The Inventor and the Red Lady

Chapters

Morning
Afternoon
Chapter 3: Brewing Storm
Chapter 4: Face-to-face
Chapter 6: Monstrosity
Chapter 7: True Circle
Chapter 8: An Armored Past
Chapter 9: Getting the facts
Chapter 10: Reasons
Chapter 11: Plague and War
Chapter 12: Across Ocean and Fire
Chapter 13: Circle's Truth
Chapter 14: Inventor versus King
Chapter 15: The Inventor and the red Lady
Chapter 5: Blood Circle

Morning

Watson stared down at the unmoving pony that lay on the ground. Though burdened with a pair of saddlebags already, and despite being a smaller unicorn pony than his fallen companion, and having that stupid bent horn, he didn’t hesitate to lift the other pony’s bags. With the cargo secure, he turned and fled the approaching pursuers. The small, tan unicorn ran across the hills, through the forests, through the valleys. Ignoring the ache in his legs, ignoring the pain from the gash on his face, Watson ran until the sounds of pursuit faded. Cresting a ridge, he could see Equestria, the lands under Princess Celestia’s direct supervision. With a sigh of relief, he took a step forward when she appeared.

She was an alicorn as large as Celestia herself. Her coat was scarlet as the blood that flowed from Watson’s reopened facial wound. Her eyes were a deep blue, like the night sky. Her mane moved like fire, but was pitch black. Her wings were less like wings and more like blades attached to her back, yet she flapped them as fluidly as any Pegasus. The way she stood, Watson could see the crossed-blades mark on her haunches. He might have been rendered speechless by her beauty if complete fear had not done the deed already. Watson took a step back.

With a smile of satisfaction and her horn roaring with magic, the Red Lady took a step towards the much smaller unicorn…

Watson MacMaren woke up to the sound of his water clock’s alarm. Shooting upright, he could feel the sweat in his coat. He gave a quick look around, seeing he was in his house, surrounded by his inventions and various nick-knacks. Not on Percheron Ridge, with her. He shook at the thought. Even now, four years after the fact, Watson had not mentally recovered. Brushing his facial scar with his hoof, Watson gave a sad sigh before shuffling out of bed. He attempted to levitate his trademark vest from his dresser to his back, but his bent horn sparked and the vest plowed into his face. With another sigh, he manually donned the durable black vest while muttering insults to his horn.
Unlike other unicorns, Watson’s horn sharply bent forward about four inches from the tip. When he was younger, he was in an accident that cracked and bent his growing horn. His father and older brother were able to heal the injuries, but the horn refused to straighten out. As a result, the tan unicorn had trouble casting some spells while others were almost unnaturally easy. Some ponies thought this accident is also the cause of his height problem. Watson was much smaller than other ponies. The top of his head barely reached the same height as most mares’ chins. This made it hard for him to live in a normal house, so his house was actually built to his scale.
After fastening the last button with his mouth, there was a knock at the door. He quickly trotted between his various inventions that littered his house before opening the door. Meeting him was a grey delivery Pegasus whose head was level with the top of Watson’s doorframe. She looked down at him with crossed, gold eyes and an irrepressible smile.
“Ditzy!” Watson greeted. “You’re here early!”
“It’s 10:30, silly!” Ditzy Doo chuckled. “Did you sleep in again?”
“I was up late,” the shorter unicorn tried to justify himself. “I think I finally got something the Science Academy will like.”
“I still say they should’ve let you in with that massaging machine of yours!”
“But I made it to peel potatoes…”
“Whatever!” Ditzy laughed. She swung her bag around and pulled out a small stack of envelopes. “You got a letter from Smith & Wesley, one from that Destrieric pony again, and one from, oh my.” As Watson lifted the first two letters, the cross-eyed Pegasus pulled out a lavender envelope with red trimming. The wax sealing the envelope closed was marked with the shield crest of the Royal Guard. “Another one from Phalanx. He is a determined one, isn’t he?” Watson lifted this last letter, wrote two letters on the backside and returned it to Ditzy.
“Please have this returned to sender,” Watson requested.
“Not even gonna open it?” Ditzy asked.
“It’s the same as the last twenty letters you’ve delivered from him,” the tan unicorn sighed.
“Suit yourself,” Ditzy Doo smiled as she put the letter back in her saddlebag. “See you later, Watson!” With a grace that belied her appearance, Ditzy Doo spun around and shot into the sky.
Watson smiled as he watched her leave. He had been a resident of Ponyville for nearly four years. This small, close town was what he wanted now. No matter how much Phalanx asked or attempted to bargain, Watson refused to return to his old life. The life of danger, of stealth and quick reflexes…
…the life that cost him his brother…

She was awake as well. The Red Lady sat in the Conclave Chamber, listening to the elders speaking with a look that was a cross between boredom and annoyance. This elder had been griping about this policy and that policy for three hours today, and it had been a constant issue from him for the past 20 years. She had heard his complaints so often, she let her mind wander. As the scarlet alicorn sat there, the memories of a serious incident came to mind.
Four years ago, two agents of Celestia had sneaked into her country. What they retrieved was of such importance that the Red Lady herself got involved in chasing them down. Her soldiers had killed one, but the other escaped. She had found him weeks later, some small unicorn with a bent horn. He was so small she first mistook him for a child. She remembered the fear on his face when she landed in front of him on some cliff. She remembered how he shook with fear as she stepped toward him…
“My Lady,” a large gray Earth Pony in black armor brought her attention back to the present, “Elder Fetlock wishes to address the Conclave.”
“He is permitted,” the dark-maned alicorn waved her hoof. As the elder started his monologue, the Lady’s thoughts were once again plagued by this small unicorn. What brought him to mind now? Why were her thoughts on him and not something else, such as Fetlock’s speech on the importance of the Soldier Class? Beyond his bent horn and vertical underachievement, there wasn’t anything memorable about him. Was she thinking about him because she was bored with the Conclave’s speeches?
“Are you well, my Lady?” the Earth Pony asked.
“I’m fine,” she replied. “Just…remembering past events, General. Nothing more.”
“Anything I might help with?” the Earth Pony General asked. She thought for a bit, and then nodded.
“Remember four years ago?”

Author's Note

Howdy, I'm the Mad Nimrod! That's Mad as in crazy, not enraged. Anyway, this is my first fanfic, so feel free to post any contructive criticism. Any negative remarks will be deleted and flames will be used for the sole purpose of heating my cans of spam. Chapter 2 is on the way!

Afternoon

She was toying with him. That much was obvious. She was airborne and firing spells down at Watson as he ran, spells that would incinerate him, but they would just barely miss. The ground would always get rent apart from the spell, but Watson was unhurt. Then she would laugh. This was a game to her. Watson did not like that one bit. ‘Alright,’ he thought to himself, ‘let’s play.’ Pushing aside his fear, Watson turned and fired a bolt at the alicorn above him. This surprised her and the magic grazed her face. A shallow cut, nothing more, but this was a cut on her. Instead of anger, however, she smiled again. This toy had teeth.

As she fired another spell, the small unicorn disappeared in the explosion only to slam into her back. She barely lost any altitude but looked at Watson in surprise as he bucked her in the face. With little effort, she shook off the unicorn and he fell. In a wink of green magic, he disappeared again. He didn’t reappear. After a few moments, the Red Lady landed and looked around the now-jagged cliff. She could recognize a teleport spell a mile away, but she didn’t feel any bursts of magic. Where did he go?

Watson was hiding behind a pile of boulders and debris. He wanted to take loud, deep breaths, but his training made him only take shallow, quiet breaths. The Red Lady was only a few yards away, on the other side of the same debris pile Watson was leaning against. Poking his head out ever so slightly, he saw her back was to him. She couldn’t see him. She turned her head left and right, and then trotted away from the boulders. Watson leaned back behind the cover and gave a quiet sigh of relief. Once he caught his breath, he would make a dash for the edge and jump, teleporting whenever he could to decrease the distance to the ground and slow his descent. Once he landed, he would cast a haste spell and-

“Found you,” said a soft, velvety voice from behind Watson.

Watson was trotting back home from his latest job. That unicorn in the library (Twilight, was it?) had him fix her telescope, and she paid him a pretty bit for it, too. She didn’t need to, because it was an easy fix. By easy, he meant nearly every internal part needed repairing. It was easy to him, though. His cutie mark was a set of three gears. He was bound to be good at mechanical work.

He trotted down the street, taking in the various sights and sounds. Carousel Boutique looked fancy as ever. A couple mares were walking out in dazzling dresses, one pink, the other a bright blue. Behind them came a tall stallion in a tight, black suit. It looked sharp and high-class. Watson gave a short laugh.

He wouldn’t be caught dead wearing one of those.

As he got further, he passed Rose’s flower stall. She waved as he passed, and he waved back. She was a nice mare, pretty too. Pretty deadly with a pair of spiked gauntlets. She didn’t look it, but what else could one expect from an undercover Paladin of Equestria?

Looking around again, Watson could spy other Paladins here. There was Sea Swirl, master of water magic, talking to Mjolna, an Earth Pony of indescribable strength. He noticed some before, but after the Elements of Harmony were re-attuned, many more Paladins arrived to safeguard the Bearers. Say, wasn’t Twilight a Bearer? He’d have to ask later. At the moment, Watson was the least bit envious of these Paladins. During his time in the Paladins, Watson never got an undercover protection assignment. He was always sent on spy missions. The sort where he couldn’t afford to make friends the way the Paladins here in Ponyville could. Couldn’t risk being discovered.

Dang, he was thinking depressing thoughts again. Turning his head, he spotted Sugarcube Corner a block away. Maybe something sweet would cheer him up. As he turned, a white blur landed in front of him.

“Watson!” he exclaimed. “Knew it was you!” Addressing the small unicorn was a tall, white Pegasus with a red mane and a cutie mark resembling a postage stamp. Redstamp, a Pegasus of Cloudsdale, and courier for the Paladins. “How’ve you been, kid?”

“Been okay, Red,” Watson smiled. “How about you?”

“Scooting by. Not much has changed these past few years.” Spotting Sugarcube, Redstamp announced, “Say, I’ve got a few minutes. Wanna grab a bite?”

“Did Phalanx send you here?” Watson asked. He might have been a Knight-Commander in Celestia’s court, but Watson wouldn’t put it past that grey Pegasus to try and use and old friend to bring him back.

“You kidding?” the Pegasus asked. “Near as Phalanx is concerned, I’m on my way back from delivering a message to one of our guys in the Outer Lands. I’m not due back until sundown, but I caught a good long tailwind.”

“In that case,” Watson walked past his taller friend, “come on. I was headed this way anyway.” The two trotted into the sweet shop, placed their orders and waited as Mr. Cake took the orders to the kitchen. The two friends could hear cheerful singing coming from the kitchen as they sat at one of the tables.

“Does the cook usually sing?” Redstamp asked.

“Only the pink one.” Watson replied.

“Oh. Well, I didn’t know you moved here, Watson,” Redstamp stated. “I thought you were still in Canterbury. When did you move here?”

“Four years ago,” Watson replied, “a bit after the Shetlands assignment.”

“Gotcha.” After a brief moment, Redstamp said, “I know it might be a bit late, and I know I’ve said it already, but I’m sorry about what happened to Dawson. Wish I could’ve been there.”

“No you don’t,” Watson shook his head. “Even your speed would have been of little help.”

“You mean, against her?” Redstamp asked. “Maybe, but I still feel bad. I was stationed in Drackenridge. That’s just a few miles from Percheron Ridge. If I had known-“

“Stop,” the smaller of the two ordered. “We came here to talk about happy times, not talk about that time.” Great, Watson was feeling bad again. “I got away. That’s what’s important. Anyway, I’ve been here since then, working as a handypony and trying to get admitted into the Science Academy. It’s not the best paying line of work,” Watson gave a snarky smile, “but it beats being chased by eighteen love-struck gryphons, right?”

“You’re never gonna let that one go, are you?” Redstamp laughed. “Phalanx and a few of the other pegasi wouldn’t shut up about it for weeks! Dust Devil started calling me “Lovestamp” after that! I didn’t ask them to chase me!”

“Yet you did drink that attraction potion Graphite was testing.”

“I thought it was milk!”

“It was purple! What kind of animal makes purple milk!?”

The two friends laughed at the sheer absurdity of that event as Mr. Cake came back with their dozen doughnuts. Watson and Redstamp continued to talk about the old days, before their time as Paladins, for the most part. They spoke for another hour before Redstamp figured he couldn’t keep Phalanx waiting.

“You know how he is,” the white Pegasus chuckled. Furrowing his brows, he impersonated his commander. “Con-sarnit, you foals! When I say be here by such-and-such time, you should ask me if I want you to bring any bagels, not argue! Now fall in line before I punt you out the window!”

“That’s him,” Watson agreed. “It was nice seeing you again, Red.”

“Nice seeing you, too.” Redstamp turned to leave, but stopped and asked, “One more thing: Got any girlfriends?”

“Redstamp!” Watson exclaimed before his Pegasus friend shot into the sky with a laugh. The unicorn gave an annoyed sigh. How could a total goofball like him be a lieutenant-colonel? Watson never understood that. Admittedly, it was nice to see on old friend again without having them try to bring him back to Canterlot. With a chuckle, Watson turned and headed home.

His house was a short distance outside of Ponyville, on the opposite side from the Orchards. This way, if any invention got out of control, it wouldn’t do any real damage to the town. Other than the fact it was built to his scale, it hardly looked any different from the other houses. Looks could be deceiving, however.

Watson walked up to the door and used his horn to twist the door knocker upside down. When he did this, the doormat flipped downward and Watson fell into the ground. He didn’t fall far. This drop-off was just a way to quickly access his workshop. When he landed, he looked up to make sure the mat swung back into place. It had a habit of staying open. This was particularly troublesome during the rainy seasons. As it swung closed, Watson pulled out the scroll from his bag. While repairing Twilight’s telescope, her dragon assistant belched up a scroll. While this act was surprising to Watson in-and-of-itself, even more surprising was that it was addressed to him. There was some writing on the side requesting that Spike deliver it to Watson. It was mighty convenient he was there. He waited until he got home before reading it to avoid attracting attention. It read:

“Watson MacMaren,

“I have been trying to contact you for a few days. Phalanx only recently told me you currently reside in Ponyville. As I said four years ago, you have my condolences over the loss of your brother, Dawson. He was a good Paladin, just like you were. I’ve heard you had a hoof in defending Ponyville from the Changelings, so I feel you should be rewarded, despite your retirement. Enclosed with this scroll is a ticket to this year’s Grand Galloping Gala. It might be a good idea for you to talk to some old friends. You may be cheerful on the outside, but I can tell you’ve closed yourself off from others. Attending the Gala might be a good idea.

Princess Celestia Tia Chronos

P.S. Phalanx wanted me to try and recruit you back into the Paladins. He’s been moping since you sent back his last letter unopened with a big ‘NO’ on the back. I say you don’t have to come back. You were a good Paladin, and you’ve earned your retirement.”

Watson smiled. The Princess always was a compassionate soul. Maybe he would attend this year. He’d have to get some fancy clothes, though. Didn’t look forward to that one bit. Oh wait, there was something else.

“P.P.S. Don’t worry about fancy outfits. You left your Paladin regalia here at the castle when you retired. You can use the Gala as an opportunity to retrieve them.

P.P.P.S. No, I’m not trying to recruit you again, and I’ve told Phalanx to leave you alone for the duration of the Gala.”

Well, that solved that problem. Watson always did like the dark blue uniform with its gold trimming. Admittedly, the medals would weigh it down (he was a skilled Paladin, after all), but that was only a minor worry. The tan unicorn smiled. Maybe this Gala would help him out. Give him time to relax amongst friends, revisit old haunts, and maybe talk to the Princesses.

His train of thought was interrupted by a knock on the door. Probably Ditzy with the mail. Feeling better than he had in years, Watson rushed up to greet the mail pony. It wasn’t a good idea to keep her waiting.

Ditzy Doo was a Paladin of incredible strength, after all.

Celestia was in her throne room, dealing with the usual court duties, when a green-maned Pegasus guard rushed in. He ran right up to the steps leading to her throne, removed his helmet, and bowed.

“My Lady,” he addressed, “a messenger just arrived at the castle gates.”

“A messenger?” the regal white alicorn asked.

“Yes,” the guard replied. “A messenger from the Shetlands. From the Red Lady.”

Author's Note

Hello! I finished chapter two! I know it's a bit slow, and maybe rushed, but don't worry! Chapter three will be a bit more exciting.

Chapter 3: Brewing Storm

“This was an amusing chase,” the Red Lady admitted, “but the game ends here, child.” She was standing right next to Watson, with her head down next to his. The tan Paladin could feel her breath in his ear. He was completely paralyzed from fear.

“For one your size, you did quite well,” the scarlet alicorn congratulated. She started brushing Watson’s back with her wing (causing the small unicorn to blush uncontrollably) as she continued, “I am impressed with how far you got. I may be the Princess of War, but I am not without mercy. I am prepared to let you go, child. All you have to do is give these,” she patted his saddlebags with her wing, “to me. No lies, no strings attached. You return these to me, I release you.” She smiled. “Please be smart.”

What should he do? What could he do? One wrong move and he was dead. He promised his brother that he would get to Equestria. He would report to Phalanx and Celestia. He promised he would survive. Watson gave a sigh and lowered his head.

He wouldn’t be able to keep that promise.

Watson jerked awake to the sound of someone knocking on his window. Who would knock on his window at-what time was it?-11:30 at night? Walking to his window, he opened the curtains and saw a very serious-looking, grey-blue Pegasus.

“Ditzy?” he asked in a half-asleep haze.

“No time,” the cross-eyed Pegasus immediately replied. “Get dressed and meet us out front.” She trotted out of view. Us? Multiple Paladins were waiting for him? Shrugging off his sleepiness, Watson hurried to get dressed. He had never seen Ditzy look so serious before. Donning his vest and grabbing a small bundle from his dresser, Watson rushed outside.
There were indeed multiple Paladins waiting for him along with a flying carriage strapped to a pair of unknown pegasi. Along with Ditzy, there was Redstamp (without his trademark grin), Thunderlane and…

“Miss Cheerilee?” Watson asked. “You’re a Paladin, too?” He did not see that one coming.

The maroon Earth Pony gave a brief smile. “Always keeping an eye out for potential recruits. Now, get on the carriage, Watson. You’ve been Royally Summoned.” That was serious. Celestia, while being the more quirky Princess, was not prone to summoning subjects during the night without good reason. Hopping into the carriage, Watson gave the unknown pegasi a nod and they shot into the sky. Flying on either side were Redstamp and Ditzy. It wasn’t until now that Watson noticed that Red and Ditzy were in black plate armor with gold trim. Even their wings were covered in small plates. Pegasus battle regalia.

“What’s going on?” Watson asked Redstamp.

“The Princess and the Commander wanted to tell you in person,” the white Pegasus explained. “None of us know much beyond that Her Highness requested to see you immediately.” The remaining hours of the trip were spent in a contemplative silence. Watson looked at the sky as the carriage flew along. It was only a couple years ago when Princess Luna returned, and Watson had never seen so beautiful a night sky before then. As they landed at Canterlot Castle, Watson immediately noticed the increase of guard traffic. As a few of the guards took notice of the new arrivals, they rushed the Paladins to the throne room while the two carriage pegasi were unfastened from the carriage.

As they entered the throne room, Watson saw Celestia standing at the base of the steps, and next to her was Commander Phalanx. He was a tall grey Pegasus with a spiky white mane and two scars on his right cheek. His face was always serious, but tonight Watson could tell it was for good reason. Even Celestia herself lacked the kind, compassionate smile she usually had.

“Watson,” Celestia addressed, “I’ve called you here due to a matter of national security.” No pleasantries. This night was getting better by the minute. “A messenger arrived at the Castle a week ago. He was from the Shetland Territories.”

‘Crap,’ Watson mentally stated.

“He came bearing a message from his Princess,” Celestia continued, “It stated that she was willing to sign a peace treaty with us so we could pass through the Shetlands to start diplomatic relations with the nations on its other side.”

“That’s awfully nice of them, your Majesty,” Watson stated. “From my experience with the Shetland Ponies, it’s unlikely they’ll do this without getting something in return.”

“That is the case,” Phalanx sighed. “They requested two things in return: First, the return of all the files stolen during your mission four years ago.”

“Those?” Ditzy asked with a puzzled expression. “Surely, they don’t think we wouldn’t have made copies of them.”

“Actually,” Princess Celestia replied, “the note did say that she was aware we would make copies, but wants the originals since a few of them were more than a century old.”

“It’s the second thing that brings you here today,” the grey Pegasus continued. “The Red Lady also requested we turn Watson over to them.”

“What?” Redstamp spoke up. “You sure she wants Watson?”

“She requested him by name.” As everyone was in a stunned silence, Celestia lifted a long scroll and read, “The note states, ‘The second thing we require for the treaty to be signed is for you to give us custody of the unicorn agent responsible for the theft of the aforementioned files. He is a tan unicorn with a dark brown mane and tail. His eyes are blue and his cutie mark is a set of three machine gears. His most notable features are that his horn is bent forward towards the tip and he is exceptionally small. To avoid any confusion, his name is Watson MacMaren.’ That is too clear cut to be able to send a body double.”

“Wait,” Ditzy asked, “how did she learn your name? Did you tell her back then?”

“Of course not!” Watson denied. “I would never reveal my identity like that. Putting that aside,” he turned back to Celestia, “are you going to turn me over? I have no qualms if you do, but…”

“Don’t worry,” Celestia shook her head. “We brought you here to place you under protective custody.”

“Why?” Redstamp asked. “Wouldn’t he safer in Ponyville? I mean, I’m a family friend and I only recently learned he was living there.”

“Not as safe as you think,” Ditzy stated.

"You see,” Phalanx clarified, “the messenger arrived a week ago, and we’ve been stalling him ever since. However, the Shetland Princess is rather determined. One of our agents in Manehatten spotted a known Shetland agent asking around for a unicorn of your description last week. The day after the messenger arrived, a Shetland agent was questioning residents of Canterbury.”

“And earlier today,” Ditzy finished, “I stopped a pony that was going from house to house looking through the windows. As I was ‘interrogating’ him, he dropped the fact that he was a Shetland Pony looking for a tan unicorn.”

While Redstamp pondered what Ditzy passed as “interrogating,” Watson was in shock of how badly the Red Lady wanted him. “W-why does she want me so bad?”

“Maybe because you got away?” the white Pegasus asked. “She might want you back to finish the job.”

“If she wanted me dead,” Watson asked, “why not kill me when she had the chance four years ago?”

“I concur,” Celestia nodded. “She is the Princess of War, after all. If she let you live, I doubt it’s so she can kill you later. However, I’m not willing to risk losing one of my subjects by just handing you over.”

“What do you propose?” the former Paladin asked.

“I will speak to her directly,” Celestia responded. “It will take time to set up a meeting, so in the meantime you will stay here.”

“In the same place as the very messenger I am to hide from?” Watson asked. “Forgive my lack of wisdom, but this seems like a bad idea.”

“Not after I do this,” Celestia smiled for the first time that evening. Her horn chimed with a small spurt of magic and she pointed it at Watson. He felt warm and tingly for a brief moment as her horn quieted down. “I’d like to see those Shetland Ponies try to see through that.”

“See through what?” Watson asked. He saw Ditzy give him a bewildered look while Redstamp tried (and failed) to stifle a laugh. “What?” Phalanx gestured to the floor, which was polished to the point of being reflective. Watson looked at his reflection and choked. There wasn’t a tan unicorn looking up at him. There was a white Pegasus in guard regalia. Looking over his shoulders, he saw wings. Big, white, wings. “Sweet YOU, Celestia! Are these REAL?”

Princess Celestia giggled. “No, it’s just an illusion, so don’t jump out of any windows. You’re going to have to pose as a guard for a while. Your quarters are already arranged. Redstamp, Ditzy Doo, you two will also stay to provide extra security.” The Princess of the Day gave a yawn. “Best get to sleep everyone. We’ll have some long days ahead of us.”

Long was right. Watson was forcibly reminded why he joined the Paladins and not the Guard as his legs cramped up for the sixth time that day. If he were running, jumping or even crawling it would be okay, but as a “guard” in the throne room, he just stood by the throne the whole time. He wasn’t even able to pace. How did the other guards keep their legs from cramping?
It had been two weeks since Watson was taken into “protective custody.” He spent most of that time in the throne room, the library or his quarters, which was a recently repurposed storage room. Oddly enough, the lingering smell of potatoes had a relaxing effect after a long day of standing guard.

Meanwhile, Redstamp and Ditzy flew around Canterlot, keeping an eye out for potential Shetland agents. So far, none had been seen. Even the messenger, who was staying at the castle until the files and pony could be produced, spent most days in his chambers. Watson caught a glimpse of him once, but it was a fleeting glance and the messenger was gone before Watson fully realized what he saw. He knew the illusion that Celestia threw over him would hide his identity, but he still didn’t want to see how close a call he could make.

Watson gave a sigh of relief as the cramp in his leg disappeared. Maybe he would ask Redstamp to pick up some doughnuts the next time he went out. His shift was almost over. Just one more hour by the throne and-

Watson never was so lucky. The doors burst open and in came one of the largest Unicorns Watson had ever seen. He was tall as Phalanx and had black fur. His mane was a fiery red and his eyes literally glowed with purple magic. He wore red-and-black armor with gold trimming. His helmet was emblazoned with black fire. It was the Shetland messenger.

“This waiting has gone on long enough!” the messenger shouted with a gruff voice. “I have been here nearly a month, Celestia, and you have yet to produce that damnable unicorn! How hard can it be to find one unicorn!?” As he was shouting, the unicorn was stomping towards the throne. Before he could reach it, seven guards, Watson included, leaped in his way. The messenger only stopped when he saw the wall of guards. Upon closer inspection, Watson could see a long, thin scar on the right side of this unicorn’s face.

“You,” Watson growled, “will refer to her as ‘Princess Celestia,’ Shetlander.”

“Those manners,” Celestia calmly reprimanded, “will not speed up the process.”

“The Red Lady could have searched all of Equestria three times by now!” the messenger shouted.

“Your Princess,” Celestia calmly explained, “is requesting I find one unicorn. There are over three million ponies in Equestria alone, and my knights have yet to search the Outer Lands and the settlements around the Dragonmount. That will take several more months at least.” The Princess of the Sun descended from her throne as she continued, “If you wish, you may return to the Shetlands with the files, and I will inform my dear cousin when I find this small unicorn.”

The messenger was silent for a brief moment before stating, “I was ordered to remain here until the search was done. To return without Watson MacMaren would be…dishonorable.”

“And your little outburst was honorable?” one of the other guards asked. This question startled the messenger. He thought for another moment, and then sighed.

“Forgive my outburst, your Majesty,” the Shetland Pony bowed. “I am…eager to return home. Surely, you must know what is like to be away from your family for a long time.”

“I do,” the ivory alicorn nodded. “If you wish, I could write a note for your Princess explaining everything.”

“The offer is appreciated,” the giant unicorn smiled, “but it wouldn’t help. My Lady is adamant in her orders. Not even your intervention would help.” He looked at all the guards and nodded. “I will return to my chambers now.” Without any more words, the messenger turned right around and left the chamber a lot quieter than when he entered. The six actual guards moved back to their positions while Watson stood still for a bit longer.

“Is everything alright?” Celestia asked.

“Milady,” Watson stated, “I’ve met that unicorn before.” This caught the Princess by surprise.

“What? When?”

“Four years ago,” the former Paladin replied, “when Dawson and I were trying to flee the capital. He was there.”

“Are you certain?” Celestia asked with a tone of concern.

“I’m the one who gave him that scar on his face.”

Watson was running down one of the Shetland capital’s many streets. Behind him was a large unicorn with black fur. The Shetland unicorn was firing blasts of magic at Watson, but the small unicorn was proving to be a difficult target. It appeared even the added weight of two filled saddlebags did nothing to slow down the Equestrian unicorn.

“Hold still, you runt!” the unicorn roared as his eighteenth blast missed its mark completely.

“Make me!” Watson replied. The Shetland Pony fired another spell, but this one only barely missed. Almost reflexively, Watson turned and fired a bolt of his own. There was a scream of surprise as Watson’s bolt grazed the soldier’s face. Without another thought, Watson’s horn hummed again and the piles of trash nearby flew at the soldier unicorn. He screamed again as the trash knocked him off his hooves and piled on top of him. It was an almost comical sight. With a short laugh, Watson turned and fled from the scene. He could see his brother a bit further away. They waved at each other and ran to rejoin.

Neither of them heard the roar of magic until it was too late.

Watson finished his account of his encounter with the knight. The two had moved to her private study so nopony else would hear. Celestia contemplated this recent development while Watson tried his hardest not to relive what happened next. The memories still flooded in, unfortunately. Finding his brother lying in a pool of his own blood, the Shetland Ponies approaching…

“This complicates matters,” Celestia broke the silence. “The illusion I cast changes your appearance, but not your voice. Do you suppose there is any chance that the knight would remember your voice?”

“I doubt it,” Watson replied, eager to shake off the depressing memories. “I only spoke a few words when we met, and it did happen four years ago. Although, I will still take precautions so he does not get the chance to investigate if he became at all suspicious.”

“That is wise,” the ivory alicorn agreed. “I’ll have you stationed in the gardens for the next few days. I sent my meeting request the day you arrived, so I should be getting a reply any day now. Take the rest of the day off.” Celestia started writing on a scroll while Watson stood in place, clearly thinking something. “Is there something else?”

“In the throne room,” the tan unicorn said, “you referred to the Red Lady as your cousin. Is that true?”

“Indeed it is,” Celestia replied. “All of us Elder Royalty are related. We were all the firstborn of Chronos and Flora or Solarion and Fauna. Luna and I are of Chronos' line. She and her siblings are of Solarion's line. Why?”

“Well,” Watson explained with some hesitation, “if she’s related to you, why don’t you refer to her by name? I mean, everyone calls you Princess Celestia, your honored sister Princess Luna, and your niece Princess Cadenza, but I’ve never heard anyone call the Princess of War anything but the Red Lady. Why is that?” Celestia left her desk and walked to the window overseeing the gardens.

“She and her siblings,” Celestia explained, “are special, even among the Elder Royalty. Their names are words of power among the rest of us. If I say her name, her influence will come over me. I would become angry, destructive even. That is why you won’t hear me say any names. That’s also why even the Paladins don't know the names of alicorns beyond Luna, Cadence and myself.”

“Her influence?” Watson asked. “Does that mean if I say it-’’

“No,” Celestia interjected, “You won’t be affected. The influence only affects alicorns. Normal ponies won’t be affected. Anything else?”

Watson patrolled around the castle gardens, clearly enjoying this more than his throne room assignment. It had been a few days since Celestia told him of the significance of royal names. True to his word, he had not told a soul, not even Redstamp and Ditzy. The two pegasi were still keeping an eye out for Shetland agents, but that task had lightened up since the throne room confrontation. No new reports came saying that Shetlanders were searching for Watson. In fact, many Shetlanders actually left Equestria, returning to their native country.

Meanwhile, Celestia was still awaiting a reply from the Red Lady. She admitted that it was unusual for her to take so long with a reply, but told Watson not to worry anyway. That didn’t stop him from worrying. The thoughts of the Princess of War plagued his mind while Watson walked through the gardens. What was she doing? Why did she want him so bad? As he was lost in thought, the disguised unicorn wandered into the Statue Side of the gardens. Soon, his thoughts were on admiring the detailed statues and the ponies they immortalized.

To Watson’s left was a statue of Star Swirl the Bearded, a unicorn Watson felt wasn’t known enough. To his right was Laurel, the Earth Pony flag bearer of Celestia and former Element of Loyalty. Ahead of him was a small statue of Clef Spellmane, the youngest Archmage of Equestria’s Magic Academy. His statue had a wreath of flowers at its base. Watson bowed his head reverence. Clef had given his life to end the war against the Gryphon Kingdoms a hundred-fifty years ago. The former Paladin always respected Clef, but hoped he wouldn’t share the same fate. Then his eye caught a statue a bit away from the rest.

It was a tall, thin statue of a non-pony. It was an amalgamation of various creatures. One foot was a hoof; the other was a three-toed foot. One arm was like a lion’s and the other was similar to a hawk’s leg. It held its arms out like it were trying to stop something and its face was contorted in fear. Watson glared at this statue and spat on it. This was the petrified Discord, Lord of Chaos. While Watson didn’t face him directly two years ago, he did deal with some of the chaos he spread. Watson did not enjoy fighting his own inventions.

“If you can hear me,” Watson told the statue, “I hope you stay in there for a lot longer than last time.” After that, he noticed a small cluster of statues behind Discord.

