Primeval Retribution

by Chief Big Tree

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Dark
Length: 23916

An ancient organization awakens in Equestria, and with it returns some of Equestria's greatest enemies. Through grief and sorrow, Twilight Sparkle and her friends take the challenge of protecting Equestria and its leaders once more.

An ancient promise shattered, a forgotten organization returned, and a threat held for centuries turned to actuality, a long ago established balance between Equestria and the forces held against it is broken. When a decision and a slip-up from the rulers of Equestria are deemed as final breaks of their word, the only option left for the princess of the sun and the princess of the moon are their carved in stone demises.

Knowing Their eyes are different and Their ways are the same as they have been since the beginning, Celestia and Luna are put on high alert as the end of their reign, and lives, are put on a timer. With The Elements of Harmony still lively and ready to stand for the princesses, six mares attempt to prevent the immanent. A race across Equestria's mysterious and dangerous borders begins as Twilight Sparkle and her friends try to stop the awakening of an ancient power. New forces will join The Spirits of Harmony along the way, some they would never have expected, and the struggling resistance against old foes will rise as Equestria is forced to defend itself.

But can Twilight and her friends save the princesses from those which were forged to rival The Elements of Harmony themselves?

(Contains adventure, dark magic, betrayal, spooky places, dark magic, badassery, violence, dark magic, swearing [limited], confusion, old and new enemies, and dark magic. Did I mention dark magic? There's dark magic. A lot of it.)

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-02-18 04:55:02 UTC

Prologue

Prologue

The inside of Canterlot’s royal quarters were always quiet at night, but not this quiet. The sounds of Canterlot’s wildlife had been repressed down into a dull whisper of howls and hoots, the tension within the buildings of the royal city more than enough to give the animals notice of the situation. The regular hoofsteps of a royal guard patrolling the inside of Celestia’s palace seemed to have been taken away, and the water flowing on each side of the princess of the sun’s throne sounded as if it had hushed itself, knowing that Celestia was listening for something. It wasn’t wrong.

Princess Celestia sat still in her throne, staring intently at the large doors across the room with tired eyes. Her patience was dwindling into a thin string held out to its point of snapping, and the thread didn’t look as if it were going to be let loose even after the princess met what she waited for. The full moon outside let soft light into the colorful windows lining the hall of Celestia’s throne room. The elegant designs of red, blue, and yellow placed on the tinted glass displayed themselves onto the floor of the hall, the moonlight almost as if it were brighter this night than ever before. The brightness of the moon, to Celestia’s mind, wasn’t a coincidence, and the heavy and hurried hoofsteps slowly approaching through the halls of the palace almost made the light of the moon intensify even more. Celestia knew the meeting with her sister couldn’t wait any longer, and with the growing anger of Luna becoming a problem as of late, the princess of the sun couldn’t hold the talk off for another day. Night’s fate was decided tonight, whether Celestia wanted it or not.

The hoofsteps thumping through the halls came to a stop as they reached the doors of Celestia’s throne room. Heart pounding as she waited, Celestia stood up and trotted down from her throne to the floor of the hall, keeping her eyes set on the doors that hid her visitor. The silence from inside of the throne room after Celestia came to a stop at the base of her settle of sovereignty speaking for itself, Luna finally got her wish to discuss the matter she had been longing for ever since she returned to Equestria. Slowly, the doors of the throne room pushed open to reveal the princess of the night on the other side. Sisterly love aside, both princesses kept in mind that the matter at hoof wasn’t for family matters, but for Equestria’s safety. Their eyes locked with their thoughts ready to be unleashed, Celestia and Luna began.

“Sister,” Princess Luna said as he gradually passed through the doorway and continued into the room. “I have been waiting to talk with you about this matter for long enough. I cannot allow you to push this away another time.” She stopped as she reached the middle of the hall, standing up straight and strong. “You know why I am here. We both do.”

A sigh escaping her mouth, Celestia closed her eyes for a moment before staring back into Luna’s. “We both do, yes,” Celestia admitted. “I assume that I’m not going to be able to talk you out of letting this go.”

“We ruled one thousand years ago in harmony, sister. You know that giving me the responsibility of night once more can be done. I may have gotten out of control before, but I have learned to contain myself. I can take control of night again.” Luna nodded subtly. “I know I can.”

“Do you?” Princess Celestia furrowed her brow, taking a step forward. “Nightmare Moon isn’t just another side of you, she is another part of you. A part of you that cannot be allowed to be let out again. I haven’t forgotten what I had to do to try to get rid of her; I never will. Can you promise me that I won’t have to do it again?”

“I promise, sister.” Luna winced as her voice wavered slightly. “With all of my heart, I know I can control her.”

Celestia squinted her eyes. “You don’t sound very confident.”

Princess Luna trotted forward quickly, but stopped as Celestia put a golden aura around her horn. “Please, sister, I can take control of night again. You have to let me have it.”

“What makes you so sure that Nightmare Moon is gone? What makes you so sure that she won’t get out again somehow?”

“I’ve learned how to contain her. She isn’t in control anymore. I won’t let her take control. Please, I miss raising the stars at night. I miss raising the moon.”

Celestia quickly shifted her eyes to the floor. The talk about night’s control had been in Celestia’s mind ever since the first day Princess Luna came back, but the decision to let her sister have night again was as harder than she expected it to be. Sincerity clear in Luna’s words, the princess of the night tried her best to make her sister turn night over to her, but the questions that soon came out of Celestia’s mouth were the ones Luna had dreaded.

“What have you learned?” Celestia asked, returning her eyes back to Luna. “What have you learned that makes you sure that Nightmare Moon is gone?”

Luna quickly swallowed a small lump in her throat before she could even open her mouth. She had thought of the questions before, but the answers were never in reach. “I’ve... I’ve learned that night isn’t something to be treated as if it were a possession. It’s something that is to be admired by everypony. It is not mine.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “What else?”

Finding herself in a silence, Princess Luna bit her lip and eyed her surroundings. Her mind raced for something to say just to answer the question. What else had she learned? What else could she learn? To Luna, there was nothing else to learn, but to her sister, there was much, much more.

The quietness of Luna giving Celestia what she had anticipated, and the princess of the sun spoke again, “Have you learned that jealousy is a dangerous thing, at that it has no place in the position as co-ruler of Equestria?”

Luna stepped back. “I...”

“Have you learned that letting your feelings get the best of you is highly unsafe, and that your job as keeper of the night could be affected by them?”

Her ears falling flat against her head, Luna could only whimper quietly.

“Have you learned that there is no competition between night and day, and that there never will be any of the sort?”

“Sister-”

“Have you learned that Nightmare Moon is a part of you, and ever since she has become a part of you, she will always be there?”

“Please...”

“Have you learned that-?”

Beginning to feel herself on the verge of letting her tears go, Princess Luna had to put an end to the assault. “Please, sister! Stop!” Luna pleaded loudly. She hung her head close to the ground and shut her eyes tight, knowing that she had made a mistake.

Celestia took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Forgive me, Luna, but I cannot allow you to have the responsibility of raising the moon and the stars. Your past has sealed that decision, and it will be a long time before you will be able to take back what was once yours. For now, all I ask is that you remain by my side as a sister.”

Princess Luna raised her head up as Celestia began to walk back up to her throne. This wasn’t over. “Sister,” Luna called. She trotted forward to the base of Celestia’s throne as the princess of the sun turned to face her, Luna’s eyes glistening and her brow tilted inwards. “You can’t hold me back from what I love. I want the control of night.”

“Luna, I can’t give you it. There are too many risks involved, and you know this. Just let this go and-”

Anger taking over, Luna slammed one of her hooves down on the stairs leading up to Celestia’ throne. “I’m not going to let this go! We went into ruling Equestria as sisters! We trusted each other! How can you hold me back from what I earned my talent for!?”

Sensing something else beginning to rise up from within her sister, Princess Celestia stepped down to the floor as Luna backed away from the throne. “I’m not holding it back from you to anger you. I am holding it back for the sake of Equestria. Your anger with me has not left you just yet, and as long as it is still in you, night is in danger if you take hold of it.”

Princess Luna clenched her teeth and flared her nostrils, and slowly, a dark aura began to form around the littler sister. “You put me on the moon for one thousand years because I threatened to make night eternal! How can I let my anger go for that!?”

The changes beginning to take place on Luna’s appearance and tone of voice were becoming distinct, and Celestia could recognize the horrific figure that her little sister was starting to turn into. Celestia stepped forward and tried to walk to her sister, but was abruptly stopped as a sparkling purple wall of magic blocked her path. The transformation was beyond Luna’s ability to contain it. Nightmare Moon had taken over.

Celestia tried desperately to get around the wall of magic in front of her, but only found her efforts blocked each time by the familiar cloudy magic. “Luna! Do not let her take hold of you! Nightmare Moon can’t be let out again! Contain her!”

The wall of purple magic in front of Princess Celestia slowly became cloudier and cloudier, eventually turning into a mass of magic unable to be seen through. The sound of a mare’s laugher began to take over Luna’s yells, and the formation of armor pierced into the hall loudly. The howls of laughter were not those of the princess of the night’s any longer, but those of a being that Celestia had dreaded would return. In one fell motion, the wall of magic in front of Celestia disappeared all at once, and the figure standing within the hall along with Princess Celestia stared at her with pale green, sinister eyes.

The figure tilted her chin back down as her laughter came to a halt. “Ah, if it isn’t my other half’s sister!” Nightmare Moon exclaimed as Celestia came into view, grinning at the princess of the sun.

Celestia glared back at Nightmare, bringing her horn down to point at what her sister had become. “Nightmare Moon. I should have realized that Luna wouldn’t be able to control you to her best capabilities just yet.”

Nightmare waved a hoof limply through that air. “She’ll never be able to control me. I’ve become a part of her! How can you control something that has control over you?”

A golden aura forming on Celestia’s horn, the princess of the sun bared her teeth. “You are not in control of her, you never will be. She’ll grow strong enough to be able to vanquish you completely. But until then, I’m going to have to repress you back.”

“You are?” Nightmare laughed loudly. “Oh please! Not even you can stop me anymore! I’ve grown stronger over the one thousand years that Luna and I have spent on the moon! If it weren’t for those six mares, I would’ve taken night forever. But they’re not here, are they?” Nightmare giggled malevolently. “I know things about magic that you would never know in your entire life!” The armored mare examined her hoof as she lifted it up in front of her face. “Now how would you like to be brought down from power? Violently, or would you rather give up the throne right now and be my servant? Night is very pretty, you know. It’ll look amazing as it stays in the sky forever. You’ll be able to admire it straight by my side!”

Celestia scraped a hoof on the ground. “I won’t let you take this throne. You won’t be taking any sort of power as long as I am here!”

A large beam of golden magic shot from the tip of Celestia’s horn and headed straight for Nightmare Moon. Slightly shocked at the sudden attack, Nightmare gasped at the beam of magic heading toward her, but ultimately laughed wildly. Before the beam could hit her, Nightmare burst outwards into a sparkling purple mist, the beam of magic that Celestia had shot at her passing straight through the purple cloud and colliding with the wall beside the doors of the throne room.

Nightmare Moon continued laughing as she formed back into her alicorn form, trying to suppress her wicked laughter with a hoof to her mouth. “Did you really think that would get me? Your ways are quite simple, Celestia. And don’t even try putting Luna and I back on the moon again.” She smiled maliciously at the alicorn staring her down. “That trick isn’t going to work.”

Fed up with petty insults, Celestia began to relentlessly fire beams of magic at Nightmare Moon. A smirk on her face, Nightmare turned into a cloud of purple magic once more. Every beam of magic that raced through the air passed through the purple cloud with no damage done to the pitch black mare. The attacks Celestia sent toward Nightmare Moon flew wildly around the throne room as Nightmare began to float around in the air, the beams of magic burning the walls and banners with each impact. Laughter echoed throughout the palace as Nightmare Moon continued to fly around in her cloud form, dodging Celestia’s ever growing irate attempts to get rid of her.

Figured she had tormented the princess of the sun enough, Nightmare Moon decided to end the useless fight. In a sudden move, the cloud of purple magic dove down into the ground and released a burst of purple magic. A wave of magic coursed along the floor faster than Celestia could react, the wave sweeping Princess Celestia’s legs out from under her and harshly bringing her to the floor. The drag of the wave slammed the Celestia’s head against the floor of the hall, a flash of white interrupting her reddened vision as she rested on her side. Quiet and hushed laughter gradually made its way into Celestia’s muffled hearing as Nightmare Moon walked closer to the princess, the pitch black alicorn standing over Celestia putting a hoof on the princess’s neck.

“I told you that I wouldn’t be so easily defeated as before,” Nightmare Moon taunted. “Simple as it may have been, there isn’t a lot to you when it comes to using magic to get rid of your foes. Stone encasement, turned to shadow, banishment to the moon, it’s all just a complicated, single spell.” She leaned down and whispered into Celestia’s ear, “Such a shame that it’s harder to do when you don’t have your little sister to help you.”

Composure edging its way back into Celestia’s blurred vision and muffled hearing, the princess laying on the floor looked up at the mare of night holding her down. “Simple... but effective. You’ve experienced it first hoof, remember?”

“And so has your sister,” Nightmare Moon said as she raised her head away from Celestia’s. “Once a trick is done, one will find out how it works. Unfortunately for you, I know how that little spell operates. I know how to avoid it.”

Celestia lifted a hoof up to Nightmare Moon’s leg and pushed up against it. “But do you know how to avoid a magic that you have never experienced before?” she asked.

Nightmare tilted her head and squinted slightly. “What are you talking about?”

A smirk on her face, Celestia tightened her grip on Nightmare Moon’s leg. “My point precisely.”

