After that first nightmare night sure she'd gotten out of her comfort zone and the crisis had been averted, but it had still left a bitter taste in her mouth. Twilight was only in Ponyville, nowhere else, and she didn't want to risk something similar happening elsewhere, so she'd limited her interactions with ponies to be while she held night court and when discussing matters of state. Otherwise she was fairly secluded, not many friends, even less than Celestia had, that she talked to on a regular basis, which is to say none. So she was definitely happy to be seeing someone she knew she could both trust and get along with.

Celestia looked over at her sister as they flew, and nudged her shoulder with her own, "What's on your mind sister?"

"Nothing Sister." Luna replied. "We aren't thinking of anything in particular."

"Come Luna, I can clearly see the smile on your face." Celestia pressed. "Tell me."

"We are simply looking forward to seeing Twilight again, as we are certain thou art similarly sanguine of this upcoming communion." Luna replied.

Celestia shook her head with a smile, and said no more. Her white robe flowing in the wind as she flew.

Celestia was a tall mare, very tall, standing at nearly seven feet tall, with a long rainbow mane that flowed in a nonexistent breeze like a flag. Her clothing consisted of a simple but baeutiful robe of white trimmed with gold and embroidered with golden thread in various spiral patterns. Her pink eyes gazing caringly at her younger sister, who wore something a tad less loose.

Luna had always been of a military mind, so she always wore a uniform in public places. But now she wore something a little less formal. A grey shirt with long, tight fitting sleeves and similarly grey pants that were a tad less form-fitting. Her cyan eyes gazing distractedly into the distance. Her own height was significantly closer to that of most ponies, a tad tall for a mare, on par with a large portion of the stallions of Equestria, but not even the second tallest pony in Equestria.

Both princesses had abandoned their royal regalia in exchange for a far more comfortable, more offhand attire.

Celestia grinned and decided to tease her sister a tad. "You know if you don't talk to her about it, it's never going to happen."

Luna looked her sister's way with a confused expression. "Whatever dost thou mean Sister?"

Celestia simply grinned knowingly at Luna, until Luna caught onto her meaning. At which point she looked the other way to hide her flushed cheeks. "I know nothing of what thou speaks, Sister."

Celestia put a loving hand on her sister's shoulder, which caused Luna to meet her gaze, cheeks still flushed. "I know it's hard to confess feelings Luna, I know. But the sooner you do it the better, if you wait to long someone might beat you to it, and you might never be have another opportunity."

"It is not so simple as that Sister." Luna said with a shake of her head. "We... I have caused her and her friends trouble far too many times. The first time I had actually intended harm for her and her friends. The second I terrorized her town, and the third a creature of my making terrorized her town. Three times I've caused her and her friend, nay, everyone around her great peril. She may forgive me for it, they may forgive me for it, but in doing such things I have revoked my right to ask anything of her, least of all her love."

Celestia sighed sadly. "That's not how it works sister. I am no expert on it, but I've loved enough to know that love is given freely, with no conditions or requirements. Sometimes it's even nonsensical." She chuckled after this, remembering how she had actually fallen in love with Discord before his defeat, and how him being sealed in stone tore at her heart despite him only ever having been her enemy. "She wouldn't have forgiven you if she didn't love you. Maybe it she doesn't love you in...."

Luna looked at her sister sorrowfully.

Celestia sighed. "That's not what I meant. I mean it might not be the kind of love you're looking for, but that always comes with time. She does love you as a friend, and if you go to her and ask if she'll try taking further, then it is likely that she'll return your affections."

Luna looked down. "Still. How can I bring myself to ask that of her? Even if it is without conditions or requirements or even logic, how can I approach her after everything, even if I am forgiven my transgressions, I am far to tainted a mare to approach someone so pure. It is true that nopony is perfect, but never has she been a villain nor the source of any great evil nor a menace, I have been. Thrice. It's not a question of can I, but rather should I. She's already dealt with me and my blunders enough times. I could hardly ask her to put up with more."

Luna didn't give her sister a chance to respond, as Ponyville was now below them, and she tucked into a shallow dive to approach the crystalline castle wherein the youngest of the alicorns dwelled. Celestia following close behind, the two landed in front of the great arched doorway, which lead into the great crystal tree upon which rested the castle.

Luna landed first, and stepped closer to the door but no closer, Celestia landing just behind. Neither moved to knock yet. Celestia took the opportunity to speak. "Do not bottle up your feelings Luna, do not bury them. It only leads to heartache."