There were four alicorns in a semicircle facing outward. Only one of them looked like a traditional alicorn, if such a thing were possible. The alicorn second-from-the-left was gaunt with sunken eyes, and its feathers were curled in like a hand in a partial fist. Next to this one was an alicorn that looked like it was made of insects, snakes and scorpions. Its eyes were beetles, and its wings looked like they had exoskeletons. The last one on the right also had sunken eyes, but looked way healthier than the gaunt one on the other side of the bug-alicorn. Its wings were skeletal, with no flesh attached to them and seemed to have way too many bones. While these were freaky enough, what startled Watson was the alicorn on the far left.

The one on the far left was the Red Lady.

Why did Celestia have a statue of the Red Lady here? Now that he thought about it, Watson figured that Celestia would have statues of her relatives, since she rarely left Equestria. Or even Canterlot, for that matter. It would make sense she would have statues commissioned so she could see them, in a manner of speaking. Looking down, he saw each statue had a nameplate by their front hooves. The Red Lady was, of course, named the Princess of War. The gaunt one next to her was the Princess of Famine. The one with the bugs was the Prince of Pestilence. The last one on the right was the only one with an actual name: Mauso’Liam, the Prince of Death. In front of all the nameplates was a large plate that said, “The Heirs of the Last Days.”

“That statue doesn’t do her beauty justice, does it?” asked a voice behind Watson. The disguised former Paladin turned around and saw the Shetland unicorn standing next to the petrified Discord. Only this time, something was different. The messenger’s eyes weren’t glowing.

“What do you mean?” Watson asked.

“You’re not that good at deflecting topics,” the messenger replied. “Don’t get me wrong, that’s a good disguise, and I barely saw through it, but my Lady taught me something that pierces through all but the toughest illusions with ease.” The truth hit Watson like a brick in the face.

“Your eyes,” Watson stated. “That was a True Seeing spell, wasn’t it?” He actually felt embarrassed that he didn’t catch it back then, and a bit confused as to how Celestia didn’t seem to notice it either.

“Even if I didn’t have it,” the big unicorn grinned, “there’s no way I’d forget the voice of the unicorn that buried me in trash. It took weeks for the smell to wash off. Plus, there’s no way any Princess would hire a guard your size.” He took a step towards Watson, and the two were alone in the Statue Side. No hope of reinforcements for Watson.

“Do you know what she wants with me?” Watson asked. No point in denying who he was now. “How does she know my name?”

“No clue to either of those,” the Shetlander admitted, “but I live to serve my Princess, just as you live to serve yours.”

“You have me,” Watson explained, “but you’re also deep in enemy territory. There’s no hope of transporting me from here to there.”

“Oh,” the Shetland unicorn’s horn started glowing red, “isn’t there? Give my regards to-’’ Watson barely caught the last word before red magic swirled around him. He tried to use his own magic to break the spell, but it was of no use. The magic was too strong, and it enveloped him quickly, dispelling the illusion in the process. In mere moments, the magic vanished, taking the small unicorn with it. Smiling with satisfaction, the unicorn pony didn’t notice the dark clouds above him before he heard a loud thunderclap. Not liking the rain one bit, he turned to head back inside, not expecting to come face-to-face with an angry, ivory alicorn.

Watson spun around and around, propelled by magic through that null-space that creatures passed through while teleporting. While he was immune to teleportation sickness, he was still getting motion sick and dizzy. Suddenly, there was a flash and he felt himself hitting the ground. Everything was blurry, but he could see the vague outline of ponies nearby.

“It’s him!” one of them shouted. “Do it before he recovers!” Without warning, Watson felt himself get teleported again. In a few moments, he hit the ground again, only to be teleported away again before he could react. Then it happened a third time, then a fourth. Although dizzy, Watsons’ mind was straight enough to realize what they were doing. The Shetlanders were putting him through a series of Link-Teleports. By using one unicorn as the sender and another as an anchor, creatures and objects could be teleported a much greater distance than with one unicorn alone. Unfortunately, Watson was too dizzy to realize anything beyond that.

After the ninth or tenth teleport, Watson hit the ground and lay there. There were no voices, no more teleports. Slowly getting to his hooves, the small unicorn looked around in a daze. As his eyes focused, he saw it had turned to night and he was in a ruin of some sort. It was a large and spacious room, lined with broken windows and overgrown pillars. Between the windows were tapestries in an advanced stage of disrepair. Each depicted a different scene, but each also had a scarlet alicorn as the most prominent figure. The dizziness left Watson right there. He knew where he was.

“Hello, child,” a smooth, velvety voice said right behind Watson. The tan unicorn stiffened at the voice, his eyes shooting wide open. He had heard that voice only once, and that was four years ago, but there was no way he could mistake it for anypony else. Slowly and fearfully, Watson turned his head and saw a large red face with deep blue eyes. The last word the Shetland unicorn said in the garden immediately came to mind, and Watson couldn’t help but say it. The name of the Princess of War.

“Malice…”

Author's Note

Egad, things escalated quickly, huh? Now what could possibly happen next?

Chapter 4: Face-to-face

Fast as he could, Watson swung his head around and smashed it into the side of the Red Lady’s face. While it didn’t hurt her, it stunned her from surprise long enough for Watson to dash forward, with the aid of a Haste spell, and leap from the cliff. As he fell, he cast a teleport to simultaneously decrease the distance to the ground and slow his descent. After getting out of his teleport, however, the small Paladin was encompassed in red magic. There was a flash of light, and he fell to the ground at the Red Lady’s hooves.

“That was not very smart,” she plainly stated. Rather than reply, Watson shot backward to gain some distance, but the Red Lady also shot forward and pinned the hapless unicorn to a tree with her foreleg. “I applaud your bravery, but bravery without intelligence is recklessness. And recklessness is what kills agents like you.” Watson just struggled to break away, but she just pressed tighter in return. “Just give up, already.”

Watson didn’t want to give up. His brother was dead, and he swore to make it home, or die trying. As a last ditch effort, Watson started charging the strongest magic blast spell he could muster. His horn didn’t glow, but he could feel it getting warm and a slight headache was coming on. The bent horn had its uses.

“I understand your loyalty to your Princess,” the scarlet alicorn continued. “I understand your loyalty to your fellow countryponies. I will give you one last chance, foal. If you return those bags to me, I will let you return to Equestria. Otherwise, well, you might not like the alternative.” She didn’t seem to notice the build-up of magic. Could she not sense it, or did she simply not care? And why was she talking? Why not just kill him right there? “What is your answer?” She growled one last time. Watson’s head was burning from the magic buildup. At this range, there was no way he’d miss. Glaring at the Princess, he released his spell. During the brief moment before the spell fired, his horn sparked. That was enough warning for the Red Lady to throw Watson to one side while she attempted to dodge.

Attempted.

The green blast shot out with enough force to send Watson flying further back. The blast itself shot out and struck the scarlet alicorn in her left wing. She shrieked in surprise and pain as one of her blade-shaped pinions was burned off. Never before had she received such a wound. It wouldn’t affect her flying, but it was a hit nonetheless. She turned, enraged, to the prone unicorn. The magic he put into that blast was the only thing keeping him conscious. He couldn’t move, and all he could see was the large red alicorn walking toward him with a face twisted in rage.

‘This is it,’ he thought to himself as his vision faded. ‘Sorry, Dawson. I couldn’t make it…’

The memories of that day flooded back into Watson’s mind. It was like that day all over again. The Red Lady was right there. He was at her mercy. The only differences were they were in a castle ruin and the red alicorn’s left wing was missing a pinion. She noticed the small unicorn looking at her wing.

“Our last meeting,” Malice smiled, “left quite the lasting impression, Watson. And you spoke my name, too. Was it my messenger who told you? Doesn’t matter.” She took a step towards Watson, he stepped back. “Don’t be afraid,” Malice said with a calm, almost motherly tone. “I only wish to talk, child.”

“Like when you wanted to talk last time?” Watson growled. Before anypony could say anything else, there was a flash of white light between the two ponies. When the light receded, there were four ponies standing with their backs to Watson. Two were Redstamp and Ditzy in their battle armor. Next to them was an armor-clad Earth Pony. Watson didn’t pay as much attention to them as he did the final pony.

Standing face-to-face with Malice was an irate Princess Celestia.

“Lady,” Celestia all but growled, “what are you doing with my subject?”

“Tia,” Malice said with a cordial tone, “so good to see you. In fact, your presence will make explaining things easier.”

“What things?” Celestia nearly roared. “You’ve abducted one of my subjects, Red. Under most circumstances, that could be taken as a hostile act, possibly an act of war. So, please, cousin, inform me of what you want with Watson.”

“I want his help,” Malice immediately replied. Everypony else was shocked into silence upon hearing this. The silence lasted so long, the scarlet alicorn quizzically asked, “Hello?”

“You…” Celestia asked, “you want his help?”

“Yours, too,” Malice admitted, “but Watson is the main one.” Celestia was again quiet.

Turning to the others, Princess Celestia ordered, “Red, Ditzy, Thom, wait here with Watson. My cousin and I need to discuss things.” With that, the two alicorns left through the door Malice had entered through. As they left, Watson turned to the others.

“What all happened on your end?” he asked.

“Well,” Redstamp explained, “Celestia saw you being ‘ported away by the messenger, and, suffice to say, she was pissed. Ditzy and I arrived in time to see her slamming the messenger into Discord over and over. After he explained what happened, she had Ditzy and I grab Thom here and follow her through the teleport. Oh, yeah, this is Thom, a new Paladin.” The Earth Pony from earlier stepped forward and nodded. He was clad in the black-and-silver armor of the Earth Pony Paladins. His mane, coat and tail were completely covered in the plate armor. His eyes were hidden by the tinted-glass visor. He looked more like an automaton than a pony. He was short, too. Not as short as Watson, but still a bit shorter than Ditzy.

“That’s Thom with an ‘H,’” the Earth Pony elaborated, “like ‘Thomas,’ but without the ‘as.’ Weird, I know, but I was born with it.
So, you’re the famous MacMaren?”

“So I’m famous now?” the tan unicorn asked.

“Only among the Paladins,” Thom-with-an-H chuckled, “Phalanx would talk about you and your brother nonstop. Speaking of which, I’m sorry about your brother.”

“No problem,” Watson waved him off. “Getting back to the subject at hoof, what all do you know about what’s going on?”

“Not much,” the Earth Pony sheepishly admitted. “I heard that the Princess of the Shetland territories was after you, presumably for what you pulled off four years ago, and I was assigned to Canterlot as additional guard, but I was off-duty when you were snatched this afternoon. Barely got my helmet on before these two whisked me away.”

“This afternoon? How long have I been gone?”

“By this time,” Ditzy replied, “it would be about nine at night.”

Wait,” Watson reasoned, “I was Link-Teleported here and it took ten jumps and six hours. From what you’re telling me, you guys took a half-hour or so to get things together. How come you guys didn’t come a half-hour later?”

“Celestia, duh!” Thom cheerfully replied. “She could whisk us to Neighpon from the Tapirus Republic in no time! True, that trip would also take a few hours, but not as long as you think. Just took a bit longer with you because she had the sense your exact position, or did you think it was mere coincidence we ‘ported in between you and what’s-her-name?” Despite his helmet, Watson could tell that Thom was smiling.

“Why are in full regalia, anyway?” Watson asked. “Even Red and Ditzy are only in light armor.”

“This stuff’s special,” Thom gave a shake, “made specifically for me. Onyx Plate with mythril chainmail (stained, of course), and a final layer of soft padding to prevent chafing. Fancy stuff.”

“Uh huh, and what do you look like?”

“An Earth Pony, of course!” Thom replied. Redstamp shook his head and turned to Watson.

“He never takes his armor off,” the white Pegasus explained. “It’s like a security blanket.”

“A security blanket made from metal!” the Earth Pony said with far too happy a tone of voice. Watson was uncertain if he was going to get along with Thom-with-an-H or be annoyed by his perkiness. “So,” Thom asked, “where exactly is this?”

“These are the ruins of the Old Palace in the Shetlands,” Watson explained. “From what I hear, The Princess of War resided here since before the first Nightmare Night.”

“There’s no way she resides here now,” Redstamp stated.

“Of course not,” the tan unicorn affirmed. “According to the Shetland libraries, there was a war two hundred years ago between the Shetlands and the Evisica. During that war, this palace was razed, although the Red Lady was so angry only a few of the Evisicans managed to survive long enough to report it.”

“Evisica?” Ditzy asked. “I’ve never heard of that place.”

“Shows who won the war,” Watson chuckled. “Their defeat was so absolute, the Evisicans up and left. I’m not sure even the Princesses know where they are now, but the old Evisican lands are now the part of the Shetland Territories bordering Glascow.”

“Cool history lesson,” Thom nodded his thanks. “Say, what do you suppose the Princesses are talking about?” As if on cue, the two Princesses came walking out from the doorway. Malice stopped just past the arch while Celestia took a few more steps. She looked down at her subjects with a serious face.

“Paladins, Watson,” she addressed, “I have just finished talking with my cousin. She requires our help with a most dire task.”

“Dire?” Watson asked.

“Yes, Watson. Dire, as in ‘end of the world’ dire.” Celestia took a breath before continuing, “I assume you all know of the importance of the Red Lady and her siblings in the future?”

“I know that she and the other children of Solarion,” Redstamp answered, “are the alicorns who’ll bring about the end of the world when your father and theirs decree it.”

“Not the whole truth,” Celestia nodded, “but all you need to know. However, events are transpiring that are speeding up the process.”

“We do not know what exactly is happening,” Malice stepped in, “but if these events are not stopped, the world will end far too early, and certain things that need doing won’t be accomplished. I can’t say too much, but if the world ends too early, there will be no chance for renewal.”

“Forgive my shortsightedness,” Watson bowed his head, “but if this is going on, how can I possibly help? What qualifies me for this?”

“Your magic,” Malice answered. “You see, whatever’s happening, it involves a necromantic rite that my Shetland agents have only found the aftermath of. Whether this rite is purposefully speeding up the End of Days, or is attempting something else and doesn’t mean to end the world, we don’t know. What we do know is that there is a binding magic at these sites, one that requires a pony to be sacrificed. But whenever anypony, myself included, tries scrying the magic, it disappears, and one cannot scry nonexistent magic. When we stop scrying, it returns.”

“Again,” Watson asked, “why me?”

“Four years ago,” the scarlet alicorn continued, “your last spell blew off one of my pinions.” She emphasized this by stretching her wings, showing the missing feather. The three active Paladins gave a simultaneous gasp of surprise as Malice continued, “Such powerful magic should’ve made your horn shine like the sun, and yet, it remained dull. I couldn’t even sense any magic until it was too late. If I could not sense your magic, maybe you could scry this enchantment. If you can learn the details, I should be able to dismantle the bind, and stop the Quickening.”

“You seriously couldn’t detect my magic?” Watson asked in disbelief. “Not even a little?”

Malice smiled. “The only thing that gave your spell away was the spark at the end. Celestia and I believe that might be due to your horn being damaged in your youth, but that accident may yet serve a purpose.”

“What about the Elements of Harmony?” Thom-with-an-H asked. “Couldn’t they help, too?”

“We’re unsure of what effect the Elements could have on the dark magic,” Celestia replied. “On top of that, even if we knew what would happen, I sent them north a few days ago to aid Princess Cadence. It’ll be at least another day before they even reach Candence, and I can’t say when they’ll be back. They can’t help here.”

“Time is of the essence,” the Princess of War stated, “and we can’t afford any delay. Watson,” she looked at the small unicorn with a pleading look, “I have not forgotten the past, and there is nothing I can do about your partner but say I had no part in his death. Please, will you aid me?”

Time seemed to slow as Watson processed what he just learned. The world was ending, and he could do something about it. The Red Lady was right there, and not trying to kill him. In fact, she was asking, almost begging for his help. The Princess of War needed his help. He, a unicorn barely bigger than a foal with a bent horn, could help save the world.

Time sped back up as Watson nodded. “I, Watson Macmaren, do swear to aid thee, Lady Malice.” All the Equestrian ponies, including Celestia, were taken aback at Watson’s reply and straightforward use of the Red Lady’s name. Even Malice was slightly surprised.

“You have my thanks, Watson,” the scarlet Princess lowered her head in gratitude.

“Before we get started, though,” Watson stated, “I have one off-topic question. Why did you spare me all those years ago?” Malice straightened up at this. She thought for a moment before giving her answer.

“I cannot tell you now, but I promise that, when this is over, I will tell my reason.”

“Copout,” Thom mumbled before Ditzy elbowed him in the ribs.

“So,” Redstamp asked, “what next?”

“The palace isn’t too far from here,” Malice replied. “I know you’re probably still wide awake from the teleports, but I propose we take the rest of the night off.” Turning to Celestia, the scarlet alicorn asked, “Will you be staying the night, as well?”

“I should be able to,” Celestia nodded. “I informed my court of my departure, and they’re used to me being gone for days on end. Being gone for a day or two won’t kill them.” With a nod of approval, Malice’s horn roared with magic and all of them were teleported away.

Watson was laying on a bed in one of the Shetland Palace’s guest rooms. It had been a very eventful day, and the tan unicorn didn’t complain about the large comfy bed he was given. In one day, he went from hiding from an alicorn to agreeing to work with that same alicorn to save the world. No pressure, right? Watson sighed as he rolled over. What would Dawson think about this? The last time either of them was inside the palace, they were disguised as errand boys, looking for a way into the Grand General’s quarters. Now, he and three other Paladins were guests of the Princess of War. Knowing Dawson, he’d probably be laughing his head off.

A knock on the door broke his train of thought. Watson got up, opened the door, and gave a gasp of surprise. In front of him was an enormous Earth Pony. Were all ponies in the Shetlands so huge? This one had grey fur and a black mane with blue eyes. His armor was black with red trim and was covered in medals. Topping it off was the most ostentatious helmet Watson had ever seen. It was also black, but had a pair of metal antlers, a fake unicorn horn and was engraved far beyond any possible use beyond showing off.

“You are Watson MacMaren,” the Earth Pony stated.

“Yes,” the tiny unicorn affirmed, “and who might you be?”

“I am Racer, the Grand General of the Shetlands,” the Shetlander introduced himself. “There are things we need to discuss, Equestrian.” Before anything else could be said, Racer walked past (almost over, actually) Watson into the room. “I have heard of Her Highness’ request for your aid. I also remember you were one of the agents who infiltrated the castle four years ago.” He leaned down to glare into Watson’s eyes. “Know this, pipsqueak. If you make any attempt to harm our Lady, I will personally grind you into the floor.”

“You can relax,” Watson reassured the much larger General, “I mean Malice no-” In the blink of an eye, Racer struck Watson across the face, sending him flying across the room.

“You will never,” Racer growled, “never, call the Red Lady by name, Equestrian. You will call her the Red Lady or Her Highness. Call her by name one more time, I break your jaw. Do we have an understanding?” Watson got to his feet and shook his head in pain.

“Yes,” he nodded, “I believe we do.”

“Good.” Racer stepped back out into the hallway. “Remember that, runt.” As the door closed, Watson dunked his head in the sink. Forget later, it felt like his jaw was broken now. Pulling his head out and shaking the water off, Watson could tell he and Racer would get along just fine. What a nice way to end the day. It was then when he remembered something. A memory that filled Watson with an indescribable hatred. Racer was there when Dawson died. No, he was not ‘just’ there. His role in Dawson’s death was far more personal.

“And what are you doing here?” Malice asked her General just outside Watson’s room.

“Milady,” the Earth Pony bowed, “I was going over things with our guest, nothing more.”

“What sort of things?” she asked with a hint of venom in her voice.

“I was, um, telling him not to harm you. I thought you would not want a repeat of four years ago,” Racer explained while gesturing to Malice’s missing pinion.

“I have no fear of that,” Malice smiled. “He swore that he would provide aid. He even called me by name when he did it as a sign of his conviction.”

“He did?” Racer asked in disbelief. “And you did not find it disrespectful?”

“Why would I?” the scarlet alicorn asked. “It’s been so long since anypony’s called me by name, it’s actually quite refreshing.” She dropped the smile. “Did you do something else?”

“Uh, no, your Majesty.” The Earth Pony took a step back as he said, “Forgive me, but there is a matter I must attend to. Rest well, Milady.” As he trotted off, Malice couldn’t help but feel suspicious. Turning to the door, she was about to open it before feeling an aura of hatred from it. Was Watson making that? She cast a spell to scry the source of this aura and, sure enough, it was Watson. A bit more scrying, and she found out why he was feeling such hatred. Not only had Racer’s “going over things” been absolutely disrespectful, she also saw a brief memory. One that made her eyes well up from the emotions that flooded into her.

Watson was standing around a nearby corner, weighed down by four saddlebags. He was watching as three Shetland ponies approached the prone Dawson. Two were unicorns bearing the badges of High Mages.

The last one was Racer.

The three ponies stood over Dawson, who lifted his head to talk to Racer. Watson couldn’t hear what was being said, but Racer’s voice grew increasingly louder and angrier. In the end, Dawson fired one last spell at Racer, who narrowly dodged the thin purple beam. Angry at this, Racer said one last word before hitting the button on one of gauntlets. A large blade emerged from the side and Racer drove it deep into Dawson’s side. The fallen unicorn gave a piercing scream that startled the two Shetland unicorns and nearly made Watson scream in return. Without any remorse, Racer retracted the blade, issued an order to the unicorns and galloped away while the two unicorns went the other way.

Watson stood in place for several minutes. The scream had long since ended, but it still took its toll on Watson’s psyche. His brother was dead.

The memory ended as quickly as it started. Malice was rooted to the spot with tears in her eyes. His partner four years ago was his brother? Why had Celestia not told her this earlier, when they spoke in the old palace? Or in any of the letters they sent to each other over the years?

Why didn’t Celestia tell her this four years ago, when they spoke on Percheron Ridge?

Author's Note

Whaddya think? Good? Bad? Weird? Feel free to let me know!

Chapter 6: Monstrosity

The castle was large. Even having suffered from two centuries of disuse, it remained sturdy. Few of the walls or structures were crumbling, but all were covered in moss and vines. One of the towers had fallen over, but that was due to part of the cliff it sat on collapsing. The other four towers stood straight as the day they were built. The roof of the main keep was holey, but enough remained for the place to be a viable shelter from all but the worst storms.

This was Watson's first view of the Grand Palace of Evisica.

With him were Ditzy, Redstamp and Thom. Standing behind them were six members of the Shetland Elite Guard, two from each race of pony. They were standing on a hill a few hundred yards from the castle. The castle was on a hill surrounded by trees. It looked like something out of a storybook, but gave off a less-than-inviting feeling.

"Well," the armor-clad Thom stated, "that's kinda creepy."

"Let's go," Watson said as he trotted down the hill towards the castle. The other nine ponies followed him. The forest seemed to be teeming with life, until they reached the castle. As they walked up the path to the doors, the sounds of the forest died off. The two pegasi flew off to scout around the outside. As they got closer, Watson could see the massive castle doors didn't just rot away. Something had blown them off their hinges. As the ponies stepped through the doorway, Watson saw that the stone around the doorframe looked melted. One of the Shetland ponies noticed Watson's observation.

"During the war," the female Earth Pony explained, "the Evisicans burned Malice's palace. As you can see, she came to personally return the favor two hundred years ago."

"And blasted the doors clean off," one of the unicorns, one with green fur, finished. "Wish I could've seen it."

"Well," Thom spoke up, "I wish we could've seen this place in better shape." He nudged the mossy remains of what looked like a chair. "Just look at this. Everything's so…weird. It doesn't look like it was built by ponies, does it?"

"Now that you mention it," Redstamp looked at some of the ruined furniture, "all this stuff seems a bit too…thick. Like they were supposed to support something much heavier than a pony." Ditzy flew up to a nearby balcony and looked around.

"These windows are way too high for even most Earth Ponies!" she exclaimed. Looking down at the Shetland ponies, she asked, "What were the Evisica, anyway?"

"I'm afraid we really don't know," the other unicorn guard, who had maroon fur, replied. "None of us were alive back then, and pretty much everything beyond the name and former location of the Evisica Kingdom is highly classified."

"Although," the green unicorn said, "my grandfather fought in the war."

"Two hundred years ago?" Thom asked in shock.

"Unicorns live a long time," the green one continued, "around 150 years. I never got to meet him, but he told my parents about his time in the war, and they told me in turn." She turned to look at one of the ruined chairs. "He said that the Evisica were not like any other race in the known world."

"Hey!" the female Earth Pony called from further into the room. "There's something here!" the group ran over to where the Earth Pony was looking. It was a slab of stone, but the knight gave one solid kick and it tipped over, revealing a staircase going down.

"Okay," Thom comically asked, "who wants to go down the creepy, dark staircase first?"

"I'll go," the maroon unicorn stepped forward. His horn lit up with a white light as he said, "None of us brought lamps, and I can intercept any threats that might be here. I've heard of your dysfunctional horn, Watson, and I'd rather not risk having you try and hold a Light spell only to have it spark into a Fireball." As much as Watson disliked this thought, he couldn't disagree. His horn did have a nasty habit of messing up if he had to cast a prolonged spell. Looking at the other unicorn and the female Earth Pony, the maroon unicorn ordered, "You two wait here, in case the pegasi need to find us. We shouldn't be long."

The group descended into the dark stairway. The stairway was so wide they could almost stand in rows of two, and the steps were a little taller than what they were used to. The light from the maroon unicorn lit up just enough for them to see where to step. He was in front, and behind him was Thom. Behind him were Redstamp and Watson while Ditzy and the male Earth Pony made up the rear. No one spoke for the whole descent. When they reached the bottom, Thom looked back up the stairs. The entrance was just a small dot of light.

"Geez," the armored pony exclaimed, "how far down are we?"

"Too far," Watson replied. "I don't like it. If we need to make a hasty retreat…"

"Let's hope we don't have too." The Shetland unicorn made more light, and they saw they were in a large room. There were broad, round pillars at regular intervals, but a few were damaged. One was blown in half. Time wasn't the culprit here. As the light spread, they could see this room had only one other exit. The doorway was completely dark, like somepony hung a sheet over it. Watson could feel the magic coming from it. Somepony had purposefully cast a Darkness spell there. That was quite unsettling.

Far more unsettling was the giant magic array on the floor.

All the ponies gasped as they saw the array. It was an exact duplicate of the array Malice illustrated a few days back, except it was muchlarger. Whereas the circle in the cave could barely accommodate one body, this one could cover the whole group and still leave room for at least a dozen more. The circle itself glowed with magic, so even the multitude of bloodstains couldn't hide its lines. The smell was bad enough, a sign it had been used recently, but the magic coming off the circle was making Watson nauseous. There was something wrong with this magic.

The Shetland unicorn shook himself back to his senses (the smell and bad magic was clearly affecting him, too) and said, "We should move on, but quietly. A lot of that blood's fresh."

"Hello?" a voice called out from the darkened doorway. "Is somepony there?" Before anypony else acted, the two Shetlanders jumped between the Equestrians and the doorway.

"Who's there?" the Earth Pony hollered.

"You," the voice called out again, "you're not him! Thank Solarion! Please, help!" Watson could hear the fear in this stallion's voice. Fear that no amount of training could hope to imitate.

"His fear is genuine," the small unicorn announced to the group.

"Geez," Thom-with-an-H groaned, "even I could tell that!" Without any more words, the six ponies dashed to the doorway and went straight through the darkness. It seemed to be set up so that nopony could see what was on the other side, nothing more. What they saw upon passing through the curtain of darkness, though, was enough to make even the Shetlanders stop dead in their tracks.

The chamber was brightly lit. It was a moderately-sized chamber, about the size of Sugarcube Corner. Along the walls were cages, and in these cages were more bloodstains. Some of them were accompanied by a dead pony. Most looked like they were simply stabbed by some sharp object, but a few were dismembered, and a few of those were missing a few pieces. Only two cages were still locked and closed. One held a pony cadaver covered in wounds. The other held a blue stallion with a look of abject terror.

"You're not them!" he smiled with tears in his eyes. "Please, please help me!"

"Don't worry!" Watson said as he and Thom rushed to the cage door. "We'll get you out in a minute."

"Get me out?" the stallion asked with a voice of fear. "No, no, you can't do that."

"What?" Ditzy asked. "How can we help you if we can't get you out?"

"You have to kill me."

This reply caught everypony by surprise. Did he really just say that?

"Did you really just say that?" Watson asked. "Why do you have to die?"

"Because of what he did," the stallion said before giving a groan of pain. "Please, I don't want to change!"

"Change into what?" the amber-furred Shetland Earth Pony asked. "Who did this to you?"

"It was a unicorn," the stallion groaned. "I couldn't see his face, but he used magic. Said something about perverting life…groan…to bait something…" He looked at the ponies with tears streaming down his face. "Please, kill me before it's too late!" He gestured to the dead pony in the other locked cage and continued, "He was able to kill himself in time, but I can't! I can't kill myself! Please!" As he finished his request, the blue stallion screamed. Everypony stepped back as his legs seemed to elongate. As he screamed, fangs started protruding from his mouth, and the skin on his back started to tear apart. Without another word, the Shetland unicorn shot a blast straight through the stallion's chest and the Earth Pony drew a blade and sliced through the bars and the stallion's neck in one swing. Watson gritted his teeth as the unfortunate pony's body fell to the floor. There was nothing else they could've done, but Watson still felt bad. If they had gotten here sooner…

"Trouble!" Redstamp shouted. Everypony turned towards the white Pegasus and were aghast at what they saw. There was a large, lanky creature standing at the other end of the room. It was a sickly shade of green. It stood on all fours, but its front legs ended in hands, two for each leg. Its back legs started normal, but turned into tentacles as they went along. Its head was long and wide, like and alligator. Its mouth was lined with curved, occasionally twisted, fangs. What scared everypony the most, though, was the perfectly normal-looking pony head jutting out from this creature's forehead.

"He was gonna turn into that?" Ditzy shrieked what everypony was thinking. The thing that used to be a pony gave an unearthly roar and charged at the ponies. The pegasi flew up as Thom and the other Earth Pony met its charge. Despite there being two of them, the two Earth Ponies barely held the monstrosity in place. Ditzy and Redstamp both slammed into the sides of its head while Watson and the other unicorn simultaneously charged up their horns. The beast gave a bubbling sound as one pair of hands disappeared into its legs and reemerged from its head, trying to claw at the swiftly-dodging pegasi. It turned to bite at Thom, but gave a roar of pain as a few of its fangs broke on Thom's armor.

"Move!" The Shetland unicorn ordered as his and Watson's spells finished charging. Everypony moved to one side or the other as the two unicorns fired their spells. On one side, red Shetland lightning arced across the beast while the other side was burned in green fire. The monster wasn't dead yet, however, but even the normal pony head on it reacted to the magic. It crumpled to the floor and Thom punched it with enough force to knock it over. The Shetland Earth Pony drew a blade on his foreleg and stabbed it through the monster's eye. The two pegasi slammed down one more time before Watson and the Shetland unicorn fired one last spell. The combined fire spells was enough to reduce the monster to a pile of ash. As it disintegrated, the ponies caught their breath.

"That…" the Shetland Earth Pony said between breathing, "that was not pleasant."

"You can say that again," Redstamp agreed. "I'm not sure which is worse, that something like this existed…"

"Or," Watson finished, "that somepony made that." He didn't like this at all. The pony that was hastening the Last Days was murdering ponies or, even worse, making them into monsters. The blue stallion said it was being done as a perversion of life to bait something. What would require all this to be baited?

"We'd better get a move-on," the Shetland unicorn stated. "The Princess must hear about this. Judging from what we've seen, the culprit must return here on a fairly regular basis."

"Won't they stop, though?" the cross-eyed Ditzy asked. "I mean, we've killed two subjects of theirs. When they next come by, he would undoubtedly figure that we know where they operate. Wouldn't he just move away?"

"A clever deduction," the Earth Pony Knight announced. "And possibly a truthful one, but look at the options. If he moves his operation elsewhere, it'll take time for him to set things up. Time we can use to organize a strike team so that, when we find his next hidey-hole, we can take him down right there. Another option is dependent on the circle we saw outside." The small herd walked back to the stairs as the Shetlander continued, "It is quite a big circle. Now, did the unicorn we're looking for make it, or find it here? It could be he found it, but lacks the ability to copy it."

"There was a smaller version at each of the crime scenes," the maroon unicorn countered.

"But those were small," the Thom replied to the defense of the Shetland Earth Pony. "I may be an Earth Pony, but I know that it would take a substantial amount of magic just to lay down the anchor for a big circle's magic. It would take at least ten unicorns of, say, Academy Mage caliber to set one up." Turning to the Earth Shetland, the armored Equestrian asked, "Your country keeps tabs on all Mages, correct?"

"Indeed."

"Well, if the group decides to move, wouldn't a movement of multiple Mage Unicorns be unusual?"