For a creature as dark as herself, even Nightmare Moon was surprised to see what Celestia had planned. Accompanied by the sound of a shrill shriek seeming to originate out of nowhere, Princess Celestia’s partially smug expression turned to that of hatred and anger. The whites of her eyes were instantly covered with a bright green glow, and her irises pierced with a red hue as her pupils sharpened viciously. A dark purple aura flowed freely from Celestia’s eyes, and a darker and misty aura formed around her horn, bubbling with green and purple surges of a magic foreign to the creature of the night staring at them with surprise and fear pumping through her.

“What is that!? What are you doing!?” Nightmare Moon shrieked, trying her best to get her hoof out of Celestia’s grasp as she pulled as hard as she could at her leg.

“A powerful mare you may be, the influence of dark magic has the ability take over anything that it comes across,” Celestia explained. “There isn’t much a pony can do once the magic gets twisted with its victims. Let us see if you can escape the hold of dark magic, Nightmare Moon.”

Before she could even conjure the embryo of a spell, Nightmare Moon soon found that the power that had taken over Celestia was much more potent than she had assumed. A ring of a misty black magic flowed down from Celestia’s horn, coursing along her body before it made its way to her right foreleg. With no stopping, the ring of magic shot across Celestia’s hoof to Nightmare Moon’s trapped leg. The magic didn’t wait to take effect on the mare of night, and as soon as she felt a strange warmth grow within her, Nightmare Moon began to panic.

“What is this!? Let go of me!” Nightmare screamed.

Celestia didn’t have to loosen her grip on the pitch black alicorn for Nightmare to escape. Confused and hysterical, Nightmare Moon’s trepidation flung her into a delirium of frantically looking over herself and breathing quickly and heavily. Cracks of a magic blacker than her coat began to form along Nightmare’s body and legs, her armor already starting to deteriorate as it darkened in hue. The warmth in her body grew stronger and stronger with every second, and the mare of night could start to see glows of purple and green from within the cracks that grew ever larger on her form. A red light slowly pushed its way into the edges of Nightmare Moon’s eyes, and through the warm haze glazing over her perception, Nightmare could see Celestia staring at her emotionless.

The effects of the dark magic dwindling away on herself, Celestia backed away from the mare flailing around in the hall as she tried to stop the dark magic within her. “It has been a long time since I have last used this type of magic on others,” Celestia spoke. “I fear to use it at all, but I cannot allow you to take this throne. There is nothing that you can do to stop this, Nightmare Moon. This is where you go back to sleep.”

Her eyes fully engulfed in a red glow, the cracks along her body wide and bubbling with green and purple surges of magic, black crystals forming on her horn, and her armor disintegrating, Nightmare Moon stopped her frenzy and locked her vicious and angered eyes with Celestia. “I will not give up this easily!” the mare of night howled. “I will live! You will vanish!”

Despite the overwhelming feeling of defeat spreading over Nightmare Moon, it didn’t stop her from trying to take the princess of the sun with her. Magical means of attacking seemed to have been blocked, Nightmare resorted to charging Princess Celestia head on with her horn pointed directly at the princess. She gained a fair amount of distance between her and her target, but soon after a loud shatter rung from within the mare of night, Nightmare Moon felt herself grow weak. Her quickly trotting hooves slowed down to a brisk walk, and were soon confined to a weak and decrepit hobble. The armor attached to Nightmare Moon fell apart into sections and fell to the floor, gently turning to a fine dust and disappearing. The cracks along Nightmare’s body commenced to seal as the glows within them died down into nothing, gradually taking the darkness of Princess Luna’s coat with them as well. Nightmare Moon’s features diminished as Princess Luna’s features appeared, and the dark magic effects that had been on Nightmare Moon went along with her.

Soon enough, Nightmare Moon had passed and Luna had returned, the dark blue alicorn standing on sluggish and shaking legs a few meters away from her sister. Her strength wiped away with the dark magic, Luna couldn’t keep her eyes open for more than a second after she returned, the younger sister falling unconscious and limply tipping over. A golden aura saved her from slumping onto the floor of the hall, Celestia trotting to her sister’s side and sitting next to the comatose princess of the night. Princess Celestia gently let her sister onto the floor and let go of the levitation spell around her, leaving Luna to sleep for the night until her strength grew back.

“Forgive me, little sister,” Celestia whispered, “but other options to stopping Nightmare Moon were little in number.” She brushed her hoof up against Luna’s cheek. “For now, sleep, Luna.”

Princess Celestia shifted her eyes away from Princess Luna to the entrance of the hall as a shuffle of hooves scurried away from the doors and further into the palace. Whether a royal guard or a citizen of Canterlot up late, who the hoofsteps belonged to didn’t matter, but if the pony saw what had happened did. Useless as it would be to chase after the pony, Celestia sighed to herself and looked back down at her sister.

She hoped the night wouldn’t have carried out as it did, and soon enough, all of Equestria would have wished the same.

[1] From Darkness, Arise

Chapter One: From Darkness, Arise

Celestia absorbed her attention in the letter floating in front of her, trying her best to not keep her face from planting into the floor. The cushion pushing up against her back beckoned for the princess to lay down, close her eyes, and relinquish to sleep, but the abundance of letters resting at Celestia’s side spoke otherwise. Flames in the fire place flickering and popping quietly, the inside of Celestia’s bedroom high up in her tower gave the princess of the night suitable conditions to rest, but they were out of reach for Princess Celestia. The raising of the sun would need to ensue in only a couple hours, and missing dawn wasn’t an option for the princess of the sun. After all, she had been on time for every other sunrise; Celestia couldn’t let exhaustion get the best of her and delay the sunrise for a few hours.

Sighing and letting the letter in her levitation spell roll up and fall onto the floor, Celestia rubbed her eyes and attempted to shake her lassitude away. The fight earlier in the night had taken all of the energy out of her, and her head still pounded after being slammed into the floor. The few ice packs that she had been brought by the royal guards that were still up weren’t helping, and the suspicion in the royal guards seemed to be growing about what happened to her. A simple slip was all she told them, but they knew that something else had happened, though they didn’t dare question her.

A knock near the door caught Celestia’s attention as she closed her mouth from a yawn. A unicorn royal guard stood near the entrance of the princess’s room, floating an ice pack in a dark green levitation spell. Though he had the rest of his armor on, his helmet was removed, letting his medium length pitch black hair hang down next to his eyes. His dark red coat lit up with the firelight as he walked into Celestia’s personal quarters, glancing the princess of the night as she slept wrapped up in a blanket in front of the fireplace. He set his eyes, one bright red and the other dark green, on Celestia as he came to a stop out at her side. The peculiar royal guard wasn’t a rare sight to be seen around Celestia when she was alone, though his appearance around the city of Canterlot itself was very sparse.

Celestia nodded to the royal guard as she took over the levitation spell on the ice pack. “Thank you, Fortune. I appreciate the help tonight,” Princess Celestia acknowledged, placing the ice pack on the aching side of her head.

“It’s my duty, princess,” Fortune noted, his voice smooth and hushed in part for Luna. “I feel I would be repeating myself if I were to remind you that you were the one that assigned me as your personal royal guard here in Canterlot. There is no need to thank me; I’m only helping my princess.”

“Is there a code I don’t know royal guards have that makes you so humble?”

Fortune took a subtle breath in and bowed his head slightly. “Is there anything else that I may do for you, your highness?”

Princess Celestia smiled partially at his choice of response. “After the nine years that you have been by my side, you could tell me how you still look as young as you did when you first joined the royal guard,” Celestia joked.

The dark red unicorn smirked. “A secret. I’m sure a princess such as yourself wouldn’t need cosmetic advice from a stallion, or a royal guard. You’re still young for an alicorn, are you not?”

The princess of the sun gave Fortune a smile. “A secret.”

“Touché, your highness.”

The two chuckled quietly to themselves, though they quickly tranquilized their laughter as Princess Luna groaned in her sleep and rolled onto her other side, smacking her lips a few times.

Fortune kept his eyes on Luna as he spoke, “I know I asked numerous times already and you’ve given me the same answer, but are you sure she’s alright? I’ve never seen her sleep this long during her nights.”

Celestia sighed softly as she tilted her head downward and closed her eyes. “There is nothing more to what I have told you earlier. Coming back to Equestria has been hard for her, and she needs her rest. Understand this, please.”

The dark red unicorn switched his line of sight to Celestia and raised an eyebrow. “Are you alright?”

The princess of the sun opened her eyes again and looked up at Fortune, the stallion tilting his head somewhat to the side. “I can assure you that I’m quite fine. I’m sure Luna would take appreciation into your worries for her and I, but there are no dangers or worries that lurk us for now. Equestria is peaceful and everypony is happy, and my sister and I will maintain that for as long as we can.”

Fortune lowered his eyes and scuffed his hoof against the floor lightly. “Yeah,” he whispered to himself, barely audible.

Taking the ice pack off of her head and setting it on the floor next to her, Celestia cleared her throat. “Fortune, there is something I would at least like for you to give an answer to.”

Fortune set his attention back on the princess. “Yes?”

“You never told me how your eyes got like that,” Celestia stated, focusing on the dark red unicorn’s bright red right eye.

A bit startled by the question, Fortune motioned his hoof to the ice pack next to Celestia calmly, yet quickly. He paused for a second before he spoke, “Will you be needing any more ice packs tonight, princess?”

Celestia peered at Fortune for a moment in silence before she nudged the ice pack with her wing. “No. This one will be enough. You may return to your home for tonight. Thank you, Fortune.”

The dark red unicorn bowed before he turned to face the door of Celestia’s room. “Goodnight, your highness,” he spoke as he began to walk.

“Goodnight,” Celestia replied and smiled. “I’ll give you some actual work tomorrow.”

Fortune stopped by the door of the room before he left. He turned around to look at the princess of the sun sitting in the middle of her personal quarters. He appeared as if he wanted to say something, though the look quickly brushed off his face as he nodded to the princess and trotted out of sight. Fortune’s hoofsteps growing distant and eventually disappearing into the halls of the palace, Celestia lifted the ice pack on the floor up to her head again.

The stillness inside of Celestia’s bedroom brought out Princess Luna’s quiet breathing against the popping of the fireplace. Her head resting up against a small and elegantly decorated soft pillow, the princess of the night continued to rest and regain the strength she had lost from her loss of control earlier. Her older sister watched her sleep, Celestia wondering what the princess that wandered other’s dreams could be dreaming herself. Happiness? Princess Celestia couldn’t tell, but the smile that barely showed on Luna’s face told enough that she was somewhere peaceful. Luna, being the co-ruler of Equestria, faced the many stresses that her older sister went through, and after the incident with Celestia earlier, the princess of the night needed her sleep.

A strange ring buzzing inside of Celestia’s room snapped her attention away from Luna. The princess of the sun shifted her eyes to the fire place behind her sleeping sister and stared at the flames closely, listening. Along with the ring resonating from the chimney came the swishing of air and the sparkle of magic, telltale signs of a letter being sent back to her quarters. Celestia continued to watch the bright orange flames in the fire place dance in their spacious display.

Who could be writing a letter to me this late in the night? Celestia thought to herself.

However, Princess Celestia’s suspicions soon became thoughts of dread as the smoke of the letter came into view inside of the fire place above the flames, and the princess of the sun felt herself shake ever so slightly inside. The smoke of the letter that clouded over the fire place was not that of any type of magic she had seen commonly used in Equestria. A solid black cloud and flowing around like the fire below it, the smoke didn’t resemble the usual incoming of her star student’s letters. Unless, that is, Twilight Sparkle had started using dark magic. Knowing Twilight’s ways of wanting to know more and more every second she could, Celestia had a brief thought of the hold of dark magic reaching the lavender unicorn, but she quickly wiped away the idea. She knew it couldn’t have been Twilight that had sent the letter; she was certain. The only other suspicion of who sent the letter was one that even Luna would be jittering with anxiety about, and despite her being asleep, the princess of the night’s smile seemed to have disappeared.

Celestia kept her eyes on the shapeless black cloud as it thinned itself out into a single strand of dark magic. The unformed letter twisted through the air elegantly in swirls and loops, slowly making its way over Princess Luna as it moved closer to the older sister. Whether the small sound emitting from the black cloud were whispers or the air rushing around it, the princess of the sun wasn’t sure, but the hushed cacophony breathing from the cloud was enough to send a chill down Celestia’s spine. Almost as if it were sensing the princess’s presence, the black cloud came to a halt out in front of Celestia’s face, bunching back up into an unshaped mass. In the cloud, Princess Celestia could barely see two circles of a bright green aura for a split second, but they were quickly enveloped in a bubbling formation of dark magic that engulfed the entire cloud. The green and purple mist stretched the cloud back into a single strand, and as the mist progressed further down the strand, a roll of pitch black parchment formed in its path. As the mist reached the end of the length of dark magic, an acute ring resonated into the room and slowly faded, making even Luna wince.

The black roll of parchment fell to the floor as it emerged from its cloudy state, flopping limply onto the rug that the princess of the sun sat on. Celestia stared at the piece of parchment for a moment, collecting her thoughts and trying to assure herself that the letter wasn’t what she imagined it to be. The pitch black parchment that the letter was made of was almost enough to tip Celestia off that her day of reckoning was at hoof, and as she rolled the parchment to reveal its other side, Princess Celestia only let a small wheeze of air out of her mouth as her eyes grew fearful. The side of the letter that had been against the floor revealed a purple symbol, outlined with a glowing green aura. The symbol was a circle with a hexagonal star hidden behind it, and off of the tips of each point of the star rested six shapes resembling fragments of a shattered crystal.

Despite having not even opened the letter yet, Princess Celestia knew that she and her sister were in grave danger. The princess of the sun cast a loud spell, generating an emphatic click that echoed through the halls of her palace. The attention she was trying to seize didn’t take long to reach, a shuffle of four royal guards soon arriving in her room and pinning their eyes on the princess.

“What is it, your highness?” one of the royal guards asked hurriedly.

