Twilight sparkle held in a loud yawn as she stood at the foot of her staircase, watching her alabaster friend Rarity shuffle through her books. Twilight didn’t mind her friends coming to the library, on the contrary she enjoyed it... when she was awake. When the fashionista came to Twilight’s door, much to the purple unicorns frustration, it was with a strange request, she was looking into steel smithing. Though at first Twilight had wondered why it was necessary so late at night she was met with the weak excuse of “This needs to be read while the inspiration is still fresh.”.

Twilight sighed, eyes saggy, body slumped, waiting for her friend to finish as she slowly, and meticulously, went over every single book before placing it back in the most agonizingly slow way possible. Twilight turned to the clock she had on her wall, staring up as the little hand mockingly sat over the 3. Twilight contemplated blasting the clock to bits for teasing her but shook it away and turned back to her friend, who placed a book back on the shelf with a soft “Nope.”.

A little over an hour passed, the white unicorn only moving slightly to the next row of books. By now, Twilight wanted nothing more than to bash her poor head against something to make rest come a bit quicker, but decided that was a little extreme. Soon her purple ears sprang up excitedly when she heard a cheery “Aha” come from Rarity’s direction

“You found it!” Twilight perked with a weak, tired smile.

“Oh, huh, oh no. I just found the hooffile I lost here last month, that’s all.” After answering Rarity went back to the torturous task of slowly going through the books.

Twilight cringed, a small twitch on her eye. Sure, she tried to help, offered to repeatedly, but the other unicorn insisted that she not be a bother to Twilight, and yes, Twilight could very much just go upstairs to bed right away, but that would be rude, though her propensity for politeness passed profusely.

Another slow forty minutes ticked on by before finally Rarity made another noise. “Now?” Twilight asked pleadingly.

“Hmm, now what?” Rarity asked, smiling at her purple friend

“The book?!” Twilight growled in annoyance, though the tone seemed to go unnoticed by Rarity

“The book?” she asked questioningly “Oh, yes, the metalsmithing? I found that a while ago, maybe ten minutes after I got here.” Twilight’s eye twitched yet again “I was just looking to see if anything else caught my fancy.” she placed a hoof to her chin, slowly pulling one book out then putting it back with a dainty shake of her head.

“What happened to ‘while the inspiration was fresh’?” Twilight complained

“Hm? Oh, dear me, has it been that long.” she asked, now looking up at the clock “I apologize, I had my mind elsewhere. I was thinking about how much more fabulous my outfit would look if I had realistic looking weapons to accompany them, which is why I got this book. Not to mention, it would be the piece de resistance for these outfits I’m working on, see, after our game I started to poke into some fantasy novels and to my excitement I found out one I like most, Game of Pones, was releasing a theater show, so of course I wanted to make the outfits and what would look better than steel mock weapons to add that little extra bit of pizazz.”

It was everything in Twilight’s power to smile as her friend talked, frantically pushing away every desire to send the other mare flying out of her house at mach speed, though, the desire for historical accuracy and the prospect of research did soften the blow as she herself had left poor Spike to many sleepless nights in the same vain. Sighing, Twilight released her frustration, giving a genuine smile for once that night before leading her chatty friend out of the building.

“Anyways Twilight, I’ll be leaving now.” As she trotted away she paused and turned “Oh, and remember, we’re having our picnic with Fluttershy in six hours, so make sure to get plenty of sleep.”

Twilight groaned inwardly before slamming the door shut with her magic.

The Six friends giggled madly as they walked off the train. Pinkie regaling them with a story about cheese curd, fresh mowed lawns and the meaning of life being found in a trombone. Their day had started off great, they got together, no incident, boarded the train and was happy as could be. Their giggling fit stopping when a boyish voice came from clear across the street “Twily!”

Perking her ears to the familiar sound Twilight scanned the area until she saw her beloved brother. Excited she ran over to his side and embraced him “Shining!” she shouted as they snuggled

“Hey Twily, how’s it going?” he smiled down at his sister

“Great, but what are you doing here and where’s Cadence?” She asked, slightly worried by the absence of her sister in law

“At the kingdom of course! And as for myself, I’m here to give you a gift.” he smiled at her, ruffling her mane a bit “Now, close your eye and hold out a hoof.”