"You have a point," the Shetland unicorn admitted. "But, there hasn't been any unusual movements among the Mages for longer than I've been a knight." They reached the stairs and started up as he continued, "Most just stay in their posts. A few are free-roaming, yes, but those guys are Special Ops. They report to the Red Lady directly. If any of them were in this group of psychos, she would've been able to tell. Besides, they rarely travel in groups of more than three. If they assemble in a large group, it's within the castle itself."

"What if they're not Mages?" Watson asked. "What if they're independent unicorns who don't work for the Lady?"

"All unicorns who become magically powerful enough must register as such," the Earth Shetland replied. "They aren't forced into being Mages, but they are still monitored, and they don't have access to the archives that would reveal this place. It would have to be Mages."

"The point is," Thom got things back on track, "the government would notice an assembly of powerful unicorns at wherever they decide to move. When that'd happen, the Princess could send said strike team to catch them all."

"No catching," the maroon unicorn denied. "Such experimentation on normal creatures is bad enough, but such work on ponies, live or dead, is a mandatory death penalty with no chance of leniency." At this point, everypony just stopped. There were sounds of fighting further up. "RUN!" Going full gallop, the ponies sped up the stairs and reached the main room in time to see the Earth Pony that was left behind smash in the head of a monster similar to the one downstairs.

With no time to think, all the ponies from downstairs threw themselves at the nearest monsters. There were six more, and none of them looked the same. Different head shapes, different number of limbs, the only thing they had in common was that they all had some part of a normal pony jutting out of them. The two Shetland pegasi were also inside, fighting a monster that could fly, but the green unicorn was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Saria?" The maroon unicorn asked the female Earth Pony.

"Got wounded when these things showed up!" she replied. "Shoved her in a closet where these things can't get him! You have any idea what these things are?"

"They used to be ponies!" Watson hollered as he blasted an arm off. "Whoever's behind the murders also made these guys!"

"For real?" One of the pegasi asked after smashing the flying monster into the floor.

"We witnessed a partial transformation!" the amber Earth Pony screamed as he bucked a green monster away. "It was not cool!" There was a flash of light and one of the monsters disintegrated. The female green unicorn from earlier was standing with her back to a wall. Watson could see the bloodied fur where she had been wounded, but the wound itself seemed to be gone.

"I'm not done yet!" she roared as she shot a pale blue beam that bisected another monster. She didn't notice another monster coming down at her until Redstamp and Ditzy smashed it into the wall.

"Doesn't it seem like there are more of these guys now?" Ditzy asked. She was right. Excluding the dead monsters (which were slowly crumbling into ash), there were now ten monsters coming in from the outside. Things were beginning to look a bit grim.

He sped through the sky almost as fast as that rainbow Pegasus he met. The ground was little more than a blur, but he could feel the lines of the dying land. As he followed them, he saw a large castle in the distance. When did that get there? It certainly wasn't there last time he was here. Admittedly, that was more than a thousand years ago, but you'd think people would leave a lone hill-was that magic?

He stopped in midair. Someone was using a lot of magic there. Or maybe a lot of somebody's were using magic, he couldn't tell. Worse yet, he could feel the magic that was killing the land was coming from that castle.

Bollocks.

He flew to the castle as fast as he could go. As he got close, a rancid smell hit his nose. A sick, twisted something-or-rather flew at him from the castle. What the Chasm was that? Curling his lip in disgust, he swatted the critter out of the air. It flew back up at him, but suffered an unfortunate accident when a boulder fell on it. He smiled as the nasty thing smashed into the ground and crumbled away. He may not be as strong, but he still had some tricks. With no more flying monsters in sight, he continued soaring to the castle.

Malice was in her study, looking out the window. The Grand Palace of Evisica was too far for even her to see, but that didn't stop her from gazing in its direction. It had been nearly a week since the four Paladins left for that ruin with four of her guard. She knew it would likely be another day before she got any news, and this made her the least bit antsy.

"Milady," a servant stepped into the study, "there is somepony here to see you."

"Who is it?" the scarlet Princess asked.

"She wouldn't give her name," the servant unicorn answered. "She would only say she's your foalsitter. Should I send her away?"

"Not at all," Malice smiled. "I've wanted to talk to her for a while." With a bow, the servant boy left. A few minutes passed and an elderly pony stepped into the study. She had a white coat that shimmered silver, and her mane was a pale gold. Her horn was long, pale lavender and completely smooth. She wore a cloak that was little more than rags sewn together.

"It's so good to see you again," the Red Lady smiled. As she hugged the elderly pony, Malice could feel the bulges underneath the cloak where she hid her wings.

"It's good to see you, too," the old alicorn said with a voice that sounded much younger than she looked. "Now, let me get a good look at you." Holding Malice at foreleg's length, Malice's foalsitter scrutinized her with emerald green eyes that revealed a still-sharp mind.

"You've grown to be quite beautiful, Millie," the older alicorn smiled. "It's almost hard to believe the scrappy daughter of Solarion could grow up into somepony like you." Her eyes twinkled as she said, "I still remember when you put glue into Celestia's mane."

"Eij!" Malice exclaimed. "That was millennia ago! I've changed!" The elderly alicorn just laughed.

"I know," Eij nodded, "I know." She sighed before continuing, "It's been too long, Millie. You've grown up so fast."

"No faster than the others," The scarlet alicorn walked back to the desk and pulled out a tall bottle and a pair of glasses. "Want any? It's my last bottle of Old Rhubarb."

"Didn't know you still had any of that stuff," Eij said in complete surprise. "I used up my last bottle back when Cadence was born." Accepting a proffered glass, the older alicorn took an appreciative sip. "How is Cadence, anyway?"

"I heard she's doing fine," Malice replied. "She got married a while ago, and I just got word she's running the Crystal Kingdom now."

"Sombra's old haunt? I thought that place was sealed up."

"Not anymore." Malice took another sip and continued, "By the way, have you heard anything about, well…"

"The world's hastening?" Eij finished. "Malice, I'm the Lady of Old Age! Of course I can feel it. Don't know what exactly's causing it, but I can feel the world's aging faster than it should. Do you have any idea?" Malice nodded and told her everything she knew. From when she first noticed the world's pulse speeding up, to when she and Watson scryed the circle, to…

"At the moment, Watson and his companions are investigating the old Evisica palace. My sense can't stretch that far for very long, so I can't quite tell what's going on there." Malice finished her narrative and Eij poured herself another glass of wine. Malice waited as Eij took a few sips, processing everything she just learned.

"You place a lot of trust into this Watson character," Eij finally said. "It is…unusual for you. What has this Watson done to earn such trust?" Before she could answer, Malice felt something in the back of her mind. Someone was using intense magic somewhere.

"Pardon me." The scarlet alicorn walked to the window and focused her senses toward the palace. There was fight going on there. What were those things? She gasped when she saw these creatures were attacking her team as they fought their way out of the palace. They were all alive, that was a good sign, but many of them were in a bad way. She gasped as she saw a couple of them get knocked through the air by a particularly large one. "Eij, please forgive me, but there is an important matter I must attend to!" Without another word, Malice disappeared in a flash of red light. Eij was alone in the study. Pouring herself another glass of wine, Eij sipped and smiled. When did Malice become so caring?

Watson pulled himself to his hooves as the large monster that sent him and one of the Shetlanders flying was brought low by Thom's timely intervention. The monster clutched the stub that used to be its leg as it toppled over. One of the Shetland Earth Ponies stabbed it through the eye when it was low enough. It gave a last grunt before crumbling into ash. At least these monsters had the decency to crumble upon death, rather than stay intact and fall on their killers. There were only three monsters left, but everypony was in bad shape. Redstamp's wing was broken, so he had to resort to ground fighting. Ditzy Doo could still fly, but blood pouring from a gash on her head obscured her vision. Thom's armor was dented, and blood poured from between a few plates. The Shetland ponies were no better. The pegasi were crippled and Saria had fainted from blood loss earlier. It was a miracle everypony was alive, and Watson knew how miracles could end in the blink of an eye.

One of the last monsters gave a roar and charged at Ditzy. She dodged, but was surprised that the monster kept going past her. With another look, she saw it was sliding on some pink substance that wasn't there before. The monster slid into the wall, hitting it with enough force to cause part of it to fall on the monster, squishing it flat. The second monster gave a squeal of surprise as a different pink substance, one which was wispy, appeared around it and enveloped it. Leaving only the head out, the pink stuff hardened, effectively holding the monster in place long enough for the male Shetland unicorn to blast a hole through its head. The last monster hesitated at the death of its last two companions. It stood still long enough for a giant stone piano to fall on it, killing it instantly.

The battle's sudden end caught everypony by surprise. They all stood (or sat in some cases) in confusion at what just happened. Looking between the broken wall, the pink wrappy-stuff and the stone piano, all the ponies were in a state of confused shock.

"What just happened?" Thom asked.

"I think we won," Ditzy said as she landed.

"I can see that," Thom agreed, "but how?"

"Wait a minute," Watson recovered. He ran over to the slippery pink substance and touched it with his hoof. "This is soap." Running to the hardened pink substance, he poked it and pulled off a small bundle. He sniffed it, and his eyes widened. "This is cotton candy." He looked at the stone piano, but didn't say anything, figuring it was self-explanatory.

"Soap, cotton candy, and a piano?" one of the Shetlanders asked. "We were saved by soap, cotton candy and a stone piano?"

"No…" Watson gasped. He knew of only one person, one entity, who would, and has, used such tactics.

"You know," a snide voice said from behind everypony, "it's rude to spit on people, even if they're a statue." Most of the ponies whipped around while Watson slowly turned to see who was talking. When he saw who it was, he gave a gasp.

"You…" the tiny unicorn exhaled.

"Yes, me," the new arrival bowed. "In case you don't know who I am, which I'm certain the little unicorn there does, my name is Discord, Lord of Chaos."

Author's Note

YAY! Chapter 6! Full of action, fighting and a little chaos...
Please leave comments! I like hearing from the readers!

Chapter 7: True Circle

Hello! Sorry it took so long to get this out! I recently got the MMD Program and have been putting around in that. Got some vids on Youtube if you're interested.

Anyway, welcome back to the Inventor and the Red Lady! This chapter will mostly be a flashback. There will be some dialogue between Discord and Malice, along with an explanation of why he helped out.

Sorry if you think it is of lower quality than past chapters. I do not own MLP. I only own the OC's we see here (although one OC mentioned here actually belongs to Triforce-Otaku of DA). Enjoy!

There was fire. And smoke. Off in the distance he could see the Shetland capital of Vermillion, or at least what was left of it. The once great walls were crumbling and broken. The towers that still stood were alight with fire, burning like giant torches. The palace itself was a flaming husk. Even out here, he could see the devastation that Vermillion had gone through. Even out here, he could hear the screams of the dying.

The hills surrounding Vermillion were covered with the dead. Ponies, gryphons, dragons, Minotaur, all races were seen among the dead. Covered in armor and still gripping their weapons, these people had all died in a single, giant battle. A battle none won. Here and there, he saw someone who was still alive. To his left he could hear the rasping gasps of a great silver dragon, with its' chest riddled with spears and swords. To his right was a Pegasus, missing a wing and trying to stand up. Past the Pegasus was a unicorn who was just crying from the pain as she lay on the ground. He couldn't bear to look at her wounds. It was then when he saw her.

The Red Lady was walking through this field of carnage, her expression one of sorrow mixed with shock. She surveyed the area, but took no notice of him. She treaded through the field, stepping between the bodies until she saw a certain body on the ground. She knelt down next to the body and tears poured from her eyes. Who was this body that made the Princess of War cry? As he got closer, he saw the pony she knelt by and gasped. Wasn't that-?

Malice said a few words before giving the most terrifying, most sorrowful, scream he ever heard.

Watson awoke with a jerk. The train must've hit a warp in the rail. As much as the small inventor unicorn liked trains, he did not always enjoy traveling by train. Getting to his hooves, he walked out of his room and hobbled his way to the dining car. As he opened the door, he saw Redstamp and Ditzy eating together. Thom was nowhere to be seen.

"Morning, sunshine," the cross-eyed Paladin greeted the groggy unicorn. "Sleep well?"

"Not especially," Watson replied. "Where's Thom?"

"Getting some air," Redstamp replied. "He apparently didn't sleep well, either. Think he threw up."

"Maybe there's a bug going around," Ditzy suggested with a concerned voice.

"Hope not," Watson voiced. It had been six days since that terrible day at the Evisica Palace. Six days since he and his friends here nearly died. Six days since the Lord of Chaos saved their lives…

Six days earlier…

"Discord?" Redstamp asked in disbelief. "As in the Discord?"

"Yes," the Draconequus nodded. "The one and only." At this point, he sat down on a spontaneously-generated chair made from saltwater toffees. "Might want to get your ears cleaned, little Pegasus." Turning to Ditzy, he asked, "And how is the descendant of Princess Aurora doing?"

"Pardon?" the cross-eyed Paladin asked.

"Poor girl." Discord rose from his throne (which inexplicably exploded into confetti) and hovered over the confused Ditzy Doo as he continued, "Don't even know your own family history, do you? Oh well. I guess love poisons aren't exactly a popular topic."

"Why are you here?" Watson asked firmly.

"Isn't it obvious?" Discord asked as he drank the glass from around some chocolate milk. "Something nasty was happening here, so I came to investigate."

"But," one of the Shetland knights asked, "if you're the Lord of Chaos, why help us?"

"Wasn't helping you," Discord scoffed, "Those monsters reeked like a landfill, so they had to go. Besides, I could very well ask you why you're here, at the center of it all." Before anypony else could ask anything, there was a flash of red light and Malice came running up with a look of worry.

"Is everypony alright?" Malice asked with sincere concern. "I saw what was…" She saw what was left of the battle, eyed the cotton candy mound suspiciously before noticing the non-pony. "DISCORD!" The Draconequus gave a shrill cry and curled up behind Watson, as though he was trying to hide (and failing). "What are you doing here, WORM!?"

"Don't let her get me!" Discord cried as he set his hands on Watson's back. His snide tone actually had a hint of fear.

"Get off," the small unicorn shook the Draconequus' hands off as he stepped to the side. "Why are you afraid, anyway?"

"Ever wonder how I lost this tooth?"

"I'm waiting for an answer!" the scarlet alicorn yelled as her horn roared with magic.

"I came to investigate the magic in this place!" Discord roared back. "In case you haven't noticed, there's some powerful magic going on around here!"

"He's right," Thom announced. "We've seen it." A few tense moments passed as Malice stood still, her horn still shining. Soon, the magic faded and the roar died down. She then turned to Thom.

"Explain."

The next half-hour was spent by Thom explaining everything they had discovered. The magic array underneath the castle, the grisly origins of the monsters, and what they had discussed before the big fight. What everypony found amazing was that Discord sat on his wedding-cake-shaped throne for the whole report without making a single interruption. Part-way through, the two Shetland Earth Ponies helped a wounded Saria wobble to Malice, who teleported her back to Vermillion. As Thom finished his narrative, the Princess of War turned to Discord and asked, "And you?"

"Like I said," Discord repeated, "I came to investigate the source of the magic infecting the ground between here and Equestria."

"What?"

"Can't you feel it?" Discord shuddered. "The ground underneath this place is dying. I don't just mean blight. I mean actual dying. If this magic goes unobstructed, there will be a several-hundred-mile-wide circle where the ground will be just…dead. No plants will grow, animals would slowly die, not even magic would function in it."

"You mean to say," Malice asked, "that somepony is making a Ghost Circle?"

"Not quite," Discord denied. Turning to the other ponies, he explained, "By Ghost Circles, the Princess means areas where everything that exists within, be it life or magic, is sucked away to another place or object. And while the dying ground is losing life and magic, it is not being sucked away to anywhere I can sense. It is simply…gone. Removed from existence. And that's not all.

"While I was flying here, I got high enough to notice something." Discord started scratching a design into the nearby stone wall. "I could only sense a bit because of its magnitude, but the dying parts came in a pattern. Clearly, somepony arranged this." He stepped away from the wall, letting everypony see what he saw. It was an incomplete picture, but there was enough for everypony to immediately know what it was.

"That is the array Watson and I scryed a few days back!" Malice announced.

"And there's a big version underneath the castle," Thom repeated. "Wait…" He pulled out a map of Equestria and the surrounding nations and asked Discord, "How big was the bit you saw?"

"About like this," Discord plucked one of his wing feathers and started drawing as much of the array he saw in the air over the map. "The long part here almost reached Canterlot, which is what alerted me to this in the first place. Then it curved around like this…and there we go."

Thom turned to Malice and asked, "Think you can fill in what's missing?" As Malice did so, Watson realized what Thom was doing. And that thought scared him. When the array was finished, Thom pulled out a small notepad and started flipping through it, referencing to the map every few seconds.

"I knew it," the armor-clad Earth Pony said. "The first murder we know about happened around here," Thom pointed at a part of the map which was covered by a starred-circle, "then here," another spot, "then here, the list goes on. Whoever's doing this is using these murders to make this bigger circle. Each death happened at a major point on this array." Malice pointed at several spots on the array.

"There have been no murders at these places. Perhaps we can intercept them before the act can be done."

"We won't be needing everyone for that," Discord stated.

"We?" Ditzy asked.

"You can assign some ponies to watch those areas," Discord continued, "and send some to try and figure out how to erase the circle."

"I've made many attempts to erase these circles," the scarlet Princess stated, "but none have succeeded."

"You haven't been doing them properly," Discord replied with no hint of his usual snide tone. He was completely serious here. "This sort of array is something that requires a specific manipulations of magic to alter. Who first came up with this circle?"

"The Evisica."

"That name sounds familiar."

"They appeared 280 years ago, but were chased off a few decades after that. How could you have heard of them?" Malice asked.

"The last time I broke out," the Lord of Chaos explained, "I tried to visit some of my old haunts. One was being lived in by a very antisocial Pegasus. Snaplock? No, Brokenkeys! Yeah, he had a lot of scrolls and books. And one, a 'pride and joy' as he put it, was an Evisica history book."

"And how did he get that?" Malice asked. "I made certain all the Evisica books were placed in my archives."

"Well, you missed one," Discord chuckled. "You can send some ponies to his place in Manehatten, while others can try to intercept these next murders. I, meanwhile, will be doing some of my own snooping."

"Question," Watson asked, "why are you helping? Being the intelligent thing you are, you must know that this world is speeding up the end of the world. Last I checked, ending worlds tend to be pretty chaotic. Why would you want to stop this?" Discord regarded the small unicorn coolly.

"Yes," Discord admitted, "the Last Days will be chaotic, but only if done properly. What's happening here will not be chaos. It is sheer lunacy."

"Manehatten," Thom asked, "you sure it's Manehatten?"

"Positive," Discord asked, "although now that you ask that, I just remembered that Brokenkeys was talking about moving to another place in that city. Don't know where his new place is, though."

"Manehatten is huge," Redstamp groaned. "How are we gonna find one Pegasus in a city of more than a hundred thousand?"

I can do it," Thom sighed. "I've got…connections in that city. Connections who can find anypony."

"That's great!" Ditzy cheered. "But, why do you sound depressed?"

"You'll learn when we get there," the Earth Pony gloomily replied. "Just don't hate me for it."

Thom had been despondent for most of the trip. Not even the gaming car could lift Thom's mood. He mostly stayed in his room up until the past few days. Watson had tried to make conversation, and Thom had tried to be cheerful, but he couldn't hide the depression in his voice. Watson watched as Thom went back to his room with his head hung low. The last sentence he spoke in the palace ruins stayed on Watsons's mind. What was in Manehatten that would make anypony hate this cheerful pony? What was there that would make this cheerful pony depressed. It was still a few days until they reached Manehatten, and Watson was losing patience.

As the unicorn made his way back to his room, he bumped into Redstamp, who smile was way to big to suit the mood. "What's with the smile?" Watson asked.

"I think I'm in love," Redstamp whispered.

"Really?" Watson asked. "With whom?"

"Ditzy Doo."

"WHAT!?" Watson did not expect to hear that. He knew they had been hanging out together since this assignment started, but for such an admission…

"You drank Sowaka, didn't you?" Watson asked. "You know that stuff's only for gryphons."

"I drank nothing," Redstamp chuckled. "I think this is the real deal. Ditzy's just, well, awesome. She beat me in a hoof-wrestling game, she's pretty, and those eyes are just beautiful! Hey, you've lived in Ponyville for the past few years. Is she single?"

"She's a widow," Watson explained, "with two daughters. Play nice."

"Don't worry," Redstamp beamed, "I will. Say, you never answered that last question I asked you back in Ponyville."

"Which question?"

"Got any girlfriends?"

"RED!" Watson exclaimed.

"I take it that's a no." Walking past Watson to his room, Redstamp's parting remark was, "Don't worry, you'll find one eventually!" The white Pegasus gave a laugh as he closed the door. Watson just sighed. It was nice to know Redstamp was doing fine. As he entered his room and turned off the lights, he got to thinking about what red said. Maybe after this assignment was over, he might try asking some mares out. As he thought this, Malice came to mind. Why was he so stuck on her? It didn't make any sense.

There was fire again. Not quite as much smoke, though. Looking around, he saw he was somewhere else. As he turned a corner, he saw where he was. This ruined city was not Vermillion.

It was Canterlot.

The castle was crumbling. Celestia's tower was gone, like something ripped it off. The walls were blown apart, and a dead dragon hung from one. There weren't as many bodies as the Vermillion dream, but there were still a lot. As he walked towards the castle, he heard the sound of breaking glass to his right. He turned just fast enough to see a small foal run down an alleyway with a bit of food in their mouth. He gave a sigh. How long would that foal have to live in such misery? Continuing to the castle, he saw a familiar alicorn.

Once again, Malice was surveying the destruction. The castle courtyard was filled with bodies, some piled on top of others. When she saw a hoof sticking out from beneath a dead Minotaur, the scarlet alicorn gasped. She tore the Minotaur from his resting place and, once again, cried when she saw the pony that now lay at her feet. She fell to the ground, just like last time, and screamed.

The scream shook Thom awake. That was the third dream in as many days, and Thom did not like that one bit. Walking to the sink and splashing his face with water, Thom cursed at the facial markings that lit up the washroom. It was clear his powers were at fault here. Why did he have to be like this?

Malice awoke to the sound of her bedchamber doors flying open. She saw four guards rush to her bed with torches and light spells active.

"What is the matter, your Highness?" the lead guard asked. She didn't answer immediately. The guards waited patiently as she caught her breath and let her sweat diminish.

"Nothing," she finally answered. "Just a bad dream, like the other nights. You may return to your posts." With a bow, the guards left. Malice remained sitting in her bed, going over what she saw in this dream. It was Canterlot this time, but the fires and death were the same. She was told there would be dreams like this, but not until the final few weeks before the end of the world.

They were running out of time.

As she contemplated this, one thing came to mind. That pony she saw in her dreams. The pony she looked for in hopes they would be alive. The one whose death always filled her with indescribable sorrow and pain.

Why was it Watson?

Ooooooh, it was Malice having these dreams, and THOM was eavesdropping. Thom has connections in Manehatten? He has weird powers, despite being an Earth Pony? WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? WHO'S PILOTING THIS STORY?

Oh, that's me.

Well, I'll try to get chp 8 out soon, where we meet Thom's...extended family, learn about his past and learn more about the Evisica! See you next time!

Author's Note

Decided to add my author's notes from FFNet. Hopefully, that'll make things a bit more entertaining.

Chapter 8: An Armored Past

Hey there! Welcome to Chapter Eight!

Sorry it took so long to get this out. MMD merged with a Writer's Block to form a rather nasty critter that had to be put down. Anyway, it's up now! This chapter will give us some insights into our armored Paladin, including WHY he wears the armor.

I do not own MLP: FiM. Seriously, I don't. Now, enjoy!

Watson stepped off the train behind Thom, Redstamp and Ditzy. The first thing he noticed was the smell. Ponyville had a nice, sweet smell in its air. Manehattan was devoid of that. In its place were the smells of smoke, moist stone and one or two things the former Paladin didn't want to dwell on. Wrinkling his nose, Watson wondered how anypony could live in this stench.

"We should move fast," Thom said, taking the lead. "I don't want to be in this town any longer than I have to."

"Where are we going, anyway?" the white Pegasus asked.

"There should be a newsstand close to the station," Thom replied. "If it's still got the same guy as last time, we can be out of this wretched city before dusk."

"You really do not like this place, do you?" Ditzy asked.

"My memories of this place are…less than pleasant." Thom led the three country ponies through the crowd, occasionally pushing some attempted-pickpocket out of their way. As they left the train station, Watson and the two pegasi got their first view of Manehattan.

Watson had thought Canterlot was big, but Manehattan was enormous. There were towers that went up so high Watson couldn't turn his head back far enough to see the tops. The streets were made of-what did his instructor call it-asphalt and lined with the cobblestone walkways Watson was used to. The asphalt streets had carriages zooming to and fro, and the walkways were almost covered with ponies of various stations walking by, visiting food stalls, and some were just sitting on the ground. Those that were sitting on the ground were clearly in poverty, but the well-off ponies seemed to just ignore their existence.

All three country ponies immediately agreed they did not like this city.

"If I remember correctly…"Thom scanned the stalls that lined the streets, "There!" He pointed at a small newsstand that was almost overflowing with newspapers. Around it were a few Earth Ponies, but inside the stall itself, to the surprise of everypony but Thom, was a small green dragon with four wings who was handing out the papers. Thom shoved his way past the ponies around the stall and stood right in front of the dragon.

"Would you like today's edition of The Daily Hoof-in-Mouth, good sir?" the dragon asked with a voice way too deep for something smaller than Watson.

"Actually," Thom said, "I'm looking for something a little outdated." The dragon stopped.

"How outdated?" he asked.

"So old," Thom replied, "one can't see it." The dragon just stared at Thom in disbelief. Thom's companions were confused. What did any of that mean? The dragon, without looking away from Thom, reached under a bundle or papers and pulled out what Watson recognized as a Calling Glass. It was a flat piece of opaque crystal that was enchanted to be used as a communicator between several places. Normally, they were found in Noble houses, and Watson knew of at least thirty in Canterlot Castle that were strictly for use communicating to different parts of the castle. Their ingenuity lay in that any race could use them.

The dragon breathed a small bit of fire onto the crystal, and it shone bright pink. Watson could hear some mumbling from the crystal, but it was too quiet for him to hear. "Boss," the dragon said, "there are four ponies here who want some outdated stuff that can't be seen." A brief moment of murmuring from the crystal, and the dragon continued, "One of them said the key, word for word…I can't tell, he's covered in armor. Looks like a robot or something…Hold on." Turning to Thom, the dragon asked, "Boss wants your name."

"Tell him," Thom replied with a sigh, "it's Young Valerius." Everypony, including the dragon, were surprised at this. Young Valerius?

The dragon nearly dropped the crystal before coming back to his senses. "Boss, it's Young Valerius…Yes, he said that…Okay…" Turning back to Thom, the dragon asked, "What color are they?"

"Green," Thom replied.

"He says green," the dragon spoke back into the crystal. The dragon's eyes widened after hearing what the voice in the crystal had to say. After a few more moments, the crystal stopped glowing. "The boss," the dragon told Thom and his companions, "he wishes to speak with you all face-to-face. He is sending a carriage to pick you up." Thom nodded and turned to his dumbfounded friends.

"I realize," Thom admitted, "I must have some explaining to do."

"Not unless you want to," Watson replied. "Trust me, I think we all have things we want forgotten. You don't have to talk unless you-"

"I have to," Thom sighed. "You've all been so open with me, it's time I was open with you." He gave a few breaths before saying, "My full name is Thom Helios Stranglemane. I am the eighth foal, and the only son, of Charles Dumont Stranglemane, the Third-in-Command of the Manehattan Stampede." Watson and the two pegasi gasped at this. While none of the three had ever been in Manehattan before, all three knew about the Stampede, the families that ran the criminal underground of the city. True, it had been mostly quiet these past few decades, but nopony could ignore the illegal drinks and gambling houses that dotted the city. It was well known that no less than ten families ran these places, but everypony also knew the names of the top three: the Clopone family and its two closest allies, the Burrhoofs and the Stranglemanes.

"Wait," Redstamp stated, "the Stranglemanes are all unicorns. How could you-"

I'm a throwback," Thom replied. "The first Earth Pony Stranglemane born in over two centuries."

"I've heard the Stranglemanes are stiff on 'perfection.'" Ditzy said. "I doubt that made anything easy for you."

"If anything," Thom sighed, "being born an Earth Pony was the best, and absolute worst, thing to happen."

Thom hobbled along the street, tears running down his face and bumping into almost every pony in front of him. Eight years he was the son of the Stranglemanes. He had seven older sisters (although one had moved away a few years back) who loved him dearly, he was best friends with the Burrhoof's youngest colt, and even the great Alphonse Clopone VII had taken a liking to him.

But not his own parents.

His parents were stuck on his obvious lack of a unicorn horn. Everypony else in the family had a horn, so why not Thom? They only tolerated him this long because they heard it sometimes took a few years for a horn to grow in. Eight years went by, and not a stub. Enough was enough. Earlier this night, after his sisters had gone to sleep, they grabbed him, drove their carriage somewhere in town, and threw him out like he was trash. All because he wasn't a unicorn.

The black Earth Pony stumbled along, not knowing where he was going. As he turned a corner, he saw the train station. He remembered Uncle Clopone took him here for his seventh birthday. He told Thom how these trains went everywhere in Equestria. He even pointed out a few that went into the Outer Lands, and how a particularly large one went all the way to Dragonmount. If his parents didn't want him, he would go somewhere else, then.

The small colt walked along the trains until he found an open door on a cargo car. With all the strength he could muster in his small body, Thom jumped up and pulled himself into the car. It was completely empty except for a small pile of hay in one corner. He crawled over to the pile, lay down on top of it, and cried himself to sleep.

"Hey," a voice asked, "what's this?"

Thom lifted his head in surprise. Did one of the conductors find him? As he opened his eyes, he saw three ponies looking at him from across the car. One was a lime green Pegasus with maroon eyes and a red mane. Another was a pale blue Earth Pony with brown eyes and mane. Between them was the biggest Earth Pony Thom had ever seen. His coat was dirt brown and his eyes were bright blue. His mane was scraggly and black. All three ponies wore patchy clothes.

"A colt," the Pegasus stated as he pulled some hay off of Thom. The sunlight coming through the open door blinded Thom for a moment. "It's a colt."

"What's he doing here?" the blue Earth Pony asked. He scooted closer to the frightened Thom and asked, "Hey, kid, how'd you get here? Where're your parents?"

"They…"Thom finally said, "They didn't want me."

"You sure?" the Pegasus asked. "Why do you say that?"

"They put me on a street and left me." Thom was about to cry as he said, "They said t-t-they di-didn't w-w-want a son who…who…" The colt fell to the floor crying.

"They just abandoned you?" the blue Earth Pony asked. "What kind of parents would do that?"

"My guess, snooty snot-jobs," the Pegasus explained as he looked at Thom's pajamas. "Look at those slacks. Silk, embroidered, gotta be worth more than we make in a month! Bet his folks thought they could just make another one when they threw him out."

"But what do we do?" the blue Earth Pony asked. "I don't think the Boss'll like this. Should we turn him in to an orphanage?"

"They'd probably ask where we got him," the Pegasus replied, "and with the clear discrepancy in our status, they may think we kidnapped him."

"We'll raise him," the giant brown Earth Pony finally spoke up.

"WHAT!?" Both smaller ponies exclaimed. The giant walked over to Thom and smiled down at him.

"We'll raise him. Colt that small needs loving folks, and we could always use the extra hoof when unloading stuff."

"But what about schooling?"

"And basic necessities? It's not like our illustrious job grants us a kitchen to use, or anything like that."

"We'll work things out," the giant smiled. "When he gets old enough, we'll see about education. Now," he said to Thom, "my name's Granger. What's your name?"

"T…Thom…with an H…"

The carriage pulled up as Thom neared the end of his narrative. He finished his tale as he and the others stepped into the large carriage.

"It was tough for a few years, but I was able to stay with Granger, Clips and Staples. I helped them with their jobs of loading and unloading the trains. When I got old enough, I took the guard exam, and eventually became a Paladin. Being with those guys taught me about the world beyond Stampede politics."

"Has your family ever tried contacting you?" Redstamp asked.

"A few months after what happened," Thom replied, "Uncle Clopone got really pissed when he heard what they did. They apparently sent ponies out to try and find me. I contacted my sisters every now and again, and that one who moved away helped me out while I was in Canterlot." Thom gave a chuckle. "Fleur was the one who suggested I join the guard."

