The chariot ride was quiet and tense, Celestia noticed Twinkle looked upset but she was still sitting next to her alright.

For now, Celestia will have to do her best to make things right.

Once they arrived Twinkle climbed out and her Twinkle sense warned her of an incoming force.

“Huh?” Twinkle looked up and saw Flash running at her, she smiled and he tackle hugged her.

“Twinkle! I hoped you were alright,” Flash said.

“I am now Flash,” Twinkle said.

“Why didn’t you let me help?” Flash asked.

“You weren’t ready to face Dusk, and frankly, neither am I…” Twinkle said, meanwhile, Celestia approached a guard.

“The private room, for important conversations, please,” Celestia said.

“Right this way,” The guard said and the group left for the room.

“What happened?” Flash asked.

“We’ll see,” Twinkle said.

After a few minutes, they made it to the room where they had their first meeting between the Fusion three and Celestia.

Celestia sat at the end of the table and gestured for all the other ponies to sit at their spots, afterwards, she put up a sound-blocking barrier.

“...Now, I suppose you all wish to address the elephant in the room,” Celestia said.

“Yes we do, you have answers you’ve been hiding Celestia,” Sunset said.

“...Indeed…” Celestia sighed.

“What is Dusk’s reason? Why is he so obsessed with improving Equestria? If anything all he’s doing is reducing the population,” Starlight said.

“And he tried to kill me,” Audacia said.

“Yes yes… this is all hard to understand… but I will do my best to explain, it is time I told you the truth… all of it,” Celestia said.

Discord got out his popcorn and sat beside Charity.

“I suppose I should start from the beginning, before Sunset Shimmer… at least fifty years beforehand to be exact, Equestria was in a time of political unrest with the other nations,” Celestia said.

“What else is new,” Discord muttered.

“And I had failed yet another student… so I searched for another, one I could guide towards making a bright future for Equestria… and I wish I had been more careful,” Celestia said before looking at the group “It was Dusk Heart, or how he’d usually like to go by whenever he was visiting, Stormy… but his name is Dusk Heart, he was much like Twinkle, bright-eyed, optimistic, had a sense of humor and overall had a limitless passion for magic and it’s many secrets… he was a promising student and had a knack for creating new spells, he was obsessed with the concept of creating new and more powerful methods, he was religiously devoted to his nation and wanted to protect it, I should have seen the signs but instead I encouraged him, I loved him like he was my own son, I practically raised him, and then it all came down the day of the griffon attack,” Celestia said.

“Most of us didn’t hear the middle part, care to repeat?” Discord said but Charity hushed him.

“Very well, I hadn’t heard of it until much later, but griffon raiders invaded his hometown, killed most of the ponies there and stole their belongings, they kept the town under their claw until one pony managed to escape, that pony was Dusk, he traveled for days on hoof until he made it to Canterlot, and he informed me and my sister of what happened, we came with a fighting force to liberate that town, when we got there however we found we had been expected,” Celestia said.

“The griffons had killed off all but a handful of ponies and threatened to do the same to the rest of them if we didn’t let them leave with what they took, not wanting anymore bloodshed I conceded and they left,” Celestia said with regret in her voice, just like the last time she explained it “I had prayed that I would find Dusk’s family among them, but they were among the slain instead, save for his sister, who was catatonic,” Celestia said.

“No…” Flash said feeling sorry about that.

“I informed Dusk of what happened and he was understandably inconsolable, but at least took comfort in the idea that I at least punished the invaders for their actions… When I told him what went down at his hometown… he was livid and demanded why I didn’t end those who took everything from him… I tried to tell him that I did it to protect what remained, but he was beyond caring at that point and attacked me, yelling I was the reason his loved ones were unavenged, he left afterward swearing he’d get them back, one way or another,” Celestia said before letting a few tears fall “I wish I had stopped him, I figured he just needed time to cope, to calm… Oh how I was wrong, and now, the rest…” Celestia wiped her eyes and resumed.

