The World Rests On Your Shouldersby ReeveChaptersPowerlessThe Power of SixNorthern LightsCautionary TalesThe Kindness of StrangersPowerlessThe world seemed held in a moment of perpetual silence as the first glimpses of sunlight broke the horizon, bathing the sprawling city of Canterlot in a warm glow. Throughout the majestic city, ponies of all ages and race began to stir from their peaceful slumbers, welcoming the glorious new dawn with a quick thank to Celestia. Very soon the cobblestone streets would be bustling with ponies on their way to work, the shops and offices would become a hive of activity, and everyone would be ecstatic at the prospect of embracing the new day. Well, almost everyone… Beyond the clustered city, stood the awesome sight, of Canterlot Castle. Truly a sight to behold with its smooth marble walls, its delicate towers and majestic spires. And high up in one of the numerous ivory towers, one that used to hold none other than the personal student of Princess Celestia herself, one individual was not happy to see the rays of light seeping through his window. “A thousand curses upon you Sol!” he spoke in a voice muffled by the pillow he clutched to his face in a vain attempt to stop the first light from penetrating his eyelids. While his method achieved its desired aim and blocked out all rays of natural light, it had the unfortunate side effect of making him too tense to get back to sleep. With a roar of frustration he tore the pillow from his face and launched it across the room, resigning himself to the disappointing fact he would not be sleeping in that morning. The figure lazily raised a bear paw and began to rub the sleep out of his mismatched eyes, muttering curses to Celestia and her entire family under his breath. As he did, he raised an eagle claw, snapping the talons and summoning the pillow he had just cast aside back into his grasp. With a single thought the pillow vanished in a flurry of gold light only to be replaced by a bright cone of cotton candy, upon which he began to munch. “’Make friends’ they said,” Discord whined between mouthfuls, putting on a nasally voice, “’your life will be better’ they said.” Before he knew it he was biting into thin air, the candy floss having been devoured too quickly for his enjoyment. He simply lay there, idly picking his teeth, staring at the ceiling. “How the mighty have fallen,” he spoke to the empty room, “once a god, a being unmatched by all… now Celestia’s faithful pooch. “And all because of the magic of friendship.” Discord raised his head and began slamming it back into the springy mattress, he did this for a few minutes, hoping it would alleviate his moody thoughts, but to no avail. It seemed he would have to resort to desperate measures. Wriggling his back he allowed his dragon tail to slither out from beneath him, and let it blindly roam over the bedside, searching for what he knew to be lying face down on the cabinet. As he felt his tail brush over it, he took hold of it in the hand like appendage adorning the tip of his tail and brought it over so he could see it. Held in front of him, was a cheap wooden frame that held something more valuable to him than all the gold in Canterlot Bank. The picture showed a butter yellow Pegasus, smiling politely from behind her long pink mane. Even in this picture Discord could see the timidness in her eyes. At her ankle sat a white rabbit wearing a clear frown on his face, clearly annoyed at having his picture taken, but Discord didn’t care, Angel wasn’t the one he stared at. Written in eloquent, yet delicate writing, were the words ‘Your friend, Fluttershy’. Discord sighed, placing the picture frame back on the bedside cabinet, making sure it was face down again. “How the mighty have fallen indeed,” he muttered to himself, all the steam built up in him a moment before suddenly gone. with that he rolled over, tucking his odd legs close to his chest and burying himself as close to the wall as possible, his face pressed into the mattress in another vain attempt at blocking out the light of the sun which by now was fully risen and beginning its long ascent into the sky, on this, the longest day of the year. Discord didn’t know how long he had lain there like that, it could have been minutes, it could have been hours, but the next thing he knew the ornate double doors to his room were creaking open, and he could hear hoofsteps making their slow deliberate way across the floor. He didn’t bother to roll over to see who it was, none of the servants or guards ever came here unless it was necessary, that could only leave few options. Sure enough the steps ceased and a tall shadow loomed over him, the long horn and impressive wingspan clearly featured on it. “Not now Celestia,” Discord moaned, still not looking around, “you had me up all night dealing with envoys, and I need my beauty sleep.” “Celestia?” a voice spoke, one that was undoubtedly not Celestia’s, “guess again, old friend.” Discord felt his heart stop dead in his chest, and ice seep through his veins. Not much could scare the spirit of chaos, but he knew that voice, and he had good reason to be afraid. In the blink of an eye he scrambled around and began backing up desperately against the wall, in a childish attempt to put as much distance between himself and the figure who now towered over him. “M-m-m’lady,” he stammered, unable to control the fear in his voice, “what a p-pleasant surprise, it’s been too long.” She didn’t respond at first, she merely narrowed her eyes, causing the draconequus to squirm further under her gaze. “Hasn’t it just,” she said at last, her voice calm and measured, “the last I heard you were still sealed in stone, following your initial failure.” “Well, hehe,” he began, forcing a nervous laugh, “guess it didn’t stick.” “Clearly,” she responded, not even trying to hide the distaste in her voice, “and now here you are, loyal to Celestia.” The last word came out as a hiss, causing Discord to gulp. “Loyal is a strong word,” he insisted, “I prefer to think of it as biding my time.” “Well then, I deem your time bidden long enough,” she said, the first smile creeping onto her face, that only worried Discord more, “I think it’s time we finished what we started, don’t you?” Discord didn't respond, all words stuck in his throat. The figure raised an eyebrow impatiently, forcing him to stammer out a response. “B-but what do expect m-me to do?” “Not much,” she admitted turning around and making for the door, “I have already set things in motion; you will have one part to play towards the end…” Suddenly she swished around fixing Discord with a stare that could kill dragons, “and you will play it, or need I remind you the cost of your disloyalty?” Discord hung his head, all fight drained in an instant. “No,” he whispered miserably. “Then we have an agreement,” she said marching from the room, her magical aura slamming the doors shut behind her. Discord lay motionless on the bed, staring blankly at the doors she had just left through. Slowly but steadily his heart rate was returning to normal, and he was beginning to take control of his breathing. For the second time that morning he was unsure how much time passed before he moved again, but when he did he reached out for the picture once again, staring glumly at the mare smiling back at him. “So much for reformed,” he muttered letting the picture clatter to the floor. Powerless “Feelin’ any better Sugarcube?” the orange mare asked, the concern on her face apparent, even with her Stetson covering half of it. “Much better,” Twilight Sparkle responded, although her voice was still a little shaky. Twilight made a mental note to thank Cadance for teaching her that relaxation technique. With her thoughts relatively calm and clear Twilight turned her attention to her surroundings which she had neglected during her recent panic attack. Applejack sat across from her, half sitting, half lounging on the seat she occupied. Across the aisle Rainbow Dash fidgeted impatiently, giving her cyan wings an occasional flex, while opposite her, Rarity with her pristine white coat and Fluttershy the butter yellow Pegasus sat discussing Rarity’s latest commission for another faceless member of the Canterlot gentry. Turning away from this, Twilight instead looked outside the window at the rolling landscape rushing past them. Taking the train to Canterlot had become such a regular thing for Twilight; she often neglected to notice just how stunning the view was. Equestria was spread out before her in all its glory, thickets of forest and clusters of mountains scattered over the landscape, and in the distance, Twilight could just about make out quaint town she now called home. “It’s been three years,” she said suddenly causing Applejack to stir from what she guessed was another attempt at catching some shut eye before their arrival. “What’s that Sugarcube?” she asked stifling a yawn. “I said it’s been three years since I moved to Ponyville,” she repeated looking back at the farmer, “It’s not that long when you really think about it, but I honestly can’t imagine a life outside it anymore. Applejack grinned, and Twilight noticed the other three had stopped what they were doing to listen in. “Well shucks Twi,” Applejack began sitting up straight, “if ah’m honest, ah can’t imagine life in Ponyville without you either.” “Yeah, you may be a total egghead,” not the most flattering thing you could have said Rainbow, “but in a good way, Ponyville would be so not awesome without you.” Rarity and Fluttershy nodded enthusiastically in agreement and Twilight blushed. “Are you ever worried you might get called back to Canterlot?” Fluttershy asked in a barely audible whisper. “Sometimes,” Twilight admitted, “but even if I was, I wouldn’t go.” “I suppose there’s really no risk of Princess Celestia forcing you to now,” Rarity commented, “you after all her equal now.” Twilight gave a nervous glance at her wings which gave an involuntary flutter. “Yeah… I’m a princess now…” “Now don’t go havin’ another freak out on us yah hear me,” Applejack said letting the panic in her voice rise. “Don’t worry,” Twilight assured them with a small blush of embarrassment, “I got all that out of my system.” “You really shouldn’t be worried Twilight darling,” Rarity consoled, “you’re about to take part in something ponies like us could only dream of.” “Yeah, can you imagine,” Rainbow said dramatically, “when you think meeting one, or even two princesses is awesome, you’re about to meet all of them at once. Now that, is, awesome.” “It’s exciting, sure,” Twilight said, not sounding convinced, “but I’ve only been a princess for a few months, what if I mess up? What if I start a war? What if…” All four of her friends shared exasperated looks and Applejack was about to speak up, when a pink blur sped through the train car, spinning uncontrollably into an unassuming Twilight. “Pinkie, what in Equestria was…” she began but was instantly cut off by the pink party pony who seemed more excited than usual, which was hard to tell as she was always excited. “Twilight, you gotta come see this!” Without waiting another second, Pinkie Pie sped off to the end of the train car and pressed her nose against one of the far windows, enthralled by something she could apparently see outside. casting a confused look at Rainbow Dash, who responded with the look known to all locals of Ponyville to mean ‘it’s just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie’, she then pulled herself up and made her way towards Pinkie who was trembling with excitement. Soon all five arrived at the window where Pinkie Pie and Twilight’s number one assistant, Spike the dragon sat staring out the window. Now thoroughly intrigued as to what could be going on Twilight opened the window with her magic and all seven peered out. There was a collective ‘wow’ as they all saw what Pinkie had been talking about. Canterlot Mountain stood tall in the distance, the city and castle perched precariously on the side, but for once there was a sight even more incredible than that. A plume of fire was streaked across the sky, trailing behind what looked at first to be a Pegasus drawn carriage, but upon further inspection Twilight saw there were no pegasi pulling it, the shining gold carriage was being propelled along by the flames spewing from behind it. But the most impressive part about this sight, was the figure who sat atop it. there was no doubt in any of their minds who this figure was, the red coat practically screamed royalty, the long elegant horn and the wings woven from tongues of flame were a dead give-away. “So that’s one of the princesses,” Twilight breathed, unable to tear her eyes away from the scarlet alicorn descending into Canterlot. “Twilight…” Rainbow Dash began in a distant voice. “Yeah?” Twilight replied not looking over. “How many princesses did you say there was going to be again?” “Well including myself, Celestia, Luna and Cadance,” Twilight thought back to her letter from Celestia for a moment, “thirteen.” There was a moment of awed silence broken only by Rainbow Dash. “So… awesome.” ~ Canterlot station would usually have been a central hub of activity this early in the morning; ponies from all over Equestria would pour in and out of the capital, thus making the train station one of the busiest places. Not today however, today was far too important, and with Equestria’s newest princess arriving by train it became a necessity to have the platform closed for the day so that royal guards may occupy it. And so as the Friendship Express came whistling and screeching to a halt, Twilight and her friends were greeted by a dozen guards waiting patiently in the otherwise deserted station. “Jeez, these stiffs again,” Dash scoffed flying ahead of the group, finally being allowed to stretch her wings after being cooped up for the entire journey. The guards eyed her suspiciously, but made no move to stop her. Once Twilight was in the midst of the guards the senior officer approached them, stopping to give her a salute before addressing her. “You highness,” he began in the generic clip one of the guards ponies; “transport is ready outside the station to take you and your escorts to the castle. We will have your luggage transported separately.” “Escorts!” Rarity muttered in outrage, Twilight scuffed the ground nervously, not sure if she should correct him or not. “Thank you captain,” she said instead. He saluted once more before standing at attention to the side allowing them to pass. Leaving their bags behind as instructed they made their way across the station, making for the unmanned ticket booth and the arch way leading to the streets of Canterlot. Rainbow Dash dropped down to glide alongside them and together all seven of them stepped out onto the street, with Twilight at the head of the pack. It seemed they had closed the whole street for her on top of everything else, Twilight would have been annoyed about this but she was too surprised by who stood outside the carriage waiting for them. She had expected more armoured guards, but the reality was so much better. “Cadance!” she exclaimed in delight rushing forward to her old foalsitter and sister in law, whose face broke out in a wide smile as she too sought to close the distance between them. “Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake.” They both broke out in a little fit of giggles upon finishing their greeting, before embracing each other warmly. “I missed you,” Twilight said as they parted from each other’s grasp. “It’s only been a few months,” Cadance argued, “but none the less I’ve missed you too.” As Cadance greeted the others, it was only then that Twilight realised she hadn’t been the only one waiting for them outside the train station. Standing a little back, as if unsure as to whether she was welcome to join in or not, stood a blue unicorn mare. At a glance she looked around the same age as Twilight and her friends, her eyes were a stunning violet and her magenta mane was tied up in a long plat. “Oh, where are my manners,” Cadance said, looking apologetically at the mare, “Twilight you remember my sister, Clarity.” “Clarity!” Twilight exclaimed in surprise, the name rung true in her mind, she knew she recognised the mare from somewhere, but she could never have guessed. “Hey Twilight, I-I mean Princess Twilight,” she stammered giving an awkward bow. “Clarity it’s okay,” Twilight assured her, Clarity stood up gratefully. “I hope you’re all looking forward to your stay,” Cadance said addressing the group, “I’d love to take more time for you all, but I’m afraid the summit must be underway soon, and it can’t start when two princesses are catching up on the streets of Canterlot.” Twilight gave a sheepish grin in response and Cadance invited them all to mount the carriage. Once they were all comfortable Cadance gave a nod to the two stallions hitched up at the front and they immediately began to pull them along. “So you are the princess’s sister,” Rarity said breaking the silence, “charmed to make your acquaintance, I am Rarity.” “Clarity, and really it’s an honour to meet you, all of you.” Applejack and Rarity exchanged a surprised look, Twilight smiled to herself, she could already tell they were all going to get along, and as they chatted away she looked out the window to see the castle looming ever closer. ~ The trumpet blasted across the palace courtyard in typical regal fashion as the carriage swung through the high arch. “Princess Twilight Sparkle!” a magically amplified voice boomed, signally for all the guards present to stand to attention. the carriage slowed to a stop, the door swung open and to the baited breaths of all present, both dignitaries and guards ponies, the lavender alicorn dismounted, her only symbol of office being the delicate crown upon her head, adorned with the pink gemstone in the shape of her cutie mark. As all members of the party stepped off the coach a single figure rushed forward from the crowd, the sweat prominent on his brow, and a pocket watch held in silver aura in front of him. “Your highnesses,” he said breathlessly, giving a quick bow to Twilight and Cadance, “the summit will be taking place momentarily.” “Of course, thank you Pen Pusher,” Cadance replied warmly before turning to the assembled ponies, “Twilight and I must be off, business comes first and all that, we will catch up more this evening at dinner.” “Wait a sec,” Rainbow butted in, “we’re coming too right?” “I’m sorry Rainbow Dash,” Cadance said hesitantly, “but only princesses are permitted to be in the assembly hall during the summit.” “So we came all this way and we don’t even get to meet these princesses,” Rainbow huffed, kicking at the ground in frustration. “Sorry Rainbow Dash,” Twilight began before noticing the steward looking at his pocket watch impatiently, “look we really have to go…” “Yeah, yeah,” Rainbow said dismissively fluttering away. “Don’t you fret about her none Sugarcube,” Applejack assured Twilight, “now you run on ahead, don’t wanna keep all them important ponies waitin’ do yah?” Twilight smiled appreciatively and after a quick farewell to the others, she and Cadance ascended the courtyard stairs, making their way into the castle. “I must say Twilight,” Cadance began suddenly as they marched swiftly through the corridors, “I expected you to be a ticking time bomb of nerves at the prospect of your first royal summit.” Twilight laughed and scratched her head awkwardly, “well… I got it all out of my system during the train ride here. Thanks again for teaching me that calming technique.” “Not at all,” Cadance replied with a laugh, “it’s funny; Celestia actually taught me that before my first summit. I had this crazy idea I was going to do something stupid like start a war.” Twilight laughed, but looked away in order to hide the blush of embarrassment creeping into her cheeks. “The important thing to remember,” Cadance continued, seemingly not noticing Twilight’s reaction, “Is that we’re all on the same side, even though we rule all over the world, our job is to maintain harmony for all.” “Just out of interest, what do I do?” Twilight asked, it was only now that they were making the final leg of their journey that it dawned on Twilight how little of her studies looked into international affairs. “Well you’re part of the Triumvirate, so you won’t be expected to put forward any of your own points.” “That’s good, I… wait, the Tri-what?” Twilight stopped dead, she had never heard of this, but Cadance didn’t seem surprised by her confusion. “The Triumvirate,” she repeated, “while there is one princess representative I each of the foreign continents, Equestria, as the centre of pony kind, must always be ruled by three princess. “Until recently, it was comprised of Celestia, Luna and I,” she continued, “but as you know, the re-emergence of the Crystal Empire required one of us to take a new title. It was actually for that very reason that it became even more crucial that you ascend to princess hood as quickly as possible so that the Triumvirate could be maintained.” Twilight nodded eagerly, she loved to learn new things, and this was simply baiting her desire for knowledge, what more was there to Equestrian politics that she had yet to discover? “Alright, this is where we separate,” Cadance announced, cutting off Twilight’s train of thought. “Wait, what?” “I have to get to my own chamber,” she explained, “but Celestia and Luna are waiting for you at the end of this hallway.” Twilight nodded, still unsure what she meant by 'her own chamber'. “Don’t dawdle,” Cadance called back, taking a different route, “the summit is due to start any minute now.” Twilight was suddenly filled with new panic, and forgetting all semblance of grace, she galloped madly down the corridor, praying she wasn’t too late. Celestia and Luna stopped their conversation as they saw her approaching, they looked both surprised and greatly amused to see her so breathless as she came to a shuddering stop in front of them. “I-I’m… here!” Twilight spluttered between breathes. Celestia and Luna took one look at each other before bursting into raucous laughter. “Did Cadance tell you, you were going to be late?” Celesta asked, being the first to stop laughing at Twilight’s expense. Twilight stared at her as the gears clicked into place in her head. “Twilight, the summit cannot start until we’re all present, technically there is no ‘being late’.” Twilight suppressed a groan, pulling herself up to her full height, although she was still dwarfed by Celestia. “Shall we proceed?” Luna inquired, whipping a stray tear from the corner of her eye. “I think so,” Celestia responded, turning to face the doors her and Luna had been waiting at, which she gripped in a gold aura and swung open. ~ The others watched, almost sullenly, as Twilight and Cadance departed. None of them could deny it was a little annoying they wouldn’t get to meet these new princesses, but they were Twilight’s friends, and even Rainbow Dash couldn’t be angry at her for the privileges that came with her new position. “So Clarity,” Rarity said, breaking the uncomfortable silence, “have you and Twilight known each other long?” “Oh, well actually we hardly knew each other,” Clarity admitted as they began walking aimlessly through the courtyard, unsure where they could or couldn’t go, “we saw each other a bit, sometimes Cadance would foal sit us both, but mostly we kept to ourselves. It’s no secret Twilight had no interest in making friends when I knew her, and even when we were in Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns we were studying completely different fields of magic.” “You went to Celestia’s school?” Fluttershy asked in quiet awe. “Yeah, I mean I was never at the same level as Twilight,” she replied, “truth be told I’m actually pretty mediocre when it comes to magic, but I have a specialty for emotion based magic.” Clarity gestured at her cutie mark, a sapphire outline of a heart. “Must run in the family,” Applejack commented. “Not exactly, while Cadance is centred around creating love, I have more variety.” Rainbow Dash who had joined them during the conversation, picked up on the subtle smugness in Clarity’s voice, she was an expert in being smug after all. “Excuse me ladies,” a voice spoke behind them. They turned to see the stallion who had addressed Cadance when they first arrived at the palace, Pen Pusher was it? “Yes?” Rarity asked politely. “Would you care to come inside and get something to eat?” he asked unsure. It was only then they realised walking around the courtyard aimlessly was probably a peculiar way to pass the time. “That would be mighty appreciated” Applejack said taking the lead. The group followed Pen Pusher into one of the many rooms leading away from the courtyard, still talking among themselves. “So how long are you staying?” Pen Pusher asked over his shoulder, interrupting their latest conversation about the Crystal Empire. “We’re not rightly sure,” Applejack replied glancing around at the others for confirmation, “we only need to be here for this summit, after that we were just lookin’ to get a break.” “Maybe if you find yourselves with some free time, we can have ourselves a little fun?” Pen Pusher suggested, a smile creeping into his voice. The six ponies and dragon stopped dead in their tracks. Pen Pusher turned to face them, his eyes bright yellow and sizes too big. “Did I come on a bit too strong?” an all too familiar voice asked from Pen Pusher’s mouth. With a flash of light leaving the assembled ponies blinking in confusion, the stallion was replaced by the distinctive form of Discord. “Discord!” Fluttershy cried out, speeding in for an embrace, ignoring the groans of frustration from all the others except Clarity, who was just confused by both the sudden reveal and Fluttershy’s sudden change in demeanour. “What? Aren’t you happy to see me?” Discord addressed the others in a mock hurt voice. “Well as long as you don’t play any of your mean pranks, then we’ll get along like ice cream and apple pie, okie dokie lokie?” Pinkie said bouncing up to meet his eye. “You can’t be serious Pinkie,” Discord replied, sounding genuinely surprised, “I thought you liked a good prank.” Pinkie Pie held her glare, before breaking into a wide grin and giving Discord a wink. “Bazinga,” she exclaimed, “course I do, good to see you again Disco.” Discord raised an eyebrow at this latest nickname, before giving a good natured smile. “And that Pinkie, is why you’re my favourite,” he said before seeming to remember something, “next to Fluttershy of course.” “Oh that’s alright Discord,” Fluttershy insisted still fluttering next to him, “I know you and Pinkie have so much more in common.” “What about the rest of you? Aren’t you going to give your favourite god of chaos a hug?” “Ah’m not gonna credit that with a response,” Applejack said in a deadpan tone. “Yeah, ignoring the fact the last time we met, you poured hot gravy on my… lap,” Rainbow said sourly flying up to join Fluttershy and Pinkie who was somehow still hanging in the air, “what have you been up to Dipcord?” “At least that nickname has a finer ring to it,” Discord scoffed, “I’ll have you know it’s Lord Dipcord now, whatever grand purpose Celestia had planned following my reformation, she has so far omitted to put into action, so instead she’s had me running royal errands like her personal steward.” “Well if you don’t enjoy it, we can always give you a nice long vacation in the sculpture gardens,” Rarity said icily. “Oh, somepony get me some Aloe Vera, I just got burned,” Discord said as small fires broke out over his body, extinguishing almost immediately. “Anyway, I’d stay and chat, or continue this game of insult ping pong, but believe it or not I actually have responsibilities which require my attention. “Oh that’s alright, we’ll catch up later,” Fluttershy said, receiving a small smile from the draconequus’s lips. “The kitchens are just down this way,” he said gesturing down the corridor he led them into, “help yourselves, however now, I bid you adieu.” With a small bow a puff of smoke he vanished from sight. The group began walking in the direction indicated by Discord in silence, only broken by Clarity. “Does somepony want to fill me in?” “Let’s get some food first,” Spike said, speaking for the first time since they’d arrived at the castle, “it’s a long story.” What none of them saw as they entered through the kitchen doors, was Discord rematerialize in the exact spot he had apparently disappeared from, and the grimace he wore on his face. ~ “Get your flanks in gear!” the voice bellowed across the courtyard. Its recipients were not pleased to be receiving less than motivating comments from their ex-captain of the guard, Shining Armour. “Apologies sir,” one soldier said through gritted teeth, “but what exactly did your sister’s friends pack?” “For the love of…” Shining muttered to himself, traipsing down the stone steps to the three breathless guards. “Do you three mean to tell me, that after years of rigorous training, you’re struggling to carry a filly’s travel luggage?” he asked rhetorically. “You’re welcome to show off your strength sir,” one spat back. Shining had to bit back his retort; these soldiers wouldn’t have dared talk back to him when he was still their commanding officer. “Fine, since you’re clearly struggling so much,” he said pushing one of the guards aside and leaning down to grip the suitcase handle in his mouth. Holy Celestia that is heavy! After lifting the bag an inch off the ground, Shining Armour let it fall, swearing profusely. After an embarrassing moment of silence he looked up to see the self-satisfied smirks of the three guards he had only moments before chastised for doing the exact same thing, he was never going to hear the end of this. “Get those bags open,” he ordered, “there is no way they should be so heavy.” It seemed the guards were just as eager to find out the contents as he was because they didn’t argue, just dove right in. one, two, three bags were pulled open, and out leapt one, two, three fillies. “Are we in?” the yellow earth pony asked scanning around before gulping when she saw they were surrounded by guards. “Does this look like the castle to you?” the orange Pegasus snapped back, unperturbed by their current predicament. “At the very least did we get our infiltration cutie marks?” the white unicorn asked, at once all three fillies twisted their bodies and stared at their still blank flanks before slumping dejectedly. “Ah reckon it woulda’ worked, if Twilight’s brother hadn’t caught us.” At that the three guards ceased to stare in confusion at the fillies and instead directed their attention to Shining Armour, who was resisting the urge to face hoof. “Do you know these fillies sir?” one asked, Shining nodded. “Unfortunately,” he admitted, “I’ll take them from here, you go on and get the rest of the bags.” It wasn’t a matter for discussion and the guards knew it, they marched away whispering among themselves. “Girls,” Shining began. “Maybe we should just go back to the drawing board,” Sweetie Belle suggested. “Girls,” Shining repeated. “But we already tried to get artist cutie marks,” Scootaloo retorted. “Girls,” he tried one more time, feeling thoroughly frustrated by this point. “That’s not what she meant yah dodo,” Applebloom snapped back. “Girls!” All three heads snapped around as Shining Armour finally lost his temper. “Forgetting the fact it’s an offence to sneak inside the royal palace, can I ask what you three trouble makers are doing here?” “We wanted to tag along with our sisters but they wouldn’t let us,” Applebloom replied, as if this was perfect justification. “You won’t tell them will you?” Sweetie Belle begged, but she knew he wasn’t the type to let up. “I’m sorry girls,” he said, though he wasn’t, “maybe you can get your cutie marks in seeking forgiveness from your sisters.” “Fat chance,” Scootaloo said, “do you know how many times we’ve tried that one.” “I can guess,” he replied sternly, “now come on, you don’t want to be caught trespassing on today of all days.” “Why what’s going on today of all days?” Sweetie Belle asked as he began leading them away. “You don’t know?” he asked surprised, “today is the annual royal summit, the longest day of the year, the day all princesses are in Canterlot at once.” “All the princesses?” Applebloom questioned. “There’s more than…” Sweetie Belle thought for a moment, “three?” “Four Sweetie, Twi remember,” Applebloom reminded her. Shining Armour smiled, “more than four, you bet there are.” ~ The assembly hall was a sight to behold, like all rooms of the castle, it had a high vaulted ceiling, and white marble pillars lined the wall. The room was circular, what had Ms Peachbottom called it, a rotunda? And now Twilight stood with Celestia and Luna on a platform jutting from the wall. The highest platform in fact, all around the room there were ten more platforms lining the wall, each in descending height. The room was empty besides the three of them, but Celestia and Luna stood as if they were addressing a crowd of thousands. Twilight didn’t have long to ponder this however as Celestia spoke up, addressing the empty room. “I Celestia, Princess of the sun and head of the Triumvirate of Equestria call this, the Royal Summit of 1313 to order.” Twilight glanced at Luna whose eyes were fixed forward and quickly did the same. “Step fourth, Cadance, princess of love and ruler of the Crystal Empire.” As she spoke, the door to the first platform, situated right of Twilight’s platform swung open, and Cadance strode forward, holding herself more regally than Twilight had ever seen. “Step fourth,” here we go, Twilight thought as Celestia began to introduce the next princess, “Luonto, Princess of nature and ruler of Gallopolli.” The doors to the platform right of Cadance, and in strode the most stunning sight Twilight had ever seen. The Alicorn that glide forward bore a strong resemblance to Celestia, except that the few parts of her coat that were visible to Twilight were various shades of green, those parts she could not see were due to her being heavily adorned with all manners of plant life, ivy, flowers, fungi. Her hair appeared to be formed from clusters of leaves, varying from spring green closer to her body, all the way to autumn shades further out. To top off the image she was surrounded in various small birds and insects taking pleasure from her peculiar method of dress. She seemed to be the visage of life itself. Twilight realised she was staring and quickly switched her gaze to the next platform as Celestia began to introduce the next princess. “Step fourth, Somnium, princess of dreams and ruler of the Dream Cluster.” again the doors opened but this time the figure fluttered in on delicate wings, only her polite smile visible through the purple mane that was draped over her face, littered with twinkling star like lights. Twilight was immediately reminded of Fluttershy from her demeanour, a notion that was quickly forgotten about as she took in Somnium’s intriguing coat which looked to be a mesmerizing blend of sandy texture. Somnium’s only attire appeared to be a golden necklace with a pink gem inset in the front. As Somnium stood on her platform Twilight noticed her eyes were closed, had she kept them shut on her way in? Twilight wasn’t sure. “Step fourth, Roma, princess of order and ruler of Panchea.” the next doors opened and a stone grey alicorn marched out, almost in military fashion, unlike those who had come before her, she spared no expense in dressing for the occasion, but rather than wearing something regal she was suited up in full silver armour with bronze trimmings, with a helmet to top off the military appearance. “Step fourth, Mare Equus, princess of water and ruler of Aquestria.” Twilight stifled a giggle at the pun as the next princess stepped out onto her platform. Her coat was a deep blue and like Roma she was wearing a little armour, although hers looked far more decorative, adorned with sapphires as well as the tiara sitting atop her head. It was however her physical appearance that took Twilight most by surprised. Unlike the regular horn type all other princesses in the room were sporting, hers was coiled, resembling a sea shell. Her mane, like Celestia’s seemed to reflect her element and consisted of a spout of bubbles. Her wings reminded Twilight at first of insect wings, but their orange colour gave them away as fins. Lastly what Twilight original thought was a regular coat, consisted of bright blue fish scales, plastered in various sea life in some areas. “Step fourth, Ignis, princess of fire and ruler of the Badlands.” The doors opened to reveal a figure Twilight had already seen briefly, one that appeared far more awesome up close. The blood red coat was clear, as was her billowing tail, mane and wings of flame. She was lightly accessorised with some gold features which didn’t suit her. Finally Twilight noticed her eyes, the only part of her she hadn’t been able to pick up from her initial view from the train. They didn’t seem to be eyes at all, rather deep, raging infernos. “Step forward, Caelum, princess of the sky and ruler of Whinnypeg.” To say the figure walked in would have been an understatement, sauntered was a more appropriate term. Twilight didn’t want to immediately think of Rainbow Dash when she saw this princess, but the pale blue coat and the fact she was constantly flexing her wings wasn’t helping. Now that Twilight looked closer, she saw her coat appeared to be moving, Twilight let out a little gasp when she realised there were wispy clouds moving across her sky blue body, even her deep blue hair had little shocks of lightning passing through it. Other than that she seemed to be wearing a golden wreath of laurels, a long white scarf flowing out behind her and winged boots of all things. “Step forward, Clover,” Wait, Clover? “Princess of time and ruler of Damarescus.” Twilight’s jaw dropped open as the next figure ambled in, slower than the rest. The historical records told of her yellowish green coat and dark purple mane, which was hard to identify when her head was shrouded by a leather hood and parts of her admittedly purple tail were streaked with grey. And her coat was indeed a light green, but some parts looked old… fossilised? The princess of time… am I really looking at ‘the’ Clover the Clever? “Step forward, Vegnum, princess of technology and ruler of Metropolis.” “Princess of what now?” Twilight asked before she could stop herself, earning her a glare from Celestia. What stepped through the doors to the second last platform was like nothing Twilight had ever seen. Her brown wings were folded tightly to her sides, as if she didn’t want them to be seen, aided by the fact they were barely visible behind two barrel looking objects strapped to her sides, this would have seemed odd, but taking the rest of her into account, it seemed positively cliché. Her hooves clopped across the platform louder than normal hooves would. This was because they were each dressed in… armoured gauntlets? Certainly no armour Twilight had ever seen before. Oh but it gets weirder, Twilight noticed she couldn’t see either her mane or tail, and why? Because where the top half of her skull and rump should be, were instead replaced by metal domes, bolted into place! Her eyes were completely hidden from view by a pair of thick brass goggles. And to just hammer home how weird this princess was, strapped to her back was some kind of device spouting four metallic tentacles, each tipped with a large claw made up of four twitching appendages. “Now I’ve seen everything,” Twilight whispered to herself. “And lastly,” Celestia said causing Twilight to hold her breath again; ten platforms were now occupied; only the one to the left of their platform remained empty. “Step forward, Inen, princess of death.” The temperature in the room seemed to drop like an anvil as the last doors opened. Twilight felt her breath stick in her throat as the last figure stepped into the room. There was little of the actual alicorn for Twilight to make out, as about ninety nine percent was shrouded in a rippling black cloak, frayed and shredded around the edges. The only part Twilight could see was the long horn, and the white muzzle, not the soft warm white that was Celestia, but a cold, empty white. The princess of death… or death itself? “Now we are all present,” Celestia said dragging Twilight away from her thoughts, “let us begin.” ~ Feather Duster was sprinting as fast as he could, he loathed now more than ever how these caverns sapped his natural Pegasus magic, this was an emergency. He knew he was about to do something that’s never been done before, not in the entire history of Equestria, nopony dared to interrupt the royal summit, the shear notion would be worthy of execution. But Feather Duster couldn’t let that stop him, something terrible had just happened, and Celestia had to know. If it was left any longer, it may be too late. ~ “Don’t interrupt me when ah’m tellin’ you off little missy,” Applejack commanded, Applebloom hung her head in disappointment. They three fillies were now in one of the many dining rooms of the castle, where Shining Armour had found their sisters and the rest of Twilight’s friends. Said stallion was now talking with Clarity, whom it turned out he knew quite well being her brother in law and all that. “We are most displeased with you three,” Rarity chipped, aiming her words particularly at Sweetie Belle. “You can believe there’s gonna be hay to pay when we get back ta the farm,” Applejack threatened; again the three fillies opened their mouths to argue but were interrupted by Rainbow Dash of all ponies. “Give ‘em a break AJ,” she said earning her a side long glare from the farm pony, “you too Rare, give the kids some credit for sneaking into the castle of all places.” Scootaloo beamed up at her idle who gave her an encouraging wink. “We are not gonna encourage this kinda behaviour Dash,” Applejack retorted, “and if you really plan to be an older sister to that little filly you’re gonna have to start takin’ some responsibility.” “Forget that,” Dash said fluttering over to the fillies side, “besides, they’re here now, might as well let them get some grub.” “Thanks Rainbow Dash, you’re the best,” Scootaloo said staring up at the older Pegasus in awe before running off to the table to grab some food. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle stared after her but remaining rooted to the spot. “Ugh, fine,” Applejack relented, “you run on Applebloom, but rest assured we’ll be speakin’ about this later yah hear.” “You too Sweetie Belle,” Rarity conceded as Applebloom ran off gleefully. When all three fillies sat together at the table and were busy interrogating Clarity about her cutie mark, the two older sisters turned their glares on Rainbow Dash. “What?” she said defensively. “Are you serious about takin’ that girl under your wing RD?” Applejack whispered. “Course I am, Scootaloo’s a cool girl,” Dash replied with conviction. “Then it’s about time you learned to look out for her best interests,” Rarity snapped, “You owe her the role model she desperately needs." Rainbow opened her mouth but found she had no words to retort with. Grunting dismissively she flew over to Pinkie Pie who was in the middle of setting up some kind of complicated breakfast eating contraption. ~ “I think you’re missing the point of our current relationship with the Griffin empire,” Twilight insisted, barely even aware that she was outright arguing with the very princess of said kingdom, “we don’t want to assert our dominance over them, we have to show that we’re ready to accept them as equals, if we don’t were doomed to have a repeat of the great Griffin War of 668.” Celestia smiled proudly at Twilight, she was taking to her new position with extreme comfort, her vast collection of knowledge and skills at debating aiding her greatly. One or two of the other princess nodded sagely in response to her words, but Caelum just looked more irritated at her comeback. “what you’re forgetting is that these are Griffins we’re talking about,” she snapped back, clearly not a fan of having her views debated against, “they respect actions of intimation, I obviously don’t believe ponies have higher status than Griffins, but if we’re to maintain our standing with them we need to prove to them we’re just as strong a race as they are. Of course I wouldn’t expect someone like you to understand that.” “Caelum don’t be mean,” Somnium said gently, “she has a good point, it may be time for a different direction.” Caelum just sighed in frustration, but Somnium wasn’t done, she then turned to Twilight. “While I agree with your suggestions, you should keep in mind that Caelum has been living among the Griffins for over six hundred years, she does have expertise we don’t.” Twilight felt a pang of guilt, “you’re right, I’m sorry Caelum, I didn’t mean to undermine you.” Caelum tried to hide her embarrassed smirk. “No worries newbie,” she said merely offering a glance up at Twilight, “I’ll look into what you proposed, but I can’t promise anything.” “Excellent,” Celestia said, delighted the situation hadn’t escalated, “next order of business, Mare Equus, you are proposing an extension of your kingdom.” “Not an extension per say,” the water princess corrected, “think of it more like, colonising the sea. It’s just difficult to maintain rule over the whole ocean from a single location.” “Was this issue not brought up at the turn of the century?” Luonto asked. “Yes,” Mare Equus admitted, “but at the time it was rejected due to a lack of unicorns trained in water based magic. But over the years our academy has produced times the amount of specialists and I believe now we have the necessary components to proceed.” A collection of documents were held in a liquid aura and floated across the room for Celestia to inspect. “This is certainly an improvement,” she agreed, “I would have no objections.” In her own gold aura she passed the papers over to Luna who briefly scanned them. “I concur,” she said simply passing the notes to Twilight. Twilight held them in front of her in her own purple field of magic, she was unsure how the princesses had taken in everything after a mere glance, there was so many statistics presented, Twilight would need an entire day to fully analyse the contents. However before she could point this out, another set of doors leading to the room burst open. These ones opened onto the ground level and in sped a Pegasus in royal guard attire. All around the room there was an appalled collection of gasps; Twilight wondered how a messenger could cause such a reaction from a room of centuries old deities. “What is the meaning of this intrusion?” Luna demanded, fighting the urge to call upon the royal Canterlot voice. “A thousand apologies your graces,” the Pegasus said hurriedly, bowing as low as he could, “but something terrible has happened and it requires your immediate attention.” This last comment was directed at Celestia, a look a worry was creeping into her face. “Rise,” she commanded, her voice remaining neutral, “what has occurred.” “The vault has been broken into,” the guard cried, a look of sheer terror on his face. “The tower vault, an inconvenience certainly but by no means would it warrant interrupting the royal summit.” “N-no you grace,” he stammered, “not the tower vault… the deep vault.” The effect those words had on Celestia sent a shiver up Twilight’s spine. Never before had she seen the princess look so terrified, and she didn’t want to see it, because it could only mean something truly awful. “No it can’t be, tell me it has not been taken,” Celestia asked in a panicked voice. “I’m afraid so,” the guard confirmed miserably. These words had yet another profound effect on the gathered princess, primarily shock and indignation. “Impossible!” Clover exclaimed. “What fool would dare steal such an item with all the princesses gathered in the one place?” Roma asked incredulously. “Celestia, what are your orders?” Ignis asked, seeming to forget that they were all on equal status as Celestia. Celestia’s head swept across the room, “I apologies for the interruption but something catastrophic has just occurred, I must ask that you all retire to quarters, I fear whatever has come to pass may require all our efforts.” “What!” exclaimed a voice; Twilight was surprised to see it was Somnium of all the ponies gathered. “But Celestia, our lands need us; we can’t stay any longer than necessary!” “I’m sorry Somnium,” Celestia said, looking genuinely apologetic, “but this is too important, your citizens will have to hold out for a little longer without you.” Somnium nodded sadly before turning to leave, the other princesses began following suit as Celestia turned to Twilight and Luna. “There is no time to lose,” she said simply before darting from the room, her wings spread to give her a speed boost. Luna followed instantly, leaving only Twilight to stand blinking in confusion at everything that had just occurred. “TWILIGHT!” Luna bellowed down the corridor shaking her out of her thoughts. Spreading her own wings she sped after the other two. ~ “No, no, no, no, this can’t be happening,” Celestia was pacing back and forth. Twilight had never even heard of the deep vault let alone been there before, but she recognised the route to get there only too well, having been imprisoned in it by a changeling impersonating her foal sitter. The vault itself seemed to be crafted from the igneous rock of the Canterlot Mountain itself, a divine structure built with magic properties in mind, Twilight could feel the immense number of protection spells this place was imbued with, and she wondered what it could all have been made to protect. “Sister, we cannot afford to panic now!” Luna chastised storming up to the panicking Celestia, Twilight was afraid she was going to slap her but she refrained. “We need a plan of action right now!” “Of course, thank you Luna,” Celestia said, embarrassed with herself, Twilight couldn’t help but notice the similarities Celestia had displayed to herself. “Celestia, what exactly was stolen?” she asked, earning a surprised look from both the sisters. “The key,” they almost breathed. “A key?” Twilight repeated. “No, not ‘a’ key, ‘the’ key,” Luna corrected. “The Aether Key,” Celestia added in a hushed tone. “The Aether?” “Twilight, do you ever wonder where magic comes from?” Celestia asked, her voice returning to a copy of its old tone. “Magic is all around us surely,” Twilight countered, it was what Celestia had always taught her. “Yes, and no,” Celestia admitted. “You see Twilight,” Luna chipped in, “the world we live in, everything you know is all part of the physical world, but there is another realm, one of pure magic that exists in tandem with this one.” “Magic is technically all around us as the two worlds are interwoven,” Celestia continued, “We use magic by drawing on it from this other world using our horns. This world is known as the Aether.” “And this key, opens a door to the Aether?” Twilight hypothesised. “Not exactly,” Luna said, “you see, while our worlds remain constantly close to one another, they are separated by a veil, one that keeps all physical matter on one side, and most magical energy on the other.” “But there are some areas where this veil is thinner than normal,” Celestia said, “we think of these areas as gates, the key has only one use, and that is to tear the veil open at these areas.” “And what happens if the veil is torn apart?” Twilight asked, although she already knew the answer. “There will be nothing to stop all that infinite magic from pouring into this world,” Celestia replied, “and just like if you channel too much magical energy, there won’t be a physical thing that would survive the exposure.” “But who would steal something that could do that? Who could steal that?” Twilight asked, the panic entering her voice too now. “Alas, that is the worst part dear Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said sadly. “This vault was created with an extreme amount of protection; no doubt you can feel a small fraction of it.” Twilight nodded in response to Celestia, “it is, literally, impossible for any being to break into this vault… however every rule has an exception, and in this case there are only thirteen exceptions in all of existence, and they are all gathered in this castle.” “You don’t mean…” Twilight began, the sisters nodded. “One of the princesses stole the Aether Key. One of the princesses is a traitor.” ~ “Um, Shining,” Applejack began as they strode swiftly down the corridor, “do you maybe wanna fill us in on what the heck’s goin on, just telling us there’s an emergency isn’t much to go on.” “Yeah, I mean we’re the elements of harmony,” Rainbow Dash concurred flying up next to them, “we kind of make a business of dealing with disasters.” “I would tell you but even I don’t know the full story,” he admitted, still remaining focused on their destination, “but when Celestia sounds scared you know it’s no trifling matter.” With the three ponies in the lead, Rarity, Fluttershy, Clarity, Pinkie Pie and Spike followed a few feet behind, occasionally sharing worried looks. “Cheer up everypony,” Pinkie said in her usual chipper voice, “I bet they’re just preparing a surprise ‘just kidding you can actually meet the princesses’ party.” “Now that you mention that,” Shining began as the doors to the assembly hall came into view, “a number of the princesses were supposed to leave immediately after the summit, but they had their transport cancelled.” “And that’s a bad thing ah take it?” Applejack enquired. “I don’t know what it means,” Shining admitted as they passed through the double doors. The ponies took a moment to admire the tall, circular room with its numerous platforms lining the wall before turning their attention to the group gathered in the middle of the room. “Thank you for coming so promptly,” Celestia said as they reached the group, “there’s no time to lose.” “Long story short, a high security vault was broken into and perhaps the most destructive artefact in all of Equestria, neigh, the whole world has been stolen.” The ponies began to ask a series of questions but were immediately cut off by Luna who wasn’t done talking. “To top it off, the only individuals capable of committing this crime are the princesses themselves.” “Our investigation, although rushed has confirmed that the vault was broken into shortly before the summit began,” Celestia continued, “I was with Luna the entire morning, so we can vouch for one another, and of course Cadance was out of the castle to greet Twilight who hadn’t yet arrived. Hence we can rule us out as suspects.” That explained why they were the only four gathered when they arrived, but then where were the others? “We have asked the other princesses remain in their quarters until further notice, this is where you all come in.” The group all stared at Celestia, unsure if they liked where this conversation was going. “Excuse me princess,” Fluttershy began, “but if somepony- I mean, some princess really did steal this, uh…” “Key.” “Key, then why would they admit it to us?” “Unfortunately they probably won’t,” Celestia admitted, “we’re clutching at straws here I know, but anyone who could have carried out this act will clearly be prepared for every inevitability. This is crude and desperate, but at the moment it’s all we’ve got.” “So you want us to interrogate princesses on whether they stole a key of mass destruction?” Rainbow summed up, with a hesitant nod of confirmation from Celestia and Luna, she swooped into the air, clearly ecstatic at the prospect. “Sweet, consider it done.” With that she zoomed out from the room, leaving the rest to sigh frustrated in her wake. “No time like the present to carry out an insane plan that's doomed to fail,” Spike muttered as one by one they left the room. “Celestia, is there really no better way?” Cadance asked, being the last in the room with her husband and the sisters. “I’m afraid not,” she replied shaking her head, “our only hope is to lure her out into the open, and I can think of few other ponies more qualified to cause the necessary ruckus.” As the final occupants of the room departed, three fillies tumbled out of their hiding spot behind one of the marble pillars. “Did y’all hear that?” Applebloom asked, “one of them princesses is a no good thief.” “They said those four are innocent, but that leaves nine suspects,” Sweetie Belle pointed out, “can they handle that many?” They sat in silence for a moment before a unanimous light bulb seemed to light up over all their heads. “Are you girls thinking what I’m thinking?” Scootaloo asked with a wide grin. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER PRINCESS INTEROGATORS! YAY!!!” ~ “That sounds pretty bad,” Spike had said as Twilight began to explain the entire situation to him. “That sounds really bad,” he had said as she continued to explain. “That sounds terrible,” he said as they arrived at their own room and Twilight had finished telling him her account of the situation. “But who would want to do that, what do you accomplish from destroying everything?” “It doesn’t make any sense to me either Spike,” Twilight said removing her crown, “I can only assume they plan to use it as a fear weapon.” Using her magic she lifted the gem encrusted box from her pack and placed it on the table. “And you think the elements will help?” “Actually I don’t, not without knowing what we’re up against,” Twilight informed him, “but if someone is stealing powerful artefacts they might have their eye on these, and I don’t want my friends in the line of fire.” Placing the crown inside along with the other elements, she resealed it and began casting as many protection spells as she knew, although she was aware that this thief had broken through every protection ever developed in order to steal the key, making this effort rather fruitless. “If Tartarus really breaks loose,” she said sliding the box under her bed, “I want you to come straight here and get these.” “You can count on me,” he said giving a small salute before clambering onto her back at her invite, “so where to now?” “We have to speak to the princesses,” Twilight said as they left the room at a swift but not undignified pace, “and I know who I want to start with.” “You have a suspect?” “No, I have nothing to base any suspicion on, I just want to talk to her,” Twilight responded as she weaved through the corridors. She knew the castle well, and she knew where all the most dignified suites were situated, and being the studious princess she was, she had taken note of the directions the other princesses had taken as they left. Arriving at her destination she could only pray she was right in her deductions. She raised a hoof and knocked confidently. “Enter,” a neutral voice called out. Twilight opened the door with her magic and stepped forward, her eyes sweeping the room. She found her quarry sitting at a writing desk, a large tome lying open in front of her. She didn’t look up as she greeted them. “Greetings Twilight Sparkle,” she said, her voice retaining its neutrality, “and same to your companion.” “Sorry for disturbing you Clover,” Twilight said giving a polite bow, “but I was hoping you had time to talk.” “We’re alicorns, we have vast amounts of time to spare,” she said finally turning around in her seat. Twilight could still not see her eyes, which remained cast in shadow by the peak of her hood. “I wanted to offer my congratulations on what was a most impressive display of knowledge and speech craft at the summit today, especially from one so new to their position.” “Thank you,” Twilight said, genuinely surprised by the compliment. Clover had barely spoke during the summit and it had been cut short before she could put forward any of her own points. “No doubt you’re here investigating the break in,” she said leaning back and placing the tips of her fourhooves together thoughtfully. “Yes I am,” Twilight said without thinking. She mentally kicked herself as Clover smiled. “Don’t worry Twilight,” she assured her, “Celestia is no fool and neither are you, we all know only a princess could have broken into that vault, and now you have to suspect all of us.” “Do you deny it?” Twilight asked, it was a weak move but she felt powerless against Clover. “I do,” she said simply, “I cannot give you a sufficient alibi as I was here alone reading, there is nopony who can vouch for my innocence.” “So you want me to take your word for it?” Twilight enquired. “Not at all, you would be naïve to do so,” she responded, “I have no evidence of my innocence and you have nothing to condemn me with, so we are at stalemate.” Twilight stood in dumbfounded silence, she didn’t know what she was expecting when she came here, she didn’t have a clue what kind of ponies these princesses would turn out to be, but as she stood facing Clover she felt something she knew all too well from time spent with Celestia, respect. “Clover?” Spike pondered suddenly, pulling Twilight from her thoughts, “where do I know that name from?” Clover’s smiled disappeared so quickly it was as if it was never there. She turned away and began pretending to read her book as she spoke again. “yes, I am that Clover,” she admitted, Twilight’s eyes widened to the sizes of dinner plates, “no doubt you have a plethora of questions, but please, ask someone else, I beseech thee.” Twilight shut her mouth as Clover’s words sunk in, they only raised further questions, but she would obey her wishes. Raising her horn she sent out a quick blast of magic drawing Clover’s attention. If the key was here it would surely be emanating a powerful aura, but Twilight felt nothing. “Thank you for your time,” she said as she turned on the spot and left Clover to her reading. ~ Roma was pacing back and forth in her quarters as Rarity and Fluttershy asked to come in. They both gave low respectful bows before starting to talk. “Forgive us for our intrusion, but no doubt you aware of the situation,” Roma nodded in response so Rarity continued, “well we were just hoping you could confirm your whereabouts between this morning and your appearance at the royal summit.” “Of course,” Fluttershy and Rarity looked at each other in surprise, “it’s quite alright, Celestia is right to be wary. I awoke early this morning, at around seven; this can be confirmed by one of the servants who delivered me breakfast at my request. An hour later I departed from my room and spent the morning over at the barracks, inspecting the troops’ morning drills; there are multiple witnesses who will be able to support me on this. I was there until an hour before the summit at which point I attended lunch with Luonto in the royal dining room.” “Um… well that seems pretty thorough,” Rarity said, she wasn’t expecting it to be so easy, “thank you for your time.” “Thank you for your efforts,” she responded, “you are the elements of generosity and kindness, if my sources are to be believed.” “Oh, yes we are,” Rarity confirmed. “Then it is an honour to make your acquaintances,” Roma said offering a small bow of her own causing both mares to blush heavily. “This who situation is rotten,” Roma continued looking back up at them, “the fool responsible for this is either insane or has no idea what they’ve unleashed. I fear we will need all our efforts if we are to see Equestria through this.” “Well with princesses like you and Twilight, I think we stand a pretty good chance,” Fluttershy commented. “Of course, Twilight is your friend,” Roma added, “when you see her, gave her my regards, and tell her I was impressed with how she challenged Caelum, that show off needed someone to put her in her place.” Roma gave a small laugh at that last comment, which Rarity and Fluttershy joined in good naturedly. After that they said their farewells and left Roma to her pacing. As they were out in the corridor Fluttershy looked to Rarity. “That went better than I expected.” “Yes, this whole situation might not turn out as bad as I thought,” Rarity had said just as a crashing could be heard from the floor above them. “I just had to open my mouth.” ~ Clarity knocked hesitantly at the door, shifting her weight nervously from left to right. She spent one morning with Twilight Sparkle’s friends and now she was being drafted into recovering an ancient artefact of apocalyptic properties. This is my chance, she thought as a voice called her through, to repay the debt. “Welcome my little pony, can I help you?” the water princess asked from her bed where she lay curled up as the door swung open. “Um, yes,” Clarity began with a low bow, “I’m sorry for the intrusion but I’ve been asked to inves…” “You are Cadance’s sister, are you not?” the princess interrupted causing Clarity to look up in surprise. “Your highness? I mean yes, yes I am,” she confirmed. “She’s a nice girl,” the princess replied nodding approvingly, “I suppose I ought to treat you with some status then, Mare Equus, at your service.” “Uh, Clarity your highness, but really I just need to ask you…” again she was cut off. “So how is life in the Crystal Empire treating you?” “Pardon? It’s uh, nice I suppose,” she replied, why was she changing the subject? “I’ve always wanted to pay it a visit ever since its return,” she said looking out the window thoughtfully, “I was never around before it disappeared you see. Unfortunately duties in Aquestria have kept me busy.” “That is unfortunate, I’m sure you’d love it,” Clarity confirmed before steering the conversation back on track, “now I just wanted to ask you…” “Do you swim?” Mare Equus interrupted once again. “Do I what? What does that have to do with anything?” Clarity demanded before remembering who she was addressing, “I mean, yes, on occasion.” “It is my favourite pass time,” she replied wistfully flapping her fins, “however like a Pegasus who spends all her time in the sky, you often lose your appreciation for it.” “That, um,” Clarity didn’t know what it was, she was trying to remember what she came here for. “But I digress,” Mare Equus said turning to face Clarity once more, “thank you for dropping in, I hope we shall see each other again very soon.” And with a smile she opened the door with her telekinetic grasp, inviting Clarity to take her leave. Confused, she obeyed. It was only when she stood outside and the door slammed behind her that she spoke. “What just happened?” she then sighed remembering her job, “some use I was.” With that she dragged herself back down the corridor, hoping she wasn’t the only one who had found out nothing. ~ Ignis stomped back and forth, muttering curses to anyone and anything that would dare commit the crime in question. Her mane had become a churning wave of hellfire; she had to cast a protection spell on the room to avoid setting the whole place ablaze. Taking a moment to calm herself down and gather her thoughts she let her mane die down a little, it would do no good to lose her temper like this, she needed clear thoughts if she was going to be any use to Celestia. “Get your hoof outta my face!” a muffled voice shouted. Ignis’s head spun around to the wardrobe at the end of the room where she was sure she heard the voice. Taking a few determined steps forward she reached out with her magic and grabbed the wardrobe. She could have easily opened it gently, but she wasn’t in the mood. The door of the wardrobe ripped itself from the hinges turning to ash in Ignis’s grip, causing three fillies to tumble out. “What the…” she began looking down at the unlikely intruders. “Uh-oh,” they all said simultaneously. “I told you we should have just knocked,” the orange one spat at the other two. “It seemed like a good idea at the time,” the yellow one snapped back. “It seemed like a good idea to break into a princess’s bedroom?” the white one asked incredulously. “Girls, may I ask what you are doing here?” Ignis said in as polite a voice as she could muster. All three fillies looked up at her, then once at each other, seeming to come to a unanimous decision. “Good day your majesty,” the white one said as they all leapt to their hooves, “we were hoping we could ask you a few questions.” “Questions?” Ignis repeated, had she taken cider with her lunch without knowing it? “Don’t you worry none,” the yellow one chipped, “you ain’t in any trouble.” “But you will be if you don’t give us information,” the orange one joined in, assuming a hard tone. “Uh…” “We know you just wanna do what’s right,” the yellow one consoled. “We know you did it, fess up!” the orange one commanded. “What in the hay are you doin Scoots?” the yellow one demanded. “Playing bad cop, is that not what we rehearsed?” she replied. “Yeah but you don’t order a princess around,” the white one stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world, which it kind of was. “Girls,” Ignis repeated catching their attention, “what exactly are you doing in my room?” “Did you steal the key?” they all demanded at once. Ignis stared horrified at the three fillies before her. “Did I…” she repeated, her eyes wide and appalled, “Celestia, suspects me?” The fillies immediately picked up something was wrong which was only confirmed when Ignis began hyperventilating and pacing circles around the room. “No, this can’t be,” she said, more to herself, “she trusts me; I’m loyal to her and her alone.” “Ah think we made a mistake girls,” the yellow one said to the others, they all nodded in agreement. “Look your highness, we didn’t mean to make out you were a thief.” “Yeah we were just being safe,” the white one agreed apologetically. “Ah’m sure Celestia trusts you,” the yellow one continued, “but she can’t take any risks, that all.” Ignis sighed as she collapsed onto her bed. “I pray you’re right,” she said looking over at the shameful looking fillies, “I’m sorry about my reaction, but it’s good to see three so young taking on such a responsibility.” “Thank you your majesty,” they said in unison. “Please call me Ignis, I care not for titles,” she said waving a hoof dismissively, “come now, tell me your names.” “Ah’m Applebloom, and this is Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.” “A pleasure,” Ignis replied gesturing for them to come closer, “so Celestia thinks one of the princesses is responsible… of course, foolish of me not to see it sooner.” “Do you know who did it?” Scootaloo asked. “Unfortunately I don’t,” Ignis admitted, “I know no reason why any of my fellows would steal it, there is no motive I can see any of them having.” “Oh,” Sweetie Belle said dejectedly, “but they will catch the thief won’t they?” “I have faith in Celestia, you should as well,” Ignis said reassuringly. “You seem to really like Celestia,” Scootaloo said in admiration. “Why of course, I have served her my whole life,” Ignis said proudly, “Were it not for her, I would not be here today.” “You mean a princess?” Applebloom asked. “Not exactly what I meant…” Suddenly there was a loud knocking on the door followed by a concerned voice. “We heard some noise, is everything alright in there?” “Oh no,” Sweetie Belle said drawing Ignis’s attention. Without hesitating she pulled the door open from her seat on the bed, and there stood a white unicorn flanked by a yellow Pegasus. “Oh your highness, we didn’t mean to disturb, we just…” then she noticed the three fillies, “Sweetie Belle!” “Hey Rarity,” Sweetie Belle murmured, knowing she was in trouble. “What-why-you,” Rarity stammered taking a few hesitant steps into the room. “Please it’s quite alright,” Ignis said, stopping Rarity’s anger before it could take off, “your friends here were just cheering me up, and I must say they are the most delightful and polite fillies I have had the honour of meeting.” Ignis gave a subtle wink to Sweetie Belle who grinned. “I presume this is your sister?” Ignis asked although she could see the family resemblance, “I must commend you on a fine job raising her to be so respectable.” “Oh, why thank you your highness,” Rarity said swaying on the spot, threatening to pass out from elation. “We were just worried because we heard some crashing sounds,” the Pegasus said timidly. “I’m afraid I lost my composure a little with the wardrobe,” Ignis replied, “I apologise for worrying you both.” “We would have gotten here sooner, but we were held up by, dare I say, a rather uncouth princess,” Rarity said with a grimace. “Let me guess,” Ignis said with a deadpan look, “blue, spikey hair, long white scarf?” “Yes,” Fluttershy muttered, almost angrily. “Forgive her,” Ignis said with a sigh, “Caelum is not known for making good first appearances.” With that she clambered to her hooves, casting a gaze over the gathered ponies. “Come, let us see Celestia and offer her our assistances in these, most dire circumstances.” With that she led the way out of the room, the three fillies following closely, the other two mares shrugging to one another, they did have to interrogate the princesses after all. ~ Pinkie Pie bounced down the corridor, she was super excited at the prospect of meeting a new princess, it would be like the time she met Twilight and the time Twilight became a princess rolled into one. She wondered if the new princess would let her throw them a party. She knew she was going in the right direction because her head was jerking, which meant that whatever she was looking for was in the direction of the jerking. She knew she was close as the jerking was becoming more violent. As she hopped down the corridor she came to a screeching halt, with her head jutting out painfully towards one of the many doors along this hallway. Guess this was where one of the princesses was staying. Excitedly she skipped up and gave a musical rap on the door and called out. “Heelllooo, may I come in?” No answer came; instead the door was bathed in a pale glow and swung open of its own accord, issuing an ‘ohhh’ from Pinkie. As the door opened however she knew something was wrong. It was midsummer and so it was a pleasantly warm day, but as the door opened it was as if she had been transported to the frozen north. Shivering she made her slow but still happy way inside. “You could really use a heater in here,” she suggested with her teeth chattering. Then she saw the figure standing in the room, and the chill she felt seeped into the core of her being. She stood tall, perhaps even taller than Celestia, and her entire form was hidden from view by a pitch black