And with that the tall white alicorn strode up to the double doors and grasped the knocker, before swinging it thrice against the door, announcing their arrival.

"That's them!" Twilight exclaimed, her horn glowing and a bright flash followed as she teleported directly to the front door, and grabbed the handle to pull it open and admit the two waiting princesses inside.

"H-Hello princess! Please, come in." She said, still a little nervous that she'd missed a spot of dust or maybe she'd spilled a coffee or something.

Celestia giggled as she stepped in. "Twilight, please. This is supposed to be a casual visit. No need for any formality. Besides, you're a princess now too, you don't need to address me as one."

"S-sorry." Twilight stuttered, her nerves refusing to calm down.

Celestia rolled her eyes and Luna followed in after, not saying anything as Twilight lead them into a sitting room, it was pretty normal looking aside from the crystal walls, floor and ceiling. Sofas positioned on either side of a coffee table, with a tray of teacups, tea pot and a plate of snacks was set. Spike zipped to the side of the door where they were coming in and snapped to a salute.

Twilight smiled his way, "Thank you Spike."

"You're welcome." Spike said happily. "Unless there's something else you need me to do I'll leave you guys to it."

"I don't think we need anything else Spike, go ahead and have some time to yourself." Twilight said to him.

Spike snapped another salute then zipped off.

Twilight turned to her fellow princesses. "Please, sit down, have some tea, make yourselves comfortable."

Celestia did just that, gracefully sitting down on the far side of the sofa to their right, while Luna took a seat next to her, leaving Twilight to have the opposite couch. Neither princess reached for the tea or the provided snacks yet, Celestia instead opted for starting up a conversation.

"It's been a long time since last we've spoken Twilight. Tell me about what you've been up to. How's your student?" Celestia started.

Twilight's face brightened up. "Oh Starlight's been doing wonderfully! She's made quite a few friends as well as furthering her study of magic. I've been teaching her everything you taught me, and she's been getting better at an fast pace. She's been getting really good with new spells. I can honestly say I fully expect her to surpass me."

Celestia cocked a brow. "Really? that's quite the feat."

Twilight blushed at this praise. "Well, I..." She wasn't quite sure how to respond to that.

"Truly," Luna added, "If thou expects this mare to exceed thine own magical prowess, she must be quite remarkable. Though We do not doubt the sincerity of thine words, fair Twilight, I find it difficult to believe somepony so inexperienced and without the many years of hard education you possess could eclipse thine own daunting capabilities."

Twilight blushed even further at those words. "Well, m-maybe not now but, I do believe that with time she'll get much better than me."

Celestia used her magic to pour herself a cup of tea. "What about your friends? Spike? How have they been? Anything special happen recently?"

"My friends are doing just fine. Applejack and her family have recently purchased a few more acres of farmland, and their products are bringing in more money for them, so they've been doing very well. Fluttershy's animal shelter is working perfectly, though a lot of ponies have concerns about what kinds of animals she's bringing in." Twilight chuckled as she remembered Roseluck scream in terror at the sight of a manticore in Fluttershy's shelter. "Rarity's boutiques are doing very well, I believe a few of her dresses are going out to fashion shows nationwide. Rainbow Dash, as you know, is living the dream with the Wonderbolts. Pinkie Pie is... well... Pinkie."

This earned matching giggles from all parties.

"And no, nothing has happened recently. Things have been remarkably calm. Nothing has happened, nothing is planned. I'm actually starting to think that Equestria's days in peril are almost over."

A knock was heard at the door. Twilight leapt to her feet, "I'll be right back."

As Twilight left Luna let out a quiet sigh, and looked to her sister to see a pitying expression.

"What is it?" Luna asked.

"You need to talk to her." Celestia said firmly.

"No Sister We... I do not." Luna replied.

"Princess." Twilight called, her voice getting louder as she came closer. "It's a royal courier, he has a message for you."

Celestia looked to Luna. "I'll take that message in the hallway, meanwhile, you need to talk to her." She then stood up and went to the door to meet with the courier. "Thank you Twilight, go ahead and sit, I'll hear what this courier has to say. Go and sit down, I'm sure Luna would also like to catch up with you."

Twilight nodded, and returned to her seat.

"You need to talk to her."

How could she? She, a villain, was barely worthy of speaking to this mare, who was a hero. She was there because she wanted to be yes, yes she wanted to talk to her, but still, she couldn't keep these thoughts from her head. Her heart froze after her sister continued.