Celestia strengthened her voice and stood up. “Get the entire royal guard awakened and ready to take positions around Canterlot as fast as you can. Do not waste time,” the princess commanded. She scanned her eyes over the four royal guards. “Where is Fortune?”

“We last saw him walking out of Canterlot. We assumed you sent him out. Did something happen?”

Princess Celestia thought to herself for a moment. “No, nothing happened. Awake the royal guards. Go.”

A nod and recognition from each of them, the royal guards rushed out back into the halls of the palace, their hoofsteps fading out into Canterlot as they ran for the royal guard barracks. Celestia quickly trotted over to the sleeping princess in front of the fireplace and shook her gently, softly calling her name. Despite the efforts, Princess Luna remained sound asleep, Celestia only receiving a few grumbles and breaths. Useless to try and get her sister up, Princess Celestia shook her head and trotted back over the lone letter she had left on the floor. She took a moment to stare at the black roll of parchment before she raced over to a desk near the corner of her room. She unraveled a roll of parchment and picked a quill out of a ink bottle resting on the desk, immediately beginning to scribble down a message onto the parchment.

My faithful student, Celestia began. It is to my grief that I have to inform you that Equestria is at risk. There is no time to explain through a letter; I need you and your friends to gather in the library at midnight. Princess Luna and I will arrive shortly after and we will elaborate on the situation. Do not delay gathering your friends; I must speak to all of you. Yours, Princess Celestia.

With the last letter onto the parchment, Celestia took no time to hesitate in sending the letter. The parchment billowed up into a cloud of a sparkling light grey smoke, the newly made letter swirling around in the air before it raced across the room and shot up the chimney, blowing around the bright orange flames in the fireplace.

A short sigh escaping Celestia’s mouth, the princess set her eyes back on the letter resting where she had been before. The symbol seemed to glare at her with the bright green aura, and the whispering that had been coming from the black cloud the letter was before began to come back, though the words they spoke where incomprehensible. Trying her best to ignore the hushed voices, the princess of the sun slowly made her way over to the black letter. She thought if she was only overreacting and that the letter was only a coincidence, but she knew that symbol, and so did Luna. Celestia took a glance at her sister before she lifted the letter up in front of her. She stared at the black parchment for a moment as she listened to the voices, and through the commotion, she could start to hear her name. Hesitantly, Princess Celestia untied the red string holding the parchment in its roll. Biting her lip and tilting her eyes worriedly, the princess of the sun unrolled the parchment, gradually revealing the glowing red words in the letter’s message.

Upon her eyes reaching the contents of the letter, Celestia froze with fear. The levitation spell she had on the letter disappeared and the parchment fell to the floor. She stood, still, her eyes wide open. Her fears were right.

Your word is broken.

The journey has started.

You have the time until The Shards are awakened to your loved ones.

Cherish the days, as they are your last.

-The Band of Parity

______________________________________________________________________

Earlier in the night...

The sound of water dripping from within the cave coursed throughout the tunnels from the main cavern. A large crack in the ceiling of the cave let down various small waterfalls into a large fountain in the middle of the flattened floor, a system of magic from under the water container propelling the falling water upwards in a decorative manner as it reached the fountain. Moonlight streamed down from the chasm that stretched up to the surface from the caves, and along with the torches in the cave it lit up the immense cavern big enough to fit an Ursa Major. The floor of the cavern was smoothed out to the point where a ball could be rolled easily without interruption, though the walls of the cavern were sharp and rough to preserve some of the natural appearance that the caves once had. Aside from the sharp oval fountain in the middle of what seemed to be the center of an underground cave system, the cavern that made the main entrance of the collection of underground caverns and tunnels know as Liberus was void of any other unnatural decor.

A lone figure stood within the lobby in the moonlight, staring into his reflection as he propped himself up against the edge of the large and long fountain. The moon behind the stallion’s own reflection rippled and bounced with the constant descent of water into the provenance of the cave’s water storage, the stars along with it cavorting on the surface of the clear and clean water. The stallion’s dark red coat appeared barely visible in the reflection in the fountain, though his armor that seemed so familiar around Canterlot shined brightly in the light of the full moon in the sky visible from within the cavern. Sanctuary and home, both of the words were what Liberus was to him when his duty in the royal city was done. He felt betrayal, deceit, but he knew that he couldn’t leave. He could never leave.

The stallion sighed and removed his helmet, resting it on the side of the fountain. It didn’t take long for the metal of the headset of armor to be misted along with its owner, the dark red unicorn wincing slightly at the sound of the minuscule drops of water that deviated from the waterfalls plastered onto the metal. He slowly picked up his helmet with a dark green levitation spell and put it on the ground, trying his best to not let the ring of the metal echo throughout the cave. Though the tunnels that branched off from the lobby led far, far underground, sounds traveled great distance through the winding and intricate passages. Night time, as with the rest of Equestria, was a time for rest for the dark red unicorn’s fellow ponies within Liberus. Even if they were forbidden to interact with normal Equestrians without permission, the inhabitants that made Liberus their home weren’t that much different from their fellow ponies. Though, others would see different, and they weren’t too far from the truth.

Taken enough time to recuperate after taking the trip back to Liberus, the dark red unicorn within the lobby of his home knew it was time to face his superiors. The news he needed to affirm them of was dire, and their decision would make all the difference of what would happen with the organization so forgotten from the rest of Equestria. So long the band of ponies had been in oblivion, but no longer would they be in such a state, should The Six come to the agreement of returning, and end the reign of the present. The stallion posted against the edge of the fountain knew all of this, and as he undressed himself of the golden armor around his body, he thought of the turmoil that would come.

Quietly, the dark red unicorn walked along the side of the fountain, contouring to the stone edges containing the water as he carried his armor along with him in a levitation spell. A large passage near the end of the fountain lead to another part of the system of constructed tunnels that seemed almost natural to the caves themselves, the separate and almost sacred cavern cut off from the rest of Liberus visible from the end of the tunnel the lone stallion stood at. He set his armor down near the passage way delicately and shifted his eyes to the opposite end of the long and dimly lit tunnel. The torches that lined the tall passage flickered with the air rushing down from the chasm in the ceiling of Liberus’ main lobby, though the light from the torches halted completely near the other end of the tunnel.

Hoofsteps softly echoed through Liberus as the lone stallion walked through the tunnel. Despite the torches remaining lit and lively as they swayed in the gusts of wind weaving through the caves, an unnatural darkness began to seep its way into the tunnel that the dark red unicorn walked along cautiously. The light from the torches began to fade and draw into their origin flames, stopping only a few inches away from the glowing embers of the burning wood. Tunnel engulfed in darkness, the stallion continued to walk down the somber hallway, remaining as calm as he could. The effect was one that he was used to after walking through the passage so many times, and as a light blue mist entered his sight when he arrived near the end of the tunnel, he felt as if he were safe.

The stallion stopped at the end of the hallway he had been progressing towards, taking a moment to survey the surroundings. Another cavern, almost bigger than the lobby of the cave system, stretched farther than the normal eye could see, though the darkness that still hung in the air contributed to the effect slightly. The ceiling of the new cavern was much lower than Liberus’ main lobby, but it remained at quite a height with its natural rock formations jutting down from it. Large pillars, jagged and falling apart, were strewn throughout the bumpy and uneven floor of the open space, holding up the ceiling of the vast cavern. Dripping water softly interrupted the silence every once and a while as the river above Liberus flowed continuously, some of the water making its way down into the cracks of the imperfect caves. The wind coursing through the tunnels pushed around a light blue mist hanging within the cavern, a few specks of the strange mist collecting and forming larger balls of the floating substance.

The mist parted ways as the stallion standing in the cavern’s entrance began to walk down a smooth pathway leading to a cleared out center expanse within the dark, open area. The particles floating around in the air contoured around the stallion’s body and floated off into the further reaches of the cavern, leaving the soft light that came down onto the path from the cave’s ceiling. Through the darkness further down the track that the dark red stallion progressed on, another light emerged from the darkness, slowly revealing a great circular stone table within an area clear from pillars. As the light grew brighter, six stone statues egressed along with the table. Separated, they sat along one side of the table in front of them, their heads tilted downward and their grey, solid eyes closed. Alicorns, all of them, remained still as the dark red unicorn approached their resting place.

The stallion halted a few feet away from the large and round table, taking a glance at each of the stone alicorns before clearing his throat and speaking, “I’ve returned from the royal city,” the unicorn stated. “I assume that you know what has happened with the sisters already.”

The stone alicorn on the very left of the line of statues began to glow with a purple light from her closed eyes, and it spoke with a mare's strong, yet calm voice, “We have, yes. Have you come back to confirm the event or to rest for the night?” The glow in the statue’s eyes disappeared.

“I’ve come back for both,” the stallion explained. “The details of the occurrence, I’m sure you have observed them already.”

Another alicorn’s eyes began to glow, the statue next to the one that had spoken earlier emitting a blue light from its eyes. “The revival of Nightmare Moon, The Mare in the Moon,” the alicorn spoke. The mare's voice was much softer than the other’s. “The sun princess’s use of the forbidden, as well.” The statue’s glowing eyes disappeared.

Another pair of eyes took the place next to previous alicorn, these eyes glowing yellow and the voice that of a quite young mare, but still mature and formal. “The six of us have seen the ordeal, and we have made the decision.” The yellow lights died down.

The unicorn standing on the other side of the table walked forward slightly. “Are we ready for this? The Shards haven’t been active for so long.”

A fourth pair of eyes lit up, these ones next to the absent yellow glows and orange. The voice that came from the statue was that of a stallion, deep and rough. “How long The Shards have been gone take no effect on them. They will awaken once more.” The orange glows settled into nothing.

Green lights were the next to form, the stallion’s voice of the statue in between the two on the right coming out smooth and young. “There are many travels that you will have to make in order to awaken The Shards. Six of them, across the borders of Equestria.” The green lights faded.

At last, the sixth alicorn spoke up with its glowing red eyes, the statue on the very right’s voice sharp, though quiet. “Three days you must wait for each awakening. The letter to the leaders of Equestria will be sent. They will know their downfall is coming, and a burden it has been to us before, but it is our word to warn them as it was their own to protect their land. Go, Calamity. Awaken The Shards of Havoc, and bring an end to this disgraceful reign.”

The dark red unicorn peered at each of the statues as the red lights of the last alicorn dimmed. “I’m... not quite sure that I’m the most fit for this position. Surely there are others among Liberus that are willing to-”

Two orange eyes interrupted the unicorn. “You were the one that confirmed the news of Celestia and Luna’s actions in their city. You were the one that confirmed the other failures that they committed during their reign.” The voice paused for a moment. “You are the harbinger of the end of their positions as leaders. Proceed, and begin the awakenings.”

Calamity sighed quietly and bowed to the statues. He addressed them from left to right, “Solace, Euphoria, Crepuscularity, Resplendence, Aspiration, Inferno, I will take this duty and see it through, if it is your order.” The unicorn took a breath inward. “The Shards of Havoc will rise again.”

All at once, each of the statues’ eyes lit up with their separate hues, and along with Calamity, they recited in unison:

"We, The Band of Parity, shall act in times of darkness. As ruler, you are to protect your subjects, tend to their needs, and let them prosper. You shall not break your limits on your power, nor shall you bring back or use that which is forsaken. Failing to protect those who follow you will result in your end, and a new leader will be placed where you once stood. Should you break this pact, and destroy your word, The Shards of Havoc will be brought to life, and your time as ruler will end.

From this instant on, the throne is under your control, but your actions, are under ours.”

[2] The Band of Parity

Chapter Two: The Band of Parity

Parchment flew through the air, quills spilt onto the floor, and books soared across the library as Twilight Sparkle ran around her room. Her shadow bounded on the floor as the morning sun shone through her bedroom window, the lavender unicorn breathing quickly and heavily as she tried her best to organize the library. The mess that began to form in Twilight’s room slowly building, it was apparent her worries were taking over her sense of cleanliness and organization. The letter she had received from Celestia not only an hour ago had sent her into a frenzy of trying to clean her house as fast as she could, though the process didn’t seem to be the best, her room gradually starting to look as if another tree burst through her window.

From the sidelines, a purple dragon stood still near the stairs leading to Twilight’s bed, watching the ordeal. “Uh... Twilight? Don’t you think-?” Spike began.

However, as every other time he had tried to intervene for the past twenty minutes, he was cut off by a loud bang and some of Twilight’s incomprehensible ramblings.

“No time to talk!” Twilight shouted in response after throwing an assortment of books up towards her bed. “Oh how did I not see how messy the library was before!?” She continued her rampage.

Spike folded his arms and leaned on his left leg. “How can you not see how messy it’s getting?” he mumbled to himself.

It had been coming apparent to Spike that either Twilight actually thought her room was becoming cleaner the more she moved her possessions around or she was just delirious. With the library’s upper room turning into a hazard zone with all the things flying through the air, Spike figured it was a good time to put a stop to the unicorn’s madness. He turned his head to the desk he stood next to and eyed the items across the surface of the wooden table top. Somehow, most of the articles of writing and studying atop the desk had been untouched throughout Twilight’s fury. It was the perfect setup. Wincing slightly at the thought of what would happen, Spike reached up onto the desk, grabbed ahold of an ink bottle, and tipped it over.

The eerie silence that swept over the library in a single second sent fear into the purple dragon’s heart. All at once, the books, quills, and parchment floating in the air came crashing down, and a scurry of hoofsteps raced across the floor.

Twilight Sparkle slid to a stop near the desk Spike stood next to and began to hyperventilate. “Spike! What are you doing!?” Twilight shouted, repeatedly switching her eyes from her assistant to the ink oozing onto the floor of her room. “I have to have the library fixed up for the princesses and you’re over here making messes! What are you trying to-!?”