cloak that was waving and fluttering as if it had a life of its own or was caught in some powerful gale. “Um, excuse me?” Pinkie said, the cheer draining from her voice. “Hello, Pinkie Pie.” the voice was like a shard of ice going through Pinkie’s heart, it seemed to vibrate in the air, almost as if it were not bound to the being standing before her. “Uhh…” Pinkie began, but before she could get any words out her ears began to flop while at the same time she gave a small sneeze. “Pinkie sense,” the figure spoke slowly, “a most peculiar gift, tell me what does that indicate?” Pinkie gulped before answering, “It means I’ve gotten myself into something I shouldn’t have.” ~ Rainbow Dash sped through the whole castle, smashing into one room after another, any sense of decorum forgotten in her mission. However after about ten minutes, or what seemed like forever to the fastest flyer in Equestria, she hovered over the castle looking down in frustration. “Where is an evil princess when you need one?” she shouted over the towers in anger. As if the universe was answering her, there was an almighty explosion of smoke from the top of one of taller towers. “Bingo,” she said dashing off towards, a glint of victory in her eyes. Swooping down she landed perfectly on the balcony, mentally awarding herself and eleven out of ten. She then waited a moment for the last of the smoke to clear before storming in. “Hooves in the air, we got you now!” she shouted out as the room came into focus, then her jaw hit the floor. What was once apparently a study room, was now filled to the brim with the most complex collection of machines Dash had ever seen. The room was filled with panels and pipes, sputtering and spraying steam. Screens glowed with series of complicated writing and code, pistons pumped and small volts could be heard passing through the whole room. “What the…” Dash began as a voice cried out from the ceiling. “Do you like it? Celestia was kind enough to give me a room to work in while I was here.” Dash looked up slowly; she was forced to shake her head to make sure she wasn’t imagining things. A brown alicorn hung from the ceiling, held in place by four metal claws spewing out of a pack strapped to her back. If this wasn’t strange enough her hooves seemed to be encased in some kind of heavy metal gauntlets, the ends of which were sprung open to reveal yet more claw like appendages. With these she was pulling various levels and conducting random acts of metal work. “What did Pinkie Pie put in those cupcakes?” Dash asked herself still unsure whether any of this was real or not. The alicorn hopped down to ground level, the claws on her back folding in and her gauntlets closing to look like regular hooves. As she fell however, her descent was slowed by two cylindrical objects strapped to her sides giving a short burst a blue flame. “Nice to make your acquaintance, I’m Vegnum, what’s your name?” she spoke in a rushed tone that was all too similar to that of Pinkie Pie. “Uh, Rainbow Dash,” she replied, “Are you a princess?” “Sure am,” she said striking a dramatic pose, “the princess of technology.” “I can see that,” Dash replied dumbstruck staring all around the room. “Would you like the official tour?” she asked almost bursting with excitement. “Maybe another time,” Dash said causing Vegnum to deflate, “I actually just needed to ask you about this key.” “You think I stole it?” Vegnum asked quickly. “No, I mean I don’t know, did you?” Dash stammered. “Of course not silly,” she said grinning again, “why would anyone want to destroy the world, there’s no sense in that.” “I’ve seen crazy villains before who didn’t care for sense,” Dash responded coolly. “You mean Discord,” Vegnum said with a frown, “yes I understand where you’re coming from there, but I assure you even if I wanted to steal the key, I couldn’t have.” “But you’re an alicorn,” Dash argued. “True, but…” Vegnum hesitated, “I’m actually, not great at using magic.” “Seriously?” “I have a very individual medium,” she justified, gesturing all around her, “so now that we’ve clarified my innocence, the tour?” “I guess…” was all Dash managed before a claw grabbed her forehoof and she was pulled forward to the first machine. ~ “Hey Applejack,” a voice called out, causing the farm pony to turn around. “Any luck?” “Oh hey Shining,” she greeted the stallion, “nah no luck, ah can’t even find their rooms.” “No worries, I’ll show you the way.” together the two walked in silence as Shining navigated the castle corridors. “Here we are,” he said at last giving an authoritive rap on one of the doors. No sooner had he done so that a green glow wrapped around it, drawing it open. “Welcome prince Armour, lady Applejack,” the nature princess greeted them before either could utter a word. “Shucks your majesty, I ain’t no lady,” Applejack admitted embarrassed. “None the less, please come take a seat,” she offered summoning two more chairs around the table. Applejack and Shining Armour obeyed and soon they sat in silence with both the princess of nature as well as the princess of dreams. “Tell us,” the latter began, speaking to Shining Armour, “how goes the search, have you turned up anything?” “That’s actually why we’re here princess Somnium,” he confirmed, “We need to ask you where you both were before the summit began, if you don’t mind.” “Not at all,” the nature princess replied calmly, “I believe Roma can inform you that I was attending lunch in the royal dining room.” “I was sleeping,” Somnium chipped in; Applejack noticed that what she could see of her face from behind her purple, star encrusted mane, looked nervous, and why was she keeping her eyes closed? “Are you alright Sugarcube?” she asked, receiving a nervous twitch from Somnium. “Of course I am, why wouldn’t I be?” she replied in a high pitched voice, Applejack didn’t need to be the element of honesty to know she was lying, but before she could press further the other princess laid her hoof on Somnium’s. “It’s alright dear,” she assured her in a soothing voice, “this will be over soon, and you will be able to return home, just stay strong.” Somnium nodded with new resolve, “thank you Luonto, I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Applejack looked at Shining Armour who shared her look of confusion and suspicion. “Don’t worry friends,” Luonto said noticing their looks, “I can assure you of Somnium’s innocence, she always has chamber maids at hoof when she sleeps, they will be able to assure you of this.” Applejack licked her lips, she wanted to know what they had just been talking about, but she recognised a touchy subject to know she would do better not to touch it. “Well, I think that’s all we need from you both then,” Shining Armour said, clearly thinking the same as Applejack, “we’ll go check out your alibis now, thank you for your time.” “Not at all Shining Armour,” Luonto said with a nod, “give my regards to your wife, I didn’t get an opportunity to speak to her today.” “I shall, thank you again,” he said giving a bow which Applejack mimicked before following him from the room. “Is it jus’ me or did that seem mighty suspicious to you?” “It’s not just you,” Shining Armour said grimly, “I think we need to have a word about this with Celestia.” ~ “Never again,” Dash muttered to herself as she traipsed down the hallway, she thought she would never get away from that crazy princess. As she walked she could swear it was getting colder, and was that sobbing she heard? As she approached an open door she peered in to see a terrifying sight. There were legends, stories of the reaper pony, but never had Dash seen anything that could resemble such a creature, but here it was, in this ice cold room. Turning her head she sawing the source of the crying, which made her heart sink. Pinkie Pie lay curled up, her mane and tail completely straight, her usually vibrant coat a much duller hue of pink. “Pinkie!” she screamed rushing forward to embrace to sobbing mare, as she did she looked up at the cloaked figure, “what did you do to her you monster?” “I did nothing,” the voice spoke sending a chill up Dash’s spine and through her wings, “the poor girl couldn’t handle my presence, like so many others.” “I wanna go home Dashie,” Pinkie moaned from where her head was pressed into Dash’s lap. “You should get her away Rainbow Dash,” the voice instructed. “How the hay do you know my name?” Dash demanded. “I believe your friend needs you now,” the being reminded her, Dash grunted, pulling the limp Pinkie onto her back and rushing from the room. “Hang on Pinkie,” Dash assured her as she ran down the hallway, “I’m gonna get you help.” ~ Clarity walked with her head hung low, she couldn’t even keep on track, what use was she ever going to be to Twilight Sparkle? “I hope the others had better luck than I did,” she mumbled to herself, however just then her horn lit up with a stunning blue light. “What now?” Her magic had never acted of its own accord before, not for many years since she learned to control it, but more importantly, what magic was this, she had never felt anything like it before. As the thoughts ran through her mind she felt herself getting dragged along by her horn. “Where are you taking me?” she begged as if it would tell her. Soon she found herself trailed up next to another door, one that at a glance seemed just as ordinary as every other one. “Um, hello,” she said reaching up to knock, but as her hoof made contact with the door it swung open. The room appeared empty, so warily she crept in, not sure why she wasn’t just closing the door and pretending the whole incident had never happened. Her horn had stopped shining but it was beginning to tingle as she made her way across the room to a large wooden chest, pressed against the far wall. As she stepped up, she could feel her horn channelling magical energy, almost as if it were casting a series of spells of its own accord. “Okay,” she muttered to herself as she felt her horn return to normal, unless you counted the ever present tingling sensation. Bracing herself she reached out with her forehooves, griped the lid of the chest and pulled it open. If it had been physically possible her jaw would have hit the floor and kept going, the chest was completely empty, bar one item. A crystalline key, in the simple shape of an ankh, shining with an intense blue light. “I-I found it,” Clarity breathed as she reached out, taking it in her hoof. She raised it to eye level and examined it, could it really have been that easy? However she didn’t get to enjoy her victory as at that moment a voice spoke behind her. “It seems you broke through my wards, most intriguing, I was certain that would be impossible.” Clarity watched as the key seemed to dissolve in her hoof, and she spun around to see it now held before the figure who had spoken. “Regardless of how you managed to find it, I can’t have you spoiling my plans by alerting the other princesses of my identity.” with that she held the key out, so the tip was pointing directly at Clarity. Clarity turned slowly as she heard an unholy tearing noise behind her. The wall seemed to be ripping open, not just the wall, but reality itself, to reveal an endlessly deep, swirling mass of pure magical energy. Clarity barely had time to take this all in as she felt something slam into her back, sending her cascading through the portal, and falling through the endless void. As she fell she twisted herself around so she could see the tear sealing itself back up. Just before it did she made out the alicorn standing there, a wide grin plastered on her face, and heard her call out. “Goodbye Clarity, I’ll give my regards to your sister.” and with that the gate sealed itself, and Clarity felt herself submerged under the weight of all the spiritual matter crushing her into oblivion. The Power of SixOC Archive Clarity Younger sister of Princess Cadence Princess Inen Princess of death or Princess Luonto Princess of nature, rules over Gallopolli Princess Roma Princess of order, rules over Panchea Princess Clover Princess of time, rules over Damarescus Princess Somnium Princess of dreams, rules over The Dream Cluster Princess Caelum Princess of sky, rules over Whinnypeg Princess Ignis Princess of fire, rules over The Badlands Princess Mare Equus Princess of water, rules over Aquestria Princess Vegnum Princess of technology, rules over Metropolis Northern LightsThe Power of Six “Princess please,” the purple filly begged, “let me try one more time; I know I can do it this time.” “No Twilight,” Celestia responded sternly, she loved the child dearly but her patience was wearing thin, “it’s not a matter of whether you can do it or not, I know you are perfectly capable.” “Then why?” Twilight whined, giving Celestia the large puppy dog eyes they both knew she couldn’t resist. “Twilight,” Celestia said with a sigh, “we have tried this at least a dozen times today, and each time you make the same mistake. And since you won’t learn from those mistakes I will simply have to end our lesson here so you don’t hurt somepony.” Twilight’s head hung low as she began packing her saddle bag. “I’m sorry princess,” she murmured, “I just can’t do otherwise.” “Yes you can,” Celestia insisted, “you don’t need to draw on so much power, but until you accept that your spell casting will become dangerous, and not just for you but those round you.” The two left the practice rooms in silence, Twilight still staring at her hooves. Celestia couldn’t help but feel ashamed for scolding her, she knew she couldn’t help it, a unicorn as young as her shouldn’t be able to channel as much magic as she does. But if she was to fulfil her destiny, she needed to learn control now; perhaps a different tactic was necessary. “Twilight, do you know what happens to a unicorn, or any being for that matter, that exposes themselves to too much magical energy?” “Um, no,” she replied thinking, “I get a headache when I do it.” Celestia shook her head, “that’s only the start, you’ve never gotten any worse because I’ve always been there to stop you before that could happen.” Twilight gulped at the implications, Celestia knew she was frightening her but she needed to hear this if she was going to gain the willpower necessary for control. “When a being becomes too saturated with magic, the results are catastrophic,” she continued, “it’s slow, and it is painful. The more magic you’re exposed to, or the longer you are exposed, the more likely you will suffer from effects that will never go away.” Twilight halted, she was shaking now, now it was time to hammer the message home. “As long as I am here that won’t happen, but Twilight,” she said demanding the filly’s full attention, “it will be down to you, and you alone, to learn to control your magic intake.” Twilight shook with tears welling up in her eyes, that was enough. Celestia leaned down and embraced the filly. “I’m sorry Twilight, but you need to know these things.” “I-I know,” she replied through sobs, “I’m s-sorry princess; I promise I won’t let it happen again.” Celestia sighed one last time, she prayed her message would take root in her faithful student, everything she had told Twilight was true, but she had spared most of the details, it was a fate she would wish upon no creature. But Clarity knew, Clarity understood Celestia’s fear, for she was living it. When she was young, she had been playing in the streets of Canterlot, she wanted to try and get a cutie mark in roller blading. One bad fall left her with a broken leg; at the time she had thought there was no worse pain. Years later when she was a student in Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns, she failed to cast a protection spell during a field trip, and was stung by a Cazador. While she was rushed to hospital she was certain she knew true pain. But she knew nothing of pain, not until she was cast into that abyss. Now she knew what pain was, true, unending agony. If she could have screamed, her sound would have broken through the veil itself. And as if the universe was truly out to spite her, it would take a long, very long time, before she was given the mercy of death. Mere feet away, an alicorn stood, pondering this. It was a cruel way to eliminate somepony, she knew, but there no point in feeling guilty, soon everything would meet the same end as Clarity. At last, she smiled and stepped out of the room, placing the last of her anti detection spells on the key responsible for Clarity’s fate, which now hung from a chain around her neck. The time was ripe, the gates were almost ready. But first, she had twelve pesky princesses she needed to take care of. “Oh,” a voice came as she entered the hallway, “sorry I almost walked into you there.” “That’s quite alright Twilight,” the alicorn replied with a friendly smile, “I was just heading back to the assembly hall to see if any progress has been made, would you care to join me?” “Of course Roma,” she replied happily, and together they set off, the young princess to focused on her futile mission to notice the wicked grin plastered on the princess of order. The Power of Six Celestia and Luna stood staring at each other; the fear stricken look on each of their faces indicated to the other, they had both felt it. It had been small, but enough. The key had been used. “This is bad,” Luna muttered, then her eyes widened as Celestia’s horn lit up, “what are you doing?” But before she received an answer, the light atop Celestia’s horn flared and she felt a wave of nausea pass over her. “I’m sorry sister,” Celestia said after Luna regained her composure, “I was sending a summons to the others.” “Why?” Luna demanded, “One of them is a traitor who we now know is fully willing to use the key, and you want to bring her here.” “We have no choice,” Celestia said simply, Luna quirked an eyebrow. “Why, what are you suggesting we do?” but the empty look in Celestia’s eyes told her everything she needed to know, “no! That’s insane! That’s treason!” “What do you suggest?” Celestia demanded, even Luna had never seen her so desperate, and she could it see it was making her dangerous, “the end of all things, or a cleansing?” “There must be a way to lure her out,” Luna begged, “anything!” “Luna, I would not do this if I had a choice, you know that.” “But…” however she was cut off by the sound of the doors opening. “Celestia! We were on our way when I received your message, has something happened?” Ignis demanded, hurrying forward, followed closely by Rarity, Fluttershy, and surprisingly enough, the cutie mark crusaders. “Everything is fine Ignis,” Celestia lied, “we’re just waiting for the others.” It hurt Celestia to lie to the fire princess; surely, she was not the traitor. “Hold on!” Luna exclaimed, realising something, “girls.” Rarity and Fluttershy looked up, surprised at being addressed at such a time. “How long have you been with Ignis?” “Oh, um…” Rarity began, scouring her memory. “About twenty minutes,” Fluttershy suggested quietly. “You see!” Luna said triumphantly, turning to Celestia, “Ignis is clearly innocent as the key was activated mere minutes ago.” “What!” Ignis exclaimed, “The key was activated?” “It was a minor flux,” Celestia replied, “we only felt it because we established a long range detection spell in this chamber.” “Regardless,” Luna continued, “Ignis could not have been responsible as she could not have used the key without them noticing.” Celestia nodded hesitantly, “I see what you’re saying, but…” “But nothing sister!” Luna exclaimed cutting her off, “we can still figure this out, we just need more time.” "Time for what?” a voice called out from the door way. All present sun around to see Caelum swagger in, flanked by Mare Equus and Clover. “Have we found out something?” Caelum began, just before she was barrelled out of the way by a blue blur speeding into the room. “Princess, please help!” a panic stricken Rainbow Dash begged. “Pinkie Pie!” Rarity and Fluttershy screamed at the same time, rushing over to the mare who resembled a rag doll at this point. “What happened?” Celestia demanded marching over to examine. “That… thing in the black cloak did something to her,” Dash explained in a furious tone. Realisation seemed to dawn on Celestia, then came a look of relief that took the three worried mares by surprise. “Don’t worry,” she assured them, touching the tip of her horn to Pinkie’s forehead. Almost instantly her hair exploded into its usual curls and her coat became considerably more vibrant. “Wow-wee that was weird,” she exclaimed leaping into the air. “Pinkie, you’re okay,” Dash said completely dumbfounded, “but I don’t understand, what happened to her?” “Inen, just has that kind of effect on ponies who aren’t used to her,” Celestia explained almost sheepishly, “especially one like Pinkie here who tends to bottle up her negative emotions.” “That’s good,” Fluttershy said relieved, “I’m just glad you’re okay Pinkie Pie.” “A-hem,” Luna gave a fake cough getting Celestia’s attention; their eyes met briefly and as they did a secret message seemed to be passed between them. “Ah yes, well,” Celestia began nervously, “she could still use some rest, why don’t you three take her back to her room.” The ponies all agreed and they began filing out, the three fillies in tow. “And if you see Applejack or Clarity, take them with you,” Celestia shouted after them. The three latest princesses eyed Celestia suspiciously before glancing at each other. “You know Celestia,” Mare Equus began coolly, “if I was paranoid, I’d say you were hiding something from us.” “That wasn’t the desired effect I assure you,” Celestia responded in a similar tone. ~ Cadance lay gasping for breath, something had happened, something terrible. Her heart felt like a knife had been driven through it. She wasn’t sure what it meant, but she suddenly had an intense desire to see her husband and sisters. Summoning all her strength, she got to her hooves, although it was agonising for her, she began stumbling down the hall in the direction of the assembly hall, the message sent from Celestia five minutes later didn’t ease her anxieties any, it just made her pick up the pace more. ~ “You sure you’re alright hun?” Applejack asked, sitting on the bed next to Pinkie. Rarity had just filled her in on what had happened while she was away with Shining Armour. “Of course AJ, why wouldn’t I be?” Pinkie replied in her usual tone. “You know why ahm askin’, we’re worried ‘bout you Pinks,” Applejack insisted. Pinkie sighed exasperatedly. “It was just a run in with some bad mojo,” she insisted. “Fair enough,” Applejack relented, “so any thoughts on this situation we got ourselves in?” “It’s nothing the princesses can’t handle,” Pinkie assured her. “Celestia seemed mighty scared,” Applejack muttered, “and we’re up against another princess here.” “Oh I’m sure they’ll forget all about their nefarious schemes once we throw them a big party,” she insisted as confetti exploded over their heads. “Ah hope,” Applejack sighed, lying back and tipping her hat over her face. “Something the matter Rare?” Pinkie asked after giggling at the sleepy Applejack. “No, it’s just, has anyone seen Clarity?” she asked causing Shining Armour to look up from his paper, “The princess told us to keep her with us, but I haven’t seen her at all since the summit.” “I’ll go check for her,” Shining said, standing up from the table, “she probably just got lost.” The words had barely left his mouth when all present in the room were thrown off their hooves and sent rocketing across the room. It felt as if a surge had just passed through the entire castle. “What in the hay was that?” Rainbow Dash demanded, trying to pull Scootaloo free of a clothes hamper. “Nothing good I imagine,” Shining Armour said, storming for the door. “Do we ever get a break?” Applejack muttered, pulling herself free of the bed clothes and trotting out after the captain. “Oh, uh, maybe I should stay here,” Fluttershy suggested nervously to Rarity as Pinkie and Rainbow Dash sped off. “Good idea,” Rarity said, causing Fluttershy’s eyes to widen in surprise, “you can make sure those three don’t follow us.” “Awwww,” the fillies chorused. “No arguing, now be good for Fluttershy, we’ll be back shortly,” she said leaving the room. ~ “Twilight!” Cadance exclaimed, hobbling over to her sister in law. Twilight turned and her eyes opened wide with horror as she saw Cadance. “Cadance, what happened?” she asked catching the older alicorn as she collapsed. “I don’t know, Twilight have you seen your brother or my sister?” she asked desperately. “No, not since we left here earlier, why has something happened?” “I fear so,” she said sadly, trailing off as she noticed the room was now full of all thirteen princesses. “What’s going on?” she asked, “did Celestia find something?” “She hasn’t told us yet, she’s just been busy talking to… Inen, I think her name was,” Twilight informed her. Cadance looked around and sure enough Celestia appeared deep in conversation with the shrouded figure at the other side of the room. They seemed to be keeping their distance and Celestia did not look happy. “You don’t look so good my dear,” a voice spoke over Cadance. She looked up to see a familiar grey, armoured alicorn. “I’m not feeling great Roma,” she said offering a weak smile. “That won’t do,” she said leaning down, “don’t worry Twilight, I’ll look after Cadance, you see if you can’t get answers out of Celestia.” “Sure, don’t worry Cadance, I’ll be back soon.” with that she was off leaving Cadance with the princess of order. “So tell me,” she began, “how did you come to be in this state?” ~ It felt like forever since he had been here. True his life was still quite short, so three years seemed like a large fraction in the big picture. But still, to be climbing the steps of tower he once knew to be his one and only home, it felt odd, he wasn’t sure he liked it. After he and Twilight had left Clover’s room, she had told him she needed time to think. Spike understood, this was all becoming a bit much for her. So he left her to wander the halls for herself while he… wandered aimlessly in the opposite direction. It wasn’t until later he realised his feet were carrying him along a familiar path. once he’d become aware he began to recall the route as that of the one he and Twilight took when returning from an afternoon of studying to their private quarters where he would sleep and Twilight… would study more. He smiled at the memory, weird to think how much life changed in such a short space of time. It felt like they were swept away in a gale, their comfortable lives of solitude replaced by those of fun and excitement, and then all too quickly it changed again when Twilight became a princess. Spike didn’t even realise he’d started crying; somehow thinking about how much everything had changed in such a short space of time depressed him. But here he was again, standing at the oh so familiar door. Another smile spread across his face, the last time he was here he couldn’t reach the handle, this was the first time he realised he was growing. Clutching the cool metal in his claw he turned it slowly, savouring the moment. The door swung open to reveal something he was not expecting. The once full to the point of overflowing bookcases were bare and covered in thick layers of dust. The whole room looked like it hadn’t been used since they moved out. Spike had figured Celestia would repurpose the room or at least let someone else use it. Continuing through the room he examined every surface, each one seemed to trigger an obscure memory from his earliest years. There in the corner, that was where Twilight put his first cot after he hatched and she was accepted into the school. He had spent one night in it, after that he stayed in Twilight’s room after they both realised neither of them wanted to be alone at night. They had slept in the same room almost every night ever since. That table in front of the window, he was sitting there when he first breathed fire. It hadn’t been an impressive sight, he still could only manage a small spout, but Twilight had been proud none the less, it was one of the only occasions she asked Celestia for time off studying so they could celebrate. All three of them went for a picnic in Whitetail Woods. Shaking his head of the heavy flow of memories he made his way up the stairs to a landing with only a single set of double doors, the doors to their old bedroom. Again he took note of his new height as he turned the handle. However as he stepped in he immediately noticed something different about this room. It had been slept in; recently, perhaps it was being used by someone, someone who didn’t bother to use the rest of the tower. Seemed a little wasteful in Spike’s mind but he ignored it. Walking up to the bed he saw it wasn’t the same one he was once so familiar with, that disappointed him. The bed was certainly untidy, whoever was using it didn’t care for tidiness, but then the room outside was evidence of that. Besides the bed the room appeared empty and Spike was about to leave, but something caught his attention, something on the bedside cabinet. Spike picked it up in his claws and blew the thin film of dust that had gathered off, before gasping in surprise. It was a framed picture, of Fluttershy. Who would keep a picture of Fluttershy? Written at the bottom in the Pegasus’s familiar elegant hoof writing were the words ‘your friend, Fluttershy’. Spike continued to stare, what an odd thing to find. He was about to set it back when he felt his claws brush against something. Flipping the frame over he saw there was a note pinned to the back. The writing was messier on this one, and the ink still looked wet, had this been put here recently? ‘My dear Fluttershy, I’m sorry I couldn’t be the friend you deserved. Thank you for everything, Discord’. Spike stared blankly at the note, reading and re-reading, letting the message sink in. then he was blasted off his feet and sent flying into the wall. He managed to raise his arm in time to shield his face, subsequently it took the impact. The picture was thrown from his grasp, the glass front shattering as it fell to the floor. Clambering up he looked around wildly for the source of the explosion, it didn’t take long. From where he stood he could see a bright blue light through the window. Rushing over he hopped onto the bed to get a better look. It seemed to be a pillar of some sort, blasted straight through the roof of the castle and piercing the heavens. Spike knew that light could only mean bad things, he scrambled for the door, desperate to find his friends, but before he left something stopped him. He looked over again at the picture, in the big picture it seemed insignificant, but he had the strange feeling a lot was riding on him delivering that note. Making a snap decision he raced back and picked up the picture in his claws, the note remained pinned on the back so he took the whole thing as he departed the room. He and Twilight had their own private room, but the others were staying in a separate suite not far from here, hopefully Fluttershy would be there. ~ “Excuse me, Celestia,” Twilight began, Celestia turned to face her, she reminded Twilight unsettlingly of how she herself looked during the tardy incident, “is there anything I can do to help.” Celesta opened her mouth to respond but all that came out was a croak, she looked helplessly from Twilight and Inen, the latter continuing to stare at her, or at least Twilight assumed she was staring. “Twilight, this situation is dire, I won't lie to you,” she confided quietly, “out of thirteen suspects I can only rule out six, and then I can’t see any of the ones left over being capable of this.” Twilight looked around the room; everyone gathered seemed to keeping to themselves with only a few exceptions, they were constantly shifting on the spot and casting suspicious glares at one another. “What do you propose?” she asked turning back to Celestia. “Twilight… it’s not good,” she said, her eyes shifting over to Inen. Inen… the princess of death. “You can’t mean…” Twilight began, as Celestia’s intentions became clear to her. “Twilight listen!” she commanded hurriedly, “I don’t like this any more than you do, but we’re weighing the lives of all against the lives of a few in this room.” “But-but they’re your friends,” Twilight insisted, refusing to believe Celestia was really suggesting this, “even if you can eliminate six of us, that still leaves seven.” “I know,” she admitted shamefully, “I’ve known each and every one of them since the day their reign began, this cuts me very deeply.” Twilight looked back at the princesses gathered in the room, her eyes resting on Cadance and Roma, what were they talking about? “I was sorry to hear about your sister,” Roma said, the ghost of a smile appearing on her face. “My sister? What do you mean?” Cadance asked confused from where she lay. “Don’t you know?” Roma asked I’m mock surprise, “the poor girl had a little trip.” “What are you talking about?” Cadance demanded, her heart rate increasing. “Don’t worry dear Cadance,” she replied stroking her mane, a wide grin forming on her face, “you’ll be with her soon enough.” Cadance’s eyes stretched wide as a blue light began to emit from Roma’s chest. “You!” she exclaimed, horrified. “Me!” Roma spat, standing up, the key manifesting on a chain around her neck. Eyes were beginning to look their way but there was nothing they could do. They could only watch as the key began to shine with a brilliant, pure blue light, before the whole thing exploded outwards. ~ Everypony in Equestria turned their heads, dropping what they were doing as the light filled the sky. It began in Canterlot and it rose higher and higher until it was touching the sky itself. No one knew what it meant, but they all felt it as they were knocked off their feet. ~ Twilight tasted blood in her mouth, the blast had sent he face first into the wall, and it probably showed. Almost lazily she cast a healing spell on herself and as it began to take effect she desperately searched her memory for anything that might indicate what just happened. Celestia had told her a plan to stop the traitor, a plan she wanted no part in. She had been looking around the room, she saw Cadance talking with Roma, no, arguing! Then Roma stood up, something shining on her chest. Suddenly everything was clear to Twilight as she slowly turned her gaze over the rest of the battered and broken princesses’ stirring from the blast, and Roma who stood triumphantly in the centre, glowing with an ethereal blue light, the Aether Key hanging from her neck. “Traitor,” a voice spat, Twilight saw it was Ignis, already casting her own healing spell and staring at Roma with pure undiluted hatred. Soon all the princesses were pulling themselves together, Twilight hobbled over to where Celestia had fallen. It was much further from where she was standing before the blast, and Twilight realised as she reached her, she had teleported herself to shield Luna with her own body. A pang of envy filled Twilight at this sight of sisterly affection, but she forced it out, now was not the time to be petty and selfish. The two sisters stood up and along with the rest of the princesses in the room were now staring daggers at Roma. Twilight briefly wandered why they weren’t perforating her with spells by now, but she assumed they didn’t want to do anything that might upset the key. “Well Celestia,” Roma began, great, cliché villain monologue time, can’t she just skip to the part where she explains her diabolical plan and how we stop it. “Here we are, exactly where we should have been over a thousand years ago.” “Explain this treachery,” Luna demanded. Roma laughed, most uncharacteristically, she even looked uncomfortable as the sounds escaped her mouth. “All in due time, but I can’t have any of you in such a condition that makes me so vulnerable,” she explained. “Well clearly you seem to be having difficulty with your counting,” Twilight snapped, no one hurt Celestia and got away with it, “you’re pretty outnumbered.” “My counting skills are perfection,” she replied, Twilight detected the bitterness in her tone, “unfortunately for you, I have an old friend who owes me a favour. Isn’t that right, Discord?” Twilight blinked in surprise as she felt something appear behind her. Turning around slowly she saw exactly what she didn’t want to see. “I’m so sorry Twilight,” the draconequus said, sounding almost sincere, before he reached forward with a talon which he rested on the top of Twilight’s skull. The next she knew, there was an odd sensation sweeping over her, like she had just been drenched in a bucket of ice cold water. Just before her jaw froze in place she managed to utter one sentence. “I thought you didn’t turn ponies into stone.” ~ Well that’s new, Clarity thought. A feeling that wasn’t pain, how long had it been since she felt that? Minutes? Hours? Years? She didn’t know anymore. Perhaps I’m finally dying, she thought, the first happy thought she had in a long time. “Or perhaps you’re ready,” a voice echoed through her head. Clarity’s eyes snapped open. Wait… she had eyes again. She had hooves and hair, she had vocal chords, where were you earlier when I wanted to scream? She was herself again; the old body that had been ripped to shreds within seconds of her arrival was once again hers. Hmm, she was still in the Aether, blue as far as the eye can see, but this was a start. Taking her new mouth she decided to test it. “Hello, is anyone there?” she croaked, her throat sounded hoarse like she hadn’t spoken for weeks, maybe she hadn’t. There was no reply, but she began to make out something out amidst the sea of energy. A dark ball, pulsating slightly. She began moving towards it, floating through this world reminded her of swimming and she then recalled the water princess’s comments regarding the sport. As she neared the orb she noticed it was glowing faintly around the edges, it felt like it was drawing something in. wandering up next to it, Clarity began to peer into it. It looked almost like a circle cut out of the fabric of space itself. Bracing herself she tentatively reached out and toughed it with the tip of her hoof. Immediately she snapped her hoof back, that second had a disturbing feel to it; it was almost like it was pulling something, from all sides, almost like a vacuum. For some reason she couldn’t quite explain she felt the need to turn around, and as she did her eyes widened in surprise. There were more of these black circles spread out over the Aether as far as she could see. Eleven if she counted the one she just touched. “What…” she muttered as her horn erupted into a pure ethereal light, just like it did before she found the key. “Again?” ~ Roma stalked through Canterlot’s new sculpture garden, each princess frozen in various looks of anger and betrayal. Oh how she was enjoying this, and it was about to get even more fun. The room was filled with the sound of grunting, good, while that was annoying it meant they were all aware of what was going on, and she wanted them to be able to witness the end of their world. “You’re going to pay for this!” a voice echoed through the room. Roma looked over in surprise, it was definitely Caelum’s voice but she was still encased in stone. “Ah, projecting our thoughts are we?” she said, the obvious truth dawning on her, “speak away while you can, soon you won’t have the power necessary to do so.” “How so?” Caelum’s voice demanded. “Because I’m going to take it of course,” she answered simply firing a blast of grey light from her horn, striking the statue of Caelum in the chest. As it did, a silvery line was drawn from the point of impact to the tip of her horn, and all along the line, small sparks of light could be seen flowing into Roma’s horn. She repeated this spell until there were twelve silver lines connecting her to each of the frozen princesses, drawing succulently on each of their powers. “I have no doubt, freeing you all will be the first thing on everyponies’ minds,” she announced, “so I’m taking the obvious precaution so that should it come to pass, you’ll be incapable of standing against me.” “Why delay the inevitable?” Clover’s voice echoed, “you’re obviously going to open the gates why not go ahead?” “The answer is simple,” she began, “while you might be silently praying I do not know the locations of the gates, you would be sadly mistaken. The real reason that’s not what I’m currently doing, is because I’ve already done it.” There was no response, well of course there wasn’t. “I’m sure you’d all be gasping if you could,” she said, smirking at her own joke, “I’ve spent a long time bringing this plan together, a thousand years to find each of the gates, to learn everything I could about my enemies, figure out how to break into the vault, and discover just how the key works. “It is, in the end, only a key,” she explained, still weaving in and out of the statues, “it is used to open the locks, but it can’t speed up the gates. They’re opening now as we speak, but due to their size it may take some time. Smaller ones can open in a second after the lock is broken, like the one I cast your little sister into Cadance.” “I will kill you!” Cadance’s voice screamed. “Sure you will,” Roma replied in a condescending voice. “But this has no purpose,” Vegnum’s voice insisted, “you represent order, how is destroying everything, yourself included going to bring any semblance of order to the world?” “Firstly, you will be destroyed, I shall be fine, your powers will go a long way in insuring that,” she stated matter of factly, “secondly, you just can’t see the bigger picture, but then none of you have existed for nearly as long as I have. This world is broken, chaotic, imperfect. I plan to wipe the slate, begin anew, create the perfect world, just as I tried to do a thousand years ago, until my plans were thwarted by two meddling unicorn sisters.” Roma’s gaze burned into the statues of Celestia and Luna, Celestia’s wing still draped defensively over her younger sister. “It’s been a long conquest,” she said drearily, “but soon, I will have my perfect world.” As Roma finished a sound could be heard outside, the clanging of metal. “Hmm, looks like the cavalry have arrived,” she announced, eyes on the door, “we can’t have interruptions just yet.” Roma raised a hoof into the air, her horn glowing with a deep grey aura, the room began rumbling. ~ Shining Armour led the group as they charged through the castle; they saw the blue pillar through the windows as they ran, and they all knew without saying it that it was coming from the summit room. “Where are the elements of harmony?” he called over his shoulder at the mares trotting behind him. “Twi brought ‘em,” Applejack informed her. “Spike’s probably got them,” Rainbow Dash proposed. “And where’s he?” the four mares all shrugged and Shining had to resist face hoofing, “alright, we split up, Rarity and Pinkie, find Spike and the elements. Applejack and Rainbow Dash, you’re with me.” “Aye aye cap’n,” Applejack said with a quick salute. “Oh boy, are we pirates now?” Pinkie asked excitedly. “If it will make you follow me then yes,” Rarity shouted dragging Pinkie Pie down a side corridor. “Alright you two, I’m hoping you can both handle yourselves in a sticky situation.” “Don’t you worry, with my speed, Applejack’s strength and your magic, ain’t nothing gonna beat us,” Rainbow Dash answered with determination. “That’s what I like to hear,” Shining Armour said as they continued to run. They were nearing their destination, only one more corner… or maybe two. Alright make three. Hang on now this isn’t right. “Hold up,” Shining Armour commanded, skidding to a halt, “this isn’t right, we should be there by now.” “Yah sure?” Applejack asked unconvinced. “Positive, I lived here long enough to know this doesn’t make any sense.” “Make sense, oh what fun is there in making sense?” an all too familiar voice called out. “Discord!” Applejack and Rainbow Dash bellowed at once. “You got me,” the voice replied, strange, Discord didn’t sound his usually mad self, he sounded bored, sad even. “What in the hay do yah think you’re tryin’ ta pull?” Applejack demanded staring around wildly. “Just holding you up really,” he replied, his monotonous tone not letting up. “You snake! After everything Fluttershy did for you!” Dash raged at the entire corridor. there was no reply, not for some time at least, it was only when they were convinced he had disappeared that he spoke again. “She can do better.” “What?” Dash said, her aggressive stance slipping, something in that last sentence had made her feel… “Discord, you have to let us through,” Shining Armour pleaded, “you can still do the right thing.” Discord never replied. Applejack stomped her hoof and swore. “There must be a way round,” she asked, Shining armour thought about it. “Probably not, but perhaps if I cast a shield we can push through his magic.” “That’ll work?” Dash asked sounding hopeful. “Only one way to find out.” ~ Spike ran as fast as his legs would carry him. He was exhausted and his legs were shaking, he knew they would give out soon, but he wouldn’t stop, he had to reach Fluttershy, and hope he was making the right move. The room finally came into sight and he charged at full pelt, not even stopping to turn the handle, instead he just crashed head first using all his momentum to take the door off its hinges. “Spike,” a quiet voice enquired in a confused tone. Spike looked up to see the yellow Pegasus standing next to the bed where the cutie mark crusaders were sitting. As he pulled himself to his feet, she fluttered over and offered him a hoof which he accepted gratefully. “Is something wrong?” she asked trying to hide the worry in her voice. “Probably,” he said holding up the picture frame, “I think you need to see this.” Fluttershy looked taken aback when she saw it was a picture of her, but accepted it nonetheless. She quickly read the message on the front and it dawned on her who this belonged to. Spike watched as she flipped the frame over and her eyes scanned the note. There was a moment of silence as Spike waited to hear her respond. “Oh… my.” ~ “Yar har, fiddle di dee, being a pirate is all right with me, Do what you want 'cause a pirate is free, you are a pirate!” Pinkie sang as she bounced after Rarity who was trying to keep her grace in check by not punching the singing mare. “Pinkie,” she said at last, her voice trembling with the effort it took not to scream, “not really the time for that dear.” “Okie dokie,” Pinkie said stopping instantly, “where are we going?” “Twilight and Spike’s room,” she replied, glad she was finally saying something reasonable, “hopefully Spike will be there, or at the very least the elements.” “Do you think Twilight would just leave them lying in her room?” Pinkie asked, Rarity hadn’t thought about that, but she wasn’t going to let Pinkie know that. “I’m sure she would have put a protection spell on them,” she bluffed, not having a clue when it came to schools of magic that didn’t relate to her special talent. “But if there is then how will we get them?” Pinkie asked. “Well we’ll just…” she hesitated, “oh I don’t know, we’ll think of something.” “Alright, as long as you know what you’re doing,” Pinkie said happily, Rarity gave a low growl. ~ Clarity walked with her head hung low, she couldn’t even keep on track, what use was she ever going to be to Twilight Sparkle? “I hope the others had better luck than I did,” she mumbled to herself, however just then her horn lit up with a stunning blue light. “What now?” Her magic had never acted of its own accord before, not for many years since she learned to control it, but more importantly, what magic was this, she had never felt anything like it before. As the thoughts ran through her mind she felt herself getting dragged along by her horn. “Where are you taking me?” she begged as if it would tell her. Soon she found herself trailed up next to another door, one that at a glance seemed just as ordinary as every other one. “Hang on a second!” Clarity exclaimed turning away from the door, “I’ve been here before.” She racked her memories trying to remember what was happening; it didn’t take long for the events following this to surface in her mind. The key, Roma, falling, pain, so much pain… then it stopped, and she was herself again, and there were those black orbs… “My horn was glowing, just like it did when I was back here,” she said absent minded, then something occurred to her, “but it wasn’t the first time…” The world around her dissolved, in a faint blue glow, and as it did another building began to form around her. Her first thought was that she was back in the exact same place, but no, it was just similar, this was somewhere else. She began walking through the new building, it did seem very familiar, and she felt she knew where she was going. a set of double doors stood before, and she could hear something on the other side, the faint cries of laughter. Curious she reached out and pushed the door open with her hoof and stepped outside. She knew where she was, Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, and she knew when she was. Before her in the private gardens, accessible only to students of the school itself two fillies ran circles around one another while an older pair watched on with amusement. This was the day she received her cutie mark. Slowly she walked forward, descending the steps into the garden, the four ponies didn’t see or hear her, this didn’t surprise her. It had been her first year, she was nervous about attending the prestigious school, but her sister assured her it would be alright. Her reluctance at the time to make any friends had convinced her it wouldn’t be. Cadance had taken note of this, and insisted she come with her while she was foal sitting. Clarity hadn’t liked the idea of sharing her sister with anypony, it didn’t matter this was supposed to be the personal student of Princess Celestia, the one Cadance spoke so highly of, Clarity didn’t want to meet her. But when they arrived at the gardens she found a filly of the same age as herself throwing the biggest temper tantrum to her brother, who would have thought she had been having the same thoughts at the prospect of hanging around with her? The filly had cried when Cadance and her brother confiscated her books until she took time to play. Twilight hadn’t been pleased, and it certainly made getting along difficult, but as time passed the two found themselves enjoying each other’s company quite a lot, allowing Cadance and Shining Armour to let out a sigh of relief. After twenty minutes of playing Twilight forgot all about her books and studies, it would be one of the few times she ever would before moving to Ponyville. Clarity smiled as she reminisced about the day playing out before her, thinking back, she could have lived in that moment forever, young not to have any concerns in the world, playing with her new friend while her sister watched on. However she knew what came after this, and sure enough the two fillies ran off out of sight, Cadance and Shining Armour too tied up in their blossoming love to notice. Clarity followed, she didn’t need to see this again, but she felt it was important. Behind a large clump of rose bushes the two fillies sat, Clarity leaning forward so her horn was low to the ground. It gave off a faint blue light as a daisy began to sprout from the ground and bloomed. “Wow!” Twilight squealed with delight, Clarity had smiled but the spell had exhausted her. “Let me try,” Twilight said, and that’s when it happened. Clarity had found it odd watching Twilight concentrate, she had never needed to draw in very much power to do any spell let alone that one, but Twilight didn’t seem to be stopping. It didn’t take long for the fillies to realise something was wrong, but by the time they did Twilight’s horn was already glowing as bright as the setting sun and she was beginning to scream. Cadance and Shining Armour were running to them now, but they wouldn’t make it in time. Clarity watched as the memory of herself did exactly what she had done all those years ago. She never understood why, it was like she had felt compelled to do it, but amidst Twilight’s screams, Clarity had closed her eyes and leaned in, and the tips of their horns touched. Clarity watched as one filly siphoned the power from the other, as Twilight kept giving, Clarity kept taking, but the weird part was, she felt alight, better than alright, taking on all that pure, undiluted power felt… right. It was then, she hadn’t realised at the time, but as she drained Twilight of the magic that was threatening to destroy her, a flash of light on her flanks brought fourth her cutie mark. And that was it, for it was at that moment Celestia made her appearance. She subdued Twilight first to stop her drawing on any more power, then Clarity. The memory faded away, for that’s all there was. The next thing Clarity knew, she was at home and Cadance informed her that Twilight was undergoing extra lessons with Celestia to control her magic intake. After that they didn’t see each other an awful lot, but when they did Twilight was very withdrawn, Clarity had always wondered if she remembered, but she never asked. With the memory faded away Clarity once again hung in the all too familiar Aether, the orbs ever present. Taking all this in she gave a curt nod. “I think I understand now.” ~ “I don’t think this is working!” Dash screamed over the tumult of noise that was triggered by trio attempting to proceed with the shield active. “Just hold on for a little longer!” Shining Armour shouted back, “the door is just ahead!” Indeed it was, it had been a struggle but they had pushed through Discord’s magic and now the end was in sight. “Just… a little… more!” he shouted, just as the shield shattered. The effect was instantaneous, the corridor they were walking down began warping and twisting until it was clear they were back where they started. “Son of a…” Shining Armour began. “Ah think we need back up,” Applejack said, Shining Armour mulled this over. “I suppose it couldn’t hurt to have a few more heads to put together,” he agreed, “come on, to the barracks.” With new found determination they all set off in the opposite direction. They would reach the barracks, call in every able bodied soldier to aid them, then they would storm that room and bring an end to this madness. The barracks was just around this corner… or this corner. Or maybe… hang on a second. “Oh for the love of…” ~ “Oh my? That’s all you have to say?” Spike said in disbelief. “Of course not,” Fluttershy replied hurt, “what am I supposed to say.” She stormed over to the window and huffed with her back to the dragon. Spike sighed and looked over at the bed… which was now empty. “Uh Fluttershy,” he began, “we’ve got a problem.” Fluttershy didn’t respond, she was just staring out the window. “Fluttershy!” “I think… I think I know where Discord is,” she said at last. “You do? Where?” Spike asked bewildered, Fluttershy pointed out the window. Spike scampered over, forgetting about the missing fillies. Once he was at the window he saw where Fluttershy was pointing. “The sculpture garden? Why would he be there?” Spike asked unsure. “I just have a feeling,” Fluttershy whispered. Without further debate she unlatched the window and let it swing open, “hop on.” Together they swooped down from the tower, Fluttershy gently gliding down towards their destination. As they flew Fluttershy caught her first glimpses of the blue light pillar and gulped, she picked up her pace considerably after that. Fairly soon they touched down on the gravel pathway and Spike dismounted. “You’re a much better flyer than Rainbow Dash,” he said as they began walking. “Oh no, I could never be as fast as her,” Fluttershy said blushing. “No I mean, you’re more controlled, more… delicate.” Fluttershy looked down at him in surprise, “in Rarity’s words.” They reached the sculpture garden and were quickly passing in and out of statues, each one representing a great victory in the history of Equestria, but they weren’t looking for one depicting a pony. Sure enough as the two reached their goal, the pedestal was not empty. “How do you do that Fluttershy?” Discord asked, from where he was perched, “I was sure nopony would bother to look for me out here. “Your note sounded sad, I figured this is where you would go if you were sad,” she answered. Discord still didn’t look down at her. “It wasn’t supposed to be an invitation to come look for me,” he said snidely, “it was a chance to cut ties with a monster.” “Discord, you know I don’t think you’re a monster,” Fluttershy said, flying up so that she would be eye level with him if he wasn’t stubbornly turning his head away. “You say that now,” he muttered. “Yes I do, and nothing can change that,” she insisted. At last Discord relented in turning his head around, Fluttershy gasped as she saw his bloodshot eyes. “They’ll never take me back after what I’ve done,” he said, his voice quivering, “they’ll never forgive me.” “Discord,” Fluttershy began folding a wing around his head, “as long as you never stop trying to do the right thing and make up for your mistakes, you’ll always deserve forgiveness.” Discord sighed and bowed his head, then he murmured something that neither Fluttershy or Spike caught. “I’m sorry, what was that?” she asked, wow, role reversal. “Roma is the traitor,” he said loud enough for them to hear him, “and I helped her.” “Roma? The princess of order?” Fluttershy questioned, that couldn’t be right, she had been so nice, and she had an alibi. As if reading her thoughts Discord continued. “She had me masquerade as her, while she stole the key,” he explained, “after that… I turned the other princesses to stone.” “You did what!” Spike bellowed, Fluttershy was taken aback, but she didn’t move. “Why would you want to help her?” Fluttershy asked, this had a profound effect on Discord. “You think I want to help her?” he shouted causing Fluttershy to fly back in fright, “you think I have a choice?” “There’s always a choice,” Fluttershy insisted, “what aren’t you telling me?” Discord looked away again, but this time he didn’t look like he was going to give in. Fluttershy sighed and fluttered down to Spike, after a quick exchange of words she was in the air once more. She placed something on the pedestal next to Discord’s hoof. “I still have faith in you,” she said before returning to the ground and walking away, Spike in tow. Discord looked around in time to see her tail swish around a corner. He sighed and looked down at what she had left behind, then his eyes opened wide as he picked it up in his claw. It was the picture, the glass was gone, but something had been added, a new word had been written, ‘Your friend, Fluttershy. Always’. ~ “Told you so,” Pinkie Pie said happily as Rarity stumbled to her hooves after being fired across Twilight’s bedroom. “Tell me my mane isn’t singed, Celestia help you if it is!” she screeched. Pinkie just gave a little giggle snort before bouncing away. Rarity gave out a frustrated roar before charging into the bathroom. Pinkie was humming merrily to herself while examining the jewel encrusted box carefully when an ear splitting scream ripped through the suite, perhaps the whole castle. “Oh Rarity it doesn’t look that bad,” Pinkie pleaded. “I look… I look…” Rarity stepped out of the bathroom, her hair a frizzy, curly, gravity defying disaster, “I look like you!” “Oh my god you totally do!” Pinkie exclaimed bouncing over, “we should do a magic show, you can be my double so when I fall through a trap door you’ll climb out of a different one so it looks like I walked through one door and out the other, but really I didn’t, and we’ll make loads of money and be really famous until you get corrupted by my arch nemesis who want revenge for me shooting his fingers off.” “Pinkie, let me start by saying I hope none of that ever happens,” Rarity said with a deadpan expression, “secondly, the world is kind of in a state of mid peril, need I remind you.” “Oh yeah,” Pinkie said running over to the box which she opened to reveal the elements of harmony, “ta-daa!” “How-you-what?” Rarity stuttered, her eye twitching. She was about to scream again, but before she could the lid of the box closed of its own accord. “Not ta-daa,” Pinkie sad sheepishly. ~ Clarity took a deep breath, which was strange considering there was no oxygen in this world. This was her fifth attempt, and it was starting to hurt. “Focus,” she told herself, clenching her eyes shut. “Concentrate,” she said as her horn began to glow. “I can do this,” she said as it began to shine, “I’m ready.” Clarity opened her eyes, her horn now too bright for the average pony to look at, she charged. She galloped with all her might, trying desperately to continue drawing magic in, her head was bent low; the orb was approaching her ever faster. Here it comes, three, two, one… and with blinding pain, Clarity was sent cascading back from the ball, her horn extinguishing. She groaned as she lay in a crumpled heap, five attempts, five failures. “For the last time Clarity I don’t want to hear you talking about that!” Cadance scolded, “I’ve told you before, your cutie mark is to do with emotions, and that is what we’re studying.” “But that day with Twilight,” Clarity insisted, “something happened, I think it means something.” “Clarity listen to me,” Cadance said leaning down so she was at eye level with her younger sister, “whatever you think happened, you’re wrong. You just imagined what happened that day.” “I never hated you for lying Cadance,” Clarity whispered as she pulled herself up again, “I knew you only wanted to protect me. You were afraid, just like Celestia. Fillies shouldn’t be able to draw on that much raw power like Twilight did, fillies shouldn’t be able to take that much pure power like I did. For that is my special talent, I know that now. Pure magic, it’s dangerous to unicorns, to all creatures, but I’m an exception. I can take all this power… so others don’t have to feel that pain.” “Focus!” Clarity shut her eyes. “Concentrate!” Clarity’s horn began to light up, faster and brighter this time. “I will do this!” she screamed, her eyes bursting open as her entire body became infused with the light, “I was born ready!” she charged, her head bent low, her eyes wide, but this time something was different, she didn’t feel herself slowing down, she didn’t feel her power waning. With one final burst of speed she plunged her horn into the orb, and wasn’t cast back. The void ripped open, the Aether tore apart and granted her an exit, which she gratefully dived through. Her hooves stumbled beneath her as she landed on the first real, solid ground she’d encountered for a while. She looked back quickly, afraid she had made a terrible mistake, but was glad to see the rip stitching itself back up. The last of the magic drained from her, leaving her feeling weak and nauseous. She was back exactly where she left, but how much time had passed? Rushing from the room she ran squarely into a small purple and green blur, causing them both to go tumbling into a wall. “Ohhhh,” she moaned, hello physical world pain, how I missed you. “Clarity?” the voice spoke, she looked up to see it was Spike she had charged into, “where have you been?” “It’s a long story;” she said dismissively, the time to tell her tale would come later, “what’s happened?” “We don’t know, there was this big blast and a blue light,” he began explaining in a rushed tone, “now everyone is everywhere and Discord turned the princesses to stone.” “Wait what?” Clarity asked, sure she had misheard that, wasn’t Discord on their side. “Turns out he was in cahoots with the traitor,” he said bitterly, “Fluttershy went to find the others and asked me to fetch the elements of harmony.” “Of course, there’s no time to lose,” Clarity said, standing up and using her magic to lift Spike onto her back, “just point me in the right direction.” ~ “Ah give up,” Applejack said, collapsing out of a mixture of exhaustion and frustration. “Come on AJ, we can’t quit now, Twilight’s counting on us,” Rainbow Dash begged. “What do you expect us to do?” Applejack asked hopelessly, “face it, as long as Discord is against us we can’t win.” “You rang!” a voice called out, causing all three heads to turn as a draconequus manifested in the air in front of them. “Discord!” they all bellowed, but quickly had their mouths zipped closed. “As much as I’d love to listen to you all,” he said sounding much chirpier than when they last heard him, “I believe we have twelve fair maidens to rescue and an evil villainess to thwart.” “You mean…” Dash began unzipping her mouth. “Don’t make me say it,” Discord said scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment before clicking his claw, instantly re-establishing the castle corridors. “Good to have you back on the winning team,” Shining Armour said, “but you’re gonna have to lead the way, we’re a bit disoriented” “As you command brave captain,” Discord said assuming a Trottingham accent before appearing dressed in full medieval armour, riding a pantomime horse, “onwards to glory!” As the four figures charged, their spirits renewed, a fifth stood back, watching from afar. “I knew you had it in you Discord,” Fluttershy whispered before hurrying after them. ~ “Scoots, are you sure this is ah good idea?” Applebloom asked again as they stood precariously on the edge of the roof, overlooking the rest of the castle. “It’s fool proof,” she insisted, “and simple, we glide from this, the tallest tower, straight into that hole where the light is coming from.” “Is it safe to fly into a big blue light that just destroyed the roof of a castle?” Sweetie Belle asked. “I’m sure it doesn’t have much juice left in it, it’s been up for a while.” “Alright, at the very least we might get our gliden’ cutie marks,” Applebloom said trying to put a positive spin on the situation. “Or our near death experience cutie marks,” Sweetie Belle muttered darkly. “That would be so awesome,” Scootaloo exclaimed, “alright crusaders, ready? Three, two, one…” “Hey Scoot, aren’t we supposed to be attached to this thing in some way?” Applebloom asked… a little too late. “Go!” ~ “There it is,” Spike exclaimed, “it’s the door that’s… open. Uh oh.” Clarity picked up the pace and they charged into the room at full pelt with Spike shouting at the top of his lungs. “Drop the elements, hooves in the air!” at which point they immediately froze as they came face to face with Rarity styling her mane and Pinkie Pie playing yhatzee, the box lying forgotten about on the floor. “Good timing,” Rarity said, “you get to join us prepare for the end of the world.” “What now?” Clarity asked. “The elements dear, they’re locked up tight, and without them I’m certainly not stopping any villains.” “You mean you can’t pass Twilight’s defences?” Spike asked incuriously. “Nope, first it messed up Rarity’s hair, then it closed itself anytime we opened it, then it jumped around the room…” “I think they get the idea Pinkie Pie,” Rarity deadpanned. Clarity sighed but Spike burst into laughter. “Oh did I miss a joke?” Pinkie asked excitedly. “I thought it was so obvious,” Spike said trying to contain his laughter, “Twilight always has a failsafe in case someone needs to get under her protection without magic, considering its Twilight it’s kind of obvious what it would be.” Pinkie Pie and Rarity stared at Spike, then at each other, and then back at Spike. “Here I’ll show you,” he said walking over to the box, “hey elements, you’re going to be tardy.” The box sprang open immediately, releasing each of the necklaces and crown into Spike’s outstretched arms. “See, easy peasy,” he said looking over at the two mares whose jaws were swinging below their necklines. “Right, with that bit of hilarity out of the way, can we please go save the world?” Clarity asked exasperated. ~ The three ponies and Discord, now returned to his normal appearance after the joke had become stale, charged up the hallway, to be faced with a most disheartening sight. The hall was packed with armoured guards trying desperately to batter their way through what appeared to be a shard of grey crystal that had crept up over the doorway to the assembly hall. “Stand aside colts!” Shining Armour ordered, hearing him they immediately parted to allow them to pass. “Lieutenant, status report,” he demanded of the official looking guards pony sporting several medals over his uniform. “Sir, we arrived here shortly after the explosion, but when we did this… thing appeared out of nowhere,” he explained gesturing, “Nothing has made a dent in it so far. Any time we tried to retreat and look for another entrance we ended up right back here.” “Yeah that was my bad,” Discord said, Shining Armour ignored him. “Discord, do you know what this stuff is?” he asked rubbing a hoof against it. “It’s order crystal, Roma designed it to be the most perfect mineral,” he explained, “everything is perfection with her.” “Does it have any weaknesses?” Dash asked fluttering up beside Discord. “Of course it does, everything does,” he retorted. “But you just said it was perfect,” Dash snapped back. “No, I said it was made to be perfect, you should learn to listen,” he said grabbing Dash’s ear and stretching them so they resembled those of a donkey’s, “Roma is a fool, there’s no such thing as perfection but she can’t see that.” “Discord, it’s weakness,” Shining Armour snapped before Dash could continue arguing. “Simple, the natural opposite of order is chaos, and that’s where I come in,” he said clapping his bear paw against his claw. “Nothing happened,” Applejack said confused. “Really? Try breaking it now,” he suggested looking to Shining Armour. Shining Armour didn’t look convinced but he turned to the crystal anyway. He took one breath before raising his head, drawing power into his horn, before bringing it down upon the rock. There was a mighty explosion, throwing them all flying backwards. Applejack was the first to recover, not counting Discord who was never thrown back to begin with. The door was now clear, the crystal lying in large chunks scattered over the floor. “Where the heck is everypony?” she asked, realising that besides Dash, Discord and herself, all the guards including Shining Armour had vanished. “That’s the unfortunate thing about chaos magic,” Discord said, not sounding like he considered it to be unfortunate at all, “there are always side effects, and they are always unpredictable.” “Well where are they?” Dash demanded regaining focus. “Oh they’ll be somewhere, don’t worry,” he said in a bored voice, “but right now we have a mission, one that demands our full attention.” “That we do,” a voice called out from behind them, the three turned to see Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Clarity and Spike approaching them. The most encouraging sight was the remaining elements cradled in Spike’s arms. “Now that’s what I’m talking about,” Dash said victoriously hoof pounding the air. Without waiting for invitation, Applejack and Rainbow Dash claimed their elements, glad to have the familiar feel around their necks once more. Once they backed up again Spike was left carrying just one element. “Well this puts a spanner in the works now doesn’t it,” Discord said scratching his head thoughtfully. ~ “There, isn’t that better?” Roma said as the muffled voices of the soldiers became frustrated as their path was blocked by the newly formed crystal. “That gives us a little extra time to chat.” “You said we stopped you a thousand years ago,” Celestia’s voice questioned, “what did you mean by that?” “You really don’t get it do you?” Roma said coldly, staring the stature of Celestia squarely in the face, “after everything you’ve observed, can you really not draw the connections?” “Discord…” Celestia began. “You’re getting warmer,” Roma said mockingly. “You recruited him?” Celestia queried, Roma’s smile faded. “The years appear to have made you quite dense Celestia,” she said bluntly. “Take that back!” Twilight’s voice ordered, Roma just ignored her. “I didn’t recruit Discord,” she spat, “I… created him!” There was a long moment of silence. “You, created Discord?” Luonto said disbelievingly. “Of course, I am order itself,” she announced, “as such it is fully within my power to create something that is entirely without order.” “And I suppose that was another attempt at ‘cleaning the slate’?” Vegnum asked sarcastically. “Exactly,” Roma replied, “as repulsive as chaos is, it has its uses. “And now here we are,” she continued, “that pathetic creature is wrapped around my hoof once again, and soon, even you won’t be able to stop me.” “Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Somnium said cryptically. “And what’s that supposed to mean? Am I to take it from that you have some ingenious scheme? Perhaps it involves stealing back your precious key and using it to re seal the gates, hmm?” As she spoke her horn glowed and the key was lifted from around her neck and held out in front of her. As the few princesses whose heads were turned in the right direction watched, Roma’s horn flared with an intense light, and the key shattered into miniscule blue fragments. “Woops,” Roma said with a wicked smile, “any other bright ideas?” “Yes actually,” Luna said, a mere hint of annoyance in her voice, “keep you talking for as long as possible.” “Oh…” Roma began, only to be cut off by the sound of the door crashing open. She turned her head as the dust began to clear, five mares were only just visible, but their trinkets were clear as day. “Really? You think the elements of harmony have any power so long as Twilight remains incapacitated?” she mocked. But as she spoke the last of the smoke cleared, and she saw there was not five, but six mares. Clarity stepped forward, in line with the others, the familiar crown upon her head. “Ah…” was all Roma had time to say before the gemstones upon each began to light up. ~ Spike poked his around the corner just as the familiar rainbow beam faded from view, the scene it left was considerably more favourable to all those present except for their enemy. Roma lay in a crumpled heap, but appeared to be recovering quickly. That and all the other princesses had been released and the strange connection between them and Roma had been severed, however much to the dragon’s horror, they all lay and trembling piles, resembling mere husks of their former