"I'll take that message in the hallway, meanwhile, you need to talk to her."

It was basically an order, and she knew that her sister would pester her about why she didn't do it all the way home if she didn't, so she might as well.

Twilight came back in and sat down, taking a sip of tea as she did. Then she noticed Luna's somber expression, "Is something wrong Princess Luna?"

She felt the iron fist of terror grip her heart as this was said, and the feeling of being stabbed in it as she was addressed as "Princess" by Twilight, as though she were somehow Twilight's senior. But she didn't let this show.

"No." She said shaking her head.

Twilight cocked an eyebrow. "You're a worse liar than Applejack. What's bothering you?"

She cursed herself for being so transparent. She sighed. "Hast thou... have you, ever dealt with something... beyond just friendship?"

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"Well..." She said taking a breath. "Thou.... You see. I have an... interest, in a certain pony. They are a very dear friend to me, and..."

The door to the hallway opened quite suddenly to admit a now worried looking Celestia. "We have a problem. Twilight, I'm afraid we're going to have to cut this short. Something's happened, I am needed in Canterlot."

"Oh." Twilight said, a tad disappointed. "Well, duties first. It was good seeing you again Princess. Thank you for visiting."

"Thank you for having me." Celestia said kindly. "Now I must be off. I am afraid this is goodbye for now."

With that Celestia left Luna and Twilight alone. Twilight returned her attention to the princess of night. "So anyway, this pony is very close to you and...?"

Luna stood up, "It is not important. We... I should go aid my sister in whatever crisis has arisen. Thank you Twilight, your hospitality was most gracious."

Celestia soared along the skies, speeding back to Canterlot. It was too great a distance to simply teleport across, so she had to fly. The wind whipping through her mane and tugging at her robe. She almost didn't notice Luna silently glide up next to her. She looked in her sister's direction. Luna met her gaze, a dour expression on her face, then looked ahead again.

"Well? Did you ask?" Celestia inquired.

"Yes."

"And?" Celestia pressured further. "What did she say?"

"She... informed me that she..." Luna swallowed, "Was not interested."

With that Luna pulled ahead, and Celestia's ears fell back. Poor Luna she thought to herself as they continued on.

The Predator

Dammit, this was supposed to be a quiet post, an easy job! Steel Saber thought to herself in panic as she ran. What the hell is that thing?

She had been running through deep snow and dense woods for quite a long time. The deep, heavy snow of the frozen north was not very kind to her legs, forcing her to pick her legs up even higher than anypony normally would, and oftentimes forcing her to stumble as she hurried away. Fearful of the creature that pursued her, she kept going, ignoring her legs' pleas for mercy and forcing them to continue carrying her farther, they had to.

She cast a glance over her shoulder, the sight behind her pushing her to go faster. A big cloud of black fog, massive in it's size, was hot on her tail. It seemed completely unhindered by the snow, and while she didn't know for sure, she was convinced that it didn't leave tracks either. It's fiery red draconian eyes were fixed on her, it's gaze a mix of hunger, and hate. She'd never seen this, but she, like everypony across Equestria, knew about this, and when it had happened before.

King Sombra. He's supposed to be dead! She shouted in her thoughts. The Crystal Heart blew him apart! How could anything survive that!

As she thought this the creature roared behind her, making her shoot her gaze back at it. It was then that she lost her footing and fell forward. She hit the snow with a grunt, and looked back again with panic, the creature now rising up to tower forebodingly over her prone form.

She scrambled along the ground, feet kicking frantically against the snow and her arms pushing her body up, trying to break out into a sprint again. Her feet found traction just in time too, just as she took to running again the fog that she could only know to be King Sombra lunged for her, striking the space where she'd been only seconds ago. Instead of leaving a dent in the snow or send some up into the air, instead the cloud itself split and swirled about like falling water striking the rounded bottom of a wineglass, and reforming into the dark, formless mass of blackness that had chased her.

I'm screwed. She thought with panic. I'm going to die here. Or worse!

Pull yourself together! You are a soldier of the Equestrian Northern Watch! You fear nothing!

But then... Why am I so scared?

All these thoughts ran through her head as she kept up her desperate sprint to escape this monster. Her ears laid back, and her grey and white mane flowing freely behind her as she ran. As these thoughts flooded her mind, she had to fight back the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks.