The other five approached, watching as Shining Armor placed a small figurine of a wizard in purple robes into Twilight's hoof.

“Alright, open your eyes Twily.” doing as she was instructed she looked down to see a painted miniature of her character, Starstorm, before squealing in girlish glee.

“How’d you know!” she chirped wrapping her brother in her hooves.

“Now here I thought you knew me little sis, remember my friends way back in the day? We used to play Pathfinder all the time, my buddy Point Dexter made this. I’m not very good at painting miniatures so…” he was interrupted when his sister hugged him tighter

“It’s perfect, thank you thank you thank you thank you!”

“Yeah, Luna actually ran into my buddy PD when she was looking for more Pathfinder material, wondering if they put anything else out, and trust me, it’s a lot, though most of it’s pretty lost.” he separated from his sister “Anyways, Luna and Point Dexter got to talking, she brought you up, he sent me a message and, well, you can guess from there.”

“Wow, yeah, I almost forgot you played…” she looked down at the figure “You know…”

“Haha, don’t worry about it.” he pat her head “When I found out Luna was running my first thought was to come out here and see if she had some room, and she doesn’t.” Twilight frowned and hoofed the ground lightly “At least, not for your group, though we talked about her spell and she has a plan, but she wants me to find some more ponies to play. Trust me, it’ll be great, but I don’t want to spoil anything.”

“Alright, so you will be playing?” She asked with a slight tilt of her head.

“Hmm, you’ll see.” he spoke aloofly “Anyways, I don’t wanna keep you, you have a game to play, and I’m so jealous.” he smiled

“Of course, and thank you again.” she nuzzled her brother softly before they departed.

Making it to Luna’s game room, they noticed the princess wasn’t in the chair, instead she was on the ground covered with cheese puffs, chocolate covered pretzels, marshmallows and cake crumbs.

“Maybe we should take that junk food away from her, she’ll get a cavity like that.” Fluttershy muttered

“Geeze, what’s with you and cavities?” Dash replied

“She’s mentioned it all of once.” Applejack drawled in retort.

Luna, taking slight notice of the noise, snorted, choking a bit on spittle before coughing roughly then turning slightly.

“She’s certainly not like her sister…” Rarity added, waving a hoof in disgust.

“How dare thee accuseth us of being she who taketh the cookies from jar of baked treats!” the Lunar princess shouted, bolting up onto her plot, shifting her head about nervously.

“Easy girl,” Rainbow said as she swooped to her GMs side, holding her with her hooves “You’re coming off what looks like a pretty bad sugar rush.”

The other girls nodded in agreement with Fluttershy adding “You’re going to get a cavity if you keep it up.”

Rainbow and Luna looked at one another, bemused, before turning to the buttery mare “We are an alicorn princess, we do not get cavities.”

Scrunching her face, Fluttershy scrutinized her princess as the Alicorn crossed her hooves and turned her muzzle up “I should ask Celestia.” she said before turning to leave before feeling magic grab her hind leg.

“Do not tell her, she will see to it we are without sweets for a month, she already took away caffeinated beverages from us!” Luna practically begged, hoof outstretched, receiving a chuckle from the group.

“Of course princess, I wouldn’t tell on you.” Fluttershy agreed, trotting over to a chair as Luna’s face glowed the deepest purple the group had ever seen.

“So, I suppose with that out of the way we should get started?” Twilight offered, trying to keep the group from detracting any further

The rest began to take their seats as Luna grunted in compliance. “Now, as we recall…” she hummed as the room filled once more with light.

All that stood before Leona was white. Her massive frame tearing through the streets of New Krayan as she angrily pushed her way towards the cathedral. Behind her was the rest of the group, following her and looking on as the guard struggled against the monstrous horde of shadow hound-beasts. Everything was going to hell and the grand priest and head master were nowhere to be found, likely still on their way to the disturbance that probably sparked this whole ordeal. Regardless, the six had a city to protect, and protect it they would.