Cowering slightly, Spike slowly pointed a finger out to the rest of the library. Wondering what he was doing, Twilight Sparkle turned herself around to look over what the dragon was motioning to, and her ears flopped against the sides of her head as the catastrophe that had become her room entered her vision. The floor of the bedroom was barely visible through the piles and piles of miscellaneous items scattered all around. Parchment hung from the area where Twilight’s bed rested, and from what it looked like from the lower part of the unicorn’s bedroom, her bed and pillows themselves had been gutted in all the commotion.

A deep and exasperated sigh escaped Twilight Sparkle’s mouth as she flopped down onto her flank. “Thank you, Spike,” she muttered, her eyes closed in part shame.

“Hey, you need someone to keep you in check, right?” Spike joked, though quickly shut his mouth as Twilight only hung her head lower. “Should I get started on cleaning?”

“No no, it’s fine,” the lavender unicorn said solemnly as she stood back onto her hooves. She poked at some of the feathers of her pillows beside her. “I guess I just got a little caught up in trying to make the library clean for the princesses.”

“Well it’s probably a good thing that you didn’t go downstairs,” Spike admitted, picking up a few books laying open at his feet. He took a glance at Twilight, the unicorn tiredly looking over her room. “Maybe you should just focus on rounding up the others for now. You still have the rest of the day before the princesses get here.”

Twilight Sparkle stretched her hoof out to her room. “But what if the princesses see the mess and-”

“Listen, Twilight,” Spike interrupted as he set the books in his hands down on the desk next to him. “Don’t worry about it. I’m your assistant, remember?”

The lavender unicorn paused for a moment, and she smiled and shook her head. “I suppose I can’t deny that one.” She picked up the purple dragon with a levitation spell and brought him over to her, rubbing her head up against Spike’s cheek. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”

Spike blushed and dug at the floor with his feet as Twilight set him back down. “Aw shucks,” he mumbled.

Quickly giving Spike a smile, the lavender unicorn, now out of her fury of panic, got on course for the day. With her mind finally clear, she raced up the stairs to her bed and surveyed the disaster zone. Obviously apparent throughout the rest of her room, she had done more damage than help to clean her previously barely messy home.

I hope Spike doesn’t have too much trouble cleaning all of this up, Twilight Sparkle thought to herself.

She leaped over the heaps of feathers and strips of cloth from her bed as she searched around the area for the letter Spike had burped out earlier that morning. She had already read the letter several times over, and she knew it was important, but Twilight felt as if there were something more to the task Celestia asked of her. The bearers of The Elements of Harmony had only ever been assembled by order of Celestia in times of distress, and the situation described within the ominous letter didn’t seem any less dangerous than the others, despite the lack of any explanation. The lavender unicorn searched through the mess around her bed and Spike’s bed, urgently shoving her things that were on the floor out of the way as she looked for the letter she had misplaced earlier. Luckily, before Twilight could make any more of a disaster of her room, the certain piece of parchment she sought out for showed itself out from under a pile of books and quills. A grin spread across Twilight Sparkle’s face as her eyes met with the letter she beckoned, the unicorn picking up the letter with a levitation spell and holding it up straight in front of herself.

“Faithful... risk... midnight...” Twilight muttered as she scanned over the letter once more, though this time she was actually calm and not desperately trying to clean her room. “...speak to all of you. Yours, Princess Celestia.” Twilight Sparkle bit her lip and rotated the letter in the air, searching over every corner and fold on the parchment. There was nothing else to the task that Celestia asked, only a simple instruction to gather the bearers of The Element of Harmony and bring them to the library at midnight. No postscript, no attached notes, no small print, nothing.

“There has to be something... but what?” Twilight Sparkle whispered to herself, rubbing a hoof on her chin as she peered at the letter from Celestia.

Twilight’s concentration didn’t last very long, as a loud bang from the other side of her bedroom shook the entire library. Shaking her thoughts out of her head, the lavender unicorn trotted over to the side of her upper loft to see what was going on. A few areas had been cleared out across the floor of Twilight Sparkle’s bedroom, though they didn’t remain so as the aftermath of Spike somehow managing to knock over an entire bookshelf spread across the floor. Her room even more messy than it had been before, Twilight Sparkle sighed and flattened her eyes as her assistant poked his eyes out from under the pile of books on top of him. Twilight knew she wouldn’t be able to coax Spike out of cleaning for her, so she accepted that it would be a while, quite a while, before the upper floor of the library was cleaned.

Maybe I’ll just meet the princesses downstairs when they get here, Twilight Sparkle thought as she turned away from the rest of her room.

Trying her best to not knock over any more things around her, Twilight Sparkle gingerly hopped across the area by her bed over to the window. She peered out of the sparkling clean glass pane as she neared the wall, squinting against the early rays of sunlight raining onto a new Equestrian day. It was still quite early, and it seemed that the other ponies in Ponyville were just getting up, or wandering around in a tired haze because of Twilight’s rampage not too long ago. Some of the ponies even gave the library an exhausted glare before they continued on further into Ponyville, Twilight ducking down a little. There was still plenty of time for the library to be cleaned, and the whole day was ahead of the lavender unicorn to gather her friends and bring them to her home before midnight. The sky had already been cleared of clouds by a few pegasi in the previous hours, so weather didn’t look as if it would be an issue for Twilight in getting around town.

Twilight Sparkle sighed and brought Celestia’s letter back to her side in a levitation spell. She looked over the parchment one last time.

It is to my grief that I have to inform you that Equestria is at risk.

“What risk could we be in now?” Twilight asked herself as she rolled up the letter and wrapped a ribbon around it.

She placed the letter down on her nightstand and hurried off towards the stairs leading to the lower levels of the library, waving goodbye to Spike before she descended downstairs.

It could take a while to gather the others, knowing the six bearers of The Elements.

______________________________________________________________________

“Rarity, would’ja stop lookin’ at yerself in the mirror? You’re startin’ to worry me a mighty bit,” Applejack announced as she watched the snow white unicorn brush her mane over and over.

“What else am I going to do?” Rarity called out, partially turning her head to look at Applejack from the corners of her eyes. “I would rather not partake in those... games that you girls have been playing for the past two hours.” She looked back at herself in the mirror. “Besides, my mane would be ruined if I went over there.”

Applejack opened her mouth to give her own feedback, but she clenched her teeth and opened her eyes wide instead as Pinkie Pie crashed into another bookshelf along the library’s main entrance room.

“My point exactly,” Rarity said smugly and continued to brush her mane, Applejack only groaning and turning away from her friend.

The inside of the library was quite lively for the time of night in Equestria, and the boredom that had overtaken the six mares didn’t seem like it was going to end any time soon. After sitting in the same place for three hours, a group of ponies can turn into a nonsensical competition of who can balance on top of an exercise ball for the longest. With Twilight Sparkle keeping an eye on everypony and making sure that no one left the library, the six friends could only resort to silliness as they waited for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to arrive. They had to do something; Pinkie Pie had been starting to shake due to fun withdrawal.

Apart from the mini party bouncing within Twilight Sparkle’s home, the rest of Ponyville had already fallen asleep. Night took over in the sky a few hours ago, a full moon resting in the middle of the nocturnal overlay spread across Equestria alongside its sparkling neighbors. The muffled laughter and joyful party music from the inside of the library didn’t disturb the usual quietness of nighttime Ponyville too much, though the houses around Twilight’s home couldn’t say the same. The Ponyville Inn was quite full this night. The town’s local wild animal population, too, seemed as if they were remaining a distance away from the normally peaceful library, the majority of the scurrying of paws and flapping of wings off in the distance.

“Hey, no fair! Fluttershy’s using her wings!” Pinkie Pie pointed out, staring at the yellow pegasus beside her as she recovered from her loss of balance earlier.

“Oh, um, no. I really wasn’t,” Fluttershy pleaded quietly. Whether she had been using her wings wouldn’t make a difference any longer, however, as Fluttershy soon lost her balance and her exercise ball rolled out from underneath her, the pegasus flailing in the air for a second before flopping onto the floor.

“Ha! Last one standing, right here!” Rainbow Dash gloated, a large grin spreading across her face. “AJ, you’ve been keeping track of how long we’ve been balancing, right?”

“Was I supposed to be?” Applejack asked as she came near the last remaining pony standing atop an exercise ball.

“What!?” Rainbow exclaimed, her expression turning to frustration. “Were you supposed to be? Yes you were supposed to be! I told you to keep track when we started!”

“Well you three had been balancin’ for so long that I lost track of the time. Besides, it’s not like there’s any sorta world record that we’re tryin’ to break,” Applejack said.

“We can make one, then!” Pinkie Pie shouted, bouncing around Rainbow Dash. “Here, Dashy, let me on!”

“Hey, wait! What are you doing!?” Rainbow Dash yelled as Pinkie began to climb on top of the exercise ball as well. “You’re going to make me fall! Pinkie, sto-!”

Rainbow Dash’s pleas were finished with a loud grunt as the exercise ball slipped out from under the blue pegasus, Rainbow and Pinkie Pie falling to the ground on top of each other. A flutter of giggles filled the library’s main room as Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack watched Pinkie and Rainbow lay dazed on the floor.

“Twilight, what time did the princesses say they were going to be here? We’ve been in here for hours!” Rarity asked, walking away from the mirror in between two of the bookshelves along the wall. Even though she had been doing the same routine of brushing her hair for quite a while, her mane seemed even more elegant than it usually did.

The lavender unicorn sitting near the library’s entrance looked up from her book at Rarity. “Princess Celestia wrote that she and Princess Luna would be here at midnight. What time is it?” Twilight asked, closing her book and standing up.

Applejack took a glance at the clock near the stairs leading to Twilight’s bedroom. “Eleven fifty seven. I reckon they should be here any moment then,” she concluded.

Twilight Sparkle turned around to gaze out the window behind her. The streets of Ponyville appeared to be empty from any of the towns residents or visitors. The large field that spread out in front of the library yielded no signs of anypony coming or going, the dark of night the only sight in Ponyville’s late hours for now.

“I hope so,” Twilight Sparkle whispered to herself. She longed to know what was going on and why she was asked to gather her friends in the library. Twilight, along with her friends, had arrived at her home four hours early in case the princesses decided to show up ahead of time, though the extra precaution just seemed to be a waste of the end of a beautiful day for the other bearers of The Elements. Of course, they hadn’t read the letter themselves.

“I hope they don’t get here too late,” Rarity said, flipping her mane. “I won’t be able to get my beauty sleep! How else am I going to look fabulous for the rest of tomorrow if I don’t rest up the night before?”

“By quit bein’ so picky with how you look,” Applejack remarked. She and Rainbow slipped a hoofbump while they snickered to themselves.

Rarity turned her head away from Applejack and closed her eyes. “Well maybe you can go through a day without feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, but I cannot.” She lifted a hoof up in front of her face and admired it. “There is nothing in the world that would make me walk around Ponyville a tired mess. I would never stand for such a lack of fabulosity.”

“Would you two stop bantering and help me?” Rainbow asked, hovering over one of the exercise balls. “Hold it still so I can get my balance.” Rainbow centered her eyes on Applejack. “And this time actually keep track of how long I’ve been on.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Alright alright, quit yer fussin’. I’ll hold it steady.”

Rainbow Dash nodded and lowered herself on top of the exercise ball, placing her hooves strategically across the top hemisphere of the large, rubbery sphere.

“Okay, I think I’m good,” Rainbow Dash confirmed, bouncing up and down slightly as Applejack let go of the ball. “Ready, AJ?”

“Wait wait wait wait wait!” Pinkie Pie shouted as she rolled another one of the exercise balls next to Rainbow Dash. Almost effortlessly, the pink pony hopped up into the air and landed perfectly onto the ball, a squeak emitting from her mouth as she grinned. “Okay!”

Applejack rolled her eyes. She looked towards the clock in the room. “Alright. Time is starting right...” Applejack waited a moment for the second hand to reach the next minute, and as the hand struck the top of the clock, she thumped her hoof against the ground. “Now!”

Not even a second later, however, the competition was already over. Without any type of warning, the two exercise balls disappeared in respective flashes and sparks of purple magic. Caught of guard and focused more on the suddenly canceled time trial, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash opened their eyes wide in surprise as they fell to the ground on steady hooves.

“Hey! What was that for?” Rainbow Dash asked, focusing on Twilight Sparkle as the lavender unicorn peered out the window.

Without an answer from Twilight, the library suddenly grew quiet. The small stereo sitting on the middle table within the room, too, disappeared in a purple teleportation spell, and off in the basement, the quiet sound of something breaking traveled up into the library’s entrance room. The other two exercise balls still in the room along with the group of ponies snapped away to the basement with the stereo, leaving the six friends with nothing to aid their boredom any longer.

“No! Not the boredom again!” Pinkie Pie shouted, her eyes straining as she planted her front hooves onto her face. The pink pony began to shake suddenly, though she calmed down slightly as Fluttershy rushed to her side and placed a hoof on her back.

Twilight Sparkle turned around quickly and stomped her hoof on the ground, the quick action making her friends tense up and stare at her cautiously. “Everypony quiet down!” Twilight Sparkle announced in a hushed voice. “The princesses are here.”

Being told to silence their voices wasn’t needed any more for the bearers of The Elements as the second sentence left Twilight Sparkle’s mouth. Though it may not have been showing, the tension within each of the mares had been quite high as they waited for Celestia and Luna. As if they had planned out a sort of rehearsal for the occasion, the six mares trotted to the middle of the room, standing around the table and staring towards the door of the library after nodding to each other. Hoofsteps slowly came into earshot from outside, accompanied with the sound of grass moving with the beat of the steps. What felt like forever to wait for, the hoofsteps came to a stop outside of the library’s front door. A knock on the entrance made the six friends within Twilight’s home jump slightly, though they quickly calmed themselves down. Despite the present moment being the one Twilight had been waiting for the entire day, she partially hesitated in her magic as she cast a spell on the door to open it. With the door cracking open further and further, Twilight Sparkle felt something in her, and she knew, as two cloaked ponies lit up in the light of the library, some things would never be the same again.