selves. “How dare you,” Roma croaked, getting to her hooves, “how dare you!” As she screeched the six mares began channelling the elements again, but she wasn’t going to take it lying down. Lighting her horn up, all six were grabbed in her telekinetic field and hurled across the room at the opposite wall. The speed they were thrown at, they would be pulverised. Spike screamed, but as his friends approached the wall they were all caught in what looked like a purple net. Looking around he saw Twilight balancing on one hoof, an agonised expression on her face as she cast the spell. However she was too weak to hold it and it broke almost immediately upon impact. Thankfully it had the desired effect that their momentum was slowed enough that they only ended up receiving bumps and bruises. “Nice save Twilight,” Roma spat, “but it doesn’t look like you have enough in you for another.” She was right unfortunately, Twilight’s leg immediately gave out and she collapsed to the floor panting heavily. Roma smirked at the sight of this and began walking forward to the element bearers. “You should be dead,” she reminded Clarity who was the only one with the strength left to look up at her, “how could you possibly survive?” Clarity didn’t answer, she merely stared. Roma’s patience broke and with a twitch of her horn Clarity was dragged into the air in front of her. “Clarity no!” Cadance screamed hoarsely. Roma ignored her as well as she stared intently into Clarity’s eyes while she struggled for breath under Roma’s hold. “No,” Roma whispered, as something became clear to her, “it can’t be…” Spike was done hiding, he charged forward with a rock clutched in his claw which he launched squarely at the back of Roma’s head. The rock careened through the air, about to make its target… when it disintegrated in mid-air. Spike froze as he saw this; Roma didn’t even turn to look at him as she flung him into the wall. That had hurt, it wasn’t a hard throw as she had barely been concentrating, but it had hurt nonetheless. “So, it seems there is one with the power to oppose me,” Roma continued thoughtfully, before breaking out in a wide grin, “not for long.” As the words left her mouth, the grey light surrounding her horn intensified so that Clarity was forced to shut her eyes for fear of them being burnt out of her skull. Was she really going to die here? After everything she had fought through to get this far? Perhaps not. The light dimmed as Roma’s attention was diverted; a harmonious scream seemed to be echoing through the entire chamber. It was only at the last second that Roma looked up to see three fillies and the remains of a hang glider plunging down on top of her. ~ Canterlot castle was in chaos, nowhere more so than the assembly hall for the royal summit. The doors were ripped from their hinges, the walls and floor were chipped and battered, most of the platforms and pillars lining the wall had been ripped away, the entire ceiling gone from the earlier activation of the Aether Key. Yes this was certainly chaos, and now Discord was in his element as he strode through the door to find Roma attempting to untangle herself from a hang glider while the floor was littered with twelve princesses, six mares, three fillies and one dragon, all semi-conscious. “Tell me Roma,” he drawled, earning her attention, she looked back at Discord with pure venom, “how did you think this would all end? The inhabitants of this world would just roll over for you.” “I think I understand now,” Fluttershy had said quietly so the others couldn't hear as Applejack limbered herself up for bucking the door in. “Don’t get involved, not unless it’s absolutely necessary.” “No, I’ve long since accepted that the beings that infest this world are too stupid to understand the brilliance of my vision,” she replied icily, freeing herself from the glider and facing Discord with her wings spread wide and aggressive. “I know this is very difficult for you,” she whispered embracing Discord in a brief hug. “Celestia,” Discord called out to the alicorn who was shaking on the stone floor. “Do I have permission to go all out? To bring an end to this.” “Yes,” Celestia breathed. Discord grinned his widest grin in a very long time. “Good,” he hissed, never taking his eyes off Roma. The single word seemed to have a profound effect on the world, for as it was uttered, all hell began to break loose. ~ The citizens of Canterlot gathered in the street, watching the castle with fearful eyes. The light had been extinguished not long ago, but all present had the creeping feeling something far worse was on its way. A theory that was only proven correct when the entire mountain side began trembling due to some unseen force. as unicorns of the Canterlot gentry watched in undisguised horror, the entire castle was wrenched from where it was rooted, as if an invisible and had just ripped away from the rest of the city. The castle ascended into the sky and the ponies below watched as it began to crumble, towers collapsing and annexes falling away. However it was as if the remains fell into a current encircling the ruin, as they fell they were swept up and began orbiting the remains of the castle, twisting and warping into bizarre mockeries of pony architecture. Soon all that remained was a floating abomination of a castle, curiously, filled with golden orbs.” ~ Roma laughed manically as she took all this in. “You actually diverted power to protect these vermin?” she guffawed gesturing at the golden balls, each containing one life that had been in the castle at the time. “You have changed.” Discord didn’t reply, instead he rose into the air, keeping his joints loose, never taking his eyes off Roma who stood in a regal pose upon a floating fragment of floor that had been ripped from the castle. The silence began to stretch, Discord’s eye twitched with impatience, but he couldn’t strike yet, for as they both knew the key to victory was the element of… “Surprise!” the real Discord exclaimed appearing behind Roma swinging an inflatable mallet. First point to Discord as Roma was sent rocketing off her perch by the surprising impact carried by the balloon toy. Without a moments delay she twisted herself in mid-air, her horn lighting up, wrenching a pillar from the castle to act as her new platform. As quick as a flash she landed and began ripping brick after brick from the castle and sending them in perfect formation at Discord, whose body twisted and rippled easily, letting the projectiles pass right past or in some case through him. With a loud snap Discord tore a stair case from the floating ruin which coiled itself in the air before striking out at Roma like a serpent. Roma wasn’t caught off guard however as she sprung from the pillar which was shattered upon impact, spreading her wings, she dived straight at Discord. Discord leapt back and floated in nothing just as Roma sliced through where he had been a second before, her leg gauntlets forming blades at a single command of her horn. “Trust you to bring blades to a gun fight,” Discord exclaimed whipping out a pump action shotgun and fired a powerful jet of water, knocking Roma off balance. As she spun, she teleported herself several metres away for good measure, once she had regained her composure she pulled a dozen gargoyles free of the battlements, animating them with another flash of her horn. The stone soldiers bore down upon Discord who, with a flurry of his serpentine body, exploded into a swarm of parasprites which devoured the incoming enemies whole. Discord himself reappeared on one of the spires, without hesitation he leapt off and began falling through the air towards Roma who was still looking for him. With little effort began freezing the air, creating a slide of ice beneath his feet, trailing out behind him. Directing this he sped down to Roma and began circling her, encasing her in a frozen prison. Once his masterpiece was done he leapt forward, taking hold of the ice sculpture in his now oversized hands. As he took hold he began spinning around, faster and faster until finally he released the ball of ice straight for the earth far below. It dropped at a sickening speed, but before it reached it's final destination the whole thing shattered, and Roma sped back up without wasting any time. Discord dodged her as she shot through the air like a bullet, her wings searing past like razor blades. As Roma passed right by her quarry she felt something tug on her tail and looked down to see a grapping hook tangled up in her hair. On the other end of the rope, Discord held on, wearing water skis on his feet, inflatable arm bands and giant novelty sunglasses. Roma swished her tail with all her might, ignoring the pain that shot through her rump. As Discord came soaring towards her she spun in the air thrusting her hind legs out. She didn’t see but felt something collide hard with them. With a laugh she turned around to see only a cloud of confetti where Discord had been. “Looking for someone?” Discord called out, now in front of her. She spun around in time be knocked clean out of the sky by a giant boxing glove attached to a spring. As she fell her wings flapped uselessly. Staring at them in confusion she saw her perfectly preened feathers had been glued together by what looked like napalm, however knowing Discord it was more likely marmalade. Giving up on her wings she summoned another platform from the castle which she landed hard on, almost causing it to buckle under the sudden weight. Roma looked around wildly, scanning the skies for the cursed draconequus, but he was nowhere to be seen, and when Discord was nowhere to be seen, it usually meant he was… “Behind you,” the voice mused. Roma spun around, intending to lash out with her forehooves, but this time she was too late. Discord dodged her attack, but instead of retreating to a safe distance he closed the gap between them so they were eye to eye. He didn’t say anything, just reached out and clenched the sides of Roma’s helmet with the tips of his paws and claws. Roma felt a woozy sensation overcome her as Discords eyes began to ripple hypnotically. However almost as soon as it started it was over, and she was blasted back yet again, this time landing on a conveniently placed section of roof that had fallen from the castle and was now floating in the gravitational pull of it. “Did you really think you’re little mind tricks would have any effect on me?” she said with an attempt at her old winning attitude. “Mind tricks? Is that what you thought that was?” Discord asked innocently. Roma frowned, what she hadn’t seen when Discord took hold of her, was the twelve balls of power drained from her body, returning to their original owners. “I think the line you’re looking for here, is ‘oh-no’.” Roma turned around slowly, her eyes moving upwards to Canterlot Castle, where twelve alicorns, returned to full power descended with looks of righteous fury burning in their eyes. “Roma,” Celestia announced being the first to descend to her level, the others quickly joining her, as they all circled the grey alicorn, “you have committed unspeakable acts against this world and its inhabitants. I think I speak for all of us when I strip you of your undeserved title and sentence you to the ultimate punishment available to us… annihilation.” Roma’s eyes stretched wide fury and she tried without success to form a distinguishable sentence. “No objection? That suits me,” Caelum exclaimed as her body exploded in a bright cerulean light. One by one each of the princesses lit up, Roma found herself frozen where she stood, whether it was due to some power of her opponents or her fear, she wasn’t sure. Soon only Twilight remained, and Roma could see the uncertainty plastered over her face, maybe there was a chance yet. “Twilight,” Celestia whispered, the youngest looked over at her mentor, and as their eyes met it was as if they exchanged a thousand words through a single look, and Twilight nodded in sad acceptance as she too lit up in a brilliant purple light. Roma stared on in disbelief as she was overwhelmed by the power of each of the twelve princesses. She could feel her body tremble as it began to shatter into particles. The pain was unimaginable, perhaps the physical world equivalent of what she herself put Clarity through, perhaps it was meant to be ironic that way. As her body disintegrated she didn’t scream, instead she merely laughed, an insane cackle. The princesses stared in slight confusion at the quickly disappearing traitor. “You think you’ve won? You think just because you beat me you can return to your worthless, imperfect lives?” she screamed between laughs, only he head and part of her torso remained, “the gates are still opening, and they can never be stopped! You’ve won nothing!” And with those final words, the last of Roma was shredded into miniscule fragments and scattered to the winds. The princesses hung in the air, the light fading from their bodies, Roma was gone, but her words hung in the air, poisoning an otherwise glorious victory. “Discord,” Twilight said at last, “I sincerely hope you can fix all this.” The draconequus grinned at the challenge, “easily!” ~ “Twily! Cadance!” Shining Armour exclaimed, rushing over to the group of mares gathered in the newly rebuilt castle courtyard, “you’re okay!” “Shining, where have you been?” Twilight and Cadance asked at the same time. “Um, it’s a long story,” he said nervously glancing at his hooves, “let’s just say I and the rest of the royal guard understand exactly why ponies don’t like going in the Everfree Forest.” “Well you’re just in time for the party, courtesy of Pinks,” Rainbow Dash informed him. “I’m calling it my ‘Discord-beat-his-evil-creator-and-saved-the-world-with-the-princesses-who-aren’t-evil’s-help’ party,” Pinkie announced happily, “I might need some help making the banner.” “So that’s it? it’s all over?” Shining asked hopefully, this earned a sad look from Twilight and Cadance. “When are things ever that simple,” Clarity muttered. “Come on,” Twilight said woefully, “there’s another meeting, and you’ve all been asked to attend this one.” “Yippee, we finally get to meet all the princesses, eh Dashie,” Pinkie said bouncing at the back of the group. “I guess,” Dash admitted. “Some better circumstances would have been nice,” Rarity chipped in tersely. “Discord really did a good job fixing this place up,” Fluttershy said as they passed through the doors into the castle. “You mean from all the damage he caused?” Applejack retorted earning an uncharacteristically angry glare from Fluttershy, “ah mean, that was darn good of him.” “I’m glad you think so Applejack,” Discord said appearing over their heads, causing the farm pony to jump into the air, “perhaps this is finally the beginning of a beautiful friendship between you and me.” “Ah’m not gonna credit that with a response,” Applejack muttered, picking up her pace so she could talk to somepony else, anypony else. “How are you feeling Discord?” Fluttershy asked lagging behind the rest. “Chipper as always my dear, thank you for asking,” he replied simply, not meeting her eye. “I mean, how are you, regarding… her?” Fluttershy asked tentatively. Discord stopped walking. “From the day she made me, she filled my head with lies and false beliefs,” he said, his tone darkening, “it wasn’t until you gave me a chance that I realised my life could ever be anything more than what she had intended. it gave me the strength to do what I did, I’m free, truly free for the first time ever, and I have you to thank for that.” Fluttershy opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by Dash who called out from down the corridor. “Are you guys coming or what?” ~ The party arrived at the doors to the assembly hall; Shining Armour gave silent thanks it wasn’t covered in crystal again. Twilight took a nervous intake of breath. “Here we go,” she murmured as she pushed the door open with her magic. The room was absolute anarchy as they walked in, true it had been restored to its original design, but the princesses who now occupied the floor rather than their platforms were arguing and shouting at the top of their lungs, fighting desperately to be heard. “We can’t ignore this insurrection,” Ignis was insisting, “for all we know Roma had allies, they must be quelled before they can cause any more damage.” “We can’t stay here,” Somnium was arguing, “we’ve already been here longer than we should have, our own countries need us.” “We won’t have countries left if those gates aren’t shut,” Clover tried to reason. “Of course,” Caelum began sarcastically, “I forgot we have a whole factory for making Aether Keys, problem solved.” “There must be another way,” Luonto urged, “we haven’t even tried and we’re already fighting among ourselves needlessly." “But we don’t where the gates are,” Mare Equus reminded the room, “you heard Roma, it took her a thousand years to find them all.” Twilight noticed Inen was standing far back, refusing to get involved and Vegnum was rubbing her temples with her mechanical claws. “THAT IS ENOUGH!” a voice bellowed, the room was silenced immediately and all eyes turned to the triumvirate platform where Celestia and Luna had just appeared. Nopony used the royal Canterlot voice quite like Celestia it seemed. “This is a catastrophe and if we turn on each other now then we have already lost.” “What would you have us do?” Ignis pleaded. “While I know it is not this court’s place to listen to the voice of one, I beseech you all to listen and obey if we are to have any hope of surviving this." Some princesses like Ignis and Luonto seemed only too glad to put their faith in Celestia, others like Caelum and Mare Equus looked less pleased at the prospect, but no one argued. “Alright, thank you,” Celestia said with a sigh of relief, “first things first, you must all return to your own countries, Somnium is right, we can’t ignore our duties because of this, but also because it will be up to each of you to put in every ounce of effort into locating the gates. We know there are eleven; one in every continent, by breaking it down it should make it easier for all of us. “I would ask you, Luna, to take up temporary dominion over Panchea,” she continued addressing her sister, “with Roma’s absence the country will likely need a strong leader to prevent it succumbing to turmoil.” Luna nodded before Celestia turned her attention to Twilight. “Twilight, I am tasking you and your friends the mission of travelling to the locations of each gate as they are discovered, without the key our only hope for sealing them once more lies in the elements of harmony.” “You can count on us princess,” Twilight responded with determination. “But, uh, what if they don’t work?” Fluttershy asked, afraid of the possibility. “Don’t worry my child,” Celestia replied soothingly, “the elements are designed to restore harmony, two worlds spilling into one another is exactly the unbalanced situation they were created for, I have every faith they will work.” Fluttershy seemed relaxed by this, and the other element bearers looked even more elated. “Lastly, Discord,” the draconequus looked up in surprise at being addressed, “you have already made leaps and bounds in earning your redemption, but to prove your devotion I would have you perform one more task.” Discord and Fluttershy exchanged nervous glances before looking back up. “I need you to find out everything there is to know about Roma,” she continued, “her plans, her allies, anything that might help us understand what we’re up against. Can you manage that?” “It would be my pleasure milady,” Discord said with a little bow. Twilight noticed the relief he was trying to hide. “In that case there is nothing further to discuss,” she said exhaling, “I wish you all luck, may we meet back here in a year safe in the knowledge that our world is not in danger.” ~ “Look I’m not saying what you did was wrong,” Spike said again, his message still not getting through, “I’m just saying it’s not up to me whether you get punished or not.” The cutie mark crusaders looked disheartened at that. Spike paced anxiously, the girls were due back from their meeting any minute now. As he walked he noticed the sad expressions of the three fillies. “Hey,” he said getting their attention, “for what it’s worth, I thought you girls were really brave.” They all beamed at the compliment just as the door opened. Rarity and Applejack walked in, apparently deep in conversation, but as they saw the fillies they hushed up. “So, hang glidin’ from the roof,” Applejack began, “you’re lucky you three weren’t killed.” The fillies’ smiles faded. “We have told you countless times,” Rarity continued, “but would you ever listen?” The two mares sighed before looking at each other and nodding. “But it would be wrong of us to say you weren’t incredibly courageous,” Rarity said causing all three fillies’ eyes to open wide, “and Clarity owes you her life.” “You mean you’re not gonna punish us?” Applebloom asked hopefully. “Nah Sugarcube, not this time,” Applejack relented, “but don’t get the wrong idea now, this don’t mean you can go off doin’ whatever you want, it just means you were lucky this time and we’re all mighty grateful you’re okay.” Sweetie Belle and Applebloom leapt off the bed and rushed over to embrace their sisters. Scootaloo frowned slightly, but not before the door was opened again and Rainbow Dash sauntered in followed by Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. “Hey squirt, I’ve been meaning to talk to you,” Dash said noticing Scootaloo, “hang gliding off a roof and crashing straight into the bad guy, now that was awesome!” Scootaloo beamed and rushed over to her surrogate sister and hugged her tightly, which she didn’t try to resist. Dash looked up to see the stern looks Applejack and Rarity were giving her, she sighed before looking back down at the elated filly. “Yeah it was awesome, but listen,” she said trying to choose her words carefully, “just in future, maybe don’t go getting yourselves into crazy situations like that.” Scootaloo looked up in shock, along with everypony else in the room. “I’m not saying that to kill your buzz Scoots,” she said, wishing she was better at this, “I just don’t want you getting hurt is all… I don’t know what I’d do if that happened.” There was a long moment of silence before Scootaloo finally smiled again. “Okay Rainbow Dash, we’ll be safer in future.” Dash smirked and looked up to see the surprised but undeniably proud faces of Applejack and Rarity. “Woo hoo!” Pinkie exclaimed, “This calls for a ‘Dashie-just-developed-as-a-character’ party!” “I did what now?” ~ Twilight sighed as she walked along the platform with Cadance, Clarity and Shining Armour. “This isn’t how I wanted to spend our time together,” she muttered dejectedly. “I know Twilight,” Cadance replied sympathetically, “I wish we could have normal lives all the time.” “Do you think you’ll be able to do it?” Twilight asked, “Find the gate.” “I don’t know,” Cadance admitted, “but I do know I won’t stop trying. We’re going to beat this, I’m sure of it.” “Yeah,” Twilight said smiling for the first time that morning, “we’ve done this kind of thing before, as long as we have each other, we’ll always win.” “All aboard, for the Crystal Empire!” the train conductor bellowed. “Well, I guess this is it,” Cadance said absently, she leaned in to hug Twilight, “I hope we see each other again soon.” “Me too,” Twilight said as the embrace ended. “You be good you hear,” Shining Armour said jokingly before squeezing Twilight, “I love you sis.” “Love you too BBBFF.” as she pulled away from the hug she turned to Clarity who had been unusually quite since they left the castle. “I’m not going,” she announced at last. “What!” the other three exclaimed. “Clarity what are you taking about? We have to go home,” Cadance insisted, but Clarity shook her head. “No, you have to go home, they need you, but I…” she hesitated trying to find the words, “I think I’m needed for something else.” Cadance looked to her husband who was staring dumbfounded; Twilight just looked on, a faint understanding passing between her and Clarity. “Twilight,” she began again, “if you’d let me… can I come with you? Help you and your friends close the gates.” Twilight didn’t need to think about it, “I think I’d be very happy to have you along with us.” Clarity then looked to Cadance who was still unconvinced. “Please Cadance,” Clarity insisted, “I’m not a child anymore, I know what I’m doing.” “Last call for the Crystal Empire!” the conductor shouted as the locomotive began churning out steam. Cadance looked desperate for a moment before finally nodding. “Just be safe,” she said clutching her sister. Twilight watched, reminded of how Celestia had protected Luna from Roma, and then she looked at Shining Armour and knew he would have done the same for her. “Cadance we gotta go,” Shining said quietly, un-eager to pull the sisters apart, but Cadance accepted it as she stepped away from Clarity. There were no more farewells; the two simply stepped onto the train in forced silence. Twilight and Clarity watched as the train began to move, and their siblings looked out the window at them. As they got smaller and smaller, Clarity was overwhelmed by her thoughts. I love you Cadance, but I owe a debt, I’ll stick with Twilight to the bitter end if I have to, I owe her that and so much more. Cautionary TalesNorthern Lights The room was silent bar the scratching of a quill on parchment, Shining Armour was thankful for this. The thick walls of his private office blocked out all noise outside, including those made by the disgruntled crystal ponies threatening to tear down the palace just outside. He had just slipped away an hour earlier, confident his second in command, Diamond Dust would be more than capable of keeping the situation under control. The poor girl was always so eager to prove herself, much like a certain lavender unicorn Shining knew so well. He continued writing for another few minutes, conscious he wasn’t making nearly enough of an impact in the stacks of paperwork sitting on his desk as he should have. It was only when the tip of his writing implement snapped that he finally gave up, he was barely focused as it was, he would do better stopping now and making a fresh attempt in the morning. No sooner had he made the decision than his office doors were thrown open, and the very mare he had just been thinking about rushed in. “Captain,” Diamond Dust uttered breathlessly, “I could really use a hoof out here.” “Sure, I’m not getting any work done here anyway,” he replied exasperated, sliding out from behind his desk. Together he and his lieutenant walked down the hall, the sound of discontent clear now. It wasn’t long before the two stepped from the palace onto a raised platform, surrounded by dozens of very disgruntled ponies. Shining Armour had lived in the Crystal Empire for over a year now, but he wasn’t sure he would ever get used to the way the locals’ coats shined the way they did. The crowd gathered noticed his arrival and immediately began directing their indistinguishable ills at him. “One at a time please!” he shouted over the crowd, though he knew exactly what they were going to say, it had been the same every day for the last few weeks. “We told you!” one stallion at the front of the herd exclaimed, “It’s these damn dreams!” “We’ve been over this,” Shining said rubbing his temples, feeling a headache coming on, “the court mages have found nothing to suggest anything magic is causing this.” Or that they even existed, he added mentally, so far nopony residing in the palace had been afflicted by these supposed nightmares. “Well what about the princess?” a mare further back asked, “Why doesn’t she look into it?” “For the last time,” Shining began, his patience waning, “Princess Cadance is busy with an immensely important task for the royal court. So please, standing here shouting isn’t helping matters, just go home and let us work to find a solution.” The crowd grumbled among themselves, but they couldn’t argue, not without risk of the captain really losing his temper and throwing a few in jail overnight. He was normally a benevolent enforcer of the law, but nopony wanted to test that. Within moments the crowd was dispersing and the courtyard in front of the palace was left clear once more. “Thank you Shin- I mean, Captain,” Diamond Dust said with a small blush, “I tried to explain the situation to them but they wouldn’t listen to me.” “That’s okay,” he said nodding understandingly, “it’s only natural they’re so frustrated after three weeks of these… dreams.” Diamond Dust noticed the scepticism in his voice but didn’t comment; instead she excused herself allowing Shining Armour to stand in solitude for a moment at the base of the crystal spire that was the palace. With a sigh he craned his neck, looking up at the highest room, an open air space surrounded by pillars, the very location Twilight had once found the long lost crystal heart. “Whatever you’re doing up there Cadance,” he whispered, “please hurry, I need your help down here.” Little did Shining Armour know his hopes would not be dashed that evening. High up in the spire, a single pink alicorn sat alone, her hind legs folded, her eyes shut. She had tried everything she knew, and many more methods she hadn’t known after hours of researching, but for the first time since she was given her instructions a month before, she was getting somewhere. Unbeknownst to her, for her consciousness had long since slipped away from her body, malevolent forces watched her closely, curious as to what the princess could be working on so obsessively. As they watched, their quarry began to stir. The twitching of her limbs, the fluttering of her eyelids. She woke up almost suddenly, nearly startling the curious spirit. Thankfully for it however, it was beyond her abilities to perceive, but even if it wasn’t she still may not have noticed it through her excitement. For as her eyes snapped open she exclaimed one sentence before rushing from the tower. “I found it!” Northern Lights Ponyville library was a hive of activity this morning. Following the recent events that resulted in Sugarcube Corner being quarantined due to the spread of contagious and highly lethal parasite that Pinkie Pie had taken to causing Little Icky, said party pony had moved in temporarily with her best friend Twilight Sparkle. What she didn’t know was that shortly after the incident her friends had insisted on drawing straws to see who would be stuck with Pinkie, Twilight had, much to her annoyance, drawn the short straw. It wasn’t that any of them disliked the mare, on the contrary they loved her as much as any of their friends, but it was for the very reason that the library was now the location of one of Pinkie’s spontaneous parties that nopony had been too eager to take her. the Cakes themselves had family just outside town who had taken them in, and following Pinkie’s request, Twilight had ‘volunteered’ to house her for a while. Another reason Twilight hadn’t been keen on taking in Pinkie Pie, was that she wasn’t the only mare living with her at the moment. A month had passed since the royal summit in Canterlot, and each day Twilight and Clarity paced with baited breaths, impatiently waiting for the inevitable letter informing them the first gate had been discovered. it seemed strange to both mares that life in Ponyville could continue as normal when the fate of the world was hanging by a thread, but each day Applejack tended her orchard and set up her stall in the town market, Rarity fashioned garments and tended to her high class commissions, Rainbow Dash managed the weather teams and filled the rest of her time napping or showing off, Fluttershy kept to herself, caring for the many animals under her roof and beyond, and Pinkie… discovered parasites and travelled to a parallel universe where she was a white Pegasus. This had bewildered the pair of studious mares, it was only after the first week that Spike had finally had enough and insisted they get out of the library (which he achieved by locking them out after tricking them into leaving under the pretence of orders from the princess) that they began to relax, and while they continued to remain anxious about their upcoming mission, they tried to balance it out with spending time with their friends. However once Pinkie moved in and introduced anarchy to the normally quiet library, it somehow had the adverse effect of causing Twilight and Clarity to regress into panic mode. “One month,” Twilight said for perhaps the hundredth time as she paced her usual path on the ground floor, “it’s been one month and all we’ve gotten is a note saying ‘still nothing’.” “Come on Twilight,” Pinkie said hopping over, a party hat embedded in her frizzy mane, “turn that frown upside down and have some cake.” “Pinkie, how can you party at a time like this?” Twilight demanded, her sleep deprived eyes stretched wide. “Duh, how couldn’t I party at a time like this?” Pinkie asked like it was the most obvious thing in the world, “this is my ‘it's-been-one-month-since-the-end-of-the-world-began-and-Twilight’s-starting-to-have-a-break-down’ party.” Twilight opened her mouth to retort, but stopped as Clarity dragged herself down the stairs, she looked as bad as Twilight felt. “What’s all the noise down here?” she asked, clenching her eyes. “Pinkie Pie thought it would be appropriate to throw a party celebrating the fact it’s been a month since the world was royally screwed,” Twilight spat. Clarity and Pinkie Pie both stared at her wide eyed. “And I thought I was wound tight,” Clarity muttered moving into the kitchen, ignoring the sugary party treats laid out on Twilight’s writing desk. “Morning Clarity,” Spike said humming, however he stopped when he turned around and saw the state she was in, “didn’t get any sleep again? Here have some pancakes.” “Thanks Spike,” Clarity replied accepting the plate gratefully. “Do you wanna talk about it?” Spike asked, pulling up a seat opposite. “What’s there to talk about?” Clarity asked rhetorically, “I’m worried about my sister, I’m worried about the world, and I can’t find anything here to take my mind off it all.” “Don’t you like living in Ponyville though?” Spike asked over the noise of Twilight shouting in the other room. “Of course, I just haven’t been able to appreciate it much,” she replied between mouthfuls. “I’m sure the princesses are just having trouble getting started,” Spike said trying to cheer her up, “you’ll see, as soon as they find one the others will follow quickly enough, just like… just like…” “Dominos,” Clarity finished when he never did. However looking up she saw that he hadn’t stopped talking because he didn’t know the word, but because he looked like he was going to vomit. “Are you okay?” Clarity asked just before she was nearly engulfed in a belch of green fire. She had remembered to dodge just in time, she was unfamiliar with dragon magic but sure enough when she sat back up, a sealed scroll lay on the table. “Pardon me,” Spike said earning a giggle from Clarity. “Perhaps Blueblood is sending Twilight more marriage proposals,” Clarity joked as she helped herself to pulling open the scroll with her magic and holding it out before her. “So what is it about? Because if it really is him again I swear I’ll…” but he stopped when he noticed Clarity’s eyes wide with shock, “Clarity, what is it?” But she had already bolted from her seat, the letter trailing behind her. “Twilight!” she screamed, rushing in just in time to pull Twilight away from attempting to strangle Pinkie with streamers. “It’s… it’s…” Twilight took the letter from Clarity; her reaction could only mean one thing. Sure enough as her eyes darted back and forth across the page, they slowly widened. “They found one,” she whispered, dropping the letter, “they found one!” Twilight began bouncing up and down with excitement, she was quickly joined by Pinkie, whether she knew what was going on and was happy too or if she thought jumping up and down looked like fun. “But more than that,” Clarity interrupted, barely able to contain herself, “my sister found it, which means…” “Spike! Pack your bags,” Twilight ordered, “we’re going to the Crystal Empire!” ~ “What took you guys so long?” Rainbow Dash complained as the others mounted the station platform. “The train ain’t for another half hour,” Applejack reminded her, “’sides, not all of us can get from one end of Ponyville to the other in five minutes.” “Four minutes actually,” Dash boasted earning an eye roll from Applejack. “I’m not complaining,” Twilight said entering the conversation, “frankly I was worried you’d sleep in today.” “Hey, I’m not about to ‘sleep in’ when the world’s counting on us,” Dash said indignantly, “I’m the element of loyalty remember.” “And for that we’re very glad,” Twilight replied sweetly casting a look at Spike who carrying the box which housed the elements. “Oh, how I envy you,” Rarity said drawing all three of their attentions, “the thought of living in the Crystal Empire is just…” Rarity began to swoon dangerously and to no pony’s surprise her fainting coach made its appearance to break her fall. “It’s nice and all,” Clarity replied reluctantly, “but it’s actually really boring, not like here at all.” “Well maybe in my twilight years I might need to get away from all the excitement,” Rarity said, getting to her hooves once more. “That reminds me, I crafted a new dress for when we arrive which I’ll want all your opinions on.” “So Twilight,” Rainbow began, probably desperate to change the subject, “tell us, how’s living with Pinkie Pie?” Twilight glared at her, she just smiled maliciously back. “Oh it’s been great” Pinkie interrupted bouncing over and putting a hoof around Twilight, “just this morning she tried to play strangle the pony on me.” That pushed Rainbow over the edge and she collapsed in a fit of raucous laughter. “Again Pinkie, sorry I lost my head like that,” Twilight said looking at her hooves in shame. “It’s okay,” Pinkie insisted pulling Twilight into another rib crushing hug, “that’s what friends do.” “Uh…” Twilight began, but stopped as heard the unmistakable sound of an approaching train, “oh it’s here, I guess we could board early and get good seats.” ~ Celestia sighed as she closed her study doors behind her. Cadance’s letter had been the first good news she had received in too long. Although she had said it was important the princesses don’t ignore their other duties, she was finding it increasingly hard to find the time for both that and locating the gates, and she knew the others would be having the same problem. It didn’t help that with Luna over the channel in Panchea, she had to keep a near constant communication open with her so they could coordinate the shift from day to night and vice versa. It was times like this Celestia cursed living on a round planet; true it made it capable of so many things including the seasons, but moving celestial bodies would be far less hassle if it was simply a case of raising and lowering the sun. No, rather she pushed the sun along, which meant it had to be timed perfectly with Luna’s moving of the moon as eclipses caused so many problems, the least of which preventing them from using magic and thus forcing them to wait for it to end naturally. No, she’d rather not have a repeat of that incident; Roma would never let her forget about it. Celestia stopped thinking when she remembered, no Roma wouldn’t say anything about it, because she’s gone, she betrayed them. Celestia shook her head in an attempt to clear her head of thought. She needed to get down to business, Cadance explained the method that yielded the gate’s location to her, but she had already tried that and it resulted in failure. Could it be there were different methods for each gate, there was no logical reasoning to assume so, but Celestia dreaded the thought none the less. ~ It was late evening as the Friendship Express arrived at the Crystal Empire station. Twilight and Clarity had been staring out the window eagerly the entire ride while most of the others got a little sleep. Only Pinkie and Fluttershy stayed awake, much to the others displeasure as Fluttershy wanted peace and quiet and Pinkie wanted to play board games. “It’ll be good to see Cadance again,” Twilight said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “Yeah, I’ve lived with her my whole life, I hardly ever spend this long away from her,” she explained, her eyes had a glazed look as she thought back. “Guys, wake up, we’re here,” Twilight announced, causing the others to stir and both Fluttershy and Pinkie to breathe sighs of relief at not having to bear each other’s conflicting personalities for any longer. “Spike,” Clarity said, nudging the baby dragon next to her, “time to get off.” “Sure thing,” he said after a wide yawn. Grabbing their luggage, Spike trailing the elements on a small trolley, the departed the train “Am I glad to see you girls,” a voice announced as they stood trying to get their bearings. Twilight looked up and her face broke into a wide smile as she rushed over to embrace her big brother. “Hey BBBFF, how have you been?” she asked still pressed tightly against Shining Armour’s chest. “I… I’ve been better if I’m honest,” he said reluctantly. This took Twilight by surprise and she only now noticed Shining Armour was looking awfully tired. “Has something happened?” she asked concerned. “It’s nothing for you to worry about,” he said dismissively, “come on, I know Cadance has been very eager for your arrival.” They group started to walk towards the exit when a voice at the back of the group made them stop. “Where the heck’s Rarity?” Applejack asked looking around; the others joined her in scanning the station, but to no avail. “I think she’s still putting on her dress,” Fluttershy proposed, “don’t worry; I’ll check on her, you can all head on.” Shining Armour didn’t argue, in fact he seemed grateful that they weren’t going to be delayed any longer. Swiftly he began leading them from the station in a beeline for the palace which shone out like a beacon in the low light of the evening sun. as they walked Twilight became acutely aware of something wrong. A number of crystal ponies ambled along the streets as they walked, but in stark contrast to the last time they were here, there were no smiles and friendly greetings as they passed by. The others seemed to pick up on this; Clarity especially was thrown off by it. “Um, Shining Armour,” she began, speeding up to walk next to him, “is something wrong with everypony.” “Yes they’ve been having…” he began before catching himself, “I mean, doesn’t matter, we can take care of it, even more so when this damn gate business is taken care of.” The last sentence was more of an inward grumble. Clarity cast a look back at Twilight, who looked equally perturbed by her brother’s response. Before she could speak up however she felt Spike nudge her in the side. “Come on Twilight, you can’t be expected to solve every little problem that comes around,” he reasoned in a whisper. Twilight relented and dropped the subject, instead focussing her gaze on the crystal spire which was drawing closer. As they neared the main entrance to the palace, a small platoon of guards marched past, as they did the mare leading them stopped, ordering her comrades to carry on. “Hey Captain,” she said greeting them, “and Clarity, haven’t seen you in a while.” “Hi Diamond Dust,” Clarity said cheerfully. “So these are the ones you were talking about?” Diamond Dust asked Shining Armour, he simply nodded in response, “thank goodness, the sooner the princess is free of this… issue; she can help us sort this mess out.” Without another word she rushed off to join her squad, Twilight was now struggling to keep herself quiet. Again they set off, this time ascending the palace which was now becoming vaguely familiar to Twilight and her friends, Shining Armour and Clarity knew it like the back of their hooves. Twilight remembered the throne room being absolutely deserted the first time they visited here, now however it was packed with officials and dignitaries running back and forth giving the distinct impression they hadn’t a clue what they were doing. “I guess it’s too much to be able to expect a dozen alicorns to run the world without need of assistance,” a familiar voice said, approaching them from the side. They all turned and were delighted to see the pink princess they had come to know so well. “Cadance!” Clarity and Twilight exclaimed rushing over, however they stopped themselves when they saw she was clearly too tired for any signs of affection. “Forgive me girls,” she said with a weak smile, “I am delighted to see you again, but these past weeks have been trialling.” “But it paid off,” Twilight said, drawing light to the silver lining, “you found the gate.” “Indeed, though it was by no means an easy task,” she replied disheartened, “our enemy spent centuries locating them all, for us to have even found one in such a short space of time is nothing short of a miracle.” “So where is it then?” Twilight asked, barely able to contain her excitement. “It’s underground actually,” Cadance replied leading them out of the packed room to a more peaceful study area, “in some of the ancient caverns used by Sombra during his reign.” “So what are we waiting for?” Dash exclaimed flying into the air, “let’s get down there and blast it to smithereens.” “Not so fast hot shot,” Shining Armour cut through, “those caverns are pretty vast, we’re all going to need to be well rested before attempting to venture into them.” “That suits me,” Applejack said, “ah’m plum tuckered as it is.” “Alright in that case I’ll show you to your rooms,” Shining said making for the door, “of course, your own room is available Clarity.” “Thanks I’ll head up in a minute,” Clarity replied, still standing next to her sister. Realising she wanted a private word the rest exited the study and re-entered the throne room which was peculiarly entirely silent. “Well that was sudden,” Applejack announced. “They look like they’ve seen a ghost,” Pinkie said before gasping with excitement, “Maybe they did, this calls for Pinkie Pie, Ghost Bus…” But she was cut off by an approaching voice. “Really Pinkie, they’re just rendered speechless by my stunning dress,” Rarity said reaching the group, Fluttershy in tow. “Wow Rarity,” Twilight said, her eyes wide with amazement, “you look just…” “Isn’t that your pageant costume?” Dash interrupted, this made Rarity snort in indignation. “No it is not, the clear difference being my costume comprised only a cape and crown,” she began to explain, “this is the full regalia, but yes it is based on historical representations of Princess Platinum so I can understand your confusion.” “Well I think it’s very nice,” Twilight said, “we were just heading to our rooms for some rest.” “Oh good, that train ride was most uncomfortable,” Rarity stated mingling into the group, “lead on good sir.” Shining Armour rolled his eyes at how he was addressed but continued none the less. As they left the room Twilight was faintly aware of the crowd whispering excitedly behind them. ~ “So how is life in Ponyville treating you?” Cadance asked after a long hug. “Good, really good,” she replied eagerly, “interesting, but enjoyable.” “I’m glad, I know you’ve been feeling cooped up here, and don’t try to deny it,” she said as Clarity opened her mouth to argue, “you’re still young, you should be out having fun and making friends.” There was a moment of silence broken only by Cadance’s laughter. “What’s so funny?” Clarity asked quirking an eyebrow. “Nothing, well, it’s just,” she stammered between giggles, “I sound like Celestia.” “Oh god, you’re getting really old then,” Clarity said joining in the laughter, “not that age matters for a pony who’s immortal.” “Well, immortality's a choice,” Cadance murmured, “but anyway, are you getting along with…” “Hang on a moment,” Clarity cut through before she could change the subject, “what’s that supposed to mean? Immortality is a choice.” Cadance shifted uncomfortably, she hadn’t meant to bring it up, even less for Clarity to actually hear her comment. “Well…” she hesitated wondering how best to approach this subject, “it’s just that alicorns can only live as long as they choose to.” “Yeah, so?” Clarity asked, “It’s not like you’d ever want to die.” Clarity laughed a little at the notion, but stopped when she realised Cadance wasn’t amused by her joke. “Hang on, you can’t possibly…” she trailed off, Cadance looked back sadly. “Don’t worry Clarity, I won’t leave for a long time,” she began, “it’s just, what with marrying a mortal unicorn…” “You mean if Shining Armour dies, you’d kick the bucket too?” Clarity asked indignantly, “does he know?” “Yes, it took some time for him to accept, but he came around eventually,” she explained, “I’m sure you will as well.” “You can’t be serious?” Clarity exclaimed. “Clarity, keep your voice down,” Cadance begged, “I knew this wouldn’t go down well with you, but you have to understand death is natural, even for us.” “No, don’t say that!” Clarity screamed, “If you can fight it, why not live on, why leave me alone?” “Clarity no, listen…” but Clarity had already run out of the study, the tears streaming down her face hadn’t been missed by her older sister. Cadance sighed as she walked over to her desk. She knew this would be a touchy subject with Clarity, she just hoped she could come to understand in time, she would just have to bear with some emotional turbulence until then. ~ “Princess, may I say what an honour it is to be at your service today,” Hoity Toity said all while making the usual fool of himself that only the Canterlot gentry could pull off so spectacularly. “Thank you kind sir,” Cadance replied sincerely, it always amazed Clarity how her sister could find in her heart to be so nice to everyone she met. “My sister is in need of a dress, I’ll explain the details.” As she said this she led Hoity Toity across the shop, Clarity didn’t take notice of this, she was too exasperated at being dragged to the dress shop by her older sibling. “Cadance, I have plenty of dresses,” Clarity whined as her sister approached. “I know but I thought you might like another one,” Cadance replied simply, Clarity knew there was something wrong with that reply, she would not like another dress and Cadance knew it. However before she could question her sister she was swept away by two shop assistants who pulled her over to the measuring area. After Celestia knows how long she was finally presented to her sister and Hoity Toity in an inarguably over the top dress. “I think she looks magnificent,” Hoity Toity commented, Cadance smiled in response, but Clarity knew her sister well enough to know it was a forced smile. “Yes it looks lovely,” she said through gritted teeth. “Shall I place the order?” “No!” Cadance replied, a little too quickly, “I mean, not yet. I’ll have everything paid for at a later date if you don’t mind.” “Of course your highness,” he replied oblivious to her disdain for the dress. The sisters left the store and made their way down the main street of Canterlot. “That was disappointing,” Cadance said with dismay, “maybe Celestia will know somepony better.” “I don’t understand Cadance,” Clarity said again, “why would I ever need a new dress?” “Well,” Cadance began with a devious smile, “I just thought you’d want to look your best should you ever attend a wedding.” “Yeah, maybe, but it’s not like we’re going to any wed…” Clarity stopped dead in her tracks as what her sister had said sunk in. “No, you don’t mean?” Clarity asked looking up at her sister, who looked back with a wide smile. Clarity screamed with delight and rushed to pull her sister into a neck breaking hug, ignoring the shocked looks from passing Canterlot snobs. “Yes, it’s true,” Cadance said still beaming at her sister’s excitement. “I knew he was going to propose, I told he would,” Clarity screamed still ecstatic with joy. “Yes well, I guess I owe you twenty bits,” Cadance replied reluctantly, “still, I think that bet was a win-win for me whatever happened.” Together they walked back up to the castle, still talking excitedly about the upcoming event. “And of course, the best news,” Cadance said suddenly remembering something. “What, you mean even better than starting a family with Shining Armour?” Clarity asked queerly. “Well maybe second best news then,” Cadance relented, “I will of course need a maid of honour.” “You mean… me?” Clarity breathed, the thought made her light headed. As Cadance nodded, Clarity’s scream of joy could have broken the ear drums of every guard in Canterlot. ~ “Yes Rarity, the dress is gorgeous, but could you please turn out the lights and go to bed?” Twilight asked, her bed covers drawn up over her head to block out the intense light Rarity was using to admire herself in. “Oh very well,” Rarity gave in with a sigh walking towards the door. “Are you going somewhere?” Twilight murmured as she heard the door open. “Well I can’t very well let this image go to waste,” Rarity justified, “I think I’ll go see if I can give the night guard a heart attack.” Rarity giggled at her own joke as she flicked the lights and left the room she was sharing with Twilight. No sooner had she closed the door than she nearly barrelled over by a blue blur. “Please watch where you’re running,” Rarity asked, furious at the pony’s audacity. But as she looked to see who it was she realised it was Clarity, and most disturbingly she was crying. “Oh my dear, I didn’t realise it was you, please forgive me.” “It’s alright Rarity,” Clarity said looking down and giving a little sniff, “it was my fault really.” “But darling, whatever is wrong?” Rarity asked stepping in closer to her friend. “It’s just…” Clarity began, stopping dead as she saw Rarity’s dress, her eyes wide. “Ah, I see you like,” Rarity said proudly, forgetting she was supposed to be cheering Clarity up. “Yeah, it’s really… yeah,” Clarity replied, unsure how she should react. “What is it dear? Too much?” Rarity asked, suddenly concerned her dress wasn’t the masterful work of art she had intended it to be. “No it’s not that, it’s just…” she drifted off again, thinking desperately of the right words, “have you heard of Princess Platinum?” “Why of course,” Rarity exclaimed, “daughter of the unicorn king, one of the founders of Equestria, she’s actually who I designed this dress after.” “I think you’d better come with me,” Clarity said starting down the hallway, Rarity frowned but followed none the less. It didn’t take long for them to reach their destination; Clarity led Rarity into a deserted library. The outside was being guarded by a crystal stallion, but he stepped aside when Clarity identified herself. Rarity knew Twilight would give anything to gain access to this room, now that she was a princess it probably wouldn’t be too hard. The shelves lining the room were filled to the brim with stacks of ancient looking tomes, but Rarity could tell they weren’t there to read. There was a single stretch of wall which was free of books and shelves; instead it bore a single floor to ceiling oil painting. Rarity gasped as she took in the very familiar, regal dress adorning the grey mare who was the occupant of the picture. “This painting is incredible,” Rarity exclaimed, “but why is there a picture of Princess Platinum in the Crystal Empire?” “Don’t you know?” Clarity asked, slightly bewildered, “Princess Platinum was the last crystal princess before its fall.” “No way,” Rarity said most uncharacteristically. “Yes way,” Clarity replied, “and incidentally, that unicorn king who was her father, he had a name.” “Oh, what was his name?” Rarity asked, though a part of her knew what Clarity was going to say. “Sombra.” ~ “I knew she’d react this way,” Cadance moaned, “I should have waited.” “No, the longer you left it the worse it was going to be,” Shining Armour reasoned. The two lay intertwined in their bed for the first time since Cadance began her task of locating the gate. “I know, but still,” Cadance said, “I wish there was a way to make her understand.” “She’ll understand, she just needs time.” “Since when were you such an expert in this field,” Cadance said laughing. “I have a little sister too,” he retorted. ~ Twilight began to stir from her sleep, which was curious considering it felt like no more than a few minutes since Rarity had left, but, that was just sleep she reasoned. It was only when she felt the tickling of wind against her fur that she began to realise something was wrong. Her eyes snapping open, she saw she was no longer in her bed; she wasn’t even in the palace. But she could see the crystal spire and the surrounding city… from where it stood a long way below her. Twilight screamed as she realised she was hanging in mid-air, but scrambling to her hooves she found herself standing on some invisible platform giving her a bird’s eye view of the whole empire. “Wow,” she whispered to herself, as confusing as the situation was it was undoubtedly impressive. Her thoughts however were interrupted by the sound of whimpering. She looked around to find that she wasn’t along where she stood, but instead there were dozens of the crystal ponies standing along with her, each one curled up in terror of something Twilight couldn’t see. “Excuse me,” Twilight began tentatively, getting one of the trembling pony’s attention, “do you know what’s going on?” “I-its h-him,” the mare stammered in response, pointing a hoof upwards, “h-he’s back!” Twilight tilted her head up slowly, her eyes following the direction the mare was pointing in, and every other pony was pointedly averting their eyes from. Twilight felt her heart stop as her gazed upon the thing that everypony was so scared of. A single, colossal eye, wrapped in darkness stared down over the empire, squarely over the palace. Twilight had the sinking feeling she knew who that eye belonged to, but her train of thoughts didn’t make it far as soon after a shudder ran through the entire city. All the ponies gathered moaned, as if they knew what was coming, but Twilight just stared transfixed by what was happening. Before her very eyes the city appeared to be ripping itself apart, no something was pushing up from underneath. As she watched she began to make out shapes through the rising smoke and showers of shattered crystal. It appeared to be some gigantic fortress carved from black stone, no, black crystals. The fortress was rising up from the depths of the earth, devouring the city. Two of the legs that held the palace in place were smashed from under it, causing it to tip at a dangerous angle. The stadium that had been built for the Equestrian games was annihilated by the rising castle. “What is that thing?” Twilight screamed over the devastation taking place bellow them. “I-it’s the Under Bastion,” another mare replied. This meant nothing to Twilight but the mere mention of it seemed to earn another wave of cries from the gathered ponies. Twilight desperately wanted to tear her gaze from the destruction bellow her, but her eyes seemed locked on. As she watched the tip of the ‘Under Bastion’ rose higher until it stood towering over the crystal palace itself, and as she stared something appeared atop it, an ethereal blue tear in the fabric of space, the Aether Gate. “No!” Twilight screamed as she sat bolt upright in her bed, she stared around her taking in the room, her breathing heavy and laboured, “it was just a dream… just a horrible dream.” She lay back down panting, trying desperately to rid her mind of the images it had just witnessed, but to no avail. She knew there was no hope of getting any more sleep tonight, and besides, she had a funny feeling Cadance needed to know about this. ~ Rarity and Clarity sat in silence, while Rarity took this new information in. “Oh dear,” she said at last, “you don’t think I offended any pony do you? it would explain the weird looks I was getting on my way here.” “No, I don’t think so,” Clarity replied unsure, how would she know? She wasn’t a native of the Crystal Empire. “It is a very nice dress; maybe… this wasn’t the right place for it.” “You’re right, it was stupid of me not to do thorough research,” she said chastising herself, “but listen to me, going on about myself. I was supposed to be asking you what was wrong.” “Oh,” Clarity said, remembering the events leading up to her running into Rarity, “it’s not important.” “Nonsense,” Rarity insisted, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in worse state, now tell me, what happened.” “OhRarityIdon’tknowwhattodoCadancethinksit’sbesttodiewhenShiningdiesbutshe’smyonlyfamilyandIcan’tloseher!” Clarity said without pausing for breath, leaving Rarity still somewhat confused. “Alright,” she said slowly, “maybe try saying that again, but this time leave spaces between your words.” Clarity took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself. “Cadance thinks it’s best, that if Shining Armour passes away, that she should…” she hesitated, “that she should go too.” “Oh,” Rarity replied simply, “well yes, I can see why that would upset you.” “Do you think I’m being unreasonable?” “Of course not,” Rarity insisted, “why I would think you cold not to be showing this level of emotion at the thought of losing your sister.” “But do you think it’s right, what she’s planning?” Clarity asked slowly. “That’s not for me to judge,” Rarity argued, “but you have to remember that Cadance and Shining Armour are in love, love… makes ponies do crazy things.” “I can’t lose her, she’s my only…” Clarity whispered, drifting off before she could finish. Rarity bit her lip, she guessed what Clarity had been about to say, and she had occasionally wondered about the rest of her family, but she knew it would be rude inappropriate to ask outright. “Would it maybe help if we went and talked to her about it?” Rarity suggested, Clarity shook her head in response. “No, after I stormed off like that I don’t think I should go back just yet.” Rarity opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by the sound of shouting outside. “For the last time miss, I don’t care who you are, you’re not allowed in here!” the guard bellowed. “And I told you buddy, I’ve got an important massage from the princess!” “Rainbow Dash?” Rarity whispered, walking towards the door before things could escalate. When she opened it she found she had chosen to act just in time, Rainbow Dash hovered in front of the crystal guard, their foreheads pressed into one another threateningly. “Rainbow Dash, what in Equestria do you think you’re doing?” Rarity demanded. “There you are,” Dash exclaimed, forgetting the guard, “come on, both of you.” Without another word she flew away, Rarity exchanged a glance with Clarity who just shrugged in response before setting off together after the Pegasus. ~ Canterlot was in a state of emergency when Clarity entered the castle that morning. guards were running in every direction, seemingly more wound up than usual. Clarity quickly found who she was looking for amidst the battalions of armoured stallions. “Shining,” she called out, grabbing the captain’s attention, “what’s going on?” “Oh Clarity,” he said in a hurried tone, “sorry I can’t stay to talk, a threat was just made against Canterlot and we’ve been put onto high alert.” “A threat! From who?” Clarity asked panicked. “We don’t know, but we’re not taking any chances.” he began to march away but Clarity ran after him. “Wait, what about the wedding?” she asked worried. “That should be going ahead assuming everything goes as planned,” he assured her, “but right now I need to work. Maybe you should go see Cadance; she already knows of the situation, she can fill you in more.” As Shining Armour left, Clarity found herself wondering. “A threat… this close to the wedding,” she whispered to herself. She was sure it wasn’t a coincidence, and she had a funny feeling it was somehow linked to the pain she had been feeling in her chest all morning. Shining Armour had told her to go find her sister, and that’s exactly what she was going to do, for reasons she wasn’t entirely sure of. ~ The guards stepped aside without a second thought when Twilight came into view; her wings were more than enough of a hall pass for them. She passed through the door into a foyer she had never been to before, but then she had never had reason to visit her brother’s bedroom before. The chamber guard raised a hoof as she approached, signally her to remain quiet, they must already be asleep, maybe she should come back in the morning. “Can I help you princess?” he whispered. Well, she was here already. “Yes, I need to have a word with the princess,” she explained simply. “Is it urgent,” he asked with the usual blank expression she associated with guards. “I believe so,” Twilight replied, not technically lying, after all how was she supposed to gauge how important a dream was. The guard nodded and turned to the door, giving it a loud, clear knock. After a brief moment it was opened and Shining Armour stood on the other side, peering sleepily back at them. “Twilly?” he said, unsure if he was seeing things or not. “Sorry to wake you,” she began, she was beginning to think this really wasn’t worth bringing to his attention now of all times, “but I needed to discuss something with you and Cadance.” Shining didn’t question her any further, instead just nodded to the guard and let her pass through. “Hello Twilight,” Cadance said groggily, “has something happened?” “Y-yes,” Twilight said hesitating, “I’ve just had a dream.” She was expecting a negative reaction at this, perhaps her brother would facehoof and tell her to grow up, she wasn’t expecting him and Cadance to exchange worried looks. “That’s not good,” Shining said, “any dream you thought was important enough to bring to our attention can only be…” “I thought you said nopony inside the palace has been having it,” Cadance questioned. “No, they haven’t, it’s only been the towns ponies,” Shining explained to her, Twilight was now positively confused. “Just to be sure, what was your dream of Twilight?” Cadance asked. Twilight explained to the best of her abilities, which was easy considering how vivid the dream had been, all the while she noticed nothing she was saying came as a surprise to either of the older ponies, at least, nothing until she mentioned the gate. “Hang on, what?” Shining interrupted, shocked at this new revelation, “that’s new; nopony’s ever reported that before.” “What’s that supposed to mean? Who else is having these dreams?” Twilight demanded. “Shortly after we got back from Canterlot,” Shining began, now fully awake, “every pony in town began having the same dream every night, the same dream you’ve just had.” “Naturally, they’ve been very panicked about it,” Cadance continued, “but with my efforts at locating the gate, I have been unable to look into it.” “But none of them have mentioned the gate before,” Shining said, still confused. “And what is this Under Bastion thing?” Twilight asked. “I’m not sure,” Shining admitted, “after the crystal ponies started talking about the dreams I tried researching it, but found nothing relating to it.” “Maybe one of the crystal ponies who was present before the disappearance of the empire will know something about it,” Cadance proposed, “Do you know any pony who might fit that criteria.” “Yeah, just a minute,” Shining said leaving the room and the two mares alone. After giving a quick order to the chamber guard he returned. “I’ve sent for Lieutenant Diamond Dust, hopefully she’ll know something about it. Also I sent for the other bearers, I’ve got a feeling our expedition won’t wait until morning.” ~ Diamond Dust walked at as swift a pace as she could manage without seeming too undignified, she knew something must ahoof if she was being called to the princess’s private quarters in the dead of night. “Hi there!” a voice exclaimed in her ear, nearly causing her to jump clean out of her armour. “What the…” she began spinning around wildly to come face to face with a pink earth pony standing uncomfortably close, “um, can I help you?” “Well actually, you can,” she said in an unbelievably cheery voice, “we’re looking for Cadance’s bedroom.” “You’re… what?” Diamond Dust exclaimed after the pink pony’s words sunk in. “Sorry ‘bout her hun, she’s a few screws short,” an orange mare wearing a Stetson said, approaching from the same direction the pink one had come in, “we were summoned by Shining Armour to their room for some kinda emergency meetin’.” “Oh of course,” Diamond said realising where she had seen these ponies before; they were part of the group Shining Armour had brought in earlier to help with the ‘crisis’. “I’m actually on my way there myself, if you would like to follow me.” “That’s mighty kind of yah,” the orange mare said tipping her hat, “name’s Applejack. The loud one’s Pinkie Pie and that’s Fluttershy hiding behind my tail.” It was only when Applejack said that, that Diamond notice the quivering Pegasus curled up behind her. “Is she alright?” she asked concerned. “Just gets nervous around strangers is all Miss…” “Oh, Diamond Dust,” she said starting to walk, the others following, “I’m Shining Armour’s Lieutenant.” “Ohhh, you work with Twilight’s brother, what’s he like? Is he mean? Is he friendly?” Pinkie began asking, all the while bouncing next to the group. “Pinkie, you’ve met him,” Applejack stated simply. “I mean as a boss, what’s he like?” she elaborated. “He’s actually really good,” Diamond said as they walked, “the Crystal Empire has never been famous for its discipline, but then it’s never had any desire to extent its borders, but even the guard were poorly trained. Shining Armour turned all that around when he became captain.” “That sounds like Twilight’s brother alright,” Applejack replied smirking. “But if the Crystal Empire doesn’t have an army, then how did King Sombra take control?” a quiet voice whispered from behind Diamond, she looked around to see it was Fluttershy who spoke. When she did, Fluttershy seemed to panic and let out a small squeak, “that is, if you don’t mind me asking.” “No its okay, we’re coming to terms with it,” Diamond said looking away so as not to make Fluttershy feel uncomfortable. “Actually he enforced his rule with soldiers he forged from the dark crystals he controlled.” “Crystals huh?” Applejack said thoughtfully. “Well yeah, it is the Crystal Empire,” Diamond pointed out with a small laugh. “It’s not that,” Applejack said thoughtfully, “it’s just… never mind.” Diamond Dust had been interested in what could have made Applejack so curious, but in her position she had learned when to keep her mouth shut, and besides, they were almost there.” ~ It didn’t take long for all the ponies to be gathered. Rainbow Dash was the first to arrive with Rarity and Clarity, the latter pointedly not making eye contact with her sister. Cadance was only now for the first time seeing Rarity’s dress, which she hadn’t had a chance to change out of. Rarity mumbled something of an explanation which Cadance took to mean she didn’t want to discuss it. Twilight had stepped out to fetch Spike and returned swiftly with him half asleep on her back, the elements al held in her telekinetic aura. Shortly after Diamond Dust arrived escorting the last three. “Thank you all for coming,” Cadance began when all were gathered, “I apologise for puling most of you from your beds, but this couldn’t wait.” “To cut a long story short, Twilight has had a dream, and yes Diamond,” Shining Armour said noticing his Lieutenants look of surprise, “that dream exactly.” “One thing we don’t know,” Twilight said, entering the conversation, “is this thing called the Under Bastion.” Diamond Dust visibly shivered at the mention of it, causing the rest in the room to exchange worried looks. “You know what it is?” Cadance asked, Diamond Dust gulped and nodded. “When Princess Platinum was the Crystal Princess…” she began. “She what?” Twilight exclaimed only to be shushed by Rarity. “She made her father her advisor, and rewarded him with dominion over the caverns beneath the Empire,” she explained, “deep within the earth he carved his own castle, which he dubbed the Under Bastion. When he took over, he ruled within the Crystal Palace but kept the Bastion for… other things.” Diamond shuddered at the memory but Cadance continued to press her. “I know it’s difficult, but please,” she insisted, “what did he use it for?” “Torture, re-education, experiments,” she listed, “he ruled us above ground, but it was below ground where the really dark stuff happened. If anypony tried to resist they would be taken down, sometimes they would come back and it would be like they were an entirely different individual, but mostly they were never heard from again.” “But that doesn’t make any sense,” Twilight whispered, “it still doesn’t explain how Sombra could do anything now; he’s still gone… isn’t he?” Nopony answered; instead the room sat in silence for a moment. It was only broken when Shining armour spoke up again. “It doesn’t matter right now,” he stated, “what does matter is that if the gate is in any way involved in all this we need to close it now!” “Alright, time for action,” Dash said pumping the air. “Is there an entrance into the caverns?” Twilight asked. “We kept one open following the Empire’s return in case of emergencies,” Cadance responded, “We’ll head there now.” “Sir, what are your orders?” Diamond Dust asked standing at attention. “I’m not saying I believe it will actually happen, but just to be on the safe side, I want you to mobilize the guard,” he ordered, “be ready at a seconds notice to evacuate the city.” “To the palace?” “No, get outside the city limits,” Shining specified, “if Twilight’s dream is accurate, that will be the safest place.” Diamond Dust saluted and strode from the room, once she was clear of the door she could be heard breaking into a gallop. Twilight turned to her friends, raising the necklaces out to them. “Alright girls, suit up,” she ordered passing each element out one by one, “as soon as we reach that gate we fire these up, no hesitation, got it?” They all nodded in agreement, latching the elements around their necks. “All right,” Cadance announced, “Twilight and I will teleport us as far as the ground floor.” “Quick question,” Rarity said quietly, sounding more like Fluttershy, “would I have time to change out of my dress?” Immediately all her