"That's unforgivable," Ditzy glowered. "You can't just abandon a child, especially for such a stupid reason. If we meet your parents, I'm going to beat them into the floor." No one doubted the widowed mother-of-two. The carriage rolled on in silence. Redstamp was contemplating what he heard, Ditzy was doing everything in her power to keep from tearing the carriage apart in her motherly rage (a feat Watson had witnessed when some Changelings attacked Ponyville) and Watson just looked at Thom, who stared out the window. Watson lifted a hoof to touch his own horn. His horn was bent, and difficult to use, but was there. The former Paladin felt a bit better about his horn, but now felt bad for his friend. Thom, the funny, practical Earth Pony, was the sole son of one of the most influential families in this whole city, and he was thrown out just because he didn't have a horn.

"That's why you wear your armor," Redstamp broke the silence. "You don't want anypony recognizing you while on the job." From the way Thom pulled his head back, he was surprised by Red's statement.

"That is part of it," Thom nodded, "but there's something else. Something I'd rather not talk about right now."

"That's fine," the white Pegasus smiled. "It's clear you've told us more than you're comfortable with. We won't demand anything else." The carriage pulled to a stop and the door opened.

"We're here," one of the ponies pulling the carriage announced. The Paladins stepped out and saw they were in front of a small, but well-kept pasta restaurant. In fact, it had been the cleanest place they had seen since coming to the city. "The boss is already inside. Behave." The four ponies walked into the restaurant and saw the inside was nice and simple. Further in, and they saw a startling sight. Standing on either side of a table were two creatures in loose business suits. They were large, their vaguely-pointed heads almost touching the ceiling. They stood on all fours, but their front legs were longer than their back, and all four legs ended in hands. They had black fur, but their faces and hands were bare. Their skin was just as black as their fur, and their faces were flat. Their brown eyes scrutinized the new arrivals carefully.

'Gorillas,' Watson thought in disbelief. He had never spoken with one, but Watson had seen a few delegates from the Green Mountain Basin during his time as a Paladin. He knew they were a peaceful race, but had strength that could rival a Minotaur's. Judging from the long scar on the side of one of their faces, these gorillas were anything but peaceful.

The opening of the door behind the gorillas brought Watson out of his thoughts. Entering the room, levitating a large platter with five plates of spaghetti, was a unicorn who had to be "the Boss." He was also wearing a nice business suit, but closer inspection saw several places where it had been sewn up or had a stain removed. The unicorn wearing the suit was a magnificent one. His fur was dark grey, but had started turning silver with age. He even had a short beard to confirm he was no youngster. His mane was a shade of blue that shimmered when the light hit it. He was skinny as far as unicorns went, but this was due to his lean musculature, rather than just being bony. His eyes were a plain brown, but had the spark of an incredible intelligence.

"Thom?" the unicorn asked as he set the plates down on the table. "It is you! Come here!" The unicorn gave Thom a hug, and Thom hugged him back. "Ha! Cinders was right. You do look like a robot. Why don't you take that thing off, and let Uncle Clopone take a good look at you?" Thom's friends recoiled at this. When that dragon said "Boss," they thought he was referring to his direct supervisor, not Alphonse Clopone, the leader of the Manehattan Stampede.

"I'd rather not, Uncle," Thom touched his helmet self-consciously. "They're acting up bad this time."

Alphonse pulled his head back. "How bad?"

"Lighthouse." The elder unicorn thought for a moment, then sat down in his chair.

"Does that helmet prevent you from eating?"

"No," Thom chuckled as he and the others sat down.

"Good," Alphonse laughed. "I'd hate to have prepared all this food only to not have my favorite nephew not be able to enjoy it. So, who are your companions? Are they Paladins, too?"

Redstamp choked. "How do you know about us? Nopony outside of nobility knows about the Paladins."

"I have my sources," Alphonse chuckled as he swallowed a mouthful of spaghetti. "Eat up, it's not poisoned." As everypony ate, Alphonse asked again, "So, who are they?"

"The male Pegasus is Redstamp," Thom introduced. "The other Pegasus is Ditzy Doo. The unicorn is Watson MacMaren. Before you ask, he's as old as I am."

"Dang, he's small," the elder unicorn chuckled. The gorillas gave a slight smirk as well. "Well, what do you need to access the archives for?"

"We've come to this city looking for somepony," Thom replied. "He has something that is of multinational importance. Uncle, something big is going on. I can't say exactly what, but let's just say it's an 'end-of-the-world' problem." Alphonse stopped smiling.

"End-of-the-world? Seriously?"

"I can't say any more than this, but two Princesses (Neither of which are Luna) have charged us with solving this problem, which has caused the deaths of at least a dozen ponies between here and Glascow. And the four of us have personal experience that those who died were the lucky ones." There was silence in the small restaurant. No one ate, no one spoke, no one moved. After a few moments, Alphonse leaned forward.

"Describe who you're looking for."

Thom dug out a note (graciously written by Discord on a sheet of tough, blue cotton candy) and read off, "Pegasus. White coat, brown mane and tail. Cutie mark is a keyring. His name is Brokenkeys, and is known to be somewhat antisocial."

"Brokenkeys?" Alphonse asked. "You don't need access to the archives to find him. He's over on Hilltop, close to the old Burrhoof estate. I know this because some of Mareno's boys tried to hold him up for 'protection money,' but they learned the hard way we don't do that sort of thing anymore. I'll get some of the boys to take you there."

The carriage ride out was a long one. Apparently, Brokenkeys lived at the outskirts of even the outskirts. His house was a big lone house atop a hill. It was no mansion, but it was really spacious. The outside was a plain white with a brown tiled roof. There were several round windows covering the walls, and all were closed with curtains drawn. If it weren't for the fact that the lawn was nice and neat, Watson would've thought the house was abandoned.

"Well," Thom said as they neared the door, "Let's get this over with." He raised a hoof to knock on the door, but the door burst apart before he could touch it. A blur struck the armored pony, sending him rolling backward. The blur was a white Pegasus with a brown mane and tail. His cutie mark was a keyring with two keys.

"Are you Brok-" Redstamp started to ask before he saw what sent the hapless Pegasus through the door.

Inside the house were Pony-Monsters.

"Monsters!" Ditzy shrieked as everypony scattered (with Brokenkeys being lifted away by Watson). Thom sped at the nearest monster as the six monstrosities emerged from the house. It clawed at the Earth Pony, but only succeeded in getting Thom's helmet stuck to its barbed claw. The Monster and Earth Pony struggled for a bit before Thom removed his helmet and jumped away before another monster could claw at him. This was the first time anypony there had seen his face. Thom had glossy black fur that reflected the sunlight. His eyes were a deep blue color, almost gem-like in appearance. His mane was cut short, but was still spiky. None of this surprised the Paladins, however.

What surprised them were the intricate green markings that shone on his face.

Thom glowered at the monster and the markings shone brighter than earlier. To everypony's surprise, Thom's eyes shone green as a green aura surrounded one of the Monsters. This monster squealed as it was hurled to the side, and the one behind it also got surrounded in a green aura before it was torn apart. The other Paladins joined the fight, but they all had one thought on their mind:

"Thom can use MAGIC?"

Holy-moley, Thom can use MAGIC? Really? Who saw that one coming? Really, How many of you saw that coming?

So, I don't know when the next chapter'll be up. I'll try to get it up before the 16th (which is my birthday), so I'll be seein' you soon!

Author's Note

Yep. New chapter.

Chapter 9: Getting the facts

Hello! Welcome back to IntRL! Sorry it's been taking so long! I'll do better in the future, i promise! Not really much to say here, but I do not own MLP. Always gotta say that. Enjoy.

Thom continued to shine as monsters flew backward from his powers. None of them got torn apart like the second one, but the force from the blows was enough to stun them. Watson blasted the monsters as Ditzy vented the frustration she worked up hearing about Thom's parents by tearing the monsters apart bare-hoofed. Redstamp stayed back from the fight, making sure none of the monsters reached the unconscious Pegasus they assumed was Brokenkeys. In a few moments, the ponies were alone amidst a small field of dust and crumbling monsters.

"These are exactly like the ones at the old palace," Watson observed.

"Who knew we were coming here?" Red asked.

"No one," Ditzy replied. "At least, no one outside of the palace, and even then only a few ponies beneath the Princess."

"Guess that makes it official," Watson stated. "The culprit is from the palace. Now to more imme…" He turned to ask Thom about what happened back there only to see the Earth Pony laying on the ground, with a pool of blood around his head. "Thom's down!"

"What?" Redstamp asked as he moved from the unconscious Pegasus to the fallen Paladin. "Did a monster get him?" As the Paladins rolled Thom over, they saw his wounds did not come from any monster. The blood came from his eyes, like crimson tears. The Earth Pony was clearly unconscious, and his face was twisted into a painful grimace.

"If he goes through this when he uses his powers," Watson observed, "it's no wonder he doesn't do it much. Bring him and Keys inside. Let's see if we can figure anything out." Watson floated Thom inside while Redstamp carried the unconscious BrokenKeys and Ditzy helped keep him steady.

The inside of the house was smothered in books. Big tomes, small journals, if it had pages, it looked like it migrated here. Most of the furniture was covered in books, as well. A couple desks had actually collapsed from the weight of them all. Moving some books from the couch and setting the two unconscious ponies on it, Watson went looking for the kitchen. When he found it, it was thankfully devoid of books. Grabbing some damp towels, he rushed back and started cleaning the blood from Thom's face. His green marking were still shining like the sun and not even blood could hide them.

"Ow," Thom said as he jerked his head up. "That hurt."

"You're awake," Red stated. "Are you alright?"

"Been better," Thom said as he raised his forelegs to his head, only to realize his helmet was off. "Oh, umm, I guess I have some more explaining to do."

"How can you use magic?" Ditzy immediately asked. "Only unicorns can use magic."

"It's not technically magic," Thom replied. He would've gone further, but the other unconscious pony started waking up. The Pegasus shook his head and groaned. As he opened his eyes, he saw the Paladins and recoiled a bit.

"Who are you?" he quickly asked. "Who are you? What do you want? Don't hurt me!"

"Simmer down," Watson ordered. "We're servants of the Princess. Don't worry." This seemed to calm the Pegasus down a bit.

"The Princess?" he asked. "W-w-what would the Princess want with me?"

"We recently learned you have a…book," Redstamp explained. "A very special book." Brokenkeys looked around the room at all the books that were stacked almost to the ceiling, and gave a slightly-scared chuckle.

"You'll have to be specific."

"We've never seen the book," Watson explained, "but we believe you picked it up some time ago from the Shetlands. It should be at least two hundred years old."

"Hmm…" the white Pegasus hummed. "I picked up a few on my last trip there…I'll take a look."

"It's Evisican," Ditzy pointed out. BrokenKeys stopped dead in his tracks.

"You…you want that one? Why?"

"The reasons are classified," Redstamp pointed out, "but it is a matter of multinational importance."

"When we're through with it," Watson added, "we'll see if it can be returned to you."

"Oh…." The non-Paladin said, "…..okay, let me go get it." As he left, Ditzy turned back to Thom.

"So, you don't use magic?"

"Oh, uh, not quite," The Earth Pony explained. "I am what Celestia refers to as a 'Psychic.' My powers draw strength from my mental faculties."

"Never heard of this before," Redstamp said.

"It's not common. Only non-unicorns with strong mental abilities or a long lineage of magic can become psychic, and even then it's still rare." At that point, realization struck Watson like a lightning bolt.

'Thom's family line is mostly unicorns…'

"But," Ditzy asked, "why not tell anyone? Don't you trust us?"

"With my life!" The black Earth Pony explained. "It's just…I was told by Celestia to keep it hidden. A hidden weapon, you could say. Besides, it's not like I use it that often. I only used it back there because if I don't use it every once in a while, it'll fry my brain. On the other hoof, if I use it too much…"

"We could tell," Watson nodded. "One more question. How did Alphonse learn about your powers?" Thom was startled at this question.

"How did you know he knew?"

"Umm," Watson said matter-of-factly, "he did ask about your markings in the restaurant."

"Oh…right…Wel,, he visited one time when i was sick. Had my helmet off so I could actually breathe and he saw them. He liked them, but agreed not to tell anypony."

"Okay, my turn," Redstamp said. "How long have you had these powers? Judging from what you told us earlier, you didn't have them when your parents…did what they did."

"No," Thom shook his head, "I didn't get them until I was in Canterlot with my sister. I was trying out for the guard, and one day a Pegasus was injured in the air and he just fell. I was so focused on running to him to try and help it took a few seconds for me to notice he was slowing down and surrounded in a green aura. When he landed, he thanked me and asked what sort of markings were on my face. My powers and these markings came in that day."

"And that's why you wear the armor," Redstamp stated. "To hide the markings. Does anypony other than us, Celestia and your uncle know?"

Thom shook his head. "Nopony. Didn't show my parents because they'd just hate me even more, my sisters would freak out, and the guards would think I'm even weirder. I was inducted into the Paladins a bit after getting them, so I was able to get away with my special armor." He turned to where BrokenKeys went and said, "He's coming back."

Thom barely finished his sentence before said Pegasus returned. Slung across his chest was a large tome. It was almost as tall as Watson, and about as thick. The cover was deep red and studded with stones of various sizes and shapes. Some were precious gems, but most were plain polished stones. In the middle was an unusual design. It was a heptagon, its seven sides made from polished bronze. In the middle was a ruby that would make all but the most finicky dragons drool. It was an impressive tome, but it left Watson with one question…

"How in the world did you sneak THAT out of the Shetlands?"

BrokenKeys gave a chuckle as he set it on the couch next to Thom. "It wasn't easy. I really had to work it." Removing the straps from around his neck, the Pegasus continued, "Here you go. An authentic Evisican Tome. Just be aware, most of it's in their language." He bowed his head and said, "You have my thanks in my life. I hope this tome serves you well."

Malice was pacing in her study, impatient for any news concerning the Paladins and that missing Tome Discord directed them to. The Draconequus himself had vanished soon after his appearance at the old Palace, but had assured her that he was doing all he could to help her and Celestia in this effort. Celestia was initially worried about the Lord of Chaos being free, but calmed down after hearing about his helping.

'He may be chaotic,' Celestia said, 'but even HE has to keep his word every now and again.' The scarlet alicorn could only hope she was right.

The sun was setting in the Shetlands, two weeks after the Paladins' departure, and her dreams had only increased in consistency. Fields of battle, a dying world, a fallen Watson…she shook her head at this. Why had this one thought plagued her mind? Of all the devastation she had seen, why seeing this Paladin dead so heart-wrenching?

"Milady?" Racer asked as he seemed to appear out of nowhere. "Is everything well?"

"I hope so," Malice replied. "How about the murders? Any news?"

"None, Milady," Racer bowed his head. "No new murders have been reported. Perhaps the murderer stopped?"

"Doubtful," the Princess retorted. Nopony who would go to such great lengths to achieve whatever they were trying would stop without good reason. "How is everypony else? The Conclave holding up fine?"

"Some of the Elders," Racer reported, "are a bit miffed at the presence of Equestrian soldiers at the castle, but most see this as a chance of bettering relations between the nations. Some of our knights are actually starting friendships with Equestrians." The big Earth pony chuckled. "Quite the improvement from four years ago."

Malice smiled and nodded. During the last week, Celestia had arrived with a little less than a hundred of her knights to aid in the effort to stop the murders and the magic. Celestia herself was busy in the library with some of her knights, scouring every tome and scroll (nothing less than a monumental feat) while most of her knights just aided the Shetland knights in their investigations.

Making a quick glance at one of the bookcases, she turned back to her General and ordered, "Leave me, General. I have some other business to attend to." With a bow, the General left the study. The door barely clicked shut before another click was heard. Then another. The sound of muted gears broke the silence as one of the bookcases swung outward, revealing a passageway. Standing in this passage was a pony garbed in completely black clothes. His face was covered in a black shroud, his mane and tail cut short to fit into the tight clothes. The only thing about this pony Malice could see were his piercing green eyes.

A little more than a thousand years ago, the Paladin Order of Equestria started as an independent group of nobles, farmers and warriors intent on intercepting threats before Celestia needed to involve herself. Around the same time, Malice started the Blackwatch. These were ponies that Malice trusted above almost everypony else under her rule. Like Equestria's Paladins, only Malice and a few others knew about the Blackwatch. Like the Paladins, the Blackwatch was dedicated to the protection of her nation. Unlike the Paladins, the Blackwatch protected the Shetlands from inside threats. Dissent, anarchists, any major threat within Shetland borders had to deal with these invisible ponies. Few lived long enough to repent of or regret their actions.

The black-garbed pony gave a bow as he entered the study, letting the bookcase swing closed behind him. Malice recognized his canter as belonging to one of the newer Blackwatch. He was young, but skilled and discreet. If she recalled correctly, he joined up only a month after Watson escaped the castle.

"Cinder," Malice greeted the pony, referring to him by code name, "are things truly going as well as Racer tells me?"

"Only barely," Cinder reported with a crackly voice. "We have ponies posted at the places you instructed us to be, but most have reported no activity."

"Most?"

Cinder lowered his head. "A couple days back, Brick and Tsohar reported that they stopped attempted murders at their positions. The almost-victims were a farmer's daughter and a wandering merchant. The almost-murderers were a random brigand and…"

"And?" Malice asked. Cinder gulped before continuing.

"…and the other was Sir Lancer of Highrest."

Malice almost stumbled when she heard this. One of her own knights was doing this? This meant her fears were true. The culprit was somepony of authority within her court. Straightening back up, she looked back at the Blackwatch.

"Tell me everything."

One perk to being the Lord of Chaos, nothing could keep you out.

Whoever set these wards up did not do a good job. Discord was slipping by them with ease. This was the fourth fort he investigated, the fourth fort that was riddled with all sorts of barriers…

The fourth fort that had those rancid monsters.

He killed them as quietly as he could, and continued slithering through the fort. There were quite a few ponies here, many bearing the crest of the Shetland Guard. Malice would not like that. Worse yet, these guards were commanding these pony monsters around. The last few forts seemed to be inconsequential, but this one was quite active. Hiding in the shadows above a meeting room, Discord waited until an important-looking pony was alone before swooping down and plucking him off the ground. The unicorn he chose was about to scream before Discord covered his mouth in taffy.

"No screaming," The Lord of Chaos said without any humor. "You scream, I break your neck. You struggle, I break your limbs. Do both, I eat you. Are we clear?" The unicorn gave a teary-eyed nod in reply before Discord removed the taffy. The unicorn was completely still and did not make a sound. "Good. Now, tell me what you know…"

Watson sat in a train car by himself. Redstamp and Ditzy were off doing something together again and Thom was eating in the food car (with his helmet repaired, of course), privately reveling in how his friends did not begin to distrust him after learning about his identity and powers. On the seat next to Watson was the Evisican tome. He had browsed part of it earlier, but the unfamiliar glyphs started making his eyes hurt part-way through. He did not see many pictures before he stopped, and most of those were of significant events in the past. One picture was an event that Watson had read about, and some Shetland scholar had managed to interpret some of the text and left a scroll inside with a translation.

'…and with Her sister bound in the moon, the Princess of the Sun stood alone to carry both Sun and Moon. Her servants, the Bearers of the Elements of (unknown), retired from their roles and continued with their lives. The Elements were sealed into lay dormant within the ruins of the Palace of Night Nightmare Palace, and Celestia and her knight guarded her land with all their might. However, there were some many years where Celestia had to step stand forth to directly battle threats to her land, and she grew weary from each conflict…

The text continued to explain how many nobles and warriors saw this, and formed a private group independent from the throne whose sole purpose was to stop threats before Celestia had to intervene. Using whatever resources they could, this group successfully spent the next century stopping threats without being discovered by anypony. Eventually, Celestia did discover them, and made them into a private group of specialists, who continued to protect the land while the Elements of Harmony were dormant.

Somehow, the Evisicans knew the origins of the Paladin Order, and this worried Watson greatly. The Order started nearly a thousand years ago, but Malice and the few books he could find on the subject stated that the Evisica only appeared two hundred years ago. How had this people known about something so far back, something that almost nopony under Celestia knew about?

"You doing okay?" Thom asked the worried-looking Watson. This snapped the small unicorn out of his trance and quickly nodded.

"Yeah," he replied, "I'm fine. How about you and the others?"

"I'm fine," Thom nodded. "Red and Ditzy are busy with a drinking contest in the liquor car."

"But Ditzy doesn't drink."

"Neither does Red," Thom chuckled, "and neither of them know about the other, so they're both ordering nonalcoholic drinks waiting for the other to lose. They've been at it for two hours now, and everypony else in the car is just laughing from the ridiculousness of it all." He sat in the chair on the other side of the tome, lifted it and started flipping through it. "Any clue what any of this means, and how it can help us yet?"

"If I could read Evisican, maybe,' Watson sighed. "I only got part-way through before my eyes started hurting. One part that worries me in there…" The tan unicorn used his magic to turn the tome to a certain page with a scroll tucked in and directed Thom to read it. The armor-clad pony recoiled in surprise.

"How'd these guys know that? Not even the majority of the castle guard knows that!" Thom closed the book and set it back on the seat between him and Watson. "Just creepy."

"Indeed," Watson agreed. As he said this, the door slid open and a bemused Redstamp made his way to the seat opposite of Watson.

"Why didn't you tell me Ditzy doesn't drink?" the white-and-red Pegasus asked.

"Never asked," Watson chuckled. Thom stifled a laugh.

"Yeah, laugh it up!" Redstamp laughed back. "This all makes her seem even more perfect to me."

"Whoa," Thom asked, "you got the hots for Ditzy? For real?"

"Really!" Redstamp leaned back in his chair as he continued, "Every time I see her, I'm just in awe! You'd think her eyes being crossed would be a handicap, but she's still more graceful than any other mare I've seen. I think this is the real deal, Thom. When she looks at me, my knees wobble and my chest gets real warm on the inside! When she smiles, my day just seems to get so much better! When I can't see her, she's on my mind no matter what else might be going on!"

"That's getting real close to being a stalker, you know," Thom joked.

As Thom and Redstamp continued their bantering, Watson realized something in Red's words. Those feelings he had were almost exactly the same feelings Watson was having around Malice. The way he enjoyed Malice looking at him, how she was on his mind since they left the Shetlands, it was official…

Watson was in love with Malice.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHH! The romance begins to shine through! Like I told Almost-Actress in an earlier chapter, this romance won't be an in-your-face thing. In fact, if you know Watson, you can figure out just how much he'll say.

If you don't know him, then go back to chapter one and try again.

Okay, sorry for the bland chapter, just working through a funk. At least everyone now knows the origins of the Paladin Order, right? This chapter was titled this way because the next chapter will bring everypony together and reveal what they know. Also, next chapter will be more exciting because we will see the return of a previous character we didn't get to technically see before and...well, can't say too much, but the end will surprise you.

Okay, see ya later!

Chapter 10: Reasons

Hello! Sorry it took so long! Welcome back to the Inventor fic! Last we saw our heroes, they were one their way back to the Shetlands, Celestia was back with Malice and Discord was, as Mooneyboys put it, going through a base Splinter Cell style. In this chapter, all three come back together and reveal what they know. Sorry if it's a bit jumpy. I hope you like it!

He eyed the latest Abomination gleefully. Rather than be a mere mutation, this one had formed with a clear purpose. With its' scythes and focused gaze, this one was intelligent. At least, more intelligent than the others. The pale yellow Earth Pony placed a small boar into the same cage as the abomination, and cackled with glee as the boar was torn apart.

"How is your latest pet?" The True King asked as he entered the lab. He was a pony of great size, almost as tall as the Red Lady he claimed to serve. He always wore a billowing cloak, so nopony had ever seen what he truly looked like beyond his mouth, but everypony who served the future King of the Shetlands knew he was a unicorn. After all, he demonstrated his magic skill that first day, by turning some nameless farmer into a monster before the very eyes of his servants.

"Your Highness!" the scientist exclaimed, surprised by his sovereign's sudden arrival. "Well, as you can see, this one's no mere amalgamation of growths. Those two scythed limbs are straight and can be independently controlled. I feel we finally have our shock trooper."

"How long until we have a feasible army?" The tall unicorn asked.

"I don't know what you'd call an army," the greasy-maned scientist confessed, "but, with any luck, you could have more than a hundred like this by the end of the week."

"Impressive," the king smiled. "You have more than proved your usefulness, Chromos."

Chromos the Earth Pony bowed. "Thank you, my Lord. 'Tis a pity Malice did not support this sort of work. But, then again, if she did, you would not need to depose her."

"I thought I told you never to speak her name around me," the cloaked unicorn growled.

"My apologies, Milord. I will be more careful in the future." Accepting the apology, the True King left the room.

Neither pony noticed the large, green insect that watched the whole exchange from a ventilation shaft.

A week later…

The train pulled into Vermillion Station, and the Paladins were the first to get off. Redstamp and Ditzy stretched their wings as they touched the ground. Thom was back to his chipper self, complete with his recently-repaired helmet, and Watson had a pensive look on his face.

'I'm attracted to Malice,' Watson thought for the seventieth time that day. 'No, I'm in love with Malice. Of all the mares in the world, why did I fall for her? Sure, she's beautiful beyond compare, and her smile fills me with…' The small unicorn shook his head. 'Stop thinking that way, Watson. She's the Princess of War, and I'm a vertically-challenged unicorn with a glitchy horn. Not gonna happen. Think of somepony else.'

But he couldn't. Ever since he realized his attraction to the scarlet alicorn, Watson couldn't think of any other mare in the same way. He had trouble thinking about other mares period. Every time he tried, Malice's face would just appear.

"Hey," Thom asked Watson. "You doing okay?"

"Yeah," Watson replied, "I'm fine. Let's get back to the Palace." It was obvious that Thom didn't believe Watson, but was willing to let it go. The rest of the trip to the palace was uneventful, but once the Paladin's arrived…

"Whoa," Ditzy announced as she saw the multitude of Equestrian guards around the Palace. "What happened?" As if to answer her question, a couple of guards, one Equestrian, came trotting up and greeted them.

"The Princesses," the Equestrian knight addressed the Paladins, "have been awaiting your return."

"Princesses?" Redstamp asked. "Celestia's here? Who's running-"

"Princess Luna is running Equestria at the moment," the knight interrupted. "Celestia decided the matter at hand would need all the help we can give. Now please come." The Paladins followed the knight (who was large enough to carry the tome) to the library. As the small group trotted to the library, they turned a corner and nearly plowed into the large General Racer.

"You?" The General asked incredulously. "I thought you were…" His eyes fell on the large tome the Equestrian Knight carried on his back. "What is that?"

"An Evisican tome," the Shetland knight accompanying the Paladins spoke up. "The Paladins have just returned with it and are bringing it to the Princesses in the library."

"I will bring it to her," Racer commanded. "The Paladins are not required. Give the book to me."

"Sir," the Shetland knight responded, "the Red Lady told us to bring it to her directly." The giant Earth Pony glared at his subordinate.

"Are you disobeying a direct order?" Racer scolded.

"No, they were obeying a direct order from me."

Everypony (including Racer) jumped at the sound of Malice's voice. The scarlet alicorn was behind Racer, who quickly turned and bowed with the rest of them. The Red Lady gave a slight glare to Racer before levitating the tome from the Equestrian knight. She took the tome (which was almost normal-sized compared to her), flipped through a few pages, and gave an approving smile.

"Good job," she congratulated. "I'll get my scholars working on this right away. Please come with me. I'm sure you have quite the report to give." The Paladins and knights stepped past Racer to follow the Princess. Racer himself was about to follow before Malice turned and said, "Racer, I need you to debrief the scouts when they return." The General stopped and seemed to give a quick, indignant glare at the Paladins (or maybe Malice) before nodding his head and leaving.

"He seems peeved," Watson observed.

"Please forgive his manners," Malice apologized. "I think he is like this because he is angry that this tome escaped the Shetlands under his time as a General. Come," she smiled at the group, "let us meet with your Princess. I'm sure she will be pleased with your return." As the small herd trotted to the library, Watson couldn't help but look at Malice. She seemed to be prettier than the last time he saw her. He shook that thought away. Had to focu-

"Hey, guys!" Discord materialized out of nowhere. The whole group, excluding Malice, gave a jump and shout of surprise as the Draconequus fell from the ceiling with a bag slung over his shoulder. The scarlet alicorn put her hoof to her face and sighed with annoyance.

"Would you…"She saw the bag Discord had. "What is that?"

A sack," Discord answered innocently.

"I can see that. What's in it?"

"A surprise." The sack gave a moan and Discord elbowed it. "Ignore that. Where's Celestia?"

"The library, where we're going."

"Oh, that makes things easier." The Lord of Chaos pulled a milkshake out of thin air and started drinking the glass from around it as he followed the group to the library. Sitting at one of the reading tables (which was sagging from the weight of all the books and scrolls on it) was a tired looking Celestia. Her eyes had bags under them, and her normally flowing mane hung limp and dull. As she saw the Paladins enter, her eyes lit up.

"You're back," she greeted. "I trust you were successful?" In reply, Malice set the Evisican tome on the table, which finally broke from all the weight. "Oh my."

"I'll get somepony to repair it later," Malice stated. "Find anything since I left, Celestia?"

"Only a bit," the weary Princess replied. "What about you, Discord?"

"Oh," Discord said as he pulled the sack of his shoulder, "nothing too big." He set the sack down and pulled it down, revealing a scared, paralyzed unicorn. When he saw the shock on everypony's faces, Discord sniggered. "You guys can go first."

"Watson?" Celestia asked. "Could you report on your end?" He told the Princesses almost everything that happened. Thom gave a sigh of relief when Watson left omitted Thom's heritage and powers.

"…and that brings us up to date," Watson finished his report. After Watson finished, Malice nodded her approval.

"Good work." Malice gestured to Celestia as she said, "On our end, we have little concerning the Evisican spell in the books here. It is safe to assume that, since you were attacked, that the tome you carry is the one we need."

"I am still worried, though," Watson announced. "Since BronkenKeys was attacked, that could only mean-"

"That somepony who's high up in the Palace," Discord finished from his position on a chair made of frosted gingerbread, "perhaps many someponies, have a hoof in this." He got up and paced around his chair, carrying his unicorn prisoner by the head. He gestured to Watson with the unicorn (who was paralyzed in the pose of a cat statue found in Neighpon shrines) as he continued, "You were attacked by monsters when your very departure was kept secret from most of the Palace court. You," gesturing to Malice, "have recently had no less than four knights arrested for attempting to further this problem." Malice gasped in surprise at his revealing this, but Discord ignored her as he gestured to himself, "I, meanwhile, have been going around old forts, abandoned towns, the sorts of places the culprits would hide and, whaddya know, most of them were occupied."

"Occupied?" the scarlet Princess asked.

"Where do you think I got this guy?" the Draconequus asked while holding up his prisoner. "I went through four such places before finding this guy, though. The prior three just had more of those monsters. I'm guessing they keep moving so we don't figure out who they are. But this guy will tell us everything we need to know, won't you?" As Discord finished his last word, the paralysis over the unicorn lifted, and the prisoner looked at everypony before his eyes settled on Malice, and his expression turned to abject terror. "Time to talk, pony."

The unicorn, however, remained silent. It appeared that his fear of everything that had happened, and of what might happen, had overridden his speech abilities. The grey unicorn just stared at them all. Two Princesses, a Draconequus and four ponies he didn't recognize stood in grim silence for a few moments before Thom stepped forward.

"I'll handle this," the armorclad Earth pony said as he dragged the unicorn to separate room. The other made to follow, but Thom turned to them and said, "I got this. You guys can wait here."

"You are certain?" Malice asked. "I'm sure we can-"

"I think he's got this," Celestia defended her Paladin. "Thom is…skilled in getting information out of ponies without even touching them." This caught Watson by surprise. He knew Thom was a Psychic, but he could read minds, too? The small tan unicorn paled a bit.

'Does Thom know about…what's been on my mind lately?' Watson thought to himself. That would be embarrassing, no, catastrophic. He had to keep his feelings about Malice secret.

"Paladin," Malice asked, "are you well?" It took a moment for Watson to realize that Malice was talking to him. The Princess of War was looking down at the small unicorn with a plain expression. She was clearly trying to make conversation, nothing more.

"I am fine, Princess," Watson replied. "Just a bit tired from everything that happened. The monsters, staying on a train for several days…" he chuckled. "I'm fine."

"That is good," the scarlet Princess affirmed. Minutes passed in an awkward silence as they all waited for Thom to finish whatever he was doing. The two knights from earlier returned to their posts, Discord was hovering by the ceiling, using cotton candy clouds in a weird game of Cat's Cradle and Redstamp was with Ditzy, sitting in a corner whispering to each other. Celestia was still at the table. She made it like she was reading, but she would occasionally glance at Watson and Malice. She was clearly expecting them to do something.

"Umm…"Watson started, "M-may I ask a question, Malice?"

"Go right ahead," Malice eagerly replied. She didn't like the awkward silence either.

"Umm…" Watson started, "w-why did you spare me? Back on the Ridge all those years ago?" Malice looked at Watson with a bemused expression.