Though weighed down by heavy armor, the rest of the group still found it hard to endure as she did as they ran through the streets. “Would ya slow down a wee bit, wer’ gettin’ a tad tired.” Sprinkles shouted at the paladin who gave no response.

“It’s no good, she’s in one of her… fits…” Selina spoke hesitantly, shaken by her usually gentles friends rampage.

Eventually the group was cut off when three of the beasts jumped down from a nearby building onto the paladin. First they stood in awe as another flood tore through towards them from the alleyways and side streets, leaving their large friend on her own. However, their attention changed from the beasts before them to the primal shouts of the paladin ahead, followed by the soaring form of one of the beasts as it’s body was tossed over to their feet before dissapearing entirely.

While Leona was lost in a sea of shadows, the other five had no choice but to stand their ground as over twenty beasts stared them down.

“There’s no way we can handle these numbers…” Starstorm muttered, panting lightly

“We’re not getting away so that’s our only option…” Wrath Spoke, inhaling deeply before charging into the fray, blade swinging in wide, violent arcs.

“Damned if ya do damned if ya don’t…” Jessebelle spoke, drawing her boot dagger and following suit.

Wordlessly, Selina fell into step as she began to engage, followed by Sprinkles. Starstorm watched as her friends fell into a mass of steel and inky blackness, grunts and yelps coming from her friends as they fought the masses, for every one they fell another two came and sank their fangs into legs, arms, ribs, their blood raining onto the cobblestone streets.

Starstorm wasn’t sure what to do, if anything. She couldn’t fight like them, her spells would serve little use as well. She was worthless and she felt it. She could do nothing but sit there and hope for the best as her friends were slowly wore down in the dervish of steel and fangs. However, as her friends began to get overrun she could hear snarling from behind her, alerting her to the six beasts that had flanked her. She fell to her knees, hopelessness washed over her. She closed her eyes, and waited. What came next was a surprise.

Lightning struck, flames fell onto the earth, and three blades, two held by a suave man in leather the other by none other than King Ardreus tore the ranks asunder. “Darian, your little ploy worked.” the king spoke with a cocky grin over his smooth, fair face. Eye sparkling with a liveliness only matched by the shimmering of his golden mane.

“Of course, I knew they’d make a move if they thought we left, but first…” Darius through one dagger with inhuman precision, quickly tying a satchel to it as he did, hitting one of the beasts right between the eyes as it leapt at Jessebelle “Ammunition, take it girl.” Jessebelle looked surprised as she snatched the bag, smiling as she fiddled with it, trying to load her six shooter.

Soon the source of the flames and lightning came forward from opposite sides. Eramac stepped forward a serious look on his face as he began to weave magic in between his hands. “Like old times, eh children?” he spoke with a mix of seriousness and playfulness

Edona came out, eyes filled with a glowing golden energy that danced around inside of her skull as she drew a long, curved blade affixed with nine rings from her side, proceeding to open her arms wide as her form doubled, the normally petite woman now a hulking form of might, the multihued strands of her ever-moving hair now matching the beasts in length alone. “You will not harm my children!” she shouted as the blade came crashing down on two of them, billows of dust and rock escaping where the blade landed.

“Always such a show off, aren’t ya Edona… well so am I.” The king smirked as he spoke throwing the shield he was wearing off and drawing a second sword, both now glowing with golden energy as he pushed in passed Starstorm, winking at her as he did before releasing a whirlwind of attacks through the horde.

The group was astonished, four of the most powerful people in the nation stood united making the massive horde seem like only slight annoyances where the six of them barely held on for their lives. Selina broke from the crowd over to Darius, a look of confusion on his face “D-Darius, dear, what in the world…”

“Never seen the heroes of Old Krayan get together?” the man looked at her with his usual seriousness

“You… them… how, I don’t…” Starstorm spoke in awe “You mean I’ve been training under the Stormbringer the whole time!!!” she shouted in childlike glee.