friends gave her a look which clearly said ‘are you kidding me’. “Fine, message received.” Rarity muttered darkly, there would be hell to pay if this garment got ruined. ~ “Cadance!” Clarity called out. Her sister stopped dead in her tracks along with the four royal guards on either side of her. They all turned around at the sound of her approaching hoof steps. “Oh, Clarity,” Cadance said, odd was the first word that came to Clarity’s mind when her sister spoke, “sorry, I can’t talk right now.” With that she turned away and along with her entourage of guards began walking away. Clarity stared dumbfounded; Cadance had never just shrugged her off before. “Hang on,” she called out, running up to her sister once more, “we need to talk.” Cadance seemed to sigh in frustration at this, Clarity was sure she had misheard her. “Very well,” she said with a smile that looked all too forced, “why don’t we go in here for some privacy?” “That’s a spare guest room,” Clarity said as her sister made for the nearest door, but shrugged and followed her in none the less. The guards remained outside as the door closed and Clarity was left alone with her older sister. “What is it you needed to talk about?” Cadance asked in a falsely warm tone. “We could start with what’s wrong with you,” Clarity said frowning. “Why whatever are you talking about dear sister? I am perfectly fine,” she lied, Clarity knew it was a lie, the way she said it was practically ringing alarm bells in Clarity’s mind. Everything about Cadance seemed wrong, lies, false warmth, forced smiles. These were not things her sister did, and that made one thought clear in Clarity’s mind. “Who are you?” Cadance’s eyes opened wide in shock for a split second. “I’m your sister,” she lied. Clarity could see through her now like she was made of glass, everything about her was wrong, a crude mockery of the one constant in her life. “Where is my sister?” Clarity asked coldly. The Cadance look alike stared at her in contemplation for a moment for sneering. “I’m no fool,” she said it a voice that couldn’t be further from the sweet music that was the real Cadance’s, “I can tell when I have no hope of tricking somepony, and this is one of those occasions.” “Where is my sister?” Clarity demanded again, though the tremble in her voice gave away her fear. The imposter laughed, it was a cold, bitter laugh that chilled Clarity. “Oh poor little Clarity, you have no one else do you?” she asked in mock sorrow, stepping slowly forward, “no mother. No father. The only family you’ve ever known is your sister, and now you’ve lost her too.” “No!” Clarity screamed with a mixture of horror and fury, “what did you do to her?” “Oh calm your little head, she’s not dead if that’s what you’re afraid of,” the imposter replied coldly, “not yet anyway, I’ll find it more amusing to allow her to watch how I destroy her life before ending it.” Clarity’s legs were frozen, rendering her unable to run from the creature that was now mere inches away from her. “In fact,” it said suddenly, grinning wickedly, “I think I shall allow you the same privilege.” With that she stood up, her horn glowing with a poisonous green light. With a blast of light, the room was enveloped in a green radiance. Clarity blinked in confusion when nothing apparent happened, the impersonator strode from the room, the door opening before her. “No one goes in, she doesn’t come out,” she stated to the guards outside who nodded obediently. Finally she turned to face Clarity one last time, “bid your life farewell, because from that window you’re going to watch it all crumble into nothing.” Then the door slammed, leaving Clarity alone, paralysed in fear. “No,” she whispered, before screaming, “No!” She charged forward and bucked the door with her forehooves, and immediately was thrown across the room by a bolt of green lightning, knocking her head off the bed frame, and slipping into unconsciousness. ~ The entrance to the caverns was located under the south leg of the palace, it was quite simply a spiral staircase carved from stone, running deep into the earth. When the party arrived after being teleported down by the princesses they found it heavily guarded by a squadron of eight soldiers. “Like I said, it’s the only entrance remaining,” Cadance repeated, “Hence we keep it under heavy guard.” When nopony commented, except Pinkie but Cadance had learned to just block her out when she started talking, they began to descend the steps, unaware of an ominous presence lurking in the shadows, following them very closely. ~ Diamond Dust donned her helmet as she left the barracks; her officers were spiraling out in every direction, rounding up each and every guard, on duty or off duty. While she didn’t know all the details, she could the read the situation well enough to know the stakes had to be pretty high to get the princess this worried, and that called for her highest level of cooperation, not that she would have given anything less. She was so lost in her thoughts that when she saw the figure she was about to pass it off as her imagination, but a double take made it impossible for her to walk away. standing on the street corner was the most peculiar creature she had ever seen, it appeared to stand on a goat leg and a lizard foot, along with this is it appeared to have a slender serpentine figure with a tail to match, however she couldn’t see much of the figure due to it wearing a grey trench coat and a fedora. “Um, excuse me, can help you?” she asked, slowly approaching the creature. It turned towards her and that’s when she saw it had the head of a pony, although a very peculiar one at that. It appeared to be smoking a cigarette which it took a drag of before dropping and grinding into the pavement. “Disgusting,” he muttered, a clear look of regret in his face as he reached inside his coat and whipped out a small square of leather which he flipped open in Diamond’s face. “My credentials.” Diamond’s eyebrows rose as she saw the poorly crafted badge with crude lettering spelling ‘Royal Detective’. “Uh, detective?” she read doubtfully. “Yes, detective Discord, at your service,” he said, the badge disappearing in a puff of smoke, he then pointed at the wall he was looking at, “do you mind?” “Um, no…” she replied hesitantly. “Excellent,” he said, a hammer and chisel appearing in his mismatched hands. “Wait, what?” Diamond exclaimed as she saw this, but Discord had already proceeded to hammer a chunk of crystal out of the wall. Diamond Dust stared in utter confusion at him. “Sorry, royal business,” he said tipping his hat, before stretching the originally small headgear over his entire body. Diamond watched as he seemed to disappear within it, until only the hat was left lying on the street. To top off what she just witnessed, the hat, the only evidence of the entire encounter besides a cigarette butt, dissolved into ash and blew away. “I really need to take some time off work,” Diamond muttered, walking away from the street corner. ~ Twilight was reminded heavily of the crystal caverns beneath Canterlot as they journeyed through the cave system, the scholarly part of her being wanted desperately to stop and investigate the likeness further, but the rest of her was urging her on, reminding her she had a duty to attend to. Cadance was leading the group, her horn glowing; Twilight guessed she was using a simplified version of the spell she first used to locate the gate, now to show them the way. “So we just hit this thing a blast with the elements and that’s it?” Applejack asked, sounding sceptical. “Celestia thinks so,” Twilight replied, “If it doesn’t work, we’ll find some other way.” “It’s just ahead!” Cadance shouted back grabbing everypony’s attention. As they passed through the supposed final archway, they found themselves standing on the edge of a wide rock outcrop, amidst a pitch black cavern of unknown size. “Now what?” Fluttershy asked from the back of the group. “Shouldn’t be a problem,” Twilight said, lighting her horn up. Cadance, Clarity and Shining Armour followed suit, guessing the spell Twilight was about to cast. Once they were sufficiently charged, all four fired off their varying colours of magic into different directions of the cavern. They each flew as far as they could, and when they hit something solid exploded into a permanent light, before bouncing off and repeating the process elsewhere. With all four of their spells the cavern was very quickly lit up, which was impressive considering it was colossal. “Wow, this is huge!” Pinkie yelled, before bursting into giggles at the sound of her voice echoing through the giant cavern. “Not just that,” Spike said pointing ahead. From where they stood they had a vantage point of view of a sight Twilight recognised well, although she had only seen it the once. The Under Bastion was just as terrifying as her nightmare had painted it to be, even more so that she knew it to be real this time. “We have to go in there?” Fluttershy asked, sounding terrified at the prospect. “No, the gate should be at the centre of this cavern, or the very tip of the Bastion,” Cadance responded. “Shouldn’t there be a blue light?” Dash asked flapping absently along the edge of the stone shelf they stood on. “Don’t be disappointed Rainbow,” Cadance remarked, “the fact that we can’t see anything from this far means it’s still not going to be fully open for some time.” “So what are we waiting for? You, me and Twi can fly us all over there and we can finish this,” Dash exclaimed. “Hold your horses, this is Sombra’s place remember,” Applejack interrupted, “there could be traps.” “She’s right, especially with what Twilight saw in her dream,” Shining agreed, “I’ll scan around; see if I pick up anything.” With that his horn began to glow and the others waited for him to finish so they could decide what to do. As they did, Rarity examined her dress under the dim light of her own horn, it had become frayed in places, but so far it was nothing she could fix, for that she was glad. Clarity wandered over to the edge and stood with Rainbow Dash looking down into the abyss. “Don’t worry,” Dash assured her when she gave an audible gulp, “you’ve got Equestria’s fastest flyer to save you if you fall.” Clarity opened her mouth to respond, but it was that moment the presence chose to make itself known. Forgetting all previous intentions of stealth it sped forward, ramming straight into the Pegasus and unicorn in its desperate attempt to dive into the deep darkness below them, where the rest was awaiting it. Clarity barely had a moment to scream before Dash made good on her word and swept her out of the jaws of death and flew her back to safety, but still, both knew something had pushed them. “Clarity!” Cadance exclaimed, rushing over to her sister as Dash deposited her back onto solid ground. “What happened?” Shining Armour asked, fear audible in his voice. Clarity didn’t have time to answer as something began sounding through the cavern, rising from the depths she had nearly fallen into. “Pinkie, why are you laughing?” Rarity demanded, as indeed the pink pony had burst into giggles in response to the sound. “Because silly, laughter is contagious,” she replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Sure enough, as they listened closer and the noise grew louder it became clear that it was laughter, a deep, dark laughter. it was only when an equally skin crawling voice spoke that their fears were confirmed. “I… live… again!” ~ Clarity lay on the bed; she had long since cried herself dry. It had been a day at least, she had tried every spell she was ever taught, but to no avail, she even began improvising spells which more often than naught had even more negative effects that simply not working. When she had spent her entire knowledge bank, she resorted to pleading with the guards outside to let her out, but whether the room was also soundproof or they just didn’t care, they never responded. It was of course very likely they too had been replaced by whatever had been impersonating her sister. After that she simply curled up on the bed and cried, she had forgotten about the need to eat or sleep as she lay there, all she could think about was her sister, her only family, locked away somewhere like her, while that monster stole her wedding day from her. Cadance had watched over Clarity her whole life, she had played with her when she was happy, and she had comforted her when she was sad. She told her stories of the parents she had never known, and of the futures they hadn’t had yet. Whenever Clarity was ever worried life wouldn’t turn out for the better, Cadance was always there to chase those fears away and replace them with thoughts of family and love, but now Clarity was alone. There was no one to tell her everything would be alright… as she knew it wouldn’t. ~ “Tell me that ain’t what ah think it is,” Applejack begged as the cavern began shaking, and the unmistakable sound of some great creature rising from the depths could be heard. As they all watched, their eyes wide with horror, an armoured leg emerged over the crest of the platform, the end of the hoof was warped to form five viciously sharp claws. Soon followed the other leg and together they pulled the rest of the body up into view. “Oh… my,” Fluttershy whispered as Sombra’s face emerged from the liquid shadows flowing freely around his body. it was an even more terrifying sight than they remembered from their last brief encounter, his teeth were especially frightening, resembling a mouth full of scythes, and his once green eyes were now swirling vortexes of shadow, exactly like the one Twilight had seen in her dreams. “So, you have come to my domain,” he boomed, his voice seemed to cause the whole cavern to tremble, “I must thank you for leading the last remnant of my spirit here safely.” “Thanks for doin’ what now?” Applejack asked looking around wildly at her friends who looked equally as confused as her. “Sombra, how can you be here?” Shining Armour demanded, “We defeated you!” “You broke me,” Sombra corrected, “scattered my spirit into the winds. It’s taken a long time to come together, but at last I am complete once more, ready to take back what was once…” Twilight quirked an eyebrow as he seemed to freeze mid-sentence, his eyes appearing wider than normal, fixed on something before him. Everyone followed his gaze, and looked upon Rarity, still wearing her dress. “Oh, oh no,” Rarity began realising all eyes were on her, “let me make one thing very clear, I am not…” But she never had time to finish her sentence before Sombra’s entire form burst into shadow and flooded down upon them. Twilight felt as if she was just punched in the chest as she was thrown back into the cavern wall. Soon she was joined by all her friends in one big heap, all minus one. “Rarity!” Spike yelled, being the first to recover. As Twilight regained focus she saw that Sombra’s shadow had wrapped around Rarity and was now flying away with her in the direction of the Bastion. “Oh no you don’t!” Dash exclaimed lifting off the rock shelf and speeding after them. Without hesitating Twilight and Cadance took off after her, even Fluttershy could be heard swooping in shortly after them, but they knew there was no hope. Even Dash had no hope of catching up with the wave of shadow carrying the screaming Rarity, before the whole thing landed atop the Bastion, retaking its physical form. Twilight slowed down as she became aware of what was going to happen, but before she could shout a warning to Dash who was still desperately trying to reach them, it began. Sombra’s horn lit up, a swirling mass of black and red energy enveloping the Bastion whole, and that’s when it began to rise. ~ Diamond Dust felt the shudder, that was her signal, without waiting for further confirmation she shouted approval for the evacuation to all officers standing in position. Her decision had been correct, if she had digressed for even a minute, it might have been too late. As it was, the guards were escorting the last of the crystal ponies outside the hazard zone when the disaster began. Only Diamond Dust was still left in the city, standing outside the Crystal Palace, praying for her princess’s safe return, but as she saw the first cracks appear in the courtyard, a sinking feeling in her gut told her it was too late. Going against her every instinct she bolted from the scene, galloping as fast as her legs and armour would allow her too. As she did she heard the destruction following in her wake. A single glance over her shoulder was enough to send the essential shot of adrenaline through her body. She ran, and she ran, so focused on her destination of the city edge that she hadn’t noticed herself running into the path of a collapsing building, not before it was too late. ~ “We gotta get outta here!” Applejack yelled over the sound of the cavern collapsing all around them. “What about the others?” Clarity shouted back, looking un-eager to move. “We won’t be any help to them if we get squashed!” Applejack reasoned. Clarity mulled it over for a split second before nodding her approval and charging out of the cavern with Applejack, Shining Armour, Spike and Pinkie Pie, the latter still bouncing happily. The path they had taken to reach there had been simple enough, hence they were able to navigate their way out with only Shining at the head, lighting their way. However when they arrived at the place the spiral staircase used to be, they found a whole in the ceiling and a pile of rubble at their hooves. “Now what do we do?” Pinkie asked, her cheery nature finally waning with the prospect of being trapped in here. “I can try and teleport us up,” Clarity suggested, “I… I’m not very good at teleporting, but it’s our best chance.” “Sugarcube, as long as we get outta these caverns I don’t care how many pieces we end up in,” Applejack stated flatly, Clarity knew she wasn’t serious, but it wasn’t wise to jinx it. ~ “Cadance, go back!” Twilight shouted over the sound of falling rocks and crystal. “It’s no good!” she replied, “We’ll get knocked out of the air if we go back that way!” “Then what do we do?” Fluttershy squealed, giving up on flying entirely and clinging to Twilight’s back. Twilight looked around, she had lost sight of Rainbow Dash, but she was sure she would be fine. Then she saw the ceiling of the cavern give way for the rising Bastion. “I have an idea, follow me!” she ordered, diving towards the black fortress, Cadance at her tail. While it was difficult to see through all the crystal fragments and dust clouds, Twilight quickly found what she was looking, a small alcove carved into the wall of the Bastion. “Right there!” she shouted over her shoulder, diving for it. Once the three had landed and tucked themselves in close to the wall for added protection they let out a deep breath they hadn’t realised they were holding in, and waited as the Bastion carried them higher and higher. ~ Diamond Dust’s first thoughts when she regained consciousness were of surprise, surprise that she was still alive. If that falling building hadn’t killed her, the following wave of devastation surely would have. Yet here she was, lying among her fellow Crystal ponies, the sound of destruction safely in the distance. “Lieutenant, you’re awake,” a guard said, he sounded relieved. “I am,” she replied with an edge of sarcasm, “how did I get here?” “That would be me,” a voice said approaching the pair of guards. Diamond Dust twisted her head around to get a better look at her saviour, when she recognised the pretentious trench coat and fedora she immediately passed out again. ~ When the noise finally died down, Twilight dared to open her eyes. The sight that greeted her was not pretty. The Crystal Empire was unrecognisable, it appeared no building had survived the ruin that swept over, but as long as the crystal ponies had reached safety, Twilight could bare the state of the city. “I think it’s over,” Twilight murmured over to Cadance and Fluttershy who had their heads buried in one another’s shoulders. When Cadance looked up at her home, the expression on her face cut Twilight like a knife. “No…” she whispered, but was drowned out by Fluttershy’s scream. “Rainbow Dash!” following her terrified gaze Twilight saw the blue heap lying sprawled over a pile of rubble, recognisable even from a distance by her distinctive mane. Fluttershy sped off to the ground, Cadance and Twilight close behind. When they touched down, Fluttershy was already cradling Rainbow’s still body. “Is she…” Twilight began, but her voice stuck in her throat, unable to finish. “She’s alive,” came Fluttershy’s relieved voice, “just unconscious.” Twilight sighed before closing the gap and leaning down to view Rainbow. She had definitely seen better days, she was heavily beaten and bruised, and her wings were bent terribly out of shape, but she breathing evenly, and for that Twilight was thankful. “Is there anything you can do for her?” Fluttershy asked Twilight. “Let me look, I know a little healing magic,” Cadance announced, leaning down and touching Dash’s forehead with the tip of her horn. “Hey guys!” came the unmistakable voice of Shining Armour, bursting into a wide grin Twilight spun around to greet the rest, but her smile faded and her jaw dropped at the sight before her. “Yeah, this is my bad,” Clarity said shyly, her coat replaced by purple scale and her horn noticeably absent. “Woo hoo!” Pinkie exclaimed, cartwheeling in, now powder white with a blue mane and unicorn horn, “I look just like Shiny now.” Twilight looked over at her brother and immediately bust into an uncontrollable fit of giggles at the bright pink, hornless stallion before her. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” he said with an angry snort. “What happened to you all?” Twilight said after getting control of herself. “Clarity tried to teleport us,” the now blue Spike said, massaging the unicorn horn too big for his head, “ending up splicing us all.” “It’s only temporary,” Clarity insisted, before whispering, “I think.” “Don’t worry, it is,” Twilight assured them, “I did the same thing when I first teleported successfully.” “But Applejack seems just fine,” Fluttershy pointed out. Indeed Applejack looked just as she always had. “Don’t be so sure,” the blue Spike huffed, giving Applejack a hard pat on the back. Twilight and Fluttershy both ducked as a spout of green fire erupted from the earth pony’s mouth. “Well, that’s unusual,” Twilight admitted standing back up, Applejack looking annoyed with herself, her mouth shut tight. “Happens any time she opens her mouth,” Spike explained. “Well that’s a barrel of laughs,” a weak voice said before making a weak attempt at laughter. They all turned to see Rainbow peering up at them. “Rainbow!” Fluttershy exclaimed running forward before being tugged back by Twilight’s magic. “She’s still injured Fluttershy, be gentle.” “Oh, of course, sorry,” Fluttershy apologised, before walking over and leaning down next to Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie also bounced over to examine the Pegasus. “So how’s it looking?” Fluttershy asked Cadance as she lifted her horn away and opened her eyes. “She’ll be perfectly fine, but she won’t be flying for a couple of weeks,” she informed them, this seemed to send Rainbow Dash into cardiac arrest as she seized up upon hearing the news. “A couple of weeks!” she exclaimed. “I minimised the damage,” Cadance assured her, “if I hadn’t you might never have flown again.” The thought made Rainbow Dash turn noticeably paler and gulp loudly. “Hate to interrupt,” Shining began, “but don’t we have a damsel to rescue, a king to over throw and an apocalypse to stop?” “Well if that doesn’t win an award for sum up of the year,” Twilight joked. ~ The imposter had picked a good room, so much so that Clarity wondered if it was entirely random as she had previously thought. The large window gave a unique view over the whole castle and city of Canterlot; from here she could see all the comings and goings over the following days, so that when the day of the wedding arrived, she could recognise it. She had been forced to transfigure a lot of the furniture into edible food substances; otherwise she would not have made it this long. The imposter hadn’t sent any food, so clearly her method of torture was secondary to keeping her out of harm’s way. Clarity watched as the shield around Canterlot shattered and the city was over run. She had never seen creatures like these before, like ponies but black with insect wings, fangs and blue eyes. She watched as they wreaked havoc over the ponies of Canterlot. She knew without having to be told this was all part of the imposter’s plan. However, when all hope seemed lost, something caught her eye. Six ponies fighting their way out of the castle, heading for one of the other wings. Something about them drew her attention, and as she watched the reasons became clear. They fought countless of those monsters and came out victorious, Clarity felt the first sparks of hope light in her chest for days as she watched them do battle. As she did it dawned on her where she recognised one of them from. a lavender unicorn mare, casting spells left, right and centre, it had been years, but Clarity still remembered Twilight Sparkle. She had heard the stories over the last two years, defeating Nightmare Moon and freeing Princess Luna, imprisoning Discord, the spirit of chaos, along with her fellow bearers of the element s of harmony. Clarity grinned, if anypony could save her sister and Canterlot, it was those six. Clarity watched them fight until they were out of sight, while she could no longer see them, she felt the pain in her chest alleviate, they were going to win, she knew it. Then, after a short period of stasis, it happened. From the centre of the castle a wave of blinding, pale lilac light burst forth, spreading through the entire city, casting the monsters out along with it. Clarity felt the wave wash over her, felt the magic imprisoning her tear away, and knew there was only one source of power like that, her sister was the princess of love after all, she knew it when she felt it. ~ Rarity was backing away slowly from the divine form of Sombra, inching towards her. they stood atop a wide plateau at the top of the Under Bastion, which was now technically over but… “Listen, I believe there is some sort of misunderstanding here,” rarity began, panicking. “There is no misunderstanding,” Sombra breathed, “you are here once more, my efforts were not in vain.” “But listen, I’m not actually…” Rarity attempted only to be interrupted again. “For I have done a great many things, none of which I am proud of,” he continued bearing down upon her, “but at last, you are here with me, Platinum, my beloved daughter.” “Uhhh,” Rarity croaked as Sombra came inches away from her face. “See here is the thing; I’m actually not Princess Platinum… I just happen to look like her.” There was a long moment of silence as Sombra started down upon her. “No, you must be, you are the very image of my child,” he insisted. “Well, I thank you for the compliment, but I’m afraid I am not.” “But, that would mean my daughter is still dead, and everything I’ve done has been for naught,” he exclaimed, anger rising in his voice. “Well…” Rarity began to say, fear rising in her core, “yes.” ~ The interior of the Bastion was just as gruesome as Diamond Dust had described it. Since only three of their party could reliably fly they decided it would be better to ascend the fortress by hoof, that way they could stick together. “Remember everypony,” Twilight called back as they ran, “with Sombra back, he’ll no doubt have full control over his old soldiers, be on the lookout for them.” “Oh is that what this thing is?” Pinkie suddenly asked. They all stopped dead in their tracks and spun around to see Pinkie with an insect like creature, clad in black armour, sitting on her back as she fed it hoof fulls of cake from her mane. “Pinkie, where did you get that thing?” Twilight exclaimed, her eyes wide. “At the door when we first came in,” she explained, “can we keep him? I think I’ll call him Imp!” Twilight opened her mouth to respond when she felt a tapping on her shoulder. “What?” she asked turning around and seeing not a member of her party but yet another armoured creature, far bigger than Imp, and radiating shadows. “Oh great,” she said just as it swiped down with an armoured claw. She dropped to the floor and barrel rolled to safety, but soon the fortress was overflowing with creatures, emerging from every nook and cranny where shadows gathered. “Of all the times to lose my magic,” Shining Armour grunted, head butting one of the creatures away from him and Fluttershy. Another two charged up behind them but were dissipated in a gulf of green fire. “Huh, I didn’t know I could do that,” Spike murmured, firing off sparks from his new horn, doing zero damage on any of the oncoming creatures. “There’s no end to these things!” Dash shouted over a crowd of them pushing her into a corner, “I hate to say it, but I think we might have to make a run for it.” “Dash is right,” Clarity agreed, bucking one of the creatures ganging up on Rainbow. “Everypony for themselves, just keep climbing higher and we’ll all meet at the top.” “No, we should stick together!” Twilight insisted, but her voice was drowned out by the battle around her. Sighing, she spread her wings after clearing a path before her and swept forward, picking up Spike in her fore hooves before exiting the chamber they had been ambushed in. keep climbing higher and they would find Rarity, she just hoped the others would be okay without her. ~ “Looks like you’re with me,” Cadance said to Applejack as they ran down a side corridor, she nodded in response, only opening her mouth when an enemy reared its armoured head. They ran for about five minutes, encountering yet more creatures every time they turned a corner. “This is getting ridiculous! Get on my back Applejack; I’ll get us to the top.” Applejack obliged after clearing some breathing room for Cadance. Once she had clambered on, Cadance aimed her horn skywards, sending a beam of destruction through the ceiling, Applejack would have whistled if it wouldn’t have set her mane on fire. “That was a little revenge for my home,” she said bitterly before spreading her wings and calling over her back, “hold on.” Applejack wrapped her hooves around Cadance’s neck as she took off from the ground, accelerating into the air. ~ “Pinkie Pie, drop the damn Imp and let’s go!” Shining Armour ordered after flinging a limp Fluttershy over his back, he hadn’t seen anything attack her so more likely she passed out from shock. “Oh fine,” she huffed, crouching down and nudging Imp off her back, “go on home little fella.” Shining Armour was sure he imagined it; there was no way that thing was crying as it trudged away. Pinkie stared back up at him as if to say ‘how could you?’. “Come on Pinkie, you wouldn’t want Gummy to be jealous would you?” he asked, that worked. Pinkie stopped her pouting and ran out of the room with him. As they ran, a detachment of creatures followed them. Shining tried to ignore them but they were gaining ground fast. “If only I had my magic,” he whined again, “it would make this so much easier.” “Magic? Hold on,” Pinkie said, her new horn lighting up with a deep pink light. In a flash the trio found themselves standing in an entirely different room, all the creatures following them gone. on top of that, Pinkie and Shining Armour had been restored to their original forms, there was only one explanation, Pinkie teleported them further into the Bastion after having a horn for no longer than half an hour. “Pinkie, how the heck did you do that?” Shining Armour asked amazed, Pinkie just shrugged. “Dunno, but when I do stuff like that back in Ponyville, ponies usually say ‘it’s just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie’,” she said before beginning to bounce towards the nearest door. Shining Armour just stared as Fluttershy began to stir on his back. “Has something happened?” she murmured. “If by something you mean a lot, then yes, something has happened,” he replied walking after the once again pink pony. ~ “So, uh…” Dash stammered as they cantered up a set of stairs, closely pursued by a wave of creatures, “guess this isn’t really what you had in mind when you went to visit home.” “No,” Clarity replied breathless, “I imagined more tea and casual chats, but really I should be getting used to this.” “Yeah, we lead quite the lives,” Dash agreed trying to laugh between sucking in deep breaths. “Come on,” Clarity panted at her partner, “I thought you were supposed to be athletic.” “Is that a challenge?” Dash questioned, grinning widely. “If it will get us up these steps any faster, then yeah,” she replied. “Oh it is on!” Dash exclaimed picking up the pace. ~ “Bet you wish I had this horn permanently,” Spike mused as they glided up the keep, “you could have your own faithful student.” “Oh Spike, you have enough responsibilities without adding learning magic to that list.” Twilight retorted. “Glad you think so,” Spike agreed, “maybe now would be a good time to talk about getting some time off?” “Let’s save the world first, then we can talk,” Twilight retorted. “We must be almost there,” Spike theorized, “we’ve been going up for a while now.” “I think that’s the end just at the end of this…” she began, but was cut off when both alicorn and dragon were rammed out of the air by two other groups of ponies all converging into their hallway from side corridors. “Wow, soft landing,” Dash exclaimed as she climbed off Twilight, “thanks Twi, I might have really damaged my wings if it wasn’t for you.” Twilight grumbled in response before getting to her own hooves. “Where’s Cadance?” Shining said in a concerned tone. They all looked around but saw neither her nor Applejack with them. “Maybe they…” Clarity began, but didn’t get further than that as they all felt a low rumbling rising through the Bastion. “Speak of the devil,” Spike said just before they all dived out of the way, clear of the explosion in the floor where they had just been standing. Once they reassumed their stances they saw Cadance rise up through the hole in the floor, Applejack clinging desperately to her back. “Oh good, the whole gangs here,” Cadance said as she saw them all gathered around the hole she had just blasted through, “I don’t think Applejack is a fan of flying.” As she said that, the farm pony leapt off her back and began kissing the filthy stone floor. “Sweet solid ground,” she said trembling. “Hey!” Spike exclaimed, “You can speak again.” “Oh yeah,” Applejack exclaimed suddenly realising she was no longer afflicted, “looks like you’re all back to normal too huh?” Indeed Clarity’s blunder had appeared to have worn off, leaving a purple scaled Spike and a blue coated Clarity with her horn returned. “Sorry again,” Clarity said awkwardly. “Don’t worry Sugarcube,” Applejack insisted, “no harm, no fowl.” “Alright girls, and guys,” Twilight said catching herself on when Spike glared at her, “I can feel Sombra’s presence just ahead, now be ready for a fight, he won’t go down easily.” “Alright, just let him try and kidnap our friend and see where that gets him,” Dash exclaimed rushing forward, the others in tow. Dash and Applejack were the first ones at the door and together they bucked it open, charging through. “Drop the mare buster!” Applejack shouted. “Put her down!” Dash yelled, but they all stopped dead in their tracks at the sight before them. Rarity stood in the middle of the plateau, still in her dress, trying desperately to console the giant Sombra… who was crying his eyes out. “What the…” Twilight began. “Is anypony else reminded of the time Fluttershy shouted down that dragon?” Pinkie asked, staring in confusion at the scene before her “Should we… maybe cheer him up?” Fluttershy asked tentatively. “Are you crazy?” Dash asked, “he’s our enemy, this is clearly a trap.” At that moment Sombra let out a loud wail and the puddle of tears forming beneath him got considerably deeper. “What do you think Cadance?” Twilight asked. “We’ll see what’s up,” she replied, “but don’t let your guard down.” With that they began approaching the pair, it was only then Rarity noticed them, presumably not having heard them shout over the sound of Sombra’s sobs. “Oh, you’re here, I’m so glad you’re all alright,” she said, sounding relieved. “Yeah, we’re fine, but how are you? What’s going on here?” Clarity asked concerned. “Oh this, it’s just a big misunderstanding,” Rarity replied casually, Cadance snorted. “I fail to see how destroying the city and endangering my little ponies could be considered a misunderstanding,” she replied tersely. “Well, I’ll let him explain,” she said, gently tapping Sombra’s muzzle to get his attention, “Sombra, the Crystal Princess is here to hear you out.” Sombra sniffed and looked over at them; there was no doubting the pain in his eyes. “Princess,” he murmured, “I have done many terrible things, I know you can never forgive me.” “If you truly want forgiveness, then you can start by explaining yourself,” Cadance replied flatly. “The last crystal princess was my daughter, Platinum,” he began, reminding them of what they already knew, “she meant the world to me, I even threw away my old kingdom when Discord attacked, all to keep her safe. When she died, I was distraught. I had delved into the mysteries of life further than most unicorns and discovered the secrets to immortality; alas I was too late to share my discovery with the one who mattered most to me. “Over the following years I toiled away in loneliness, it corrupted me, changed me into a monster. I began to do terrible things, experiments that cost the lives and happiness of many, all to bring my daughter back to me. In the end I lost sight of everything, changed beyond recognition, it was only when I saw Rarity, that I was reminded of what I set out to achieve in the first place, and along with that came the realisation that it had all been for nothing, my daughter is gone, and nothing can bring her back.” When he finished, a heavy silence hung around the air, even Cadance was left speechless. it was only Rarity speaking up that finally broke the silence. “He really isn’t that bad,” she insisted, “not deep down anyway.” “I never knew,” Cadance whispered, Sombra nodded sadly. “So few did, perhaps if I had let others in, instead of suffering alone, things might have been different,” he said, his voice heavy with mourning, “I have no right to ask anything of you princess, but if you could find it in your heart to do me one last thing, my spirit would be eternally grateful.” “I can’t bring Platinum back,” Cadance reminded him. “I know, I have accepted that,” he replied, “no, what I want you to do, is to end my life.” “What?” Clarity exclaimed, drawing Sombra’s attention, “but you shouldn’t have to die just because the one’s you love are gone, you can still live.” “There is a difference little one, between living, and living forever,” he explained, “to have lived out my natural life for my daughter, knowing that one day I would see her again, I could be happy with… but to live forever, knowing it separates me from not only her, but all those that I may ever come to love, that is a cross I cannot bear.” Clarity hung her head low and stared at her hooves as tears threatened to spill from her eyes. “If that is really what you wish,” Cadance said, walking forward, “then I will oblige.” “It is,” he whispered, Cadance nodded in response. “In that case, farewell King Sombra,” she said raising her horn as it glowed with ethereal light. “Thank you Crystal Princess,” he murmured before looking to Rarity, “and thank you Rarity, for reminding me.” “Goodbye,” she whispered in response before closing her eyes so she wouldn’t have to watch, and to stop the tears from escaping. ~ Cadance stood in front of the mirror in her dressing room, this was it. As she turned to leave she noticed someone had slipped in. Clarity stood next to the door, grinning at the sight of her older sister in the dress. “You pull it off well,” she said, Cadance blushed. “You really don’t mind about not being my maid of honour?” she asked again, she knew what her sister would say but she wanted to be sure. “Of course not,” Clarity insisted stepping forward and pulling Cadance into a hug, “you owe them after all.” “That’s true,” she replied with a little laugh. “I was so worried about you.” “I was worried about you too,” Clarity replied, the room immediately became silent as the two sisters just remained in each other’s embrace. It was only when Clarity noticed the clock on the wall that she broke it. “Well, I’d better get to me seat,” she said rubbing a hoof over her face to wipe away an errant tear, “as for you, don’t keep the groom waiting, he already had to push his wedding back a week.” “I’ll keep that in mind,” Cadance said laughing as Clarity departed the room. Yes, it was about to be the best wedding ever. As she arrived into the castle chapel she found it packed with all manner of ponies, she was impressed Cadance had managed to keep the usual Canterlot snobs off the guest list. as she arrived at the door a young colt offered to seat her, she ended up in the dead centre of the crowd gathered at the right of the alter, a big step down from standing next to her sister, but as the ceremony begun and she gazed upon her big sister, her future brother in law, and the elements of harmony standing on either side, she knew she was where she belonged. The limelight was theirs, not hers. And that thought sent a strange feeling through Clarity, one she’d never be able to describe, but she would remember none the less. As she looked up at the altar, she wasn’t looking at Cadance, Celestia or even Shining Armour; she was looking at the lavender unicorn standing to his left. Twilight Sparkle. “Thank you Twilight,” she thought, “you saved my sister, you saved my family. I swear, no matter how long it takes, I will repay you this debt. Next time I won’t be the damsel in distress, I’ll stand by your side, and save your world, just like you saved mine.” ~ The Crystal Empire was in ruins, but Cadance didn’t care. Thanks to the efforts of her guards, not a single pony had been lost. The lieutenant responsible for managing the evacuation, Diamond Dust, had been injured but was recovering quickly. It may take years to fully restore the Empire to its formal glory, but Cadance was prepared for that, she would be there every step of the way. But as she gazed up at the now desolate Bastion, she knew there was still one last deed to be done. ~ Spike adjusted the crown on Twilight’s head, and she nodded her appreciation before stepping forward to join the circle her friends were making on the plateau. When they had first seen the Under Bastion they were too far away to make out the gate, but not anymore. They all stared up at the rip in space, emanating ethereal blue light, the sight made Clarity cringe at the memory of that place she had been cast into. One thing that had grabbed all their attentions, was the thing floating in the centre of the gate, it appeared to be a large, black orb. Clarity had never told anyone the details about what she had seen in the Aether, even now as she saw this peculiar reminder, she remained silent, although she wasn’t sure why. “Alright girls, this is it,” Twilight said, suppressing a gulp, “the moment of truth.” With an exchange of nods all six mares closed their eyes, the jewels on their respective elements lighting up. Spike and Clarity stepped a few paces back for safety as the light grew in intensity. Soon the whole plateau was overcome by a pure white light before separating into a brightly coloured rainbow which twisted in the air and dived upon the gate. The resulting impact threw all seven ponies and dragon flying, lying in heaps all over the black crystal floor. When Clarity’s vision began to return she could make out the gate beginning to stitch itself back together again. “We did it!” Twilight exclaimed, rushing over and throwing her forehooves around a still dazed Spike, “we actually did it!” “Ah don’t believe it,” Applejack mused, “I was really worried for a moment that this was all gonna be for nothin’.” “Well I for one, never lost hope,” Rarity boasted, “I knew Twilight and the princesses had this figured out.” “Woo hoo! Now we can have ‘this-wasn’t-a-massive-waste-of-time’ party!” Pinkie exclaimed pulling a small, novelty trumpet out of nowhere and blowing into it excitedly. “I’m just glad we’re all okay,” Fluttershy said quietly, earning an ‘aww’ from the rest of the group. “Speak for yourselves,” a voice moaned, and they all turned to see Rainbow Dash had landed on her already damaged wings when she was thrown back. “Well, almost all of us,” Spike said which caused the others to break out into laughter. “Quit laughing and help me!” ~ “You know,” Applejack began as they loaded their bags back onto the train, “ah had a thought earlier.” “Always a dangerous moment,” Dash remarked, earner her a punch on the shoulder, “watch the wing!” “Like ah was sayin’!” Applejack said loudly, “that guard we met last night, Diamond Dust ah think she was, said somethin’ about Sombra makin’ soldiers outta crystal, and that reminded me a bit of that stuff your princess of order used to block the door. You don’t think that…” Applejack began to say before being interrupted by a figure appearing directly behind her. “Right you are Applejack Daniels,” Discord said causing Applejack to leap into the air with a yelp of surprise, “whoops.” “For pete’s sake Discord, quit doin’ that,” Applejack yelled after landing on the ground again, “now what are you blabberin’ on ‘bout?” “I was just confirming what you thought,” he replied leaning on a cane he pulled out of the grey trench coat he was wearing. “Why are you dressed like that?” Applejack asked flatly. “I’m investigating for Celestia, you have to look the part,” he replied, “now, as I was saying, it would appear Roma did indeed base the order crystals she used on experiments carried out by Sombra. Interesting to note, the difference between the two, is that Roma crafted hers from pure magical energy.” “You mean the stuff those gates are spewing out?” Dash asked, quirking an eyebrow thoughtfully. “Exactly,” Discord confirmed, “it only makes sense after all. Roma said she would create a perfect world after using the Aether to destroy all physical matter, it appears she planned to replace it all with her own creations forged from the remaining magic.” “A world of dull, grey crystals,” Pinkie said horrified, “that sounds like, THE, WORST, POSSIBLE, THING!” With that she pretended to faint and Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Discord all burst into laughter, Fluttershy merely smiling discreetly. Rarity just stared at them all stony faced. “I am not like that,” she said before storming off. ~ Twilight, Clarity and Cadance walked together down the platform, still in deep conversation. “We won’t know for sure until I conduct a few test,” Cadance said at last, “but it looks like that gate is closed for good.” “We can only hope,” Twilight agreed, “with one down there’s still ten to go, hopefully the others won’t be too far behind.” “I’d say take this opportunity to relax while you’ve got it,” Cadance said, “Heavens knows there might not be a chance later.” “And you’re sure you don’t need help fixing this place up?” Twilight asked again, receiving an eye roll from the older princess. “Yes, I’m quite sure, you have enough on you plate without adding this,” she said gesturing over the city lying behind them. “Now go on, I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon at this rate.” Twilight nodded taking the hint, and quickly left to say goodbye to her brother, leaving the two sisters in silence. “Are you still mad at me?” Cadance asked after a long pause. “No,” Clarity replied with a sigh, “that whole thing with Sombra got me thinking, I would never want to lose you, but the thought of living forever without you or anyone else I’ve come to love just sounds…” “Difficult,” Cadance finished, “I know, it takes a very strong kind of pony to carry that burden, that’s why so few alicorns remain as such.” “It’s your choice,” Clarity said reeling the subject back, “I just hope that time won’t be for a long time yet.” “Nor do I dear sister,” Cadance said leaning down to hug Clarity. “Now go on, go see your friends, there’s a whole world to see and so little time to do it in.” “Yeah,” Clarity said laughing a little, “we’re going to see the world.” “It is something most only dream of,” Cadance agreed, “It’s a shame it wasn’t under better circumstances.” “No… but we can’t change that,” Clarity said, suddenly far brighter, walking for the train and calling over her shoulder, “after all, what better way is there to spend a life, than actually going out and living?” Cadance smiled as her sister broke onto a run for the train before whispering to herself, “that’s the spirit little sister.” The Kindness of StrangersCautionary Tales Celestia rubbed her forehead as she collapsed into her study seat, she had forgotten the feeling of sinking into bed after lowering the sun, with her soft silk sheets and… No! Don’t be like that, there are plenty of ponies who would give a limb for such luxuries, and remember, it is for them that you stay up this late every night. Celestia was glad she could so easily remind herself of things simply by listening to her inner voice. Now, to get back to work. A knock came upon her study door, never mind. “Enter,” she said loudly while sorting through the numerous spell tomes piling her desk. As she did the door opened to reveal one of her royal guards carrying a leather satchel over his shoulder. “Apologies for the disturbance your highness,” he said matter of factly, “but this arrived for you just now, the courier said it was urgent.” With that he opened his satchel and levitated… a clam onto Celestia’s desk. She looked at this blankly for a moment before realisation dawned on her. “Of course, thank you very much.” the guard bowed and turned from the room, closing the door surprisingly gently behind him. “Now, what news have you for me?” Celestia reached forward with her magic and cracked the clam open, inside, not surprising the sun princess in the slightest, was a very small blue alicorn. “About time,” Mare Equus said curtly, “I thought this would never get to you. I tell you, when Vegnum perfects that system of long distance communication I will most certainly have to invest in it.” “Yes, what was it she called it? The telephone I think,” Celestia pondered, “regardless I’d rather she put all her efforts into locating the Metropolis gate instead of tinkering with her little inventions.” “That’s probably a bit of a stretch if we’re honest,” Mare Equus pointed out, “so I just got the good news from our friend in the north.” “Yes, isn’t it wonderful?” Celestia said, delighted now, “Cadance assures us she has carried out every test possible, the gate is exactly as it was before Roma’s interference.” “So the elements will do the trick then, that’s good, which brings me smoothly to the purpose of my, uh, visit,” she said clapping her fore hooves together. “You mean, you found it?” Celestia exclaimed, it wasn’t like Mare Equus to come bearing so much good news. “Indeed I have,” she said, her voice full of pride, “which I think is impressive considering I had the entire ocean to search.” “So where is it?” Celestia asked, ignoring her own research material. “Not far from Aquestria actually,” she confirmed, “If you send your little ponies there I can escort them the rest of the way.” “I shall, thank you Mare Equus.” the water princess nodded in appreciation of the thanks, “but, just one last thing, the method you used to find the gate…” “Don’t even go there Celestia,” she said, cutting through her theory before it was even fully formed, “I too tried the method Cadance used with no success, it appears each gate is different, perhaps the veil is adapted to its environment making it that we have to apply different methods to find each of the gates.” “That sounds like a sure theory,” Celestia said with a sigh, “thank you for bringing me this news, I will send for Twilight now.” Mare Equus nodded before liquefying into a pool of water that lay in the base of the clam. Celestia closed it and moved it to the side, conjuring parchment and quill before her. It was just under a week since Twilight and her friends had closed the first gate, while it was good another had been found so quickly after, Celestia’s motherly instincts hoped she wasn’t putting too much on Twilight’s plate. No, don’t think like that, Twilight is a grown mare, she’s a princess now for goodness sake, she can handle this mission, regardless, the safety of the world and life as a whole must always come before an individual. Celestia sighed once more, and put ink to paper. Cautionary Tales Rainbow Dash had just finished her morning rounds, a more difficult task than usual what with her wings still broken following her accident at the Crystal Empire. Deciding she needed a pick me up she chose to pay one of her friends a visit. Normally she would visit Sugarcube Corner since she could always rely on Pinkie to give her a snack on the house, but since it was still under quarantine it was obviously ruled out as an option. It was too late in the day to have a chance of getting breakfast at Sweet Apple Acres since AJ would already be in the middle of chores. The library on the other hoof, Twilight would just be up assuming she was up late last night studying as per usual, and if that was the case Spike would be cooking breakfast. It was settled, she would get food from Twilight under the pretence of a friendly visit. With a plan in motion she sped off, her keen eyes picking out the Golden Oaks Library from amidst the surrounding buildings of Ponyville. If she was to have any hope of being fed she would have to get on Twilight’s good side, that meant no smashing through windows, a feat that was admittedly harder to do when running rather than flying, but she had pulled it off before. Dash grunted at this thought, going through doors was so lame when there were far more exciting options available. As she neared her destination she began to decelerate, savouring the wind blowing in her mane, reminded briefly of all the flying she was missing out on because of her stupid injury, before coming to a complete stop in front of the library. Blowing a rainbow bang out of her face she sauntered forward and gave a confident knock on the door. It wasn’t long before it was enveloped in a blue light and swung open. “Hey Rainbow Dash,” Clarity said from the table where she sat reading. “Morning Clarity,” she replied scanning the rest of the main library for Spike or Twilight, “you the only one here?” “No, they’re in the kitchen, you could probably get something if you asked nicely,” she responded in a knowing voice. Dash smirked, Clarity had really settled in with their group in such a short space of time, she seemed even more relaxed since their return from the Crystal Empire a week ago. “Yeah, will do, talk to la…” but she stopped as she saw the book Clarity was reading, “Whoa, you like Daring Do!” “What, oh, well actually I’ve never read them before,” she admitted, “Twilight was talking about them yesterday and I thought I’d give them a go.” “They are awesome; I just know you’ll love them.” “I hope so, though I must say, I didn’t take you for a reader Dash,” she said with one raised eyebrow. “Well, I make exceptions for awesome stories like Daring Do,” Dash replied nonchalantly. “Of course you do, well I’ll talk to you later Dash, I’m at this rather good bit where Daring is trapped in a chamber filling with water.” Clarity had been looking at Rainbow Dash when she said it, but she still wasn’t entirely sure if the reaction she just saw was her imagination or not, it had only appeared for the briefest of moments. “Alright, talk to you later,” Dash replied in her usual tone, if that look really had been there she regained her composure pretty quickly. Dash left Clarity and entered the kitchen where Spike and Twilight sat at the table, Pinkie Pie stood at the oven flipping pancakes. “Pinkie, I think Dash would like some breakfast,” Twilight said blankly, not looking up from her book. “Of course, anything for my best friend Dashie,” Pinkie called back before turning to the room and gasping. “Rainbow Dash, what a coincidence! Twilight just suggested I make you breakfast. Oh my god, Twilight, are you developing Pinkie Sense? Or maybe we should call it Twilly Sense.” “No Pinkie I am not developing any supernatural sense,” Twilight replied still just as blankly, “I am simply observant.” “Psst, Spike,” Dash whispered leaning down to the dragon, “what’s up with her?” “Her magic isn’t working,” he replied, “she’s been moody all morning.” “Oh that su… wait what? Her magic isn’t working!” Dash shouted forgetting to whisper. Spike and Pinkie both looked panicked, but Twilight just groaned, stood up and left the room. “Nice going,” Spike spat, “she’s got horn rot, it’s a really nasty disease.” “Horn rot, geez, is it… fatal?” Dash asked, barely able to hide her fear. “Oh Celestia no!” Spike exclaimed, “It’s not even permanent, it’s just going to be an inconvenience until her immune system can clear it out of her body.” “Poor Twilly,” Pinkie said walking over and setting a plate of pancakes in front of Rainbow Dash, “magic is a big part of her, I wanted to throw a party celebrating all her other good personality traits.” “I’ll go cheer her up,” Spike said pushing himself away from his finished breakfast. As Spike left Dash began eating her pancakes, vaguely aware of an unpleasant feeling in her gut. The more she ate the worse it seemed to become, so it wasn’t hunger. “Pinkie, I feel funny, like bad funny,” she said pushing away her unfinished pancakes. “Uh-oh, looks like somepony needs to have a visit from the tickle fairy,” she replied playfully, Dash just deadpanned. “No Pinkie, just no. I mean after Spike told me about Twilight’s… condition I’ve been feeling, empty,” Dash explained, Pinkie just rolled her eyes. “Well duh silly, you feel bad for your friend,” she said turning back to her cooking. “Oh my god, you’re right. I feel bad for somepony other than myself, being self-centred is wrong… I’d know that if I paid attention to anything that’s ever happened to me,” she said standing up, “I’m gonna go cheer her up.” But before she could make a move for the stairs an excited squeal could be heard ringing down from the top floor. Dash barely had a second to think about this before a purple ball of fur and feathers came charging down the stairs. “It came!” she exclaimed brandishing a letter in Dash’s face. “What came?” Dash said brushing it aside with her hoof. “Orders from the princess, they found another gate!” Dash felt her jaw drop. “All right!” she said punching the air with a hoof. “What’s going on?” Clarity asked poking her head through the doorway. “They found a gate,” Spike informed her, walking down the stairs. “Yeah, isn’t it great?” Twilight said, barely able to contain her excitement, “of course you’ll have to wield the element of magic Clarity.” “Me?” Clarity said shocked, “you really think this horn rot will stop you using your element?” “Dunno, but why take the chance when we already know you can use it?” “I guess,” Clarity replied reluctantly, she looked over at Rainbow Dash who just shrugged, offering her a look intended to say ‘at least she’s in a good mood’. “So where we are we heading? I need to know what kind of party supplies to pack,” Pinkie asked flicking through a catalogue which Dash saw was full of pretentiously named party themes, much like a carpet catalogue. “Aquestria,” Twilight replied, Pinkie and Dash both raised their eyebrows and glanced at each other. “Uh, Twi, isn’t that… here?” Dash asked, sure she had made a mistake. “No, Aquestria, with an ‘a’,” she explained exasperatedly. “Oh, I’ve heard of that place,” Clarity said with awe, “the city at the bottom of the ocean.” Clarity knew she hadn’t imagined it that time when she looked over at the others; Dash had an unmistakable look of horror on her face as she said that line. Once again however she quickly switched back to her usual confident grin. “No biggie,” she said, only Clarity picking up on the quiver in her voice, “I’ll just go pack, when are we heading?” “This afternoon, could you go inform the others?” she asked before remembering Dash’s wings, “oh sorry, never mind. I’ll do it myself… hang on, how are you able to get into your house if you can’t fly?” Dash grimaced, “a ladder, and no it’s not easy.” With that she trotted from the kitchen, her half-finished pancakes forgotten on the table. “Pinkie, could you go round up the others?” Twilight asked after Dash had left. “Sure thing Twilight, I need to pick up some under the sea themed party equipment anyway,” she said bouncing out happily. “Alright, we better get packing, come on Spike, I want to take this opportunity to practice every aquatic spell I’ve ever read about.” “But Twilight, uh, your horn,” Spike reminded her causing Twilight’s shoulders to slump. “Oh yeah,” she said woefully before brightening up, “still, a little light reading can’t hurt.” With that she skipped up the stairs leaving Spike to roll his eyes. “Light reading, yeah right,” he scoffed at Clarity, “have you seen how many spell books she has on the subject.” “Well then you’d better get started if you want to pack them all,” Clarity said smirking. “Since when were you on her side?” Spike complained, trudging up the stairs after Twilight. ~ Rainbow Dash paced her living room for the tenth, no, twentieth… okay she wasn’t keeping count, but she had been at it longer than she usually had the patience for so it must have been somewhere around that number. Normally the climb up her new house ladder would earn her a well-deserved nap, but her mind was too active after what Clarity had said, the city at the bottom of the ocean… the ocean, the big blue wet thing. The raging, swirling, chaotic, sent sailors to their deaths ocean. Dash gulped loudly, knowing only Tank could hear her, and he could hardly judge. “It’s okay, nothing bad can happen,” she reasoned, but try as she might her thoughts inevitably ‘swam’ back… “And the Equestrian Games goes to… Fillydelphia,” the games inspector announced, she was immediately responded with a harmonious groan of disappointment as well as one high pitched ‘nooo’ from one very distraught filly. Rainbow Dash landed back on the cloud next to her father and tried not to cry, but she felt a hoof wrap around her and looked up into the face of her father, his expression apologetic. “Sorry Dash, maybe next time,” he said, Dash simply nodded and allowed her father to walk her out among the crowd and head home. Dash’s thoughts were interrupted by a soft knocking on the door, swinging her head around she could make out the tip of a long, pink tail through one of the windows. “Come on in Fluttershy,” she called out. The door opened gently and Fluttershy poked her head in. “Oh, I’m sorry Rainbow, but the others were wondering where you were and so I decided to see if you were okay and…” she began explaining quietly, but as soon as Dash heard her say the others were waiting she snapped her around to view the clock and her heart missed a beat. “Oh hay! I’m late!” with that she scooped up Tank and ran out the door stopping just short of the edge of her cloud house. “Drat, can’t fly, of all the times to be late.” "It’s okay, I can get us down,” Fluttershy offered, Dash mulled it over quickly before relenting and clambering aboard Fluttershy’s back, if anypony ever saw this she would never be able to live it down. After an agonisingly slow descent to the ground, Dash hopped off. “Thanks Flutters, hey do you know anypony who can look after Tank for me?” “Oh I can fly him over to my house then meet you at the station,” Fluttershy offered, “uh, Big Mac offered to look after all my animals while we gone.” As soon as Tank was unloaded, Dash began galloping as hard as she could for Ponyville. She had left it too late to pack anything so she would just have to hope the others could provide her with any essentials. It didn’t take her long to reach the station, she ran in the running of the leaves every year after all, just because she preferred to fly didn’t mean she didn’t take the time to exercise in other ways. “There she is,” Applejack called as she came panting onto the platform, “what in the hay took you so long?” “Sorry, lost track of time,” she said trying to hide the fact she was exhausted. “Well hurry onto the train now,” Applejack ordered, “you’re lucky Twilight was able to use her status to hold it up for you.” “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Rainbow muttered climbing onto the carriage, ignoring the disgruntled looks other passengers were giving her. After another few minutes Fluttershy joined them apologising profusely for holding everypony up. “Alright,” a very irate train conductor began, “if we’re all here, then this train to Van Hoover will be departing right now to make up for lost time.” “It’s about time,” Spike moaned from where he lay with his head on Rarity’s lap, “next time we’re leaving her behind, I could probably be the element of loyalty after I tag along with you lot on every crazy adventure.” “Didn’t we already try making you Rainbow Dash once?” Pinkie asked, “Didn’t work out to well if I recall.” “Probably because you weren’t laughing very much,” Spike responded bitterly. “So Twilight, what are the travel arrangements?” Rarity asked, looking up from her magazine. “From Van Hoover we take a ship to Aquestria,” she began before hesitating, “I’ve never been so I’m not sure how we get to the city itself.” “Maybe we have to swim down,” Pinkie suggested, Dash shuddered at the thought. “That would be ridiculous Pinkie, nopony could survive that,” Twilight said, Dash clenched her eyes and began picturing the sky. “After all, it’s built in the very deepest part of the ocean.” That did it; Dash screamed at the top of her lungs and ran from the compartment, leaving six very confused mares and one equally bewildered dragon. “Oh my,” Fluttershy said quietly, “was it something we said?” “I’ll go check on her,” Clarity said suspiciously. “So, yeah, after we reach Aquestria, Celestia says Mare Equus the princess of water will escort us to the gate,” Twilight continued after Clarity had left. “I never had any interaction with her,” Rarity said thoughtfully, “do you know what she’s like?” “Personality wise, not at all,” Twilight admitted, after all the extent of her own interaction with her had been listening to her talk about colonising the ocean before the summit was cut short. “She’s very strange looking; she appears to have undergone a lot of magical alteration to adapt her to life in water.” “So she’s like a freaky fish lady?” Pinkie asked. “That’s, actually a pretty accurate description,” Twilight said laughing at the thought. ~ The filly Rainbow Dash trudged into her bedroom and curled up on her bed, throwing the covers over her head as if to block out the world. Pretty quickly however she heard her bedroom door open and her father’s heavy footsteps cross the room. “I know you’re upset, but you can’t hide away,” he told her, sitting lightly on the end of the bed, “it won’t solve anything.” “I know,” she muttered, still not pulling her head out. “We can still go to see the games,” he continued in an optimistic tone, “I still have all that time off work.” “I don’t think I want to,” Dash said mournfully, her father sighed. He loved his daughter but she could be as stubborn as a mule. “Well tell you what, why don’t we go on our own holiday? Forget this rotten business and take a trip somewhere, just you and me?” There was a long moment of silence before Rainbow pulled her head out from under the covers and looked back up at him with bloodshot eyes. “I’ll think about it,” she said dully, but her father was happy nonetheless. He leaned down and kissed her forehead before standing up. “Love you Rainbow,” with that he left the room, closing the door gently behind him. The filly smiled as he left before whispering to herself. “Love you dad.” ~ “Rainbow,” Clarity called, knocking on the toilet door, “I know you’re in there, I can hear you breathing.” “Hey Clarity,” she called back after a moment of tense silence. “Rainbow Dash, what’s wrong? I’ve noticed you acting weird all day,” she asked leaning against the door frame. “What? No I haven’t,” she insisted in a quivering voice. “Then why are you hiding in the toilet?” Clarity asked, a victorious grin spreading over her face. “I’m not hiding, I’m taking a sh…” “Dash!” Clarity shouted, disgusted, “even if that was true, which it isn’t, you don’t shout something like that out for everypony to hear.” “I wouldn’t have to if you weren’t interrogating me,” Rainbow retorted, Clarity opened her mouth but found she had nothing to bite back with. “Fine,” she said at last, “but we’re your friends, if something’s bothering you we’re here to help.” With that she left the now silent toilet cubicle behind and made her way back to the others. Dash sat on the other side of the door, staring deep into space as her mind drifted back through her memories. ~ Van Hoover was a progressive town, much like Manhattan it dealt in shipping and trade with foreign countries. as well as this it had a budding industry district which a certain individual overseas was insistent would bring Equestrian society into the new age, Twilight briefly wondered which one with a knowing smirk on her face. However, the call of duty meant that none of them would be able to enjoy this new slice of life, as the train from Ponyville only arrived shortly after sunrise the day after it set off, mainly due to its slightly delayed start courtesy of Rainbow Dash. As such Twilight and her friends were forced to make a run for the boat, forced to ignore the sights and local landmarks, much to Twilight’s dismay. The harbour was packed when they arrived, but then, it gave Twilight the distinct impression of being a place which was busy all hours of the day. “Well blow me down,” Applejack said giving a low whistle, “maybe I ought’a do some business out here.” “Focus monopoly mam!” Dash said giving Applejack a clap around the side of the head. “Come on girls,” Twilight shouted before the two could start brawling, “the boat won’t stay forever, and I can’t hold it up like I did with the train.” with all arguing aside they set about navigating the busy harbour, the boat they were making for was a large steam vessel, it was actually intended to carry metal works back from Metropolis, but the captain had been willing to make a drop off at Aquestria as they passed over as a special favour to Equestria’s new princess. As they arrived, the predominantly male crew were lined up next to the gang plank, ready to greet Twilight as her and her friends made their way aboard. “Your highness,” the moustached captain greeted in a crisp voice, “welcome aboard, may I just say what an honour it is to be able to provide you with transport today.” “That’s quite alright,” Twilight responded, her cheeks turning a little pink, “we’re very appreciative of the offer. What time will we reach Aquestria at may I inquire?” “We’ll be ready to drop you off around midnight,” he informed her, “until then we have cabins prepared for your short stay. I’ll have my son show you the way.” With one last thanks to the captain, the crew saluted and dispersed to ready the ship for take-off. One colt, not much younger than themselves rushed forward. “If you would like to follow me your highness,” he offered, stooping a little. “My my, I must say, the manners of these fine sailors is commendable,” Rarity whispered to Twilight as they were led below deck, “tell me Twilight, is there any form of royal thanks you can grant as princess?” “I’m not sure,” Twilight admitted, “I’ll have Spike send a letter to Celestia while we travel.” The cabins they had been offered were impeccable, clearly the crew had been working overtime to have them in such presentable condition with so little forewarning. “Oh my,” Fluttershy commented, fluttering over to the porthole, “you can see under the water as we’re travelling, that’s fascinating.” “Uh,” Rainbow said with a small sway, “I think I’ll take the other room.” Clarity watched after her, and noticed as she opened the door the other cabin had no windows. “Have you ever been on a boat Fluttershy?” Twilight asked stepping up next to her. “No, never,” she said in awe as some indistinguishable creature swam past. “Now that yah mention it, ah’ve never been off the land myself,” Applejack commented. “Oh, there’s nothing quite like a relaxing voyage, I’m sure even you will absolutely love it,” Rarity informed her with a little sigh added in for dramatic effect, “why don’t we head up on deck after take-off?” “That sounds mighty fun, you girls in?” Applejack said sounding trilled at the prospect, Fluttershy nodded eagerly. “I’m going to get some rest first,” Twilight said, “and remember if you’re up there to stay out of the crew’s way, this isn’t a cruise after all and we don’t want to abuse their kindness.” “You have nothing to fear Twilight, our decorum will be nothing short of regal,” Rarity assured her. “I wasn’t referring to you,” Twilight said stiffly, her eyes bouncing over to pink mare who was currently spinning around to see if you got dizzy quicker on a boat that on land. “Ah, well I’ll keep an eye on her,” Rarity whispered back knowingly, Twilight nodded appreciatively before sitting herself down on one of the cabin beds and trying to relax herself. The girls departed soon after they felt the ship roar into life and begin pulling out of the harbour. “Spike, aren’t you going as well?” Twilight asked when she noticed the baby dragon was still in the room. “Really? You don’t remember what happened the last time we were on a boat?” Spike deadpanned. “Of course I remember,” Twilight said rolling her eyes, “but seriously Spike, the chances of being kidnapped by merpeople twice in a single life time are highly improbable.” “Well for once I’m gonna take the safe option and stay inside,” he replied with a disgruntled snort. “If you insist, but while you’re here can you