The door of the library fully open, the two figures in cloaks outside of the library stepped into Twilight Sparkle’s home. Only their hooves showed out from under the brown and black cloths covering them, two pairs dark blue and the others pink-tinted white. The hoods covering their faces slid backwards and rested on their necks, revealing their faces as Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. It soon became apparent to the six mares sitting around the table in the middle of the room that neither Celestia nor Luna were wearing their necklace and tiara, the two princesses almost seeming like different alicorns without them on. Their expressions were not that of felicity, and the feeling reflected off of them onto the bearers of The Elements, the six friends waiting quietly as Celestia and Luna walked forward and stood at the table with them.

“Good evening, my little ponies,” Celestia said quietly and solemnly, both her and Luna taking over their cloaks and setting them on the ground beside themselves.

“Good evening, princesses,” the six mares replied, bowing their heads to the arrivals.

“Where is Spike?” Celestia asked.

“Upstairs, sleeping. Should I go get him?” Twilight Sparkle asked, already backing up from the table.

“No. It’s best if he stays there.” Celestia lowered her eyes to the cleared off tabletop. “The fewer minds that know about this, the better.”

“Dim the candles and cover the windows,” Princess Luna spoke up. “What we came here to talk about isn’t something we would want the wrong eyes to see.”

“Who else is going to be up at-?” Rainbow began to ask, but Luna’s bitter stare on her quickly made her shut her mouth and sink down slightly.

The candles placed throughout the library’s main room lit up with purple, golden, and dark blue auras, all of the flames disappearing aside from the candle in the middle of the table the ponies stood around. The light from the candle in the center of the room only extended a few feet behind all eight of the company within Twilight’s home, darkness lurking in the rest of the library. A few sheets, along with some pairs of tacks, levitated from the basement with purple glows and made their way over to the windows in the room, the tacks planting into the walls of the library through the sheets that now covered the windows. The small flame on the table flickered ever so slightly with the breath of the mares standing around it, and after a moment of silence to gather their thoughts, Celestia and Luna began.

“I assume that Twilight Sparkle has told you all of the situation,” Celestia said, scanning her eyes across the mares.

“Well, all we were told was to come here and sit for a while. I reckon from the letter she showed us, there wasn’t much to be told,” Applejack replied.

“I apologize for the briefness of my letter, but there were other precautions to be made in Canterlot before my sister and I came here,” Celestia cast a small spell on the candle in the middle of the table, the flame switching from a soft orange glow to a dim golden one. “There is much to be told, and I need you six to keep your word that this will not escape your speech to anyone.”

“You can count on us, princess!” Rainbow Dash softly exclaimed, floating off of the ground and saluting to Celestia.

The princess of the sun smiled, though it didn’t last for long. “As I told before in the letter I sent Twilight Sparkle, Equestria is at risk.”

A small golden beam of magic sparked from the tip of Celestia’s horn and glided to the golden flame on the table, absorbing into the flickering fire of the candle. Startlingly, a large display of a purple symbol erupted from the tiny golden flame, the bearers of The Elements gasping at the sight floating above their heads. The symbol, though it appeared foreign to Twilight and her friends, was very familiar to Celestia and Luna, even the princesses’ hearts beating slightly faster at the appearance of it.

“This is the symbol of a long ago forged organization,” Celestia explained. “It has been around even before Equestria was born, back when Equestria had no name and few boundaries. It was only a specified area known as the explored world. Even then, however, such an establishment needed somepony to see over it and put it to its highest potential.”

“But with a leader, there are balances in power,” Luna said. “The symbol that you see now is the one of the oldest symbols in Equestria, one of the first marks ever established by ponykind in the explored world. It is the symbol of The Band of Parity, an organization made to keep the rulers of Equestria in check of their power.”

“The Band of Parity?” Twilight Sparkle asked. “I’ve... never heard of them.”

“And no one outside of the throne of Equestria ever has,” Celestia noted. The symbol floating over the table swirled around in its center and formed into a small ball of magic, turning red and straightening into a single strand of magic. The strand lined out into a formation of letters, a sentence that made Luna take a deep breath inwards.

Applejack read the text out loud, “From this instant on, the throne is under my control, but my actions, are under yours.” She gave her friends a confused look, and from their faces, they seemed just as befuddled as her. “What in the hay is that supposed to mean?”

“This is the final line of the oath of parity, The Band of Parity’s oath that has been given to every leader that has been over Equestria and the explored world, apart from the first ruler,” Celestia elaborated. “The Band regulates the actions of Equestria’s ruler and makes the final decision if...” Celestia peered at Luna out of the corners of her eyes. “...they are to be retired.”

“Retired?” Twilight Sparkle said. “As in... removed from the throne?”

“Precisely,” Luna confirmed. “Sister and I took this oath when we first became princesses of Equestria. The reason that we are here now is that The Band of Parity has returned.”

The six mares looked back down at Celestia and Luna as the line of text disappeared from the air.

“Returned from what? A party?” Pinkie Pie asked with a grin on her face.

“From sleeping for as long as we have been ruling over Equestria,” Celestia said. “The Band of Parity stays dormant during terms of leadership, watching over the leader or leaders and making sure that they are what they promised to be. However, when they break that promise, The Band of Parity wakes up once more, and almost nothing can stop them from their purpose of keeping the rulers of Equestria in a certain limit of their power.”

“But, why are they awake now?” Twilight asked. “Surely you and Princess Luna haven’t...?” She couldn’t finish her sentence.

Celestia bowed her head slightly. “There is one thing that The Band of Parity has no tolerance for, and unfortunately, that force had to be used to repress back Nightmare Moon the night before.”

“Nightmare Moon?” Rarity recalled. “But I thought we got rid of that horrible creature!” She sheepishly smiled at Luna. “No offense, your highness.”

“Unfortunately, such a monster doesn’t disappear so easily,” Princess Luna admitted quietly.

“But what happened? What made The Band of Parity start up again?” Twilight Sparkle asked.

“The sole foundation of The Band of Parity itself...” Celestia stayed silent for a moment, gathering her thoughts before she forced the words out of her mouth. “Dark magic.”

“Dark magic? Princess, did you use dark magic?” Fluttershy spoke up. Her surprise wasn’t the only one showing, the other mares staring at Celestia with wide eyes.

“I regret to say that I have,” Celestia spoke.

“Wait wait,” Twilight interrupted. “You just said that it was the sole foundation of The Band of Parity! How do they have no tolerance for it? That doesn’t seem fair!”

The golden flame in the middle of the table flared up into the air again, this time forming a crystal ball darker than shadows. The ball radiated with what appeared to be darkness itself, seeming as a blind spot in the eyes of the mares that stared at it.

“Dark magic was founded even before The Band of Parity was formed,” Celestia said. “It was founded by the one soul that is truly and purely evil, an ancient alicorn by the name of Grimoire.” The silhouette of a tall male alicorn formed above the crystal ball in the air. “When The Band of Parity met their first leader that they needed to take from the throne, they found that even with their combined alicorn powers that the leader was too strong.”

“Alicorns?” Twilight Sparkle jutted in. She closed her eyes and shook her head, giving Celestia a distressed look afterwards. “What is going on!? I thought that alicorns were a rare, powerful species! An entire organization of them!?”

“An organization formed of more than three thousand alicorns, yes,” Celestia verified. “While they are rare now, alicorns were one of the plentiful species that lived in the ancient times. Please, just listen and everything will be explained.”

Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath in and settled down, Applejack rubbing her back gently.

Celestia nodded and continued on, “The Band of Parity knew that they could not stand up against Shade, the ruler that had first taken over the explored world and began to abuse his power. The news of dark magic had spread all over the explored world by then, but only few knew how to use it efficiently. Shade had been one that found out how to use it, and with the power of dark magic, he slowly worked into tyranny. He defied The Band of Parity, and The Band needed to find means of stopping him.”

The crystal apparition floating above the table lowered down to eye level.

“This is The Crystal of Cataclysm, a very powerful and very strong catalyst for dark magic created by dark magic’s founder,” Celestia explained. “The Band of Parity used this to put an end to Shade’s reign of terror, bringing him from the throne so a new and better leader could take his place. Grimoire, the forger of the crystal, requested that The Band of Parity return the crystal to him, but The Band insisted that they needed it in case any other incidents would happen with the rulers. Eventually, Grimoire let them have it on terms that they used it only for what he created it for.”

“How is this Grimoire fellow so evil? He let The Band have a tool they could use to stop leaders like... uh, what was his name?” Applejack asked.

“Shade, dear,” Rarity answered. “Maybe you should pay attention for once.”

“I was payin’ attention! I just forgot his name, is all,” Applejack snapped back.

“Girls,” Celestia announced. “Now isn’t the time.” Celestia focused on Applejack. “Grimoire, despite founding it, saw dark magic as a threat and wanted to limit the use of it throughout the explored world. The Band of Parity, however, saw otherwise. When The Band had the idea to split The Crystal of Cataclysm into six fragments to spread its power to multiple ponies, Grimoire tried to stop them. Grimoire was able to do significant damage to The Band of Parity, but in the end, Grimoire himself was absorbed into his own creation, turned to dark magic itself and stored inside of The Crystal of Cataclysm. Before he could break out, The Band of Parity broke the crystal into six fragments, creating The Shards of Havoc.”

The crystal floating above the table shattered into six fragments of the black crystal, each a different shape. The alicorn silhouette had disappeared earlier, though none of the mares had noticed.

“But... he doesn’t sound very evil,” Pinkie Pie muttered, rubbing her chin.

“Later on, however, Grimoire returned,” Luna said. “The Shards of Havoc had turned into the foundation of The Band of Parity’s way of stopping the rulers of Equestria that grew out of control. The Shards, though, were still dangerous. If brought back together, they could reform back into Grimoire himself, bringing back the founder of dark magic. And that’s just what Discord planned to do.”

“Discord!? What does that big mouth have to do with all of this?” Rainbow Dash asked angrily.

“When Discord was made ruler of the explored world, it had been named Equestria by then,” Celestia went on. “Many rulers had passed, and most of them had been peaceful and passed on the throne without having to be taken down by The Band of Parity. It wasn’t until Discord that The Band needed to act again. Discord slowly delved Equestria into chaos, and when The Band of Parity acted, he needed to stop them.”

“Though Grimoire had been sealed away in The Shards of Havoc, he could still return,” Luna said. “The Shards of Havoc set off a harmless and very large wave of dark magic when they are awoken from their slumber. The waves take three days to deteriorate, but if two of The Shards are awoken within three days of each other, the waves of dark magic can come together and bring The Crystal of Cataclysm back to whole. Discord released The Shards all at once with his chaos and brought back Grimoire.”

“As anypony would have guessed, Grimoire wasn’t the happiest with The Band of Parity after they entrapped him and sealed him away,” Celestia said. “Now bonded with The Crystal of Cataclysm, Grimoire was much more powerful than before, and he unleashed his fury onto The Band of Parity. Few survived the attacks that he brought on The Band of Parity, and only twenty two known alicorns survived Discord’s chaos and Grimoire’s attacks. However, despite our few numbers, Luna and I joined with the other twenty alicorns and stood up to Grimoire and Discord. We were barely able to seal Discord into stone while the others dealt with Grimoire. Only six of the alicorns survived the assault on Grimoire, and thus they became the wielders of The Shards of Havoc in the barely standing Band of Parity after they repressed Grimoire back into his crystal ball form. Thus, we began our turn as rulers, but now we are brought to the potential end of our turn.”

Twilight Sparkle planted her head on the table with her mouth open, stretching her brain to its limits. “I don’t understand. How has no one remembered this? Wouldn’t Equestria’s population have heard about this?” she asked.

“Discord’s story was heard throughout Equestria, but Grimoire was limited to The Band of Parity and alicorns,” Celestia replied. “Grimoire paid no attention to the pegasi, unicorns, or earth ponies, and with The Band of Parity’s secrecy already, almost no one knew who Grimoire was after being gone for so long. We know this is so much to take in, but it is necessary for what we need to ask of you six.”

“What is it, princess?” Rainbow Dash asked confidently. “We’ll do anything to make sure that you two are safe.”

“The Band of Parity has developed into a organization of more than just alicorns ever since Grimoire’s release,” Luna explained. “They are still very powerful and, as we speak, are beginning the process of reviving The Shards of Havoc. As said before, The Shards respectively require three day periods to be awoken, and that is what we need you six to stop.”

A feeling of dread quickly washed over the bearers of The Elements, each of their ears flopping down against their heads. They had the idea in mind, but they didn’t actually expect to be asked to stop The Shards of Havoc.

“You want us... to stand up against The Band of Parity?” Twilight Sparkle asked in awe, lifting her head off of the table.

“As dangerous and difficult as it may sound, we have faith in your six,” Celestia assured. “You six have defeated Nightmare Moon, helped stop the changelings, and even saved an entire empire against King Sombra. You are stronger than you think, and Luna and I know you can do this.”

Twilight Sparkle bit her lip and thought to herself as the fragments of crystal floating above the table formed back into the candle, which turned back to its orange hue. The process of saving The Crystal Empire had been challenging enough with King Sombra’s dark magic, but against an entire organization that used dark magic as their basis weapon, the feat seemed as if it would be impossible. Though, Celestia had reason to believe in the six mares. They had stopped so many forces along their journeys since they became friends, and with the power of The Elements of Harmony, they could be able to carry out the task.

Twilight let go of her lip and looked up at Celestia and Luna. The two princesses still had grave expressions on their faces, awaiting the lavender unicorn’s response.

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna,” Twilight addressed the two alicorns. “We would be honored to stop The Band of Parity.”

“Don’t we get a say in thi-” Fluttershy began with a waver in her voice, though she was cut off by Applejack’s hoof in her mouth for a brief second.

“Don’t you worry, princesses. There ain’t a thing on Equus that’ll stop us from serving our leaders,” Applejack said.