They're dead. All of them are dead. And soon so will I.

she had no idea where she was. She had no idea which direction she was heading. All she could think about was escape. So focused on running was she that she didn't even think to look ahead of her. Again the snow tripped her up, again she fell forward. This time her legs refused to help her, they were screaming in agony, begging for the pain to stop. They refused any of her mental orders to keep going. So she pulled herself on with her hands.

She reached forward, grabbing at the snowy ground and pulled herself forward, she got maybe five more feet before she discovered that she was on a cliff's edge, and a look behind her informed her that the creature, no, King Sombra, was right behind her. She had been cornered.

Snow began to fall from the sky as the big black cloud of fog looked at her, it's eyes still hungry and hateful, but now with something else too. It was still, looking at her with almost a pleased expression. It almost seemed to be taunting her. She didn't know how long it stared at her, all she knew is that when it finally began to move closer the snow had started to fall more heavily.

WEAK

The instant it moved closer to her, she flinched back, trying to crawl further away, completely forgetting about the cliff's edge until it was too late. She gasped as she started to go down, the cliff's edge rising up in front of her blocking her view of the Tyrant King. She went down.

Down.

Down...

Earlier that day

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!"

The room was completely filled with the sound of the well-wishes and the applause of all those present. Kazoos and tiny, handheld confetti cannons sounded in celebration. It wasn't much but it was what they had.

"Awwwe. Thanks guys." Said a smiling mare in her uniform.

Steel Saber said, "Come on Flechette, blow out the candles and make a wish."

The birthday girl, a mare by the name of Flechette, was a fairly typical mare. She was a pegasus with a grey coat and a blue mane held back in a short ponytail. She wore the white gambeson uniform of the Equestrian Northern Watch, With a single black stripe going around her upper arm to show her rank, a lowly Private. Her bronze colored eyes gleamed as she smiled at her unit.

On the table where they ate sat a singular, small cake. It was pretty ugly, the icing was poorly applied but it didn't look like it would taste bad in any capacity. On top there were a few candles, not enough to match her age, as she was twenty four, and there appeared to only be ten on the cake. But it didn't matter.

Flechette approached the table and did just as her friend said, she closed her eyes a moment to think, then blew out the candles on top of the cake.

"What'd you wish for?" A stallion, who's name was Iron Shield, asked.

"Can't tell you. Or it won't come true." Flechette said with a giggle.

Saber matched her giggle, "Go ahead and sit down, I'll cut the cake for you."

Flechette and the two others with them did just that. And another mare, by the name of Javelin, spoke to Flechette. "So how are you enjoying this post so far Flechette?"

She shrugged. "It's a little boring sometimes, and it's rediculously cold outside. But it's peaceful enough, and we have a warm place to stay. We don't need to pay for food and the company is wonderful."

Javelin chuckled. "Well it's only peaceful so long as noone starts a snowball war."

"Isn't it a snowball fight?" Flechette asked curiously.

"Not up here it's not." Shield said with an evil cackle, "We take snowball fights to the next level. Hence we call them snowball wars. They're more destructive than real combat is~"

Saber giggled and said, "Stop. you're going to scare her."

Saber passed out small plates of cake slices, then took a seat next to Flechette. "Don't worry, they're just exaggerating. Sure we're a little more hardcore in our snowball fights than a lot of ponies usually are, but it's not all that bad. We make pretty good snow forts too. Actually, why don't you come with me to see the one we built a few weeks ago. You arrived last week, so I don't think you've seen it yet."

"Um, sure. I'd love to." Flechette said with a shrug.

"You two have fun," Javelin said, "Me and Shield have to take watch once we've finished our slices of cake. And we need to make sure that Yew and Cross get their slices. Sorry they couldn't be here Flechette."

"No, it's fine. Someone needs to be on watch at all times, I know, so I can't really fault them for that." Flechette says with a shrug.

Saber finished up her slice of cake and picked up her plate to be brought to the washing bucket, Flechette followed her example soon after. Saber and Flechette pulled on their boots and went out into the cold snow. Luckily for them the gambeson uniforms, since gambeson was often wool packed tightly down between two or more layers of cloth, were quite warm, meaning they were having zero trouble with the cold air of the Frozen North.

Saber lead Flechette away from the outpost, a small log cabin with a single tower at on end of it. It was simple, but well built and warm. There were no windows in the walls of the building, instead it was lit by candles and lanterns. In the tower one could see a single pair of ponies, both stallions, standing watch. One of them saw the two mares walking from the cabin, and waved to Saber as they went, who waved back.