write a letter to the princess for me?” she asked, Spike seemed to brighten up at the request. He reached into Twilight’s bags and whipped out some writing utensils. “Fire away,” he said, glad to be doing something that resembled the way life used to be between them. “That’s my number one assistant, now,” she said clearing her throat, “’dear princess Celestia…’” ~ Rainbow Dash’s father was in the kitchen, trying his hoof at cooking. This was swiftly becoming a weekly tradition in their house, he would dabble in cooking, insisting this time it would be different, and every time he’d all but burn the house to the ground, Dash would sigh and hand him a take away menu and the two would laugh about it later over pizza. It was the smell of his weekly tradition that finally got Rainbow Dash to come out of her room, knowing that if she want there to stop her father, nopony would. “Look who’s finally up and about,” her father said happily, noticing a very disgruntled filly stomp into the kitchen, “today’s dinner will be Roasted chestnut & herb pesto pasta with mushrooms.” “No dad,” Rainbow Dash deadpanned, “dinner will be burnt Roasted chestnut & herb pesto pasta with mushrooms, a warning from the fire department and the cheapest noodles we can get at seven in the evening.” Her dad started laughing, “How did I raise such a smart ass?” “So, I was thinking about what you said,” Rainbow Dash said taking a seat at the dinner table, “maybe a holiday… wouldn’t be such a terrible idea.” “That’s the spirit!” her dad exclaimed as the stove behind him burst into flames. After a panicked several minutes the two sat on the sofa, every window in the house cracked open to allow the clouds of smoke to flow freely from the cloud house. “You know, you don’t have to cook,” Dash said quietly. “I know,” her dad replied sadly. The two sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before Dash finally broke it. “So what did you have in mind for holiday?” “Well, I wanted to hear what you fancied, but I did notice a pretty decent cruise in a magazine the other day.” Dash mulled this over in her mind; she’d never been on a boat before let alone a cruise. “Sounds like fun… what could go wrong?” ~ “Is anypony else seein’ the problem with this?” Applejack asked as the ship slowed to a snail’s pace. Indeed the group of ponies saw nothing as far as the eye could see but a vast stretch of inky black waves. “Yeah, shouldn’t there be a rig or trawler or something?” Twilight asked, gazing over the side of the boat. No sooner had she said so than a loud, slow ringing began echoing from the bridge of the boat, and the captain called out over the deck. “Hold onto something ladies!” Twilight obeyed without question, gripping the rails she was leaning against, then she felt something wrap tightly around her and turned her head awkwardly to see that Rainbow Dash had finally come up and was now clinging to her, her eyes screwed shut. “Rainbow, what are you…” but she never finished as at that moment there was a low moaning sound, and before Twilight’s eyes the waves broke apart as something began to rise from the depths. It was difficult to see in the low light, especially since the moon was clouded over, but the ships lights illuminated it. It appeared to be a cylindrical tank, crafted from what appeared to be pearl with glass lining the wall. “What is that?” Clarity asked dumbfounded once the structure stopped rising and stood stoically on the water surface. “That’s the Lift,” the captain informed them stepping out of nowhere, “that’s your transport down.” “Down,” Rainbow repeated with a nervous gulp that nopony acknowledged, they were too busy staring in awe at the Lift. With a hoof gesture the crew members ran forward and readied the gangplank, sliding it out to meet a glass door that had slid open on the Lift. “I guess this is where we let you off,” the captain said bowing, “it’s been a pleasure.” “The pleasure has been all ours,” Twilight replied nodding at Spike who held up leather pouch. “As recognition of your service, I am here by bestowing upon each of you the Evening Star for services to royalty.” As she spoke Rarity levitated half a dozen medals from the pouch Spike held and gave them to each of the crew members and finally the captain. “Your highness, I don’t know what to say,” he said, his formal manner slipping in his surprise. “There’s no need to say anything,” Twilight bowing her head gratefully, “May peace and harmony always be with you.” As the whole crew bowed once more, each one unable to hide the thrill at receiving such prise, Twilight stepped onto the gang plank and made her way over to the Lift. Once inside she found it lit with a pleasant white glow, she quickly noticed this was due to a series of complex runes carved into the pearl forming the floor and ceiling. “Look Spike,” Twilight said as the dragon joined her in the Lift, “there must be hundreds of enchantments placed on this room alone to make it fit for living in.” “Renewing those must be a drag,” Spike groaned. Very soon all the others had joined them in the confined space, including Dash who needed some encouragement from the crew to step out onto the gang plank. “So now what happens?” Fluttershy asked, walking around the room admiring the feat of magical engineering. “I guess we just…” Twilight began, but then the glass doors slid shut and the Lift gave a small rumble answering her question, “never mind.” After the initial tremble the Lift began to descend into the waves, in a surprisingly smooth motion. Almost all of the ponies stood around the wall, peering out of the glass, waiting to catch a glimpse of Aquestria, Dash on the other hoof stood in the centre picturing the sky on a mildly cloudy day. “Oh this is going to be so much fun,” Pinkie squealed, “do you think they keep fish as pets and walk them on leads.” “Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?” Applejack asked, although she was smiling at the notion. “Wouldn’t it be just marvellous if the whole city resembled this?” Rarity asked, gesturing to the rune carved pearl construct they stood in. “Oh, I see something,” Fluttershy gasped, they all rushed to press their noses against the glass as indeed a faint glow seemed to be emerging as they continued to descend. “Ohhh,” the all breathed as the pale glow spread throughout the ocean around them. Then something began to emerge, it looked like a spire of sorts, pearl white, however it was difficult to make out through the constantly rippling current. Then, without warning, the Lift broke right through the water, emerging into a relatively dry environment. All the Lift’s inhabitants stared, their jaws swinging open, even Dash’s mouth formed a small ‘o’. “That…” Clarity began, looking for the right words, “is incredible.” They no longer descended through water; instead the entire city of Aquestria was contained in an invisible bubble, almost like a snow globe. However this feat was nothing compared with the actually city. Rarity could not have been more accurate in her desires, the city was an awe inspiring cluster of domes, spires and cathedral like structures, all carved from the same rune embroidered pearl, thus explaining the heavenly pale glow spread out from the city. There seemed to be no space that was not being used for something, the entire hemisphere Aquestria was contained within was filled to the brim with structures. “You said it Sugarcube,” Applejack murmured, her eyes glued to the sight before her. “What do you think Rare?” Rarity just babbled some indistinguishable nonsense, her eyes glazed, and a tiny amount of saliva dripping down her chin. “It’s beautiful,” Fluttershy chipped in. “At the next summit, I am supporting whatever plans Mare Equus has for expansions,” Twilight said firmly, the others hadn’t a clue what she was referring to, but nodded absent minded none the less. They became so lost staring down upon the city that the ride ended all too soon. With a shuddering jolt, the Lift touched down upon a pearl platform where a group of figures were gathered, apparently to greet them. As the glass doors slid open, Twilight led the way out, staring all around her at the incredible sights. “It is quite the sight isn’t it?” a voice said, drawing Twilight’s attention away from the city. She looked forward to see one of the figures had stepped forward from the group, not just any figure either. “Mare Equus,” Twilight said bowing politely, the alicorn quirked an eyebrow in response to this. “I appreciate the gesture Twilight Sparkle, but you and I are of equal standing, you should not bow to me,” she informed her; Twilight was surprised by her matter of fact tone. Infact, now that she was here, she was only now getting her first good look at the water princess. The sapphire blue scales and translucent orange fins where an alicorns wings would normally be, she remembered well. The mane of bubbles which had seemed short and active during the summit appeared more relaxed and flowing here, much like Celestia’s mane. Twilight also noticed she was still wearing the steel breast plate, adorned with the trident across the front and looking thoroughly worn with the sea wear and coral lightly encrusting it. Similarly were the bangles around her legs and the tiara perched upon her head, each topped with a smooth jewel. Twilight wondered if this was her version of royal dress, much like Twilight’s crown. “Thank you for extending the invitation, your city is just beautiful,” Twilight complimented, Mare Equus’s expression didn’t change. “Yes, aesthetically there are few that can hope to compete,” she admitted, “but i worked hard to build it, as such I know of its deepest flaws. For example, the Lift that brought you here, gives passengers a nice view, but for transportation to and from the outside world, it is almost useless. Aquestria has been for nearly two hundred years and it remains our only door outside.” “I can see why that would be a problem,” Twilight acknowledged, she could tell Mare Equus was frustrated by the lack of development, this explained why she was so eager at the summit to push forward her plans for expansion. “Once this terrible business is all over, I’ll certainly see what I can do to help.” At that comment the water princess cracked her first smile. “Thank you Twilight Sparkle,” she said, sounding genuine, “I had a good feeling about you from our brief encounter at the summit, now I am beginning to see that initial view was quite close to the mark.” “Thank you,” Twilight replied, this was going swimmingly. “Now that pleasantries are out of the way we can set off,” she began again gesturing for Twilight to walk with her, “no doubt you are as eager to see an end to this Aether problem as myself.” “Definitely.” “Good, then we shall not delay,” she continued as they walked, “you can inform your servants that we’re heading off now.” “Servants? They’re not my servants, they’re my friends.” Mare Equus didn’t seem to care about Twilight’s contradiction. “Whatever,” she replied with a shrug. Twilight frowned, they were getting along well, she didn’t want to spoil things by arguing with her over something as small as this, but she didn’t like having her friends referred to as servants. Shrugging it off, she looked over to them, they had stood at a polite distance, unsure whether they should approach the princess or not. “Come on girls, we’re moving on to the gate,” she informed them; they seemed satisfied with this and trotted to catch up. Aquestria was a fascinating city; Twilight prayed they would have just a little time after closing the gate to hang around. As she examined the many buildings they passed through she recognised many of the different rune combinations. Some were designed to support the protection bubble, keeping the entire city from flooding; others were used to maintain the varieties of sea life in the city that would otherwise have been deprived of water. The locals were a varied bunch, while they saw many ponies, few could be considered ‘normal’, many had some adaption much like the princess herself, whether it be scales, gills, fins, some even had entire limbs altered to give them an underwater advantage. Besides the ponies there were octopuses, turtles, all manner of fish (it was mainly for them that the protection runes were intended). They all seemed relatively cheery, it reminded Twilight of life in Equestria, but then of course Aquestria was still a young nation that had originally stemmed from Equestria. As they journeyed Mare Equus gave Twilight a brief history which she lapped up with delight, it was incredible to think how so much had been constructed in such a short space of time, there was no denying Mare Equus was a diligent type. “But I ramble on, you’re probably more interested in the gate,” she said after a long lecture on the challenges involved with underwater farming. Frankly Twilight could have listened forever but she did have a mission that came first after all. “The gate is actually many miles out, not too far mind you, but we’re going to have to take one the subs from the royal dock.” “Sub?” Twilight repeated. “Yes, a submarine,” she elaborated, “in simple terms it’s an underwater boat, they’ve been essential in the development of Aquestria.” “And, quick question, the gate is in the ocean right?” Mare Equus nodded, “then how will we close it? We have to be standing around it to use the elements.” “A valid question, one I had already considered,” she explained, “after discovering its location I sent my most trusted mages to erect a dry zone around it for your benefit.” “Dry zone… like the one around this place?” Twilight asked gesturing to the dome surrounding Aquestria. “Indeed,” Mare Equus replied, letting the conversation die there. After walking for some time their destination came into view, they had diverged from the main road they had previously been travelling along and walked until they arrived at a low, bunker like building sitting right at the edge of the dry zone. Like all the buildings in Aquestria, it was crafted from pearl, featuring many windows. Unlike other buildings however this one was decorated in flowing banners of royal blue, a trident emblazoned on each. The entrance was a tall and regal set of double doors, flanked on either side by two armoured guards. As they approached the guards snapped to attention and the doors swung open for them. “There are docks all over Aquestria,” Mare Equus explained as they passed through into the wide expanse, “but this is my own private one, nopony but I and my personnel are permitted to enter.” Twilight didn’t respond, she was barely listening as her eyes had fell on what she could only assume was the submarine; it was an impressive sight, befitting of the city she had just witnessed. It appeared to be stylised to look like a sword fish, like the buildings it was carved from pearl with runic letters etched into it, however Twilight also noted there was a brass, skeletal frame attached, as well as four arms reminiscent of the claws princess Vegnum had, stretching from the walls to hold the vessel in place. “A beautiful vessel your majesty,” Rarity complimented, but much to Twilight’s surprise, Mare Equus ignored her. “We will set sail in twenty minutes,” she announced curtly, “you may board when ready.” With that she walked away from them, assumingly to make her own arrangements, Twilight turned to her friends for the first time since they had arrived. “Well girls, what do you think?” she asked, her tone clearly telling them her own thoughts. “Spectacular,” Rarity exclaimed gazing all around her. “It’s mighty impressive,” Applejack acknowledged, “and that’s comin’ from a girl who’s about as in love with the land as ye can get.” “It is so under-waterific!” Pinkie declared, hoping madly around them, “what do you think Dashie?” They all looked to Rainbow Dash and let out a collective gasp as they saw the usually cool and collected Pegasus sitting on her haunches, her coat sweaty and breathing like oxygen was about to have a tax put on it. “Oh Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy began sounding worried, “are you sick?” “I’m fine, what are you talking about?” she replied in a voice vaguely reminiscent of the time Rarity entered the Young Flyers Competition in Cloudsdale, “I mean, we’re in this amazing city under water! We just met the princess of water! And now we’re about to get on a boat that sails, UNDER THE WATER!” All the ponies gathered looked nervously at one another. “Alright Rainbow Dash,” Twilight began, “I get the feeling you’re trying to tell us something…” “Seriously Twilight,” Spike said with a deadpan expression, “even I can figure out what’s going on.” Twilight opened her mouth but was interrupted by a whistle coming from the submarine. They all looked around to, to their surprise, an octopus sitting on the ramp leading to the rear entrance. “The princess said ‘board when you were ready’, but that basically means now,” he explained in a surprisingly comprehensible tone. Looking back at the others, who just shrugged, Twilight started for the sub, the others following closely behind. Only Clarity was left with the still shuddering Rainbow Dash. “How long are you going to keep denying this?” she asked exasperated, “admit you’re afraid of water.” “I am not afraid of water!” Dash spat back, Clarity sighed and walked away from her, at which point Dash whispered to herself, “I’m afraid of drowning.” ~ Rainbow Dash was finally ready to admit she was enjoying herself, though she wasn’t looking forward to the ‘I told you so look’ she would receive from her father. The cruise had been far better than she could have hoped for, it was the perfect balance of relaxing with its lounge chairs and on deck pool, and fun with its many activities in the evenings and the bar games available. They were the only reason her dad had permitted her to be in the bar, and it was only to be when he was there to keep an eye on her. It might have seemed silly to some but her dad knew all too well of her astounding ability to hustle darts and pool. The trip had been the perfect thing to help Dash forget her disappointment at losing out on the Equestrian games. It was their fourth day when she finally broke the pleasant silence between the two of them as they bathed in the sun. “Thanks dad,” she said simply, this caused him to raise his eyebrows in surprise. “What was that? I didn’t hear you,” he replied jokingly. “Please don’t make me say it again,” Dash whined, “this was just a good idea is all.” Her dad didn’t respond, nothing needed to be said, and he didn’t want to make his daughter feel any more uncomfortable than she already did. Rainbow Dash sighed contentedly, her eyes shutting gently, her breathing slowing down. She didn’t even notice when the sun was blotted out, or hear the waves turning violent, not until she heard the sound of the siren wailing over the deck. ~ “If you’ve liked everything up to this point,” Mare Equus began, joining Twilight at the cockpit window, “you’re going to love this bit.” With a curt nod of approval to the octopus who now sat behind some sort of command console, the submarine shuddered into life and the arms Twilight had seen earlier picked the entire vessel up so it no longer rested on the floor of the dock. The octopus continued to fiddle about with controls before anything else happened, Twilight noticed Pinkie’s head spinning around madly, desperate she didn’t miss anything. “Eyes ahead,” Mare Equus advised, Twilight returned her attention to the window in time to see the entire facing wall of the dock crack open in the centre and began sliding open. The dry zone ended at this point, held impossibly still in front of them, as if a glass sheet had been erected where the dock wall once stood. Next Twilight felt the sub lurch forward, as it was thrust quite unceremoniously by the metal arms through the vertical sheet of water. With a quick flurry of tentacles the pilot detached the sub from the arms holding it and let it drift through the water, not for long though as following yet more fumbling Twilight felt something come to life deep within the sub and it began to propel itself through the water. “We will arrive at the gate in a matter of hours,” Mare Equus informed them, stepping away from the window and making for the door at the back of the control room. “If you require rest now would be the time to obtain it.” With that she opened the door in her liquid aura and departed the room. “This is pretty fun,” Applejack admitted, still staring out the window. “Pretty fun!” Pinkie exclaimed, shocked by Applejack’s choice of adjective, “this is super, duper, awesome, amazing fun!” “Or that,” Applejack gave her, “so have you calmed down yet RD?” But as they turned to see how the panicking Pegasus was holding up they just caught a glimpse of a rainbow tail swishing through the door. “I’ll go check on her,” Twilight said before any of the others could say anything. Without waiting for a response she marched for the door, giving a polite smile to the driver who waved back with one of his tentacles. Reaching the door she subconsciously summoned her magic to telekinetically open the door… and walked face first into it. Rubbing her nose she ignored the snickering of her friends behind her and opened it by hoof instead. The rest of the sub was fairly basic, the door she entered through led into a narrow corridor with several other rooms leading off from it. One door had an armed guard standing by it which Twilight presumed was the princess’s quarters. As she walked along she was about to ask the guard if he had seen Rainbow Dash before she noticed one of the doors was partly open. Crossing the distance towards it she began to hear a peculiar sound coming from within, she couldn’t distinguish what it was as it was too muffled. Reaching forward she pushed the door open steadily to see Rainbow Dash lying on a bed facing away from her. “Rainbow Dash, are you alright?” Twilight asked moving into the room, Dash didn’t reply, but flinched noticeably at the sound of her voice. “Please Dash, we’re worried about you. Whatever it is that’s bothering you, you can talk to us.” Still no response, Twilight sighed and pulled up a chair, taking a seat at the opposite end of the room, facing Dash with folded hooves. “I’m staying here whether you talk to me or not,” she informed the Pegasus, still nothing. Twilight suppressed a groan, why was Dash so difficult? ~ Rainbow Dash must have been lying there for a couple hours at least; a part of her was impressed by her unusual display of patience. It wasn’t until she finally heard the rhythmic snoring of Twilight that she finally rolled over. Twilight looked anything but regal slouched on the chair, her jaw slack. Rainbow sighed as she stretched her limbs, she missed land, she missed the sky, but she missed her wings most of all, her one constant safety net over the years, the knowledge that if things got too bad she could fly straight up to freedom. Yet here she was, countless leagues beneath the ocean, and her wings made useless. With a sigh she crawled off the bed and landed awkwardly on her hooves, soon this would all be over, they could go home and she would never have to come back again. With a more optimistic outlook she finally cracked her first smile of the day. “Just a couple more hours,” she whispered so as not to wake her friend, “what can go wrong in that time?” She just had to say it… ~ Pinkie Pie had been having the time of her life, glued to the window of the cockpit with her friends, pointing out the various sea creatures that swam past them, if only Twilight would come back with Dashie, and then everything would be perfect. Yes, she had been having the time of her life, that is, until she wandered up behind the pilot, intent on getting a closer look at the creature she had never encountered before. It was as she had stood there, pondering the best way to go about befriending him, that she saw it. The control console the octopus was fiddling with was incredibly complex; Pinkie couldn’t even begin to fathom what anything did. Until she saw one button that drowned out everything around her, the big, round, red button, labelled ‘do not press’. For Pinkie it was like the rest of the world stop existing, all that remained was herself and the button, the only sound, the thumping of her heart echoing through the whole cockpit. As she stared her eyes became wide, she licked her lips, she was becoming filled to the brim with that unforgettable feeling, the one she felt every time she saw a sign saying ‘do not walk on the grass’ or ‘wet paint, do not touch’. Before Pinkie knew it, she was raising a pink hoof, slowly and steadily, her left eye giving an involuntary twitch. She was nearing he button, she was so close, she could almost feel it giving way beneath her… “Hey Pinkie, whatcha doin?” a voice asked, pulling her back to reality. She felt dizzy as she turned to see Applejack walking up towards her. “Just seeing how this all works,” she lied, although be now she was struggling to remember what the truth of the matter was. “Well leave the gentleman alone, he needs to focus,” Applejack scolded, Pinkie nodded sadly and walked back to the window with her fellow earth pony. The octopus had barely noticed the pink pony’s presence, far too focused with his own task to pay any heed to what unbeknownst to him was about to be a disastrous situation. He was so focused in fact, that when one of his tentacles absently reached out for his cup of coffee, he didn’t notice his oily grip over the polystyrene cup was insufficient. He barely noticed when the cup slipped from his grasp; it was only when it hit the console, spilling scalding hot coffee all over it that he finally noticed. ~ Rainbow Dash was launched off her hooves, she was sent spiralling across the room by the sudden jolt that travelled through the sub. The next thing she knew her head had collided sharply with something of equal density which was purple. The ringing in her own head was enough to drown out the sound of the emergency sirens being blasted through the ship, but even if Dash had heard them she couldn’t have reacted as she was still being thrown across the room, this time bundled with what she now realised was her own alicorn friend. By the time the two had stopped being hurled around the small room; they were in a heap… on the ceiling, surrounded by their last meal. “Rainbow, what the hay…” Twilight began screaming, but Rainbow Dash wasn’t paying attention. Now that they lay relatively still, though she could still feel the sub getting buffeted about, she was beginning to make out the room as her vision cleared. All the previously white runes were now flashing red; the door to the room had been buckled in, and all around the room, cracks spider webbed over the pearl walls, slowly but steadily spraying the room in water. Rainbow Dash clambered to her hooves, ignoring the pain shooting through her body, particularly her wings which she had landed on more than once while getting tossed about like a rag doll. She stared in disbelief as sea water gushed into the room, filling it slowly from one corner of the ceiling. Twilight was shouting something, but Rainbow Dash had become frozen in horror at what was happening around her. I’m going to drown! I’m going to die! Her breathing became panicked and laboured and she didn’t even acknowledge Twilight dragging her from the room by the tail. The hallway outside was no better, the flashing red was incredibly disorienting for Twilight as she pulled the seemingly paralysed Rainbow Dash along with her. Her head was throbbing where Dash had impacted against her, she was angry but at the same time she was afraid she wouldn’t have woken up in time otherwise. She needed to get back to the cockpit with her friends, that meant going left. Unfortunately whatever had happened caused the hallway to slant steeply upwards, and the gradient was still increasing until soon it would be vertical and she would have no hope of getting up. She wasn’t a strong enough flyer to pull Rainbow Dash up with her, especially with her being so inflexible. Without wasting any more time she pushed forward, dragging Rainbow along, trying to ignore the water cascading down the hall making it almost impossible for her to get a solid footing. More than once she slipped and would have fallen straight down if not for her being able to brace herself by wedging herself in the narrow corridor with her outstretched wings. “Rainbow, I need you to help me!” she shouted through gritted teeth, still clinging onto her tail, but the Pegasus was still being unresponsive, now shaking violently. With no choice, Twilight gave up trying to talk a sense of urgency into her and continued her uphill battle towards the cockpit, trailing her friend along with her. All the while the she felt massive jolts go through the sub and hear sickening cracks indicating the pearl it was built from was giving way even more. With a gasp of air Twilight finally reached the end of the corridor, rounding a corner, allowing her to release Rainbow and taking a moment to catch her breath, but something was wrong. This didn’t look like it did when she first left the cockpit to go find Rainbow Dash, it looked more like… And with a horrifying moment of realisation she understood, she hadn’t even realised the ship was upside down, her splitting headache had seen to that. So when she left the room with Dash in tow, she should have gone right to the cockpit, but she went left… to the rear exit they had entered through. Twilight swore loudly, the sub was now hanging vertical, she couldn’t get back down the corridor safely, and they were trapped up here for the time being. Twilight cursed her horn rot now more than ever as she thought desperately of what they could possibly do, however she didn’t have to think long as she could hear a low aching coming from behind her. Snapping her head around she managed to see the widening cracks in the wall just behind the still panic stricken Rainbow Dash, and just had time to leap forward and grab hold of her as the whole wall, or maybe it was actually the floor, of the sub gave way, and water came rushing in. The next moments were absolute chaos, Twilight was for the second time in far too short a time frame, thrown about with Rainbow Dash wrapped up in her hooves. When she finally started to slow she opened her eyes, but she immediately wished she hadn’t. In the commotion the two had been wrenched out of the hole made in the sub and were now caught in the outside current, and she could see what remained of the sub. it had apparently crashed nose first into rocky outcrop, why the octopus had steered them into such a hazardous area Twilight couldn’t fathom, and she didn’t have time to either as both her and Dash were being dragged down. Flapping her wings she tried desperately to direct them, but her feathered wings were made for the air, not water, and her lack of magic meant she was desperately running out of air as well. On top of all that she didn’t even know what state Dash was in. As she fought against the current, she was inexorably tugged deeper and deeper, until the pair of them collided with the side of what resembled an underwater mountain. Twilight pushed desperately against the water, rolling hopelessly over the jagged surface. She was beginning to lose all hope, when suddenly the rock behind her gave way and she was sucked into something much darker. Again she was at the mercy of the current, that was now intent on dragging her further into the cave until all light was extinguished from view and the two of them were lost in a pitch black underwater prison, that was very quickly going to become their tomb. Twilight would have cried if she had been able, to have come this far, to have so many depending on her, and she was about to drown in this little ocean cave, probably never to be found or heard of again. Then a faint glimmer of hope sparked in her chest, if the others found safety, perhaps Mare Equus protected them, Clarity could still wield the element of magic, the world still had a chance. But then she remembered the weight she was carrying, Rainbow Dash would still die with her here. No! I will not give up! Dash would never roll over and die if one of us depended on her! With new found determination she kicked out desperately reaching forward with a hoof. All around her she felt nothing but rock, but she wasn’t going to give up. She kicked herself in the direction her mind was telling her was up, still feeling around for anything that might… something felt different, the cave seemed to be stretching upwards. Without a second thought Twilight kicked out with the last of her strength, following the tunnel she had found. Her lungs were screaming, she had tried until that point to hum, having read it in a book, but now there was no air left. This had to be the right way, there had to be something, anything, if not this was the end… Twilight’s head broke the surface of the water, followed swiftly by her grateful gasp of air. Dash made no sound and for a moment she feared the worst. Paddling herself and the now very heavy weight that was Rainbow Dash across the water, she flailed her free hoof, looking for anything she could set Dash onto. It seemed her luck hadn’t let up as soon enough she found a small shell of rock jutting out over the surface. Surprising herself with the sudden burst of strength, she heaved the Pegasus up onto the platform, before pulling herself up after. Twilight had never been in an emergency situation quite so text book as this one, but luckily she had read and memorised the text book, and just about every other vaguely relevant book, so she knew what to do. She quickly lowered her ear to the Pegasus’s mouth and chest, no breathing but there was a faint pulse, no doubt she had swallowed water. Immediately she set about pumping down on her chest, before performing mouth to mouth, in the back of her mid she was desperately thankful Rainbow Dash wasn’t awake for this; she would never let Twilight live it down. This exercise continued for some minutes, Twilight knew it wasn’t supposed to be instant but a nagging doubt started to make itself known that it was a lost cause. She shook her head, ridding herself of the negative thoughts. She would do this forever if she had to, however the minutes began to stretch out and steadily the worry began creeping back into her mind. She barely noticed how her own breathing had become panicked, the pace quickening frighteningly. Tears began to sting the corners of her eyes, as she began a cycle of mouth to mouth. “Wake up!” she screamed pulling back and hammering on her chest, the dam of composure finally breaking and her tears spilling out, “please Rainbow, don’t leave me!” Then, suddenly, miraculously, the Pegasus spluttered. Twilight was so taken aback she simply froze up and stared as her friend began coughing up enough water to fill a bath. When she was done she began taking deep rattling breaths, Twilight finally managed to shake out of her stupor to sweep Rainbow up and hold in hug Pinkie would have found too tight. “You’re okay,” she cried, easing up on her hugging when she heard Rainbow start to choke again. “Twilight,” she breathed in a disturbingly weak voice, “I… I’m alive?” “Yes, you’re alive,” Twilight said at an attempt at her normally calm, analytical voice while she began wiping her eyes. “You saved me,” Dash whispered, staring at Twilight with an odd look in her eyes. Twilight laughed modestly looking away slightly. “No thanks to you,” she joked, “you were frozen up like a statue.” Her words seemed to strike a chord with Rainbow who turned her head away and cast her eyes down in shame. “I’m sorry,” she muttered, Twilight wasn’t really angry, as she had fought to get through the corridor she had imagined tearing Dash a new one for causing her so much trouble, but after the panic that had just ensued she found she couldn’t be angry at her, she was too grateful to see her alive. “What… what happened back there?” Twilight asked tentatively. “I…” Dash began, shaking once more. What followed shook Twilight to the core. Rainbow Dash looked into her eyes, her brimming with tears, “I’m afraid of water!” Twilight just stared for a moment, in any other circumstances she would have assumed Dash was just being really committed to a prank, but now it just freaked her out. The Rainbow Dash, afraid of something to the point of freezing up and crying! “But… but you’re not afraid of anything,” Twilight replied quietly. Dash looked away in shame once more, Twilight realised she had been callous in her choice of words, she scooted forward sand embraced her friend. “Shhh, it’s alright,” she whispered as her friend quietly sobbed into her shoulder, “Just… talk to me.” Rainbow took a deep shuddering breath, not replying for a long time, when she did however, her response wasn’t what Twilight was expecting. “It was my father…” ~ The filly Rainbow Dash was rushed away by a member of the crew, he didn’t answer any of the questions she asked him, jut told her they had to get to the life boats now. She didn’t want to leave without her father, but the crew member was insisting he would be there waiting for them. Once they arrived they found the other side of the ship packed with ponies desperately fighting for a place on the life boats. “Mares and foals first!” the captain was shouting, the crew member who had taken Rainbow Dash whistled for his attention. When the captain saw them he waved them over. Rainbow Dash was led over to the captain, where he immediately set about finding room for her on one of the boats. “Please sir,” she began, politer than usual; “I need to find my dad.” “Your daddy will be fine,” he assured her, “he’ll get on one of the other life boats once we’ve made sure you’re safe.” Rainbow looked all around the crowd, it was comprised mostly of men, being the last group to be moved onto the boats, her father wasn’t among them. “No wait!” she squealed as the captain tried to pick her up, “my dad isn’t here yet.” “Don’t worry little filly, we won’t leave anyone behind,” he replied in his kindest voice, Rainbow Dash could have trusted him, she could have got onto the boat and hoped for the best that her father would be okay… “No!” she screamed running from the edge of the deck, fighting through the crowd to get back intot he ship, “I won’t lose him too!” ~ “Too?” Twilight questioned, “Rainbow… are you saying your mother…” “Yeah,” Dash said glumly, “it was a year earlier, just an accident, nothing more.” Suddenly she let out a small laugh taking Twilight by surprise. “She was always the cook in our house,” she explained, her expression suddenly very distant, “she would insist on making up home cooked meals. After she passed dad tried his hoof at it, it would never be very good, it became more of a running joke than anything. Although I think he did as his own way of remembering her…” Rainbow drifted off for a moment, thinking back to those happier days, Twilight hated to have to tear her away from them but she wanted her to continue her story, and she knew Rainbow needed to get this out. “Rainbow, you were saying about the cruise,” she reminded her gently, Dash nodded sadly. “The boat was a nightmare to get through, I won’t give you the details, I think you’ve experienced enough of sinking ships today,” she explained before continuing. ~ Rainbow Dash found her dad, whatever had happened to the ship, a beam had come loose in the engine room and fallen across her father’s hind legs. The cruise ship they had been on had been one of the earliest models of ship designed for recreation. It had been built, boasting itself to be the most unsinkable ship to date; clearly the engineers’ pride had resulted in them overlooking obvious defects when treating the hull of the ship for water resistance. “Rainbow,” her dad called out weakly as he saw her running forward, “you need to get out of here, I’m sure their evacuating ponies.” “They are, but I wasn’t going to leave you,” she told him, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and… a part of him had been afraid it was. “That’s really heroic of you, but Dashie listen,” he said, his voice turning stern, “I’ll be fine, I’ll get myself out of here, you just worry about yourself.” Rainbow Dash shook her head, what a stubborn filly, just like her father. “I’m not leaving you,” she replied, her dad opened his mouth to reply but at that moment a section of the wall ruptured and water began pouring. Rainbow rushed forward and began pushing against the beam, her father yelled out in agony. Confused, she looked closer, her heart sank. a twisted barb of metal had been jutting from the beam as it fell, and it was now embedded in her father’s hind leg. She looked up, meeting his eye, and realised, when he’d told her he’d free himself, he had been lying to get her to leave, he had accepted his fate. “No,” she whispered. “Listen to me Rainbow,” he said, his voice quivering, giving away his own fear, “I’m not getting out of here.” “No!” Rainbow repeated, screaming this time, her eyes welling with tears. “Listen!” her father ordered, water was pooling around them now, “I will not make it out of here, but you can. You can get to that deck; you can get off this boat. You can go to flight academy; you can show everypony you’re the fastest flyer in Equestria. You can join the Wonderbolts and become famous. You can have friends and a family of your own. You can have all these things but you have to leave now!” “I can’t go without you,” the filly sobbed, “I can’t do it alone.” “You won’t be alone,” her father whispered, his voice weakening, “you’ll never be alone. Just so long as you always remember…” Another explosion drowned out her father’s words, as more streams of water cascaded down upon them, the room filling even faster now. “GO NOW!” her father shouted as the water threatened to cover his head. Rainbow Dash took one last look at her father, before she turned tail, and ran. ~ Rainbow Dash was now crying with full force, clinging to her best friend who stroked her hair and draped her wings over her. Twilight didn’t say anything, just held on to her friend and gave her a shoulder to cry on. After several minutes of painful silence, Twilight finally felt Rainbow Dash’s shaking eased. “Rainbow, I’m so sorry,” she whispered into the Pegasus’s ear, “I know that was hard for you.” “I-I’ve never told anyone that before,” she stammered, her voice a mere croak now. “I tried to be brave when we came here, but when the sub… it just felt too much like…” “I know, I know,” Twilight soothed as she broke into another wave of sobs. Twilight thought desperately of what she could possibly say to make Dash feel any better, but when nothing came to mind, she settled for silence, letting her friend cry herself dry. She didn’t know how long they were sitting there for, but Twilight became vaguely aware of a chill sweeping up her body. Foolishly she chose to ignore it, passing it off as a reaction to hearing Dash’s story. When she became aware of it again, it was obvious the water was rising. “Rainbow!” she exclaimed, she had noticed it then too. Both of them leapt to their hooves, the water in the cave was rising, but how? Twilight could only assume the subs crash had upset something. Looking around desperately they scanned the small cave for a possible exit, trying not to think about the fact that it would only lead to the rest of the ocean. “Twilight,” Rainbow said hoarsely, “I can see you!” “Well of course you can,” she replied slightly exasperatedly, “I’ve been able to see you since we first got into this cave.” “No, I mean, if we can see each other, then there must be some kind of light.” Twilight slapped her head, of course, why hadn’t she realised that? The light in the cave was dim but present none the less. Looking around once more, but this time with a notion of what she was looking for, Twilight guessed the light was coming from above them. “Up!” she shouted, Rainbow nodded and moved over to Twilight. They embraced awkwardly; Twilight wasn’t a great flyer with passengers, much less a mare the same size as her. Flapping her wings she gained some height, it wasn’t mush and t was a strain none the less, but she kept it up. As they began ascending higher and higher, Twilight got the distinct feeling the water was rising at an accelerated rate. Looking back over her shoulder her eyes widened in shock, after taking minutes to rise over their ankles, the platform they had once sat on was long since buried. “Something must be giving way,” Twilight said, still pumping her wing muscles, “it’s getting faster!” No sooner had she said it than there was a stomach churning crunching noise below them, followed swiftly by the familiar sound of rushing water. Twilight didn’t need to look to know the cave wall was giving way, Dash was also beginning to show symptoms of fear, soon she would become unresponsive and too awkward to fly safely with. Twilight picked up the pace, fighting to reach the crack of light so near and yet so very far above them. They were closer now and while Twilight couldn’t discern the source of the light, it was a strangely familiar shade of blue. More cracking could be heard rising through the cave as they continued to ascend; Twilight chose to ignore it, focusing instead on the increasing difficulty of flapping her wings. She was so intent on reaching the cave ceiling and that pale blue light that she didn’t hear Dash’s cry of warning, when it did register with her, she looked up far too late to avoid the falling rock. ~ The sudden moment of panic sent a burst of adrenaline through Rainbow Dash, temporarily freeing her from her paralysed state of fear. When the rock connected violently with Twilight’s face, and they began spiralling out of control, she was able to latch herself onto a fragment of rock jutting from the cave wall. Twilight on the other hoof, who had been knocked clean out, dropped like a rock into the churning water below. Dash’s eyes widened in horror as she hung helplessly from the wall. “Twilight!” she screamed, but to no avail. Her friend, her princess had been pulled away in an instant, obscured by the foaming water still rushing in. it seemed like an eternity Dash hung there, staring in disbelief, her body frozen in terror. It was as if the trauma had forced her consciousness to recede into the depths of her mind, seeking shelter from the harsh reality she had just witnessed. Rainbow Dash was a filly, trying to hide her nervousness as her father taught her to fly. Rainbow Dash was in Ponyville laughing as her best friend Twilight Sparkle flapped like a foal, unaccustomed to her new wings. She tried to hide her head in shame, but then suddenly Rainbow stopped laughing and stepped forward and began walking her through the steps, unusually understanding of her initial difficulties. Rainbow Dash was a filly, planting her face into her hooves as her father explained to the Cloudsdale fire department that ‘he was trying to cook a casserole’. Rainbow Dash was a in the Golden Oaks Library as the lavender unicorn wafted the smoke of her latest failure at baking cupcakes out the open window. While Pinkie continued laughing hysterically, Dash stopped and flew over to Twilight and offered her one of Pinkie’s to cheer her up. Rainbow Dash was a filly, crying into the shoulder of a social worker at her father’s funeral. Rainbow Dash sat in a cave, crying her heart out into the shoulder of her best friend, the very mare that moments earlier had saved her life, Twilight Sparkle. “NO!” Dash yelled, a sudden fire igniting in her chest. Smashing from the fear gripping her she leapt off the rock, away from safety and into the jaws of her greatest fear. She hit the water like a stone weight, but ignored the pain shooting through her body as a result of her poor dive. Her eyes wide with new found determination she sought out her friend in the swirling darkness, and seeing her limp form falling just metres below her. Kicking out she propelled herself down, her teeth were bared in defiance beneath her clenched lips I won’t lose you too! With one last kick she reached Twilight, wrapping her forehooves around her torso. She was heavy, although that might have been due to Dash’s exhaustion, but she didn’t let that stop her. Kicking wildly she tried to right herself, and once she was pointed upwards she began kicking for the surface. The trip up was made more difficult by the unconscious Twilight in her forehooves as well as the continually rising water. But Dash wasn’t going to quit, she wasn’t going to let Twilight down like she had let her father down. Converting her anger and determination into physical strength, she powered upwards, breaking through the surface. She inhaled deeply before turning her attention to Twilight, unlike her studious friends she neither had the knowledge or the patience to carry out the same resuscitation techniques on her. She knew enough, and so proceeded to slap her face a couple of times before grabbing her head, a little more forcefully than necessary, and locking lips with her. As she tried desperately to breathe life into her she continued kicking her hind legs under the surface to keep them both afloat. After a short, panicked minute Twilight finally began breathing of her own accord, although her breaths were short and she bore a strange resemblance to Ditzy Doo as a result of her impact with the falling rock, she was likely concussed. “Twilight, you’re okay!” Dash exclaimed, clutching her friend tight. “Dash, what’s happening?” she asked, terrified as she realised they were neck deep in water. “Doesn’t matter, we need to reach the top if we’re to…” she stopped short as she looked up. The water had risen so that it was now metres away from the ceiling of the cave, the light now revealed to be spilling through a narrow crack. Dash felt all hope die in her chest, they couldn’t fit through that, and with the water rising at this rate and both of them in their current conditions they wouldn’t have the time or the means to make it any bigger. “Rainbow, what’s wrong?” Twilight asked, frightened by the Pegasus’s lack of words. “Nothing,” Rainbow lied in a whisper, clutching Twilight close to her chest, “nothing at all.” No… it’s not fair, after everything, we’re still going to die in here. Rainbow felt tears of hopelessness rising to the surface, Twilight continued to struggle against her, desperate to know what was going on, but Dash didn’t let up, she didn’t want to watch her spirits crumble. Dash closed her eyes and took one last breath as they began to near the top, the end was fast approaching… but it never came. Dash opened her eyes again, surprised that they weren’t submerged yet. Looking down she saw the water was still churning around them, it was trying to rise, but it was as if something was holding it back, some invisible barrier… the dry zone? Could it possibly be… Dash reached up with a hoof and began hammering at the ceiling. “Hey!” she yelled, “is anypony there!” She kept pounding the rock with her hoof, ignoring the pain spiking down her leg. Just as she was beginning to lose hope she heard muffled sounds coming from over their heads, and saw shadows flickering across the crack. Then, as she held her breath, the rocks above their heads shattered. Rainbow quickly cast her eyes down; covering Twilight’s head with the hoof she had used to knock on the ceiling. “Rainbow! Twilight!” a voice exclaimed. Dash looked up; it was, impossibly, her friends, all of them. They all reached down, grabbing hold of the Pegasus and alicorn, pulling them up to safety and laying them down on the damp rock. “You’re okay!” Rarity exclaimed, looking in disbelief. “We were so worried!” cried Pinkie, hugging Dash tightly. Looking up at their friends Dash saw they all had been crying, even Spike who knelt down beside Twilight who had drifted back into unconsciousness at some point. “I…” Rainbow tried, but at that point all the strength she had exerted in order to keep herself and Twilight alive was sapped from her, and she slipped into darkness. ~ Rainbow Dash awoke, her head heavy and numb, to an unfamiliar face. Screaming she scooted as far back from mysterious figure as she could. “Well that’s grateful,” Mare Equus said with no attempt at hiding her disdain. Dash froze, she had just screamed in the face of a princess, but before she could say or do anything, the princess stood up and called over to her friends who were gathered awkwardly some distance away. “She’s awake.” as soon as they heard that they all rushed over, eager to see her up and about. “Hang on,” she said, cutting off the barrage of questions they were asking, “what’s going on? Where are we?” “We’re at the gate,” Clarity replied simply, gesturing behind her. Of course, the light they had seen was the gate. The familiar ethereal blue rip loomed over them, the ominous black orb hovering in the centre. “We thought we’d lost you both.” “Both… Twilight!” Dash exclaimed, looking around wildly for her friend. “The princess took her away after examining her,” Fluttershy explained, “she hasn’t told us anything yet.” “So why am I here?” Dash asked uncertainly, at which point a purple claw tapped her on the shoulder and she turned to see Spike holding out a familiar gold necklace. “Oh yeah.” ~ As the light faded, and Dash felt the element of loyalty go limp around her neck, they looked up, and let out a sigh of relief when the gate was no longer present. “Two down,” she whispered to herself. With the light source gone they would have been cast into absolute darkness if not for a deep blue glow approaching the group. Dash turned to see the princess walking forward, her horn alight. “Well done,” she congratulated, although she sounded indifferent to their accomplishment, “I should apologise, the mistake of my own citizen turned what should have been a simple mission into a nightmare for you all.” “That doesn’t matter,” Dash said dismissively, “how’s Twilight?” “Your princess, will be fine,” she replied sharply, “she has been through a lot, as have you, I only saw to it that you were fit to use your element, but you are still in desperate need of medical attention. I will be teleporting us all back to Aquestria, as we are without transport.” Dash nodded reluctantly, she didn’t want to drop Twilight’s condition, but she figured it could at least wait until they were somewhere safe. Mare Equus raised her head, as her horn lit up, her face became strained. Dash knew from listening to Twilight that long distance teleporting was difficult enough let alone throwing in multiple ponies, even for alicorns. Soon however the spark ignited upon Mare Equus’s horn burst, and the world around then dissolved before snapping back into focus, except now they stood in a room that resembled Celestia’s throne room back in Canterlot Castle, the obvious difference being the pearl walls carved with white runes. “Twilight!” Dash exclaimed, as she saw her friend’s unconscious body lying almost peacefully a short distance from them. Rushing forward she dropped to her knees, Twilight was alive, that much was obvious, and Rainbow Dash was grateful for that much. Mare Equus stood over her, an almost sad expression as her eyes gazed upon Twilight. “I’ll place you under a sleep spell now,” she began, “and move you both to the medical centre.” Dash hesitated for only a second before nodding in acknowledgment. Applejack walked over to her and put a hoof on her shoulder. “Don’t worry RD, we’ll be right there watchin’ over yah the whole time,” she assured her, Dash appreciated the sentiment, “and besides, after closing that gate, we’ll have plenty of time to rest before the next crazy adventure.” Dash was about to respond but was interrupted by a loud belch behind them. They both turned their heads to see Spike standing along with the others, his eyes wide as they swept over the scroll that had just arrived. “Actually,” he said hesitantly, “we might not have that long to rest before the next crazy adventure.”
PowerlessThe world seemed held in a moment of perpetual silence as the first glimpses of sunlight broke the horizon, bathing the sprawling city of Canterlot in a warm glow. Throughout the majestic city, ponies of all ages and race began to stir from their peaceful slumbers, welcoming the glorious new dawn with a quick thank to Celestia. Very soon the cobblestone streets would be bustling with ponies on their way to work, the shops and offices would become a hive of activity, and everyone would be ecstatic at the prospect of embracing the new day. Well, almost everyone… Beyond the clustered city, stood the awesome sight, of Canterlot Castle. Truly a sight to behold with its smooth marble walls, its delicate towers and majestic spires. And high up in one of the numerous ivory towers, one that used to hold none other than the personal student of Princess Celestia herself, one individual was not happy to see the rays of light seeping through his window. “A thousand curses upon you Sol!” he spoke in a voice muffled by the pillow he clutched to his face in a vain attempt to stop the first light from penetrating his eyelids. While his method achieved its desired aim and blocked out all rays of natural light, it had the unfortunate side effect of making him too tense to get back to sleep. With a roar of frustration he tore the pillow from his face and launched it across the room, resigning himself to the disappointing fact he would not be sleeping in that morning. The figure lazily raised a bear paw and began to rub the sleep out of his mismatched eyes, muttering curses to Celestia and her entire family under his breath. As he did, he raised an eagle claw, snapping the talons and summoning the pillow he had just cast aside back into his grasp. With a single thought the pillow vanished in a flurry of gold light only to be replaced by a bright cone of cotton candy, upon which he began to munch. “’Make friends’ they said,” Discord whined between mouthfuls, putting on a nasally voice, “’your life will be better’ they said.” Before he knew it he was biting into thin air, the candy floss having been devoured too quickly for his enjoyment. He simply lay there, idly picking his teeth, staring at the ceiling. “How the mighty have fallen,” he spoke to the empty room, “once a god, a being unmatched by all… now Celestia’s faithful pooch. “And all because of the magic of friendship.” Discord raised his head and began slamming it back into the springy mattress, he did this for a few minutes, hoping it would alleviate his moody thoughts, but to no avail. It seemed he would have to resort to desperate measures. Wriggling his back he allowed his dragon tail to slither out from beneath him, and let it blindly roam over the bedside, searching for what he knew to be lying face down on the cabinet. As he felt his tail brush over it, he took hold of it in the hand like appendage adorning the tip of his tail and brought it over so he could see it. Held in front of him, was a cheap wooden frame that held something more valuable to him than all the gold in Canterlot Bank. The picture showed a butter yellow Pegasus, smiling politely from behind her long pink mane. Even in this picture Discord could see the timidness in her eyes. At her ankle sat a white rabbit wearing a clear frown on his face, clearly annoyed at having his picture taken, but Discord didn’t care, Angel wasn’t the one he stared at. Written in eloquent, yet delicate writing, were the words ‘Your friend, Fluttershy’. Discord sighed, placing the picture frame back on the bedside cabinet, making sure it was face down again. “How the mighty have fallen indeed,” he muttered to himself, all the steam built up in him a moment before suddenly gone. with that he rolled over, tucking his odd legs close to his chest and burying himself as close to the wall as possible, his face pressed into the mattress in another vain attempt at blocking out the light of the sun which by now was fully risen and beginning its long ascent into the sky, on this, the longest day of the year. Discord didn’t know how long he had lain there like that, it could have been minutes, it could have been hours, but the next thing he knew the ornate double doors to his room were creaking open, and he could hear hoofsteps making their slow deliberate way across the floor. He didn’t bother to roll over to see who it was, none of the servants or guards ever came here unless it was necessary, that could only leave few options. Sure enough the steps ceased and a tall shadow loomed over him, the long horn and impressive wingspan clearly featured on it. “Not now Celestia,” Discord moaned, still not looking around, “you had me up all night dealing with envoys, and I need my beauty sleep.” “Celestia?” a voice spoke, one that was undoubtedly not Celestia’s, “guess again, old friend.” Discord felt his heart stop dead in his chest, and ice seep through his veins. Not much could scare the spirit of chaos, but he knew that voice, and he had good reason to be afraid. In the blink of an eye he scrambled around and began backing up desperately against the wall, in a childish attempt to put as much distance between himself and the figure who now towered over him. “M-m-m’lady,” he stammered, unable to control the fear in his voice, “what a p-pleasant surprise, it’s been too long.” She didn’t respond at first, she merely narrowed her eyes, causing the draconequus to squirm further under her gaze. “Hasn’t it just,” she said at last, her voice calm and measured, “the last I heard you were still sealed in stone, following your initial failure.” “Well, hehe,” he began, forcing a nervous laugh, “guess it didn’t stick.” “Clearly,” she responded, not even trying to hide the distaste in her voice, “and now here you are, loyal to Celestia.” The last word came out as a hiss, causing Discord to gulp. “Loyal is a strong word,” he insisted, “I prefer to think of it as biding my time.” “Well then, I deem your time bidden long enough,” she said, the first smile creeping onto her face, that only worried Discord more, “I think it’s time we finished what we started, don’t you?” Discord didn't respond, all words stuck in his throat. The figure raised an eyebrow impatiently, forcing him to stammer out a response. “B-but what do expect m-me to do?” “Not much,” she admitted turning around and making for the door, “I have already set things in motion; you will have one part to play towards the end…” Suddenly she swished around fixing Discord with a stare that could kill dragons, “and you will play it, or need I remind you the cost of your disloyalty?” Discord hung his head, all fight drained in an instant. “No,” he whispered miserably. “Then we have an agreement,” she said marching from the room, her magical aura slamming the doors shut behind her. Discord lay motionless on the bed, staring blankly at the doors she had just left through. Slowly but steadily his heart rate was returning to normal, and he was beginning to take control of his breathing. For the second time that morning he was unsure how much time passed before he moved again, but when he did he reached out for the picture once again, staring glumly at the mare smiling back at him. “So much for reformed,” he muttered letting the picture clatter to the floor. Powerless “Feelin’ any better Sugarcube?” the orange mare asked, the concern on her face apparent, even with her Stetson covering half of it. “Much better,” Twilight Sparkle responded, although her voice was still a little shaky. Twilight made a mental note to thank Cadance for teaching her that relaxation technique. With her thoughts relatively calm and clear Twilight turned her attention to her surroundings which she had neglected during her recent panic attack. Applejack sat across from her, half sitting, half lounging on the seat she occupied. Across the aisle Rainbow Dash fidgeted impatiently, giving her cyan wings an occasional flex, while opposite her, Rarity with her pristine white coat and Fluttershy the butter yellow Pegasus sat discussing Rarity’s latest commission for another faceless member of the Canterlot gentry. Turning away from this, Twilight instead looked outside the window at the rolling landscape rushing past them. Taking the train to Canterlot had become such a regular thing for Twilight; she often neglected to notice just how stunning the view was. Equestria was spread out before her in all its glory, thickets of forest and clusters of mountains scattered over the landscape, and in the distance, Twilight could just about make out quaint town she now called home. “It’s been three years,” she said suddenly causing Applejack to stir from what she guessed was another attempt at catching some shut eye before their arrival. “What’s that Sugarcube?” she asked stifling a yawn. “I said it’s been three years since I moved to Ponyville,” she repeated looking back at the farmer, “It’s not that long when you really think about it, but I honestly can’t imagine a life outside it anymore. Applejack grinned, and Twilight noticed the other three had stopped what they were doing to listen in. “Well shucks Twi,” Applejack began sitting up straight, “if ah’m honest, ah can’t imagine life in Ponyville without you either.” “Yeah, you may be a total egghead,” not the most flattering thing you could have said Rainbow, “but in a good way, Ponyville would be so not awesome without you.” Rarity and Fluttershy nodded enthusiastically in agreement and Twilight blushed. “Are you ever worried you might get called back to Canterlot?” Fluttershy asked in a barely audible whisper. “Sometimes,” Twilight admitted, “but even if I was, I wouldn’t go.” “I suppose there’s really no risk of Princess Celestia forcing you to now,” Rarity commented, “you after all her equal now.” Twilight gave a nervous glance at her wings which gave an involuntary flutter. “Yeah… I’m a princess now…” “Now don’t go havin’ another freak out on us yah hear me,” Applejack said letting the panic in her voice rise. “Don’t worry,” Twilight assured them with a small blush of embarrassment, “I got all that out of my system.” “You really shouldn’t be worried Twilight darling,” Rarity consoled, “you’re about to take part in something ponies like us could only dream of.” “Yeah, can you imagine,” Rainbow said dramatically, “when you think meeting one, or even two princesses is awesome, you’re about to meet all of them at once. Now that, is, awesome.” “It’s exciting, sure,” Twilight said, not sounding convinced, “but I’ve only been a princess for a few months, what if I mess up? What if I start a war? What if…” All four of her friends shared exasperated looks and Applejack was about to speak up, when a pink blur sped through the train car, spinning uncontrollably into an unassuming Twilight. “Pinkie, what in Equestria was…” she began but was instantly cut off by the pink party pony who seemed more excited than usual, which was hard to tell as she was always excited. “Twilight, you gotta come see this!” Without waiting another second, Pinkie Pie sped off to the end of the train car and pressed her nose against one of the far windows, enthralled by something she could apparently see outside. casting a confused look at Rainbow Dash, who responded with the look known to all locals of Ponyville to mean ‘it’s just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie’, she then pulled herself up and made her way towards Pinkie who was trembling with excitement. Soon all five arrived at the window where Pinkie Pie and Twilight’s number one assistant, Spike the dragon sat staring out the window. Now thoroughly intrigued as to what could be going on Twilight opened the window with her magic and all seven peered out. There was a collective ‘wow’ as they all saw what Pinkie had been talking about. Canterlot Mountain stood tall in the distance, the city and castle perched precariously on the side, but for once there was a sight even more incredible than that. A plume of fire was streaked across the sky, trailing behind what looked at first to be a Pegasus drawn carriage, but upon further inspection Twilight saw there were no pegasi pulling it, the shining gold carriage was being propelled along by the flames spewing from behind it. But the most impressive part about this sight, was the figure who sat atop it. there was no doubt in any of their minds who this figure was, the red coat practically screamed royalty, the long elegant horn and the wings woven from tongues of flame were a dead give-away. “So that’s one of the princesses,” Twilight breathed, unable to tear her eyes away from the scarlet alicorn descending into Canterlot. “Twilight…” Rainbow Dash began in a distant voice. “Yeah?” Twilight replied not looking over. “How many princesses did you say there was going to be again?” “Well including myself, Celestia, Luna and Cadance,” Twilight thought back to her letter from Celestia for a moment, “thirteen.” There was a moment of awed silence broken only by Rainbow Dash. “So… awesome.” ~ Canterlot station would usually have been a central hub of activity this early in the morning; ponies from all over Equestria would pour in and out of the capital, thus making the train station one of the busiest places. Not today however, today was far too important, and with Equestria’s newest princess arriving by train it became a necessity to have the platform closed for the day so that royal guards may occupy it. And so as the Friendship Express came whistling and screeching to a halt, Twilight and her friends were greeted by a dozen guards waiting patiently in the otherwise deserted station. “Jeez, these stiffs again,” Dash scoffed flying ahead of the group, finally being allowed to stretch her wings after being cooped up for the entire journey. The guards eyed her suspiciously, but made no move to stop her. Once Twilight was in the midst of the guards the senior officer approached them, stopping to give her a salute before addressing her. “You highness,” he began in the generic clip one of the guards ponies; “transport is ready outside the station to take you and your escorts to the castle. We will have your luggage transported separately.” “Escorts!” Rarity muttered in outrage, Twilight scuffed the ground nervously, not sure if she should correct him or not. “Thank you captain,” she said instead. He saluted once more before standing at attention to the side allowing them to pass. Leaving their bags behind as instructed they made their way across the station, making for the unmanned ticket booth and the arch way leading to the streets of Canterlot. Rainbow Dash dropped down to glide alongside them and together all seven of them stepped out onto the street, with Twilight at the head of the pack. It seemed they had closed the whole street for her on top of everything else, Twilight would have been annoyed about this but she was too surprised by who stood outside the carriage waiting for them. She had expected more armoured guards, but the reality was so much better. “Cadance!” she exclaimed in delight rushing forward to her old foalsitter and sister in law, whose face broke out in a wide smile as she too sought to close the distance between them. “Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake.” They both broke out in a little fit of giggles upon finishing their greeting, before embracing each other warmly. “I missed you,” Twilight said as they parted from each other’s grasp. “It’s only been a few months,” Cadance argued, “but none the less I’ve missed you too.” As Cadance greeted the others, it was only then that Twilight realised she hadn’t been the only one waiting for them outside the train station. Standing a little back, as if unsure as to whether she was welcome to join in or not, stood a blue unicorn mare. At a glance she looked around the same age as Twilight and her friends, her eyes were a stunning violet and her magenta mane was tied up in a long plat. “Oh, where are my manners,” Cadance said, looking apologetically at the mare, “Twilight you remember my sister, Clarity.” “Clarity!” Twilight exclaimed in surprise, the name rung true in her mind, she knew she recognised the mare from somewhere, but she could never have guessed. “Hey Twilight, I-I mean Princess Twilight,” she stammered giving an awkward bow. “Clarity it’s okay,” Twilight assured her, Clarity stood up gratefully. “I hope you’re all looking forward to your stay,” Cadance said addressing the group, “I’d love to take more time for you all, but I’m afraid the summit must be underway soon, and it can’t start when two princesses are catching up on the streets of Canterlot.” Twilight gave a sheepish grin in response and Cadance invited them all to mount the carriage. Once they were all comfortable Cadance gave a nod to the two stallions hitched up at the front and they immediately began to pull them along. “So you are the princess’s sister,” Rarity said breaking the silence, “charmed to make your acquaintance, I am Rarity.” “Clarity, and really it’s an honour to meet you, all of you.” Applejack and Rarity exchanged a surprised look, Twilight smiled to herself, she could already tell they were all going to get along, and as they chatted away she looked out the window to see the castle looming ever closer. ~ The trumpet blasted across the palace courtyard in typical regal fashion as the carriage swung through the high arch. “Princess Twilight Sparkle!” a magically amplified voice boomed, signally for all the guards present to stand to attention. the carriage slowed to a stop, the door swung open and to the baited breaths of all present, both dignitaries and guards ponies, the lavender alicorn dismounted, her only symbol of office being the delicate crown upon her head, adorned with the pink gemstone in the shape of her cutie mark. As all members of the party stepped off the coach a single figure rushed forward from the crowd, the sweat prominent on his brow, and a pocket watch held in silver aura in front of him. “Your highnesses,” he said breathlessly, giving a quick bow to Twilight and Cadance, “the summit will be taking place momentarily.” “Of course, thank you Pen Pusher,” Cadance replied warmly before turning to the assembled ponies, “Twilight and I must be off, business comes first and all that, we will catch up more this evening at dinner.” “Wait a sec,” Rainbow butted in, “we’re coming too right?” “I’m sorry Rainbow