“We’ll stop them!” Rainbow Dash yelled, slamming her hoof on the table.

“I suppose I could go on and see new sites,” Rarity agreed.

“Oh boy! I love traveling!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, bouncing up and down.

“I... I guess I can go along...” Fluttershy said quietly.

“We’re glad to hear it,” Celestia said, both her and Luna able to finally let smiles on their faces. “I need to warn you, though. This won’t all be fun and games. The Band of Parity teaches dark magic to all of its members, even the non-unicorns so they know how to escape and prevent its use on them.” Princess Celestia pulled out a large roll of paper from her cloak on the floor, lifting the candle up in the air and spreading the paper across the table. “This is a map of Equestria.” She pointed to six letter Xs on the map near Equestria’s borders. “The Shards of Havoc are activated in a certain order; they are numbered by which order they are awoken in. They need three days to be activated, so you’ll have plenty of time to get to each shard before the three days are up and the next shard can be brought back.” Celestia rolled up the map and put it on the table in front of Twilight Sparkle. “Good luck, my little ponies.”

Twilight Sparkle lifted the map in a levitation spell and put it by her side, her friends joining next to her and nodding at the two princesses. “You’ll be safe with us on the watch, princesses. Don’t worry.”

______________________________________________________________________

So it would seem that The Band is up and at it again, huh?

I thought I told you to keep your mouth shut.

Hey now, who’s the one that’s in control here?

I said shut up!

Oh, feisty today, hmm?

I hope you remember why we’re in here.

All the reason why we need to get out.

Unless something goes wrong, that’s not going to happen. Just be quiet, alright?

But that’s no fun!

Be... quiet.

But I have a plan! Don’t you want to hear it?

I don’t want to hear your voice any more than I already do.

What’s the matter? Don’t like hearing yourself talk?

Not when it’s you.

Come on. It’s a good one!

Shut up.

Please?

No.

Plllleeeeaaaa-?

Alright, alright! Just spit it out already.

You’re going to love it.

Great.

Now that’s the spirit! It’s always nice when you cooperate with me... Grimoire.

[3] A Child of Embers

Chapter Three: A Child of Embers

A muffled ring resonated within the head of the young unicorn laying on the ground, his ears contoured against his head to try and soften the roar of the fires and the flapping of wings. His medium black mane blew around in his face and along the stone pavement, a small puff of soot and ash falling out of it every time the wind changed directions. His eyes partially closed, all the colt could see were numerous billows of smoke and the pyres that they rose from, along with the stallions and mares running, attempting to get away from the winged beasts soaring above. The clouded sky blended in with the dark shades of grey rolling from the burning buildings, a small rainfall sprinkling on the blazing royal city, though the soft droplets of water gave no aid to putting out the fires spread throughout the streets of an olden days Canterlot.

The colt laying on the ground gradually regained his senses and opened his eyes completely, but he almost shut them immediately at the sight of his hometown. The streets of Canterlot were lined with streaks of violent and wild flames, the ponies outside trying to seek shelter any where they could that wasn’t inhabited by the bright orange infernos. A blaring roar struck down from the sky over Canterlot, the colt slowly lifting himself onto his hooves looking up towards the orange tinted sky. Three massive, scaled, winged beasts hovered above the royal city in circles, their mouths smoldering with smoke blacker than their greedy hearts. Their wings sent waves of frantic air down onto the clamorous city below, spreading fires about the homes and buildings that somehow remained untouched from the onslaught so far. One after the other, the dragons swooped down just above the city’s elegant houses and flew parallel to the ground, releasing a storm of smoke and conflagration in a straight line before they bounded upwards and admired their work.

Still weak on his hooves, the colt in the middle of an intersection of roads looked over himself. His dark red coat seemed fine and his dark green eyes, though hazy, confirmed that he appeared to be healthy, though the colt’s right foreleg surged with intense pain every time he applied pressure to it. Tiny droplets of tears escaped from the colt’s eyes as he lifted his gaze to the streets around him, and the constant blaring of the three dragons’ roars only made the situation worse. Among the piles of burnt portions of homes and lone flames dancing on the street, numberless wounded and unconscious ponies crawled and laid out in the open, crying for help to the ponies still galloping frantically to find a place to hide. Parts of their coats were burnt and their faces were wet with rain and tears, a few of the ponies in a puddle of blood or another fluid of their body. The ponies that were still able and running around took no notice of the injured in their paths, the commotion driving themselves to ignore the pleas and try to find a haven from the dragon attack. Though, some of them weren’t as callous as the others.

“What are you doing out here!?” a voice yelled over the turmoil.

The colt, barely able to hear the phrase, turned toward the origin of voice. A grey, mare earth pony hurriedly made her way from one of the buildings lining the roads off of the crossroad, her bright blue eyes fixed on the colt in the middle of the intersection. Her short dark blue mane had been singed from fires earlier, a few tips of her hair blackened along with patches of her coat.

The mare came to a sliding halt beside the colt, almost instantly grabbing onto his left foreleg and coaxing him to come with her. “It’s not safe out here! Come with me!” the mare shouted, beginning to back up to the building she had been hiding in.

The colt stood where he was, exhaustedly looking around the intersection. “My parents,” he spoke quietly. “Where are my parents?”

“I don’t know,” the mare replied, her voice calmer, yet still hurried. “I’m sure they’re somewhere safe. How old are you? What’s your name, sweetie?”

“Ga... Gallantry. I’m three.”

“Okay. Now, come with me. We’ll look for your parents after this is all over, okay?”

Before the colt could say anything back, the mare quickly disappeared from his side. Without warning or notice, a pair of claws rushed down from above and wrenched the mare from the ground, the dragon holding onto her continuing to fly quite a way before it let go of its grasp on her. The distant scream of the mare was abruptly ended out of sight from the colt left alone in the intersection he awoke on, Gallantry moving his head away from the direction the mare had been carried off in as fast as he could. Trying his best not to let loose any more tears as he briefly stepped on his right foreleg, the colt slowly began to limp his way to the building the mare had come from, though something from the corner of his eye caught his attention further down the street.

Gallantry came to a still stop as his eyes rested upon two familiar looking ponies laying in the street. Their backs turned to him, the colt only stared at the two ponies, unsure of what he was seeing. A stallion and a mare, both on their sides, laid down, motionless, next to the line of buildings Gallantry had been walking towards. They both were surrounded by a mixture of blood and rain, the intensity of the red hue closer to the mare. The stallion’s coat was badly burned, some parts even completely singed off, and both of his hind legs were bent at awkward angles. The mare had no burns visible from her back, though six large cuts spread across her from hooves to neck.

Almost afraid to say anything for fear of his worries being true, the words that escaped from Gallantry’s mouth were barely audible, “M... mom? Dad?”

He wasn’t wrong. The mare’s pale blue coat and black mane, the stallion’s dark grey coat and dark brown mane, their cutie marks, though almost unrecognizable due to wounds, all of their characteristics matched the identities of Gallantry’s parents. Both of them motionless and side by side, Gallantry felt an overwhelming feeling of dread and loneliness wash over him, the colt almost dropping down onto the ground. The dark red colt slowly began to limp over to the two ponies, though at the same time he wanted to run in the other direction and deny that they were his parents, despite the similarities. The royal city continued to panic and burn, but Gallantry found himself in a path of silence as he walked towards his mother and father. He couldn’t help but let his tears fall with the light drops of rain alongside them as he neared the two ponies. Gallantry stood unmoving over the pale blue mare in front of him, staring down at her with cloudy and lachrymose eyes. The slashes along her body still ran with blood, soaking her coat and the ground beneath her. The mare’s purple eyes remained open, gazing down the street that she and the stallion laid on, a left over grief stricken tone in them.

His lips quivering, Gallantry stepped forward slightly, dragging his right front hoof across his mother’s hair. “...Mom?” he said, his voice wavering and his eyes emptying of tears. He pushed against his mother’s back, though she stayed as still as she had been. “Mom, I’m scared. Come back.” Gallantry lifted his forehooves up and planted them both on his mother’s back, pushing her gently. “Don’t leave me alone. Please, mom.”

Gallantry quickly shifted his eyes to the pony next to the mare as the dark grey stallion coughed faintly, a small chuckle escaping from his mouth afterwards. The dark grey stallion slowly opened his eyes to peer at the dark red colt leaning against his mother, the father’s dark green eyes lighting up as they met with Gallantry’s.

“Hey, champ,” Gallantry’s father spoke, his voice rough and quiet. “This wasn’t quite what I expected to happen on the way to the store.” He chuckled to himself lightly, but coughed roughly and let out a a quiet and coarse sigh. “Listen, son...”

As fast as he could, Gallantry limped his way around his mother to his father, a mix of tears of joy and sorrow in his eyes. “Dad!” He sat down in front of his father, looking over the severely burnt stallion on his side. “Don’t talk, dad. You don’t sound very good.”

“I’d imagine I don’t look very good either,” Gallantry’s father spoke, looking up at his son. “Gallantry, I want you to know that...” He took a moment to cough again. “... that... that I’m not going to make it out of this. I don’t have much more time.”

The dark red colt leaned forward and planted his hooves on his father’s stomach, though instantly took them off as the dark grey stallion winced in pain. “Dad, don’t leave me here. I don’t want to be alone!”

Gallantry’s father smirked slightly and weakly placed on of his hooves on top of his son’s. “Gal, I know you’re strong. Your mom knows you’re strong, too.” He lowered his eyes partially. “I’m sure if she was with us right now she would say the same.” He returned his eyes back to Gallantry as the colt began to sob. “I know it’s hard, and I know that you don’t want us to go. I’m sorry, Gal. I’m so sorry.”

The colt slipped one of his hooves out from his father’s hoof and wiped his eyes. “It’s not your fault, dad. I just... I wanted to make you proud. I could’ve. I know I could’ve.”

The dark grey stallion coughed again before smiling. “Everypony in the world knows you can, Gallantry. Besides... I’m already proud of my little stallion. Nothing could ever change that... Gal. Nothing.”

Gallantry sniffled and moved his mane out of his face, locking eyes with his father. “...I’ll miss you, dad.”

The colt’s father gave one last grin as his eyes began to close. “Your mom and I will miss you, too. We’ll always be thinking... of you...”

The dark red colt tilted his head forward and let his mane hang in front of his face as his tears fell harder, the droplets of water running down his mane and diving to the ground below. He slowly edged downwards and rested his horn against his father’s side, letting his forehead rub against the stallion with every sob. The colt felt as if he could feel every drop of rain that fell from the sky on him, each and every single one of them poking and sliding down, rubbing his back gently. The silence that had taken over his parents proved to be too much for the dark red colt sitting in sorrow, and his tears only flowed harder and harder the more time he spent beside the mare and stallion he loved. Gallantry lifted his forelegs forward and laid his upper body atop his father, pulling the stallion in closer to him as hard as he could. Every breath inward and every exhale outward softly pushed against Gallantry’s father, though there were no longer any ponies around to comfort the dark red colt. Gallantry was alone.

The young unicorn lifted his head up slowly as he heard the flapping of wings above him, the tears in his eyes ceasing for a spilt second as fear took over. Gallantry looked up towards the sky, but found himself staring off down the street he laid in the middle of as one of the three dragons tormenting Canterlot landed harshly on the same street. Ash and flames roused from the ground with the alight of the dragon, its tail swiping across numerous housetops and sending the roofs off into the sky. The enormous scaled beast had its piercing yellow eyes set on the dark red colt further down the road, silently watching Gallantry stare back at it. Pony and dragon, Gallantry and the winged serpent glared into each others eyes, terror clashing with hidden amusement.

The dragon gradually took steps forward to the young unicorn, the ground shaking with every thundering step. Gallantry only watched as the winged monster advanced unhurriedly towards him, holding on to his father as hard as he could. His grip on the stallion under him tightened with every stride of the dragon’s arms and legs, Gallantry’s tears beginning to edge back into his eyes as the dragon drew ever closer. The colt’s legs begged for him to leave, to get up and run as fast as he could towards shelter, but the unicorn’s body stayed put, waiting for the dragon to come close. A sense of peace through the trembling of Gallantry’s body made its way into the young unicorn’s mind, and as the dragon came within a block’s distance of him, Gallantry’s tears had been wiped away.

The dragon came to a stop another step’s length away from the dark red colt laying in the middle of the street, staring down at the unicorn with resolute eyes. Gallantry laid still where he was next to his parents, meeting the dragon’s gaze with his own sorrowful and tear stricken face. The royal city seemed to have been silenced for the moment, the screams of the ponies and the raging of the fires toned down to nothing. The rainfall had picked up slightly over Canterlot, the sound of the drops of water against the burning houses and the now desolate streets suddenly audible. Wings spread out to their full length and its head stretched out over Gallantry and his parents, the dragon continued to observe the dark red colt with curiosity, tilting its head to the side partially. Gallantry and the dragon both continued to stare at each other, gazing, watching the other’s eyes stay steady and still. Something within the dragon’s eyes wasn’t quite natural, however, as a dim glow within them began to pulse.

A beam of magic abruptly interrupted Gallantry and the dragon’s silence. A few scales on the dragon’s stomach blackened and burned as a lance of golden magic rammed into the winged giant, the dragon quickly tilting its head upwards to observe what had attacked it. Gallantry, too, turned his head around to the opposite direction of the dragon, his blurry vision just barely able to see what had come between him and the scaled fire breather.

A group of more than forty royal guards quickly ran down the street across from the intersection, each of them with spears at their sides and their horns ready to fire. Their golden armor was burnt and beaten inwards, but the damages didn’t stop the guards of Canterlot to protect their city. As they got close enough, the royal guards began to unleash magic bullets from their horns, a multitude of colors spreading into the air above Canterlot as the assault of magic headed straight for the landed dragon. A loud howl erupted from the winged beast’s mouth along with a billow of smoke, the dragon turning sideways and putting one of its wings out in front of it to block the barrage of magic bullets. Wing already searing with the pain of constant magic ramming into it, the dragon whipped around and spread its wings out to their full length after roaring in anger. Gallantry watched the large scaled fiend slowly advance upwards into the sky, its right wing blackened in various spots throughout the surface. The royal guards in the street continued past Gallantry as they chased after the dragon on ground, continuing to fire at the dragon as much as they could. The dark red colt left sitting in the middle of the street, alone, only stared after the royal guards as they ran further down the street chasing after the dragon, and slowly, Gallantry’s tears began to fall once more.