“He had somehow broken into the vault of Canterlot and escaped with The Box of Celtus, I tried to find him but he had vanished off the face of Equestria… Until a scout heard a commotion and saw something they shouldn’t have had to see… Celtus…” Celestia said.

“Who is this Celtus?” Charity asked.

“A monster the size of a mountain, made of darkness and evil, it could take any animal shape it wanted, and no magic could subdue it, based on eyewitness accounts it was rampaging in the Griffon territories and killed many griffons before he vanished, one thing I can be thankful for is that because Dusk was so young at the time and inexperienced with ancient magic he didn’t know how to keep Celtus unleashed and ultimately Celtus vanished back into the Manuscripts, unable to separate from them completely due to insufficient summoning methods,” Celestia said.

“We had gone there with a battalion of guards to assess the situation… but we were not prepared for what we saw… the griffons of that village… they were all dead save for a few survivors… and I watched Dusk kill them himself with a weapon from the Box of Celtus, when he saw my horror-stricken face he had only joy on his face… I still remember what he told me that day… ‘I finally avenged my hometown, aren’t you proud of me Celestia?’.... I couldn’t contain my emotions and I struck him unconscious with a spell…”

“Oh no…” Charity said.

“He… unleashed Celtus on a griffon village?” Sunset said in shock.

“Understandably The Griffons threatened Equestria with war if this tragedy went unpunished and I… had no choice… I threw him in prison and never looked back, even as he screamed my name, he spent twenty years in prison before he escaped by some means and I thought he went to live the remainder of his life elsewhere…. Little did I know he was plotting the current events in Equestria,” Celestia said.

“Oh dear…” Charity said.

“Yup, same ending as always,” Discord said eating more popcorn.

“So you turned your back on your student?” Sunset accused.

“It was either throw him in jail for the multiple crimes he committed, or risk war with the griffons, considering the full tragedy that Celtus could have caused I get why the griffons wanted to be sure the caster is locked up, not to mention Dusk knew full well what unleashing Celtus would do… I still can’t help but feel such regret for not visiting him once, but I couldn’t… I couldn’t look at him and not see the student I failed, just like all the students I failed to protect… from themselves,” Celestia said.

“And now he’s coming to Canterlot with an army to force you to step down and let him merge everypony into superior forms,” Twinkle said.

“And if his back is to the wall at any point in his invasion then he’ll just use Celtus to destroy us so he can continue his work in peace, any way you slice it, we’re at a disadvantage,” Discord said.

“We have you Discord, maybe you can defeat Celtus?” Spike offered.

“Wishful thinking, at best I would be able to hold Celtus at bay for a few hours,” Discord said.

“Then how do we beat Dusk?!” Spike asked.

“Our best bet is to take down Dusk before he uses Celtus,” Celestia said.

“How’s that?” Zap asked.

“I will handle Dusk,” Celestia said.

“But Celestia… he has the tools of the Box of Celtus, he could kill you with them,” Twinkle said.

“Then at least I will have paid for my mistakes,” Celestia said.

“...Then we must prepare,” Starlight said.

“I reckon we have a few days time before he makes his move,” Zap said.

“I agree, Dusk was the type to never do something without taking time to analyze it,” Celestia said.

“I want to help,” Flash said.

“Ah yes, Flash Sentry was it? I hope Cadance will be okay without her guard,” Celestia chuckled.

“I’m actually a human,” Flash said.

“Oh, then this might be tougher, I will help you,” Celestia said before standing “Everypony, this is Equestria’s darkest hour, and I seek to train you all to prepare for the invasion, we need to take any and all measures,” Celestia said.

“Ok,” Everypony nodded.

“Those of you who have questions may remain and ask them, the rest of you are dismissed for now,” Celestia said.

As the group began to disperse, Zap, Charity, Spike, Audacia, Flash, Starlight, Twinkle and Sunset all gathered around Celestia.

“All of you, I can sense your reason for wanting to speak with me, we need to be prepared, and so I will take it upon myself to train you all,” Celestia said.