Dash,” Cadance said hesitantly, “but only princesses are permitted to be in the assembly hall during the summit.” “So we came all this way and we don’t even get to meet these princesses,” Rainbow huffed, kicking at the ground in frustration. “Sorry Rainbow Dash,” Twilight began before noticing the steward looking at his pocket watch impatiently, “look we really have to go…” “Yeah, yeah,” Rainbow said dismissively fluttering away. “Don’t you fret about her none Sugarcube,” Applejack assured Twilight, “now you run on ahead, don’t wanna keep all them important ponies waitin’ do yah?” Twilight smiled appreciatively and after a quick farewell to the others, she and Cadance ascended the courtyard stairs, making their way into the castle. “I must say Twilight,” Cadance began suddenly as they marched swiftly through the corridors, “I expected you to be a ticking time bomb of nerves at the prospect of your first royal summit.” Twilight laughed and scratched her head awkwardly, “well… I got it all out of my system during the train ride here. Thanks again for teaching me that calming technique.” “Not at all,” Cadance replied with a laugh, “it’s funny; Celestia actually taught me that before my first summit. I had this crazy idea I was going to do something stupid like start a war.” Twilight laughed, but looked away in order to hide the blush of embarrassment creeping into her cheeks. “The important thing to remember,” Cadance continued, seemingly not noticing Twilight’s reaction, “Is that we’re all on the same side, even though we rule all over the world, our job is to maintain harmony for all.” “Just out of interest, what do I do?” Twilight asked, it was only now that they were making the final leg of their journey that it dawned on Twilight how little of her studies looked into international affairs. “Well you’re part of the Triumvirate, so you won’t be expected to put forward any of your own points.” “That’s good, I… wait, the Tri-what?” Twilight stopped dead, she had never heard of this, but Cadance didn’t seem surprised by her confusion. “The Triumvirate,” she repeated, “while there is one princess representative I each of the foreign continents, Equestria, as the centre of pony kind, must always be ruled by three princess. “Until recently, it was comprised of Celestia, Luna and I,” she continued, “but as you know, the re-emergence of the Crystal Empire required one of us to take a new title. It was actually for that very reason that it became even more crucial that you ascend to princess hood as quickly as possible so that the Triumvirate could be maintained.” Twilight nodded eagerly, she loved to learn new things, and this was simply baiting her desire for knowledge, what more was there to Equestrian politics that she had yet to discover? “Alright, this is where we separate,” Cadance announced, cutting off Twilight’s train of thought. “Wait, what?” “I have to get to my own chamber,” she explained, “but Celestia and Luna are waiting for you at the end of this hallway.” Twilight nodded, still unsure what she meant by 'her own chamber'. “Don’t dawdle,” Cadance called back, taking a different route, “the summit is due to start any minute now.” Twilight was suddenly filled with new panic, and forgetting all semblance of grace, she galloped madly down the corridor, praying she wasn’t too late. Celestia and Luna stopped their conversation as they saw her approaching, they looked both surprised and greatly amused to see her so breathless as she came to a shuddering stop in front of them. “I-I’m… here!” Twilight spluttered between breathes. Celestia and Luna took one look at each other before bursting into raucous laughter. “Did Cadance tell you, you were going to be late?” Celesta asked, being the first to stop laughing at Twilight’s expense. Twilight stared at her as the gears clicked into place in her head. “Twilight, the summit cannot start until we’re all present, technically there is no ‘being late’.” Twilight suppressed a groan, pulling herself up to her full height, although she was still dwarfed by Celestia. “Shall we proceed?” Luna inquired, whipping a stray tear from the corner of her eye. “I think so,” Celestia responded, turning to face the doors her and Luna had been waiting at, which she gripped in a gold aura and swung open. ~ The others watched, almost sullenly, as Twilight and Cadance departed. None of them could deny it was a little annoying they wouldn’t get to meet these new princesses, but they were Twilight’s friends, and even Rainbow Dash couldn’t be angry at her for the privileges that came with her new position. “So Clarity,” Rarity said, breaking the uncomfortable silence, “have you and Twilight known each other long?” “Oh, well actually we hardly knew each other,” Clarity admitted as they began walking aimlessly through the courtyard, unsure where they could or couldn’t go, “we saw each other a bit, sometimes Cadance would foal sit us both, but mostly we kept to ourselves. It’s no secret Twilight had no interest in making friends when I knew her, and even when we were in Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns we were studying completely different fields of magic.” “You went to Celestia’s school?” Fluttershy asked in quiet awe. “Yeah, I mean I was never at the same level as Twilight,” she replied, “truth be told I’m actually pretty mediocre when it comes to magic, but I have a specialty for emotion based magic.” Clarity gestured at her cutie mark, a sapphire outline of a heart. “Must run in the family,” Applejack commented. “Not exactly, while Cadance is centred around creating love, I have more variety.” Rainbow Dash who had joined them during the conversation, picked up on the subtle smugness in Clarity’s voice, she was an expert in being smug after all. “Excuse me ladies,” a voice spoke behind them. They turned to see the stallion who had addressed Cadance when they first arrived at the palace, Pen Pusher was it? “Yes?” Rarity asked politely. “Would you care to come inside and get something to eat?” he asked unsure. It was only then they realised walking around the courtyard aimlessly was probably a peculiar way to pass the time. “That would be mighty appreciated” Applejack said taking the lead. The group followed Pen Pusher into one of the many rooms leading away from the courtyard, still talking among themselves. “So how long are you staying?” Pen Pusher asked over his shoulder, interrupting their latest conversation about the Crystal Empire. “We’re not rightly sure,” Applejack replied glancing around at the others for confirmation, “we only need to be here for this summit, after that we were just lookin’ to get a break.” “Maybe if you find yourselves with some free time, we can have ourselves a little fun?” Pen Pusher suggested, a smile creeping into his voice. The six ponies and dragon stopped dead in their tracks. Pen Pusher turned to face them, his eyes bright yellow and sizes too big. “Did I come on a bit too strong?” an all too familiar voice asked from Pen Pusher’s mouth. With a flash of light leaving the assembled ponies blinking in confusion, the stallion was replaced by the distinctive form of Discord. “Discord!” Fluttershy cried out, speeding in for an embrace, ignoring the groans of frustration from all the others except Clarity, who was just confused by both the sudden reveal and Fluttershy’s sudden change in demeanour. “What? Aren’t you happy to see me?” Discord addressed the others in a mock hurt voice. “Well as long as you don’t play any of your mean pranks, then we’ll get along like ice cream and apple pie, okie dokie lokie?” Pinkie said bouncing up to meet his eye. “You can’t be serious Pinkie,” Discord replied, sounding genuinely surprised, “I thought you liked a good prank.” Pinkie Pie held her glare, before breaking into a wide grin and giving Discord a wink. “Bazinga,” she exclaimed, “course I do, good to see you again Disco.” Discord raised an eyebrow at this latest nickname, before giving a good natured smile. “And that Pinkie, is why you’re my favourite,” he said before seeming to remember something, “next to Fluttershy of course.” “Oh that’s alright Discord,” Fluttershy insisted still fluttering next to him, “I know you and Pinkie have so much more in common.” “What about the rest of you? Aren’t you going to give your favourite god of chaos a hug?” “Ah’m not gonna credit that with a response,” Applejack said in a deadpan tone. “Yeah, ignoring the fact the last time we met, you poured hot gravy on my… lap,” Rainbow said sourly flying up to join Fluttershy and Pinkie who was somehow still hanging in the air, “what have you been up to Dipcord?” “At least that nickname has a finer ring to it,” Discord scoffed, “I’ll have you know it’s Lord Dipcord now, whatever grand purpose Celestia had planned following my reformation, she has so far omitted to put into action, so instead she’s had me running royal errands like her personal steward.” “Well if you don’t enjoy it, we can always give you a nice long vacation in the sculpture gardens,” Rarity said icily. “Oh, somepony get me some Aloe Vera, I just got burned,” Discord said as small fires broke out over his body, extinguishing almost immediately. “Anyway, I’d stay and chat, or continue this game of insult ping pong, but believe it or not I actually have responsibilities which require my attention. “Oh that’s alright, we’ll catch up later,” Fluttershy said, receiving a small smile from the draconequus’s lips. “The kitchens are just down this way,” he said gesturing down the corridor he led them into, “help yourselves, however now, I bid you adieu.” With a small bow a puff of smoke he vanished from sight. The group began walking in the direction indicated by Discord in silence, only broken by Clarity. “Does somepony want to fill me in?” “Let’s get some food first,” Spike said, speaking for the first time since they’d arrived at the castle, “it’s a long story.” What none of them saw as they entered through the kitchen doors, was Discord rematerialize in the exact spot he had apparently disappeared from, and the grimace he wore on his face. ~ “Get your flanks in gear!” the voice bellowed across the courtyard. Its recipients were not pleased to be receiving less than motivating comments from their ex-captain of the guard, Shining Armour. “Apologies sir,” one soldier said through gritted teeth, “but what exactly did your sister’s friends pack?” “For the love of…” Shining muttered to himself, traipsing down the stone steps to the three breathless guards. “Do you three mean to tell me, that after years of rigorous training, you’re struggling to carry a filly’s travel luggage?” he asked rhetorically. “You’re welcome to show off your strength sir,” one spat back. Shining had to bit back his retort; these soldiers wouldn’t have dared talk back to him when he was still their commanding officer. “Fine, since you’re clearly struggling so much,” he said pushing one of the guards aside and leaning down to grip the suitcase handle in his mouth. Holy Celestia that is heavy! After lifting the bag an inch off the ground, Shining Armour let it fall, swearing profusely. After an embarrassing moment of silence he looked up to see the self-satisfied smirks of the three guards he had only moments before chastised for doing the exact same thing, he was never going to hear the end of this. “Get those bags open,” he ordered, “there is no way they should be so heavy.” It seemed the guards were just as eager to find out the contents as he was because they didn’t argue, just dove right in. one, two, three bags were pulled open, and out leapt one, two, three fillies. “Are we in?” the yellow earth pony asked scanning around before gulping when she saw they were surrounded by guards. “Does this look like the castle to you?” the orange Pegasus snapped back, unperturbed by their current predicament. “At the very least did we get our infiltration cutie marks?” the white unicorn asked, at once all three fillies twisted their bodies and stared at their still blank flanks before slumping dejectedly. “Ah reckon it woulda’ worked, if Twilight’s brother hadn’t caught us.” At that the three guards ceased to stare in confusion at the fillies and instead directed their attention to Shining Armour, who was resisting the urge to face hoof. “Do you know these fillies sir?” one asked, Shining nodded. “Unfortunately,” he admitted, “I’ll take them from here, you go on and get the rest of the bags.” It wasn’t a matter for discussion and the guards knew it, they marched away whispering among themselves. “Girls,” Shining began. “Maybe we should just go back to the drawing board,” Sweetie Belle suggested. “Girls,” Shining repeated. “But we already tried to get artist cutie marks,” Scootaloo retorted. “Girls,” he tried one more time, feeling thoroughly frustrated by this point. “That’s not what she meant yah dodo,” Applebloom snapped back. “Girls!” All three heads snapped around as Shining Armour finally lost his temper. “Forgetting the fact it’s an offence to sneak inside the royal palace, can I ask what you three trouble makers are doing here?” “We wanted to tag along with our sisters but they wouldn’t let us,” Applebloom replied, as if this was perfect justification. “You won’t tell them will you?” Sweetie Belle begged, but she knew he wasn’t the type to let up. “I’m sorry girls,” he said, though he wasn’t, “maybe you can get your cutie marks in seeking forgiveness from your sisters.” “Fat chance,” Scootaloo said, “do you know how many times we’ve tried that one.” “I can guess,” he replied sternly, “now come on, you don’t want to be caught trespassing on today of all days.” “Why what’s going on today of all days?” Sweetie Belle asked as he began leading them away. “You don’t know?” he asked surprised, “today is the annual royal summit, the longest day of the year, the day all princesses are in Canterlot at once.” “All the princesses?” Applebloom questioned. “There’s more than…” Sweetie Belle thought for a moment, “three?” “Four Sweetie, Twi remember,” Applebloom reminded her. Shining Armour smiled, “more than four, you bet there are.” ~ The assembly hall was a sight to behold, like all rooms of the castle, it had a high vaulted ceiling, and white marble pillars lined the wall. The room was circular, what had Ms Peachbottom called it, a rotunda? And now Twilight stood with Celestia and Luna on a platform jutting from the wall. The highest platform in fact, all around the room there were ten more platforms lining the wall, each in descending height. The room was empty besides the three of them, but Celestia and Luna stood as if they were addressing a crowd of thousands. Twilight didn’t have long to ponder this however as Celestia spoke up, addressing the empty room. “I Celestia, Princess of the sun and head of the Triumvirate of Equestria call this, the Royal Summit of 1313 to order.” Twilight glanced at Luna whose eyes were fixed forward and quickly did the same. “Step fourth, Cadance, princess of love and ruler of the Crystal Empire.” As she spoke, the door to the first platform, situated right of Twilight’s platform swung open, and Cadance strode forward, holding herself more regally than Twilight had ever seen. “Step fourth,” here we go, Twilight thought as Celestia began to introduce the next princess, “Luonto, Princess of nature and ruler of Gallopolli.” The doors to the platform right of Cadance, and in strode the most stunning sight Twilight had ever seen. The Alicorn that glide forward bore a strong resemblance to Celestia, except that the few parts of her coat that were visible to Twilight were various shades of green, those parts she could not see were due to her being heavily adorned with all manners of plant life, ivy, flowers, fungi. Her hair appeared to be formed from clusters of leaves, varying from spring green closer to her body, all the way to autumn shades further out. To top off the image she was surrounded in various small birds and insects taking pleasure from her peculiar method of dress. She seemed to be the visage of life itself. Twilight realised she was staring and quickly switched her gaze to the next platform as Celestia began to introduce the next princess. “Step fourth, Somnium, princess of dreams and ruler of the Dream Cluster.” again the doors opened but this time the figure fluttered in on delicate wings, only her polite smile visible through the purple mane that was draped over her face, littered with twinkling star like lights. Twilight was immediately reminded of Fluttershy from her demeanour, a notion that was quickly forgotten about as she took in Somnium’s intriguing coat which looked to be a mesmerizing blend of sandy texture. Somnium’s only attire appeared to be a golden necklace with a pink gem inset in the front. As Somnium stood on her platform Twilight noticed her eyes were closed, had she kept them shut on her way in? Twilight wasn’t sure. “Step fourth, Roma, princess of order and ruler of Panchea.” the next doors opened and a stone grey alicorn marched out, almost in military fashion, unlike those who had come before her, she spared no expense in dressing for the occasion, but rather than wearing something regal she was suited up in full silver armour with bronze trimmings, with a helmet to top off the military appearance. “Step fourth, Mare Equus, princess of water and ruler of Aquestria.” Twilight stifled a giggle at the pun as the next princess stepped out onto her platform. Her coat was a deep blue and like Roma she was wearing a little armour, although hers looked far more decorative, adorned with sapphires as well as the tiara sitting atop her head. It was however her physical appearance that took Twilight most by surprised. Unlike the regular horn type all other princesses in the room were sporting, hers was coiled, resembling a sea shell. Her mane, like Celestia’s seemed to reflect her element and consisted of a spout of bubbles. Her wings reminded Twilight at first of insect wings, but their orange colour gave them away as fins. Lastly what Twilight original thought was a regular coat, consisted of bright blue fish scales, plastered in various sea life in some areas. “Step fourth, Ignis, princess of fire and ruler of the Badlands.” The doors opened to reveal a figure Twilight had already seen briefly, one that appeared far more awesome up close. The blood red coat was clear, as was her billowing tail, mane and wings of flame. She was lightly accessorised with some gold features which didn’t suit her. Finally Twilight noticed her eyes, the only part of her she hadn’t been able to pick up from her initial view from the train. They didn’t seem to be eyes at all, rather deep, raging infernos. “Step forward, Caelum, princess of the sky and ruler of Whinnypeg.” To say the figure walked in would have been an understatement, sauntered was a more appropriate term. Twilight didn’t want to immediately think of Rainbow Dash when she saw this princess, but the pale blue coat and the fact she was constantly flexing her wings wasn’t helping. Now that Twilight looked closer, she saw her coat appeared to be moving, Twilight let out a little gasp when she realised there were wispy clouds moving across her sky blue body, even her deep blue hair had little shocks of lightning passing through it. Other than that she seemed to be wearing a golden wreath of laurels, a long white scarf flowing out behind her and winged boots of all things. “Step forward, Clover,” Wait, Clover? “Princess of time and ruler of Damarescus.” Twilight’s jaw dropped open as the next figure ambled in, slower than the rest. The historical records told of her yellowish green coat and dark purple mane, which was hard to identify when her head was shrouded by a leather hood and parts of her admittedly purple tail were streaked with grey. And her coat was indeed a light green, but some parts looked old… fossilised? The princess of time… am I really looking at ‘the’ Clover the Clever? “Step forward, Vegnum, princess of technology and ruler of Metropolis.” “Princess of what now?” Twilight asked before she could stop herself, earning her a glare from Celestia. What stepped through the doors to the second last platform was like nothing Twilight had ever seen. Her brown wings were folded tightly to her sides, as if she didn’t want them to be seen, aided by the fact they were barely visible behind two barrel looking objects strapped to her sides, this would have seemed odd, but taking the rest of her into account, it seemed positively cliché. Her hooves clopped across the platform louder than normal hooves would. This was because they were each dressed in… armoured gauntlets? Certainly no armour Twilight had ever seen before. Oh but it gets weirder, Twilight noticed she couldn’t see either her mane or tail, and why? Because where the top half of her skull and rump should be, were instead replaced by metal domes, bolted into place! Her eyes were completely hidden from view by a pair of thick brass goggles. And to just hammer home how weird this princess was, strapped to her back was some kind of device spouting four metallic tentacles, each tipped with a large claw made up of four twitching appendages. “Now I’ve seen everything,” Twilight whispered to herself. “And lastly,” Celestia said causing Twilight to hold her breath again; ten platforms were now occupied; only the one to the left of their platform remained empty. “Step forward, Inen, princess of death.” The temperature in the room seemed to drop like an anvil as the last doors opened. Twilight felt her breath stick in her throat as the last figure stepped into the room. There was little of the actual alicorn for Twilight to make out, as about ninety nine percent was shrouded in a rippling black cloak, frayed and shredded around the edges. The only part Twilight could see was the long horn, and the white muzzle, not the soft warm white that was Celestia, but a cold, empty white. The princess of death… or death itself? “Now we are all present,” Celestia said dragging Twilight away from her thoughts, “let us begin.” ~ Feather Duster was sprinting as fast as he could, he loathed now more than ever how these caverns sapped his natural Pegasus magic, this was an emergency. He knew he was about to do something that’s never been done before, not in the entire history of Equestria, nopony dared to interrupt the royal summit, the shear notion would be worthy of execution. But Feather Duster couldn’t let that stop him, something terrible had just happened, and Celestia had to know. If it was left any longer, it may be too late. ~ “Don’t interrupt me when ah’m tellin’ you off little missy,” Applejack commanded, Applebloom hung her head in disappointment. They three fillies were now in one of the many dining rooms of the castle, where Shining Armour had found their sisters and the rest of Twilight’s friends. Said stallion was now talking with Clarity, whom it turned out he knew quite well being her brother in law and all that. “We are most displeased with you three,” Rarity chipped, aiming her words particularly at Sweetie Belle. “You can believe there’s gonna be hay to pay when we get back ta the farm,” Applejack threatened; again the three fillies opened their mouths to argue but were interrupted by Rainbow Dash of all ponies. “Give ‘em a break AJ,” she said earning her a side long glare from the farm pony, “you too Rare, give the kids some credit for sneaking into the castle of all places.” Scootaloo beamed up at her idle who gave her an encouraging wink. “We are not gonna encourage this kinda behaviour Dash,” Applejack retorted, “and if you really plan to be an older sister to that little filly you’re gonna have to start takin’ some responsibility.” “Forget that,” Dash said fluttering over to the fillies side, “besides, they’re here now, might as well let them get some grub.” “Thanks Rainbow Dash, you’re the best,” Scootaloo said staring up at the older Pegasus in awe before running off to the table to grab some food. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle stared after her but remaining rooted to the spot. “Ugh, fine,” Applejack relented, “you run on Applebloom, but rest assured we’ll be speakin’ about this later yah hear.” “You too Sweetie Belle,” Rarity conceded as Applebloom ran off gleefully. When all three fillies sat together at the table and were busy interrogating Clarity about her cutie mark, the two older sisters turned their glares on Rainbow Dash. “What?” she said defensively. “Are you serious about takin’ that girl under your wing RD?” Applejack whispered. “Course I am, Scootaloo’s a cool girl,” Dash replied with conviction. “Then it’s about time you learned to look out for her best interests,” Rarity snapped, “You owe her the role model she desperately needs." Rainbow opened her mouth but found she had no words to retort with. Grunting dismissively she flew over to Pinkie Pie who was in the middle of setting up some kind of complicated breakfast eating contraption. ~ “I think you’re missing the point of our current relationship with the Griffin empire,” Twilight insisted, barely even aware that she was outright arguing with the very princess of said kingdom, “we don’t want to assert our dominance over them, we have to show that we’re ready to accept them as equals, if we don’t were doomed to have a repeat of the great Griffin War of 668.” Celestia smiled proudly at Twilight, she was taking to her new position with extreme comfort, her vast collection of knowledge and skills at debating aiding her greatly. One or two of the other princess nodded sagely in response to her words, but Caelum just looked more irritated at her comeback. “what you’re forgetting is that these are Griffins we’re talking about,” she snapped back, clearly not a fan of having her views debated against, “they respect actions of intimation, I obviously don’t believe ponies have higher status than Griffins, but if we’re to maintain our standing with them we need to prove to them we’re just as strong a race as they are. Of course I wouldn’t expect someone like you to understand that.” “Caelum don’t be mean,” Somnium said gently, “she has a good point, it may be time for a different direction.” Caelum just sighed in frustration, but Somnium wasn’t done, she then turned to Twilight. “While I agree with your suggestions, you should keep in mind that Caelum has been living among the Griffins for over six hundred years, she does have expertise we don’t.” Twilight felt a pang of guilt, “you’re right, I’m sorry Caelum, I didn’t mean to undermine you.” Caelum tried to hide her embarrassed smirk. “No worries newbie,” she said merely offering a glance up at Twilight, “I’ll look into what you proposed, but I can’t promise anything.” “Excellent,” Celestia said, delighted the situation hadn’t escalated, “next order of business, Mare Equus, you are proposing an extension of your kingdom.” “Not an extension per say,” the water princess corrected, “think of it more like, colonising the sea. It’s just difficult to maintain rule over the whole ocean from a single location.” “Was this issue not brought up at the turn of the century?” Luonto asked. “Yes,” Mare Equus admitted, “but at the time it was rejected due to a lack of unicorns trained in water based magic. But over the years our academy has produced times the amount of specialists and I believe now we have the necessary components to proceed.” A collection of documents were held in a liquid aura and floated across the room for Celestia to inspect. “This is certainly an improvement,” she agreed, “I would have no objections.” In her own gold aura she passed the papers over to Luna who briefly scanned them. “I concur,” she said simply passing the notes to Twilight. Twilight held them in front of her in her own purple field of magic, she was unsure how the princesses had taken in everything after a mere glance, there was so many statistics presented, Twilight would need an entire day to fully analyse the contents. However before she could point this out, another set of doors leading to the room burst open. These ones opened onto the ground level and in sped a Pegasus in royal guard attire. All around the room there was an appalled collection of gasps; Twilight wondered how a messenger could cause such a reaction from a room of centuries old deities. “What is the meaning of this intrusion?” Luna demanded, fighting the urge to call upon the royal Canterlot voice. “A thousand apologies your graces,” the Pegasus said hurriedly, bowing as low as he could, “but something terrible has happened and it requires your immediate attention.” This last comment was directed at Celestia, a look a worry was creeping into her face. “Rise,” she commanded, her voice remaining neutral, “what has occurred.” “The vault has been broken into,” the guard cried, a look of sheer terror on his face. “The tower vault, an inconvenience certainly but by no means would it warrant interrupting the royal summit.” “N-no you grace,” he stammered, “not the tower vault… the deep vault.” The effect those words had on Celestia sent a shiver up Twilight’s spine. Never before had she seen the princess look so terrified, and she didn’t want to see it, because it could only mean something truly awful. “No it can’t be, tell me it has not been taken,” Celestia asked in a panicked voice. “I’m afraid so,” the guard confirmed miserably. These words had yet another profound effect on the gathered princess, primarily shock and indignation. “Impossible!” Clover exclaimed. “What fool would dare steal such an item with all the princesses gathered in the one place?” Roma asked incredulously. “Celestia, what are your orders?” Ignis asked, seeming to forget that they were all on equal status as Celestia. Celestia’s head swept across the room, “I apologies for the interruption but something catastrophic has just occurred, I must ask that you all retire to quarters, I fear whatever has come to pass may require all our efforts.” “What!” exclaimed a voice; Twilight was surprised to see it was Somnium of all the ponies gathered. “But Celestia, our lands need us; we can’t stay any longer than necessary!” “I’m sorry Somnium,” Celestia said, looking genuinely apologetic, “but this is too important, your citizens will have to hold out for a little longer without you.” Somnium nodded sadly before turning to leave, the other princesses began following suit as Celestia turned to Twilight and Luna. “There is no time to lose,” she said simply before darting from the room, her wings spread to give her a speed boost. Luna followed instantly, leaving only Twilight to stand blinking in confusion at everything that had just occurred. “TWILIGHT!” Luna bellowed down the corridor shaking her out of her thoughts. Spreading her own wings she sped after the other two. ~ “No, no, no, no, this can’t be happening,” Celestia was pacing back and forth. Twilight had never even heard of the deep vault let alone been there before, but she recognised the route to get there only too well, having been imprisoned in it by a changeling impersonating her foal sitter. The vault itself seemed to be crafted from the igneous rock of the Canterlot Mountain itself, a divine structure built with magic properties in mind, Twilight could feel the immense number of protection spells this place was imbued with, and she wondered what it could all have been made to protect. “Sister, we cannot afford to panic now!” Luna chastised storming up to the panicking Celestia, Twilight was afraid she was going to slap her but she refrained. “We need a plan of action right now!” “Of course, thank you Luna,” Celestia said, embarrassed with herself, Twilight couldn’t help but notice the similarities Celestia had displayed to herself. “Celestia, what exactly was stolen?” she asked, earning a surprised look from both the sisters. “The key,” they almost breathed. “A key?” Twilight repeated. “No, not ‘a’ key, ‘the’ key,” Luna corrected. “The Aether Key,” Celestia added in a hushed tone. “The Aether?” “Twilight, do you ever wonder where magic comes from?” Celestia asked, her voice returning to a copy of its old tone. “Magic is all around us surely,” Twilight countered, it was what Celestia had always taught her. “Yes, and no,” Celestia admitted. “You see Twilight,” Luna chipped in, “the world we live in, everything you know is all part of the physical world, but there is another realm, one of pure magic that exists in tandem with this one.” “Magic is technically all around us as the two worlds are interwoven,” Celestia continued, “We use magic by drawing on it from this other world using our horns. This world is known as the Aether.” “And this key, opens a door to the Aether?” Twilight hypothesised. “Not exactly,” Luna said, “you see, while our worlds remain constantly close to one another, they are separated by a veil, one that keeps all physical matter on one side, and most magical energy on the other.” “But there are some areas where this veil is thinner than normal,” Celestia said, “we think of these areas as gates, the key has only one use, and that is to tear the veil open at these areas.” “And what happens if the veil is torn apart?” Twilight asked, although she already knew the answer. “There will be nothing to stop all that infinite magic from pouring into this world,” Celestia replied, “and just like if you channel too much magical energy, there won’t be a physical thing that would survive the exposure.” “But who would steal something that could do that? Who could steal that?” Twilight asked, the panic entering her voice too now. “Alas, that is the worst part dear Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said sadly. “This vault was created with an extreme amount of protection; no doubt you can feel a small fraction of it.” Twilight nodded in response to Celestia, “it is, literally, impossible for any being to break into this vault… however every rule has an exception, and in this case there are only thirteen exceptions in all of existence, and they are all gathered in this castle.” “You don’t mean…” Twilight began, the sisters nodded. “One of the princesses stole the Aether Key. One of the princesses is a traitor.” ~ “Um, Shining,” Applejack began as they strode swiftly down the corridor, “do you maybe wanna fill us in on what the heck’s goin on, just telling us there’s an emergency isn’t much to go on.” “Yeah, I mean we’re the elements of harmony,” Rainbow Dash concurred flying up next to them, “we kind of make a business of dealing with disasters.” “I would tell you but even I don’t know the full story,” he admitted, still remaining focused on their destination, “but when Celestia sounds scared you know it’s no trifling matter.” With the three ponies in the lead, Rarity, Fluttershy, Clarity, Pinkie Pie and Spike followed a few feet behind, occasionally sharing worried looks. “Cheer up everypony,” Pinkie said in her usual chipper voice, “I bet they’re just preparing a surprise ‘just kidding you can actually meet the princesses’ party.” “Now that you mention that,” Shining began as the doors to the assembly hall came into view, “a number of the princesses were supposed to leave immediately after the summit, but they had their transport cancelled.” “And that’s a bad thing ah take it?” Applejack enquired. “I don’t know what it means,” Shining admitted as they passed through the double doors. The ponies took a moment to admire the tall, circular room with its numerous platforms lining the wall before turning their attention to the group gathered in the middle of the room. “Thank you for coming so promptly,” Celestia said as they reached the group, “there’s no time to lose.” “Long story short, a high security vault was broken into and perhaps the most destructive artefact in all of Equestria, neigh, the whole world has been stolen.” The ponies began to ask a series of questions but were immediately cut off by Luna who wasn’t done talking. “To top it off, the only individuals capable of committing this crime are the princesses themselves.” “Our investigation, although rushed has confirmed that the vault was broken into shortly before the summit began,” Celestia continued, “I was with Luna the entire morning, so we can vouch for one another, and of course Cadance was out of the castle to greet Twilight who hadn’t yet arrived. Hence we can rule us out as suspects.” That explained why they were the only four gathered when they arrived, but then where were the others? “We have asked the other princesses remain in their quarters until further notice, this is where you all come in.” The group all stared at Celestia, unsure if they liked where this conversation was going. “Excuse me princess,” Fluttershy began, “but if somepony- I mean, some princess really did steal this, uh…” “Key.” “Key, then why would they admit it to us?” “Unfortunately they probably won’t,” Celestia admitted, “we’re clutching at straws here I know, but anyone who could have carried out this act will clearly be prepared for every inevitability. This is crude and desperate, but at the moment it’s all we’ve got.” “So you want us to interrogate princesses on whether they stole a key of mass destruction?” Rainbow summed up, with a hesitant nod of confirmation from Celestia and Luna, she swooped into the air, clearly ecstatic at the prospect. “Sweet, consider it done.” With that she zoomed out from the room, leaving the rest to sigh frustrated in her wake. “No time like the present to carry out an insane plan that's doomed to fail,” Spike muttered as one by one they left the room. “Celestia, is there really no better way?” Cadance asked, being the last in the room with her husband and the sisters. “I’m afraid not,” she replied shaking her head, “our only hope is to lure her out into the open, and I can think of few other ponies more qualified to cause the necessary ruckus.” As the final occupants of the room departed, three fillies tumbled out of their hiding spot behind one of the marble pillars. “Did y’all hear that?” Applebloom asked, “one of them princesses is a no good thief.” “They said those four are innocent, but that leaves nine suspects,” Sweetie Belle pointed out, “can they handle that many?” They sat in silence for a moment before a unanimous light bulb seemed to light up over all their heads. “Are you girls thinking what I’m thinking?” Scootaloo asked with a wide grin. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADER PRINCESS INTEROGATORS! YAY!!!” ~ “That sounds pretty bad,” Spike had said as Twilight began to explain the entire situation to him. “That sounds really bad,” he had said as she continued to explain. “That sounds terrible,” he said as they arrived at their own room and Twilight had finished telling him her account of the situation. “But who would want to do that, what do you accomplish from destroying everything?” “It doesn’t make any sense to me either Spike,” Twilight said removing her crown, “I can only assume they plan to use it as a fear weapon.” Using her magic she lifted the gem encrusted box from her pack and placed it on the table. “And you think the elements will help?” “Actually I don’t, not without knowing what we’re up against,” Twilight informed him, “but if someone is stealing powerful artefacts they might have their eye on these, and I don’t want my friends in the line of fire.” Placing the crown inside along with the other elements, she resealed it and began casting as many protection spells as she knew, although she was aware that this thief had broken through every protection ever developed in order to steal the key, making this effort rather fruitless. “If Tartarus really breaks loose,” she said sliding the box under her bed, “I want you to come straight here and get these.” “You can count on me,” he said giving a small salute before clambering onto her back at her invite, “so where to now?” “We have to speak to the princesses,” Twilight said as they left the room at a swift but not undignified pace, “and I know who I want to start with.” “You have a suspect?” “No, I have nothing to base any suspicion on, I just want to talk to her,” Twilight responded as she weaved through the corridors. She knew the castle well, and she knew where all the most dignified suites were situated, and being the studious princess she was, she had taken note of the directions the other princesses had taken as they left. Arriving at her destination she could only pray she was right in her deductions. She raised a hoof and knocked confidently. “Enter,” a neutral voice called out. Twilight opened the door with her magic and stepped forward, her eyes sweeping the room. She found her quarry sitting at a writing desk, a large tome lying open in front of her. She didn’t look up as she greeted them. “Greetings Twilight Sparkle,” she said, her voice retaining its neutrality, “and same to your companion.” “Sorry for disturbing you Clover,” Twilight said giving a polite bow, “but I was hoping you had time to talk.” “We’re alicorns, we have vast amounts of time to spare,” she said finally turning around in her seat. Twilight could still not see her eyes, which remained cast in shadow by the peak of her hood. “I wanted to offer my congratulations on what was a most impressive display of knowledge and speech craft at the summit today, especially from one so new to their position.” “Thank you,” Twilight said, genuinely surprised by the compliment. Clover had barely spoke during the summit and it had been cut short before she could put forward any of her own points. “No doubt you’re here investigating the break in,” she said leaning back and placing the tips of her fourhooves together thoughtfully. “Yes I am,” Twilight said without thinking. She mentally kicked herself as Clover smiled. “Don’t worry Twilight,” she assured her, “Celestia is no fool and neither are you, we all know only a princess could have broken into that vault, and now you have to suspect all of us.” “Do you deny it?” Twilight asked, it was a weak move but she felt powerless against Clover. “I do,” she said simply, “I cannot give you a sufficient alibi as I was here alone reading, there is nopony who can vouch for my innocence.” “So you want me to take your word for it?” Twilight enquired. “Not at all, you would be naïve to do so,” she responded, “I have no evidence of my innocence and you have nothing to condemn me with, so we are at stalemate.” Twilight stood in dumbfounded silence, she didn’t know what she was expecting when she came here, she didn’t have a clue what kind of ponies these princesses would turn out to be, but as she stood facing Clover she felt something she knew all too well from time spent with Celestia, respect. “Clover?” Spike pondered suddenly, pulling Twilight from her thoughts, “where do I know that name from?” Clover’s smiled disappeared so quickly it was as if it was never there. She turned away and began pretending to read her book as she spoke again. “yes, I am that Clover,” she admitted, Twilight’s eyes widened to the sizes of dinner plates, “no doubt you have a plethora of questions, but please, ask someone else, I beseech thee.” Twilight shut her mouth as Clover’s words sunk in, they only raised further questions, but she would obey her wishes. Raising her horn she sent out a quick blast of magic drawing Clover’s attention. If the key was here it would surely be emanating a powerful aura, but Twilight felt nothing. “Thank you for your time,” she said as she turned on the spot and left Clover to her reading. ~ Roma was pacing back and forth in her quarters as Rarity and Fluttershy asked to come in. They both gave low respectful bows before starting to talk. “Forgive us for our intrusion, but no doubt you aware of the situation,” Roma nodded in response so Rarity continued, “well we were just hoping you could confirm your whereabouts between this morning and your appearance at the royal summit.” “Of course,” Fluttershy and Rarity looked at each other in surprise, “it’s quite alright, Celestia is right to be wary. I awoke early this morning, at around seven; this can be confirmed by one of the servants who delivered me breakfast at my request. An hour later I departed from my room and spent the morning over at the barracks, inspecting the troops’ morning drills; there are multiple witnesses who will be able to support me on this. I was there until an hour before the summit at which point I attended lunch with Luonto in the royal dining room.” “Um… well that seems pretty thorough,” Rarity said, she wasn’t expecting it to be so easy, “thank you for your time.” “Thank you for your efforts,” she responded, “you are the elements of generosity and kindness, if my sources are to be believed.” “Oh, yes we are,” Rarity confirmed. “Then it is an honour to make your acquaintances,” Roma said offering a small bow of her own causing both mares to blush heavily. “This who situation is rotten,” Roma continued looking back up at them, “the fool responsible for this is either insane or has no idea what they’ve unleashed. I fear we will need all our efforts if we are to see Equestria through this.” “Well with princesses like you and Twilight, I think we stand a pretty good chance,” Fluttershy commented. “Of course, Twilight is your friend,” Roma added, “when you see her, gave her my regards, and tell her I was impressed with how she challenged Caelum, that show off needed someone to put her in her place.” Roma gave a small laugh at that last comment, which Rarity and Fluttershy joined in good naturedly. After that they said their farewells and left Roma to her pacing. As they were out in the corridor Fluttershy looked to Rarity. “That went better than I expected.” “Yes, this whole situation might not turn out as bad as I thought,” Rarity had said just as a crashing could be heard from the floor above them. “I just had to open my mouth.” ~ Clarity knocked hesitantly at the door, shifting her weight nervously from left to right. She spent one morning with Twilight Sparkle’s friends and now she was being drafted into recovering an ancient artefact of apocalyptic properties. This is my chance, she thought as a voice called her through, to repay the debt. “Welcome my little pony, can I help you?” the water princess asked from her bed where she lay curled up as the door swung open. “Um, yes,” Clarity began with a low bow, “I’m sorry for the intrusion but I’ve been asked to inves…” “You are Cadance’s sister, are you not?” the princess interrupted causing Clarity to look up in surprise. “Your highness? I mean yes, yes I am,” she confirmed. “She’s a nice girl,” the princess replied nodding approvingly, “I suppose I ought to treat you with some status then, Mare Equus, at your service.” “Uh, Clarity your highness, but really I just need to ask you…” again she was cut off. “So how is life in the Crystal Empire treating you?” “Pardon? It’s uh, nice I suppose,” she replied, why was she changing the subject? “I’ve always wanted to pay it a visit ever since its return,” she said looking out the window thoughtfully, “I was never around before it disappeared you see. Unfortunately duties in Aquestria have kept me busy.” “That is unfortunate, I’m sure you’d love it,” Clarity confirmed before steering the conversation back on track, “now I just wanted to ask you…” “Do you swim?” Mare Equus interrupted once again. “Do I what? What does that have to do with anything?” Clarity demanded before remembering who she was addressing, “I mean, yes, on occasion.” “It is my favourite pass time,” she replied wistfully flapping her fins, “however like a Pegasus who spends all her time in the sky, you often lose your appreciation for it.” “That, um,” Clarity didn’t know what it was, she was trying to remember what she came here for. “But I digress,” Mare Equus said turning to face Clarity once more, “thank you for dropping in, I hope we shall see each other again very soon.” And with a smile she opened the door with her telekinetic grasp, inviting Clarity to take her leave. Confused, she obeyed. It was only when she stood outside and the door slammed behind her that she spoke. “What just happened?” she then sighed remembering her job, “some use I was.” With that she dragged herself back down the corridor, hoping she wasn’t the only one who had found out nothing. ~ Ignis stomped back and forth, muttering curses to anyone and anything that would dare commit the crime in question. Her mane had become a churning wave of hellfire; she had to cast a protection spell on the room to avoid setting the whole place ablaze. Taking a moment to calm herself down and gather her thoughts she let her mane die down a little, it would do no good to lose her temper like this, she needed clear thoughts if she was going to be any use to Celestia. “Get your hoof outta my face!” a muffled voice shouted. Ignis’s head spun around to the wardrobe at the end of the room where she was sure she heard the voice. Taking a few determined steps forward she reached out with her magic and grabbed the wardrobe. She could have easily opened it gently, but she wasn’t in the mood. The door of the wardrobe ripped itself from the hinges turning to ash in Ignis’s grip, causing three fillies to tumble out. “What the…” she began looking down at the unlikely intruders. “Uh-oh,” they all said simultaneously. “I told you we should have just knocked,” the orange one spat at the other two. “It seemed like a good idea at the time,” the yellow one snapped back. “It seemed like a good idea to break into a princess’s bedroom?” the white one asked incredulously. “Girls, may I ask what you are doing here?” Ignis said in as polite a voice as she could muster. All three fillies looked up at her, then once at each other, seeming to come to a unanimous decision. “Good day your majesty,” the white one said as they all leapt to their hooves, “we were hoping we could ask you a few questions.” “Questions?” Ignis repeated, had she taken cider with her lunch without knowing it? “Don’t you worry none,” the yellow one chipped, “you ain’t in any trouble.” “But you will be if you don’t give us information,” the orange one joined in, assuming a hard tone. “Uh…” “We know you just wanna do what’s right,” the yellow one consoled. “We know you did it, fess up!” the orange one commanded. “What in the hay are you doin Scoots?” the yellow one demanded. “Playing bad cop, is that not what we rehearsed?” she replied. “Yeah but you don’t order a princess around,” the white one stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world, which it kind of was. “Girls,” Ignis repeated catching their attention, “what exactly are you doing in my room?” “Did you steal the key?” they all demanded at once. Ignis stared horrified at the three fillies before her. “Did I…” she repeated, her eyes wide and appalled, “Celestia, suspects me?” The fillies immediately picked up something was wrong which was only confirmed when Ignis began hyperventilating and pacing circles around the room. “No, this can’t be,” she said, more to herself, “she trusts me; I’m loyal to her and her alone.” “Ah think we made a mistake girls,” the yellow one said to the others, they all nodded in agreement. “Look your highness, we didn’t mean to make out you were a thief.” “Yeah we were just being safe,” the white one agreed apologetically. “Ah’m sure Celestia trusts you,” the yellow one continued, “but she can’t take any risks, that all.” Ignis sighed as she collapsed onto her bed. “I pray you’re right,” she said looking over at the shameful looking fillies, “I’m sorry about my reaction, but it’s good to see three so young taking on such a responsibility.” “Thank you your majesty,” they said in unison. “Please call me Ignis, I care not for titles,” she said waving a hoof dismissively, “come now, tell me your names.” “Ah’m Applebloom, and this is Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.” “A pleasure,” Ignis replied gesturing for them to come closer, “so Celestia thinks one of the princesses is responsible… of course, foolish of me not to see it sooner.” “Do you know who did it?” Scootaloo asked. “Unfortunately I don’t,” Ignis admitted, “I know no reason why any of my fellows would steal it, there is no motive I can see any of them having.” “Oh,” Sweetie Belle said dejectedly, “but they will catch the thief won’t they?” “I have faith in Celestia, you should as well,” Ignis said reassuringly. “You seem to really like Celestia,” Scootaloo said in admiration. “Why of course, I have served her my whole life,” Ignis said proudly, “Were it not for her, I would not be here today.” “You mean a princess?” Applebloom asked. “Not exactly what I meant…” Suddenly there was a loud knocking on the door followed by a concerned voice. “We heard some noise, is everything alright in there?” “Oh no,” Sweetie Belle said drawing Ignis’s attention. Without hesitating she pulled the door open from her seat on the bed, and there stood a white unicorn flanked by a yellow Pegasus. “Oh your highness, we didn’t mean to disturb, we just…” then she noticed the three fillies, “Sweetie Belle!” “Hey Rarity,” Sweetie Belle murmured, knowing she was in trouble. “What-why-you,” Rarity stammered taking a few hesitant steps into the room. “Please it’s quite alright,” Ignis said, stopping Rarity’s anger before it could take off, “your friends here were just cheering me up, and I must say they are the most delightful and polite fillies I have had the honour of meeting.” Ignis gave a subtle wink to Sweetie Belle who grinned. “I presume this is your sister?” Ignis asked although she could see the family resemblance, “I must commend you on a fine job raising her to be so respectable.” “Oh, why thank you your highness,” Rarity said swaying on the spot, threatening to pass out from elation. “We were just worried because we heard some crashing sounds,” the Pegasus said timidly. “I’m afraid I lost my composure a little with the wardrobe,” Ignis replied, “I apologise for worrying you both.” “We would have gotten here sooner, but we were held up by, dare I say, a rather uncouth princess,” Rarity said with a grimace. “Let me guess,” Ignis said with a deadpan look, “blue, spikey hair, long white scarf?” “Yes,” Fluttershy muttered, almost angrily. “Forgive her,” Ignis said with a sigh, “Caelum is not known for making good first appearances.” With that she clambered to her hooves, casting a gaze over the gathered ponies. “Come, let us see Celestia and offer her our assistances in these, most dire circumstances.” With that she led the way out of the room, the three fillies following closely, the other two mares shrugging to one another, they did have to interrogate the princesses after all. ~ Pinkie Pie bounced down the corridor, she was super excited at the prospect of meeting a new princess, it would be like the time she met Twilight and the time Twilight became a princess rolled into one. She wondered if the new princess would let her throw them a party. She knew she was going in the right direction because her head was jerking, which meant that whatever she was looking for was in the direction of the jerking. She knew she was close as the jerking was becoming more violent. As she hopped down the corridor she came to a screeching halt, with her head jutting out painfully towards one of the many doors along this hallway. Guess this was where one of the princesses was staying. Excitedly she skipped up and gave a musical rap on the door and called out. “Heelllooo, may I come in?” No answer came; instead the door was bathed in a pale glow and swung open of its own accord, issuing an ‘ohhh’ from Pinkie. As the door opened however she knew something was wrong. It was midsummer and so it was a pleasantly warm day, but as the door opened it was as if she had been transported to the frozen north. Shivering she made her slow but still happy way inside. “You could really use a heater in here,” she suggested with her teeth chattering. Then she saw the figure standing in the room, and the chill she felt seeped into the core of her being. She stood tall, perhaps even taller than Celestia, and her entire form was hidden from view by a pitch black cloak that was waving and fluttering as if it had a life of its own or was caught in some powerful gale. “Um, excuse me?” Pinkie said, the cheer draining from her voice. “Hello, Pinkie Pie.” the voice was like a shard of ice going through Pinkie’s heart, it seemed to vibrate in the air, almost as if it were not bound to the being standing before her. “Uhh…” Pinkie began, but before she could get any words out her ears began to flop while at the same time she gave a small sneeze. “Pinkie sense,” the figure spoke slowly, “a most peculiar gift, tell me what does that indicate?” Pinkie gulped before answering, “It means I’ve gotten myself into something I shouldn’t have.” ~ Rainbow Dash sped through the whole castle, smashing into one room after another, any sense of decorum forgotten in her mission. However after about ten minutes, or what seemed like forever to the fastest flyer in Equestria, she hovered over the castle looking down in frustration. “Where is an evil princess when you need one?” she shouted over the towers in anger. As if the universe was answering her, there was an almighty explosion of smoke from the top of one of taller towers. “Bingo,” she said dashing off towards, a glint of victory in her eyes. Swooping down she landed perfectly on the balcony, mentally awarding herself and eleven out of ten. She then waited a moment for the last of the smoke to clear before storming in. “Hooves in the air, we got you now!” she shouted out as the room came into focus, then her jaw hit the floor. What was once apparently a study room, was now filled to the brim with the most complex collection of machines Dash had ever seen. The room was filled with panels and pipes, sputtering and spraying steam. Screens glowed with series of complicated writing and code, pistons pumped and small volts could be heard passing through the whole room. “What the…” Dash began as a voice cried out from the ceiling. “Do you like it? Celestia was kind enough to give me a room to work in while I was here.” Dash looked up slowly; she was forced to shake her head to make sure she wasn’t imagining things. A brown alicorn hung from the ceiling, held in place by four metal claws spewing out of a pack strapped to her back. If this wasn’t strange enough her hooves seemed to be encased in some kind of heavy metal gauntlets, the ends of which were sprung open to reveal yet more claw like appendages. With these she was pulling various levels and conducting random acts of metal work. “What did Pinkie Pie put in those cupcakes?” Dash asked herself still unsure whether any of this was real or not. The alicorn hopped down to ground level, the claws on her back folding in and her gauntlets closing to look like regular hooves. As she fell however, her descent was slowed by two cylindrical objects strapped to her sides giving a short burst a blue flame. “Nice to make your acquaintance, I’m Vegnum, what’s your name?” she spoke in a rushed tone that was all too similar to that of Pinkie Pie. “Uh, Rainbow Dash,” she replied, “Are you a princess?” “Sure am,” she said striking a dramatic pose, “the princess of technology.” “I can see that,” Dash replied dumbstruck staring all around the room. “Would you like the official tour?” she asked almost bursting with excitement. “Maybe another time,” Dash said causing Vegnum to deflate, “I actually just needed to ask you about this key.” “You think I stole it?” Vegnum asked quickly. “No, I mean I don’t know, did you?” Dash stammered. “Of course not silly,” she said grinning again, “why would anyone want to destroy the world, there’s no sense in that.” “I’ve seen crazy villains before who didn’t care for sense,” Dash responded coolly. “You mean Discord,” Vegnum said with a frown, “yes I understand where you’re coming from there, but I assure you even if I wanted to steal the key, I couldn’t have.” “But you’re an alicorn,” Dash argued. “True, but…” Vegnum hesitated, “I’m actually, not great at using magic.” “Seriously?” “I have a very individual medium,” she justified, gesturing all around her, “so now that we’ve clarified my innocence, the tour?” “I guess…” was all Dash managed before a claw grabbed her forehoof and she was pulled forward to the first machine. ~ “Hey Applejack,” a voice called out, causing the farm pony to turn around. “Any luck?” “Oh hey Shining,” she greeted the stallion, “nah no luck, ah can’t even find their rooms.” “No worries, I’ll show you the way.” together the two walked in silence as Shining navigated the castle corridors. “Here we are,” he said at last giving an authoritive rap on one of the doors. No sooner had he done so that a green glow wrapped around it, drawing it open. “Welcome prince Armour, lady Applejack,” the nature princess greeted them before either could utter a word. “Shucks your majesty, I ain’t no lady,” Applejack admitted embarrassed. “None the less, please come take a seat,” she offered summoning two more chairs around the table. Applejack and Shining Armour obeyed and soon they sat in silence with both the princess of nature as well as the princess of dreams. “Tell us,” the latter began, speaking to Shining Armour, “how goes the search, have you turned up anything?” “That’s actually why we’re here princess Somnium,” he confirmed, “We need to ask you where you both were before the summit began, if you don’t mind.” “Not at all,” the nature princess replied calmly, “I believe Roma can inform you that I was attending lunch in the royal dining room.” “I was sleeping,” Somnium chipped in; Applejack noticed that what she could see of her face from behind her purple, star encrusted mane, looked nervous, and why was she keeping her eyes closed? “Are you alright Sugarcube?” she asked, receiving a nervous twitch from Somnium. “Of course I am, why wouldn’t I be?” she replied in a high pitched voice, Applejack didn’t need to be the element of honesty to know she was lying, but before she could press further the other princess laid her hoof on Somnium’s. “It’s alright dear,” she assured her in a soothing voice, “this will be over soon, and you will be able to return home, just stay strong.” Somnium nodded with new resolve, “thank you Luonto, I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Applejack looked at Shining Armour who shared her look of confusion and suspicion. “Don’t worry friends,” Luonto said noticing their looks, “I can assure you of Somnium’s innocence, she always has chamber maids at hoof when she sleeps, they will be able to assure you of this.” Applejack licked her lips, she wanted to know what they had just been talking about, but she recognised a touchy subject to know she would do better not to touch it. “Well, I think that’s all we need from you both then,” Shining Armour said, clearly thinking the same as Applejack, “we’ll go check out your alibis now, thank you for your time.” “Not at all Shining Armour,” Luonto said with a nod, “give my regards to your wife, I didn’t get an opportunity to speak to her today.” “I shall, thank you again,” he said giving a bow which Applejack mimicked before following him from the room. “Is it jus’ me or did that seem mighty suspicious to you?” “It’s not just you,” Shining Armour said grimly, “I think we need to have a word about this with Celestia.” ~ “Never again,” Dash muttered to herself as she traipsed down the hallway, she thought she would never get away from that crazy princess. As she walked she could swear it was getting colder, and was that sobbing she heard? As she approached an open door she peered in to see a terrifying sight. There were legends, stories of the reaper pony, but never had Dash seen anything that could resemble such a creature, but here it was, in this ice cold room. Turning her head she sawing the source of the crying, which made her heart sink. Pinkie Pie lay curled up, her mane and tail completely straight, her usually vibrant coat a much duller hue of pink. “Pinkie!” she screamed rushing forward to embrace to sobbing mare, as she did she looked up at the cloaked figure, “what did you do to her you monster?” “I did nothing,” the voice spoke sending a chill up Dash’s spine and through her wings, “the poor girl couldn’t handle my presence, like so many others.” “I wanna go home Dashie,” Pinkie moaned from where her head was pressed into Dash’s lap. “You should get her away Rainbow Dash,” the voice instructed. “How the hay do you know my name?” Dash demanded. “I believe your friend needs you now,” the being reminded her, Dash grunted, pulling the limp Pinkie onto her back and rushing from the room. “Hang on Pinkie,” Dash assured her as she ran down the hallway, “I’m gonna get you help.” ~ Clarity walked with her head hung low, she couldn’t even keep on track, what use was she ever going to be to Twilight Sparkle? “I hope the others had better luck than I did,” she mumbled to herself, however just then her horn lit up with a stunning blue light. “What now?” Her magic had never acted of its own accord before, not for many years since she learned to control it, but more importantly, what magic was this, she had never felt anything like it before. As the thoughts ran through her mind she felt herself getting dragged along by her horn. “Where are you taking me?” she begged as if it would tell her. Soon she found herself trailed up next to another door, one that at a glance seemed just as ordinary as every other one. “Um, hello,” she said reaching up to knock, but as her hoof made contact with the door it swung open. The room appeared empty, so warily she crept in, not sure why she wasn’t just closing the door and pretending the whole incident had never happened. Her horn had stopped shining but it was beginning to tingle as she made her way across the room to a large wooden chest, pressed against the far wall. As she stepped up, she could feel her horn channelling magical energy, almost as if it were casting a series of spells of its own accord. “Okay,” she muttered to herself as she felt her horn return to normal, unless you counted the ever present tingling sensation. Bracing herself she reached out with her forehooves, griped the lid of the chest and pulled it open. If it had been physically possible her jaw would have hit the floor and kept going, the chest was completely empty, bar one item. A crystalline key, in the simple shape of an ankh, shining with an intense blue light. “I-I found it,” Clarity breathed as she reached out, taking it in her hoof. She raised it to eye level and examined it, could it really have been that easy? However she didn’t get to enjoy her victory as at that moment a voice spoke behind her. “It seems you broke through my wards, most intriguing, I was certain that would be impossible.” Clarity watched as the key seemed to dissolve in her hoof, and she spun around to see it now held before the figure who had spoken. “Regardless of how you managed to find it, I can’t have you spoiling my plans by alerting the other princesses of my identity.” with that she held the key out, so the tip was pointing directly at Clarity. Clarity turned slowly as she heard an unholy tearing noise behind her. The wall seemed to be ripping open, not just the wall, but reality itself, to reveal an endlessly deep, swirling mass of pure magical energy. Clarity barely had time to take this all in as she felt something slam into her back, sending her cascading through the portal, and falling through the endless void. As she fell she twisted herself around so she could see the tear sealing itself back up. Just before it did she made out the alicorn standing there, a wide grin plastered on her face, and heard her call out. “Goodbye Clarity, I’ll give my regards to your sister.” and with that the gate sealed itself, and Clarity felt herself submerged under the weight of all the spiritual matter crushing her into oblivion.
The Power of SixOC Archive Clarity Younger sister of Princess Cadence Princess Inen Princess of death or Princess Luonto Princess of nature, rules over Gallopolli Princess Roma Princess of order, rules over Panchea Princess Clover Princess of time, rules over Damarescus Princess Somnium Princess of dreams, rules over The Dream Cluster Princess Caelum Princess of sky, rules over Whinnypeg Princess Ignis Princess of fire, rules over The Badlands Princess Mare Equus Princess of water, rules over Aquestria Princess Vegnum Princess of technology, rules over Metropolis