"You have already asked that, little Paladin," she replied. "I told you I would tell you when all this was over." Watson stopped, thought about it and sighed. He was about to say something else before Malice raised her hoof. "However, I did not expect this whole thing to be so big, so I will answer you."

The room went silent right there and then. No library or crypt was as quiet as this library was now. Celestia had stopped pretending to read her book, Redstamp and Ditzy had stopped whispering to each other, even Discord stopped blowing bubbles made of confused-looking sheep. All eyes and ears were on Malice and Watson. Malice either didn't notice or didn't care.

"The reason I spared your life…" Malice explained, "…the reason I let you live…is because you fought back." Everypony was caught by surprise.

"Pardon?" Watson asked. "You let me live…because I fought back? Surely, others you fought-"

"Not like you," Malice interjected. "Yes, others have fought me over my lifetime. Many others. However, none fought like you. I have fought dragons, Minotaur, and more ponies than most can count. You, Watson, were unique among them. For, as many ponies as I have fought, many more surrendered upon seeing me. They just gave up right there. You, Watson, you are small, and you were in no condition to fight anything on that ridge, and yet you did."

"I tried to retreat," Watson clarified. "I tried running away that whole fight."

"And yet," the blue-eyed Alicorn pointed out, "you still wounded me. A graze on my face, a slight bruise on my cheek and a destroyed pinion." She emphasized this last one by opening her wing, revealing the gap in her feathers. Apparently, Discord did not see this before, as plummeted to the ground out of surprise. Malice ignored the prone Draconequus and continued, "Yes, you tried running away, but you continued to try. Anypony else would have just given up after I pulled you back the way I did when you jumped off the Ridge, but you kept going." She lowered her head to be even with Watson's and continued, "I admired you for that. Even now, you have my respect for that day, Watson MacMaren."

Watson was stunned. She respected him. She admired him, because he kept fighting? He gave a slight nod, signaling to her that he understood, even though he truly didn't. Surely, there had to be more to it than that. Maybe she figured his magic could be useful later? Maybe she had a random spurt of mercy? Maybe she liked-

The tan unicorn shook his head at this. There was no way she felt like that. No way in The Chasm. He just had to push that out of his mind, and-

The door to the adjacent room burst open and Thom staggered out. The other unicorn was lying on the ground, twitching in an unconscious heap. From the way he moved, it was clear the "interrogation" took its toll on the Earth Pony Psychic. He staggered to the nearest chair and collapsed on it. Celestia moved closer to the Paladin with a concerned look.

"Thom?" she asked. "What did you learn?" The Paladin shook his head, breathing heavily. In one motion, he reached up and tore off his helmet, letting everyone see his markings had turned red. Malice gasped at the markings and Discord raised an eyebrow at them. With his markings glowing brighter than ever, he turned to Celestia with a look of unfettered fear.

"Forgive my language, Princess," Thom-with-an-H gasped, "but we are in some serious shit." Then he passed out.

Chromos muttered as he stomped on another cockroach. As nice as it was to be able to hide his experimentation here, the scientist was disgusted by the amount of insects that had sprung up lately. Just yesterday he saw a large green scarab scuttling around, but it got away. He would have to address some of the others about this. Fortunately, the annoyance of these pests did little to dampen his glee at the latest batch of Abominations.

Ever since the True king's last visit, Chromos had successfully created a few more strains of Abominations. As the new subjects "evolved," they sprouted functional wings, or horns capable of using rudimentary magic. The yellow Earth Pony laughed as the latest to "evolve" sprouted long bat wings and flapped them. These wings would function just fine. If only they could make Abominations like an alicorn. That would be - another insect crawled up the wall. This one was green with blue stripes. Chromos gave a groan of disgust as he squished it against the wall. He seriously needed to get these things cleared out. Where were they coming from?

As Chromos cleaned his hoof, he didn't notice a small red scorpion crawl through a crack in the wall and oh-so-slightly sting the newest Abomination.

Two days passed. Two days spent trying to translate the Evisican tome (which Malice agreed to return to BrokenKeys once the job was done), two days trying to get any information out of the unicorn prisoner (whom neither Malice nor Celestia recognized as one of her subjects) and failing, two days of the Princesses keeping Discord from gluing various furniture to the ceiling. When asked if he interrogated the prisoner before bringing him to the Palace, Discord only replied, "Didn't get much. Trust me, I am certain that your Psychic gleamed loads more than he told me."

Thom woke up on that second day. When he did, his markings were still glowing red, and he was in complete terror of what he had learned. It was another day before he calmed down enough to reveal what he learned. Malice brought everypony and Discord to her study, where she knew nopony else could hear them. The Earth Pony just sat in a chair in complete silence for a few minutes.

"It's an army," he finally said. "These things, these monsters…they're being created to act as an army.

"There's some unicorn, a big unicorn, known only as the True King by the dissidents, who taught the others about the Evisican magic. He's been 'converting' ponies from here, Equestria, and elsewhere for his cause. He's having these monsters made so he can take over the world."

"Thom," Watson interrupted, "Paladins deal with this sort of thing every month or so. I understand that the circles and monsters are freaky enough, but-"

"I can see where you're going," Thom interrupted back, "but this is different. This 'True King' is a beast by anypony's standards. He is completely ruthless, and very powerful. The unicorn I scanned helped make some monsters and it took him and four others to make one. The True King made three by himself the first time he brought his 'loyal subjects' together. I saw it."

"What does this 'True King' look like?" Malice asked.

"Never saw him completely," Thom said. "He's always wearing a big cloak so nopony can recognize him. But he is one of the biggest unicorns I have ever seen. He's almost as big as you, Celestia. And…I don't know how…but…he saw me."

"Impossible," Celestia denied. "You were just reading memories. There is no way this True King could see you through this unicorn's memories."

"He saw me," Thom re-stated. "At the end of my reading, it was a meeting between this unicorn, some allies, and the True King. It was going along fine, but the vision suddenly froze in place. Nopony moved…except for the True King. He turned to me, walked toward me and said, 'Hello, Thom. Like what you see?' I tried to break away, but he held me. He continued, saying 'Night will fall over Vermillion, and not even the Princess of War can stop me.' At that point, he showed me other images, images of his monsters attacking."

"Attacking?" Malice asked. "Attacking Vermillion?" Thom was silent a bit longer before he replied.

"Attacking everywhere. Vermillion, Canterlot…everywhere…these monsters are his army, along with anypony who joins him. This is how the world will end…in his conquest of the world…"

Things just kept getting worse. All of Chromos' Abominations were dying from unknown causes, the True King had lost faith in him, and the keep was overrun with insects. No, not just insects now. There were spiders, snakes, and even some crustaceans. Crustaceans! The ocean was more than a hundred leagues away! What were they doing here?

As the Yellow Earth Pony stomped on another bug that scuttled into his lab, one of his assistants ran in screaming, "The keep's on fire! We gotta get out of here!"

"What!?" Chromos roared. "What happened? Where are the guards?"

"We don't know how the fire started," the assistant replied, "and the guards are all dead! They all seemed to…" The assistant fell over with a large scorpion on his neck. The scorpion scuttled off his neck as a swarm of creatures came into the lab. Insects, arachnids, snakes, all sorts of pests entered the lab, making a beeline for the professor. Rather than try to fight the hundreds of creatures, Chromos turned to break out the window, but stopped when he saw two green scarabs floating in front of the window a few inches apart. As he saw these, a couple large snakes sped forward and wrapped themselves around the professor's legs, holding him on the spot. The rest of the swarm stopped a few feet away from Chromos.

The two scarabs flew around the professor's head before moving over the swarm. As they floated in place, the swarm slowly built itself up towards the scarabs. After a few moments, Chromos realized the swarm was taking shape…becoming….

"No…" Chromos gasped as a new creature stood before him. "No…what are you?"

"The First Prince," the creature answered. He spoke only these three words. They were the first words Chromos heard this creature speak.

They were also the last words he would ever hear.

E-GAD! What a twist, huh? With Discord being a good guy here, and neither Sombra nor Chrysalis appearing, who expected this fic to have a World-Conquest-Villain? Come on, be honest. Now, I can't say when the next chapter will be out, but I'll try to get it out before April. Hope you liked this chapter!

Chapter 11: Plague and War

Hello! Welcome back! Sorry it took so long! Anyway, this chapter has more explanations, mostly, but it ends on a...a note. That's all i will spoil about it. There's also more discussing Watson's crush, but not too much. Read on!

Malice stood on the hilltop, gazing over the battlefield. Those forces that were allied with the Evisica were kept in check by the Shetland forces, and the main body was being pushed back by Celestia and her Equestrian Knights. To her left, Bladehoof was a shining blur of an Earth Pony slicing through a small group of Minotaur. To her right was Shatterhorn, her blue magic tearing through ranks of enemy ponies. There were a few enemies on the hill with her, but her bodyguard was proving to be a tough obstacle.

He was a shimmering white unicorn with an equally-white mane. His horn was like a Neighpon longsword, silver and slightly curved. His deep blue eyes darted left and right, perceiving any enemy that dared get close to his Princess. His cutie mark was a red shield, the perfect mark for the Princess of War's personal bodyguard. He was average size and of slim build, but fast and skilled with his magic. Malice had no doubt that her guard would keep her safe while she prepared her spell.

Her horn roared louder than a train as she discharged her magic. A red line shot out at the army. As it flew over the armies, bolts flew down and struck the Evisican forces. In a matter of moments, the Evisican army was in retreat. The combined Shetland and Equestrian forces cheered at the sight. Malice smiled as her bodyguard cheered as well. Then he turned and beamed at Malice, a smile he gave only to her.

"…And that concludes this meeting. Conclave adjourned." The Elders gathered their scrolls and books while Malice stepped down from the podium. The meeting had been a productive one for once. True, it mostly dealt with foreign affairs with Equestria, and Celestia was also present, but it was still a nice change to get through a Conclave meeting without having an argument break out. As she stepped down, her cousin trotted up.

"It seemed unusually calm today," Celestia observed.

"I'm almost worried," Malice joked. "Everything seems to be going so well this week. No murders, no arguments, and I've been sleeping better."

"I noticed. I haven't heard any screams this week." Celestia raised an eyebrow. "Anything happen?"

"Not as far as I can tell," Malice replied as she and Celestia exited the Conclave chamber. "Just been better." As the two Princesses exited the chambers, one of the scholars working on the tome came running up.

"Milady," the unicorn bowed, "The tome translation is complete."

"Oh, good," Malice smiled. Then the scholar's face turned grim.

"There is a problem though…"

"It's not in there!?" Thom exclaimed.

"I know, it's weird," Watson replied, "but the counterspell isn't in here. The circle is, but it doesn't say anything beyond that."

The Paladins and Princesses were back in the library with the scholars, standing around the table with the Evisican Tome. It had been a full week since Thom's revelation. Discord had disappeared a few days back, the unicorn prisoner was recovering from his mind scan, and no new murders had been reported. Not even Malice's Blackwatch had reported any developments. On Celestia's side, Luna sent a note saying that several unexplained fires had been reported from multiple locations, but otherwise nothing unusual. At the moment, they were all discussing the translated tome.

"I do not understand," Malice stated. "I have searched all the books we have. Why is there no counterspell for the circle?"

"Maybe this 'True King' took the book with it inside," Watson suggested. "It would explain how he set this up to begin with."

"Plausible," the Princess of War admitted. "I regret to say that I have not read the Evisican books we have for some time. I never got around to reading them all. Perhaps he does have it."

"So the book's useless then?" Thom asked with a hint of annoyance. He did not relish the thought of having to go to Manehatten for a paperweight.

"Not quite," Ditzy grinned. "It may not have a counterspell, but it will have a psychological effect on any traitor in your court, Lady Malice."

"What?" the scarlet alicorn asked.

"Think of it like this," the wall-eyed Pegasus explained. "Most of the court knows we have an Evisican book. Most of the court knows it may pertain to the murders. Only a few, however, know what's actually inside. We can use that knowledge to figure out who're the traitors."

"I get it!" Watson beamed. "Make them think this book has vital information. Then we'll wait for them to make a slip up somewhere. Like, if they try to take the book, it's because they think there's a way to remove this giant circle, and the only reason they'd think that is if they're part of the conspiracy!"

"An impressive idea," Celestia applauded her Paladin, "but it still does not solve the main problem."

"Maybe not directly," Redstamp smiled. "No counterspell, but maybe this book'll have something else to help. We only focused on finding a counterspell earlier, so we kinda skimped on actually reading it beyond that. Maybe we'll find something else that'll help."

"That would be nice," Malice stated. As she said this, one of her knights came running in, carrying a scroll in a slot in his armor.

"Milady," the knight said as he removed the scroll, "this just arrived for you." Malice took the scroll, unrolled it, and read its contents. After she finished, she held it out so Celestia could read it, but none of the other ponies could see its contents.

"Well," Celestia stated, "that explains the fires."

"Indeed." Malice turned to the Paladins and Watson and said, "Paladins, we have some more help on the way. It will take a few days, so proceed reading the tome."

Discord was flying back to Vermillion after another spy jaunt. He didn't have any prisoners this time. He had something better. Or rather, someONE. This someone was flying next to him, but was barely visible in the darkness. Even Discord's sharp eyes could make out his companion only a little more than as a black blur with a few recognizable parts and a pair of glowing green eyes.

"You know," the Draconequus called to his companion, "it's pretty tough to investigate these places when you keep burning them down!"

"No point investigating!" the other creature called back. "All those places were just factories for those monsters! No vital data was kept there!"

"How many did you burn down?"

"Around two dozen, but they still got quite a few Abominations out! Can you go any faster than this?"

"Watch it kid," Discord laughed, "I still got some juice inside!" With that, he and the other creature sped up and disappeared over the horizon. On the ground under them, not noticing them fly by, a single pony in black armor stood guard next to a dip in the ground. Behind him, stretching for nearly a mile, was a military camp made from ponies, Minotaur and Abominations.

The True King walked down the hall, smiling as he did so. Despite the setbacks from the fires, his army had grown and was assembled in Equestria. The other Shetland ponies in the hall bowed as he passed, not knowing who he truly was. He made his way to a small room close to the Conclave chambers. Inside, a grizzled Elder waited for him.

"You're late," Elder Carneades huffed.

"You'll do good to remember who you're talking to," the True King replied.

"A unicorn with no sense of time," the old Pegasus chuckled. "What's the news?"

"My army is assembled," the giant unicorn stated. "What of yours?"

"There are plenty of noble houses loyal to us," Carneades smiled. "At a moment's notice, they can drop what they're doing and launch a surprise attack against those loyal to Mal-the Red Lady, I mean. Including the knights loyal to us, we could almost tear a quarter the city apart before your boys even arrive. There is no way they'll see us coming."

"Hear anything about the Evisican tome they have?"

"Not a word," Carneades shuffled his hooves. "The Lady is keeping it close to her and those damnable Paladins of Celestia's. Only they know what's inside."

"Try to find out what it says," the True King ordered. "We must know what's in that book. We're this close to having everything come together, and we can't have them destroy the Circle we've made."

"Understood," the Elder acknowledged. "If you don't mind my asking, what is the purpose of that giant Circle anyway? Why do we need one so big if we can use smaller ones?"

"The giant one is an anchor for all the others," the True King replied. "If it gets dispelled, the smaller circles will lose their power, and the Abominations will die. That Circle's magic is what sustains them."

"I see. Well, I'll do what I can to peek into that book. One more thing, King. Will you keep your word?"

"Of course," The King smiled. "When this is over, you and the other loyal Elders will rule the Shetlands. I have no need for a country like this when the world will bend knee to me." Satisfied, Elder Carneades left the room. The True King stayed a bit longer, chuckling to himself.

"So eager for the silver, he misses the gold right behind it."

It was a calm day in Ponyville. Watson trotted down the street, smiling at the mare that trotted next to him. She was a blue-grey pegasus with a green mane and gold eyes. She laughed as he told her an old joke, smiled as he bought her a cupcake, and was generally happy in Watson's presence. Watson was happy in her presence, as well. After all those years of being alone, he finally had a special somepony to spend time with.

He turned to say something, but the words caught in his throat. His special somepony now had a horn growing from her head. Her eyes had turned blue, and she was slowly growing. Watson gasped as he realized what was going on. Nopony else around them seemed to care that the Pegasus was shedding her blue-grey coat, revealing a scarlet-colored coat. Her mane slowly turned black and wavy, like fire. In a few more moments, Malice was staring down at the tan unicorn. Her face was not one of contempt, or pride, but of genuine worry.

"Why do you refuse to admit it?" she asked.

"Watson?" a voice whispered from behind him.

"There is no use in denying it," Malice stepped towards Watson. "You are in love with me, simple as that."

"Watson?" the voice said louder.

"Stop trying to deny it," Malice said with a sad voice as she stepped closer. "It will only hurt you in the long run." She was now towering over the smaller unicorn, gazing down on him with a soft gaze. "Say it, little Paladin."

"Watson!" Thom exclaimed as he shook Watson awake. The small unicorn jerked awake at the sound of his friend's shout. He was in the kitchens with a bowl of browning salad in front of him. He was not in Ponyville with a random Pegasus-then-Malice.

"Just a dream," he whispered.

"A rather unpleasant one, I might add," Thom said. Watson stiffened at this.

"You…you saw it?"

"Yeah, sorry," Thom apologized. "My powers are pretty extensive."

"Then…" Watson sighed, "…then you know?"

"Known since the trip back," Thom nodded. "Don't worry, I haven't told anypony, and I don't plan to start. Anyway, to the subject at hoof, Malice and Celestia want to see us Paladins. Think they've figured something out." Watson followed Thom back to the library. Inside were the Princesses, the other two Paladins and a single knight.

"Saria!" Thom laughed as the green unicorn smiled and nodded. "You've recovered?"

"I am quite fine, Thom," the unicorn knight smiled. "Thank you for the concern."

"Thanks for coming on such short notice," Celestia told the Paladins. "Malice and I have discovered something in the tome, something it shames us to not have noticed before." As she finished, Celestia opened the tome to a page halfway through the tome. It was a world map. Equestria was down in the lower right (meaning it was an incomplete map), and in the upper right…

"This large island is clearly marked, 'Evisica.'"Malice explained. "We believe this is where they came from. "

"If this is where they came from, "Celestia furthered, "perhaps we could send some ponies there to figure out a way to get rid of the Circle."

"Wait," Redstamp asked, "you're gonna send US to the Evisican homeland? Wouldn't they be the least bit bitter after what happened to them 200 years back?"

"That'd be why they're sending us," Watson sighed. "We're Paladins. We'll be in and out before they know we're even there." Meanwhile, Watson was thinking, 'Great, another spy mission.'

"But how will we get there?" Ditzy asked. "You gonna teleport us there?"

"Yes," Malice replied. "It will take a while for you to get there, but Celestia and I can teleport you there."

"How long would it take?" Watson asked.

"The teleport would take approximately four days to get you there. Since neither of us have been there, the teleport will have to be specifically tuned."

"Four days?" Saria asked. "Isn't that a little long?"

"I agree with Saria," Watson supported. "A lot could happen in four days."

"Oh, don't be so sour," Discord chipped in.

"Sorry, but-" Watson stopped. Everypony jerked back at the sudden appearance of the Draconequus. "Discord? When did you get here?"

"About eighty-seven-point-thirty-five seconds before your reactions," Discord replied. "And don't worry, the teleport won't take very long. With our help, you'll get there in half a day."

"Our help?" Malice asked. "He's here?"

"Indeed," a voice called out. Nopony saw the owner of the voice, but Watson's ears perked up.

"Neph?" he asked.

"Hey, you remember me!" the voice cheered. "Was afraid you'd forgotten about me." Two large green scarabs appeared from behind Discord and hovered in the air in front of Watson. Thom gave a gasp.

"Those are the bugs!" the Earth Pony exclaimed. "Those are the ones I was chasing a while back."

"Indeed," the voice said. "You almost caught me a couple of times too. Now, please do not freak out." Before anypony could ask why, a swarm of insects, arachnids and snakes came pouring into the room from a nearby window. It gathered under the two scarabs and slowly built up towards the hovering bugs.

As the pile stretched higher, it slowly began shaping into a familiar form. On the floor, arachnids and insects shaped into hooves. The main body was large and sleek, undulating with the motion of the creatures it was made from. Protruding from the back were outstretched snakes bound by spider webs, making bat-like wings. The head was clearly equine, with a large spider leg acting as a horn. The two scarabs were in the place of eyes for this unusual creature. Watson stared for a bit, then gasped. He had seen this creature before.

"You…" he said, "you're the Prince of Pestilence."

"Indeed," the creature nodded. "My name is Jull-Nephronopht, but you can still call me Neph."

"Took your time getting here, brother," Malice bluntly stated.

"Sorry," Neph whined, "Would have been here sooner, but Cadence needed some more help with stuff, and I was burning Abomination factories on my way down."

"I see," Celestia said. "Speaking of whom, how is your daughter these days? Cadence doesn't write much."

"Daughter?" Watson asked while the other ponies' jaws dropped.

"She's fine," Neph ignored Watson. "A little busy running the empire, but she's got a supportive husband."

"Cadence is your daughter?" Watson asked.

"Moving on," Discord interrupted, "Now, with this alicorn here, the teleport-time will be greatly decreased. It will be further decreased since I've actually been there."

"WHAT!?" Everypony, including the three alicorns, screamed.

"It's true," Discord said while sipping a glass of water. "I have only just returned from being there."

"What did you do there?" Celestia asked.

"Just set a beacon there," Discord replied. "Wanted to explain things to them, but the Evisica clearly do not trust Draconequus. Wonder why."

"So," Ditzy said, "now how long will it take?"

"By my estimates," Neph seemed to smile, "half a day." As he said this, another Shetland knight came in.

"Forgive the interruption," he bowed, not seeming to notice or care that a bug-alicorn was in the room, "but Elder Trottson is demanding to see the tome."

"Tell them no," Malice sighed. "Carneades, Fetlock, Oberol, now Trottson. It almost seems like all the Elders want to see it."

"Especially Carneades and Fetlock," the knight replied. "I've personally seen those Pegasus and unicorn go off by themselves discussing something or some things."

"Well," Malice said, "Now we have knowledge who some of the conspirators are." Turning to the Paladins, she said, "It will take some time to prepare the teleport. You can rest until tomorrow. Please excuse us. Now, Discord, what was it you wanted to tell…" She and Malice left, followed by a Discord in a sombrero.

"Well," Redstamp said, "things just keep getting better."

"At least some good came out of going to Manehatten," Thom sighed with relief.

"You went to Manehatten?" Saria asked in surprise.

"Y-yeah," Thom replied with a startled tone. "W-was actually born there."

"REALLY?" the green unicorn asked again. "What's it like? Is it true there are carriages that move without being pulled? Are there…" she kept asking questions excitedly. Thom just laughed and led her out of the library. Watson turned to Ditzy and Redstamp and smiled.

"When did those two hit it off?" he asked.

"Don't look at us," Ditzy smiled. "He's been that way for a few days."

"Yeah," Redstamp explained. "When he fell unconscious after 'interrogating' that unicorn, he was put into the same room as that unicorn, who was still recovering from her wounds from the Palace. They must've hit it off there."

"That must be it," Ditzy agreed. "So, Redstamp, wanna get something to eat?" As the two pegasi left, Watson turned to the silent bug-alicorn.

"You're Cadence's father?" the small unicorn asked.

"You're not gonna let that go, are you?" Nephronopht asked in return.

"No," Watson replied. "You're the Prince of Pestilence, and Cadence is a love Princess. How did-"

"How did I help make somepony like her?" Neph finished Watson's question. "Well, I will admit she takes more after her mother, but she got her power from me."

"How?" Neph seemed to smile at this last question.

"What," he asked, "never heard of being lovesick?" Watson thought for a minute of how that might make sense before the alicorn Prince continued, "Ah, but you must have. I can tell you have it pretty bad." Watson was floored by this sentence.

"How did-" Watson started, "no, nevermind, it's probably obvious to you."

"It is," Neph replied, "and judging from that sentence, the other one doesn't know. So who is it?" Silence from Watson. "Was it that cross-eyed Pegasus? I will admit, those eyes so have a certain adorable charm to them."

"Not her," Watson replied.

"The other Pegasus, then?" Neph continued. "Didn't think your door swung that way."

"No," Watson denied. "It's neither of the pegasi. It's not the unicorn…"He started blushing and lowered his head. A few moments went by, then Neph pulled his head back in realization.

"It's Malice…" he chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Watson asked. "No, I know what's funny. It's funny that I, a vertically challenged unicorn with a bent horn, have the hots for the Princess of War. It's funny because I have these feelings, and don't have a chance." Neph remained silent for a bit longer before lowering his head to Watson's height.

"I don't know," he said reassuringly, "you might be surprised." He straightened up and made his way to the door. "I won't tell a soul, trust me." With that, Jull-Nephronopht exited the library.

'Great,' Watson thought to himself. 'Now a close friend and the Prince of Pestilence know about my crush. Who's gonna learn next?'

The following morning came thankfully fast for Watson. He was in a large room with the other Paladins, the Shetland unicorn Saria (who was coming with the Paladins), Discord and the three alicorns. The Paladins and knight were standing in the middle of a large, jagged spell circle.

"When you land," Celestia briefed them, "make for any place to hide soon as possible. We don't want to risk hostilities with the Evisicans."

"Before we send you away," Malice continued, "we want you to know that the Evisicans are unlike any creature you have seen. In your packs are pictures of the Evisicans. Feel free to look at them." All the Paladins took out said picture and gasped.

"The heck is THAT?" Red asked in disbelief.

"No WONDER there aren't any books on them," Thom gave an incredulous laugh.

"You fought these things?" Watson asked. "And why weren't we told what they looked like earlier?"

"We were hoping to avoid contact with them," Celestia replied. "However, once we learned what was in the book, it became clear that contact was unavoidable. All we ask is that you make as little contact as possible, in the event they are hostile."

"If they aren't," Malice stated, "try to explain the situation to them best as possible. As for getting back, each of your bags hold a beacon similar to the one Discord placed on the Evisican lands. When you need to get back, have the unicorns focus into them and you'll be home in half a day." She gave a final look to Watson as she said, "Be careful, all of you." With that, the three alicorns charged up the spell while Discord focused his energies into it, bending the magic toward the beacon thousands of leagues away. One minute passed. Then two. Then the magic reached its' peak and the five ponies were lifted off the ground, and vanished in a rainbow-colored light. When it faded, the five ponies were gone, and the alicorns caught their breath.

"They're outside of our help now," Celestia said after a long minute.

"We can only hope our Fathers watch over them now," Malice replied. She then turned to her brother and Discord and said, "This army you told us about last night, how far is it?"

"It was a hundred-eighty leagues away when we last checked," Neph replied.

"It could be here before sundown," Discord finished. "Over eight thousand ponies, Abominations and Minotaur."

"I sent word to my sister to send all available knights here," Celestia stated. "It will be more than two days before they arrive, though. Can we last that long?"

"You forget I am the Princess of War." Malice smiled. "This is also Vermillion, the City of Blades. We are more than capable of-" A Shetland and Equestrian knight burst into the room at the same time. Both of them were bleeding from various wounds.

"Your Majesties!" The Equestrian exclaimed. "The city's under attack!"

"What!?" the scarlet alicorn asked. "But the invading army shouldn't-"

"It's not an invasion," the Shetland knight interrupted. "Many of the noble and merchant houses have taken up arms against you. A third of the city's betrayed you!" He turned and bucked another Shetland knight that was charging at him. "Many of the knights have turned against you as well! The Conclave Elders are either dead, captured or turned against you!"

"This must be what they had planned all along," Neph grimaced. "Turn the city against you, then have a larger force swoop in while you tire yourself quelling the uprising."

"Does not matter," Malice growled. Her eyes shone gold and her mane was red as fire and crackling with magic. "If it is war they want, they've got it." Her wings stretched out and shone with a white light, her missing pinion regenerating on the spot. "These traitors will soon learn why it is a bad idea to wage war against War herself." With that, she flew out the door and into the rest of the palace.

The Red Lady was on the warpath, and soon the streets of Vermillion would run red as its' name.

Oh snot, Malice is PEEVED! Hope you liked this chapter, and sorry if it seemed a bit jumpy. I REALLY wanted to get to this point. Okay, no clue when the next chapter will come out, but it will most likely be early May, maybe later this month. Next chapter, we finally see what an Evisican looks like! Okay, see ya!

Author's Note

YAY. Chapter 11!!

Chapter 12: Across Ocean and Fire

Hello! Its official, I've become one of those "update once a month" guys. I apologize. But, this chapter will catch your attention. We see an Evisica in detail, learn why nopony's seen them in centuries, and learn what's been happening in Vermilion since this whole thing started. Hope ya like it!

Her palace was close to collapse. The Evisican forces had broken through and Celestia's army was stuck on the outside. Inside the palace, Malice's forces were in retreat, but few had anywhere to go. Most barricaded themselves in various closets and chambers, where not even the Evisicans could reach them easily. Her servants were captured, dead or aiding in the effort to repel the enemy. Malice herself was in the uppermost chambers of the palace, protected by her closest bodyguards and her Grand General.

She was charging up the Last Resort, a large magic amethyst that would wipe out any enemy in the palace. She rarely used it due to the magic required to charge it, and she was the only one capable of charging it. Only a few ponies knew this, and they were doing everything possible to keeps the Evisicans out. There were no enemy ponies here, just Evisicans themselves. Their brute strength was slowly breaking the doors, despite the brawn of the Earth Ponies and the reinforcing magic of the unicorns. Not even the Grand General, Malice's white unicorn bodyguard, could keep them out for long. Malice was still charging the Last Resort when the door splintered apart and the hulking Evisicans came charging in.

They were stopped by the Earth Ponies for brief moments, long enough for the unicorns and Pegasi to zap a few down. Malice had to maintain focus, so she couldn't help, but from the corner of her eye, she could see her guard fighting to keep the Evisicans away from her. The Grand General was facing one in hoof-to-limb combat. He brought it down with his horn, and charged into the horde.

A few more minutes passed without a single Evisican reaching her, and the Resort was charged. The amethyst hummed, then bellowed with power as its magic flooded the palace. Every Evisican vanished in a stream of red and purple magic. Malice gasped for air from the drain the spell put on her. She turned and looked at her remaining guards with a mix of joy and sorrow. Joy, from how they were successful, and sorrow, from how less than half her guard survived.

She saw no white among the standing guards.

Malice slowly walked toward her guard, all of whom had worried faces. It wasn't until she got closer when she realized they were purposefully forming a wall. With a single glare, the guards cringed and shuffled to either side, revealing what they were hiding.

In many places, red covered his once pristine-white coat, his horn covered in the purplish Evisican blood. His blue eyes, once piercing and clear, were now glazed over and emotionless. Blood dripped from his mouth and collected in the pool that formed under him. For the second time that day, Malice fell to her knees. This time, tears filled her own sapphire eyes and she gave a cry of pain and sorrow, a cry no immortal had given before.

Watson spun through the teleport space with the others. It was similar to when he was link-teleported to the Shetlands a month or two ago, minus the falling on the ground over and over. He knew the teleport would last a few hours, but it only seemed like a few minutes before he hit dirt. His vision was blurry and bright, and his hearing was muffled. He had never been through a single teleport this long, and clearly took its' toll on him. He tried to stand, but his knees buckled under him. Watson could feel his consciousness slipping away, but he couldn't let go. He had to make sure his friends were safe. As he tried getting up, a shadow appeared over him. Watson couldn't make it out, but he could tell it was a large creature before him.

"What do we have here?" the shadow asked in a baritone voice before Watson completely passed out. After he passed out, several more shadows joined the first one.

Watson slowly opened his eyes. He wasn't lying on grass anymore. He was on something soft, like a bed. As his eyes focused, he saw it was a bed, but not like a normal one. It was bigger than normal, and was round, like a nest. There weren't any blankets either, but the air around him was a comfortable temperature. The room was a pristine white, with matching décor and windows without glass. There was a gentle breeze going through the room. Watson stretched a bit, then slowly got to his hooves to get a better look around.

"Ah," a somewhat-high-pitched, yet emotionless, voice said to his side, "you are awake." Watson turned to see who spoke in such a peculiar fashion. It was a big creature, bigger than most Earth Ponies. Tartarus, it was as big as Celestia. It was a quadroped, but its' front legs ended in four-fingered hands while its' back legs ended in feet with three stubby toes. Its' back was hunched, like a buffalo, but the hump had a smooth transition into its' neck, which looked almost nonexistent. It had no hair, and its' skin was a mottled green with small bumps here and there. It wore tight pants and some sort of back-cover that Watson could only guess served as a vest or shirt. The creature's face was the most unusual part of it. Four beady black eyes, small fin-like flaps instead of a mouth, Watson had never seen a face like it.