“I mostly just need a refresher,” Sunset said.

“I want to get stronger,” Spike said.

“I want to master my power,” Charity said.

“The stronger ah am the better,” Zap said.

“I need some training to fight on par with Dusk,” Twinkle said.

“I need to training on how to fight,” Flash said.

“Ok, all of you follow me, and be ready, for things may only get worse before they get better,” Celestia said.

“Ok!” Everypony said.

Cheese Sandwich walked through the halls looking for Celestia, he had found where Dusk’s army was located and he knew this would be vital info.

As Cheese made his way into the lobby area he saw a familiar face approaching from another doorway.

“Huh? You? What are you doing here?” Cheese asked.

“...I need to find Twinkle,” Shining Armor said.

It showed the training area, and everypony was training hard for the coming days.

Sunset and Starlight were sparring with their magic.

“Thanks for helping practice again, all that time in the human world made me a bit rusty,” Sunset said.

“No problem, your magic output is good, but you need to maneuver and control the flow of magic or else it won’t be as powerful, again,” Starlight formed a barrier and Sunset fired a beam, and Starlight noted it down as she deflected it.

Spike was training with a guard in spear combat and Spike was being sure to watch his movements.

“Again!” The guard said as he deflected another spear thrust.

“Ok!” Spike said as he spun his spear and dove in again.

Charity was with Discord and she was using her creation magic to build various things and deconstruct them.

“Ngh!” Charity said as she built a transparent wall with her magic.

“Good good,” Discord said before pulling out a picture of what he wanted her to make next.

Audacia had already split back into Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo again and they were practicing their magic with a few unicorn guards, if just to help Audacia get stronger.

Zap was training using a set of thick trees that Celestia had, punching and kicking them with measured blows.

“Ah need ta be stronger! To protect what ah care about,” Zap said remembering Bulk and her family.

“Go on Flash,” A group of elite guards were helping Flash train.

Flash swung his sword around and he struck the dummy with several carefully aimed strikes.

“I need to be there, I lost Twilight once, I won’t lose Twinkle too!” Flash said as he struck the dummy again.

Lastly, Twinkle was meditating and focusing her magic with Celestia overseeing it.

“Harmonize with your magic, feel it coursing through you,” Celestia said.

“Ok…” Twinkle said as her horn lit up and several streams of light flowed from it.

“Now center your magic and focus it upon yourself, the method of this training is not learning new spells, but becoming more intuned with your magic, that is how you strengthen it,” Celestia said.

“Ok…” Twinkle said before forming the magic into a shape and molding it into-

“Hello?” A disrupting voice said and Twinkle lost her focus and fell on her rump.

“Ooof!” Twinkle grunted before looking to see Shining Armor entering the grounds and when he saw her he began approaching her.

“Shiny?...” Twinkle said feeling a pang of nervousness.

“Twinkle… I found you, look I wanted to say-” Suddenly Shining was blocked by Flash.

“Get away from her,” Flash said with a glare.

“I just wanted to-”

“Leave!” Starlight said as she and Sunset approached.

Pretty soon everypony was shifting their focus to Shining Armor and they began crowding him.

“What are you doing here?!” Spike said.

“Spike, I want to apologize to Twinkle,” Shining said.

“I heard what you tried to do to her, you nearly killed her! Wasn’t rejecting her bad enough?” Spike said.

“...Please, just let me see her,” Shining Armor said.

“I’m not making that mistake again, get moving or I will-” Starlight said before somepony interrupted.

“Enough!” Twinkle popped up in the middle of the crowd and had them all step back.

“Twinkle?” Shining asked.

“...Yes…?” She asked not looking at him.

“L-look...I’m sorry… for real this time, I… I hurt you and rejected you and I-” Shining was cut off as Twinkle hugged him.

“What? Twinkle?” Shining said in surprise.

“I’m glad…” She said with tears in her eyes.

“I-i thought you’d be furious after the way I treated you,” Shining said.