Northern LightsThe Power of Six “Princess please,” the purple filly begged, “let me try one more time; I know I can do it this time.” “No Twilight,” Celestia responded sternly, she loved the child dearly but her patience was wearing thin, “it’s not a matter of whether you can do it or not, I know you are perfectly capable.” “Then why?” Twilight whined, giving Celestia the large puppy dog eyes they both knew she couldn’t resist. “Twilight,” Celestia said with a sigh, “we have tried this at least a dozen times today, and each time you make the same mistake. And since you won’t learn from those mistakes I will simply have to end our lesson here so you don’t hurt somepony.” Twilight’s head hung low as she began packing her saddle bag. “I’m sorry princess,” she murmured, “I just can’t do otherwise.” “Yes you can,” Celestia insisted, “you don’t need to draw on so much power, but until you accept that your spell casting will become dangerous, and not just for you but those round you.” The two left the practice rooms in silence, Twilight still staring at her hooves. Celestia couldn’t help but feel ashamed for scolding her, she knew she couldn’t help it, a unicorn as young as her shouldn’t be able to channel as much magic as she does. But if she was to fulfil her destiny, she needed to learn control now; perhaps a different tactic was necessary. “Twilight, do you know what happens to a unicorn, or any being for that matter, that exposes themselves to too much magical energy?” “Um, no,” she replied thinking, “I get a headache when I do it.” Celestia shook her head, “that’s only the start, you’ve never gotten any worse because I’ve always been there to stop you before that could happen.” Twilight gulped at the implications, Celestia knew she was frightening her but she needed to hear this if she was going to gain the willpower necessary for control. “When a being becomes too saturated with magic, the results are catastrophic,” she continued, “it’s slow, and it is painful. The more magic you’re exposed to, or the longer you are exposed, the more likely you will suffer from effects that will never go away.” Twilight halted, she was shaking now, now it was time to hammer the message home. “As long as I am here that won’t happen, but Twilight,” she said demanding the filly’s full attention, “it will be down to you, and you alone, to learn to control your magic intake.” Twilight shook with tears welling up in her eyes, that was enough. Celestia leaned down and embraced the filly. “I’m sorry Twilight, but you need to know these things.” “I-I know,” she replied through sobs, “I’m s-sorry princess; I promise I won’t let it happen again.” Celestia sighed one last time, she prayed her message would take root in her faithful student, everything she had told Twilight was true, but she had spared most of the details, it was a fate she would wish upon no creature. But Clarity knew, Clarity understood Celestia’s fear, for she was living it. When she was young, she had been playing in the streets of Canterlot, she wanted to try and get a cutie mark in roller blading. One bad fall left her with a broken leg; at the time she had thought there was no worse pain. Years later when she was a student in Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns, she failed to cast a protection spell during a field trip, and was stung by a Cazador. While she was rushed to hospital she was certain she knew true pain. But she knew nothing of pain, not until she was cast into that abyss. Now she knew what pain was, true, unending agony. If she could have screamed, her sound would have broken through the veil itself. And as if the universe was truly out to spite her, it would take a long, very long time, before she was given the mercy of death. Mere feet away, an alicorn stood, pondering this. It was a cruel way to eliminate somepony, she knew, but there no point in feeling guilty, soon everything would meet the same end as Clarity. At last, she smiled and stepped out of the room, placing the last of her anti detection spells on the key responsible for Clarity’s fate, which now hung from a chain around her neck. The time was ripe, the gates were almost ready. But first, she had twelve pesky princesses she needed to take care of. “Oh,” a voice came as she entered the hallway, “sorry I almost walked into you there.” “That’s quite alright Twilight,” the alicorn replied with a friendly smile, “I was just heading back to the assembly hall to see if any progress has been made, would you care to join me?” “Of course Roma,” she replied happily, and together they set off, the young princess to focused on her futile mission to notice the wicked grin plastered on the princess of order. The Power of Six Celestia and Luna stood staring at each other; the fear stricken look on each of their faces indicated to the other, they had both felt it. It had been small, but enough. The key had been used. “This is bad,” Luna muttered, then her eyes widened as Celestia’s horn lit up, “what are you doing?” But before she received an answer, the light atop Celestia’s horn flared and she felt a wave of nausea pass over her. “I’m sorry sister,” Celestia said after Luna regained her composure, “I was sending a summons to the others.” “Why?” Luna demanded, “One of them is a traitor who we now know is fully willing to use the key, and you want to bring her here.” “We have no choice,” Celestia said simply, Luna quirked an eyebrow. “Why, what are you suggesting we do?” but the empty look in Celestia’s eyes told her everything she needed to know, “no! That’s insane! That’s treason!” “What do you suggest?” Celestia demanded, even Luna had never seen her so desperate, and she could it see it was making her dangerous, “the end of all things, or a cleansing?” “There must be a way to lure her out,” Luna begged, “anything!” “Luna, I would not do this if I had a choice, you know that.” “But…” however she was cut off by the sound of the doors opening. “Celestia! We were on our way when I received your message, has something happened?” Ignis demanded, hurrying forward, followed closely by Rarity, Fluttershy, and surprisingly enough, the cutie mark crusaders. “Everything is fine Ignis,” Celestia lied, “we’re just waiting for the others.” It hurt Celestia to lie to the fire princess; surely, she was not the traitor. “Hold on!” Luna exclaimed, realising something, “girls.” Rarity and Fluttershy looked up, surprised at being addressed at such a time. “How long have you been with Ignis?” “Oh, um…” Rarity began, scouring her memory. “About twenty minutes,” Fluttershy suggested quietly. “You see!” Luna said triumphantly, turning to Celestia, “Ignis is clearly innocent as the key was activated mere minutes ago.” “What!” Ignis exclaimed, “The key was activated?” “It was a minor flux,” Celestia replied, “we only felt it because we established a long range detection spell in this chamber.” “Regardless,” Luna continued, “Ignis could not have been responsible as she could not have used the key without them noticing.” Celestia nodded hesitantly, “I see what you’re saying, but…” “But nothing sister!” Luna exclaimed cutting her off, “we can still figure this out, we just need more time.” "Time for what?” a voice called out from the door way. All present sun around to see Caelum swagger in, flanked by Mare Equus and Clover. “Have we found out something?” Caelum began, just before she was barrelled out of the way by a blue blur speeding into the room. “Princess, please help!” a panic stricken Rainbow Dash begged. “Pinkie Pie!” Rarity and Fluttershy screamed at the same time, rushing over to the mare who resembled a rag doll at this point. “What happened?” Celestia demanded marching over to examine. “That… thing in the black cloak did something to her,” Dash explained in a furious tone. Realisation seemed to dawn on Celestia, then came a look of relief that took the three worried mares by surprise. “Don’t worry,” she assured them, touching the tip of her horn to Pinkie’s forehead. Almost instantly her hair exploded into its usual curls and her coat became considerably more vibrant. “Wow-wee that was weird,” she exclaimed leaping into the air. “Pinkie, you’re okay,” Dash said completely dumbfounded, “but I don’t understand, what happened to her?” “Inen, just has that kind of effect on ponies who aren’t used to her,” Celestia explained almost sheepishly, “especially one like Pinkie here who tends to bottle up her negative emotions.” “That’s good,” Fluttershy said relieved, “I’m just glad you’re okay Pinkie Pie.” “A-hem,” Luna gave a fake cough getting Celestia’s attention; their eyes met briefly and as they did a secret message seemed to be passed between them. “Ah yes, well,” Celestia began nervously, “she could still use some rest, why don’t you three take her back to her room.” The ponies all agreed and they began filing out, the three fillies in tow. “And if you see Applejack or Clarity, take them with you,” Celestia shouted after them. The three latest princesses eyed Celestia suspiciously before glancing at each other. “You know Celestia,” Mare Equus began coolly, “if I was paranoid, I’d say you were hiding something from us.” “That wasn’t the desired effect I assure you,” Celestia responded in a similar tone. ~ Cadance lay gasping for breath, something had happened, something terrible. Her heart felt like a knife had been driven through it. She wasn’t sure what it meant, but she suddenly had an intense desire to see her husband and sisters. Summoning all her strength, she got to her hooves, although it was agonising for her, she began stumbling down the hall in the direction of the assembly hall, the message sent from Celestia five minutes later didn’t ease her anxieties any, it just made her pick up the pace more. ~ “You sure you’re alright hun?” Applejack asked, sitting on the bed next to Pinkie. Rarity had just filled her in on what had happened while she was away with Shining Armour. “Of course AJ, why wouldn’t I be?” Pinkie replied in her usual tone. “You know why ahm askin’, we’re worried ‘bout you Pinks,” Applejack insisted. Pinkie sighed exasperatedly. “It was just a run in with some bad mojo,” she insisted. “Fair enough,” Applejack relented, “so any thoughts on this situation we got ourselves in?” “It’s nothing the princesses can’t handle,” Pinkie assured her. “Celestia seemed mighty scared,” Applejack muttered, “and we’re up against another princess here.” “Oh I’m sure they’ll forget all about their nefarious schemes once we throw them a big party,” she insisted as confetti exploded over their heads. “Ah hope,” Applejack sighed, lying back and tipping her hat over her face. “Something the matter Rare?” Pinkie asked after giggling at the sleepy Applejack. “No, it’s just, has anyone seen Clarity?” she asked causing Shining Armour to look up from his paper, “The princess told us to keep her with us, but I haven’t seen her at all since the summit.” “I’ll go check for her,” Shining said, standing up from the table, “she probably just got lost.” The words had barely left his mouth when all present in the room were thrown off their hooves and sent rocketing across the room. It felt as if a surge had just passed through the entire castle. “What in the hay was that?” Rainbow Dash demanded, trying to pull Scootaloo free of a clothes hamper. “Nothing good I imagine,” Shining Armour said, storming for the door. “Do we ever get a break?” Applejack muttered, pulling herself free of the bed clothes and trotting out after the captain. “Oh, uh, maybe I should stay here,” Fluttershy suggested nervously to Rarity as Pinkie and Rainbow Dash sped off. “Good idea,” Rarity said, causing Fluttershy’s eyes to widen in surprise, “you can make sure those three don’t follow us.” “Awwww,” the fillies chorused. “No arguing, now be good for Fluttershy, we’ll be back shortly,” she said leaving the room. ~ “Twilight!” Cadance exclaimed, hobbling over to her sister in law. Twilight turned and her eyes opened wide with horror as she saw Cadance. “Cadance, what happened?” she asked catching the older alicorn as she collapsed. “I don’t know, Twilight have you seen your brother or my sister?” she asked desperately. “No, not since we left here earlier, why has something happened?” “I fear so,” she said sadly, trailing off as she noticed the room was now full of all thirteen princesses. “What’s going on?” she asked, “did Celestia find something?” “She hasn’t told us yet, she’s just been busy talking to… Inen, I think her name was,” Twilight informed her. Cadance looked around and sure enough Celestia appeared deep in conversation with the shrouded figure at the other side of the room. They seemed to be keeping their distance and Celestia did not look happy. “You don’t look so good my dear,” a voice spoke over Cadance. She looked up to see a familiar grey, armoured alicorn. “I’m not feeling great Roma,” she said offering a weak smile. “That won’t do,” she said leaning down, “don’t worry Twilight, I’ll look after Cadance, you see if you can’t get answers out of Celestia.” “Sure, don’t worry Cadance, I’ll be back soon.” with that she was off leaving Cadance with the princess of order. “So tell me,” she began, “how did you come to be in this state?” ~ It felt like forever since he had been here. True his life was still quite short, so three years seemed like a large fraction in the big picture. But still, to be climbing the steps of tower he once knew to be his one and only home, it felt odd, he wasn’t sure he liked it. After he and Twilight had left Clover’s room, she had told him she needed time to think. Spike understood, this was all becoming a bit much for her. So he left her to wander the halls for herself while he… wandered aimlessly in the opposite direction. It wasn’t until later he realised his feet were carrying him along a familiar path. once he’d become aware he began to recall the route as that of the one he and Twilight took when returning from an afternoon of studying to their private quarters where he would sleep and Twilight… would study more. He smiled at the memory, weird to think how much life changed in such a short space of time. It felt like they were swept away in a gale, their comfortable lives of solitude replaced by those of fun and excitement, and then all too quickly it changed again when Twilight became a princess. Spike didn’t even realise he’d started crying; somehow thinking about how much everything had changed in such a short space of time depressed him. But here he was again, standing at the oh so familiar door. Another smile spread across his face, the last time he was here he couldn’t reach the handle, this was the first time he realised he was growing. Clutching the cool metal in his claw he turned it slowly, savouring the moment. The door swung open to reveal something he was not expecting. The once full to the point of overflowing bookcases were bare and covered in thick layers of dust. The whole room looked like it hadn’t been used since they moved out. Spike had figured Celestia would repurpose the room or at least let someone else use it. Continuing through the room he examined every surface, each one seemed to trigger an obscure memory from his earliest years. There in the corner, that was where Twilight put his first cot after he hatched and she was accepted into the school. He had spent one night in it, after that he stayed in Twilight’s room after they both realised neither of them wanted to be alone at night. They had slept in the same room almost every night ever since. That table in front of the window, he was sitting there when he first breathed fire. It hadn’t been an impressive sight, he still could only manage a small spout, but Twilight had been proud none the less, it was one of the only occasions she asked Celestia for time off studying so they could celebrate. All three of them went for a picnic in Whitetail Woods. Shaking his head of the heavy flow of memories he made his way up the stairs to a landing with only a single set of double doors, the doors to their old bedroom. Again he took note of his new height as he turned the handle. However as he stepped in he immediately noticed something different about this room. It had been slept in; recently, perhaps it was being used by someone, someone who didn’t bother to use the rest of the tower. Seemed a little wasteful in Spike’s mind but he ignored it. Walking up to the bed he saw it wasn’t the same one he was once so familiar with, that disappointed him. The bed was certainly untidy, whoever was using it didn’t care for tidiness, but then the room outside was evidence of that. Besides the bed the room appeared empty and Spike was about to leave, but something caught his attention, something on the bedside cabinet. Spike picked it up in his claws and blew the thin film of dust that had gathered off, before gasping in surprise. It was a framed picture, of Fluttershy. Who would keep a picture of Fluttershy? Written at the bottom in the Pegasus’s familiar elegant hoof writing were the words ‘your friend, Fluttershy’. Spike continued to stare, what an odd thing to find. He was about to set it back when he felt his claws brush against something. Flipping the frame over he saw there was a note pinned to the back. The writing was messier on this one, and the ink still looked wet, had this been put here recently? ‘My dear Fluttershy, I’m sorry I couldn’t be the friend you deserved. Thank you for everything, Discord’. Spike stared blankly at the note, reading and re-reading, letting the message sink in. then he was blasted off his feet and sent flying into the wall. He managed to raise his arm in time to shield his face, subsequently it took the impact. The picture was thrown from his grasp, the glass front shattering as it fell to the floor. Clambering up he looked around wildly for the source of the explosion, it didn’t take long. From where he stood he could see a bright blue light through the window. Rushing over he hopped onto the bed to get a better look. It seemed to be a pillar of some sort, blasted straight through the roof of the castle and piercing the heavens. Spike knew that light could only mean bad things, he scrambled for the door, desperate to find his friends, but before he left something stopped him. He looked over again at the picture, in the big picture it seemed insignificant, but he had the strange feeling a lot was riding on him delivering that note. Making a snap decision he raced back and picked up the picture in his claws, the note remained pinned on the back so he took the whole thing as he departed the room. He and Twilight had their own private room, but the others were staying in a separate suite not far from here, hopefully Fluttershy would be there. ~ “Excuse me, Celestia,” Twilight began, Celestia turned to face her, she reminded Twilight unsettlingly of how she herself looked during the tardy incident, “is there anything I can do to help.” Celesta opened her mouth to respond but all that came out was a croak, she looked helplessly from Twilight and Inen, the latter continuing to stare at her, or at least Twilight assumed she was staring. “Twilight, this situation is dire, I won't lie to you,” she confided quietly, “out of thirteen suspects I can only rule out six, and then I can’t see any of the ones left over being capable of this.” Twilight looked around the room; everyone gathered seemed to keeping to themselves with only a few exceptions, they were constantly shifting on the spot and casting suspicious glares at one another. “What do you propose?” she asked turning back to Celestia. “Twilight… it’s not good,” she said, her eyes shifting over to Inen. Inen… the princess of death. “You can’t mean…” Twilight began, as Celestia’s intentions became clear to her. “Twilight listen!” she commanded hurriedly, “I don’t like this any more than you do, but we’re weighing the lives of all against the lives of a few in this room.” “But-but they’re your friends,” Twilight insisted, refusing to believe Celestia was really suggesting this, “even if you can eliminate six of us, that still leaves seven.” “I know,” she admitted shamefully, “I’ve known each and every one of them since the day their reign began, this cuts me very deeply.” Twilight looked back at the princesses gathered in the room, her eyes resting on Cadance and Roma, what were they talking about? “I was sorry to hear about your sister,” Roma said, the ghost of a smile appearing on her face. “My sister? What do you mean?” Cadance asked confused from where she lay. “Don’t you know?” Roma asked I’m mock surprise, “the poor girl had a little trip.” “What are you talking about?” Cadance demanded, her heart rate increasing. “Don’t worry dear Cadance,” she replied stroking her mane, a wide grin forming on her face, “you’ll be with her soon enough.” Cadance’s eyes stretched wide as a blue light began to emit from Roma’s chest. “You!” she exclaimed, horrified. “Me!” Roma spat, standing up, the key manifesting on a chain around her neck. Eyes were beginning to look their way but there was nothing they could do. They could only watch as the key began to shine with a brilliant, pure blue light, before the whole thing exploded outwards. ~ Everypony in Equestria turned their heads, dropping what they were doing as the light filled the sky. It began in Canterlot and it rose higher and higher until it was touching the sky itself. No one knew what it meant, but they all felt it as they were knocked off their feet. ~ Twilight tasted blood in her mouth, the blast had sent he face first into the wall, and it probably showed. Almost lazily she cast a healing spell on herself and as it began to take effect she desperately searched her memory for anything that might indicate what just happened. Celestia had told her a plan to stop the traitor, a plan she wanted no part in. She had been looking around the room, she saw Cadance talking with Roma, no, arguing! Then Roma stood up, something shining on her chest. Suddenly everything was clear to Twilight as she slowly turned her gaze over the rest of the battered and broken princesses’ stirring from the blast, and Roma who stood triumphantly in the centre, glowing with an ethereal blue light, the Aether Key hanging from her neck. “Traitor,” a voice spat, Twilight saw it was Ignis, already casting her own healing spell and staring at Roma with pure undiluted hatred. Soon all the princesses were pulling themselves together, Twilight hobbled over to where Celestia had fallen. It was much further from where she was standing before the blast, and Twilight realised as she reached her, she had teleported herself to shield Luna with her own body. A pang of envy filled Twilight at this sight of sisterly affection, but she forced it out, now was not the time to be petty and selfish. The two sisters stood up and along with the rest of the princesses in the room were now staring daggers at Roma. Twilight briefly wandered why they weren’t perforating her with spells by now, but she assumed they didn’t want to do anything that might upset the key. “Well Celestia,” Roma began, great, cliché villain monologue time, can’t she just skip to the part where she explains her diabolical plan and how we stop it. “Here we are, exactly where we should have been over a thousand years ago.” “Explain this treachery,” Luna demanded. Roma laughed, most uncharacteristically, she even looked uncomfortable as the sounds escaped her mouth. “All in due time, but I can’t have any of you in such a condition that makes me so vulnerable,” she explained. “Well clearly you seem to be having difficulty with your counting,” Twilight snapped, no one hurt Celestia and got away with it, “you’re pretty outnumbered.” “My counting skills are perfection,” she replied, Twilight detected the bitterness in her tone, “unfortunately for you, I have an old friend who owes me a favour. Isn’t that right, Discord?” Twilight blinked in surprise as she felt something appear behind her. Turning around slowly she saw exactly what she didn’t want to see. “I’m so sorry Twilight,” the draconequus said, sounding almost sincere, before he reached forward with a talon which he rested on the top of Twilight’s skull. The next she knew, there was an odd sensation sweeping over her, like she had just been drenched in a bucket of ice cold water. Just before her jaw froze in place she managed to utter one sentence. “I thought you didn’t turn ponies into stone.” ~ Well that’s new, Clarity thought. A feeling that wasn’t pain, how long had it been since she felt that? Minutes? Hours? Years? She didn’t know anymore. Perhaps I’m finally dying, she thought, the first happy thought she had in a long time. “Or perhaps you’re ready,” a voice echoed through her head. Clarity’s eyes snapped open. Wait… she had eyes again. She had hooves and hair, she had vocal chords, where were you earlier when I wanted to scream? She was herself again; the old body that had been ripped to shreds within seconds of her arrival was once again hers. Hmm, she was still in the Aether, blue as far as the eye can see, but this was a start. Taking her new mouth she decided to test it. “Hello, is anyone there?” she croaked, her throat sounded hoarse like she hadn’t spoken for weeks, maybe she hadn’t. There was no reply, but she began to make out something out amidst the sea of energy. A dark ball, pulsating slightly. She began moving towards it, floating through this world reminded her of swimming and she then recalled the water princess’s comments regarding the sport. As she neared the orb she noticed it was glowing faintly around the edges, it felt like it was drawing something in. wandering up next to it, Clarity began to peer into it. It looked almost like a circle cut out of the fabric of space itself. Bracing herself she tentatively reached out and toughed it with the tip of her hoof. Immediately she snapped her hoof back, that second had a disturbing feel to it; it was almost like it was pulling something, from all sides, almost like a vacuum. For some reason she couldn’t quite explain she felt the need to turn around, and as she did her eyes widened in surprise. There were more of these black circles spread out over the Aether as far as she could see. Eleven if she counted the one she just touched. “What…” she muttered as her horn erupted into a pure ethereal light, just like it did before she found the key. “Again?” ~ Roma stalked through Canterlot’s new sculpture garden, each princess frozen in various looks of anger and betrayal. Oh how she was enjoying this, and it was about to get even more fun. The room was filled with the sound of grunting, good, while that was annoying it meant they were all aware of what was going on, and she wanted them to be able to witness the end of their world. “You’re going to pay for this!” a voice echoed through the room. Roma looked over in surprise, it was definitely Caelum’s voice but she was still encased in stone. “Ah, projecting our thoughts are we?” she said, the obvious truth dawning on her, “speak away while you can, soon you won’t have the power necessary to do so.” “How so?” Caelum’s voice demanded. “Because I’m going to take it of course,” she answered simply firing a blast of grey light from her horn, striking the statue of Caelum in the chest. As it did, a silvery line was drawn from the point of impact to the tip of her horn, and all along the line, small sparks of light could be seen flowing into Roma’s horn. She repeated this spell until there were twelve silver lines connecting her to each of the frozen princesses, drawing succulently on each of their powers. “I have no doubt, freeing you all will be the first thing on everyponies’ minds,” she announced, “so I’m taking the obvious precaution so that should it come to pass, you’ll be incapable of standing against me.” “Why delay the inevitable?” Clover’s voice echoed, “you’re obviously going to open the gates why not go ahead?” “The answer is simple,” she began, “while you might be silently praying I do not know the locations of the gates, you would be sadly mistaken. The real reason that’s not what I’m currently doing, is because I’ve already done it.” There was no response, well of course there wasn’t. “I’m sure you’d all be gasping if you could,” she said, smirking at her own joke, “I’ve spent a long time bringing this plan together, a thousand years to find each of the gates, to learn everything I could about my enemies, figure out how to break into the vault, and discover just how the key works. “It is, in the end, only a key,” she explained, still weaving in and out of the statues, “it is used to open the locks, but it can’t speed up the gates. They’re opening now as we speak, but due to their size it may take some time. Smaller ones can open in a second after the lock is broken, like the one I cast your little sister into Cadance.” “I will kill you!” Cadance’s voice screamed. “Sure you will,” Roma replied in a condescending voice. “But this has no purpose,” Vegnum’s voice insisted, “you represent order, how is destroying everything, yourself included going to bring any semblance of order to the world?” “Firstly, you will be destroyed, I shall be fine, your powers will go a long way in insuring that,” she stated matter of factly, “secondly, you just can’t see the bigger picture, but then none of you have existed for nearly as long as I have. This world is broken, chaotic, imperfect. I plan to wipe the slate, begin anew, create the perfect world, just as I tried to do a thousand years ago, until my plans were thwarted by two meddling unicorn sisters.” Roma’s gaze burned into the statues of Celestia and Luna, Celestia’s wing still draped defensively over her younger sister. “It’s been a long conquest,” she said drearily, “but soon, I will have my perfect world.” As Roma finished a sound could be heard outside, the clanging of metal. “Hmm, looks like the cavalry have arrived,” she announced, eyes on the door, “we can’t have interruptions just yet.” Roma raised a hoof into the air, her horn glowing with a deep grey aura, the room began rumbling. ~ Shining Armour led the group as they charged through the castle; they saw the blue pillar through the windows as they ran, and they all knew without saying it that it was coming from the summit room. “Where are the elements of harmony?” he called over his shoulder at the mares trotting behind him. “Twi brought ‘em,” Applejack informed her. “Spike’s probably got them,” Rainbow Dash proposed. “And where’s he?” the four mares all shrugged and Shining had to resist face hoofing, “alright, we split up, Rarity and Pinkie, find Spike and the elements. Applejack and Rainbow Dash, you’re with me.” “Aye aye cap’n,” Applejack said with a quick salute. “Oh boy, are we pirates now?” Pinkie asked excitedly. “If it will make you follow me then yes,” Rarity shouted dragging Pinkie Pie down a side corridor. “Alright you two, I’m hoping you can both handle yourselves in a sticky situation.” “Don’t you worry, with my speed, Applejack’s strength and your magic, ain’t nothing gonna beat us,” Rainbow Dash answered with determination. “That’s what I like to hear,” Shining Armour said as they continued to run. They were nearing their destination, only one more corner… or maybe two. Alright make three. Hang on now this isn’t right. “Hold up,” Shining Armour commanded, skidding to a halt, “this isn’t right, we should be there by now.” “Yah sure?” Applejack asked unconvinced. “Positive, I lived here long enough to know this doesn’t make any sense.” “Make sense, oh what fun is there in making sense?” an all too familiar voice called out. “Discord!” Applejack and Rainbow Dash bellowed at once. “You got me,” the voice replied, strange, Discord didn’t sound his usually mad self, he sounded bored, sad even. “What in the hay do yah think you’re tryin’ ta pull?” Applejack demanded staring around wildly. “Just holding you up really,” he replied, his monotonous tone not letting up. “You snake! After everything Fluttershy did for you!” Dash raged at the entire corridor. there was no reply, not for some time at least, it was only when they were convinced he had disappeared that he spoke again. “She can do better.” “What?” Dash said, her aggressive stance slipping, something in that last sentence had made her feel… “Discord, you have to let us through,” Shining Armour pleaded, “you can still do the right thing.” Discord never replied. Applejack stomped her hoof and swore. “There must be a way round,” she asked, Shining armour thought about it. “Probably not, but perhaps if I cast a shield we can push through his magic.” “That’ll work?” Dash asked sounding hopeful. “Only one way to find out.” ~ Spike ran as fast as his legs would carry him. He was exhausted and his legs were shaking, he knew they would give out soon, but he wouldn’t stop, he had to reach Fluttershy, and hope he was making the right move. The room finally came into sight and he charged at full pelt, not even stopping to turn the handle, instead he just crashed head first using all his momentum to take the door off its hinges. “Spike,” a quiet voice enquired in a confused tone. Spike looked up to see the yellow Pegasus standing next to the bed where the cutie mark crusaders were sitting. As he pulled himself to his feet, she fluttered over and offered him a hoof which he accepted gratefully. “Is something wrong?” she asked trying to hide the worry in her voice. “Probably,” he said holding up the picture frame, “I think you need to see this.” Fluttershy looked taken aback when she saw it was a picture of her, but accepted it nonetheless. She quickly read the message on the front and it dawned on her who this belonged to. Spike watched as she flipped the frame over and her eyes scanned the note. There was a moment of silence as Spike waited to hear her respond. “Oh… my.” ~ “Yar har, fiddle di dee, being a pirate is all right with me, Do what you want 'cause a pirate is free, you are a pirate!” Pinkie sang as she bounced after Rarity who was trying to keep her grace in check by not punching the singing mare. “Pinkie,” she said at last, her voice trembling with the effort it took not to scream, “not really the time for that dear.” “Okie dokie,” Pinkie said stopping instantly, “where are we going?” “Twilight and Spike’s room,” she replied, glad she was finally saying something reasonable, “hopefully Spike will be there, or at the very least the elements.” “Do you think Twilight would just leave them lying in her room?” Pinkie asked, Rarity hadn’t thought about that, but she wasn’t going to let Pinkie know that. “I’m sure she would have put a protection spell on them,” she bluffed, not having a clue when it came to schools of magic that didn’t relate to her special talent. “But if there is then how will we get them?” Pinkie asked. “Well we’ll just…” she hesitated, “oh I don’t know, we’ll think of something.” “Alright, as long as you know what you’re doing,” Pinkie said happily, Rarity gave a low growl. ~ Clarity walked with her head hung low, she couldn’t even keep on track, what use was she ever going to be to Twilight Sparkle? “I hope the others had better luck than I did,” she mumbled to herself, however just then her horn lit up with a stunning blue light. “What now?” Her magic had never acted of its own accord before, not for many years since she learned to control it, but more importantly, what magic was this, she had never felt anything like it before. As the thoughts ran through her mind she felt herself getting dragged along by her horn. “Where are you taking me?” she begged as if it would tell her. Soon she found herself trailed up next to another door, one that at a glance seemed just as ordinary as every other one. “Hang on a second!” Clarity exclaimed turning away from the door, “I’ve been here before.” She racked her memories trying to remember what was happening; it didn’t take long for the events following this to surface in her mind. The key, Roma, falling, pain, so much pain… then it stopped, and she was herself again, and there were those black orbs… “My horn was glowing, just like it did when I was back here,” she said absent minded, then something occurred to her, “but it wasn’t the first time…” The world around her dissolved, in a faint blue glow, and as it did another building began to form around her. Her first thought was that she was back in the exact same place, but no, it was just similar, this was somewhere else. She began walking through the new building, it did seem very familiar, and she felt she knew where she was going. a set of double doors stood before, and she could hear something on the other side, the faint cries of laughter. Curious she reached out and pushed the door open with her hoof and stepped outside. She knew where she was, Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, and she knew when she was. Before her in the private gardens, accessible only to students of the school itself two fillies ran circles around one another while an older pair watched on with amusement. This was the day she received her cutie mark. Slowly she walked forward, descending the steps into the garden, the four ponies didn’t see or hear her, this didn’t surprise her. It had been her first year, she was nervous about attending the prestigious school, but her sister assured her it would be alright. Her reluctance at the time to make any friends had convinced her it wouldn’t be. Cadance had taken note of this, and insisted she come with her while she was foal sitting. Clarity hadn’t liked the idea of sharing her sister with anypony, it didn’t matter this was supposed to be the personal student of Princess Celestia, the one Cadance spoke so highly of, Clarity didn’t want to meet her. But when they arrived at the gardens she found a filly of the same age as herself throwing the biggest temper tantrum to her brother, who would have thought she had been having the same thoughts at the prospect of hanging around with her? The filly had cried when Cadance and her brother confiscated her books until she took time to play. Twilight hadn’t been pleased, and it certainly made getting along difficult, but as time passed the two found themselves enjoying each other’s company quite a lot, allowing Cadance and Shining Armour to let out a sigh of relief. After twenty minutes of playing Twilight forgot all about her books and studies, it would be one of the few times she ever would before moving to Ponyville. Clarity smiled as she reminisced about the day playing out before her, thinking back, she could have lived in that moment forever, young not to have any concerns in the world, playing with her new friend while her sister watched on. However she knew what came after this, and sure enough the two fillies ran off out of sight, Cadance and Shining Armour too tied up in their blossoming love to notice. Clarity followed, she didn’t need to see this again, but she felt it was important. Behind a large clump of rose bushes the two fillies sat, Clarity leaning forward so her horn was low to the ground. It gave off a faint blue light as a daisy began to sprout from the ground and bloomed. “Wow!” Twilight squealed with delight, Clarity had smiled but the spell had exhausted her. “Let me try,” Twilight said, and that’s when it happened. Clarity had found it odd watching Twilight concentrate, she had never needed to draw in very much power to do any spell let alone that one, but Twilight didn’t seem to be stopping. It didn’t take long for the fillies to realise something was wrong, but by the time they did Twilight’s horn was already glowing as bright as the setting sun and she was beginning to scream. Cadance and Shining Armour were running to them now, but they wouldn’t make it in time. Clarity watched as the memory of herself did exactly what she had done all those years ago. She never understood why, it was like she had felt compelled to do it, but amidst Twilight’s screams, Clarity had closed her eyes and leaned in, and the tips of their horns touched. Clarity watched as one filly siphoned the power from the other, as Twilight kept giving, Clarity kept taking, but the weird part was, she felt alight, better than alright, taking on all that pure, undiluted power felt… right. It was then, she hadn’t realised at the time, but as she drained Twilight of the magic that was threatening to destroy her, a flash of light on her flanks brought fourth her cutie mark. And that was it, for it was at that moment Celestia made her appearance. She subdued Twilight first to stop her drawing on any more power, then Clarity. The memory faded away, for that’s all there was. The next thing Clarity knew, she was at home and Cadance informed her that Twilight was undergoing extra lessons with Celestia to control her magic intake. After that they didn’t see each other an awful lot, but when they did Twilight was very withdrawn, Clarity had always wondered if she remembered, but she never asked. With the memory faded away Clarity once again hung in the all too familiar Aether, the orbs ever present. Taking all this in she gave a curt nod. “I think I understand now.” ~ “I don’t think this is working!” Dash screamed over the tumult of noise that was triggered by trio attempting to proceed with the shield active. “Just hold on for a little longer!” Shining Armour shouted back, “the door is just ahead!” Indeed it was, it had been a struggle but they had pushed through Discord’s magic and now the end was in sight. “Just… a little… more!” he shouted, just as the shield shattered. The effect was instantaneous, the corridor they were walking down began warping and twisting until it was clear they were back where they started. “Son of a…” Shining Armour began. “Ah think we need back up,” Applejack said, Shining Armour mulled this over. “I suppose it couldn’t hurt to have a few more heads to put together,” he agreed, “come on, to the barracks.” With new found determination they all set off in the opposite direction. They would reach the barracks, call in every able bodied soldier to aid them, then they would storm that room and bring an end to this madness. The barracks was just around this corner… or this corner. Or maybe… hang on a second. “Oh for the love of…” ~ “Oh my? That’s all you have to say?” Spike said in disbelief. “Of course not,” Fluttershy replied hurt, “what am I supposed to say.” She stormed over to the window and huffed with her back to the dragon. Spike sighed and looked over at the bed… which was now empty. “Uh Fluttershy,” he began, “we’ve got a problem.” Fluttershy didn’t respond, she was just staring out the window. “Fluttershy!” “I think… I think I know where Discord is,” she said at last. “You do? Where?” Spike asked bewildered, Fluttershy pointed out the window. Spike scampered over, forgetting about the missing fillies. Once he was at the window he saw where Fluttershy was pointing. “The sculpture garden? Why would he be there?” Spike asked unsure. “I just have a feeling,” Fluttershy whispered. Without further debate she unlatched the window and let it swing open, “hop on.” Together they swooped down from the tower, Fluttershy gently gliding down towards their destination. As they flew Fluttershy caught her first glimpses of the blue light pillar and gulped, she picked up her pace considerably after that. Fairly soon they touched down on the gravel pathway and Spike dismounted. “You’re a much better flyer than Rainbow Dash,” he said as they began walking. “Oh no, I could never be as fast as her,” Fluttershy said blushing. “No I mean, you’re more controlled, more… delicate.” Fluttershy looked down at him in surprise, “in Rarity’s words.” They reached the sculpture garden and were quickly passing in and out of statues, each one representing a great victory in the history of Equestria, but they weren’t looking for one depicting a pony. Sure enough as the two reached their goal, the pedestal was not empty. “How do you do that Fluttershy?” Discord asked, from where he was perched, “I was sure nopony would bother to look for me out here. “Your note sounded sad, I figured this is where you would go if you were sad,” she answered. Discord still didn’t look down at her. “It wasn’t supposed to be an invitation to come look for me,” he said snidely, “it was a chance to cut ties with a monster.” “Discord, you know I don’t think you’re a monster,” Fluttershy said, flying up so that she would be eye level with him if he wasn’t stubbornly turning his head away. “You say that now,” he muttered. “Yes I do, and nothing can change that,” she insisted. At last Discord relented in turning his head around, Fluttershy gasped as she saw his bloodshot eyes. “They’ll never take me back after what I’ve done,” he said, his voice quivering, “they’ll never forgive me.” “Discord,” Fluttershy began folding a wing around his head, “as long as you never stop trying to do the right thing and make up for your mistakes, you’ll always deserve forgiveness.” Discord sighed and bowed his head, then he murmured something that neither Fluttershy or Spike caught. “I’m sorry, what was that?” she asked, wow, role reversal. “Roma is the traitor,” he said loud enough for them to hear him, “and I helped her.” “Roma? The princess of order?” Fluttershy questioned, that couldn’t be right, she had been so nice, and she had an alibi. As if reading her thoughts Discord continued. “She had me masquerade as her, while she stole the key,” he explained, “after that… I turned the other princesses to stone.” “You did what!” Spike bellowed, Fluttershy was taken aback, but she didn’t move. “Why would you want to help her?” Fluttershy asked, this had a profound effect on Discord. “You think I want to help her?” he shouted causing Fluttershy to fly back in fright, “you think I have a choice?” “There’s always a choice,” Fluttershy insisted, “what aren’t you telling me?” Discord looked away again, but this time he didn’t look like he was going to give in. Fluttershy sighed and fluttered down to Spike, after a quick exchange of words she was in the air once more. She placed something on the pedestal next to Discord’s hoof. “I still have faith in you,” she said before returning to the ground and walking away, Spike in tow. Discord looked around in time to see her tail swish around a corner. He sighed and looked down at what she had left behind, then his eyes opened wide as he picked it up in his claw. It was the picture, the glass was gone, but something had been added, a new word had been written, ‘Your friend, Fluttershy. Always’. ~ “Told you so,” Pinkie Pie said happily as Rarity stumbled to her hooves after being fired across Twilight’s bedroom. “Tell me my mane isn’t singed, Celestia help you if it is!” she screeched. Pinkie just gave a little giggle snort before bouncing away. Rarity gave out a frustrated roar before charging into the bathroom. Pinkie was humming merrily to herself while examining the jewel encrusted box carefully when an ear splitting scream ripped through the suite, perhaps the whole castle. “Oh Rarity it doesn’t look that bad,” Pinkie pleaded. “I look… I look…” Rarity stepped out of the bathroom, her hair a frizzy, curly, gravity defying disaster, “I look like you!” “Oh my god you totally do!” Pinkie exclaimed bouncing over, “we should do a magic show, you can be my double so when I fall through a trap door you’ll climb out of a different one so it looks like I walked through one door and out the other, but really I didn’t, and we’ll make loads of money and be really famous until you get corrupted by my arch nemesis who want revenge for me shooting his fingers off.” “Pinkie, let me start by saying I hope none of that ever happens,” Rarity said with a deadpan expression, “secondly, the world is kind of in a state of mid peril, need I remind you.” “Oh yeah,” Pinkie said running over to the box which she opened to reveal the elements of harmony, “ta-daa!” “How-you-what?” Rarity stuttered, her eye twitching. She was about to scream again, but before she could the lid of the box closed of its own accord. “Not ta-daa,” Pinkie sad sheepishly. ~ Clarity took a deep breath, which was strange considering there was no oxygen in this world. This was her fifth attempt, and it was starting to hurt. “Focus,” she told herself, clenching her eyes shut. “Concentrate,” she said as her horn began to glow. “I can do this,” she said as it began to shine, “I’m ready.” Clarity opened her eyes, her horn now too bright for the average pony to look at, she charged. She galloped with all her might, trying desperately to continue drawing magic in, her head was bent low; the orb was approaching her ever faster. Here it comes, three, two, one… and with blinding pain, Clarity was sent cascading back from the ball, her horn extinguishing. She groaned as she lay in a crumpled heap, five attempts, five failures. “For the last time Clarity I don’t want to hear you talking about that!” Cadance scolded, “I’ve told you before, your cutie mark is to do with emotions, and that is what we’re studying.” “But that day with Twilight,” Clarity insisted, “something happened, I think it means something.” “Clarity listen to me,” Cadance said leaning down so she was at eye level with her younger sister, “whatever you think happened, you’re wrong. You just imagined what happened that day.” “I never hated you for lying Cadance,” Clarity whispered as she pulled herself up again, “I knew you only wanted to protect me. You were afraid, just like Celestia. Fillies shouldn’t be able to draw on that much raw power like Twilight did, fillies shouldn’t be able to take that much pure power like I did. For that is my special talent, I know that now. Pure magic, it’s dangerous to unicorns, to all creatures, but I’m an exception. I can take all this power… so others don’t have to feel that pain.” “Focus!” Clarity shut her eyes. “Concentrate!” Clarity’s horn began to light up, faster and brighter this time. “I will do this!” she screamed, her eyes bursting open as her entire body became infused with the light, “I was born ready!” she charged, her head bent low, her eyes wide, but this time something was different, she didn’t feel herself slowing down, she didn’t feel her power waning. With one final burst of speed she plunged her horn into the orb, and wasn’t cast back. The void ripped open, the Aether tore apart and granted her an exit, which she gratefully dived through. Her hooves stumbled beneath her as she landed on the first real, solid ground she’d encountered for a while. She looked back quickly, afraid she had made a terrible mistake, but was glad to see the rip stitching itself back up. The last of the magic drained from her, leaving her feeling weak and nauseous. She was back exactly where she left, but how much time had passed? Rushing from the room she ran squarely into a small purple and green blur, causing them both to go tumbling into a wall. “Ohhhh,” she moaned, hello physical world pain, how I missed you. “Clarity?” the voice spoke, she looked up to see it was Spike she had charged into, “where have you been?” “It’s a long story;” she said dismissively, the time to tell her tale would come later, “what’s happened?” “We don’t know, there was this big blast and a blue light,” he began explaining in a rushed tone, “now everyone is everywhere and Discord turned the princesses to stone.” “Wait what?” Clarity asked, sure she had misheard that, wasn’t Discord on their side. “Turns out he was in cahoots with the traitor,” he said bitterly, “Fluttershy went to find the others and asked me to fetch the elements of harmony.” “Of course, there’s no time to lose,” Clarity said, standing up and using her magic to lift Spike onto her back, “just point me in the right direction.” ~ “Ah give up,” Applejack said, collapsing out of a mixture of exhaustion and frustration. “Come on AJ, we can’t quit now, Twilight’s counting on us,” Rainbow Dash begged. “What do you expect us to do?” Applejack asked hopelessly, “face it, as long as Discord is against us we can’t win.” “You rang!” a voice called out, causing all three heads to turn as a draconequus manifested in the air in front of them. “Discord!” they all bellowed, but quickly had their mouths zipped closed. “As much as I’d love to listen to you all,” he said sounding much chirpier than when they last heard him, “I believe we have twelve fair maidens to rescue and an evil villainess to thwart.” “You mean…” Dash began unzipping her mouth. “Don’t make me say it,” Discord said scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment before clicking his claw, instantly re-establishing the castle corridors. “Good to have you back on the winning team,” Shining Armour said, “but you’re gonna have to lead the way, we’re a bit disoriented” “As you command brave captain,” Discord said assuming a Trottingham accent before appearing dressed in full medieval armour, riding a pantomime horse, “onwards to glory!” As the four figures charged, their spirits renewed, a fifth stood back, watching from afar. “I knew you had it in you Discord,” Fluttershy whispered before hurrying after them. ~ “Scoots, are you sure this is ah good idea?” Applebloom asked again as they stood precariously on the edge of the roof, overlooking the rest of the castle. “It’s fool proof,” she insisted, “and simple, we glide from this, the tallest tower, straight into that hole where the light is coming from.” “Is it safe to fly into a big blue light that just destroyed the roof of a castle?” Sweetie Belle asked. “I’m sure it doesn’t have much juice left in it, it’s been up for a while.” “Alright, at the very least we might get our gliden’ cutie marks,” Applebloom said trying to put a positive spin on the situation. “Or our near death experience cutie marks,” Sweetie Belle muttered darkly. “That would be so awesome,” Scootaloo exclaimed, “alright crusaders, ready? Three, two, one…” “Hey Scoot, aren’t we supposed to be attached to this thing in some way?” Applebloom asked… a little too late. “Go!” ~ “There it is,” Spike exclaimed, “it’s the door that’s… open. Uh oh.” Clarity picked up the pace and they charged into the room at full pelt with Spike shouting at the top of his lungs. “Drop the elements, hooves in the air!” at which point they immediately froze as they came face to face with Rarity styling her mane and Pinkie Pie playing yhatzee, the box lying forgotten about on the floor. “Good timing,” Rarity said, “you get to join us prepare for the end of the world.” “What now?” Clarity asked. “The elements dear, they’re locked up tight, and without them I’m certainly not stopping any villains.” “You mean you can’t pass Twilight’s defences?” Spike asked incuriously. “Nope, first it messed up Rarity’s hair, then it closed itself anytime we opened it, then it jumped around the room…” “I think they get the idea Pinkie Pie,” Rarity deadpanned. Clarity sighed but Spike burst into laughter. “Oh did I miss a joke?” Pinkie asked excitedly. “I thought it was so obvious,” Spike said trying to contain his laughter, “Twilight always has a failsafe in case someone needs to get under her protection without magic, considering its Twilight it’s kind of obvious what it would be.” Pinkie Pie and Rarity stared at Spike, then at each other, and then back at Spike. “Here I’ll show you,” he said walking over to the box, “hey elements, you’re going to be tardy.” The box sprang open immediately, releasing each of the necklaces and crown into Spike’s outstretched arms. “See, easy peasy,” he said looking over at the two mares whose jaws were swinging below their necklines. “Right, with that bit of hilarity out of the way, can we please go save the world?” Clarity asked exasperated. ~ The three ponies and Discord, now returned to his normal appearance after the joke had become stale, charged up the hallway, to be faced with a most disheartening sight. The hall was packed with armoured guards trying desperately to batter their way through what appeared to be a shard of grey crystal that had crept up over the doorway to the assembly hall. “Stand aside colts!” Shining Armour ordered, hearing him they immediately parted to allow them to pass. “Lieutenant, status report,” he demanded of the official looking guards pony sporting several medals over his uniform. “Sir, we arrived here shortly after the explosion, but when we did this… thing appeared out of nowhere,” he explained gesturing, “Nothing has made a dent in it so far. Any time we tried to retreat and look for another entrance we ended up right back here.” “Yeah that was my bad,” Discord said, Shining Armour ignored him. “Discord, do you know what this stuff is?” he asked rubbing a hoof against it. “It’s order crystal, Roma designed it to be the most perfect mineral,” he explained, “everything is perfection with her.” “Does it have any weaknesses?” Dash asked fluttering up beside Discord. “Of course it does, everything does,” he retorted. “But you just said it was perfect,” Dash snapped back. “No, I said it was made to be perfect, you should learn to listen,” he said grabbing Dash’s ear and stretching them so they resembled those of a donkey’s, “Roma is a fool, there’s no such thing as perfection but she can’t see that.” “Discord, it’s weakness,” Shining Armour snapped before Dash could continue arguing. “Simple, the natural opposite of order is chaos, and that’s where I come in,” he said clapping his bear paw against his claw. “Nothing happened,” Applejack said confused. “Really? Try breaking it now,” he suggested looking to Shining Armour. Shining Armour didn’t look convinced but he turned to the crystal anyway. He took one breath before raising his head, drawing power into his horn, before bringing it down upon the rock. There was a mighty explosion, throwing them all flying backwards. Applejack was the first to recover, not counting Discord who was never thrown back to begin with. The door was now clear, the crystal lying in large chunks scattered over the floor. “Where the heck is everypony?” she asked, realising that besides Dash, Discord and herself, all the guards including Shining Armour had vanished. “That’s the unfortunate thing about chaos magic,” Discord said, not sounding like he considered it to be unfortunate at all, “there are always side effects, and they are always unpredictable.” “Well where are they?” Dash demanded regaining focus. “Oh they’ll be somewhere, don’t worry,” he said in a bored voice, “but right now we have a mission, one that demands our full attention.” “That we do,” a voice called out from behind them, the three turned to see Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Clarity and Spike approaching them. The most encouraging sight was the remaining elements cradled in Spike’s arms. “Now that’s what I’m talking about,” Dash said victoriously hoof pounding the air. Without waiting for invitation, Applejack and Rainbow Dash claimed their elements, glad to have the familiar feel around their necks once more. Once they backed up again Spike was left carrying just one element. “Well this puts a spanner in the works now doesn’t it,” Discord said scratching his head thoughtfully. ~ “There, isn’t that better?” Roma said as the muffled voices of the soldiers became frustrated as their path was blocked by the newly formed crystal. “That gives us a little extra time to chat.” “You said we stopped you a thousand years ago,” Celestia’s voice questioned, “what did you mean by that?” “You really don’t get it do you?” Roma said coldly, staring the stature of Celestia squarely in the face, “after everything you’ve observed, can you really not draw the connections?” “Discord…” Celestia began. “You’re getting warmer,” Roma said mockingly. “You recruited him?” Celestia queried, Roma’s smile faded. “The years appear to have made you quite dense Celestia,” she said bluntly. “Take that back!” Twilight’s voice ordered, Roma just ignored her. “I didn’t recruit Discord,” she spat, “I… created him!” There was a long moment of silence. “You, created Discord?” Luonto said disbelievingly. “Of course, I am order itself,” she announced, “as such it is fully within my power to create something that is entirely without order.” “And I suppose that was another attempt at ‘cleaning the slate’?” Vegnum asked sarcastically. “Exactly,” Roma replied, “as repulsive as chaos is, it has its uses. “And now here we are,” she continued, “that pathetic creature is wrapped around my hoof once again, and soon, even you won’t be able to stop me.” “Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Somnium said cryptically. “And what’s that supposed to mean? Am I to take it from that you have some ingenious scheme? Perhaps it involves stealing back your precious key and using it to re seal the gates, hmm?” As she spoke her horn glowed and the key was lifted from around her neck and held out in front of her. As the few princesses whose heads were turned in the right direction watched, Roma’s horn flared with an intense light, and the key shattered into miniscule blue fragments. “Woops,” Roma said with a wicked smile, “any other bright ideas?” “Yes actually,” Luna said, a mere hint of annoyance in her voice, “keep you talking for as long as possible.” “Oh…” Roma began, only to be cut off by the sound of the door crashing open. She turned her head as the dust began to clear, five mares were only just visible, but their trinkets were clear as day. “Really? You think the elements of harmony have any power so long as Twilight remains incapacitated?” she mocked. But as she spoke the last of the smoke cleared, and she saw there was not five, but six mares. Clarity stepped forward, in line with the others, the familiar crown upon her head. “Ah…” was all Roma had time to say before the gemstones upon each began to light up. ~ Spike poked his around the corner just as the familiar rainbow beam faded from view, the scene it left was considerably more favourable to all those present except for their enemy. Roma lay in a crumpled heap, but appeared to be recovering quickly. That and all the other princesses had been released and the strange connection between them and Roma had been severed, however much to the dragon’s horror, they all lay and trembling piles, resembling mere husks of their former selves. “How dare you,” Roma croaked, getting to her hooves, “how dare you!” As she screeched the six mares began channelling the elements again, but she wasn’t going to take it lying down. Lighting her horn up, all six were grabbed in her telekinetic field and hurled across the room at the opposite wall. The speed they were thrown at, they would be pulverised. Spike screamed, but as his friends approached the wall they were all caught in what looked like a purple net. Looking around he saw Twilight balancing on one hoof, an agonised expression on her face as she cast the spell. However she was too weak to hold it and it broke almost immediately upon impact. Thankfully it had the desired effect that their momentum was slowed enough that they only ended up receiving bumps and bruises. “Nice save Twilight,” Roma spat, “but it doesn’t look like you have enough in you for another.” She was right unfortunately, Twilight’s leg immediately gave out and she collapsed to the floor panting heavily. Roma smirked at the sight of this and began walking forward to the element bearers. “You should be dead,” she reminded Clarity who was the only one with the strength left to look up at her, “how could you possibly survive?” Clarity didn’t answer, she merely stared. Roma’s patience broke and with a twitch of her horn Clarity was dragged into the air in front of her. “Clarity no!” Cadance screamed hoarsely. Roma ignored her as well as she stared intently into Clarity’s eyes while she struggled for breath under Roma’s hold. “No,” Roma whispered, as something became clear to her, “it can’t be…” Spike was done hiding, he charged forward with a rock clutched in his claw which he launched squarely at the back of Roma’s head. The rock careened through the air, about to make its target… when it disintegrated in mid-air. Spike froze as he saw this; Roma didn’t even turn to look at him as she flung him into the wall. That had hurt, it wasn’t a hard throw as she had barely been concentrating, but it had hurt nonetheless. “So, it seems there is one with the power to oppose me,” Roma continued thoughtfully, before breaking out in a wide grin, “not for long.” As the words left her mouth, the grey light surrounding her horn intensified so that Clarity was forced to shut her eyes for fear of them being burnt out of her skull. Was she really going to die here? After everything she had fought through to get this far? Perhaps not. The light dimmed as Roma’s attention was diverted; a harmonious scream seemed to be echoing through the entire chamber. It was only at the last second that Roma looked up to see three fillies and the remains of a hang glider plunging down on top of her. ~ Canterlot castle was in chaos, nowhere more so than the assembly hall for the royal summit. The doors were ripped from their hinges, the walls and floor were chipped and battered, most of the platforms and pillars lining the wall had been ripped away, the entire ceiling gone from the earlier activation of the Aether Key. Yes this was certainly chaos, and now Discord was in his element as he strode through the door to find Roma attempting to untangle herself from a hang glider while the floor was littered with twelve princesses, six mares, three fillies and one dragon, all semi-conscious. “Tell me Roma,” he drawled, earning her attention, she looked back at Discord with pure venom, “how did you think this would all end? The inhabitants of this world would just roll over for you.” “I think I understand now,” Fluttershy had said quietly so the others couldn't hear as Applejack limbered herself up for bucking the door in. “Don’t get involved, not unless it’s absolutely necessary.” “No, I’ve long since accepted that the beings that infest this world are too stupid to understand the brilliance of my vision,” she replied icily, freeing herself from the glider and facing Discord with her wings spread wide and aggressive. “I know this is very difficult for you,” she whispered embracing Discord in a brief hug. “Celestia,” Discord called out to the alicorn who was shaking on the stone floor. “Do I have permission to go all out? To bring an end to this.” “Yes,” Celestia breathed. Discord grinned his widest grin in a very long time. “Good,” he hissed, never taking his eyes off Roma. The single word seemed to have a profound effect on the world, for as it was uttered, all hell began to break loose. ~ The citizens of Canterlot gathered in the street, watching the castle with fearful eyes. The light had been extinguished not long ago, but all present had the creeping feeling something far worse was on its way. A theory that was only proven correct when the entire mountain side began trembling due to some unseen force. as unicorns of the Canterlot gentry watched in undisguised horror, the entire castle was wrenched from where it was rooted, as if an invisible and had just ripped away from the rest of the city. The castle ascended into the sky and the ponies below watched as it began to crumble, towers collapsing and annexes falling away. However it was as if the remains fell into a current encircling the ruin, as they fell they were swept up and began orbiting the remains of the castle, twisting and warping into bizarre mockeries of pony architecture. Soon all that remained was a floating abomination of a castle, curiously, filled with golden orbs.” ~ Roma laughed manically as she took all this in. “You actually diverted power to protect these vermin?” she guffawed gesturing at the golden balls, each containing one life that had been in the castle at the time. “You have changed.” Discord didn’t reply, instead he rose into the air, keeping his joints loose, never taking his eyes off Roma who stood in a regal pose upon a floating fragment of floor that had been ripped from the castle. The silence began to stretch, Discord’s eye twitched with impatience, but he couldn’t strike yet, for as they both knew the key to victory was the element of… “Surprise!” the real Discord exclaimed appearing behind Roma swinging an inflatable mallet. First point to Discord as Roma was sent rocketing off her perch by the surprising impact carried by the balloon toy. Without a moments delay she twisted herself in mid-air, her horn lighting up, wrenching a pillar from the castle to act as her new platform. As quick as a flash she landed and began ripping brick after brick from the castle and sending them in perfect formation at Discord, whose body twisted and rippled easily, letting the projectiles pass right past or in some case through him. With a loud snap Discord tore a stair case from the floating ruin which coiled itself in the air before striking out at Roma like a serpent. Roma wasn’t caught off guard however as she sprung from the pillar which was shattered upon impact, spreading her wings, she dived straight at Discord. Discord leapt back and floated in nothing just as Roma sliced through where he had been a second before, her leg gauntlets forming blades at a single command of her horn. “Trust you to bring blades to a gun fight,” Discord exclaimed whipping out a pump action shotgun and fired a powerful jet of water, knocking Roma off balance. As she spun, she teleported herself several metres away for good measure, once she had regained her composure she pulled a dozen gargoyles free of the battlements, animating them with another flash of her horn. The stone soldiers bore down upon Discord who, with a flurry of his serpentine body, exploded into a swarm of parasprites which devoured the incoming enemies whole. Discord himself reappeared on one of the spires, without hesitation he leapt off and began falling through the air towards Roma who was still looking for him. With little effort began freezing the air, creating a slide of ice beneath his feet, trailing out behind him. Directing this he sped down to Roma and began circling her, encasing her in a frozen prison. Once his masterpiece was done he leapt forward, taking hold of the ice sculpture in his now oversized hands. As he took hold he began spinning around, faster and faster until finally he released the ball of ice straight for the earth far below. It dropped at a sickening speed, but before it reached it's final destination the whole thing shattered, and Roma sped back up without wasting any time. Discord dodged her as she shot through the air like a bullet, her wings searing past like razor blades. As Roma passed right by her quarry she felt something tug on her tail and looked down to see a grapping hook tangled up in her hair. On the other end of the rope, Discord held on, wearing water skis on his feet, inflatable arm bands and giant novelty sunglasses. Roma swished her tail with all her might, ignoring the pain that shot through her rump. As Discord came soaring towards her she spun in the air thrusting her hind legs out. She didn’t see but felt something collide hard with them. With a laugh she turned around to see only a cloud of confetti where Discord had been. “Looking for someone?” Discord called out, now in front of her. She spun around in time be knocked clean out of the sky by a giant boxing glove attached to a spring. As she fell her wings flapped uselessly. Staring at them in confusion she saw her perfectly preened feathers had been glued together by what looked like napalm, however knowing Discord it was more likely marmalade. Giving up on her wings she summoned another platform from the castle which she landed hard on, almost causing it to buckle under the sudden weight. Roma looked around wildly, scanning the skies for the cursed draconequus, but he was nowhere to be seen, and when Discord was nowhere to be seen, it usually meant he was… “Behind you,” the voice mused. Roma spun around, intending to lash out with her forehooves, but this time she was too late. Discord dodged her attack, but instead of retreating to a safe distance he closed the gap between them so they were eye to eye. He didn’t say anything, just reached out and clenched the sides of Roma’s helmet with the tips of his paws and claws. Roma felt a woozy sensation overcome her as Discords eyes began to ripple hypnotically. However almost as soon as it started it was over, and she was blasted back yet again, this time landing on a conveniently placed section of roof that had fallen from the castle and was now floating in the gravitational pull of it. “Did you really think you’re little mind tricks would have any effect on me?” she said with an attempt at her old winning attitude. “Mind tricks? Is that what you thought that was?” Discord asked innocently. Roma frowned, what she hadn’t seen when Discord took hold of her, was the twelve balls of power drained from her body, returning to their original owners. “I think the line you’re looking for here, is ‘oh-no’.” Roma turned around slowly, her eyes moving upwards to Canterlot Castle, where twelve alicorns, returned to full power descended with looks of righteous fury burning in their eyes. “Roma,” Celestia announced being the first to descend to her level, the others quickly joining her, as they all circled the grey alicorn, “you have committed unspeakable acts against this world and its inhabitants. I think I speak for all of us when I strip you of your undeserved title and sentence you to the ultimate punishment available to us… annihilation.” Roma’s eyes stretched wide fury and she tried without success to form a distinguishable sentence. “No objection? That suits me,” Caelum exclaimed as her body exploded in a bright cerulean light. One by one each of the princesses lit up, Roma found herself frozen where she stood, whether it was due to some power of her opponents or her fear, she wasn’t sure. Soon only Twilight remained, and Roma could see the uncertainty plastered over her face, maybe there was a chance yet. “Twilight,” Celestia whispered, the youngest looked over at her mentor, and as their eyes met it was as if they exchanged a thousand words through a single look, and Twilight nodded in sad acceptance as she too lit up in a brilliant purple light. Roma stared on in disbelief as she was overwhelmed by the power of each of the twelve princesses. She could feel her body tremble as it began to shatter into particles. The pain was unimaginable, perhaps the physical world equivalent of what she herself put Clarity through, perhaps it was meant to be ironic that way. As her body disintegrated she didn’t scream, instead she merely laughed, an insane cackle. The princesses stared in slight confusion at the quickly disappearing traitor. “You think you’ve won? You think just because you beat me you can return to your worthless, imperfect lives?” she screamed between laughs, only he head and part of her torso remained, “the gates are still opening, and they can never be stopped! You’ve won nothing!” And with those final words, the last of Roma was shredded into miniscule fragments and scattered to the winds. The princesses hung in the air, the light fading from their bodies, Roma was gone, but her words hung in the air, poisoning an otherwise glorious victory. “Discord,” Twilight said at last, “I sincerely hope you can fix all this.” The draconequus grinned at the challenge, “easily!” ~ “Twily! Cadance!” Shining Armour exclaimed, rushing over to the group of mares gathered in the newly rebuilt castle courtyard, “you’re okay!” “Shining, where have you been?” Twilight and Cadance asked at the same time. “Um, it’s a long story,” he said nervously glancing at his hooves, “let’s just say I and the rest of the royal guard understand exactly why ponies don’t like going in the Everfree Forest.” “Well you’re just in time for the party, courtesy of Pinks,” Rainbow Dash informed him. “I’m calling it my ‘Discord-beat-his-evil-creator-and-saved-the-world-with-the-princesses-who-aren’t-evil’s-help’ party,” Pinkie announced happily, “I might need some help making the banner.” “So that’s it? it’s all over?” Shining asked hopefully, this earned a sad look from Twilight and Cadance. “When are things ever that simple,” Clarity muttered. “Come on,” Twilight said woefully, “there’s another meeting, and you’ve all been asked to attend this one.” “Yippee, we finally get to meet all the princesses, eh Dashie,” Pinkie said bouncing at the back of the group. “I guess,” Dash admitted. “Some better circumstances would have been nice,” Rarity chipped in tersely. “Discord really did a good job fixing this place up,” Fluttershy said as they passed through the doors into the castle. “You mean from all the damage he caused?” Applejack retorted earning an uncharacteristically angry glare from Fluttershy, “ah mean, that was darn good of him.” “I’m glad you think so Applejack,” Discord said appearing over their heads, causing the farm pony to jump into the air, “perhaps this is finally the beginning of a beautiful friendship between you and me.” “Ah’m not gonna credit that with a response,” Applejack muttered, picking up her pace so she could talk to somepony else, anypony else. “How are you feeling Discord?” Fluttershy asked lagging behind the rest. “Chipper as always my dear, thank you for asking,” he replied simply, not meeting her eye. “I mean, how are you, regarding… her?” Fluttershy asked tentatively. Discord stopped walking. “From the day she made me, she filled my head with lies and false beliefs,” he said, his tone darkening, “it wasn’t until you gave me a chance that I realised my life could ever be anything more than what she had intended. it gave me the strength to do what I did, I’m free, truly free for the first time ever, and I have you to thank for that.” Fluttershy opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by Dash who called out from down the corridor. “Are you guys coming or what?” ~ The party arrived at the doors to the assembly hall; Shining Armour gave silent thanks it wasn’t covered in crystal again. Twilight took a nervous intake of breath. “Here we go,” she murmured as she pushed the door open with her magic. The room was absolute anarchy as they walked in, true it had been restored to its original design, but the princesses who now occupied the floor rather than their platforms were arguing and shouting at the top of their lungs, fighting desperately to be heard. “We can’t ignore this insurrection,” Ignis was insisting, “for all we know Roma had allies, they must be quelled before they can cause any more damage.” “We can’t stay here,” Somnium was arguing, “we’ve already been here longer than we should have, our own countries need us.” “We won’t have countries left if those gates aren’t shut,” Clover tried to reason. “Of course,” Caelum began sarcastically, “I forgot we have a whole factory for making Aether Keys, problem solved.” “There must be another way,” Luonto urged, “we haven’t even tried and we’re already fighting among ourselves needlessly." “But we don’t where the gates are,” Mare Equus reminded the room, “you heard Roma, it took her a thousand years to find them all.” Twilight noticed Inen was standing far back, refusing to get involved and Vegnum was rubbing her temples with her mechanical claws. “THAT IS ENOUGH!” a voice bellowed, the room was silenced immediately and all eyes turned to the triumvirate platform where Celestia and Luna had just appeared. Nopony used the royal Canterlot voice quite like Celestia it seemed. “This is a catastrophe and if we turn on each other now then we have already lost.” “What would you have us do?” Ignis pleaded. “While I know it is not this court’s place to listen to the voice of one, I beseech you all to listen and obey if we are to have any hope of surviving this." Some princesses like Ignis and Luonto seemed only too glad to put their faith in Celestia, others like Caelum and Mare Equus looked less pleased at the prospect, but no one argued. “Alright, thank you,” Celestia said with a sigh of relief, “first things first, you must all return to your own countries, Somnium is right, we can’t ignore our duties because of this, but also because it will be up to each of you to put in every ounce of effort into locating the gates. We know there are eleven; one in every continent, by breaking it down it should make it easier for all of us. “I would ask you, Luna, to take up temporary dominion over Panchea,” she continued addressing her sister, “with Roma’s absence the country will likely need a strong leader to prevent it succumbing to turmoil.” Luna nodded before Celestia turned her attention to Twilight. “Twilight, I am tasking you and your friends the mission of travelling to the locations of each gate as they are discovered, without the key our only hope for sealing them once more lies in the elements of harmony.” “You can count on us princess,” Twilight responded with determination. “But, uh, what if they don’t work?” Fluttershy asked, afraid of the possibility. “Don’t worry my child,” Celestia replied soothingly, “the elements are designed to restore harmony, two worlds spilling into one another is exactly the unbalanced situation they were created for, I have every faith they will work.” Fluttershy seemed relaxed by this, and the other element bearers looked even more elated. “Lastly, Discord,” the draconequus looked up in surprise at being addressed, “you have already made leaps and bounds in earning your redemption, but to prove your devotion I would have you perform one more task.” Discord and Fluttershy exchanged nervous glances before looking back up. “I need you to find out everything there is to know about Roma,” she continued, “her plans, her allies, anything that might help us understand what we’re up against. Can you manage that?” “It would be my pleasure milady,” Discord said with a little bow. Twilight noticed the relief he was trying to hide. “In that case there is nothing further to discuss,” she said exhaling, “I wish you all luck, may we meet back here in a year safe in the knowledge that our world is not in danger.” ~ “Look I’m not saying what you did was wrong,” Spike said again, his message still not getting through, “I’m just saying it’s not up to me whether you get punished or not.” The cutie mark crusaders looked disheartened at that. Spike paced anxiously, the girls were due back from their meeting any minute now. As he walked he noticed the sad expressions of the three fillies. “Hey,” he said getting their attention, “for what it’s worth, I thought you girls were really brave.” They all beamed at the compliment just as the door opened. Rarity and Applejack walked in, apparently deep in conversation, but as they saw the fillies they hushed up. “So, hang glidin’ from the roof,” Applejack began, “you’re lucky you three weren’t killed.” The fillies’ smiles faded. “We have told you countless times,” Rarity continued, “but would you ever listen?” The two mares sighed before looking at each other and nodding. “But it would be wrong of us to say you weren’t incredibly courageous,” Rarity said causing all three fillies’ eyes to open wide, “and Clarity owes you her life.” “You mean you’re not gonna punish us?” Applebloom asked hopefully. “Nah Sugarcube, not this time,” Applejack relented, “but don’t get the wrong idea now, this don’t mean you can go off doin’ whatever you want, it just means you were lucky this time and we’re all mighty grateful you’re okay.” Sweetie Belle and Applebloom leapt off the bed and rushed over to embrace their sisters. Scootaloo frowned slightly, but not before the door was opened again and Rainbow Dash sauntered in followed by Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. “Hey squirt, I’ve been meaning to talk to you,” Dash said noticing Scootaloo, “hang gliding off a roof and crashing straight into the bad guy, now that was awesome!” Scootaloo beamed and rushed over to her surrogate sister and hugged her tightly, which she didn’t try to resist. Dash looked up to see the stern looks Applejack and Rarity were giving her, she sighed before looking back down at the elated filly. “Yeah it was awesome, but listen,” she said trying to choose her words carefully, “just in future, maybe don’t go getting yourselves into crazy situations like that.” Scootaloo looked up in shock, along with everypony else in the room. “I’m not saying that to kill your buzz Scoots,” she said, wishing she was better at this, “I just don’t want you getting hurt is all… I don’t know what I’d do if that happened.” There was a long moment of silence before Scootaloo finally smiled again. “Okay Rainbow Dash, we’ll be safer in future.” Dash smirked and looked up to see the surprised but undeniably proud faces of Applejack and Rarity. “Woo hoo!” Pinkie exclaimed, “This calls for a ‘Dashie-just-developed-as-a-character’ party!” “I did what now?” ~ Twilight sighed as she walked along the platform with Cadance, Clarity and Shining Armour. “This isn’t how I wanted to spend our time together,” she muttered dejectedly. “I know Twilight,” Cadance replied sympathetically, “I wish we could have normal lives all the time.” “Do you think you’ll be able to do it?” Twilight asked, “Find the gate.” “I don’t know,” Cadance admitted, “but I do know I won’t stop trying. We’re going to beat this, I’m sure of it.” “Yeah,” Twilight said smiling for the first time that morning, “we’ve done this kind of thing before, as long as we have each other, we’ll always win.” “All aboard, for the Crystal Empire!” the train conductor bellowed. “Well, I guess this is it,” Cadance said absently, she leaned in to hug Twilight, “I hope we see each other again soon.” “Me too,” Twilight said as the embrace ended. “You be good you hear,” Shining Armour said jokingly before squeezing Twilight, “I love you sis.” “Love you too BBBFF.” as she pulled away from the hug she turned to Clarity who had been unusually quite since they left the castle. “I’m not going,” she announced at last. “What!” the other three exclaimed. “Clarity what are you taking about? We have to go home,” Cadance insisted, but Clarity shook her head. “No, you have to go home, they need you, but I…” she hesitated trying to find the words, “I think I’m needed for something else.” Cadance looked to her husband who was staring dumbfounded; Twilight just looked on, a faint understanding passing between her and Clarity. “Twilight,” she began again, “if you’d let me… can I come with you? Help you and your friends close the gates.” Twilight didn’t need to think about it, “I think I’d be very happy to have you along with us.” Clarity then looked to Cadance who was still unconvinced. “Please Cadance,” Clarity insisted, “I’m not a child anymore, I know what I’m doing.” “Last call for the Crystal Empire!” the conductor shouted as the locomotive began churning out steam. Cadance looked desperate for a moment before finally nodding. “Just be safe,” she said clutching her sister. Twilight watched, reminded of how Celestia had protected Luna from Roma, and then she looked at Shining Armour and knew he would have done the same for her. “Cadance we gotta go,” Shining said quietly, un-eager to pull the sisters apart, but Cadance accepted it as she stepped away from Clarity. There were no more farewells; the two simply stepped onto the train in forced silence. Twilight and Clarity watched as the train began to move, and their siblings looked out the window at them. As they got smaller and smaller, Clarity was overwhelmed by her thoughts. I love you Cadance, but I owe a debt, I’ll stick with Twilight to the bitter end if I have to, I owe her that and so much more.