No, that was wrong. He had seen a face like it. It was on that paper that…

In the two seconds it took Watson to process everything since he first saw the creature, his expression changed from drowsy to fear. The creature in front of him was an Evisican.

Watson gave a blood-curdling scream as he jumped backwards off the bed/nest. He turned and jumped to one of the windows, but was prevented from going through the opening by an unseen force. He bounced off and landed at the feet of the Evisican, whose face-flaps shook, making a deep rumbling sound. Watson also smelled cinnamon, for some reason.

"Quick response time," it said with a voice devoid of emotion. "Very good. Your friends were worried about you."

"Friends?" Watson asked as he got to his hooves. "Where are they? What have you done to them?"

"Your fear is unnecessary," the Evisican slowly nodded its' head. "Your four friends have not been harmed in any way. They have been awaiting your recovery."

"N-not harmed?" the tiny unicorn asked in disbelief. "Waiting for me? What's going on?"

The Evisican (Watson couldn't tell if it was a boy or girl) replied, "Others found the five of you collapsed in one of the gardens. One of them, the green unicorn, stayed awake long enough to tell us you came from the Shetlands. The first one to awaken, the Pegasus with the gold eyes, informed us you came to learn something concerning the traitor's kingdom. We are curious about what could be happening that would cause five ponies to teleport more than halfway across the world."

"So…" Watson asked, "you're NOT holding us prisoner?"

"You are thinking us all to be like the ones who left 200 of your years ago," the creature said. "Understandable, as we have not shown ourselves outside the island since then, but you need not fear. No one you see here means you nor your friends any harm. Come, I will take you to your friends." Watson hesitantly followed the Evisican as he/she/whatever lumbered down a white, round hallway, past other rooms with more Evisicans in them. He guessed this was some form of infirmary, but there were no doctors, nor equipment. How did they tend to their wounded? As he followed, Watson also noticed that it was getting fairly windy.

"I must warn you," the Evisican stated, "please watch your step. It is a long drop if you aren't paying attention."

"A long drop? Your hospital is on top of a tower?"

"Not really," the Evisican replied. "But it is still a long way down." As Watson exited the building, he saw what the Evisican meant.

The island was floating.

The Evisican island floated thousands above the ocean surface. As Watson looked out, he saw it wasn't alone. He spotted at least three other islands covered by the clouds. It was no wonder nopony had found the Evisicans for more than two hundred years. Nopony who sailed here would spot the islands hidden in clouds, and few pegasi would come out this far.

"H-how is this island floating?" Watson asked.

"How does a Pegasus fly?" the Evisican replied. "Now, we must go. Your friends still await your arrival." Watson followed the Evisican down a dirt path to what looked like a long, white cylindrical building that stretched beyond the horizon. In the distance, he could see it branch off, with those branches going far as well. The Evisican saw Watson's curious face, and explained, "We use these tunnels to travel far distances quickly. When we get inside, do not run. If you do, the exit will be less than pleasant." Watson followed the Evisican into the building, which was indeed a very long tunnel. The floor had glowing lines that ran along its' length. The Evisican stepped onto the floor, then turned and waited for Watson. The small unicorn was hesitant. What if this Evisican was lying? What if his friends were imprisoned, and this tunnel led to some sort of slave camp? What if…what if…

Watson stopped that line of thought. If they wanted him dead, they would have killed him. If they wanted him as a slave, he'd be in the camp with the rest of them. It was clear they did not mean any harm. With that thought, Watson stepped into the tunnel.

With that one step, Watson felt the change. Looking out one of the windows, it almost seemed like the world outside slowed down. The Evisican waited a few more moments before walking down the tunnel. Watson followed it, being careful to only walk. Watson saw other Evisicans entering the tunnel from the branches, or exiting those ways. The world outside the windows seemed to be going by faster than when he was riding the train. Watson could feel he was going fast, too. It felt similar to a Haste spell, but more…science than magic, if that made any sense. After twenty minutes of walking in silence (though it seemed much less), the Evisican led Watson out of the tunnel and into a sight that nearly floored Watson yet again.

They entered a small field, like a park, surrounded by a ring of four buildings unlike any Watson had ever seen. They were white, and seemed to lack windows. Instead, above the doors and at intervals on the way up were blue orbs sticking out from the sides. They were tall, wide but not thick, like some kind of sword blade, and stretched hundreds of feet into the sky. Looking around more, the unicorn saw more wonders. Past the sword towers was another large white building that looked almost exactly like the ruined palace that had the big circle in it, but clearly in better shape. To the right was the island's edge, with a few telescopes looking off to the nearby islands. It was around one of these Watson saw friendly faces.

"Redstamp!" Watson cheered as he galloped to the others. "Ditzy! Thom! You're okay!" The others turned, gave a laugh and caught the small unicorn as he tackled them. Saria lifted Watson off Thom and onto his hooves with a smile.

"Took ya long enough!" Ditzy giggled with her uncontainable smile.

"Two days!" Redstamp guffawed. "You were zonked for TWO DAYS! How can you sleep so long?"

After a few more minutes of joyful reunion, things calmed down enough for the Evisican who had accompanied Watson to let the ponies know that she (it WAS a she!) would be right back. As she left, Watson turned back to his friends and asked what happened while he slept.

"Well," Ditzy explained, "I was the first to awaken, but I didn't know how much we should've told some…thing?...who wasn't an authority figure, so I just told them we came concerning their kingdom 200 years ago. Upon hearing that, they declared that their leaders would speak with us, but only when all of us were present. I told them that what we needed to talk about as important, but they refused to discuss things any further."

"We were told to wait," Saria explained. "We've spent two days waiting for you to awaken. During that time, we've learned quite a bit about the Evisicans. It turns out, what was fought 200 years ago was not the majority of them."

"They were a splinter group," Thom piped up. "Got bored living on these islands, so they left to make their own land. You can tell how that went. Anyway, the rest of them are actually really nice. Can't talk normal, but they give off some smells when they feel some emotion. I've been able to pin cinnamon as mirth, cupcakes as curiosity, and apples as calmness. Leave it to me to spot the food smells, huh?" Watson chuckled and gestured to the telescopes.

"I'm guessing you use these to look at the other islands?" the small unicorn asked.

"Yup!" Redstamp leaned against one. "Turns out there are more than Evisicans here! That island there's home to the Ert, who are like Diamond Dogs, but green and a lot more like wolves. Over thattaway is Edonna. Those folks are REALLY nice. Met a few yesterday. They're like white deer, but they're huge. Seriously, they make us look like you compared to the Princesses."

"Thanks for the comparison," Watson dully replied. "What about that last one?" The other ponies all gave uncomfortable faces.

"Umm…" Ditzy replied, "We…we really don't wanna talk about it in detail."

"There are horrors on that island, Watson," Red continued.

"Things…horrible things….they look like ponies…but are too disturbing to be such." Thom shuddered at the memory.

"When we asked about them," Saria grimaced, "all the Evisicans would say is that those…things don't seem to know about the rest of the world…and they are only known as 'Generation 3.' Makes me afraid to know how the first two were."

"Or what Generation 4 would be like," Thom replied.

There was an awkward silence for a few minutes before the Evisican from before returned. She gestured for them to follow her. The five reunited ponies followed her into the large palace building. It was in a LOT better shape than the one on the mainland. Everything was clean, it was populated by Evisicans (and pale giants Watson guessed were Edonna), and was well lit. Every creature present watched the precession of five ponies follow the other Evisican to a long staircase leading down.

The ponies were hesitant for a moment. This staircase was exactly like the one in the other palace that led to the bigger circle, and the cages that contained the prisoners-turned-monsters. Saria never saw the circle, but Thom had told her the horror story with enough detail to make her shudder. After a few moments, the ponies followed the Evisican down the staircase. When they reached the bottom, they saw a room vastly different from the Circle chamber under the ruined palace.

Instead of torches, there were bright balls of lights on the walls that looked like crystal light bulbs. Instead of grime and blood, the floors were covered in a soft polish. Instead of a circle made from blood, there was a circle made from Evisicans, Edonnans and two or three bipedal creatures Watson guessed were Ert staring down at them from elevated platforms. All these creatures wore elegant, formal clothes in a wide array of colors and patterns. These were the authority figures. Their Evisican guide bowed to the rulers of these floating islands before leaving. It was a few moments before one of the Evisicans, a particularly large one in blue, stepped forward.

"Ponies from Shetland and Equestria," he rumbled with a monotone voice, "we bid you welcome to these islands. But, pray tell us, what is transpiring in your lands that would require you to teleport across the planet seeking our people?" There were a few more moments of silence before Watson stepped forward, gave a quick bow, and addressed the assembly.

"Thank you for the welcome, but I fear there is great trouble in our lands…"

Vermillion, the City of Blades, was in flames.

That first day, when Watson, the Paladins and the Shetlander left for the Evisican Island, a third of the city rebelled in a surprise attack. Despite their best efforts, the knighthood proved nearly useless against the rebels, who had clearly been preparing for this for months. The three alicorns and the Draconequus spent the rest of the day fighting the rebels back while the rest of the knighthood helped escort as much of the noncombatants away from the city as possible. It was nightfall when the last civilian stepped out the far gates and towards the safety of the mountains.

It was nightfall when the army of monsters struck the outer walls.

A wave of Abominations, ponies and minotaur assailed the walls, meeting little resistance. The gates that should've repelled armies for months fell in a matter of hours. The rebels, reinforced by the invaders, pushed towards the palace, but Malice's mighty palace would prove a far stronger obstacle. Crystal spikes jutting from the walls fired magic at the invaders, the soldiers manning the walls were far more focused, and there was one more crucial difference.

Malice herself guarded the gates.

Any monster, minotaur or pony who dared raise a weapon against her rarely had time to notice the red energy coming at them before they found themselves bereft of a head. For the two hours it took for the rest of her knights to reach the palace from their posts in the city, Malice held back the army of monsters. More than once, in her rage, she lifted entire buildings and threw them at the beasts, clearing whole streets for a minute or two before the horde came running back.

Celestia and Nephronopht worked in conjunction to hinder the army. Their efforts made a sizeable dent in the opposing armies, as Celestia's Sun power combined with Neph's pestilence and laid waste to all before them. Several times, they flew past the shattered gates and assaulted the army that had yet to enter the city. Celestia's solar beams scorched deep trenches into the earth below while Neph summoned his subjects to fight the army. The outside was in disarray from the sudden obstacles combined with giant venomous insects and house-sized scorpions fighting for hours before finally dying.

The following night, when all three alicorns were exhausted, Discord exercised his might as the Lord of Chaos. No pranks, no mirthful ways of dispatching foes. Discord showed his enemies how terrifying chaos could truly be. Cobblestone streets turned to quicksand, banks of acidic fog engulfed entire squads, even the buildings around the city would rise up and devour all in their way. Discord himself had no qualms with going down and clawing his way through the foes with such speed that any survivors would think there were more than one Draconequus.

The dawn was met by the crowing of roosters and the horns of Equestria. Luna had arrived with Celestia's army earlier than anticipated. With a fury and determination that would have impressed Malice had she seen it, the Equestrian knights slammed into the rear of the Monster's army. The Earth Ponies, in their train-like armor, rammed the invaders inward while unicorn magic tore the land apart beneath them, and the pegasi fought the flying monsters for control of the skies. Luna sped to reunite with her sister while Phalanx, true to his name, led the army into the Monsters, forcing the invaders to go on the defensive, hiding inside Vermillion itself, attempting to guard the gates they shattered the night before last.

It was during that following night, when Luna flew back to lead the Equestrian army, that Celestia and Malice finally had time to speak.

"Their army is bigger than Discord and Pestilence first thought," Celestia stated as she and Malice looked wearily over the burning city.

"They were receiving reinforcements all throughout the first day," Malice replied. "Despite all our fighting, their army still numbers over ten thousand. How many did Luna bring?"

"About that much," Celestia replied. "Combine that with the few hundred here in the palace, we're currently even with them. Any chance the rest of the mighty Shetland army can get here?"

"I sent out messengers the day this fighting started. So far, only the one from Icecliff has returned, saying that they're caught up fighting monsters over there, but can send a few hundred to help us. I also sent envoys to Glascow and the Gryphon kingdom. Their response was reinforcing their own borders, but sending no help our way."

"Basically," Celestia sighed, "hide behind a wall and hope nothing bad comes their way. Looks like it's just us dealing with this."

"Indeed." Malice looked to the northwest, sending her gaze far out as she could. "We can only hope Watson and the others return with some knowledge of how to stop this."

"On the subject of Watson," Celestia asked, "why did you lie to him earlier?" The Princess of the Sun turned to the Princess of War and said, "You didn't spare him on Percheron Ridge because he fought back. You spared him because he reminded you of him." Malice visibly winced as Celestia said this.

"That is true," Malice admitted. "When I fought him on the ridge, when I had him at my mercy, I looked at his small form and saw…heh, I saw Fritz. Small, frail, he looked almost exactly Fritz when I first met him. Then, looking back, Watson's eyes had that same, indomitable look to them that Fritz had when he was my Grand General. It had been more than 200 years since the Evisican War…" Malice lowered her head. "I couldn't bear to see Fritz die again." At that point, a Shetland knight came running up.

"Milady, the search parties have returned. No one has seen General Racer since the gates were breached. Most of the knights assume he is dead, but some think he's leading one of the pockets of resistance caught in the city."

"Understood," Malice nodded. "Go get some rest." The knight bowed and left as Malice turned back to Celestia. "Now, what did Luna want to talk to you about?"

"She was telling me that earlier she sent a messenger to a potential ally requesting assistance. She wouldn't tell me who, though, and that makes me worried." As Celestia finished her sentence, there was a roar as three dragons flew into the city, burning any creature guarding the walls. Malice gave a chuckle.

"Dragons, cousin? However did you manage to get them involved?" the Red Lady asked.

"I will only say," Celestia replied, "that not all Paladins are ponies."

Luna stood at the edge of the Equestrian camp, facing away from the city. Her messenger returned to inform her that the potential help was arriving shortly. And sure enough, after a few minutes of waiting, a greenish-black shadow appeared in front of her. Its' green eyes shone in the moonlight, and its' blue-green mane glistened. Luna could see her guest clearly, but anypony else there would have only seen a tall shadow with green eyes.

"Greetings, Queen," Luna nodded.

"My Hive is here," Chrysalis growled, "as are the Hives of Shrilt and Ravenor. We will fight, but only so that we do not have to fight these creatures later. Do not think this means our kind likes you."

"Thou can go on hating my sister and I after the enemy hath fallen," Luna replied. "Until then, we must consider ourselves allies of necessity. Dost thou give your word that thou and thine will stand beside us until these monsters lie dead?" There was a brief silence before the Changeling Queen nodded.

"We will not take orders from your knights," Chrysalis replied, "but we will fight."

Very exciting, huh? Evisicans, Changelings, Generation 3...maybe we can forget about that last one. Anywho, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Prepare for a plot twist that'd make Shyamalan go "HUH?" in the next chapter!

Author's Note

Didja like? Things is gettin serious!

Chapter 13: Circle's Truth

Hello again! Now, before I do anything else, I AM SO SORRY! I am very sorry it took so long to update! I was put on hiatus for a month, and I barely had time to tell anyone. I have also spent the last few days trying to get this chapter done, but things just kept piling up. Anyway, it's done for now. Yay.

Now, this chapter will have twists and turns and something i hope is new to you all. I do not own MLP at all.

The city of Vermillion was a veritable sandwich of conflict. On one side, against the mountainside, were the Shetland Palace and the troops therein, lead by Celestia and Malice. On the other side stood Luna commanding the Equestrian armies. In the middle, spread throughout the entire city, was the True King's army, the army of monsters and traitors. Interspersed here and there were pockets of resistance.

Throughout the days of fighting, squads and small groups of knights became cut off from their respective side. Many of these pockets were Shetland knights who had been isolated since the first day of the battle. Others were Equestrian knights who had pushed into the city, but were unable to retreat when the invaders went on the offensive. Others still were a mix of the two, working together to stay alive.

One such group, comprising of an Equestrian Earth Pony & Unicorn with a Shetland Pegasus, huddled in the basement of a shop on Baker's Row, hoping the invaders wouldn't find them.

"Landis," The Earth Pony asked, "Any calls from anypony?"

The unicorn, who had a bandage over one of his eyes, shook his head. "Not a word since last night. The Ether's been quiet."

The Pegasus, clearly a rookie, asked, "M-maybe I could do a fly-around, see if anypony's nearby?"

"No," the Earth Pony shook his head, "I've seen those flying monsters bring down Pegasi bigger than you. Stay here, stay alive."

Everypony went silent as the bakery door opened. The Pegasus gulped and curled up as the two Equestrians peered through the floorboards to see who was there. Two ponies and a minotaur were poking through the shelves, checking out the bread.

"Anything here?" the minotaur asked.

"Just stale bricks," a pony said, knocking two loaves together. "Nothing fresh since the blue Prin-"

"Quiet!" the other pony rasped. There was complete silence from both groups. The trio in the basement could feel the slow, steady thuds of big wing beats for a few moments before it faded away. One of the ponies upstairs sighed.

"Dragon," he said. "Those scaly bastards have been doing flyby's all day."

"How did they get dragons, anyway?" the minotaur asked.

"You tell me," the other pony replied. "All I know is that, in one day, we lost air superiority to them. I swear, Mal-the Red Lady has too many tricks."

"I heard Celestia summoned them," the first pony said. "Well, nothing here. Let's check the next-"

"Ey," the minotaur asked, "What's that?"

The three ponies in the basement could only listen as high-pitched chittering filled the air, followed by, and almost blocking out, the screams of the ponies and minotaur. The Earth Pony looked through a crack in the floor in time to see the minotaurs' bloodied face fall over the crack. There was a quick look of realization in the minotaurs' eyes before a green-black blur stomped on his neck with a sickening snap. There was a loud squeal, followed by a buzzing sound, then silence. Nopony moved for several moments before Landis moved for the trapdoor.

"What are you doing?" the Earth Pony asked. The Unicorn, instead of answering, slowly opened the door a bit and peered out.

"All clear," he said before opening the door the rest of the way. As the three crawled out, they were greeted by the mangled bodies of the ponies and minotaur. Out in the street were more bodies, none of them Equestrian nor Shetland. As the Earth Pony slowly leaned his head out the door, he saw other ponies, knights this time, emerge from other shops.

"What was that?' one of them asked.

"You didn't see either?" another asked.

"I saw a green blur," a third one replied. "Was small, but fast. Sounded like a bug." With this last description, the Earth Pony realized what happened.

"Guys," he hollered, "we just got our flanks saved by Changelings."

"Impossible," one of the other ponies said as the groups converged in the streets. "Why would they be saving us?"

"Maybe not saving us," Landis pointed, "but killing them."

"Leave it to your Princess," a Shetland Unicorn chuckled, "to convince Changelings to fight our foes."

"Whatever," the Earth Pony shook his head. "I'd say we're closer to the Palace than the walls. I say we make our way there."

Malice was worried.

It had been nearly three days since the Paladins went to the Evisican homeland. She had received no word from them, but that was to be expected. What worried her was the battle. The invading forces numbered, by this point, ten or eleven thousand. The combined Shetland and Equestrian armies numbered a little higher than that, but more were arriving almost hourly. By her estimates, she and her cousins could clear the city within a week. Malice sighed and looked out of a window at the burning city. That did not seem right.

"Milady," a Blackwatch appeared next to Malice, staring out the same window at the burning city, "I've come to report."

"Go ahead," the Red Lady nodded.

"Snowpeak and Mossdeep have defeated the invaders in their areas," she reported. "At this moment, both provinces are sending knights to aid us.'

"And what of Ironhelm?"

"They're still turtled-in. The invaders have been besieging the gates for two days. They barely got a hawk out to report."

"Serpent's Tide?"

"No news yet."

"Shadowrest?"

"Oddly, they have not had any invaders attack. They are sending knights as well."

"Good work," Malice sighed. "There is no doubt the majority of the invaders are here, so any aid is appreciated. But…"

"Milady?" the Blackwatch Pegasus asked.

"Nothing. Go rest." As the Blackwatch mare bowed and left, Malice turned the other way, heading to her chambers. It was too easy. This 'True King' had spent months, possibly years preparing for this. There was no way, no way this was all the True King had. There had to be something more…

"…and that brings us up to date," Watson finished. The small unicorn spent the past three hours telling the Evisican Leaders (If they could all be counted that) about everything that had happened concerning the blood circles. During his dialogue, Watson had Saria speak up to say what had happened that he was not present for. As the explanations ended, the Ert were frowning, the Edonna had grim expressions and the air smelled of burning coal.

"This is most troubling indeed," the blue-garbed Evisican said. "To think the Circle of Darchia would be invoked on this planet…terrible." One of the Ert spoke up in a weird clicking language, and the Evisican responded in kind. Then an Edonna spoke in a low, melodious voice, and was answered by a different Evisican. Soon, all the non-ponies were talking to each other in different languages. The herd of ponies stood in silence for several minutes listening to it all before Redstamp sneezed. The whole room immediately turned silent and looked at Redstamp (one of the Edonna gave him a disgusted look).

"Uhh," Redstamp said, "Excuse me."

"A thousand pardons," the Evisican leader apologized in his monotone voice. "We did not consider that you did not speak any language from beyond this world."

"No worries," Ditzy replied, "Just, well, what were you saying?"

"We were discussing the options before us," one of the Edonna replied. "Had we known of this circle months ago, we could have intervened."

"But we did not," the Evisican Leader sighed. "And so, our options are few." The room seemed to darken from the expressions everything wore.

"I'm getting the feeling," Watson gulped, "that this magic does more than turn ponies into monsters."

"Its' ability to make monsters is a lesser step," the blue Evisican explained, "a minor detail in its' weave. The true purpose of this magic is to grant the one who casts it to take control of Death."

"As in, the power over life & death?" Watson asked.

"Incorrect," the Evisican leader responded. "I refer to Death, the entity. Surely this world has an entity that carries souls to their afterlife?"

"We have a Prince of Death, yes," Watson replied. "…Wait…you mean the pony, creature, whatever, that cast this is trying to command HIM?"

"Correct," an Ert nodded. "This spell will bind Death's mind to the Caster's will. A slave of a mortal. These monsters serve as bait, attracting Death as a perversion of life."

"Seriously?" Ditzy asked. "Why would anypony even want to try that?"

"He who can command Death," the Edonna from earlier explained, "would be able to say who lives and who doesn't. That person, or in your case pony, could order Death to leave them and any they choose alive, no matter how much time passes. In other words, control of Death would effectively grant immortality."

"But it would come at great cost," the blue Evisican stated. "Every world must end, but in ending, it would be born anew, with new peoples, new lands. It has been so since the dawn of time itself. But for new life to come, Death must take all souls accordingly. If any escape from Death's judgment for too long, if Death is bound to this person, the world will not pass properly." The Evisican's face seemed to darken as he continued, "There would be no renewal, no new life. If Death is bound to the will of anyone, the world will perish, truly and eternally."

The five ponies stood in horrified silence. All the murders, the monsters, everything was just bait this "True King" was using to lure Death into a trap. A trap that would result in the capture of Death, and cause the eventual Final Death of the world, all to gain immortality. Who? Who was this pony, who would be so arrogant?

Discord was fighting in the city. He was tired from the days of fighting, and so his chaos was down to a minimum, fighting with only his claws. The ponies, minotaur and monsters were beginning to be a nuisance. One of them actually scored a hit against him. It didn't have time to relish its' success. More and more seemed to come, and there was no help in sight. He was in a pickle.

One of the monsters lunged at him, but was stopped by gold light. He looked up and saw Celestia standing atop the palace, firing beams here and there. Her sniping skills were astounding, but something was off. Pulling a pair of banana-shaped binoculars out of nowhere, Discord took a closer look at Celestia.

Celestia was exhausted. Her normally billowing was almost completely limp on her neck. Her eyes were dull and half-closed. Her wings were hanging off her shoulders, and her knees were bent from the strain of it all. She was clearly not doing well. Then, all of the sudden, Celestia stopped firing. She looked over the city and sighed. Celestia closed her eyes and lowered her head. Her horn started glowing red.

Discord gasped. That only happened when…

He immediately tore through the surrounding enemies to some knights. "Are you making your way to the Palace!? I need you to take a message!"

"Okay, Ditzy said with a somber voice, "you've told us what the magic does. Now tell us how to stop it. There must still be a way."

"It will not be easy," the blue Evisican droned. "From what you say, the binding of Death is almost upon us. The only way to prevent the binding at this point would be to kill the one doing this."

"And if we aren't able to do that?" Watson asked. "What if we aren't able to kill him in time?"

"At that point," another Evisican replied, "the only way to end the binding is to destroy the Focus."

"Focus?"

"The object that binds Death's will," the Evisican continued. "An article of clothing, a weapon, any object kept in close proximity of the caster can be used to bind Death's mind. Destroy that, Death will be freed."

"All right," Watson turned to his friends, "now we know what to do." He then bowed to the lead Evisican. "You have our gratitude. Now, we must go fix this problem."

"Wait," the Evisican leader called. "You, little one. You have touched this magic as well." Watson thought for a moment, then remembered when he messed with that small circle a few months back. After the small unicorn nodded, the Evisican continued, "Know this, little one. That magic was made to command Death. He who seeks to commaned Death, must be claimed by Death." The Evisican took a step back. "No more advice can be given, for no more words can suffice. Do you have a method of transportation to return home?" They all nodded. "We pray for your success, little ponies. May Death remain unbound." All the ponies nodded, then turned and they walked up the stairs, Thom stepped back so he could talk to Watson.

"Hey," the armorclad Paladin asked, "what did that last part mean?" Watson gave a shrug. "Seriously, no clue?"

"I'm sure we'll figure it out," Watson replied. Thom looked at Watson for a bit before jogging up to talk to Saria. Watson sighed as the others spoke among themselves. Once they got outside, they activated their beacons and started the half-day teleport home.

Watson lied, and Thom knew it.

The fighting in Vermillion intensified. Despite the ever-growing discrepancy between their numbers, neither army seemed to be gaining any ground. Every time the Shetland-Equestrian knights pushed forward, the monsters forced them back. Every time the invaders pushed in either way, they were quickly repulsed. Discord had vanished a day ago, promising to return with help, and the alicorns were shown to not be invulnerable.

Malice winced as she stormed down the hall. One of the monsters cut a gash on her leg, and her regeneration was taking its' time healing her. There weren't any medics nearby; they were all tending to the wounded knights on the ground floor. The pain from her wound, however, was nothing compared to the fear she felt as she ran, occasionally flew, up the stairs and down the halls to her destination.

When she burst through Celestia's doors, Malice continued her pained gallop to the balcony, where a scuffed up Celestia gazed over the city. The ivory turned to Malice and looked at her with a weary face. She had not looked this bad since Sombra's betrayal.

"Hello," the Princess of Day quietly greeted.

"Tia," the Princess of War gasped, "I-I heard what you have planned. Is such an action wise?"

"No," Celestia replied. "It is not a wise choice."

"Then why are you going to do this?!" The Red Lady almost screamed. "Tia, with how exhausted you are-"

"I am doing this, Lady." Celestia turned back to overlook the city. "My student once told me that sometimes the wisest choice is not the right choice." She straightened up. "With any luck, this will be resolved before tomorrow." Before Malice could say anything else, a Shetland knight galloped into the room.

"Milady," he hollered, "the Paladins have returned!" Malice looked at the knight with wide eyes, then looked away pensively. After a few moments, she looked back at Celestia.

"Be careful, Tia." With those last words, Tia galloped down the stairs with the knight in tow. Princess Celestia stared down at the flaming city. She had sent out an Ethercall telling everypony on their side to find shelter, so the skies and streets were empty, save for the invaders. The ivory princess took a breath and stretched her wings, taking in sunlight.

"I, Princess Celestia Tia Chronos, Princess of the Day, invoke the power of Malice Ul Solarion, Princess of War."

Malice galloped fast as she could to the throne room. Any prior pain was forgotten and ignored. As she burst through the doors, she saw her brother (who was barely keeping his insects together) standing over the Paladins. To his credit, Watson was still conscious, but still very wobbly.

"Paladins!" Malice nearly bowled Watson over as she skidded into the room and stopped in front of Watson. The tan unicorn opened his mouth to speak, but quickly turned to the side in a coughing fit. Malice leaned forward and down. "Are you all right, Watson?"

"I'll be fine," Watson gasped. "Teleport sickness."

"It's an improvement from last time," Saria pointed out. "Last time, he was out for two days. That's what took us so long."

"Two days," Nephronopht said, "is a long time."

"I-I'm sorry," Malice told the small unicorn. "I'll have the medic heal you."

"No time," Watson gasped. "I've got to-"

"Milady!" another knight screamed from the hallway. "The beasts have breached the main gates! They're on our doorstep!" The Red Lady gritted her teeth, giving a sidelong look to Watson before addressing everypony.

"Anypony who can fight, with me! Brother, watch over Watson! I will return momentarily!" She galloped out, followed by the Paladins and knights, leaving a weary Neph and a weak Watson alone in the throne room.

"How'd it go?" the buggy alicorn prince asked.

"Neph," Watson said, "This is gonna sound crazy…"

"WHAT!?" Malice screamed as she stomped a monster's head. "This whole war's just for some immortality ritual!?"

"I know," Thom hollered as he bucked a minotaur away, "kinda stupid, huh!?"

"At least that explains a few things!" Malice fired a shot, vaporizing another minotaur before throwing more monsters out slamming the gates shut. Before she could lock them, they flew open again and a blistering hot wind pushed most of the ponies back. The invaders that were shut out mere moments ago now screamed in agony as blood-red fire engulfed them. Redstamp managed to lean his head outside to see where the fire was coming from.

Soaring through the air above the city Princess Celestia, but she wasn't the kind, ivory alicorn she was before. Her coat had turned the color of dark rusted metal, and her mane blazed like gold fire. Her eyes shone like the sun, blinding and hot. Blood red fire shot from her horn like a dragon's breath. Above the Princess, the sun shone red and the sky was black as pitch with gray wispy clouds.

In all his years as a Paladin, Redstamp had never seen anything more terrifying.

"What is it?" Thom asked as Redstamp went back inside and slammed the gates shut with Malice. "What's going on?"

"Umm," Redstamp said in terror, "L-let's just say Princess C-C-Celestia is very pissed." Malice nodded in agreement as she locked the gates.

"I say we all remain inside for the time being." As she finished locking the gates, Nephronopht gimped into the room. Malice turned with a curious look. "Neph? Why are you out here? Where's Watson?"

"Umm…" Neph turned away. Malice gave her younger brother an icy glare.

"Nephronopht," Malice asked, "Where is Watson?"

Watson took a deep breath after he finished vomiting. He felt tired and drowsy. He wanted to rest, but he couldn't. It was clear the True King was almost done. The assault on Vermillion was just a cover to keep Malice's troops in the city. Had to be. They were almost out of time.

Watson pulled out the bee-like insect Neph gave him and let it sting his foreleg. He winced in pain, but the wave of nausea and exhaustion were gone in an instant. Watson needed to be clear-headed for the next step. He took another breath and looked at the ruins around him.

He was back in the Evisican Palace, in the center of it all.

Neph couldn't teleport him to the Circle chamber, but prince did get him to the great hall, and that was close enough. Watson turned to the familiar stairway and galloped downstairs. With any luck, he could get to this 'True King' and kill him before the ritual was complete. Watson never actually killed anypony before, but with what this stallion did…

Watson slowed when he reached the bottom. There were voices coming from the Circle chamber. One voice was calm and stern, but the other was loud and argumentative. Watson got a little closer to listen in, sticking close to the wall.

"You-you MONSTER!" the loud voice shouted. Elder Carneades. "All this work, years of preparation, and for what? You said our armies were undefeatable, and yet we've lost! Celestia's burning our army to cinders, and you're just hiding down here like-" There was the sound of a drawn blade, followed by a sick gurgle and a thud.

"You talk too much, pawn," the other voice said. Watson gasped. It couldn't be.

The tiny unicorn ran into the Circle chamber and saw the chamber was well-lit by the circle. In the middle of it was Elder Carneades with blood pouring from his throat. Standing above him was not Elder Fetlocke. It wasn't even a member of the Conclave.

It was Racer.

Hey hey hey, who saw that last bit coming? Raise your hand if you saw that coming!

...that's a lot of hands...

Anyway, the next chapter will have the Final Boss Fight of the fic, and don't think the others will just sit in the Shetland Palace twiddling their...hooves while this fight is going on. Remember, they have a very p-o'ed Celestia to deal with. I'll try to get the next chapter up soon! See ya!

Chapter 14: Inventor versus King

Hey, guys! Nimrod here, and here we are in the Final Boss Fight for my fanfic. It's amazing I've actually gotten this far. In the past, I'd try writing something, but I almost NEVER finished, so I am excited. Okay, okay, I don't wanna keep you, but just know that, while Watson's doing the big part, the others'll have their hooves full too. Read on!