Flechette saw Saber wave, and turned to look up at the tower. Smiling she also waved to the stallion in the tower. She sighed contently. "You know. This place is so peaceful. I know it's a military outpost, yes I know we're supposed to be soldiers. But this feels like a home, not a post."

"I know what you mean." Saber said, a soft smile gracing her lips. "It is remarkably peaceful up here. It's friggin cold! But... yeah, it's a really nice place to be. I can tell you this much, I often think I'd prefer to be here than back home in Phillydelphia. It's quieter. Ah, here we are."

Flechette looked ahead of them and stopped dead in her tracks. What was in front of her was beyond impressive. It was bigger than the log cabin in which they stayed. A large square wall of snow, that was a little taller than she was, with a single ramp up one side, all made of snow. Each corner had a tower on it, or really they were bastions since they were the same height as the actual wall.

"So the way we do it is we have three ponies guard the castle, and three ponies attack it. Everything goes in these fights. So the defenders oftentimes soak the ramp in water when the fight starts so that it ices over and it's harder to get up." Saber explained as she lead the way up onto the wall. "If you're an attacker and you're hit, you need to return to the cabin then you're back in. If you're a defender you have to return to your flag and wait a full minute before you can rejoin your comrades."

Even more astonishing, on the inside of the first snow wall was a second snow wall, Twice as high as the last one with one ramp leading up into the... well it could only really be called a Keep. She saw that this also had bastions on its for corners.

"Geez you weren't kidding when you said you take it to the next level." Flechette said with astonishment. "Do you ice this ramp too when you're pushed back to the keep?"

Saber grinned evilly, "Don't you know it."

Flechette began to laugh almost nervously. "Goodness gracious you guys are hardcore. I'm kinda scared to be honest."

Saber turned her way with an evil grin on her face. "You should be~"

Screams echoed across the sky, startling both mares. They exchanged worried looks before running back to the cabin. What they saw horrified them. The cabin had collapsed in on itself, the roof and walls were now a pile of rubble, and the tower had tipped over. As they got closer they could see Javelin running away from the fallen tower, and emerging from the wreckage came a large black cloud, with burning red eyes.

Flechette immediately took off for Javelin, Saber was too slow to stop her. "Flechette no!!!"

She was ignored as Flechette continued to run for Javelin. Reaching across to her left hip she drew her sword and continued to run. Javelin stumbled forward and fell to the snowy ground, just as the black cloud bore down on her Flechette stood above her compatriot, sword ready to cut down this monster as it moved to attack her friend and comrade. It was Flechette's first and last act of courage. The shadowy fog bore down on the both of them, Flechette stood her ground, and though noone could see her face, tears were streaming down her face. She was afraid, terrified of this monster as it closed in on all sides, consuming the two mares in it's fathomless black.

When it moved on, nothing was left. No bodies, no armor, no clothes, no weapons, nothing. The only sign that there'd been anyone there at all were the hoofprints that the two mares had left behind. Saber saw this, and looking up at the monster she met it's gaze, it's hungry, hateful gaze. She fled.

"No bodies were found princess. No weapons, no armor, no sign of a struggle aside from the collapsed building. No blood, and the heavy snowfall concealed all hoofprints that may have been left behind. All scouts sent to look for survivors either came back to report nothing or never came back at all. And none of the garrison have returned to any of our bases anywhere."

The Guard Captain delivering this report sighed. "It pains me to say Princess, we should assume that the missing ponies are dead."

Celestia looked solemnly down at the table in front of her, upon which sat a map of Equestria. After a moment of silence she spoke. "Have the northern outposts double their garrison, and mobilize the Northern Army. Something out there is hurting my ponies and I want to know what."

The Guard Captain bowed, "Yes Princess."

Following this he turned and left the room. Leaving Princess Celestia alone with her sister.

Luna spoke up. "Sister, We will send out our spies to scout the region. If this monster is truly out there then it would behoove us to take every action available to us in order to bring it down."

Celestia nodded. "Do it, Sister."

Luna nodded, then in a flash she disappeared.

Celestia leaned over the map, and read over the written report again, and again, and again.

Am I dead?

She groaned, trying to move, but only making her legs twitch a little. Her eyes slowly, very slowly, blinked open, her vision still blurry.

Did that thing kill me?

She felt, warm?

No, death wouldn't hurt this much. Would it?

Saber eyes came into focus, and she finally saw clearly. She was beside a fire, a small one, but a fire nonetheless. It was certainly warm enough to explain why she wasn't cold.

"Where am I?"

Search

"Spymaster."

