Sky Tear

Chapter 4 : King

"King? Like, Princess Celestia's father king?" Twilight was confused and amazed. Nobody ever spoke of the King.
"No. The usurper king. Long ago, long before Discord there was just Equestria in its two halves. Ponies... And griffons."
"Oh, the tale of that King! So what are we doing about it?" Another beam of light shot up from the crystal.
"As long as the crystal holds up, we're staying here." Shining Armour stared into the the crystals surface, losing himself inside.
"Luna is sending guards and scouts out to see if we know where the King actually is." Celestia turned to leave the dome. "We really need to get his help on this one. Without it, all of Equestria is gone. Not just the pony half."
"But who's returning?"

Rarity glanced out the window again from behind the blinds.
"Still raining!"
"No shi-"
"Sweetie Belle! Where did you learn such words?! Weren't you meant to be asleep, too? Yes, it's still raining. I'm just optimistic, that's all." She put the blind back down and returned to see what Fluttershy was doing. She had recovered slightly, to the extent she was no longer a shaking wreck. But still jumpy.
"Fluttershy? Have you got any information on Twilight yet? We've accounted for everypony but Twilight and Rainbow."
"The birds say they can't see out there. One of the bunnies does say he saw a blue Pegasus fly towards Canterlot. That's all."
"Canterlot, eh? I hope she knows what she's doing."

"We don't know, dammit! We just know that there is a near apocalypse coming and we're all defenceless!" Shining Armour slammed his hoof onto the table. They had left the domed crystal hall for the smaller, round table'd room.
"We can't help that!" Cadence yelled back.
"Well, find a solution."
"Guys! Shut up! Yelling at each other won't help. We'll just work slower." Twilight glanced up from her book to lecture her sister-in-law and brother. The silver bound book was still as useless as ever. The only strange bit was in the message at the front. 'Have Faith' was capitalised - why would you capitalise something that wasn't a name? Her understanding of grammar and language baffled her sometimes.
"Twilight. Found anything?" Luna poked her head around the door frame.
"Only this. 'Faith' is capitalised. Which goes against his past way of writing. He is intelligent and well spoken - why would he do that?"
"Faith?" Luna's eyes widened and she disappeared - teleported.

Pinkie Pie and Applejack were in the barn at Sweet Apple Acres, hoping the storm would pass.
"Ah hope it passes. This barn wasn't made for this - we were gonna knock it down in a month or two and replace it!" Applejack yelled over the wind.
"I hope it warms up a bit! Brrrrrr!" Pinkie dug herself deeper into the haystacks. A bunny came running in through a gap in the wall, wearing a small yellow anorak.
"Bunny!" Pinkie saw the rabbit move in front of her. It had a message in its hands.
'Applejack,
Bring yourself, family and as many others as possible to central Ponyville. We need to ensure everyone's safety while Twilight is gone.
Rarity and Fluttershy at Carousel Boutique'
"Eurgh, boutique. That place makes me sick. Anyway, we'd better go." Applejack fixed her hat, picked up the bunny and ran out of the barn, Pinkie trailing behind.

"Transport arrangements?! What the hay do you call this?! It's not a service station!" Rarity slammed the landline down, and slumped over the desk. "Damn ponies thinking we owe them some shelter." She'd moved the sewing machine off the table and made it her temporary office. After all, ponies needed keeping track of. Sweetie Belle was cooking... Breakfast. And Fluttershy was herding the animals inside... From INSIDE the boutique. She was doomed to a slow and tiring demise unless Twilight returned quickly.

"What's so important about Faith?"
"Twilight. You need to go back. Get the other 5 together with you and teleport back here in 10 minutes." Luna turned towards her.
"But-" Twilight vaporised.

Rarity looked up from her desk at the sound of... A teleport spell? Had Sweetie mastered it yet? She got up and walked into Twilight.
"Thank Celestia you're here! I rounded up as many ponies as possible! We are all here now - you know, the 6-"
"Good." Twilight closed her eyes and braced.