One of the royal guards pursuing the dragon slid to a quick stop as a sob rushed past his ears, his fellow royal guards paying no attention to the cry and continuing with their pursuit. The lone royal guard looked after the other stallions in his division for a brief moment as they didn’t even think about stopping, but with the other two dragons still harrowing Canterlot, it was probably for the best. The royal guard turned his head to the intersection he had come across, surprised to find the dark red colt still sitting in the middle of the street. If not before, it was clear now to the royal guard that the sob he had heard came from the young unicorn sitting beside two, either deceased or unconscious, ponies.

Sighing slightly to himself, the royal guard stood his spear straight up in the air with a levitation spell and walked slowly towards Gallantry. The armored stallion slid his eyes to the sky above Canterlot as one of the other dragons within the city flew up into the air. A fury of magic bullets flew around the dragon with a number of the bullets hitting the beast, patches of its scales blackened with the singe of magic. The deployment of the royal guards to defend against an attack on the royal city or other parts of Equestria was quite rare, and the sudden strike of three powerful, relentless dragons wasn’t quite the expected event on the eve of Nightmare Night. The royal guard walking towards Gallantry returned his eyes back to the street as the dragon in the air flew above the clouds and out of sight, a distant and quiet roar of cheering erupting from further off into Canterlot. The celebration was a small raise of hope to restore Canterlot before Nightmare Night, but even the holiday so popular with the fillies and colts didn’t appear like it would do much to cheer the young unicorn sitting in the road.

The lone royal guard came to a silent stop beside Gallantry, though the dark red colt paid no attention to him. He scanned his eyes over the two ponies laying on their sides in front of the young unicorn, obvious that they were at rest from the sight of their conditions. Taking off his helmet and setting it on the ground beside him along with his spear, the royal guard knelt down to Gallantry’s level, a few tears and heavy breaths still escaping from the colt.

“There isn’t much you can do to bring them back,” the royal guard said softly, trying his best to sound comforting while speaking the truth. “Parents or siblings, they’re gone. I’m sorry.”

Gallantry only sniffled.

The royal guard glanced off down the street as a slender figure turned the corner of the intersection down the road. He looked back at Gallantry. “Listen, the third dragon is still around Canterlot. It isn’t safe to be out here right now. Come with me, I’ll get you to somewhere safe until the dragon is gone.”

The colt quickly wiped his nose. “I’m not leaving my mom and dad alone,” he said, his voice wavering.

Taking another glance back the intersection as the figure grew closer, the guard placed one of his hooves on Gallantry’s back. “They’re with each other; they aren’t alone. It’s hard to lose ponies you love, but there are some thing that-”

Gallantry growled and turned around, shoving his hooves against the royal guard’s leg. “I’m not leaving them alone!” he yelled. Tears coming back, Gallantry fell forward and wrapped himself around his father again, burying his face into the stallion’s side.

Persuasion from himself out of the question, the royal guard stood up straight and quickly placed his helmet atop his head, bringing his spear to his side and saluting. “Princess Celestia, ma’am,” he addressed the slender alicorn as she came close.

The ruler of Equestria gave the royal guard a nod as she stopped a few steps away from Gallantry, the royal guard standing back on all four of his hooves. “Join back with the other royal guards for now,” the princess spoke in a soft and gentle voice. “They’ll need all the help they can get with the last dragon.”

Giving another salute, the guard nodded his head quickly. “By your order, princess.” Within a second, the royal guard had already turned around and was heading towards the direction the rest of the royal guards had gone. His hoofsteps soon grew out of earshot and the sight of his golden armor was no more, his mind set on chasing after the remaining beast within Canterlot’s walls.

Princess Celestia turned her head down to the dark red colt at her side. Gallantry continued to sob into his father’s stomach, tears beginning to soak the stallion’s coat more than the heavy rain was. Celestia took no note of the rainfall and had walked alongside her subjects in the attempt to drive back the dragons, despite the warnings of her royal guards that the rain and the fires would surely affect her appearance. No doubt, the raid had taken its tole on the entire city, but the princess of the sun had bigger worries than about how she looked. Her subjects and their home were under attack, still even at the moment she stood, and nothing would stop her from helping them, even if it meant her life was at risk. However, the work of protecting those who cannot protect themselves had to come to a stop at some point, and with the dark red colt sitting in the middle of the street, helpless and alone, Celestia knew he was willing to go with his parents.

The rainfall already weighing down her solely pink, flowing mane, the princess knelt down beside Gallantry. She looked over the two ponies and grimaced slightly, but kept her composure and set her mind on getting the colt into shelter. “I’m truly sorry for what has happened,” she spoke softly. “but there is little that can be done now. They have passed on to a place where they can be at rest. I’m sure they would still want to be with you.”

Gallantry stayed silent, apart from his sobs. He felt his grip on his father let go slightly, but the latch remained tight. “Why did they have to go?” he asked, his voice muffled against his father. “Why did they leave?”

The princess of the sun extended one of her wings outward and rested it on the colt’s back. “Some things cannot be prevented, and some things cannot be taken from their paths. Time takes it effect on everything, but some are affected earlier than others. They have passed on, but they know they cannot be harmed any longer. And now, they only wait.”

The grip Gallantry had on the stallion in front of him had weakened quite much, and the colt found himself lifted off of his father partially. “W- wait? For what?” he, almost involuntarily, asked.

Celestia smiled and leaned down to Gallantry, nudging the side of her head against him. “That is for you to decide.”

The calming voice, the words that came from the princess’s mouth, the natural comfort that Celestia gave with her presence, something had taken Gallantry into a sort of a trance. His tears had become only a barely noticeable trickle on his face, and as he felt a pair of hooves rotate him onto his back and lift him off the ground, Gallantry’s tears came to a halt. The dark red colt stared up at the alicorn carrying him as they both hovered in the air, paying barely any attention to his surroundings. Celestia’s soft purple eyes and her elegant pink hair to her gentle and warming voice, the ruler of Equestria had the ability to console even the most distressed of her subjects. The rain had disappeared from both Celestia and Gallantry as they both floated above the ground into one of the few standing houses. Despite being one of the last shelters in Canterlot that was stable, the home was empty of any other ponies, leaving the dark red colt and the princess of the sun alone.

The muffled rainfall on the ceiling of the sturdy house was the only sound that came between Celestia and Gallantry. The princess held the colt in her forelegs tightly against her, staring down into his dark green eyes as he stared back. Words weren’t needed any longer from the princess, Gallantry finding comfort just being in the same room as the ruler of Equestria. The young unicorn, as he gazed up into Celestia’s eyes, felt himself grow tired and his eyelids fall heavy. The princess’s flowing mane brushed up against the side of his face every now and then, stroking his cheek with a warm and gentle touch. The rain against the roof of the house slowly became a lullaby of calming voices singing Gallantry asleep with words of comfort and euphoria. The colt’s vision became a blur as his eyelids gradually covered his eyes, the princess continuing to hold him and rock him side to side delicately. Gallantry steadily drifted off into slumber and rested his head against Princess Celestia, a subtle smile on his face.

______________________________________________________________________

The stone walls of the rectangular chamber radiated with vials of a glowing blue substance, illuminating the room with a faint radiance of magic. The glass tubes were held in place from a pair of sticks and a bronze latch dug into the smooth stone of the room, most of the light near the floor of the chamber. The ceiling of the room barely received any of the light from the vials, darkness beyond the dim blue luminescence. However, tiny and thin dark green patterns flowed around in curves and floral patterns along the ceiling of the room, creating different kinds of species of flowers and other plants. They coursed with no particular order, seeming to drift below the roof of the chamber as they pleased and form certain patterns wherever they felt it was right. The patterns curved around each other and weaved up and under one another, dancing carefully, yet carelessly as they turned in directions that not even their conductor could predict.

Calamity stared up at the patterns originating from his horn, which glowed with a dim aura the same hue as its creations. His dark green and bright red eyes followed the tips of the paths that stood out the most, watching with curiosity what the deeper part of his mind was able to let out. His dark red coat was still wet from bathing earlier and his mane parted and filed in through the hammock that he laid in, dripping onto the floor and making small puddles. The waterfalls from within the main lobby of Liberus were out of earshot from the distance of the cave system’s member quarters, so the dripping of Calamity’s mane wasn’t quite the sound that usually ran through the winding tunnels this far into the caves. The subtle brushing of the patterns against each other along the ceiling of Calamity’s room were barely audible even to the dark red unicorn, the worry of waking up his fellow ponies this late at night out of his consideration. Of course, there were always sounds that interrupted the peace and stillness of the members quarters, such as a dry sniffle or the shuffling of a mare or stallion in their bed or hammock. Some of the members of the organization even took late night walks through the tunnels and sometimes outside of the caves, which was tolerable, and occasionally appreciated, as long as they didn’t cause any major disturbances.

The unicorn laying in his hammock sighed to himself quietly. Rest was out of the question for Calamity with the complications of starting up The Shards of Havoc after over two thousand years of sleep, and the role of activating The Shards himself only put his mind on edge even further. The revival of such a power would mean the danger of reviving its creator along with it, though the possibility of such an outcome was very low. The Band of Parity had gone through many activations of The Shards, and each time there were no complications. Calamity hadn’t been a part of The Band then, but the teachings that the higher ranking members gave told all about the organization’s history and how they came to be what they are. Through rejoice and agony and through triumph and defeat, The Band of Parity would never give up their purpose to maintain order in Equestria. Their secrecy was of utmost importance, for if the knowledge of what The Band was and what they did got out into the general public, there would be consequences beyond repair. Not only would the awareness of The Shards of Havoc become a hazard for all of Equestria, but The Band of Parity wouldn’t be tolerated in their own entirety. The ponies of Equestria would see them as an enemy, a menace, but they wouldn’t know about their purpose, and if they did, they would only reject it. The princesses of Equestria had been some of the finest leaders in the land, and even The Band of Parity knew that, but only so many mistakes can be made before something has to end.

Calamity shifted his eyes to his room from the temporarily decorated ceiling. The member’s quarters of Liberus didn’t exactly provide the biggest chambers for resting and storing things, but the dark red unicorn didn’t need much space for his role within The Band of Parity. The only decorations or furnishings within Calamity’s quarters, aside from his bed, were a bookshelf half filled with books, most of them written by The Band itself, and a desk with a few drawers in it. Simplicity, though it was generally mocked throughout the members of the organization in any form, was Calamity’s number-one need and want. The difficulties of maintaining files upon files of overall studies for the members, herbal recipes for the select few herbalists, flight techniques for the pegasi, spells for the unicorns, hoof-to-hoof combat for the earth ponies and pegasi, weapon tutorials and tips for basically everyone, and the fundamentals, along with the complications, of dark magic seemed too overwhelming and exhausting for Calamity. Organization was also one of his necessities, though the lack of materials that he needed any longer didn’t require organizing, considering they were non-existent. After being within The Band of Parity for so long, some of the older members of the organization just learned to go with things as they came along.

The dark red unicorn let another quiet sigh out of his mouth as he sat up in his hammock. The dim green glow around his horn disappeared and the patterns floating below the ceiling went with it, Calamity’s room simply glowing blue with the lights lined along the lower parts of the walls. The unicorn lifted a hoof up to his head and waved it around in his hair, shaking out the remaining water that was still clinging to his mane. His mouth stretched open wide as he yawned for a brief second, taking a moment to let his mind clear of anything that he had been worrying about, though it wasn’t as easy as he thought it was going to be. His hoof still up by his head, Calamity knocked on the side of his face with the base of his hoof, cursing to himself quietly and shaking his head. The torture of being denied sleep when he needed it the most had always been one of the unicorn’s deepest hatreds, and the situations only put him into more of an irritated mood than he usually was. Though, that wasn’t saying much. A plentiful number of things put Calamity into a red haze, but his usual stoicism always gave the impression that he was just fine.

Squinting his eyes against the vials of glowing liquid, which seemed a lot brighter at the source of the light, Calamity rolled off of his hammock and stabled himself onto his hooves. The floor of the unicorn’s room was slightly cold, and somewhat wet from the stallion dripping after taking a bath earlier, but the sudden chill pressing against Calamity’s hooves woke him up only barely. His eyes tired and his head light, the dark red unicorn hazily shuffled his way over to the desk on the other side of his room. Quickly before he flopped over onto the floor, he lifted up his front hooves and planted them on top of his desk, almost ready to fall forward and plaster his face onto the desktop. Calamity opened his eyes wider in an effort to actually see what he was doing, and at the sight of his damp hooves making prints onto some of the parchment on the desk, he figured that he should probably, if he wasn’t going to be able to sleep, wake himself up.

Calamity peered off over his shoulder to the end of his hammock, scanning his eyes over the bookshelf housing the few books that he liked. The dark red unicorn, still in his state of insomnia, shuffled his way back to his hammock, lightly grabbing onto the soft rope mesh to be sure that he didn’t lose his balance. He glanced over the titles of the books standing up against each other on the lower levels of the bookshelf, determining which of them would be the easiest to pick up in a levitation spell. His eyes locked on a particularly thin work of literature, and even the title of the book told him that it was the one he was looking for. “Blunt Weapons” the book’s title displayed through the dark green aura surrounding it, the hard cover holding together the collection of paper making Calamity smile, yet he thought to himself that maybe his idea wasn’t quite the best solution to his incurable sleepiness in his current state of mind. Nevertheless, Calamity proceeded to push the book further away from himself, take a deep breath inward, prepare his face by closing his eyes tightly and scrunching his lips together, and slam the cover of the book as hard as he could across the side of his face.