"Racer?" Watson asked in disbelief. The massive gray pony, wearing his royal armor and his ostentatious helmet, turned and sneered at Watson.

Ah," he snidely remarked, "I was wondering whose teleport I felt earlier. So it was you?" He opened his mouth to continue, but Racer had to leap to the side to avoid the fireball that Watson threw.

"I can't believe you!" Watson screamed as he cast a lightning bolt at the Earth Pony. "You're Malice's Grand General! Her second-in-command!" Another fireball crashed into the wall behind Racer. "SHE TRUSTED YOU!" Racer sped forward and slammed into Watson, sending the smaller unicorn sprawling.

"I told you," Racer shouted as he reared up, "never to say her name around me!" As he slammed down, Watson disappeared in a flash of green light. As soon as Watson vanished, Racer himself was slammed down into the floor. Before he could retaliate, the General was slammed into the wall by a massive gust of wind.

"How could you!?" Watson screamed as he fired spell after spell at Racer. "She trusted you above everypony else! You were her closest knight, her closest friend! How could you betray her!?" Watson fired another spell, but Racer deflected it and fired a spell of his own at Watson. The tan unicorn didn't expect this and was sent flying by a globe of magic. Watson tried getting up, but found himself pinned by Racer.

"I am no traitor," Racer growled. "That red bitch betrayed her country, her calling, when she let you go four years ago. She's the Princess of War, but she's been playing the Peace game for far too long. I joined the knighthood seeking glory in battle. As she is unwilling to go to war, I will." Racer sneered as he continued, "First I will take over my wonderful Shetlands, then your precious Equestria will be put to the torch. Then, bit by bit, the whole world will bend knee to me. With this magic under my control, not even the alicorns can stop me."

"Wait," Watson said, "You've been using magic? How can you use magic? You're an Earth Pony!"Racer sneered again and shook his helmet off his head. Watson gasped in shock. Instead of smooth gray fur, there was broken stub of a horn. From how the stub looked, it must have been a magnificent horn.

"Was broken off as a conscript," Racer chuckled. "Could still use magic, but it was easier to pass myself off as an Earth Pony. Not even she noticed." The gray pony laughed as he lifted Watson with his magic and slammed him into the nearby wall.

Luna looked up at the darkened sky and red sun in terror. It had been over a thousand years, nearly a thousand and a half, since the last time she saw this sky. That time, Luna saw Celestia, radiating with the power of War, descend onto the capital city of the Eastern Minotaur Kingdom. Houses were incinerated, the water in all the aqueducts evaporated, even the stone walls of the castle itself melted into slag. To this day, only scattered villages remained of the once proud kingdom.

Luna did not sleep for nearly a month after that horrific event.

"Moon Princess," a voice rasped next to Luna. Startled out of her trance, Luna turned and saw a Changeling Queen before her. Not Chrysalis, but one of the other ones.

"Moon Princess," the Queen rasped again, "My people will leave now. It doth appear that our aid is no longer necessary."

"We are thankful for what aid thine subjects gave us," Luna bowed her head. "When things settle down, I will talk to my sister about granting Changelings land outside of the Badlands."

"That would be nice," the Queen smiled. "We three Queens take our leave now. Our subjects are sated, both for blood and for emotions. Fare thee well, Moon Princess." The Changeling Queen flew off, followed by a black cloud that was undoubtedly her swarm. Luna sighed and turned back to the flaming city. The battle neared its' end, but would there be a city left by that point?

"I can't believe you!" Malice hollered at her younger brother. Nephronopht cringed as Malice continued her tirade. "How could you just teleport Watson away? He was still clearly sick from the long teleport! He needed to rest, then we could all have gone to the ruined palace to-"

"There wasn't time!" the Prince of Pestilence interrupted. "For all we know, that King could have bound Liam by now! Watson needed to go there immediately so he'd at least have a chance to stop him!"

"What about the rest of us?" Ditzy's gold eyes glared, almost perfectly focused on Neph.

"Yeah," Thom joined in, "why not teleport us too?"

"The days of fighting have left me weary," Neph replied. "I could only teleport one, and the rest of you ran off before telling me what was happening." The doors shuddered as Celestia's magic slammed against them. "Besides, I think we'll have our hooves full dealing with this immediate danger."

"True," Malice admitted through gritted teeth. "With Celestia going Solar Flare in my city, we need to calm her down while a city remains." The doors shuddered again. "May our parents be granting mercy to anypony caught outside." The nearby windows exploded, raining glass on everypony.

"Hold on," Thom said as he removed his helmet. With his markings shining bright, the Earth Pony Psychic said, "I've got an idea. I'm heading outside."

"What!?" Redstamp finally spoke up. "You off your rocker, Thom?"

"I'm sane as can be," Thom said as he continued removing his armor. "I don't think I can calm her all the way, but maybe I can get a single calming thought into her mind. If I can manage that, perhaps you guys can take over."

"But what if she attacks you?" Saria asked worriedly.

"She won't," Malice explained. "Even in this state, she should recognize friend from foe. I am, however, worried about any injuries you may receive from collateral damage." A monster tried worming its' way through the window, but the blood-red fire from Celestia kept it from getting too far.

"I'm aware of the risks," Thom nodded, now wearing nothing but his padded under-armor, "but I can't just sit here while Celestia torches everything in sight." Looking at everypony barefaced and determined, he finished, "I will do this." There was silence for several moments. Even Celestia's rampage seemed to quiet down until Malice nodded and unlocked the door.

"When you're ready."

Watson struggled to get to his hooves and deflected on of Racer's spells, but had to dodge the stampeding General. For nearly a half-hour, Watson exchanged spells and blows. Watson was bleeding from a dozen wounds and Racer's once-pristine armor sported the dents and gouges of well-aimed spells.

"You are better than I thought!" Racer exclaimed. "Maybe killing you will be worth the effort!" Watson replied with a scream and a massive magic bolt, which nearly left Racer bereft of a foreleg. Racer, in turn, delivered a spinning kick, sending Watson crashing into a column. Before the small unicorn could recover, Racer shot a blast at him. This blast shattered the column behind Watson and left the unicorn reeling on the floor.

"Still alive," the grey unicorn whistled. "You're sturdy, that's for sure." As he walked to the prone Watson, he continued, "You know, you've actually been good practice for my fights against the alicorns. Death won't kill them directly, but he should keep me alive long enough to finish the deed. I'll kill the Lady first, then Celestia, then all the others. Although, the Lady is easy on the eyes." As he neared Watson, he gave a lecherous smile. "Maybe I'll keep her alive. A king of my caliber needs a good concu-"

"NO!"

Watson leaped to his hooves and swung his bent horn at Racer. As he did so, green magic shot out like a sword blade and slashed through Racer's armor. Racer stepped back as he felt his chest receive a large gash. Watson pressed forward and slashed again. And again. With each successive slash, more and more of Racer's armor was removed.

"I won't let you touch her, you monster!" Watson roared as he kept slashing. "I won't even let you get near her!" He gave one more slash before Racer caught Watson's magic blade between two shield spells.

"Ooh, did I hit a nerve?" Racer asked. "How could I hit a nerve talking about the Lady? No, you couldn't be…" Racer nearly laughed. "By the gods, you're in love with her!" Keeping Watson in place with his magic, Racer unsheathed one of his leg blades. "That is the single most idiotic thing I've ever heard! You think you have a chance?" He pulled his foreleg back, ready to strike. "You think she'd ever return your affections?" Racer thrust his leg forward, but only cut air. Watson had leaned to the side at the last minute.

"Of course not," Watson glared. "She's a Princess, the most beautiful I've ever laid eyes on. I'm a common, short unicorn. To think I really have any hope is a joke. But I don't care." His eyes started welling up with tears.

"I love Malice, and would do anything for her. Even if I have to crawl through Tartarus and into the Chasm itself…" He broke free of the binding magic and stabbed Racer in the eye with his bare horn as he finished, "I'D DO IT FOR HER!"

Racer screamed in agony and stabbed his blade into Watson's shoulder. Watson screamed in pain, but pushed further. Racer then shoved Watson off and threw him away. Watson struggled to get up as Racer continued screaming in pain. He stomped the ground, firing spells this way and that way, anything to try and lessen the pain of his destroyed eye. Watson, meanwhile, slipped on his blood and fell onto his wounded shoulder. He was not getting up any time soon. After a few more moments of Racer's ranting, he glared at Watson with his one good eye.

"YOU!" he bellowed. "You damn Paladin whelp! I'll have your head for this!" Racer galloped at Watson, and the prone unicorn fired a spell, nearly burning off one of Racer's Cutie Marks.

Then the circle shone bright. Both ponies stopped and turned to look at the circle. It shone brilliant red, and electricity of the same color arced across the lines. Amidst the sparks, both ponies could hear a bellow of pain as a shape began forming in the middle. Racer laughed.

"I've done it!" the gray unicorn roared with laughter. "I've truly done it! Death is mine to command! I've won!"

Thom stood in the city square in front of the palace. He stared up at the shining being that towered above him. Celestia, nay, Solar Flare, regarded him with orange eyes.

"Thom," she said with a hot, harsh voice like a desert wind, "what are you doing?"

"My Lady," the black-furred Psychic bowed. "You need to stop." He did a sweep of her mind, but even the first mental shield repulsed him.

"Stop?" the rust-colored Princess asked. "Stop what? Stop defeating our enemies?" She looked around at the city which, despite the past week, was still mostly intact. "There are yet many who doth oppose me. They must be stopped."

"They have been stopped," Thom replied as he tried worming his way into her mind. "Celestia, the battle is over. You need to stop now."

"Nay," Solar Flare said, shoving Thom's psychic probe out. "I cannot stop. I will not stop. For too long, this world hath been divided. I see now. The differing laws made by differing rulers and their differing ideals. For too long, these things have been used to justify war and bloodshed. This world needs uniting. One world, one banner, one Princess. Only when all serve under one flag, when no more enemies rise up to oppose me and mine, will I stop!" She rose up and spread her wings, intent of taking flight.

"Malice! Neph!"

Two beams of magic, one red one violet, shot out from either side of the square and lassoed the war-mad Princess. She struggled as Malice and Neph stepped forward, keeping her on the ground.

"Release me!" Solar Flare roared. "I command you to let me go!"

"Use your skills, Thom Helios Stranglemane!" Malice called. As she said this, Redstamp and Ditzy Do flew up and pinned Solar Flare's wings to her sides. Saria used her magic to slowly morph the cobblestone up around Solar Flare's legs.

"You can do this!" Saria exclaimed.

"Peace," Thom told himself. After that, he said nothing, but his marking shone pure white. No more worming, no scratching at Celestia's mental barriers. All his training, all his skills in Psychic Arts, were being put towards smashing into Celestia's mind. Bit by bit, he broke one barrier, then the next. He knew he wouldn't be able to break them all, nopony could, but if he could get a single calming thought inside her mind, maybe she would be able to take it from there. Bit by bit, a single thought. Bit by bit, a single thought…

Discord was flying fast as he could back to Vermillion. With the stalemate that had happened, he knew that Celestia would take drastic measures. Giving a cursory glance to the red sun and black sky, he gave an involuntary shudder that almost dislodged his three passengers.

"Watch it, pardner!" the blonde, green-eyed Earth Pony in a Stetson hollered.

"Do you want us to stay on or not!" the alabaster unicorn asked.

"Sorry!" Discord called back. "This whole situation is making me very uncomfortable!" He turned away from the sky and looked at the three ponies flying around him. A blue Pegasus flew to his left, and a canary-yellow one flew to his right. In front of him was a lavender alicorn who wasn't always an alicorn. Further ahead, Discord could see smoke rising. "We're almost there, my little ponies! I can see the city now!"

"Why couldn't you have just teleported us all there!?" the usually-cheerful pink pony said with a serious tone.

"You try teleporting after fighting for days on end!"

"Enough!" Princess Twilight hollered. "Discord, just fly level and we'll handle things when we get there!"

Watson stared at the middle of the magic circle. Standing there, calm as could be, was a tall, lanky alicorn. His fur was flat white, like bleached bones. His pale yellow eyes in their sunken sockets looked between Racer and Watson calmly. He was gaunt, looking almost emaciated. His horn was bare bone and slightly curved downwards, similar to a scythe. His mane and tail were wispy and translucent, almost invisible in the darker chamber. His wings, instead of feathers, were made of dozens and dozens of interlocking bones, giving the illusion of feathers.

Mauso'Liam, the Prince of Death, was here.

"Looks like my time has come, brat," Racer smiled. "The rise of the True King has come."

"For a while, maybe," Watson glared. "Don't you know? If you do this, the world will end. As in, forever. Controlling him will make the world go extinct, and even you will eventually die."

"I know that," Racer smiled, the pain of his destroyed eye almost forgotten. "I'll be making the most of what time I have left." Leaving Watson wide-eyed in disbelief, Racer trotted over to the alicorn and sneered, "Death, so good of you to come."

"I cannot remember why I came, though," Death said with a clear, almost chipper voice. "I know there was a reason, but it is not coming to me."

"Bah," Racer chuckled as he magicked his helmet back. "I'm sure it'll come to you eventually."

As Racer engaged the alicorn Prince in small talk, Watson charged up what magic he had left. He gave a frail smile. He felt that familiar headache, and his horn remained quiet. Neither of them could sense the buildup of magic. He spared a bit to scry Racer's body. Since Death was bound, he had to have the Focus on him. Moments before the scry came back positive for Necromancy, Watson figured it out. It was, in hindsight, completely obvious and unoriginal.

Racer's helmet. That gaudy, flamboyant waste of metal was the Focus.

"So," Racer asked, "think you could do me a favor, Death?"

"Oh sure, sure," Liam replied. "What do you need?"

Racer gestured to Watson as he said, "Would you be willing to kill that Paladin for me?" Liam nodded and looked at Watson, then looked around the room like he was expecting somepony else.

"What is it?" Racer asked. "What are you looking for?"

"You wanted me to kill a Paladin for you," Death stated.

"Yes," Racer acknowledged.

"There is no Paladin in this room."

Racer made a surprised noise of dissatisfaction as Watson went into action. Using a bit more magic, he ripped Racer's helmet from his head and threw it high into the air. Almost immediately after that, Watson fired a single bolt of dense magic at the helmet with enough force to send him sliding back. Time seemed to slow down as the bolt approached the flying helmet. Fifty more feet. Forty. Racer turned up to look at the missile. Thirty feet. His eyes widened in shock.

Twenty feet. Ten feet. Five.

The bolt struck the helmet dead-on. The explosion of magic blinded everypony for a few moments, accompanied by a loud roar of rending magic. The noise quickly ended, and before the blindness ended, Watson could hear the tinkling of metal against stone. When his vision returned, the helmet was gone. Scattered around the chamber were shards and fragments of the gaudy headwear. It was obliterated.

"No!" Racer screamed. The Prince of Death shook his head, as though he were waking up.

"Ah yes," he said, "now I remember." Liam glared at Racer and said, "You sought to control me, and killed hundreds for the sole purpose of baiting me." His wings stretched towards Racer, looking less like wings and more like skeletal dragon hands. "It is high time you paid for your sins, Racer Greyflank." Racer was paralyzed with fear as the bones in the wings unfolded further, shooting out and going around the General, forming a spherical cage connected to Liam's back. Racer was lifted off the ground and moved over the middle of the circle.

Then Watson noticed the rumbling. The ground shook slowly at first, then quaked violently, bouncing the unicorn up and down. Suddenly, the floor in the middle of the circle exploded downward, like a sinkhole. Instead of soil, there was a swirling blackness, joined by a roar as the air itself was sucked into the hole. Along with the wind, everypony could hear a multitude of voices, all crying in agony.

"W-what is that?" Racer asked. "Tartarus?"

"No," the Prince of Death replied. "There will be no hellfire and brimstone for you. No, you go deeper. Into the cold, dark prison that is the Chasm." He stepped towards the hole. "You, who sought to command me, must be prepared to be claimed by my power. And all who dabble in that twisted magic, I send here."

"No," Racer shook his head and pressed against the side of the cage. "Not there. I don't want to go there."

"You sought to take away my freedom to choose," Liam said. "I am simply returning the favor."

Racer continued shaking his head and saying his denial. Liam took another step and hung his wing-cage, with Racer in it, over the pit. Suddenly, a bone from the cage was sucked in. Then another. Racer was able to give one last cry of fear as the cage fell apart. His cry continued as he was sucked into the dark void. In a few seconds, his scream faded, indiscernible from the others.

Racer was sent, body and soul, into a place worse than Tartarus.

Liam turned to look at Watson, his wings slowly reforming. Watson, weakened from blood loss and magic exhaustion, could lay there and look at the Prince with dim, bleary eyes. He knew what would happen next. Raising a foreleg best he could, Watson nodded his acceptance.

All of a sudden, Watson felt himself get lifted up and surrounded by warmth. He looked down and, even with his blurry vision, could see vivid red fur around his chest. Looking up, he saw a red-and-black blur with two blue spots on it.

"Malice?" He weakly whispered.

"I will not let you take him," Malice growled.

"I was not going to," Liam said. "He was touched by that twisted magic, but he did not dabble in it. In my eyes, he is innocent. Farewell, Sister." Liam walked over and hoisted Elder Carneade's body onto his back and, in an instant, the Prince of Death vanished. The hole suddenly closed up and expelled the air that was sucked in over the past few minutes. The resulting gale would have blown Watson across the room had Malice not tightened her grip on him. After a few moments, the wind died down, and there was silence.

Watson slowly turned to look at the circle and the hole. There was no trace of the hole, but the ground around where it had formed was rent upwards. The blood from the circle remained, but there was no glow, no aura, nothing. The circle was destroyed, and Death would forever remain free.

The small unicorn slowly looked back up at Malice. She was little more that a straight-red blur by this point, but Watson could tell she was smiling.

"My Lady."

"Foolish Paladin," Malice said, sounding further away than she was.

"Technically," Watson weakly said as he closed his eyes, "I retired four and a half years ago." Then he passed out.

Okay, what'd you think? Not bad? Not good? Hope you at least liked it. Anyway, I know I said I wouldn't have the Mane Six show up directly, but I couldn't think of any other way to deal with a Nightmare of CELESTIA. Anyway, for anyone wondering why I worded Thom's psychic probing the way I did is because I am a big fan of the Lensman novel series, so I borrowed a bit from that.

Well, one more chapter to go and this tale will be over! Now, quick question for everyone, and I mean EVERYONE. What should i do after I'm done with this? Should I...

A: Write a fanfic for a different fandom?

B: Write a fanfic that consists of one-shots pertaining to any plot-holes in this fanfic? (ie explaining how Thom is known to Clopone as "Young Valerius.")

3: Write the kinda-sequel fic that's been bouncing around my head?

D: Write some other ponyfic unrelated to the Paladins?

E: Point out that there was no "C" option?

You guys tell me what you think. I'll be here. ^^ See ya next time!

Chapter 15: The Inventor and the red Lady

Hello, everypony! Welcome back for the final installment of Inventor and the Red Lady. It's been a bumpy ride, hasn't it? Monsters, crazed unicorns, alicorn royalty up to wazoo, and it's all thanks to the vertically-challenged protagonist we're all here to talk about it. I'll give my Special Thanks list at the end of the chapter, so you don't get weighed down by the prologue. Read on, peeps and Bronies. Read on.

He was floating. At least, Watson felt like he was floating. He couldn't open his eyes, but he felt warm, and comfortable. He didn't feel wet, so he knew he wasn't in water or anything. As he floated, he heard some pony trot up next to him.

"You're something else, kiddo," a mature male voice chuckled above him. He knew this voice, but couldn't place it. Watson wanted to open his eyes to see this mystery stallion, but couldn't. "There you are, in the embrace of one of the most beautiful mares you'll ever see, and you pass out. I'd say that earns you a minus-three on the manliness scale."

Now Watson wanted to kick this stallion in the face.

"But seriously," the stallion continued, "you did good, Watson. The folks'll be proud of you. I know I am." At that point, Watson identified the voice. It had been years, and Watson felt ashamed he didn't recognize it sooner.

"Dawson?" Watson asked.

"I wish you could hang out a bit longer," Watson's older brother said, "maybe introduce you to great-grandma, but you're still alive. You'll be pulled back down soon. When you go back, tell Mom & Dad I love them. Do that for me?" Watson nodded.

"You bet brother."

"Thanks," Dawson said. Watson couldn't see, but he could tell his brother was smiling. "Time's almost up. Listen, I love you and all, but I don't wanna see you up here for another century or so. Live a full life, bro. Also, when you come up, do not sit next to grandpa Sherclop. He'll go off on a three-hour tangent that's boring as Tartarus, and every other sentence will have the word 'elementary' in it. Okay, take care, little brother."

Watson could feel himself being pulled down, slowly and gently. The warmth left, but was replaced by a different kind of warmth. His descent was slow, and Watson smiled. His brother was proud.

Watson opened his eyes, and immediately winced. He hurt all over. Wasn't surprising, considering the fight he was in, but one would expect a brief trip to heaven to dull the pain a bit.

One would be wrong.

Looking around, Watson saw he was definitely in an infirmary. But, instead of red and black, he saw white and lavender walls. Instead of fire and metal, he smelled flowers and moist earth. Where was…wait…he knew this place. He had been here before.

He was in Canterlot.

Watson tried sitting up, but the shoulder that Racer stabbed buckled and he fell back on the bed with a groan. At least he was on a bed, and not the floor, like that one time when he was a cadet. As he groaned, he heard a familiar buzzing sound.

"Hey, Neph," the tiny unicorn greeted.

"Morning, Watson," a familiar green scarab chirped as it walked up Watson's foreleg and looked at him. "How ya feeling?'

"In mad amounts of pain," Watson replied. "How long was I out?"

"Three weeks," Neph replied, "and you've been Canterlot for two of those."

"That explains the stiffness." Watson looked at the scarab and asked, "What happened after I left?"

Well," Nephronopht explained, "first, my sister gave me an earful and a half for teleporting you away fast as I did. She would have gone after you immediately, but everypony had their hooves full calming down Celestia."

What? Celestia?"

"Indeed. She invoked my sister's name, and went on a power-high. After clearing Vermillion of most of the opposing forces, she was about to leave, but we stopped her. Thom attempted to plant a Suggestion for her to calm down, and had limited success. By that point, though, Discord returned with the Elements of Harmony, and they managed to cleanse her of her wrath. After that, Malice teleported to you. She returned about an hour later, worn out and carrying you on her back. Everypony spent the next few days recovering, and after a week, it was decided you should be brought back to Canterlot. My sis said that maybe familiar surroundings would help speed your recovery, but I think a big part of it was that all the hospitals and infirmaries across the city where flooded with wounded knights."

"What about the monsters?" the wounded unicorn asked. "And the traitors?"

"Those guys?" Neph took a breath before continuing. "A bit after Malice left, all the monsters gave a blood-curdling scream and just fell to pieces, literally. Most of the remaining minotaur and ponies on their side surrendered after that. Since the ponies were all traitors and the minotaur were part of the eastern clans, they were given a choice: Be exiled from the Shetlands, or be executed. Most chose exile, including a good half of the remaining Conclave. The military's keeping order best they can, but there's still the occasional pocket of resistance. The City of Blades is still in a tough spot."

"Sorry to hear that." Watson gave a sigh. "What about our little group? How are they?" After asking this, Watson heard galloping in the hallway.

"Ask them yourself."

The door burst open, and three ponies came rushing in. Redstamp was grinning like a crazy pony, Thom was bereft of his helmet and Ditzy flew right onto the bed and gave Watson a tight hug.

"You're awake!" the wall-eyed mare cheered as she hugged tighter. She let up when she heard him groan in pain. "Oh, sorry."

"It's alright," Watson groaned as he rubbed his bandaged foreleg. "How'd you all know I was awake?"

"I told them," Princess Celestia said as she serenely walked into the room. Watson reverently bowed his head, and everypony else bowed as she walked in. Celestia gave a sweet smile to Watson. "How do you feel?"

"In pain," Watson chuckled.

"I can fix that," Scarab-Neph raised four legs.

"No," Celestia ordered. "Allow me." She walked to the bed and lowered her head, touching Watson's bent horn with her straight one. There was a ringing sound, and it briefly shone gold. After a few seconds, the ivory alicorn lifted her head. "How is that?" The tan unicorn moved his head side-to-side and stretched his good legs.

"Better," he replied. "Thank you, Milady."

"No thanks are necessary," Celestia smiled. "In fact, we should be thanking you."

"Yeah!" Redstamp cheered. "I mean, taking on Racer by yourself? That is all kinds of awesome, Watson!"

"You know?"

"Yeah, sorry," Thom apologized, "but the Princesses, all three of them, requested I read your mind to learn everything that happened. And I mean everything."

"Oh," Watson voiced. Looking around, he asked, "Is Malice here?"

"Nope," Thom replied. "She's still in the Shetlands, helping keep things in order. She'll be here in a few weeks, though."

"Really?"

"Yeah, the Gala's in a few weeks, remember?" Ditzy beamed. "We've all been invited. There're gonna be a number of Shetlanders there, too."

"This Gala," Celestia explained, "is also in celebration of the official peace treaty signed between our two lands. As of eight days ago, the Shetlands and Equestria are formal allies."

"That's cool," Watson smiled. "What about you guys? How have you been?"

"We're all peachy," Redstamp smiled. "Been waiting for you to wake up, for the most part. Even Discord got worried."

"And Redstamp finally confessed to Ditzy," Thom smirked. Redstamp and Ditzy simultaneously blushed and Celestia giggled. "Took long enough."

"I apologize," Celestia told the Paladins and scarab, "but could you all leave for a bit? I need to talk to Watson in private." With a nod, all the other ponies, and the scarab, left the room. Celestia closed and locked the door when they left and turned back to Watson.

"What is it, Milady?"

"Thom told me more than he told the others," Celestia said. "He told me you went into that battle fully expecting to die." Watson gave a somber nod. "He also told me your reasons for expecting that fate. You thought that, because you tampered with that circle a while ago, you would be claimed by the Prince of Death as well." She walked up to Watson and said, "I would rather you never think that way again, Watson."

"Don't worry," Watson bowed his head. "I only acted that way because I thought that fate was unavoidable. Now that I know otherwise, I won't be thinking that way again."

"That's good," Princess Celestia smiled. "I know you've got a long life ahead of you. I would hate to see it cut short. That is all."

"Wait," Watson said. "May I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"I did something important, right?" Watson asked.

"Of course!"

Does that mean I get a stained glass window in the Great Hall?" There was a short silence before Celestia fell into a long fit of laughter.

"Sure," Celestia finished laughing," you can have your window. Now, rest up Watson. I want to see you on the dance floor." She opened the door and walked out as the others came back in.

"What was all that about?" Redstamp asked.

"A promise," Watson smiled. Everypony grinned back and continued to regale the small, wounded unicorn on what else happened while he was unconscious. Only Thom knew what that meant, and he wasn't about to tell anypony.

"…and without further ado, let the Gala begin!" As Celestia finished her opening remarks, the musicians started playing and the nobles mingled with each other. The mood was less snooty than it had been in the past, mostly due to the new Princess. She was standing by the throne with her five friends, talking with various nobles, many of whom didn't recognize her as the 'leader' of the group who had 'ruined' the previous Grand Galloping Gala.

Watson stood by a food table, quietly chuckling at Lord Denarius trying to flirt with Princess Twilight. He found it funny how, mere months ago, the lavender alicorn was the unicorn librarian in Ponyville. So much had changed in the past few months. Peace treaties were signed, the apocalypse was averted, and Watson was in Canterlot, waiting for a certain Princess. Resplendent in the black-and-blue dress uniform of a Unicorn Paladin, and bearing a dozen small medals and ribbons, only the snootiest and least-observant nobles didn't realize he wasn't a servant colt. Everypony else, however, noticed that he shared the same style of uniform as at least six other ponies in the room.

Among those six were Redstamp, Ditzy and Thom. All three looked splendid in their Paladin garb, and everypony knew it. Redstamp danced with Ditzy, whose usually-spiky mane was brushed down, looking sleek and attractive. Thom was over by a food table, his psychic markings being the popular talk. Saria laughed as he juggled apples with his powers, while Fleur and her husband, Fancy Pants, beamed with happiness. After so many months, it was nice to be in completely friendly company. Among which was also a tall unicorn Prince.

"…and at that point," Prince Blueblood was telling the small unicorn, "I realized just who I was dealing with. I've felt horrible about that last Gala ever since."

"Don't worry too much," Watson laughed. "I've been living in Ponyville four years, and I still don't have their names memorized." Blueblood nodded and continued his tale. Blueblood wasn't a Paladin himself, but he was one of the few nobles who knew about them, and supported them all the way. His most recent tale was one where he was trolling what he assumed was a gold-digger, but was in fact the Element Bearer of Generosity. The Prince wasn't bad, just kinda dense.

"Now arriving," the usher called, "the Red Lady of the Shetlands!" Watson joined many stallions in turning their heads to watch Malice come in. His eyes widened and his jaw would have hit the floor if he were any lower.

Malice walked in, towering over everypony else. Instead of her usual bangles and torque, she wore a snug blue dress with medium-length sleeves. Around her neck hung a silver necklace that had a giant ruby dangling from it. Instead of the metal shoes she wore in the past, her hindlegs wore black, knee-high boots with silver embroidery while her forelegs had silver bracers carved with intricate designs. Her black crown was polished, enabling it to be distinguished from her mane. Over her mane was a dark blue veil held on with blue flower barrettes. This time around, it was indeed her beauty that stunned Watson into silence.

As she entered, Malice's sapphire eyes browsed the room. She ignored the flood of Lords and nobles who tried to make conversation. She continued to ignore them as she walked, almost glided, through the crowd, heading to one of the food tables. Most of the stallions stopped talking, curious to see what had this alicorn's attention. One Lord, however, was particularly persistent. Repeatedly, he tried to step in front of Malice to get her attention. Soon, Malice had enough and batted the noble away with her wing. He gave her an indignant look before leaving to seek easier prey. Immediately after that, she reached her destination.

"Greetings, Watson," the Red Lady smiled.

"H-hello, Milady," Watson stuttered. As Blueblood excused himself, Watson stated, "I-it is n-n-nice to s-see you again."

"Same with you," Malice agreed. "Last I saw you, you were unconscious and gravely wounded. It is good to see you on your hooves again."

"Th-thank you." Watson looked at his table, ignoring the gawking Lords, and grabbed two glasses of punch. "W-would you like some punch, Milady?"

"Gladly. Thank you Watson." Malice took the glass and sipped a bit before asking, "Watson, would you honor me with a dance?"

"A-a-a dance?" he asked. When she nodded, Watson replied with, "M-M-Milady, th-that would, um, y-yes, I would love-er-like to dance with you." Chugging the rest of his punch, Watson followed Malice to the dance floor.

"Do your musicians know the Waltz of Crystals?" Malice asked. As if in reply, the band started playing the slow, smooth melody. "It appears they do."

"Y-yeah," Watson agreed. With a quick wink from Octavia, Watson's courage was bolstered and he asked, "Shall we, Milady?"

Malice smiled. "Yes, we shall." Malice took the lead, guiding the small unicorn through each step. She stepped back, he stepped forward. She stepped to her right, he to his in a circular motion. The music slowly sped up, and their dance became more energetic. After a few minutes, all eyes were on them, watching every step and every spin. Some nobles smiled, watching the lithe grace of the alicorn coupled with the budding enthusiasm of the unicorn. Others chuckled a bit, thinking the dance almost looked like a mother dancing with her son.

The song's tempo reached its' peak, and Watson started getting nervous. The dance neared its' end, and it ended with the stallion dipping the mare. At his height, that act wasn't gonna happen. Malice noticed his nervousness.

"Don't worry," she whispered, "I'll handle it." When they reached the crescendo, Watson suddenly found himself airborne. Malice levitated him to the appropriate height and pulled him close. "Hold me," she whispered. Watson nodded and wrapped his forelegs around her neck. With a smile, Malice tipped over like Watson was dipping her. She propped herself up with one wing, and stretched the other out for dramatic effect. Everypony cheered at this. Even Celestia smiled at the dance's success.

The song ended, and Malice righted herself as she set Watson back down. Many nobles (and Watson's friends) trotted up to congratulate the two on their dance. Several stallions asked Malice to a dance, while quite a few mares wanted to dance with Watson. In reply to all of these, Malice pulled Watson close, shielding his with her wing, and dragged him to the castle gardens. Many nobles tried following, but found the way blocked by a wall of taffy. While the nobles all complained, Thom, Ditzy and Redstamp all smiled at one of the stained glass windows. The image of Discord winked at them.

"Thank you for the dance, Milady," Watson said from his place under her wing. "It was amazing."