Fruit Bat turned at the sound of her title, and bowed her head the minute she came to face her princess. "Your Majesty. How might I serve you?"

"We require thee to send out spies to look for and investigate the destruction of outposts and the disappearances of soldiers in the Northwestern taiga." Princess Luna told her very simply. "We have utmost trust that thy ranks possess stallions and mares capable of completing such a mission."

Fruit straightened her posture to look directly at her princess. Luna was clad in her usual military uniform, a dark blue dress uniform with black pants tucked into knee-high black boots. A scarlet sash was tied around her waist, from which hung a saber, and over her shoulders was an elbow-length capelet of black. This was the standard dress uniform of the Lunar Guard, only she wore a crown instead of a garrison cap.

Fruit wore much the same thing, only it was all black. Her capelet bore epaulets, upon which were sewn five silver bars and one star, signifying a military rank of Colonel. She also carried a saber at her hip, as was the standard sidearm of the Lunar Guard.

"I do indeed have ponies capable of completing such a mission." Fruit assured her princess, she turned back to her desk.

Fruit's office was a simple one. Located in a tower of the Lunar wing of the castle, it overlooked much of the city of Canterlot and was in the perfect position to send messages to any corner of Equestria. It had a simple carpeted floor, a single desk, bookshelves, a chest and a few cabinets for storing files. Not much else was in it. It of course had the usual dark decor of the Lunar wing, dark blue walls with black curtains over the windows.

Fruit Bat was, as her name suggested, a Batpony, much like the vast majority of Luna's guard. Her coat was a pale white, almost yellowish, but not quite. Her serpentine eyes were of a light blue and her mane was a dark black. "I'll be sure to bring back news to you Princess."

"Be sure you do so Spymaster." Princess Luna told her before turning to leave. "Whatever or whoever is responsible must be brought to heel as soon as possible. No threat must be allowed to stand unchallenged."

With that the princess departed from Fruit's office, leaving her to her work.

Considering the information we already have, it is best if we send a team, not an individual. Fruit thought to herself as she began to consider who to send. Since we know that at least two outposts have been destroyed, and the entirety of their garrisons completely disappeared, then we will need a good fighter, a good tracker and we might need them to have magic at their disposal. We can't send a unicorn, they're too slow and they can't see in the dark. I'll see to it that the team is issued spell rifles. And we'll need to give them scrying crystals so they can report back from anywhere.

Now it was just about how many to send, and who.

Fruit walked into the small room, and looked over the unit. Five ponies, two mares, three stallions. All of them were clad in the black uniforms of the Lunar Intelligence Bureau, all stood at attention. All of them were silent.

Each of those selected was a batpony, for a number of reasons, primarily their ability to see in the dark and their extremely sensitive hearing as well as their capability of flight.

All of the ponies lined up snapped to a salute as she came in, and held it until she said, "At ease."

All of them dropped their salute. "As you all know, in recent days a number of outposts in the north have been destroyed, and all of the soldiers garrisoning those outposts have gone missing without a trace. And more outposts have been taken down every few days since. your task is to find out who or what is responsible for these attacks and report back to me as soon as the information is obtained. Do not engage unless it cannot be avoided. Understood?"

"Ma'am, Yes ma'am." All five said in unison.

"You are being issued spell rifles for this mission." Fruit told them. "You will be on your own. There will be no supply drops, no returning to base. You are on your own once you're out. You hunt your own food, you boil your own water, until you find whatever is responsible. Am I understood?"

"Ma'am, Yes ma'am." All five said again.

"Good." Fruit said quietly. "Arm up, and get going."

"Ma'am, Yes ma'am."

With that Fruit left them. Hopefully they'd be able to make it. And hopefully without injuries or casualties. They already knew who was in charge of the group, they already had their scrying crystals and they had their standard issue equipment ready. They'd be fine. She hoped.

Corporal Stargazer looked back at his team. All four of them were privates, pretty green but tough. Every last one of them had passed the training for the Lunar Special Forces with flying colors, and all seemed to have great discipline, though this was the first time any of them had worked with any of the others, so they might have to work out a few kinks at the beginning of this whole operation.

First there was Private First Class Stormcloud, a thestral stallion who's namesake was built around his very dark coat, making him almost indistinguishable from his uniform, it was a strange sight but it could definitely be useful if they ever had to hide in dark places. Then there was Private First Class Nighteye, she was also a thestral, all of them were thestrals, with a green coat and a dark brown mane. On his other side were First Class Privates Rock and Dagger. Rock was a big fellow with grey fur and black hair, while Dagger was a slightly smaller mare, though still big, with a snow white coat and grey hair.