The loud crack of the book against Calamity’s skull echoed off into the caves outside of his room, a few replays of the loud pop reminding the now in pain Calamity that maybe he shouldn’t listen to himself when he was tired. The book dropped to the floor as the dark red unicorn focused more on rubbing the side of his face intently, though his plan had worked; he felt more awake than he had a few seconds earlier. Of course, he was also worried that he may have fractured his skull. Calamity, still holding onto the entire right side of his face, sat down gently, making sure not to injure himself more than he needed to. The spike of pain, and frankly the realization about how stupid he can get when he doesn’t know what was doing, had awoken Calamity to the point where he could actually use his senses instead of going off the little voice in his head. He prodded at the inside of his right cheek with his tongue, the keen taste of blood brushing against his taste buds. Calamity groaned and, after the pain spread across the entire right side of his face subsided, quietly laughed to himself.

“I wouldn’t suggest that you’re trying out some late night weapon techniques, are you?” the gentle, sweet voice of a mare spoke.

Calamity jumped in his coat at the sudden question. He slowly turned his head to the doorway of his room, though he quickly let out a sigh of relief as to who was staring at him with curiosity and confusion.

A somewhat tired-eyed zebra stood in the entrance to Calamity’s chamber, staring at the dark red unicorn on the ground with an eyebrow raised. Her sharp angled muzzle displayed a smirk on her face at the sight of Calamity looking up at her with a drop of blood seeping out of the corner of his mouth, squinting her bright red eyes and a puff of laughter escaping through her nose. The triplets of silver bangles around her forelegs reflected the dim blue light of the vials illuminating the room, while the duos of silver bands around her hind legs gleamed with the light of the torches flickering in the tunnels outside of Calamity’s quarters. Hair long black and white tail waved back and forth just barely in the gentle wind blowing lightly through the caves, the sound of wind whistling by something now apparent in the dark red unicorn’s ears, and Calamity wondered how long it had been there before he noticed it. The mare’s white and black striped, medium length mane parted in the middle of her forehead, the tips of her hair skewing slightly from their straight paths off into minor hooks. Her curvaceous stature stood slightly under the average mare’s height, though the few hairs sticking up in arcs from the top of her head gave a subtle illusion of her standing just as tall as her fellow members within the organization.

Calamity chuckled to himself and hung his head forward, giving the book he had smacked himself with a smile. “How did you know it was me?” he asked.

“I can tell when you’re up to something,” the mare said, stepping further into the chamber. “Besides, I thought I would check up on you.” She sat down on the hammock on the other side of the room, letting her tail brush against the stone wall behind her as she swung back and forth. “I heard about what The Six asked of you.”

His head starting to feel better, Calamity managed to bring himself to his hooves and pick the book he used to wake himself up with a levitation spell. “Really?” He slid the book back into its place in the bookshelf at the end of the hammock. “Who’d you hear that from? I didn’t tell anyone about it.”

The mare halted her movement on the hammock and opened her mouth for a moment before she said anything. “I heard it from Weaver!” she quickly said, her mouth a guilty smile. “You know her and her need to know everything... and tell everything.”

Flattening his brow and straightening his mouth, the dark red unicorn turned his head to the zebra and stared at her for a moment, the smile on the mare’s face disappearing as she shied her head away from Calamity’s stare. “You know, I think you would’ve gotten better at lying over the years that we’ve know each other, Arcane.”

The mare sighed. “I suppose there wouldn’t be a point in trying to prove myself?”

“No, considering that I was with Weaver the entire day,” Calamity noted as he walked over to his desk. “She was teaching me how to stitch the cloth on my royal guard armor again. The Six suggested that I get some new armor as well for my task, so there wasn’t really a point.” He glared at the zebra out of the corners of his eyes. “Though, I think you already knew that.”

Arcane nodded and shrugged. “I was waiting for you by the tunnel to the members quarters when you got back, but the look on your face told me that something wasn’t right, so I just stayed back and followed behind you when you went to The Six.” She looked up at Calamity, who was focused on a scroll spread across his desk. “I heard everything. Do they really want you to awaken The Shards?”

“They see it as my responsibility to see the task through, considering that I was their little eye on the inside,” Calamity confirmed. He closed his eyes and wiped one of his hooves down his face, resting it above his mouth. “I don’t understand why. There are other, more fit-for-the-job members in the organization, so why pick me?”

“Maybe they trust you more,” Arcane suggested. “After all, you haven’t let them down in giving them information about the princesses all this time. Everything that the two have done that has seemed like a hazard to their subjects has been delivered in witness-words right from you.”

“I know, but it just doesn’t make sense.” Calamity opened his eyes and rolled up the scrolls on his desk, opening one of the drawers on the front of the dark wooden desk and sliding them into the cabinet. “There are plenty of other members in The Band that know dark magic a lot better than I do. It’s not that I don’t know how to unlock The Shards from their resting places, it’s that I don’t want to.”

“Why not?”

“Have you seen the locations of The Shards?” Calamity asked, turning around to face Arcane. “Shade Chasm, Echo Ruins, Burning Caverns, Black Falls, and Frozen Labyrinth. All of them are just... eerie. The Shard here isn’t too bad, but still. They’re all spread across the borders of Equestria, too. It just seems like so much work for one stallion.”

Arcane cleared her throat. “Well, you know, you don’t have to do it alone. You can take someone else with you.”

“You know how I work with others, don’t you?”

The mare smirked. “I suppose that The Band can go with one or two more of its members without concussions.”

The dark red unicorn let a corner of his mouth upwards as well. “Remind Marker next time you see him that I still haven’t forgiven him about impaling my leg last week when he was practicing in the combat area with me.”

“I’ll make sure to let him know.” Arcane eyed one of the vials of the glowing blue substance lining the bottom of the walls. “I see that you’re actually using something that I made for you for once.”

Calamity rolled his eyes slightly and walked over to his bookshelf. “I’m a unicorn, Arcane. I don’t have a use for knives and combat potions. Dark magic is potent enough on its own.” He looked at the zebra out of the corners of his eyes and nodded with a smile. “Though I do appreciate the incenses that you gave me two days ago.”

Arcane grinned. “I knew you would like them.”

“You’ve gotta teach me how to make them one of these days,” Calamity said, scanning his eyes across the books on his bookshelf as he looked for a particular tome. “I can’t wait for your slow-working flank all the time.”

“I’ll have you know that I am one of the oldest, and therefore one of the more experienced herbalists within The Band, so you can just shut it,” Arcane snapped back, clawing a hoof at Calamity.

“Quality doesn’t entail rapidity, you know,” the unicorn hummed.

“Calamity, I will-!” Arcane began to yell, turning sideways and glaring at the dark red unicorn, but she quickly calmed herself down as she realized her voice would probably wake up the entire member’s quarters. “I can assure you that your leg gets injured again next time you step hoof into that combat area, and I’ll make sure to dispose of all my healing potions before you even get to me.”

The unicorn smiled smugly and turned his head to the mare on his hammock, levitating the book he had been searching for down from the top shelf of the bookcase. “There are other herbalists in Liberus. You know that, right?”

“Yes, there may be, but do they have that special touch that I put into my potions?” Arcane asked, furrowing her brow and grinning.

Calamity took a deep breath inwards and shook his head. “No, I suppose they don’t. I guess I can lay off of the insults for tonight. Still, you better teach me how to make those incense some time soon.” He walked over to his desk and set down the book in his magic, immediately flipping through the pages.

“Well, I might have to reconsider with your attitude tonight being so rude,” Arcane pouted jokingly. She turned her head to the side and closed her eyes, though she kept one open partially to keep an eye on the unicorn at his desk.

Sighing into the book in front of him, Calamity gradually turned around and gave Arcane a pleading stare, though the mare had closed her eyes completely at the sight of the unicorn rotating to look at her. “Please?” Calamity asked.

Arcane peaked her eyes open and curved her mouth upwards at the sight of Calamity’s tilted eyes. She hopped off of the hammock she had been sitting on and walked over to Calamity, abruptly giving him a shove. “Only for you, Calamity.”

The dark red unicorn smiled. “Thank you.”

The mare nodded. She walked to Calamity’s side and took a peak the book spread open on the desk ahead of her as the unicorn turned around. “What’s this?” she asked.

The book lightened with a dark green aura and the pages collected together, bringing the cover of the tome into sight. “The Shards of Havoc,” Calamity read the title aloud. He flipped the book open to the page he had been on and pointed a hoof to the sections he was reading. “The locations of The Shards, specifically. I thought I’d get a little familiar with the sites before I went in and activated the shards they’re holding.”

Arcane angled her brow inwards and shifted her attention to Calamity. “Wait. You’re not actually doing this alone, are you?”

“You should know by now that I can’t stand having to tend for others while I’m focused on something, particularly while I’m in combat,” Calamity assumed. “I can handle maybe one other pony with me, but I’m not taking any more than that. It just feels like it would be more of a burden than an aid to take someone along.”

The mare slapped her hoof down on the book as Calamity began to close it. “What? Look at these places!” Arcane said, pointing to one of the pictures in the book. A large ravine was carved out of the side of a mountain in a particular image, and another photo showed that it seemed to be bottomless. “These aren’t exactly the kind of locations to go sight seeing, I hope you realize. They’re dangerous!”

“The only things that make them dangerous are the dark magic seals and traps that The Band has put on them to protect The Shards of Havoc, should anyone decide to go on a  little treasure hunt,” Calamity rebutted, lifting the book out from under Arcane’s hoof and slapping it shut. “They aren’t even a threat to us, since I can just unlock the spells and get rid of them all together. Other than that, there isn’t much to be afraid of in them.”

“Really?” Arcane yanked the book out of Calamity’s hoof and put it on the desk again, opening the book and perusing through the pages to find the section the unicorn had been in before. She stopped at the page and pointed to one of the subsections. “Shade Chasm. You did read through it thoroughly, right? It’s practically become infested quarry eels! How are those not a threat?”

Calamity sighed and picked up the book in a levitation spell, moving higher up into the air so Arcane couldn’t reach it. “Listen. I’m not going to argue about this right now. I work better alone, and that’s that. I would’ve expected you, as the mare that watched over me since I joined The Band, to encourage me to challenge my dark magic abilities rather than tell me that they aren’t enough to protect myself.”

Arcane opened and shut her mouth a few times, though she only let out puffs of frustration. Her body deflated and she hung her head to the side, leaning up against the desk and drawing a circle on the floor with a limp hoof. “I don’t know,” she finally spoke, her eyes focused on surface of the desk. “I just- I don’t want you to get hurt.”

The dark red unicorn smiled and slipped a hoof under Arcane’s. “That’s what you’re here for. Right?”

The mare looked up at Calamity as she felt his hoof brush against hers. She stared into the dark green and bright red eyes peering into her own for a moment, the brief silence that had taken over to the two bringing them to a standstill. Their breathing seemed to be synced together, their chests inflating and falling back down in rhythm and harmony.

Quickly adverting her eyes away from Calamity, Arcane slid her hoof out from the unicorn’s and stood up straight, crossing her forelegs. “Uh... ye- yes. Yes, that’s what I’m here for,” she gently spoke, attempting to force her words to come out in order.

Calamity let a smile onto his face as he saw the mare’s mouth lift as well. He cleared his throat and let the book still levitating in the air back down to the desk, motioning his head to the tome. “I should probably get back to studying the locations of The Shards. It was nice talking with you tonight.”

Regaining her composure and feeling the warmth gathered in her face settle down, Arcane looked back up at Calamity and nodded. “Yeah. I’m glad I stopped by. I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

The unicorn bowed his head. “Sounds great.”

“Okay. I’ll just... uh, head back to my room. See you tomorrow.”

Turned towards his desk already, Calamity peered at the zebra out of the corners of his eyes. “Rest well, Arcane.”

The dark red unicorn set his gaze on the book on the desk in front of him as the mare in his peripheral vision went out of sight. Her hoofsteps seemed slightly slow, and at points almost sounded as if they had stopped, though they continued along their way. Calamity, his attention barely on the book despite looking at it, bit his lip for a second as he heard one of Arcane’s hoofsteps echo into the tunnels outside. His stomach lurched at his thoughts, but he followed them nonetheless.

Calamity pushed himself away from the desk and quickly called after the mare, “Arcane?”

As if she had been anticipating Calamity’s voice, Arcane turned around and raised her eyes, peaking her head back into the room. “Yes?”

The dark red unicorn stood quiet for a moment, staring at the two bright red eyes staring back at him. He felt his neck quiver as the thought of speaking entered his mind, but he swallowed the words and gave a smile to the mare. “Goodnight.”

Arcane lowered her brow and returned the smile, waving a hoof to the stallion watching her slowly walk out of his room. “Goodnight, Calamity.”

The black and white striped mare gone and left by himself, Calamity finally felt like he could breathe. A long, though quiet, sigh escaped through his mouth and he turned back around to face his desk. He lifted his front hooves onto the wooden tabletop and let his shoulders raise above his back, closing his eyes and smiling at the feeling of the tension within his legs and spine release. Talking to Arcane had gotten most, if not all, of the worries he had about The Shards of Havoc for a little while, which he desperately needed. Even if the conversation ended up back on the awakenings of The Shards again, seeing a friendly face was something that Calamity had been anticipating ever since he got back from Canterlot. His and Arcane’s playful bantering, even though the members of The Band of Parity would’ve expect Calamity to have put the zebra into the medical area because of it, lifted the dark red unicorn’s spirits every time he came across the opportunity to talk with her. It was something in the mare’s voice that sent a warmth into Calamity’s heart that he never felt when he was with any another pony, and even as the dark red unicorn walked over to his hammock and laid down, slowly drifting off into a newfound sleep, he could still feel his heart glow.