“Starstorm!” Eramac shouted “This isn’t the time for acting like a toddler!” he scolded causing the girl to shrink nervously.

“I wouldn’t take you for a good guy.” Selina spoke with an arched brow, a sly grin plastered on her face.

“Good isn’t what I’d call it, can’t get paid if everyone’s dead, right?” he asked, moving passed the other rogue, unsheathing several knives from seemingly out of no where “Twenty gold for twenty eyes?!” He asked out to the King, who was effortlessly tearing forward, allowing the rest to break from the horde to have their wounds attended to by the grand cleric.

“Hmph, you sure you still got it?” The king shouted back right before a wave of daggers hit their mark without fail, causing most of the beasts to explode into blackness.

“So, awesome!” Wrathtail mustered in between gasps for air

“Let me aid you.” Edona said as she waved her hands over the magus’s several wounds.

“Thanks, but, how can you guys be the Heroes of Old Krayan, you guys look pretty spry to be dead folk.” Wrathtail spoke with a questioning glare as her wounds closed up. giving one very specific glare to the King who only turned to her briefly with a look of reconciliation.

“Some secrets are kept for a reason, though it appears ours wasn’t kept very well.” She spoke in a gentle, though authoritative tone that reminded her of something, in fact. she looked a lot like someone she knew, her hair, the glowing eyes, it gave Wrathtail a weird shiver down her spine, a feeling she couldn’t quite place.

The rest of the group, minus Leona and the King, gathered together. While their wounds were tended to further, Jessebelle spoke “Took yalls long enough to get here, anymore waitin’ and we’d have turned up dead.”

“Well, you didn't.” Darius said matter of factly.

“Where’s Leona?” Edona asked, answered when the other five of the other group looked into the crowd King Ardreus was currently cutting through. Edona’s look became one of sadness and concern as she couldn’t see her among the crowd, this the was quickly mended when one of the bodies of the beasts came flying over head, followed by strange, foreign screaming.

“I think she’s fine…” Selina spoke gently, a tinge of fear following as she gulped.

“You will die, die, all of you!” Leona shouted as she lifted one by it’s neck, squeezing until a satisfying snap was heard before the body faded into nothingness.

Ardreus finished his way over beside Leona, cutting down what little was still around her. She turned, looking at the king who smiled at her right before he felt the steel of her gauntlets slam right into his face, causing him to shift slightly, but overall seemingly doing little to him. Leona’s eyes seemed to settle as she recognized the thing before her as human. Calmed, her eyes rolled back into her head as she fell into the kings arms. “Heavy girl, aren’t ya?” he spoke kindly to her now resting form.

“What’s going on?” Wrathtail spoke, wanting answers.

“We’re under attack.” Darius remarked, picking up his knives off the ground.

“What he means to say is that we’re being attacked by…” The four looked at each other before nodding. Eramac sighed and finished his sentence “Old King Adrean.”

Wrathtail gasped slightly, grabbing the old mans robe angrily “Da...Adrean was a good man, he died fighting against the shadows of Norshire, and you’d know that if you were the heroes who fought beside him!”

“We know, and we did.” Ardreus said as he brought over Leona, cradling her effortlessly in his arms. “Wrathtail, please, believe me, I know my father.” he set her down at Edona’s feet.

Sprinkle cut in suddenly, staring Ardreus in the eye, exploring the somber look that filled his features. With a nod she turned to Wrathtail “Ah think e’s tellin’ the truth.”

“We are,” Edona stood away from Leona, satisfied that she would wake up soon

“Mother Edona, I… I know we should trust you, but it’s hard to believe he’d cause this to his people, surely this is a mistake.” Starstorm questioned, trying her best not to sound curt.

“My student, believe me, it’s very true and a secret we thought we could keep to our grave, but it appears that won’t be happening… we tried our best, but it seems we couldn’t keep the facade up forever, however it’s something I always suspected to be a such.” he sighed “I knew our past would return to haunt the kingdom… but, I have duties, responsibilities. So, that’s why I have you.” he smiled at Starstorm.