Corporal Stargazer had a blue coat and a navy blue mane. All of the five soldiers had sabers at their left hips, and carried spell rifles. The weapons were basically long tubes of metal with a larger, revolving cylinder near the back containing the spell crystals, behind that was what was called a stock, for bracing the weapon against the shoulder to make aiming significantly easier. Each weapon had a fixed blade at the end of the barrels, pointing outward as a sort of spear. That way these could be used both in close combat and from far away.

Frankly he was surprised that all of them had gotten such weapons. Everyone knew about them but they were expensive to make, and very difficult too, so they weren't given to just anyone. He'd thought only one or two of them would get one, but apparently Colonel Fruit had other ideas.

"Corporal."

The words snapped him out of his thoughts, and her turned to face Private Nighteye.

"What is it Private?" He asked.

"Do you have any thoughts on what we might be looking for?" the mare asked him. "It's not like a garrison can just disappear, they had to go somewhere. But it's also unlikely that they went without a fight."

He sighed. "I don't know Private. But I do have a plan to find out. It's attacking outposts. So we're going to stake one out, and wait for whatever's responsible to show up and do their work. Then we report back to Corporal Fruit."

Nighteye looked back at her fellow soldiers. "But, won't that just mean that more ponies will be hurt? Isn't the point of this mission to stop that from happening."

"The point of the mission is to find who's responsible." the Corporal corrected. "And besides, they were taken somewhere, and with no signs of blood, which means if we let it happen we might be able to find the other victims too, and we'd find out what caused all this."

Nighteye nodded. "Understood sir."

Well this put a kink in his plan.

"Spread out and look for survivors." Stargazer ordered. "Search the perimeter and see if you can't find any tracks leading to or from this place. Be on the lookout. If anything unfriendly shows itself, shoot it. Shoot to stun."

All five soldiers rotated the cylinders on their rifles, selecting the stun crystal, and went about carrying out these orders. Stargazer joined Stormcloud and Dagger as they went searching through what was left of the outpost. It was mostly splinters, the lookout tower had been knocked over, and the roof had collapsed in on itself. But there was still enough room to squeeze through.

"Goodness," Dagger cursed. "What could have caused this?"

"That's what we're here to find out." Stargazer reminded her. "Any sign of bodies or survivors?"

"Not over here, absolutely nothing." Dagger informed him.

"Corporal!" Stormcloud called, and once he had Stargazer's attention he told him, "The woodstove's still going. Whatever happened happened recently, very, very recently."

He nodded, "Go get Rock, Dagger, come with me. We're going to see if what did this is nearby still."

"Yes sir," Both ponies said. But before anything else could be said a wet squish was heard, everyone looked to Stormcloud, who picked up his hoof, his boot now had what looked like icing on it, and where he stepped looked to be the mangled remains of a cake, small and poorly decorated, or just messed up during the collapse, but a cake.

Stormcloud shook some of the icing off his boot before taking off into the air.

"Sir?" Dagger asked.

"Yes Private?"

She opened her mouth as if to say something, but closed her mouth again then said, "Nevermind. It's nothing."

Stargazer looked her way, "We'll find them Private."

She nodded.

"Come on. We need to find Nighteye, see if she found anything."

"Oh I found something." Nighteye said, flying down to talk to them. "A couple somethings. One, a giant snowfort that looks really freaking cool, and second I found two sets of tracks going to and from the fort, then back here. One set ran off into the forest."

"Someone escaped?" Dagger asked hopefully.

"Looks like it. But who knows how far they'll get if we let them run too far." Nighteye said. "Corporal, I ask that you let me go after them."

"Not alone, take Dagger with you. If you see whoever or whatever is responsible, and you don't see the escapee, do not engage." Stargazer instructed.

"Yes sir." Nighteye said firmly. "Come on Dagger. Let's bring that pony home."

With that the two mares took to the sky, with Nighteye leading the way, following the tracks left behind by the one pony to escape the attack on the outpost.

"Where am I?"

What a typical question to ask when one doesn't know where they wake up.

She looked around at her surroundings. She was in a cave, but not the usual cave. this one wasn't plain stone with stalactites and stalagmites, this was a cave of crystal. Of dark crystal. Black crystal. Her ears flopped, she looked back at the fire, it was a burning blue with a greenish center. The same fire cast by King Sombra.

