The Most Horrible Hearth's Warming EVER: A Candy Mare Tale

"What will we do? If an army marches on her resting place the Candy Mare will just flee further into the north or burrow under the earth where we cannot reach her. Even should the search continue after that, she'll just keep picking us off from the shadows, unwilling to risk a direct confrontation. The Candy Mare may be a beast, but she is no fool."

"It is Celestia that is the fool. She squanders an opportunity that has literally landed right in her lap! For once our enemy has told us exactly where she is going to be. This is a situation that calls for cunning, not brute force!"

"Could you not reason with her? Make her see the folly of this choice?"

" You don't know her like I do. She thinks she knows everything. She would call my caution fear and her own foolhardiness bravery. Now that she has gotten worked up like this, she won't allow anypony to question her decisions. If we leave it to her we will be hunting this monster for a thousand years to come, always one step behind it."

"Then we're agreed. Something must be done to change the course of these events. We will have to act independently from the others if we are to win the day."

"Yes, I'll take care of things on my end. I will buy us the time that we need for both of us to act. Just make sure you're outside of camp before I cast my spell. You can retrieve your baubles once I'm done. No hesitation now, or you can forget about me helping you anymore in the future."

"Not to worry. We both have goals we wish to achieve beyond simply destroying the Candy Mare."

"Indeed. A chance for you to finally stand with your friends as their equal. And for me, an opportunity for me to receive the recognition that is my due, to rise in the esteem of our comrades. No more having to forever question our value. An opportunity to prove our worth to those who may doubt it and set to rest all the fears of the past."

"Whatever happens, you have certainly risen in my esteem princess. Yours is not the lesser light and, I believe, you are truly fearless!"

"Indeed, and don't you forget it."

Flash Magnus awoke in semi-darkness, the last rays of the setting sun shining directly into his eyes.

The legionnaire had fallen asleep in his tent, right in the middle of preparing for the assault on Castle Bullion. How could he have been so careless? He knew he was exhausted, but it wasn't like him to simply fall asleep out of nowhere like this. Seeing how much of the day had waned, he must have been out like a light for some time. Why had no one come to wake him? As the pegasus peeked his head out of the flaps of his tent, he could see other ponies groggily awakening from where they too had apparently fallen.

"Flash, thank goodness!" cried Somnambula as she went flying past. "Come to the royal pavilion, quickly! It's terrible!"

Spreading his wings Flash took to the skies and flew after her. All across the encampment voices were being raised in alarm. It seemed that the entire army had been taken unawares by unconsciousness. Even now, there were still some ponies who slept who would not wake, no matter how hard their fellows tried to stir them.

What was going on?

Flying close behind Somnambula, Flash could see his other friends heading towards Celestia's tent, all save for Starswirl as the unicorn himself was waiting at the entrance to the Princess's makeshift quarters.

Not even giving his friends a chance to catch their breath, the sage addressed them all. "Celestia will not wake. It would seem that each of us have fallen to some malicious sleeping spell, but she has been afflicted the worst of us all. As you can see, we have lost the advantage of the day, and if we cannot rouse the princess soon, she will be defenseless should the Candy Mare attack us again."

"Neigh good Starswirl, even should she remain bewitched she will not be defenseless," declared Rockhoof, squaring his shoulders. "We Guardians shall defend her to our dying breath!"

"And die we very well may, my friend," intoned Starswirl grimly. "Or have you not noticed? Our artifacts are missing. I can no longer sense their magic nearby. They must have been stolen while we slumbered."

"Who would do such a thing?" asked Meadowbrook, her face ashen. "Some minion of the Candy Mare?"

"I fear not," whispered Mistmane gravely. "Our friend Stygian is missing too. The tracks from his tent lead south. Though my senses are not as highly attuned to magic as your own Starswirl, I can sense that my artifact also lies in that direction."

"Treachery!" gasped Starswirl in disbelief, his eyes filled with hurt and confusion for a moment before flooding with fury. "How could he? After all we have done for him?"

"Nevermind that for now chief," cut in Flash, kicking himself for not noticing his own shield was missing sooner. "What's our play? Do we take the fight to the Candy Mare as planned? Stay here and protect Celestia? Or go after the artifacts?"

"Without our artifacts I am afraid that the royal guards are likely more potent defenders than we are," admitted Somnambula, looking less hopeful than she usually did without her blindfold.

"And without our artifacts we stand no chance against the Candy Mare," agreed Starswirl, the bells sewn into his outfit jangling as he stumped the earth furiously. "We must track down Stygian and stop whatever folly it is that he has planned. We'll deal with the rest once our artifacts are recovered and we have dealt with the traitor in our midst. We will leave the soldiers behind to guard the princess's as they slumber. They would only slow our search for Stygian."

"Where is the little moon anyway's Starswirl? I see Celestia sleeping within but not her younger sibling," Rockhoof asked as he cast his gaze about the encampment. As he did, the sun slowly slipped beneath the horizon and as the gathered Pillars watched an enormous full moon began to rise in it's place.

"Luna!" Panic filled Starswirl's voice as the realization of what the moon gliding into the sky could mean. "Has anypony seen Princess Luna!?"

"Not since before we all blacked out," admitted Mage Meadowbrook with a shrug.

Flash and Somnambula nodded to one another and the two pegasi took wing. As they rose into the twilight, there was just enough light left from the sinking sun for both to cast their eyes around the encampment to see if they could spot any sign of the missing Princess.

"She is not in her tent," informed Somnambula, her eyesight keen enough to tell that from a distance.

"No sign of her at all. Although the weather seems disturbed to the north," observed Flash, "There's a fresh storm gathering in the direction of Castle Bullion."

"Damnation!" swore Starswirl, his beard and mane briefly bursting into magical flames before, with a visible effort, he got his emotions under control and they went back to normal. "She's still awake, and has chosen to face the Candy Mare alone - at night - when she will be at her most powerful. I know she wants to prove herself but now is not the time for such a gamble!"

"We must go after her," insisted Mistmane, her eyes clouded with worry. "She may be an alicorn princess, but in many ways she is still but a child."

"I'm not so sure," mused Rockhoof, the warrior waxing uncharacteristically thoughtful. "Immature she may be, but she has the spirit of a Valkyrie. If she chose to brave Fimbulwinter and face the Mare of Candy on her own, then perhaps we should put our faith in her strength. Then we can focus on Stygian and discovering whatever the source of this enchanted sleep might be."

"Ah! Of course!" gasped Starswirl suddenly, as if something had just dawned on him. "That makes sense. I had no idea she had grown so strong."

"What is it?" asked Meadowbrook, perplexed.

"I don't think we need to worry about discovering the source of the sleeping spell," answered Starswirl brusquely. "I have faith it will wear off in due course, as it did with us. But I agree with Rockhoof, we must simply trust that Princess Luna has made the right choice for the time being. We will do what we can to aid her after we retrieve our artifacts. I will inform the soldiers of these developments, and have them make a security detail around Celestia while she rests. And then..."

"Then we find Stygian." finished Flash for him.

"Yes," agreed the unicorn mage, lightning crackling in his eyes. "Then we find our betrayer."