“Me!? But, I could barely help… why would I…” she was interrupted

“You are my student, and a gifted one at that. I started the school to find another with the talent to continue protecting this kingdom, and I have, and by the looks of it I’m not the only one.” He looked at Darius and Edona.

“Truth be told, I didn’t think so far ahead. Selina is just one of my… associates, though I admit, I wouldn’t have any of those other goons uphold my name.” he smiled to Selina who smiled back and nodded

“Well, I suppose that will do then, won’t it.” Selina spoke with a touch of pride.

“And you Edona?” Eramac asked, giving her a very serious look.

Edona looked down at Leona “Perhaps,” was all she muttered.

“Well, looks like ah won’t be needed with these here chosen one’s runnin’ about.” Jessebelle prepared to leave

“Chosen? No, selected, maybe.” Darius walked in front of Jessebelle “I know that look, that tone.” Jessebelle arched a brow in curiosity “You act as if all you care about is yourself and your purse, if so, then why go through the trouble of helping them with nothing more than a dinner knife?”

“Yall said it best, can’t get paid if everyone’s dead, right?” She retorted with a snort.

“Can’t get paid if you’re dead either, right?” he offered “Besides, if those three are going to run around I can guarantee there’s bigger pay days about traveling at their side.”

Jessebelle turned back to look at the group, nodding “Ah see, ah reckon that’ll do quite nicely then.” she smiled, tilting her hat down a bit further.

“Well, what are we to do then?” Starstorm looked to her teacher

“Nothing, not yet. You’re talented but young, I hoped to have you learn so much more before you had to fix our mistakes.” He spoke as if he had many regrets, but if he did Starstorm wouldn’t know anything about them.

“We can’t just sit around and do nothing, right!” Wrathtail exclaimed

“Of course, I expect you six to help run off these beasts. Speaking of which, we’ve sat around for long enough.” The King turned to his allies who nodded acceptingly to one another. “We have to go, you six take care and wherever we are, see to it you’re far away.”

Leona shifted slightly, looking up to Mother Edona then to Eramac then to the King “M’lady… m’lord?”

“Hush dear, you are safe now. I’ve mended your wounds and your friends are here as well. We must go, your friends can let you know what we’ve told them. I have a lot of hope for you, do your best, and don’t let them down, they’ll be there for you more then you can imagine.” Edona spoke as if she’d had mothered Leona since birth, and given Leona’s gentle nod one might believe it.

With that the Heroes of Old Krayan made their leave. “Ugh, what happened?” Leona asked, before being quickly introduced to all that was told to them “I see… well, we have a city to protect, we mustn’t waste time.” she stood up wearily, helped along by Selina. Upon noticing this Leona snatched herself away and moved forward.

“Right,” Selina quietly agreed and followed suit.

Starstorm and Jessebelle made their way after the Paladin and Rogue while Sprinkles ran up to Wrathtail as she stared into the direction of the other four who had aided them. “Wha’s wrong, girleh, you seem a tad upset.”

“They’re lying…” Wrathtail grit her teeth

“Ah don’t think they are… ah have a nose for these kinda’ things.” She placed a hand on Wrathtail’s shoulder “Whateva’ 'appened, your father will always 'ave been a great man.” she smiled at Wrathtail who just gaped at the bard.

“He’s not…” She spoke but was certain there was no getting around the woman.

“Ya secret’s safe with me lass.” she assured the other woman before following her new friends.

As she watched the bard leave, Wrathtail cursed herself “Damn my big mouth…” she muttered as she chased after them as well.

Author's Note

Preread as always by my friend Breakfateschain give him a check out and, if you like my stories, you can always further your viewing pleasure by going here http://mrconradtheduck.deviantart.com/ to my deviant art where I will be posting, soonish, more Beneath the Fuschian sand, give it a read. Lastly, we have a big announcement here coming soon, let's just say someone liked my story so much they're going to Youtube read it! Links will go up soon, and as always, let me know what you think in the comments below!