There was the sound of hoofsteps. And the familiar sound of armor as it's wearer walked. She'd worn armor before, so she knew exactly what that sound was. Turning around to look behind her she saw exactly who she expected to. A tall, broad-shouldered stallion with grey fur, black mane and a curved, red horn. King Sombra.

He was clad in a suit of full-plate armor of grey steel, his armor covering everything but his head. At his hip was a longsword in it's sheath. His red eyes landed on her, though they were more... normal than she'd heard of them being. She couldn't see the wisps of smoke coming from the corners of his eyes, and the whites of his eyes were white, not green like she'd heard. No matter.

She cast quick, panicked glances around at her surroundings. Seeing her sword she went for it. Saber picked it up and ran at him, pulling the curved blade from it's scabbard and brought her blade up to strike at the dark king, her desire for vengeance seizing her heart. She had to kill this stallion. He killed her friends, all of them. Without warning, and they never even had a chance to defend themselves. She could at least kill him and stop it from happening again.

Or so she thought.

Pain raced through her body, drawing a long, agonized scream from her lips and forcing her to her knees. Saber's saber dropped from her hand a clattered to the floor, while she was on her hands and knees at his feet. Her scream had taken her breath away and the pain made her heart race, the result being that she was completely out of breath while remaining prostrate in front of the Dark King.

"That's no way to react to your host." King Sombra commented nonchalantly. "I see that making that shock collar was a good idea after all. And here I was hoping it was unnecessary."

What? Shock collar?

She reached up for her throat. Sure enough, something was there. But it wasn't what she'd think of when she thought shock collar. It felt cold, like metal, and it seemed to be completely seamless, though it was hard to tell when wearing it. She couldn't feel anything like a box or other device on it that could have shocked her though. How did...

Oh right, magic.

"Now calm down. You'll be no good if you're crippled from pain." He said calmly, picking up her sword. "You had quite a bad fall, I doubt you can take much more."

She looked up at him in confusion. "Weren't you tying to kill me? You ate all of my friends. So why haven't you eaten me yet?"

He looked down at her, his right eyebrow cocked. "I'm afraid I don't know anything about that."

"How can you not?" She demanded angrily. "You're the only pony alive able to turn into a black cloud. Who else could it have been?"

"I've been in these caves for the past few years. I can assure you that whatever happened to your comrades has nothing to do with me." Sombra told her as he moved closer to the fire. Setting down a sack she hadn't noticed him carrying.

He pulled out what looked to be a dead snow fox. He wordlessly started to remove it's pelt, and continued with a rather gruesome process of removing it's innards. The amount of blood that was involved almost sickened her, and once that was done he put the now gutted and skinned fox carcass on a long stick, and held it over the fire, turning it very slowly to let it cook.

Cautiously she approached the fire again. "Even so. Why am I still alive? Even if you weren't the one who attacked my post, why haven't you killed me?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't feel like it I suppose."

She deadpanned. "Didn't feel like it?"

He shrugged again.

"You can't be serious?" She said.

He just looked at her. No shrug this time. No response. Just a stoic, straight, unblinking stare.

"Okay. What about this?" She asked tapping the collar he'd put on her.

"I put that together in case you attacked me." He said simply.

"How on earth did you put it together?"

"With magic, how else?"

Okay. So far he seemed to be a stallion who gave simple answers. That she could get behind. But she was still confused. She didn't believe that he wasn't the one to attack her outpost, but then why would he let her live? Why would he bother lying to her if she was now completely at his mercy. It made no sense. And that thing that was chasing her certainly seemed to want her dead.

"So what exactly happened. What caused you to fall into the ravine?"

She was snapped out of her thoughts by his question. She hesitated, but after a few minutes she told him the story of how her post was attacked by a creature made entirely of black smoke, with eyes that looked just like his. Well, actually. Now that she thought about it. It's eyes were red like fire, more like the glowing orange-red of a coalbed, not the deep, crimson red of blood like the stallion who sat across the fire from her.

He grunted at her story. He didn't seem particularly surprised by this news. "I see."

"if it wasn't you. Then who was it?" She asked him.

He didn't talk for a moment. So long she waited that she wasn't sure if he'd answer at all. Then he took a bite of the fox, his large fangs sinking into the meat and ripping a good chunk of it off the bones, and sighed as he chewed. "I am unsure."

There were a few moments of silence. Then she asked another question. "What happens to me now?"

There was another long pause. This one slightly longer than before. Then he opened his mouth to answer.