“I was never angry… I was sad because I thought you hated me, I felt guilty, but was never angry with you,” Twinkle said.

Shining hugged her back.

“Is it still alright for me to call you sis… or are we not there yet?...” Shining asked.

“You can,” Twinkle said before turning to the others “I don’t want any animosity between anypony going forward, let’s get back to work,” Twinkle said.

“...” The group still looked wary of Shining Armor but they nodded and walked away.

“I’m still sorry,” Shining Armor said.

“Don’t be, what’s in the past is in the past,” Twinkle said.

“I am glad you came to your senses Shining Armor,” Celestia said approaching.

Shining looked even guiltier and he knelt in front of Celestia.

"I cannot and will not hold back the truth from you Celestia… When Luna was kidnapped… It was-”

“Your fault?” Celestia said.

“What? You knew?” Shining said.

“Indeed, Dusk told Luna and she told me, and while I am awfully tempted to lock you up for selling my sister out to Dusk Heart for an item that you didn’t even know was cursed to try and get Twilight back, I will let Cadence make that decision,” Celestia said.

“...She must hate me,” Shining said looking down.

“She was quite heartbroken that you would go to such extremes but she understands it was under the duress of losing your sister, understandably however you may be sleeping on the floor for the next few months,” Celestia said, not losing her cool expression.

“It’s what I deserve. But I will do my best to help,” Shining said “With your permission Celestia I want to temporarily resume my captain of the guard duties,” Shining said.

“Permission granted, perhaps you can aid Mr. Flash Sentry with his training,” Celestia said

“But isn’t he already a trained soldier?” Shining asked.

“He’s actually his human counterpart, remember?” Twinkle said.

“Ah, you did say that,” Shining said before nodding “I will make a soldier out of him yet,” Shining said before walking in that direction.

“Twinkle, let us resume, you must master your potential,” Celestia said.

“Alright!” Twinkle said with a determined expression.

Hours passed and pretty soon everypony retired back into castle, almost everypony.

Twinkle remained and continued focusing on her magic.

Flash and Cheese approached her.

“Twinkle, you should head back inside, it’s getting late,” Flash said.

“No, I need to unlock my full potential,” Twinkle said.

“You still need sleep,” Cheese Sandwich said.

“I will, just… a few more hours,” Twinkle said.

“Ok, but come up to your quarters when your done,” Flash said and the two walked away.

“Focus… focus… focus,” Twinkle muttered.

Luna and Celestia looked out at the city.

“Celly… when was the last time Equestria was in danger like this?” Luna said.

“Frequently as a matter of fact,” Celestia said.

“Are you ready?” Luna asked.

“I will do my best,” Celestia said.

“I meant, are you ready… your facing your demons once again, and this time, it has an army,” Luna said.

“...I will admit, I won’t be able to look at him without seeing the colt I thought of like my own, how can I… and I still locked him up like an animal when he did what I would not, If I had just tracked down those griffons after letting them go…” Celestia was beginning a spiral and Luna stopped it.

“He unleashed Celtus, had he done it right, countless innocent griffons would have died, and who knows, Celtus may have continued its path of destruction to Equestria… he risked everypony for revenge,” Luna said.

“I know… but it was only because I was too scared of the griffon empire’s retaliation that I threw him aside… I’m a terrible teacher, how Twilight stood with me for so long amazes me,” Celestia said and Luna hugged her.

“Do not say that sister, your sins are in the past, leave them there, for now we need to stop Dusk before he causes anymore damage,” Luna said.

“Ok,” Celestia hugged Luna back.

A guard went through the castle and hid in an empty room and pulled out a crystal.

“Milord, I have not been detected yet, how are things on your end?” The brainwashed fused guard said.

“Good, have you set the traps yet?” Dusk asked.

“Yes, with the trap set Canterlot is ours,” The guard said.

“Get moving then, we need to make this work without a hitch, and if all goes right, I will have Celestia and Luna before they realize it,” Dusk said.

“Ok,” The guard said before leaving.