"You have my gratitude as well." Malice smiled down at him as she said, "You are very light on your hooves."

"To be honest, Milady," Watson chuckled, "when you're small as I am, you're bound to be light all-around." Malice laughed. It wasn't a forced laugh, nor a dishonest one. Her laughter was clear and sweet, reminding Watson of a glass bell he heard ring years ago. Watson did not know it, but this was the first honest laugh Malice had in years.

"Ah," Malice finished, "you are right, I suppose." Malice looked up at the moon. "It's amazing Watson. So much has happened in the past half-year."

"No kidding," Watson agreed. "I'm just glad all that trouble's over." He looked up at Malice as she looked at the moon. The moonlight reflected off her crown, and her dress shimmered like there were stars in it. He very nearly confessed his love right there and then, but couldn't. Watson mentally kicked himself. He had faced monsters, mad unicorns, and all sorts of things in the past five months, but he still couldn't confess anything to this mare.

Malice gave a sad sigh. "The trouble is not all over."

"Pardon?"

Malice looked back down at Watson and explained, "Before the night is ended, I must return to the Shetlands. Only a handful of Conclave Elders remain, and I have few generals to lead my army. My nation is still in some degree of turmoil, and I must continue making things right again.'

"Oh," Watson bowed his head. "When will things be done?"

"I do not know."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Watson," Malice kneeled and looked in Watson's eyes as she spoke, "You have done much for this world. You have done much for me. I can't ask anymore of you, not yet. For now, return to your old life. Be at peace." Watson fought back his tears and nodded in reply. Malice stood back up, but lowered her head and nuzzled Watson's cheek.

"There are things I must discuss with your Princess," Malice whispered, "and my time is limited. Farewell, Watson." She straightened back up and walked inside, leaving Watson in the garden.

"But…" he whispered, "…you are my Princess…"He wiped his eyes and walked back inside.

He wounded her. He wounded her. He wounded her. He, this pitifully small unicorn, had wounded her, the Princess of War. It was not a serious wound, but her left wing was missing a pinion now. Nopony had so much as scratched her in centuries.

Needless to say, the Red Lady was displeased at this.

She had intended to play around with this colt, show him how easily she could kill him, and scare him into surrendering. Now, she was gonna kill him for real. She stormed over to where he landed. She raised her hoof, fully intent to stomp his skull into the dirt. With her face twisted in rage, she brought her hoof down…and stopped short.

Instead of a small tan colt, she saw a small white colt under her hoof. His horn was not bent, and he lacked a Cutie Mark. Instead of battle wounds, he was covered in bruises and welts.

Malice took a step back and the vision was gone. The tan colt was back on the ground. Malice shook her head. She stepped back to the unconscious Equestrian. The vision did not return, but the memory lingered. She raised her leg again…and gently lowered it. She couldn't do it. That vision drained all the anger out of her and replaced it with pity. Instead of an enemy colt, she now saw a small colt who had run in fear for days, and fired an intense magic as a last hurrah. She didn't even feel the charge up, and for a spell that strong…

That was unimportant. Malice turned to Equestria and fired a single spell in the direction of Canterlot. After that, she waited. And waited. After fifteen minutes, there was a bright flash of light and Princess Celestia stood before her.

"Lady," Celestia coldly greeted. "I assume this isn't a social meeting?"

"Not quite." The red alicorn gestured to the small unicorn. "I believe this unicorn is one of yours?"Celestia eyed the unicorn, and gasped.

"Watson!" she galloped over to the unicorn and lifted his head with her wing. "Agent MacMaren, can you hear me?"

"He is unconscious," Malice stated. "Fainted from spell fatigue." Keeping her wings folded to hide the missing pinion, the Red Lady continued, "Take him. Take him and leave."

Celestia turned to Malice. "I assume there are terms to that?"

"No terms," Malice shook her head, "no conditions. Take him back." Needless to say, Celestia was stunned.

"And what brought on this compassion?" Celestia asked.

"He has earned this," the Princess of War replied. "That is all you need to know." The Princess of the Day stood for a moment, before nodding, lifting the unicorn onto her back, and teleporting away. Malice stood alone on Percheron Ridge for several more minutes before heading back to her Palace.

Watson woke up on a sunny morning to the improved water clock alarm. He quickly got up, turned it off and grabbed his vest. He was expecting a big package today, and couldn't expect Ditzy to deliver it. After eating a quick breakfast, he trotted outside to make his way to the post office.

It had been three months since the Gala, and Watson was slowly readjusting to life in quiet-ish Ponyville. He no longer suffered nightmares, Phalanx had FINALLY stopped trying to re-recruit him, and he no longer felt any desire to join the Science Academy. After everything that happened, joining the Academy seemed like a pointless endeavor. As he trotted down the road to Ponyville, he took in the scenery. The sun was shining, the Everfree Forest was properly gloomy, and a single cotton candy cloud floated by, pursued by a trio of young pegasi.

In gratitude for his help during the Shetland incident (and if he agreed not to get carried away), Celestia not only permitted Discord to stay free, but also helped restore a greater portion of his powers. Since then, Discord showed great restraint by sticking with cotton candy clouds, popcorn cobs, and other small-time gags. Just last week, the sky turned green for two hours, that was an interesting experience.

Suddenly, the ground shook as a large gold-and-blue blur slammed down in front of Watson. Watson didn't know he expected, but it certainly wasn't a Canterlot Castle Message Runner. He wore the light armor of a Runner, but was heaving for breath. He had to be a new one.

Gasping for breath, the Pegasus asked "Are…are you Watson Macmaren?"

"That's me," Watson nodded. "What is it?" The Pegasus reached into his dispatch bag and pulled out a scroll. The wax seal bore the crest of Princess Celestia. Watson immediately took the scroll and read it on the spot.

Watson Macmaren,

Your presence is required at Canterlot Castle. A carriage will be by at noon to pick you up. Pack for an overnight stay.

Princess Celestia Tia Chronos

Looking back at the messenger, the small unicorn said, "Tell Her Highness I will prepare for this immediately." The Pegasus messenger nodded and started his flight back to Canterlot as Watson pulled a 180 and sped back to his house. His package and any other plans he had for the day were forgotten in light of this new message.

The carriage landed at Canterlot Castle and Watson leaped out, galloping inside fast as he could. He barely stopped in time to avoid plowing into a dark-furred Earth Pony.

"Slow down," Thom chuckled, "you might trip somepony."

"Thom!" Watson cheerfully exclaimed. "Ain't seen ya in a while! What's going on?"

"With me or your summons?" the psychic pony asked.

"Both," Watson replied, "but summons first."

"No idea," Thom explained. "I was just told to make sure you get to the gardens. That's all I was told, and there's no way I can read Celestia's mind. Come on." As Watson followed Thom, the dark-furred psychic continued, "On a personal note, I'm doing okay. Got a letter from my folks last week."

"Oh? Your parents are talking to you again?"

"They have been since they learned I was engaged to a unicorn," Thom chuckled. "Uncle Al's been ecstatic since the whole incident ended. He and Saria get along VERY well, and he's already making suggestions for naming the foals."

"That's good," Watson smiled. "On my end, things are back to how they used to be. The only new thing is there's still some hype over Ditzy's and Redstamp's wedding."

"Oh. Speaking of which, how are those two? Haven't seen either of them lately."

"They're both happy. Ditzy's taking it easy, and Redstamp's trying to find a house suitable for a family of five."

"Family of five?" Thom asked quizzically. "But there's Red, Ditzy and her two daughters, Dinky Doo and Amethyst Star, from a previous…" The look of realization shone on his face. "Oh."

"Yup," Watson nodded as they walked through the great hall. Watson gave a small smile at the window depicting him and everypony else fighting against Racer. Watson didn't gloat over having a window with him on it, but he did like pointing out how it was a combo-breaker to Twilight and her friends. It seemed funny to him for some reason.

As they reached the gardens, Thom said his farewell and trotted away. Watson continued walking into the garden, taking in the newer sights. Some bushes were cut differently, there was a new statue where Discord used to be and-

Watson saw red behind that statue.

He stopped dead in his tracks. 'It couldn't be,' he thought to himself. He trotted past the statue and stopped again. His eyes widened.

"M-M-Malice?"

A familiar, beautiful red alicorn turned from the statues and looked at Watson with her sapphire eyes. She walked right up to him and gave a gentle smile.

"Hello Watson," she greeted. "Are you well?"

"I-I-I have been doing g-good, your Highness." Watson couldn't help stuttering. He was very surprised to see her. "H-h-how about you? Have y-you been well?"

"I have been fine."

"Th-th-that's good." The small unicorn was feeling real embarrassed. He was stuttering like a broken record. Fortunately, Malice didn't seem to care. "M-m-may I ask w-what brings you here?"

"Just ironing a few things out," Malice replied. "Nothing major. Shouldn't be more than an overnight task." Overnight? Watson was starting to get curious. Malice, however, got a little confused. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Watson immediately replied, "of course not, your Highness." Malice seemed to give a short sigh of relief.

"Walk with me," she said as she turned aside. Malice walked deeper into the garden, accompanied by the small unicorn. She lead him to the far edge of the garden before sitting on a convenient bench. After sitting, she motion Watson to do the same. Blushing a little, Watson sat down as she spoke.

"I know I have said this before, but you have my deepest, eternal gratitude for what you did."

"Think nothing of it," Watson replied. "You could say it was recompense for stealing those documents nearly five years back."

"Incorrect," the scarlet princess stated. "What you did for me, for all of us, was worth far more than the documents you stole. Everything you did showed valor and bravery rarely seen." Malice took a breath. "And, truth be told, I requested you come here so we could…discuss something."

"Discuss?" Watson asked. "Discuss what?"

"Last we spoke," Malice explained, I told you how my nation was still in trouble. At present, the Conclave is replenished, and I have a new Grand General, but…there is something else. You see, there is another position in my…my court. Nopony has filled it before because not even I myself knew it was there. This position is…special. Nopony, not my general, not my Elder, has the qualities-er-qualifications for it. The pony needed for this position has to be somepony trustworthy and devoted, but also, preferably, kind and caring." This threw Watson for a loop. Kind and caring? In a military court?

"And," Malice continued, "it has to be somepony…special. Special to me, I mean." She looked down at Watson and said, "And you, Watson, are very special to me." Watson blushed bright as she looked into his eyes and asked, "Watson, would you come live in the Shetland Palace by my side?"

"Y-y-your side?" Watson asked. "A-as an assistant?"

"No," Malice replied. "I mean as something greater than an assistant. Greater than even Grand General, or Elder. Something…personal."

"Personal?" Watson thought for a moment before asking, "Y-you mean-"

"Yes," Malice interrupted, "I mean that." She looked regretful as she said, "I wanted to ask you during the Gala, but I was uncertain how you felt about me. However, after talking to Tia and a few others about it, and learning you feel the same way, I feel safe asking this."

She looked back at Watson and asked again, "Watson Macmaren, would you come live in the Shetland Palace with me?"

Watson was dumbstruck. She, Malice, was in love with him? For real? She practically admitted it right there, and she was asking him to live with her. At that point, there was only one thing he could say, one thing he would say.

"I do," he answered. Then, blushing ever brighter, he continued, "Uh, I mean I will, uh, I accept, s-sure, yes, I-" Malice interrupted him by hugging him close with her forelegs and wrapping him in her wings. He stopped talking as she rubbed his cheek with hers.

"You have no idea how good that makes me feel, little unicorn," Malice whispered.

"I-it would be an honor, Milady," Watson whispered back.

Malice pulled her head away and said, "Then allow me to bestow another honor. Look at me and hold still."

"Hold still? Why do you wa-"

From within a nearby grove, Discord and Nephronopht watched the whole exchange. Both of them could barely keep themselves from laughing as Watson's face turned the same shade of red as Malice's coat. After Watson started recovering, Neph turned to Discord.

"Pay up," he said, "they did it." Discord chuckled as he handed Neph a fifty-bit piece.

"They sure did," the Lord of Chaos smiled. "You won fair and square."

"Yup." As Neph seemed to absorb the coin, he looked back at Malice and Watson. "They make a cute couple, eh?"

"Agreed," Discord smiled. "Kinda gives a guy like hope, ya know? Makes me think I have a chance."

"A chance with her, you mean?" Neph asked. Discord remained silent. "Well, you have mellowed out quite a bit."

"Have I?"

"For certain," the Prince of Pestilence nodded. "Stay mellow as you have been, do one-or-two nice things every now and again, and who knows? Maybe Celestia will remember the small, lanky Draconequus who invented fourteen different species of flower for the sole purpose of expressing his love for her." The buggy alicorn stretched his wings. "I'm gonna go nap now. See you around, Disco."

"You too, Neph."

With that parting remark, Nephronpht's body dissolved back into arachnids, snakes, crustaceans, and a few rodents. The swarm of pests all retreated into the grove and vanished from sight. Discord looked back at Watson and Malice, who were just sitting on the bench now, Malice smiling happily, Watson smiling sheepishly in her embrace. With the first genuine smile he wore in over a thousand years, Discord turned around and walked away quietly as possible.

The Inventor and the red Lady had earned this moment, and not even the Lord of Chaos was willing to disrupt it.

And so it ends. The Inventor and the Red Lady have earned their peace, and may they share many happy years. Redstamp and Ditzy are together, with Ditzy's two daughters, Dinky and Amethyst Star (They competed together in the Sisterhooves Social), Thom's on semi-good terms with his parents. All is well.

Okay, I KNOW some of you out there will probably go "But he's not royalty! How can he get with an alicorn?" My reply to this?

Shining Armor.

Special thanks to the following readers:

Mooneyboys, for piping up almost every chapter.

Dark-Half Brony, for you long reviews.

TriforceOtaku, for helping me get started, and for letting me use BrokenKeys

Almost-an-Actress, for loving my story since day one

ThePleonasticPotato, for critiquing my work

And, of course,

Lauren Faust, for making this possible.

And so, with a heavy heart, I shut down my laptop and set the manuscripts aside. Still looking for suggestions on what to do next, though I feel I might work on my Pocket Monster fic now, but who knows? My next trip to Equestria might be a bit closer. Whatever happens, see ya around.

Mad Nimrod

Author's Note

End of an age

Chapter 5: Blood Circle

Watson was in his room at the Shetland palace, fiddling around with a small device he brought with him when Celestia requested him. It was still weird to be a guest in the same palace from which he fled for his life a few years ago, so he was working on this small device to keep him calm, especially after the previous night's events. He was intending it to be an engraving tool usable by Earth Ponies, but with how his luck ran, it would probably be an automatic mane-brusher.

There was a knock at the door before Ditzy called, "You decent?"

"I'm fine," Watson said as he put away his latest invention. Ditzy stepped inside, wearing her usual smile.

"Just wanted to let you know that-" she saw the bruise on Watson's jaw. "Sweet Celestia, Watson, what happened to your face? You okay?"

In no mood for a long talk, Watson replied, "I fell off my bed."

"Onto what, a horseshoe?" the cross-eyed Pegasus asked sarcastically, clearly not believing Watson's story. "Never mind, I can tell you don't wanna talk about it. Anyway, Her Highness, the Red one I mean, wanted to see you. Ready to do some scrying?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," the small unicorn said as he put the engraver away. "Let's go." The two Equestrian ponies left the Guest Wing of the massive palace and made their way towards the throne room, passing other Shetland Ponies along the way. Most ignored the two Equestrians, but three or four recognized Watson from four years ago (one of whom actually smiled at the small unicorn). As they approached the throne room, the two guards in front of the door stopped them.

"Are either of you Watson?" one of them asked.

"I am," Watson affirmed. The guard asking this looked down at the tan unicorn with a look of surprise.

"The way Her Highness spoke about you," he stated, "I expected you to be taller."

"She plainly stated he'd be small," the other guard groaned from his companion's shortsightedness. "Go on in. Her Ladyship's expecting you." The two guards stepped aside and the two ponies entered the throne room. Watson had never been in the throne room, so the view took his breath away.

It was long and wide like Celestia's throne room, and it was lined with stained glass windows, but the similarities ended there. Whereas Celestia's room was white and gold, this room was mostly red with black, silver and the occasional blue. There were tables, too, and each was lined with ponies of varying sizes, colors, races and ages. The windows depicted major events in the Shetlands history, like Celestia's, only each window had Malice in a prominent place. The throne was black and red, as well. Sitting on the throne was Malice, next to her was Celestia and between the two was a very indignant-looking Racer. At the base of the steps leading to the throne were Redstamp and Thom. All eyes were on Watson and Ditzy as they trotted across the room to the throne.

"Everypony," the Princess of War addressed the crowd, "You have no doubt heard of the mysterious murders being done throughout the Shetland territories. Something you might not know, however, is that similar murders are taking place in Celestia's domain as well." There was a murmur among the crowd as Malice continued, "As such, Celestia and I have decided to work together to figure out the source and reason for these crimes. The ponies you see here today are Paladins of Equestria, one of whom some of you no doubt recognize." Watson made an attempt to hide behind Ditzy. "For the next few hours, Celestia, myself and one of her Paladins will be investigating the latest scene. The other Paladins will remain here, seeing if they can learn anything. If any approach you and ask questions, I implore you to cooperate and answer as honestly as possible. They are working under my authority and have authorization to access all but the highest-class information. That is all."

As the crowd dispersed, Racer leaned towards Malice and said, "Are you sure that runt will be of any help, Milady?"

"Undoubtedly," the scarlet alicorn nodded. Stepping down from the throne, Malice asked the small unicorn, "I will teleport us to the latest scene. You'll know what to do from there. Are you ready, child?"

A bit annoyed at being called a child despite being twenty-two, Watson nodded. "I am ready, Milady." With a brief grin, Malice's horn shone red, the familiar roar of magic filled the room and the two princesses disappeared with Watson.

Watson was seeing spots after that last teleport. When they faded, he saw he was in a small, well-lit cave. Along with the two princesses, there were two Shetland knights standing beside a large design on the ground. Upon closer inspection, Watson was both surprised and disturbed. It was a plain circle, but it was drawn with blood. In the middle was a large pool of blood and next to that was a small piece of torn cloth. Watson gasped and stepped back when he realized what that cloth was. It was stained from the blood, but the white-and-gold crest of the rising sun could still be easily seen.

"This is why Red didn't reply," Celestia said with a mournful tone. "My messenger was captured and murdered."

"Whether he was taken from the palace, or was caught en route," Malice continued, "I couldn't tell. That's why the Conclave only thinks I'm investigating murders. I can't risk telling them what I know in the event one of them is behind all this." Turning to Watson, she asked, "Can you feel anything?"

Watson nodded in reply. Even with the body of the unfortunate Equestrian removed, even with the passage of time, the circle was still emanating magic. "What's the plan?"

"You will try to scry the magic," Malice replied. "In the event that you cannot discern the purpose of the circle, I would like you to try and anchor the magic in place so I can try to figure it out. Ready?" Watson stepped forward and lowered his head. Time to do his thing. Taking a breath, Watson began focusing his magic into a divination spell. His first attempt, his horn sparked and a nearby rock scooted a few inches over. His second attempt, his horn flared and the circle's magic receded. Until Watson's horn died down, the circle was indeed without magic.

The two Princesses anxiously watched as Watson's third attempt also ended in failure. Waiting until his horn died down, Watson recalled how he felt four years ago, as he charged up that last spell. Watson could feel his head warm up, and that familiar headache sprung up, but his horn remained dull. Slowly, carefully he extended his will into the circle. Rather than focus on a divination, Watson just let his magic seep into the circle, like pouring a glass of water into a sponge. He could still feel the circle's magic, but his own was mingling with it. He was in.

"Is everything alright?" the Princess of War asked. She couldn't feel it. That was proof that Watson's magic was working. With a grin, Watson's horn flared as his magic made the red circle turn green. He had it. The magic of the circle was fighting back, trying to retreat, but Watson wasn't letting go. A few more moments passed, and he felt a snap in his head. Then another. His grip was slipping.

"Do it!" the tan unicorn groaned from the pressure. He could hear Malice's horn roar and he felt another magic seep into the circle. Maintaining his focus, Watson struggled to keep the circle's magic in place. There was another snap in his mind, harder than the last one. The next snap actually knocked his head back, but the former Paladin didn't relent. Instead, he pushed back. The circle's magic receded a minute amount, but enough was still there for Watson to maintain his grip. He could feel Malice's magic cover his own as she examined every piece of magic this circle had. They were almost done.

Without warning, a wave of magic surged into Watson's mind. His head was thrown back and his vision was filled with orange light. He could feel his mouth open, but no noise came out. Watson could no longer feel the circle's magic nor Malice's. He heard muffled noises from the direction of the Princesses, but he couldn't hear what they were saying. He could feel pressure on his shoulder, like somepony was shaking him, but he couldn't move by his own volition. After a few more moments of blindness, the small unicorn could hear himself say a short, incomplete sentence.

"…you seek to command…you must…be claimed…"

Then his world turned black.

Watson snapped awake and gasped for air. After a few more moments spent just breathing, Watson took in his surroundings. He was back in the Shetland palace, he guessed. It wasn't his room, though. It was too big and spacious. The ceiling was a dome, too. He tried to turn his head, but his neck was stiff and sore. He gave a groan of pain at the ache. What the Chasm happened?

"You're awake," an unfamiliar male voice to his side stated. "How do you feel?" Watson tried speaking, but only a dry rasp came out. "Hold on, hold on. I bet you're just thirsty." As whoever was there said this, Watson realized just how thirsty he was. His mouth was completely dry. He could hear the sound of a bottle opening and felt his mouth open. A cool liquid filled his mouth, and he coughed as he tried to swallow it all.

"Whoops, my bad," the voice apologized. "Didn't mean to pour so much." The flow of liquid slowed down and Watson was able to swallow without having any of it go down the wrong pipe. A few moments later, the bottle was removed. "Okay, try again, Paladin." Watson tried talking again, and it was significantly less painful than the previous attempt.

"Where am I?" he asked with a weary voice.

"The Saint Crescentstar Hospital," the voice responded. The owner of the voice leaned into Watson's field of sight, revealing himself to be a unicorn in a doctor's coat. "You were brought here a few days ago in a completely catatonic state. The Princesses were quite worried."

"Princesses?" The memories came back to Watson. The circle and its magic had done something to him. And that message, what did it mean?

"Speaking of princesses," the doctor stated, "the Red Lady requested to be contacted if you woke up. Just wait here, I'll be back in a minute." Watson could hear the doctor heading off to his right and the sound of an opening-and-closing door immediately preceded silence. Watson tried to sit up, or even move a leg, but his limbs were totally unresponsive. With no ability to move and nopony else to speak to, the small unicorn just lay there, going over what happened in complete silence. Minutes passed, but the doctor had yet to return. Watson knew that it would take a bit to contact a Princess, but this uncomfortable silence seemed to slow down time.

"Psst!" A new voice hissed, startling the tan unicorn.

"Who's there?" Watson asked.

"Don't say anything," this new voice ordered, "just listen. First, let me say that you were rather brave, and kinda stupid, to do what you did. The backlash from that circle tore a few holes in your metaphysical synapses, which is why you're paralyzed. Normally, it would take a few weeks to recover from the sort of blow you took, but I know none of us have that kind of time."

"What?" Watson asked. This guy, whoever he was, was just confusing.

"Now," the voice continued, "What I'm gonna do will definitely hurt, but it'll speed up your recovery. You'll be up and about in another day or two."

"What's the catch?"

"The catch?" the voice asked. "Don't fail," he replied with a serious tone. "I know what's going on, and I know you can help stop this. If you fail and die, I swear to Solarion that I will wake you up and kill you again. Clear?" A moment passed before the voice went, "Oh yeah, paralyzed. Um, sorry." Watson suddenly felt an immense pain in the side of his neck. He would have screamed, but something, or rather several somethings, covered his mouth and muffled the sound. The pain died as quickly as it came.

"No need to scare anypony," the voice stated. "Okay, I've gotta go now. Stuff to do. Also, when the Red Lady comes, tell her hi for me."

"Who are you?" Watson whispered.

"My full name might scare you," he replied, "but you can call me Neph." Watson heard a buzzing sound, like a large insect, depart from his bed and leave him in silence once more. There was still a slight pain in the side of his neck, but the overall ache of his body had lessened. Whatever this "Neph" had injected him with, it seemed to be working. Even time seemed to move faster, since it seemed like only a few more minutes passed before Watson heard the door to his right open and the sound of hooves reached his ears.

"Greetings, Paladin!" Malice exclaimed as she entered his field of vision. "How do you feel, child?"

"Like a house landed on me," Watson replied. "I feel better than earlier, but I still can't move."

"Your metaphysical synapses took a hard hit," Malice replied, "If they were hit any harder, you might have lost the ability to use magic for the rest of your life."

"Good thing it wasn't that bad," Watson grinned. "Did the circle do this?"

"I think," the scarlet Princess replied, "that it was a backlash from all the magic in that confined spot. Your trying to anchor the magic in place combined with my scrying was too much for the circle to handle. The magic just tore apart and chose the path of least resistance. I admit, Watson, I was quite scared when your eyes started shining the way they did. The chant you gave was also rather…unsettling."

"Chant?"

"While your eyes were glowing, your mouth stayed open. Words just came out, even though your jaw wasn't moving. You spoke about the Last Days, and how the shroud of Death would cover the land."

"Last Days?" the unicorn asked in confusion. "Nothing about something being claimed?"

"Claimed? That word never came up. Why?" Malice leaned closer. "Did you hear something else?"

Watson nodded. "I didn't catch all of it, but it was something about commanding and being claimed. I don't know what was being spoken about, but that's what I heard."

"I see," Malice acknowledged. "Well, I'll inform your companions about this. For your information, Celestia returned to Equestria yesterday, and you've been out nearly a week." The Princess lowered her head, and her expression turned sad. "I'm sorry to have done this. I did not think that you would be hit in such a manner. By my guess, you'll be down for another half of a month. We'll continue investigating, so just relax for now."

"Actually," Watson announced, "I'd say I'll be up in a few days."

"What makes you say that?" Malice asked quizzically.

"Somepony else was here," Watson explained. "He told me about what got hurt, and he injected me with something that he said would speed up my recovery."

"My doctors have no medicine that could heal a damaged metaphysical synapse," Malice stated. "Who did this?"

"He wanted me to tell you hi," the tan unicorn replied. "He said his full name would scare me, but I could call him Neph. Does that mean anything?" Malice had a look of contemplation.

"Yes, it does," she answered. "If he's getting involved…" Turning back to Watson, she said, "Just relax for a while. I'll see what else can be done."

"Wait," the wounded unicorn said, "one more thing. Did you learn anything? Did it work?" Malice gave a smile.

"It did. Now rest, Paladin." As she left the room, Watson was tempted to point out he was no longer a Paladin, but he didn't want to ruin the moment. The divination had worked. They could figure out the kinks later, but for now they were making progress. Watson closed his eyes and smiled. Things were looking up.

He gave a stretch and a long yawn as stone fell all around him. No cheering this time. It was night, and he didn't want to wake anypony up. He had rested far too long. It was time to get back to work. Something was off, though. Flexing his claws, he could feel he was weaker than before. Much of his powers were still there, but enough was gone for him to be quite annoyed. It appeared his newfound freedom came with a price tag. Oh well. With a smile, he flew away under Luna's latest nighttime. As he flew, he saw a sickening sight.

To most creatures, the landscape below looked normal. Not to him. He could see the inner truth, the inner order, of all things. The ground beneath him was dying. It wasn't blighted land. The dying parts were too…arranged. Flying higher up, he could see the dying parts curving, like a…oh boy. Sensing the edges, he flew fast as he could to the northwest.

Somepony in the Shetlands had some explaining to do.

Watson was walking through the palace with a slight limp. It had been a few days since he woke up in the Crescentstar Hospital, and he still ached from the circle's backlash. He was on his way to meet Malice, who had figured out at least a portion of the circle's purpose. With him were Ditzy Doo and Redstamp, who were chatting nonstop. They had appeared to hit it off since their current assignment of working with Watson. The tan unicorn had rarely found one of them without the other. Thom, meanwhile, was off doing something in the libraries, nopony knew what. So long as he came back, Watson didn't care. Thom had proven himself capable of getting things done.

The three Equestrians entered the throne room and Malice was waiting for them. Racer was nowhere to be seen, much to Watson's relief. If anything, Racer's mood towards Watson had worsened since the night of their "discussion." Watson was certain that, one of these days, they would have quite the disagreement. As the three ponies made their way to the throne, Malice descended and stopped in front of them.

"You are alone?" she asked. "Where is Thom?"

"Someplace else," Ditzy shrugged. "We haven't seen him all day."

"He needs to be here, too." Malice closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment. In a flash of red light, a shouting Thom landed on the ground holding a butterfly net.

"Gotcha!" he shouted before realizing what had happened. "Hey, what the-?" He looked in his net and saw it to be empty. "Oh, come on!"

"What were you doing?" Redstamp and Ditzy asked simultaneously.

"Chasing a weird insect," Thom explained. "It was big and green, almost like a…scarab, that's the word. Anyway, I first saw it a few days ago, and it doesn't exist in any zoological books I've read. So I wanted to catch it and make a sketch so I could see if it was listed in any of Equestria's books. However, seeing as I'm here and not there, I'm guessing something important's popped up."

"Watson is mostly recovered from the backlash," Malice pointed out, "and I've deciphered as much of the circle as I can." Turning to the guards, the scarlet Princess ordered, "Leave us." Without a word, the Shetland guards left the room. "Now," she continued, "I was able to gleam quite a bit from our scrying the circle. It is indeed dark magic, but not like any Nightmare or Dark Magic you may be familiar with." She walked to a nearby table, followed by the Equestrians, and pulled out a rolled up scroll. "While I was divining the circle, I saw that the blood array was only a piece of the full design. This is what it really looked like." She unrolled the scroll, and everypony else gasped at what they saw.

Unlike the plain circle they saw in the cave, what was sketched onto the scroll was quite a detailed array. The circle that was outlined in the cave was still there, but had points coming out the sides like fire. Inside was a spiral, with multiple circles placed along its path. These circles were small and varied in design. Some were striped, others had small spots inside. Jutting out from the top and bottom were lines that ended in a circle, but each of these had a star inside. The left side of the main circle had a nine-pointed star at the end of a flame-like line. The right side two lines coming out, but these ended in nothing. Overall, it was an impressive array.

"What sort of magic would use such an array?" Watson asked. "I'm familiar with magic circles, but the spells that required such elaborate arrays were far beyond anything a lesser pony could do."

"I don't know the full purpose," Malice replied, "but I could sense it's a sort of summoning spell combined with a compulsion of some sort. I scryed everything there was in the circle, but there was very little there."

"Who could come up with a circle like this?" Ditzy asked. "Who would come up with it?"

"I've seen a circle like this only once," the Princess of War stated, "and that was two hundred years ago. I saw a partially-done array inside the Grand Palace of Evisica."

"Evisica?" Watson asked. "Didn't they disappear after the war?"

"Indeed they did," Malice nodded. "I'm also certain they haven't returned. The Evisicans were…not difficult to spot, even in a crowd." She lowered her head. "I remember my soldiers recorded the diagram, and took everything they could from the palace before I tore the place apart. Since this array has re-emerged now, it can only mean someone in the upper tiers of my government is behind this." She turned to the Paladins and Watson and said, "I will have to stay here, but I am preparing an escort for you to go to what's left of the Evisican palace. Perhaps you can find something there I missed."

"Or," Thom-with-an-H elaborated, "maybe we'll find the ponies responsible. They could be using the old palace as a base of operations."

"That could be, too," Watson agreed. "When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow morning," the Red Lady answered. "I'm sending you there with six of my best, most trustworthy guards. I don't want to risk losing any of you to this fanatic, or fanatics, in the event there's a group responsible."

"You have our gratitude for such protection," Ditzy bowed her head. Watson, meanwhile, was contemplating everything he had heard. Part of him had hoped he could've just scanned the circle and go home, but the rest of him was secretly enjoying this. He was doing something with his life. He hadn't felt like this since his early years as a Paladin.

Plus, for some reason or another, seeing Malice gave him a feeling altogether new to him. He liked it, whatever it was.

Celestia was walking down the stairs from her room after raising the sun. She wasn't surprised to see the usual assortment of guards awaiting her at the base of the steps. However…

"Luna?" she asked. "Why are you still up?"

"Something is amiss, Tia," the Princess of the Night said with a grim tone. "Come with me." As Celestia followed her younger sister, Luna continued, "We first noticed it last night, as we were coming back to the castle, but dismissed it as just a false observation from being overworked. However, we looked again early this morn and we are certain now." She and Celestia stopped next to a window that faced the gardens. "Tell me, Celestia, hast thou noticed we have a statue missing?"

Author's Note

Chapter five! YAY! Filled with chills, spills, and a certain someone making a comeback...
Please read and leave a comment!