The 6 appeared in the dome room with the crystal.
"What in tarnation?!"
"Wh-why are we... Somewhere else?!" Fluttershy curled up and sobbed.
"Twilight! Those ponies need us! We can't just leave!"
"Rarity, if I don't take you all now, there will be nopony left."
"What's going on in here?!" A Royal voice boomed through the dome, stopping all conversation. Luna stepped in from a side room and approached them in the centre. "Twilight Sparkle. That was a quick journey. But I see you have the rest, so I will not waste time."
"What is Faith?! Answer me, please!"
"All in good time. For now, you are going to travel to the griffon king. All will be made clear."
"You bitc-"

Chapter 5 : Unknown

Twilight and the others appeared in a low lying valley between 2 mountains. It wasn't particularly green or forested, but vegetation was in abundance.
"-ch!" Twilight stumbled back. "Why?! Why can I never find anything out?"
"All in good time, Twilight." Applejack mimicked Princess Luna, receiving a few laughs.
"But seriously - where do we go from here?" Rainbow looked around the group.
"The spire with the birds around it." Twilight looked eastwards (towards the sun) at the tower. Surely that was it?
"Guys... Guys. Guys!" Everypony turned to Rainbow Dash. "Cool ride!"
A carriage was sitting next to them, complete with 4 mechanised wheels. It had windows (with curtains!) and a small step ladder lowered from the door. A small balcony or ledge was at the front, with a small steering wheel on a pole.
"What.... How?! But.... What?!" Twilight rushed around it looking for a note or a message. Anything that could explain what the hell they were meant to be doing.
"Erm... Sorry to distract you from the wonderful set of wheels, but I'm pretty sure that isn't normal."
"What is, Rarity?"
"That." Rarity stared up at the sky. A dark wave of, what looked like smoke, swept across the sky, blocking the sun and bringing the stars out.
"Nighttime. Luna?" Twilight turned to her friends. "Can anyone see Luna?"
"Wait! I know what to do!" Rainbow Dash stood deadly still leaving the other 5 in a slight daze. Then she collapsed and started snoring.
"Anyone care to explain what the actual hay that was?" Applejack tapped Rainbow's face, but no response came back.
"I... I don't know. We should head off. The tower is still visible, so help me get Rainbow in the carriage." Twilight took charge and helped Pinkie and Applejack pick up Rainbow Dash. Rarity took the wheel with Fluttershy and off they went towards the only possible destination.

Rainbow dash got up and stretched.
"Aaaaaaaaaah." Her arms clicked as she started overhead stretches. She looked around - Nopony. She was in a desert, devoid of all life. The moon was brighter than usual and a small blue light lit the eye on the Mare.
"It worked! Thank Scootaloo!" Rainbow lifted herself up and hovered about 100ft off the ground.
"Luna! Luuuna!" A small blue orb appeared next to her. "Luna?"
Princess Luna materialised in the air and began to speak.
"Your friends are trying to get you awake, so I'll be quick. It's nighttime because you will be spotted by the dragons. And griffins. And potentially renegade ponies... Just keep moving to the tower. Use the telescope and go from there. She'll understand. You'll understand once you're there."
"What?!"
"Just remember what I said." Luna vaporised and Rainbow's dream began to dematerialise around her.

"Rainbo-"
"Argh! Water!" Rainbow sat up spluttering. Twilight blushed slightly and tried to hide the bucket. "Help! I have help!"
"Rainbow... Maybe you need sleep."
"No no! Luna told me what to do. We need to get to the tower. Use the telescope and all will become clear."
"Ok...." Twilight moved through the cabin towards the front. "Rarity! Fluttershy! Keep on going till the tower. Rainbow says Luna told her."
"Yes Captain!" Fluttershy turned around with some steam punk style goggles on and holding a pencil and some paper.
"What's the paper?"
"Oh, I'm mapping the area. It'll come in handy if anything. If not, it doesn't matter. I'm drawing the road we go along, and other forks in the road and major landmarks. Like that bigger tree... That's glowing."
"Alright. Sounds like you know hat you're doing." Twilight went back cabin to Pinkie, Applejack and Rainbow. They were arranging the mattresses that came in the carriage so that they could all fit.
"...we'll need a rota. Rarity and Fluttershy can't do it all day."
"It's fine. We can organise it as we go along. For now, focus on the tower and getting ourselves there safely." Twilight flopped down onto a mattress and pulled her saddlebags off her back. A silver glint faintly peered out of them.
"What the-" Twilight flipped it open and saw the silver bound book. "But..."
A message was taped to the front.
"Twilight,
Keep up Faith and keep moving. The tower is your destination. Think about your affiliation before you approach my father's castle though. Otherwise things may get bloody.
-C & L & F"
"What you got there Twilight?"
"Woah jeez. Don't do that Pinkie! To be honest... I don't know." The original message was still inside the book and a small second note said that the book was a copy. So Celestia and Luna won't execute her when she gets back... Good.
"C, L and F? That's got to be Celestia and Luna. Who's F? Why is it 'my father's'? What does it mean Twilight?!"
"Calm down Pinkie. I don't know. I have a theory, but we can't do anything till we reach the tower. Now we should all get some shut-eye."