Candance and the Crystal guards arrived on the scene the next morning with Celestia, Twinkle, and Luna waiting for her.

“Hi Cadance!” Twinkle said running up to her and hugging her.

“Hello Twinkle,” Cadence said and they even did their ladybug dance before Candace addressed the other princesses.

“How is everything, I heard from Twinkle that Shining finally wizened up that he still has a sister?” Cadence said.

“Yeah, please don’t be too angry with him Cady,” Twinkle asked.

“Ok, but only because you said so,” Cadence said “I will be having a stern talk with him later though, be sure of that,” Cadence said.

“Wish to join us in the war room Cadence?” Celestia said.

“Yes,” Cadence said following the group into the castle before noticing a strange sight as she passed it… a mirror behind a bush… odd, why would Celestia put that there?

“So, how many ponies from Ponyville are willing to aid us in the fight?” Celestia said.

“At least seventy-five percent of them, but they are visibly scared and unsure how to fight,” Luna responded.

“We’ll have to gather the commanders and have them train them the best we can, we need all hooves on deck here,” Celestia said.

“Training in a few days is a bit of a stretch, even for my guards,” Luna said.

“I agree, but we must do the best we can,” Celestia said.

As Candance and the others walked through the castle and they walked passed a few guards, who nodded respectfully to the princesses as they walked past.

Cadence however sensed something and glanced back at one of the guards who passed.

Something felt off about his sense of emotions… it was… more centered.. elsewhere?... odd.

‘Something isn’t right…’ Cadence thought.

They made it to the war room and they saw the rest of the group there.

“Princess,” everypony bowed.

“Hello, eveypony… Flash? What are you doing here?” Cadence asked noticing Flash.

“Different Flash,” Twinkle whispered in her ear.

“I… see,” Cadence said.

“Alright everypony, your all here for specific reasons, I feel you’ll all be vital to the success of stopping Dusk Heart from taking over Equestria, we need the aid of every exceptional fighter we can get,” Celestia said.

As Celestia talked Cadance noticed Shining Armor in the corner, he glanced at her and smiled hopefully but she just huffed and looked away.

“...Figured…” Shining sighed.

“If I know Dusk, then he’ll have taken his time to plan out an attack on Canterlot, we need to be prepared for anything, therefore I would like to have Zap Apple here, do aerial reconnaissance to keep an eye out for anything that Dusk is attempting. Charity be prepared to put that object creation to use, and Twinkle, We’ll need you to aid in the second layer of defense.” Celestia began her strategy.

“I will aid others in this battle, personally,” Luna said.

As they were talking Spike looked to Discord and whispered.

“What part do you play in all this?” Spike asked.

“Mainly just field support and the main line of defense against Celtus if he uses him,” Discord said.

“What part do I get?” Spike asked.

“Inner castle defense,” Discord said.

“...Great,” Spike said.

“And in conclusion, we go on to gang up on Dusk, we need to get his tools away from him,” Celestia said.

“What tools specifically?” Zap asked.

“Yeah, he must have tons,” Bulk said.

“Ideally, all of them, specifically, The manuscripts of Celtus and the lantern of subjugation, they are his main tools,” Celestia said.

“It is likely he must have spread them among his minions, we must be careful who has what,” Luna said.

“Be honest Celestia… what’s our likelihood of winning this?” Trixie asked and everypony looked at her.

“...I cannot say we are guaranteed to win, but we cannot give up hope just because of that fact, now, let us move out,” Celestia said.

“That doesn’t make me feel confident,” Trixie said.

“Don’t worry, we’ve faced worse odds,” Starlight said.

“When?” Trixie asked.

“Tirek,” Twinkle said.

“...Name two,” Trixie said.

Dusk and his army stood upon the side of a mountain overseeing Equestria.

“The time is near, time to build Equestria anew, Celestia,” Dusk said before entering the cave his army is in.

And they were setting up row after row of something their secret weapon.

Mirrors…

Author's Note

Next chapter things will start picking up to the rising action, so be ready.