The night went relatively uneventfully - a few swap overs for driver and passenger but besides that the biggest event was the small rock in the road. The sun began to creep over the horizon and awoke the carriage. Pinkie was first awake, just a minute before she burst into a cockerel's morning song.
"Aaaaah! What the hay, Pinkie?!" Applejack jumped up with the rest of them in shock.
"Sorry, internal clock. Goes off at 7:30 every day on the dot." Pinkie casually carried on her strange life by putting her head out the window like a dog.
"Celestia... My head. I didn't even drink anything!" Rarity sat up an quickly dropped back down.
"Yeah, me too." Twilight and Rainbow both agreed.
"Wait - who the hell's driving?!"

The carriage continued on down the road and parked itself at the base of the tower.
"Wat?" Rainbow just sat there confused.
"No time to be confused. We've got some stairs to climb!" Twilight tried to take lead again.
"No I don't." Rainbow flapped her wings smugly.
"Neither do I!" Rarity shined her horn.
"Guys! We're a team! We all teleport with me in 3... 2... 1..."

Chapter 6 : Faith

The 6 appeared at the top, on a balcony. The spire continued on up for a while, but a telescope sat in front of them.
"Well. Here goes nothing." Twilight stepped forward and peered in. It was pointed at a distant castle or fort - it was huge. A fortress on a mountain about 10 miles away. It was circled by massive dragons and fleets of what could be birds.
"Wait - did Luna say why she made it dark yesterday?" Twilight didn't break her gaze on the fortress.
"Huh? Oh yeah. Dragons. Renegades. Griffins. The lot really." Rainbow seemed unmoved until a roar ripped through the sky.
"Welp, it was nice knowing you all." Rainbow began a lap of her friends, shaking hoofs. Flaps of massive wings were heard, and another roar.
"Wait..." Twilight pulled away from the telescope. Another roar.
"That isn't a threatening roar."
"What?! Are you crazy?!" Fluttershy grabbed Twilight and started shaking her about.
"I'm serious. Spike taught me that. That's a-"
"Friendly Black dragon. Fully matured and capable of torching whole towns in a day." Someone else finished her sentence. "A beauty really." The dragon lowered itself in front of the balcony - a white alicorn stood on top.
"F-Faith?"
"Yes, Twilight Sparkle. It is. Your reputation precedes you too. The royalty has great plans for you. I'm currently on another trip away from the castle. "Father" really is a bastard." Faith stepped off into the tower. Her cutie mark was similar to Luna's - only rather than stars it was a nebula, with about 100 different colours.
"You know my name?"
"Yes! Your exploits and efforts to please my sister don't go unheard of outside of Equestria - let alone Canterlot!" Her golden name shone beautifully in the rising sun.
"You have the book?"
"Uh, yes. I don't know how. I think it's a copy."
"It should be. I went to great lengths to copy it. And get it to you. There are times when courier pony isn't enough - altering space and reality worked well though."
"Do you mind me asking... What does your cutie mark symbolise?"
"Control and mastery of reality. My sisters are night and day an everything that comes with it. Our domains are all separate."
Rarity asked the next question, breaking the back and forth conversation. "And how do you get your mane like that?"
"Simple really. Sunlight and the rarest gem extracts."
"G-gems?!" Rarity's eyes lit up more.
"Rarity! We have more important things to do-"
"-Why yes. I see your cutie mark is about gems. Another gem fan?"
"Am I!"
Faith suddenly realised when she glanced over at Twilight.
"Sorry. I get distracted. I'll show... Rarity around the castle once we've liberated it."
"We?"
"Yeah? Why else do you think me and my sisters wanted you lot to come kill the griffin king? He killed father. He forces me and my sisters to call him 'father' in public as the current generation has lost all knowledge of his usurping. And we can't touch him with his barrier up. Only you 6 can get through as it is. Simply take it down and - BAM! We win."
"You're not like your sisters." Rainbow quite rudely commented.
"What? Not stuck up and all powerful for you? I'm more powerful than both of them and like to have fun. What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing! Nothing. I'm just surprised."
"Anyway. Back onto the plan. Open the book." Twilight pulled it out and flipped it open.
"That page wasn't there an hour ago..."
"Funny, isn't it? You see this? This is a map. All you need to do is follow the red line and beat my father. Then I'll grant you all one wish in my domain. As in, I may not be able to do it."
"Do we need the elements of harmony?" Twilight asked.
"Seriously? Did you actually just ask that? Of course - but they aren't physical. You are the elements. I don't get what's so hard to understand about that."
"Oh..."
"Off you go! I'll see you there!" Faith jumped back on the dragon and zapped the 6 back to the carriage.
"Well okay then." Pinkie continued as usual, carrying the map onto the carriage.
"I guess we just follow the leader for now." Twilight followed, slightly disappointed with how that turned out.