Cautionary TalesNorthern Lights The room was silent bar the scratching of a quill on parchment, Shining Armour was thankful for this. The thick walls of his private office blocked out all noise outside, including those made by the disgruntled crystal ponies threatening to tear down the palace just outside. He had just slipped away an hour earlier, confident his second in command, Diamond Dust would be more than capable of keeping the situation under control. The poor girl was always so eager to prove herself, much like a certain lavender unicorn Shining knew so well. He continued writing for another few minutes, conscious he wasn’t making nearly enough of an impact in the stacks of paperwork sitting on his desk as he should have. It was only when the tip of his writing implement snapped that he finally gave up, he was barely focused as it was, he would do better stopping now and making a fresh attempt in the morning. No sooner had he made the decision than his office doors were thrown open, and the very mare he had just been thinking about rushed in. “Captain,” Diamond Dust uttered breathlessly, “I could really use a hoof out here.” “Sure, I’m not getting any work done here anyway,” he replied exasperated, sliding out from behind his desk. Together he and his lieutenant walked down the hall, the sound of discontent clear now. It wasn’t long before the two stepped from the palace onto a raised platform, surrounded by dozens of very disgruntled ponies. Shining Armour had lived in the Crystal Empire for over a year now, but he wasn’t sure he would ever get used to the way the locals’ coats shined the way they did. The crowd gathered noticed his arrival and immediately began directing their indistinguishable ills at him. “One at a time please!” he shouted over the crowd, though he knew exactly what they were going to say, it had been the same every day for the last few weeks. “We told you!” one stallion at the front of the herd exclaimed, “It’s these damn dreams!” “We’ve been over this,” Shining said rubbing his temples, feeling a headache coming on, “the court mages have found nothing to suggest anything magic is causing this.” Or that they even existed, he added mentally, so far nopony residing in the palace had been afflicted by these supposed nightmares. “Well what about the princess?” a mare further back asked, “Why doesn’t she look into it?” “For the last time,” Shining began, his patience waning, “Princess Cadance is busy with an immensely important task for the royal court. So please, standing here shouting isn’t helping matters, just go home and let us work to find a solution.” The crowd grumbled among themselves, but they couldn’t argue, not without risk of the captain really losing his temper and throwing a few in jail overnight. He was normally a benevolent enforcer of the law, but nopony wanted to test that. Within moments the crowd was dispersing and the courtyard in front of the palace was left clear once more. “Thank you Shin- I mean, Captain,” Diamond Dust said with a small blush, “I tried to explain the situation to them but they wouldn’t listen to me.” “That’s okay,” he said nodding understandingly, “it’s only natural they’re so frustrated after three weeks of these… dreams.” Diamond Dust noticed the scepticism in his voice but didn’t comment; instead she excused herself allowing Shining Armour to stand in solitude for a moment at the base of the crystal spire that was the palace. With a sigh he craned his neck, looking up at the highest room, an open air space surrounded by pillars, the very location Twilight had once found the long lost crystal heart. “Whatever you’re doing up there Cadance,” he whispered, “please hurry, I need your help down here.” Little did Shining Armour know his hopes would not be dashed that evening. High up in the spire, a single pink alicorn sat alone, her hind legs folded, her eyes shut. She had tried everything she knew, and many more methods she hadn’t known after hours of researching, but for the first time since she was given her instructions a month before, she was getting somewhere. Unbeknownst to her, for her consciousness had long since slipped away from her body, malevolent forces watched her closely, curious as to what the princess could be working on so obsessively. As they watched, their quarry began to stir. The twitching of her limbs, the fluttering of her eyelids. She woke up almost suddenly, nearly startling the curious spirit. Thankfully for it however, it was beyond her abilities to perceive, but even if it wasn’t she still may not have noticed it through her excitement. For as her eyes snapped open she exclaimed one sentence before rushing from the tower. “I found it!” Northern Lights Ponyville library was a hive of activity this morning. Following the recent events that resulted in Sugarcube Corner being quarantined due to the spread of contagious and highly lethal parasite that Pinkie Pie had taken to causing Little Icky, said party pony had moved in temporarily with her best friend Twilight Sparkle. What she didn’t know was that shortly after the incident her friends had insisted on drawing straws to see who would be stuck with Pinkie, Twilight had, much to her annoyance, drawn the short straw. It wasn’t that any of them disliked the mare, on the contrary they loved her as much as any of their friends, but it was for the very reason that the library was now the location of one of Pinkie’s spontaneous parties that nopony had been too eager to take her. the Cakes themselves had family just outside town who had taken them in, and following Pinkie’s request, Twilight had ‘volunteered’ to house her for a while. Another reason Twilight hadn’t been keen on taking in Pinkie Pie, was that she wasn’t the only mare living with her at the moment. A month had passed since the royal summit in Canterlot, and each day Twilight and Clarity paced with baited breaths, impatiently waiting for the inevitable letter informing them the first gate had been discovered. it seemed strange to both mares that life in Ponyville could continue as normal when the fate of the world was hanging by a thread, but each day Applejack tended her orchard and set up her stall in the town market, Rarity fashioned garments and tended to her high class commissions, Rainbow Dash managed the weather teams and filled the rest of her time napping or showing off, Fluttershy kept to herself, caring for the many animals under her roof and beyond, and Pinkie… discovered parasites and travelled to a parallel universe where she was a white Pegasus. This had bewildered the pair of studious mares, it was only after the first week that Spike had finally had enough and insisted they get out of the library (which he achieved by locking them out after tricking them into leaving under the pretence of orders from the princess) that they began to relax, and while they continued to remain anxious about their upcoming mission, they tried to balance it out with spending time with their friends. However once Pinkie moved in and introduced anarchy to the normally quiet library, it somehow had the adverse effect of causing Twilight and Clarity to regress into panic mode. “One month,” Twilight said for perhaps the hundredth time as she paced her usual path on the ground floor, “it’s been one month and all we’ve gotten is a note saying ‘still nothing’.” “Come on Twilight,” Pinkie said hopping over, a party hat embedded in her frizzy mane, “turn that frown upside down and have some cake.” “Pinkie, how can you party at a time like this?” Twilight demanded, her sleep deprived eyes stretched wide. “Duh, how couldn’t I party at a time like this?” Pinkie asked like it was the most obvious thing in the world, “this is my ‘it's-been-one-month-since-the-end-of-the-world-began-and-Twilight’s-starting-to-have-a-break-down’ party.” Twilight opened her mouth to retort, but stopped as Clarity dragged herself down the stairs, she looked as bad as Twilight felt. “What’s all the noise down here?” she asked, clenching her eyes. “Pinkie Pie thought it would be appropriate to throw a party celebrating the fact it’s been a month since the world was royally screwed,” Twilight spat. Clarity and Pinkie Pie both stared at her wide eyed. “And I thought I was wound tight,” Clarity muttered moving into the kitchen, ignoring the sugary party treats laid out on Twilight’s writing desk. “Morning Clarity,” Spike said humming, however he stopped when he turned around and saw the state she was in, “didn’t get any sleep again? Here have some pancakes.” “Thanks Spike,” Clarity replied accepting the plate gratefully. “Do you wanna talk about it?” Spike asked, pulling up a seat opposite. “What’s there to talk about?” Clarity asked rhetorically, “I’m worried about my sister, I’m worried about the world, and I can’t find anything here to take my mind off it all.” “Don’t you like living in Ponyville though?” Spike asked over the noise of Twilight shouting in the other room. “Of course, I just haven’t been able to appreciate it much,” she replied between mouthfuls. “I’m sure the princesses are just having trouble getting started,” Spike said trying to cheer her up, “you’ll see, as soon as they find one the others will follow quickly enough, just like… just like…” “Dominos,” Clarity finished when he never did. However looking up she saw that he hadn’t stopped talking because he didn’t know the word, but because he looked like he was going to vomit. “Are you okay?” Clarity asked just before she was nearly engulfed in a belch of green fire. She had remembered to dodge just in time, she was unfamiliar with dragon magic but sure enough when she sat back up, a sealed scroll lay on the table. “Pardon me,” Spike said earning a giggle from Clarity. “Perhaps Blueblood is sending Twilight more marriage proposals,” Clarity joked as she helped herself to pulling open the scroll with her magic and holding it out before her. “So what is it about? Because if it really is him again I swear I’ll…” but he stopped when he noticed Clarity’s eyes wide with shock, “Clarity, what is it?” But she had already bolted from her seat, the letter trailing behind her. “Twilight!” she screamed, rushing in just in time to pull Twilight away from attempting to strangle Pinkie with streamers. “It’s… it’s…” Twilight took the letter from Clarity; her reaction could only mean one thing. Sure enough as her eyes darted back and forth across the page, they slowly widened. “They found one,” she whispered, dropping the letter, “they found one!” Twilight began bouncing up and down with excitement, she was quickly joined by Pinkie, whether she knew what was going on and was happy too or if she thought jumping up and down looked like fun. “But more than that,” Clarity interrupted, barely able to contain herself, “my sister found it, which means…” “Spike! Pack your bags,” Twilight ordered, “we’re going to the Crystal Empire!” ~ “What took you guys so long?” Rainbow Dash complained as the others mounted the station platform. “The train ain’t for another half hour,” Applejack reminded her, “’sides, not all of us can get from one end of Ponyville to the other in five minutes.” “Four minutes actually,” Dash boasted earning an eye roll from Applejack. “I’m not complaining,” Twilight said entering the conversation, “frankly I was worried you’d sleep in today.” “Hey, I’m not about to ‘sleep in’ when the world’s counting on us,” Dash said indignantly, “I’m the element of loyalty remember.” “And for that we’re very glad,” Twilight replied sweetly casting a look at Spike who carrying the box which housed the elements. “Oh, how I envy you,” Rarity said drawing all three of their attentions, “the thought of living in the Crystal Empire is just…” Rarity began to swoon dangerously and to no pony’s surprise her fainting coach made its appearance to break her fall. “It’s nice and all,” Clarity replied reluctantly, “but it’s actually really boring, not like here at all.” “Well maybe in my twilight years I might need to get away from all the excitement,” Rarity said, getting to her hooves once more. “That reminds me, I crafted a new dress for when we arrive which I’ll want all your opinions on.” “So Twilight,” Rainbow began, probably desperate to change the subject, “tell us, how’s living with Pinkie Pie?” Twilight glared at her, she just smiled maliciously back. “Oh it’s been great” Pinkie interrupted bouncing over and putting a hoof around Twilight, “just this morning she tried to play strangle the pony on me.” That pushed Rainbow over the edge and she collapsed in a fit of raucous laughter. “Again Pinkie, sorry I lost my head like that,” Twilight said looking at her hooves in shame. “It’s okay,” Pinkie insisted pulling Twilight into another rib crushing hug, “that’s what friends do.” “Uh…” Twilight began, but stopped as heard the unmistakable sound of an approaching train, “oh it’s here, I guess we could board early and get good seats.” ~ Celestia sighed as she closed her study doors behind her. Cadance’s letter had been the first good news she had received in too long. Although she had said it was important the princesses don’t ignore their other duties, she was finding it increasingly hard to find the time for both that and locating the gates, and she knew the others would be having the same problem. It didn’t help that with Luna over the channel in Panchea, she had to keep a near constant communication open with her so they could coordinate the shift from day to night and vice versa. It was times like this Celestia cursed living on a round planet; true it made it capable of so many things including the seasons, but moving celestial bodies would be far less hassle if it was simply a case of raising and lowering the sun. No, rather she pushed the sun along, which meant it had to be timed perfectly with Luna’s moving of the moon as eclipses caused so many problems, the least of which preventing them from using magic and thus forcing them to wait for it to end naturally. No, she’d rather not have a repeat of that incident; Roma would never let her forget about it. Celestia stopped thinking when she remembered, no Roma wouldn’t say anything about it, because she’s gone, she betrayed them. Celestia shook her head in an attempt to clear her head of thought. She needed to get down to business, Cadance explained the method that yielded the gate’s location to her, but she had already tried that and it resulted in failure. Could it be there were different methods for each gate, there was no logical reasoning to assume so, but Celestia dreaded the thought none the less. ~ It was late evening as the Friendship Express arrived at the Crystal Empire station. Twilight and Clarity had been staring out the window eagerly the entire ride while most of the others got a little sleep. Only Pinkie and Fluttershy stayed awake, much to the others displeasure as Fluttershy wanted peace and quiet and Pinkie wanted to play board games. “It’ll be good to see Cadance again,” Twilight said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “Yeah, I’ve lived with her my whole life, I hardly ever spend this long away from her,” she explained, her eyes had a glazed look as she thought back. “Guys, wake up, we’re here,” Twilight announced, causing the others to stir and both Fluttershy and Pinkie to breathe sighs of relief at not having to bear each other’s conflicting personalities for any longer. “Spike,” Clarity said, nudging the baby dragon next to her, “time to get off.” “Sure thing,” he said after a wide yawn. Grabbing their luggage, Spike trailing the elements on a small trolley, the departed the train “Am I glad to see you girls,” a voice announced as they stood trying to get their bearings. Twilight looked up and her face broke into a wide smile as she rushed over to embrace her big brother. “Hey BBBFF, how have you been?” she asked still pressed tightly against Shining Armour’s chest. “I… I’ve been better if I’m honest,” he said reluctantly. This took Twilight by surprise and she only now noticed Shining Armour was looking awfully tired. “Has something happened?” she asked concerned. “It’s nothing for you to worry about,” he said dismissively, “come on, I know Cadance has been very eager for your arrival.” They group started to walk towards the exit when a voice at the back of the group made them stop. “Where the heck’s Rarity?” Applejack asked looking around; the others joined her in scanning the station, but to no avail. “I think she’s still putting on her dress,” Fluttershy proposed, “don’t worry; I’ll check on her, you can all head on.” Shining Armour didn’t argue, in fact he seemed grateful that they weren’t going to be delayed any longer. Swiftly he began leading them from the station in a beeline for the palace which shone out like a beacon in the low light of the evening sun. as they walked Twilight became acutely aware of something wrong. A number of crystal ponies ambled along the streets as they walked, but in stark contrast to the last time they were here, there were no smiles and friendly greetings as they passed by. The others seemed to pick up on this; Clarity especially was thrown off by it. “Um, Shining Armour,” she began, speeding up to walk next to him, “is something wrong with everypony.” “Yes they’ve been having…” he began before catching himself, “I mean, doesn’t matter, we can take care of it, even more so when this damn gate business is taken care of.” The last sentence was more of an inward grumble. Clarity cast a look back at Twilight, who looked equally perturbed by her brother’s response. Before she could speak up however she felt Spike nudge her in the side. “Come on Twilight, you can’t be expected to solve every little problem that comes around,” he reasoned in a whisper. Twilight relented and dropped the subject, instead focussing her gaze on the crystal spire which was drawing closer. As they neared the main entrance to the palace, a small platoon of guards marched past, as they did the mare leading them stopped, ordering her comrades to carry on. “Hey Captain,” she said greeting them, “and Clarity, haven’t seen you in a while.” “Hi Diamond Dust,” Clarity said cheerfully. “So these are the ones you were talking about?” Diamond Dust asked Shining Armour, he simply nodded in response, “thank goodness, the sooner the princess is free of this… issue; she can help us sort this mess out.” Without another word she rushed off to join her squad, Twilight was now struggling to keep herself quiet. Again they set off, this time ascending the palace which was now becoming vaguely familiar to Twilight and her friends, Shining Armour and Clarity knew it like the back of their hooves. Twilight remembered the throne room being absolutely deserted the first time they visited here, now however it was packed with officials and dignitaries running back and forth giving the distinct impression they hadn’t a clue what they were doing. “I guess it’s too much to be able to expect a dozen alicorns to run the world without need of assistance,” a familiar voice said, approaching them from the side. They all turned and were delighted to see the pink princess they had come to know so well. “Cadance!” Clarity and Twilight exclaimed rushing over, however they stopped themselves when they saw she was clearly too tired for any signs of affection. “Forgive me girls,” she said with a weak smile, “I am delighted to see you again, but these past weeks have been trialling.” “But it paid off,” Twilight said, drawing light to the silver lining, “you found the gate.” “Indeed, though it was by no means an easy task,” she replied disheartened, “our enemy spent centuries locating them all, for us to have even found one in such a short space of time is nothing short of a miracle.” “So where is it then?” Twilight asked, barely able to contain her excitement. “It’s underground actually,” Cadance replied leading them out of the packed room to a more peaceful study area, “in some of the ancient caverns used by Sombra during his reign.” “So what are we waiting for?” Dash exclaimed flying into the air, “let’s get down there and blast it to smithereens.” “Not so fast hot shot,” Shining Armour cut through, “those caverns are pretty vast, we’re all going to need to be well rested before attempting to venture into them.” “That suits me,” Applejack said, “ah’m plum tuckered as it is.” “Alright in that case I’ll show you to your rooms,” Shining said making for the door, “of course, your own room is available Clarity.” “Thanks I’ll head up in a minute,” Clarity replied, still standing next to her sister. Realising she wanted a private word the rest exited the study and re-entered the throne room which was peculiarly entirely silent. “Well that was sudden,” Applejack announced. “They look like they’ve seen a ghost,” Pinkie said before gasping with excitement, “Maybe they did, this calls for Pinkie Pie, Ghost Bus…” But she was cut off by an approaching voice. “Really Pinkie, they’re just rendered speechless by my stunning dress,” Rarity said reaching the group, Fluttershy in tow. “Wow Rarity,” Twilight said, her eyes wide with amazement, “you look just…” “Isn’t that your pageant costume?” Dash interrupted, this made Rarity snort in indignation. “No it is not, the clear difference being my costume comprised only a cape and crown,” she began to explain, “this is the full regalia, but yes it is based on historical representations of Princess Platinum so I can understand your confusion.” “Well I think it’s very nice,” Twilight said, “we were just heading to our rooms for some rest.” “Oh good, that train ride was most uncomfortable,” Rarity stated mingling into the group, “lead on good sir.” Shining Armour rolled his eyes at how he was addressed but continued none the less. As they left the room Twilight was faintly aware of the crowd whispering excitedly behind them. ~ “So how is life in Ponyville treating you?” Cadance asked after a long hug. “Good, really good,” she replied eagerly, “interesting, but enjoyable.” “I’m glad, I know you’ve been feeling cooped up here, and don’t try to deny it,” she said as Clarity opened her mouth to argue, “you’re still young, you should be out having fun and making friends.” There was a moment of silence broken only by Cadance’s laughter. “What’s so funny?” Clarity asked quirking an eyebrow. “Nothing, well, it’s just,” she stammered between giggles, “I sound like Celestia.” “Oh god, you’re getting really old then,” Clarity said joining in the laughter, “not that age matters for a pony who’s immortal.” “Well, immortality's a choice,” Cadance murmured, “but anyway, are you getting along with…” “Hang on a moment,” Clarity cut through before she could change the subject, “what’s that supposed to mean? Immortality is a choice.” Cadance shifted uncomfortably, she hadn’t meant to bring it up, even less for Clarity to actually hear her comment. “Well…” she hesitated wondering how best to approach this subject, “it’s just that alicorns can only live as long as they choose to.” “Yeah, so?” Clarity asked, “It’s not like you’d ever want to die.” Clarity laughed a little at the notion, but stopped when she realised Cadance wasn’t amused by her joke. “Hang on, you can’t possibly…” she trailed off, Cadance looked back sadly. “Don’t worry Clarity, I won’t leave for a long time,” she began, “it’s just, what with marrying a mortal unicorn…” “You mean if Shining Armour dies, you’d kick the bucket too?” Clarity asked indignantly, “does he know?” “Yes, it took some time for him to accept, but he came around eventually,” she explained, “I’m sure you will as well.” “You can’t be serious?” Clarity exclaimed. “Clarity, keep your voice down,” Cadance begged, “I knew this wouldn’t go down well with you, but you have to understand death is natural, even for us.” “No, don’t say that!” Clarity screamed, “If you can fight it, why not live on, why leave me alone?” “Clarity no, listen…” but Clarity had already run out of the study, the tears streaming down her face hadn’t been missed by her older sister. Cadance sighed as she walked over to her desk. She knew this would be a touchy subject with Clarity, she just hoped she could come to understand in time, she would just have to bear with some emotional turbulence until then. ~ “Princess, may I say what an honour it is to be at your service today,” Hoity Toity said all while making the usual fool of himself that only the Canterlot gentry could pull off so spectacularly. “Thank you kind sir,” Cadance replied sincerely, it always amazed Clarity how her sister could find in her heart to be so nice to everyone she met. “My sister is in need of a dress, I’ll explain the details.” As she said this she led Hoity Toity across the shop, Clarity didn’t take notice of this, she was too exasperated at being dragged to the dress shop by her older sibling. “Cadance, I have plenty of dresses,” Clarity whined as her sister approached. “I know but I thought you might like another one,” Cadance replied simply, Clarity knew there was something wrong with that reply, she would not like another dress and Cadance knew it. However before she could question her sister she was swept away by two shop assistants who pulled her over to the measuring area. After Celestia knows how long she was finally presented to her sister and Hoity Toity in an inarguably over the top dress. “I think she looks magnificent,” Hoity Toity commented, Cadance smiled in response, but Clarity knew her sister well enough to know it was a forced smile. “Yes it looks lovely,” she said through gritted teeth. “Shall I place the order?” “No!” Cadance replied, a little too quickly, “I mean, not yet. I’ll have everything paid for at a later date if you don’t mind.” “Of course your highness,” he replied oblivious to her disdain for the dress. The sisters left the store and made their way down the main street of Canterlot. “That was disappointing,” Cadance said with dismay, “maybe Celestia will know somepony better.” “I don’t understand Cadance,” Clarity said again, “why would I ever need a new dress?” “Well,” Cadance began with a devious smile, “I just thought you’d want to look your best should you ever attend a wedding.” “Yeah, maybe, but it’s not like we’re going to any wed…” Clarity stopped dead in her tracks as what her sister had said sunk in. “No, you don’t mean?” Clarity asked looking up at her sister, who looked back with a wide smile. Clarity screamed with delight and rushed to pull her sister into a neck breaking hug, ignoring the shocked looks from passing Canterlot snobs. “Yes, it’s true,” Cadance said still beaming at her sister’s excitement. “I knew he was going to propose, I told he would,” Clarity screamed still ecstatic with joy. “Yes well, I guess I owe you twenty bits,” Cadance replied reluctantly, “still, I think that bet was a win-win for me whatever happened.” Together they walked back up to the castle, still talking excitedly about the upcoming event. “And of course, the best news,” Cadance said suddenly remembering something. “What, you mean even better than starting a family with Shining Armour?” Clarity asked queerly. “Well maybe second best news then,” Cadance relented, “I will of course need a maid of honour.” “You mean… me?” Clarity breathed, the thought made her light headed. As Cadance nodded, Clarity’s scream of joy could have broken the ear drums of every guard in Canterlot. ~ “Yes Rarity, the dress is gorgeous, but could you please turn out the lights and go to bed?” Twilight asked, her bed covers drawn up over her head to block out the intense light Rarity was using to admire herself in. “Oh very well,” Rarity gave in with a sigh walking towards the door. “Are you going somewhere?” Twilight murmured as she heard the door open. “Well I can’t very well let this image go to waste,” Rarity justified, “I think I’ll go see if I can give the night guard a heart attack.” Rarity giggled at her own joke as she flicked the lights and left the room she was sharing with Twilight. No sooner had she closed the door than she nearly barrelled over by a blue blur. “Please watch where you’re running,” Rarity asked, furious at the pony’s audacity. But as she looked to see who it was she realised it was Clarity, and most disturbingly she was crying. “Oh my dear, I didn’t realise it was you, please forgive me.” “It’s alright Rarity,” Clarity said looking down and giving a little sniff, “it was my fault really.” “But darling, whatever is wrong?” Rarity asked stepping in closer to her friend. “It’s just…” Clarity began, stopping dead as she saw Rarity’s dress, her eyes wide. “Ah, I see you like,” Rarity said proudly, forgetting she was supposed to be cheering Clarity up. “Yeah, it’s really… yeah,” Clarity replied, unsure how she should react. “What is it dear? Too much?” Rarity asked, suddenly concerned her dress wasn’t the masterful work of art she had intended it to be. “No it’s not that, it’s just…” she drifted off again, thinking desperately of the right words, “have you heard of Princess Platinum?” “Why of course,” Rarity exclaimed, “daughter of the unicorn king, one of the founders of Equestria, she’s actually who I designed this dress after.” “I think you’d better come with me,” Clarity said starting down the hallway, Rarity frowned but followed none the less. It didn’t take long for them to reach their destination; Clarity led Rarity into a deserted library. The outside was being guarded by a crystal stallion, but he stepped aside when Clarity identified herself. Rarity knew Twilight would give anything to gain access to this room, now that she was a princess it probably wouldn’t be too hard. The shelves lining the room were filled to the brim with stacks of ancient looking tomes, but Rarity could tell they weren’t there to read. There was a single stretch of wall which was free of books and shelves; instead it bore a single floor to ceiling oil painting. Rarity gasped as she took in the very familiar, regal dress adorning the grey mare who was the occupant of the picture. “This painting is incredible,” Rarity exclaimed, “but why is there a picture of Princess Platinum in the Crystal Empire?” “Don’t you know?” Clarity asked, slightly bewildered, “Princess Platinum was the last crystal princess before its fall.” “No way,” Rarity said most uncharacteristically. “Yes way,” Clarity replied, “and incidentally, that unicorn king who was her father, he had a name.” “Oh, what was his name?” Rarity asked, though a part of her knew what Clarity was going to say. “Sombra.” ~ “I knew she’d react this way,” Cadance moaned, “I should have waited.” “No, the longer you left it the worse it was going to be,” Shining Armour reasoned. The two lay intertwined in their bed for the first time since Cadance began her task of locating the gate. “I know, but still,” Cadance said, “I wish there was a way to make her understand.” “She’ll understand, she just needs time.” “Since when were you such an expert in this field,” Cadance said laughing. “I have a little sister too,” he retorted. ~ Twilight began to stir from her sleep, which was curious considering it felt like no more than a few minutes since Rarity had left, but, that was just sleep she reasoned. It was only when she felt the tickling of wind against her fur that she began to realise something was wrong. Her eyes snapping open, she saw she was no longer in her bed; she wasn’t even in the palace. But she could see the crystal spire and the surrounding city… from where it stood a long way below her. Twilight screamed as she realised she was hanging in mid-air, but scrambling to her hooves she found herself standing on some invisible platform giving her a bird’s eye view of the whole empire. “Wow,” she whispered to herself, as confusing as the situation was it was undoubtedly impressive. Her thoughts however were interrupted by the sound of whimpering. She looked around to find that she wasn’t along where she stood, but instead there were dozens of the crystal ponies standing along with her, each one curled up in terror of something Twilight couldn’t see. “Excuse me,” Twilight began tentatively, getting one of the trembling pony’s attention, “do you know what’s going on?” “I-its h-him,” the mare stammered in response, pointing a hoof upwards, “h-he’s back!” Twilight tilted her head up slowly, her eyes following the direction the mare was pointing in, and every other pony was pointedly averting their eyes from. Twilight felt her heart stop as her gazed upon the thing that everypony was so scared of. A single, colossal eye, wrapped in darkness stared down over the empire, squarely over the palace. Twilight had the sinking feeling she knew who that eye belonged to, but her train of thoughts didn’t make it far as soon after a shudder ran through the entire city. All the ponies gathered moaned, as if they knew what was coming, but Twilight just stared transfixed by what was happening. Before her very eyes the city appeared to be ripping itself apart, no something was pushing up from underneath. As she watched she began to make out shapes through the rising smoke and showers of shattered crystal. It appeared to be some gigantic fortress carved from black stone, no, black crystals. The fortress was rising up from the depths of the earth, devouring the city. Two of the legs that held the palace in place were smashed from under it, causing it to tip at a dangerous angle. The stadium that had been built for the Equestrian games was annihilated by the rising castle. “What is that thing?” Twilight screamed over the devastation taking place bellow them. “I-it’s the Under Bastion,” another mare replied. This meant nothing to Twilight but the mere mention of it seemed to earn another wave of cries from the gathered ponies. Twilight desperately wanted to tear her gaze from the destruction bellow her, but her eyes seemed locked on. As she watched the tip of the ‘Under Bastion’ rose higher until it stood towering over the crystal palace itself, and as she stared something appeared atop it, an ethereal blue tear in the fabric of space, the Aether Gate. “No!” Twilight screamed as she sat bolt upright in her bed, she stared around her taking in the room, her breathing heavy and laboured, “it was just a dream… just a horrible dream.” She lay back down panting, trying desperately to rid her mind of the images it had just witnessed, but to no avail. She knew there was no hope of getting any more sleep tonight, and besides, she had a funny feeling Cadance needed to know about this. ~ Rarity and Clarity sat in silence, while Rarity took this new information in. “Oh dear,” she said at last, “you don’t think I offended any pony do you? it would explain the weird looks I was getting on my way here.” “No, I don’t think so,” Clarity replied unsure, how would she know? She wasn’t a native of the Crystal Empire. “It is a very nice dress; maybe… this wasn’t the right place for it.” “You’re right, it was stupid of me not to do thorough research,” she said chastising herself, “but listen to me, going on about myself. I was supposed to be asking you what was wrong.” “Oh,” Clarity said, remembering the events leading up to her running into Rarity, “it’s not important.” “Nonsense,” Rarity insisted, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in worse state, now tell me, what happened.” “OhRarityIdon’tknowwhattodoCadancethinksit’sbesttodiewhenShiningdiesbutshe’smyonlyfamilyandIcan’tloseher!” Clarity said without pausing for breath, leaving Rarity still somewhat confused. “Alright,” she said slowly, “maybe try saying that again, but this time leave spaces between your words.” Clarity took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself. “Cadance thinks it’s best, that if Shining Armour passes away, that she should…” she hesitated, “that she should go too.” “Oh,” Rarity replied simply, “well yes, I can see why that would upset you.” “Do you think I’m being unreasonable?” “Of course not,” Rarity insisted, “why I would think you cold not to be showing this level of emotion at the thought of losing your sister.” “But do you think it’s right, what she’s planning?” Clarity asked slowly. “That’s not for me to judge,” Rarity argued, “but you have to remember that Cadance and Shining Armour are in love, love… makes ponies do crazy things.” “I can’t lose her, she’s my only…” Clarity whispered, drifting off before she could finish. Rarity bit her lip, she guessed what Clarity had been about to say, and she had occasionally wondered about the rest of her family, but she knew it would be rude inappropriate to ask outright. “Would it maybe help if we went and talked to her about it?” Rarity suggested, Clarity shook her head in response. “No, after I stormed off like that I don’t think I should go back just yet.” Rarity opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by the sound of shouting outside. “For the last time miss, I don’t care who you are, you’re not allowed in here!” the guard bellowed. “And I told you buddy, I’ve got an important massage from the princess!” “Rainbow Dash?” Rarity whispered, walking towards the door before things could escalate. When she opened it she found she had chosen to act just in time, Rainbow Dash hovered in front of the crystal guard, their foreheads pressed into one another threateningly. “Rainbow Dash, what in Equestria do you think you’re doing?” Rarity demanded. “There you are,” Dash exclaimed, forgetting the guard, “come on, both of you.” Without another word she flew away, Rarity exchanged a glance with Clarity who just shrugged in response before setting off together after the Pegasus. ~ Canterlot was in a state of emergency when Clarity entered the castle that morning. guards were running in every direction, seemingly more wound up than usual. Clarity quickly found who she was looking for amidst the battalions of armoured stallions. “Shining,” she called out, grabbing the captain’s attention, “what’s going on?” “Oh Clarity,” he said in a hurried tone, “sorry I can’t stay to talk, a threat was just made against Canterlot and we’ve been put onto high alert.” “A threat! From who?” Clarity asked panicked. “We don’t know, but we’re not taking any chances.” he began to march away but Clarity ran after him. “Wait, what about the wedding?” she asked worried. “That should be going ahead assuming everything goes as planned,” he assured her, “but right now I need to work. Maybe you should go see Cadance; she already knows of the situation, she can fill you in more.” As Shining Armour left, Clarity found herself wondering. “A threat… this close to the wedding,” she whispered to herself. She was sure it wasn’t a coincidence, and she had a funny feeling it was somehow linked to the pain she had been feeling in her chest all morning. Shining Armour had told her to go find her sister, and that’s exactly what she was going to do, for reasons she wasn’t entirely sure of. ~ The guards stepped aside without a second thought when Twilight came into view; her wings were more than enough of a hall pass for them. She passed through the door into a foyer she had never been to before, but then she had never had reason to visit her brother’s bedroom before. The chamber guard raised a hoof as she approached, signally her to remain quiet, they must already be asleep, maybe she should come back in the morning. “Can I help you princess?” he whispered. Well, she was here already. “Yes, I need to have a word with the princess,” she explained simply. “Is it urgent,” he asked with the usual blank expression she associated with guards. “I believe so,” Twilight replied, not technically lying, after all how was she supposed to gauge how important a dream was. The guard nodded and turned to the door, giving it a loud, clear knock. After a brief moment it was opened and Shining Armour stood on the other side, peering sleepily back at them. “Twilly?” he said, unsure if he was seeing things or not. “Sorry to wake you,” she began, she was beginning to think this really wasn’t worth bringing to his attention now of all times, “but I needed to discuss something with you and Cadance.” Shining didn’t question her any further, instead just nodded to the guard and let her pass through. “Hello Twilight,” Cadance said groggily, “has something happened?” “Y-yes,” Twilight said hesitating, “I’ve just had a dream.” She was expecting a negative reaction at this, perhaps her brother would facehoof and tell her to grow up, she wasn’t expecting him and Cadance to exchange worried looks. “That’s not good,” Shining said, “any dream you thought was important enough to bring to our attention can only be…” “I thought you said nopony inside the palace has been having it,” Cadance questioned. “No, they haven’t, it’s only been the towns ponies,” Shining explained to her, Twilight was now positively confused. “Just to be sure, what was your dream of Twilight?” Cadance asked. Twilight explained to the best of her abilities, which was easy considering how vivid the dream had been, all the while she noticed nothing she was saying came as a surprise to either of the older ponies, at least, nothing until she mentioned the gate. “Hang on, what?” Shining interrupted, shocked at this new revelation, “that’s new; nopony’s ever reported that before.” “What’s that supposed to mean? Who else is having these dreams?” Twilight demanded. “Shortly after we got back from Canterlot,” Shining began, now fully awake, “every pony in town began having the same dream every night, the same dream you’ve just had.” “Naturally, they’ve been very panicked about it,” Cadance continued, “but with my efforts at locating the gate, I have been unable to look into it.” “But none of them have mentioned the gate before,” Shining said, still confused. “And what is this Under Bastion thing?” Twilight asked. “I’m not sure,” Shining admitted, “after the crystal ponies started talking about the dreams I tried researching it, but found nothing relating to it.” “Maybe one of the crystal ponies who was present before the disappearance of the empire will know something about it,” Cadance proposed, “Do you know any pony who might fit that criteria.” “Yeah, just a minute,” Shining said leaving the room and the two mares alone. After giving a quick order to the chamber guard he returned. “I’ve sent for Lieutenant Diamond Dust, hopefully she’ll know something about it. Also I sent for the other bearers, I’ve got a feeling our expedition won’t wait until morning.” ~ Diamond Dust walked at as swift a pace as she could manage without seeming too undignified, she knew something must ahoof if she was being called to the princess’s private quarters in the dead of night. “Hi there!” a voice exclaimed in her ear, nearly causing her to jump clean out of her armour. “What the…” she began spinning around wildly to come face to face with a pink earth pony standing uncomfortably close, “um, can I help you?” “Well actually, you can,” she said in an unbelievably cheery voice, “we’re looking for Cadance’s bedroom.” “You’re… what?” Diamond Dust exclaimed after the pink pony’s words sunk in. “Sorry ‘bout her hun, she’s a few screws short,” an orange mare wearing a Stetson said, approaching from the same direction the pink one had come in, “we were summoned by Shining Armour to their room for some kinda emergency meetin’.” “Oh of course,” Diamond said realising where she had seen these ponies before; they were part of the group Shining Armour had brought in earlier to help with the ‘crisis’. “I’m actually on my way there myself, if you would like to follow me.” “That’s mighty kind of yah,” the orange mare said tipping her hat, “name’s Applejack. The loud one’s Pinkie Pie and that’s Fluttershy hiding behind my tail.” It was only when Applejack said that, that Diamond notice the quivering Pegasus curled up behind her. “Is she alright?” she asked concerned. “Just gets nervous around strangers is all Miss…” “Oh, Diamond Dust,” she said starting to walk, the others following, “I’m Shining Armour’s Lieutenant.” “Ohhh, you work with Twilight’s brother, what’s he like? Is he mean? Is he friendly?” Pinkie began asking, all the while bouncing next to the group. “Pinkie, you’ve met him,” Applejack stated simply. “I mean as a boss, what’s he like?” she elaborated. “He’s actually really good,” Diamond said as they walked, “the Crystal Empire has never been famous for its discipline, but then it’s never had any desire to extent its borders, but even the guard were poorly trained. Shining Armour turned all that around when he became captain.” “That sounds like Twilight’s brother alright,” Applejack replied smirking. “But if the Crystal Empire doesn’t have an army, then how did King Sombra take control?” a quiet voice whispered from behind Diamond, she looked around to see it was Fluttershy who spoke. When she did, Fluttershy seemed to panic and let out a small squeak, “that is, if you don’t mind me asking.” “No its okay, we’re coming to terms with it,” Diamond said looking away so as not to make Fluttershy feel uncomfortable. “Actually he enforced his rule with soldiers he forged from the dark crystals he controlled.” “Crystals huh?” Applejack said thoughtfully. “Well yeah, it is the Crystal Empire,” Diamond pointed out with a small laugh. “It’s not that,” Applejack said thoughtfully, “it’s just… never mind.” Diamond Dust had been interested in what could have made Applejack so curious, but in her position she had learned when to keep her mouth shut, and besides, they were almost there.” ~ It didn’t take long for all the ponies to be gathered. Rainbow Dash was the first to arrive with Rarity and Clarity, the latter pointedly not making eye contact with her sister. Cadance was only now for the first time seeing Rarity’s dress, which she hadn’t had a chance to change out of. Rarity mumbled something of an explanation which Cadance took to mean she didn’t want to discuss it. Twilight had stepped out to fetch Spike and returned swiftly with him half asleep on her back, the elements al held in her telekinetic aura. Shortly after Diamond Dust arrived escorting the last three. “Thank you all for coming,” Cadance began when all were gathered, “I apologise for puling most of you from your beds, but this couldn’t wait.” “To cut a long story short, Twilight has had a dream, and yes Diamond,” Shining Armour said noticing his Lieutenants look of surprise, “that dream exactly.” “One thing we don’t know,” Twilight said, entering the conversation, “is this thing called the Under Bastion.” Diamond Dust visibly shivered at the mention of it, causing the rest in the room to exchange worried looks. “You know what it is?” Cadance asked, Diamond Dust gulped and nodded. “When Princess Platinum was the Crystal Princess…” she began. “She what?” Twilight exclaimed only to be shushed by Rarity. “She made her father her advisor, and rewarded him with dominion over the caverns beneath the Empire,” she explained, “deep within the earth he carved his own castle, which he dubbed the Under Bastion. When he took over, he ruled within the Crystal Palace but kept the Bastion for… other things.” Diamond shuddered at the memory but Cadance continued to press her. “I know it’s difficult, but please,” she insisted, “what did he use it for?” “Torture, re-education, experiments,” she listed, “he ruled us above ground, but it was below ground where the really dark stuff happened. If anypony tried to resist they would be taken down, sometimes they would come back and it would be like they were an entirely different individual, but mostly they were never heard from again.” “But that doesn’t make any sense,” Twilight whispered, “it still doesn’t explain how Sombra could do anything now; he’s still gone… isn’t he?” Nopony answered; instead the room sat in silence for a moment. It was only broken when Shining armour spoke up again. “It doesn’t matter right now,” he stated, “what does matter is that if the gate is in any way involved in all this we need to close it now!” “Alright, time for action,” Dash said pumping the air. “Is there an entrance into the caverns?” Twilight asked. “We kept one open following the Empire’s return in case of emergencies,” Cadance responded, “We’ll head there now.” “Sir, what are your orders?” Diamond Dust asked standing at attention. “I’m not saying I believe it will actually happen, but just to be on the safe side, I want you to mobilize the guard,” he ordered, “be ready at a seconds notice to evacuate the city.” “To the palace?” “No, get outside the city limits,” Shining specified, “if Twilight’s dream is accurate, that will be the safest place.” Diamond Dust saluted and strode from the room, once she was clear of the door she could be heard breaking into a gallop. Twilight turned to her friends, raising the necklaces out to them. “Alright girls, suit up,” she ordered passing each element out one by one, “as soon as we reach that gate we fire these up, no hesitation, got it?” They all nodded in agreement, latching the elements around their necks. “All right,” Cadance announced, “Twilight and I will teleport us as far as the ground floor.” “Quick question,” Rarity said quietly, sounding more like Fluttershy, “would I have time to change out of my dress?” Immediately all her friends gave her a look which clearly said ‘are you kidding me’. “Fine, message received.” Rarity muttered darkly, there would be hell to pay if this garment got ruined. ~ “Cadance!” Clarity called out. Her sister stopped dead in her tracks along with the four royal guards on either side of her. They all turned around at the sound of her approaching hoof steps. “Oh, Clarity,” Cadance said, odd was the first word that came to Clarity’s mind when her sister spoke, “sorry, I can’t talk right now.” With that she turned away and along with her entourage of guards began walking away. Clarity stared dumbfounded; Cadance had never just shrugged her off before. “Hang on,” she called out, running up to her sister once more, “we need to talk.” Cadance seemed to sigh in frustration at this, Clarity was sure she had misheard her. “Very well,” she said with a smile that looked all too forced, “why don’t we go in here for some privacy?” “That’s a spare guest room,” Clarity said as her sister made for the nearest door, but shrugged and followed her in none the less. The guards remained outside as the door closed and Clarity was left alone with her older sister. “What is it you needed to talk about?” Cadance asked in a falsely warm tone. “We could start with what’s wrong with you,” Clarity said frowning. “Why whatever are you talking about dear sister? I am perfectly fine,” she lied, Clarity knew it was a lie, the way she said it was practically ringing alarm bells in Clarity’s mind. Everything about Cadance seemed wrong, lies, false warmth, forced smiles. These were not things her sister did, and that made one thought clear in Clarity’s mind. “Who are you?” Cadance’s eyes opened wide in shock for a split second. “I’m your sister,” she lied. Clarity could see through her now like she was made of glass, everything about her was wrong, a crude mockery of the one constant in her life. “Where is my sister?” Clarity asked coldly. The Cadance look alike stared at her in contemplation for a moment for sneering. “I’m no fool,” she said it a voice that couldn’t be further from the sweet music that was the real Cadance’s, “I can tell when I have no hope of tricking somepony, and this is one of those occasions.” “Where is my sister?” Clarity demanded again, though the tremble in her voice gave away her fear. The imposter laughed, it was a cold, bitter laugh that chilled Clarity. “Oh poor little Clarity, you have no one else do you?” she asked in mock sorrow, stepping slowly forward, “no mother. No father. The only family you’ve ever known is your sister, and now you’ve lost her too.” “No!” Clarity screamed with a mixture of horror and fury, “what did you do to her?” “Oh calm your little head, she’s not dead if that’s what you’re afraid of,” the imposter replied coldly, “not yet anyway, I’ll find it more amusing to allow her to watch how I destroy her life before ending it.” Clarity’s legs were frozen, rendering her unable to run from the creature that was now mere inches away from her. “In fact,” it said suddenly, grinning wickedly, “I think I shall allow you the same privilege.” With that she stood up, her horn glowing with a poisonous green light. With a blast of light, the room was enveloped in a green radiance. Clarity blinked in confusion when nothing apparent happened, the impersonator strode from the room, the door opening before her. “No one goes in, she doesn’t come out,” she stated to the guards outside who nodded obediently. Finally she turned to face Clarity one last time, “bid your life farewell, because from that window you’re going to watch it all crumble into nothing.” Then the door slammed, leaving Clarity alone, paralysed in fear. “No,” she whispered, before screaming, “No!” She charged forward and bucked the door with her forehooves, and immediately was thrown across the room by a bolt of green lightning, knocking her head off the bed frame, and slipping into unconsciousness. ~ The entrance to the caverns was located under the south leg of the palace, it was quite simply a spiral staircase carved from stone, running deep into the earth. When the party arrived after being teleported down by the princesses they found it heavily guarded by a squadron of eight soldiers. “Like I said, it’s the only entrance remaining,” Cadance repeated, “Hence we keep it under heavy guard.” When nopony commented, except Pinkie but Cadance had learned to just block her out when she started talking, they began to descend the steps, unaware of an ominous presence lurking in the shadows, following them very closely. ~ Diamond Dust donned her helmet as she left the barracks; her officers were spiraling out in every direction, rounding up each and every guard, on duty or off duty. While she didn’t know all the details, she could the read the situation well enough to know the stakes had to be pretty high to get the princess this worried, and that called for her highest level of cooperation, not that she would have given anything less. She was so lost in her thoughts that when she saw the figure she was about to pass it off as her imagination, but a double take made it impossible for her to walk away. standing on the street corner was the most peculiar creature she had ever seen, it appeared to stand on a goat leg and a lizard foot, along with this is it appeared to have a slender serpentine figure with a tail to match, however she couldn’t see much of the figure due to it wearing a grey trench coat and a fedora. “Um, excuse me, can help you?” she asked, slowly approaching the creature. It turned towards her and that’s when she saw it had the head of a pony, although a very peculiar one at that. It appeared to be smoking a cigarette which it took a drag of before dropping and grinding into the pavement. “Disgusting,” he muttered, a clear look of regret in his face as he reached inside his coat and whipped out a small square of leather which he flipped open in Diamond’s face. “My credentials.” Diamond’s eyebrows rose as she saw the poorly crafted badge with crude lettering spelling ‘Royal Detective’. “Uh, detective?” she read doubtfully. “Yes, detective Discord, at your service,” he said, the badge disappearing in a puff of smoke, he then pointed at the wall he was looking at, “do you mind?” “Um, no…” she replied hesitantly. “Excellent,” he said, a hammer and chisel appearing in his mismatched hands. “Wait, what?” Diamond exclaimed as she saw this, but Discord had already proceeded to hammer a chunk of crystal out of the wall. Diamond Dust stared in utter confusion at him. “Sorry, royal business,” he said tipping his hat, before stretching the originally small headgear over his entire body. Diamond watched as he seemed to disappear within it, until only the hat was left lying on the street. To top off what she just witnessed, the hat, the only evidence of the entire encounter besides a cigarette butt, dissolved into ash and blew away. “I really need to take some time off work,” Diamond muttered, walking away from the street corner. ~ Twilight was reminded heavily of the crystal caverns beneath Canterlot as they journeyed through the cave system, the scholarly part of her being wanted desperately to stop and investigate the likeness further, but the rest of her was urging her on, reminding her she had a duty to attend to. Cadance was leading the group, her horn glowing; Twilight guessed she was using a simplified version of the spell she first used to locate the gate, now to show them the way. “So we just hit this thing a blast with the elements and that’s it?” Applejack asked, sounding sceptical. “Celestia thinks so,” Twilight replied, “If it doesn’t work, we’ll find some other way.” “It’s just ahead!” Cadance shouted back grabbing everypony’s attention. As they passed through the supposed final archway, they found themselves standing on the edge of a wide rock outcrop, amidst a pitch black cavern of unknown size. “Now what?” Fluttershy asked from the back of the group. “Shouldn’t be a problem,” Twilight said, lighting her horn up. Cadance, Clarity and Shining Armour followed suit, guessing the spell Twilight was about to cast. Once they were sufficiently charged, all four fired off their varying colours of magic into different directions of the cavern. They each flew as far as they could, and when they hit something solid exploded into a permanent light, before bouncing off and repeating the process elsewhere. With all four of their spells the cavern was very quickly lit up, which was impressive considering it was colossal. “Wow, this is huge!” Pinkie yelled, before bursting into giggles at the sound of her voice echoing through the giant cavern. “Not just that,” Spike said pointing ahead. From where they stood they had a vantage point of view of a sight Twilight recognised well, although she had only seen it the once. The Under Bastion was just as terrifying as her nightmare had painted it to be, even more so that she knew it to be real this time. “We have to go in there?” Fluttershy asked, sounding terrified at the prospect. “No, the gate should be at the centre of this cavern, or the very tip of the Bastion,” Cadance responded. “Shouldn’t there be a blue light?” Dash asked flapping absently along the edge of the stone shelf they stood on. “Don’t be disappointed Rainbow,” Cadance remarked, “the fact that we can’t see anything from this far means it’s still not going to be fully open for some time.” “So what are we waiting for? You, me and Twi can fly us all over there and we can finish this,” Dash exclaimed. “Hold your horses, this is Sombra’s place remember,” Applejack interrupted, “there could be traps.” “She’s right, especially with what Twilight saw in her dream,” Shining agreed, “I’ll scan around; see if I pick up anything.” With that his horn began to glow and the others waited for him to finish so they could decide what to do. As they did, Rarity examined her dress under the dim light of her own horn, it had become frayed in places, but so far it was nothing she could fix, for that she was glad. Clarity wandered over to the edge and stood with Rainbow Dash looking down into the abyss. “Don’t worry,” Dash assured her when she gave an audible gulp, “you’ve got Equestria’s fastest flyer to save you if you fall.” Clarity opened her mouth to respond, but it was that moment the presence chose to make itself known. Forgetting all previous intentions of stealth it sped forward, ramming straight into the Pegasus and unicorn in its desperate attempt to dive into the deep darkness below them, where the rest was awaiting it. Clarity barely had a moment to scream before Dash made good on her word and swept her out of the jaws of death and flew her back to safety, but still, both knew something had pushed them. “Clarity!” Cadance exclaimed, rushing over to her sister as Dash deposited her back onto solid ground. “What happened?” Shining Armour asked, fear audible in his voice. Clarity didn’t have time to answer as something began sounding through the cavern, rising from the depths she had nearly fallen into. “Pinkie, why are you laughing?” Rarity demanded, as indeed the pink pony had burst into giggles in response to the sound. “Because silly, laughter is contagious,” she replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Sure enough, as they listened closer and the noise grew louder it became clear that it was laughter, a deep, dark laughter. it was only when an equally skin crawling voice spoke that their fears were confirmed. “I… live… again!” ~ Clarity lay on the bed; she had long since cried herself dry. It had been a day at least, she had tried every spell she was ever taught, but to no avail, she even began improvising spells which more often than naught had even more negative effects that simply not working. When she had spent her entire knowledge bank, she resorted to pleading with the guards outside to let her out, but whether the room was also soundproof or they just didn’t care, they never responded. It was of course very likely they too had been replaced by whatever had been impersonating her sister. After that she simply curled up on the bed and cried, she had forgotten about the need to eat or sleep as she lay there, all she could think about was her sister, her only family, locked away somewhere like her, while that monster stole her wedding day from her. Cadance had watched over Clarity her whole life, she had played with her when she was happy, and she had comforted her when she was sad. She told her stories of the parents she had never known, and of the futures they hadn’t had yet. Whenever Clarity was ever worried life wouldn’t turn out for the better, Cadance was always there to chase those fears away and replace them with thoughts of family and love, but now Clarity was alone. There was no one to tell her everything would be alright… as she knew it wouldn’t. ~ “Tell me that ain’t what ah think it is,” Applejack begged as the cavern began shaking, and the unmistakable sound of some great creature rising from the depths could be heard. As they all watched, their eyes wide with horror, an armoured leg emerged over the crest of the platform, the end of the hoof was warped to form five viciously sharp claws. Soon followed the other leg and together they pulled the rest of the body up into view. “Oh… my,” Fluttershy whispered as Sombra’s face emerged from the liquid shadows flowing freely around his body. it was an even more terrifying sight than they remembered from their last brief encounter, his teeth were especially frightening, resembling a mouth full of scythes, and his once green eyes were now swirling vortexes of shadow, exactly like the one Twilight had seen in her dreams. “So, you have come to my domain,” he boomed, his voice seemed to cause the whole cavern to tremble, “I must thank you for leading the last remnant of my spirit here safely.” “Thanks for doin’ what now?” Applejack asked looking around wildly at her friends who looked equally as confused as her. “Sombra, how can you be here?” Shining Armour demanded, “We defeated you!” “You broke me,” Sombra corrected, “scattered my spirit into the winds. It’s taken a long time to come together, but at last I am complete once more, ready to take back what was once…” Twilight quirked an eyebrow as he seemed to freeze mid-sentence, his eyes appearing wider than normal, fixed on something before him. Everyone followed his gaze, and looked upon Rarity, still wearing her dress. “Oh, oh no,” Rarity began realising all eyes were on her, “let me make one thing very clear, I am not…” But she never had time to finish her sentence before Sombra’s entire form burst into shadow and flooded down upon them. Twilight felt as if she was just punched in the chest as she was thrown back into the cavern wall. Soon she was joined by all her friends in one big heap, all minus one. “Rarity!” Spike yelled, being the first to recover. As Twilight regained focus she saw that Sombra’s shadow had wrapped around Rarity and was now flying away with her in the direction of the Bastion. “Oh no you don’t!” Dash exclaimed lifting off the rock shelf and speeding after them. Without hesitating Twilight and Cadance took off after her, even Fluttershy could be heard swooping in shortly after them, but they knew there was no hope. Even Dash had no hope of catching up with the wave of shadow carrying the screaming Rarity, before the whole thing landed atop the Bastion, retaking its physical form. Twilight slowed down as she became aware of what was going to happen, but before she could shout a warning to Dash who was still desperately trying to reach them, it began. Sombra’s horn lit up, a swirling mass of black and red energy enveloping the Bastion whole, and that’s when it began to rise. ~ Diamond Dust felt the shudder, that was her signal, without waiting for further confirmation she shouted approval for the evacuation to all officers standing in position. Her decision had been correct, if she had digressed for even a minute, it might have been too late. As it was, the guards were escorting the last of the crystal ponies outside the hazard zone when the disaster began. Only Diamond Dust was still left in the city, standing outside the Crystal Palace, praying for her princess’s safe return, but as she saw the first cracks appear in the courtyard, a sinking feeling in her gut told her it was too late. Going against her every instinct she bolted from the scene, galloping as fast as her legs and armour would allow her too. As she did she heard the destruction following in her wake. A single glance over her shoulder was enough to send the essential shot of adrenaline through her body. She ran, and she ran, so focused on her destination of the city edge that she hadn’t noticed herself running into the path of a collapsing building, not before it was too late. ~ “We gotta get outta here!” Applejack yelled over the sound of the cavern collapsing all around them. “What about the others?” Clarity shouted back, looking un-eager to move. “We won’t be any help to them if we get squashed!” Applejack reasoned. Clarity mulled it over for a split second before nodding her approval and charging out of the cavern with Applejack, Shining Armour, Spike and Pinkie Pie, the latter still bouncing happily. The path they had taken to reach there had been simple enough, hence they were able to navigate their way out with only Shining at the head, lighting their way. However when they arrived at the place the spiral staircase used to be, they found a whole in the ceiling and a pile of rubble at their hooves. “Now what do we do?” Pinkie asked, her cheery nature finally waning with the prospect of being trapped in here. “I can try and teleport us up,” Clarity suggested, “I… I’m not very good at teleporting, but it’s our best chance.” “Sugarcube, as long as we get outta these caverns I don’t care how many pieces we end up in,” Applejack stated flatly, Clarity knew she wasn’t serious, but it wasn’t wise to jinx it. ~ “Cadance, go back!” Twilight shouted over the sound of falling rocks and crystal. “It’s no good!” she replied, “We’ll get knocked out of the air if we go back that way!” “Then what do we do?” Fluttershy squealed, giving up on flying entirely and clinging to Twilight’s back. Twilight looked around, she had lost sight of Rainbow Dash, but she was sure she would be fine. Then she saw the ceiling of the cavern give way for the rising Bastion. “I have an idea, follow me!” she ordered, diving towards the black fortress, Cadance at her tail. While it was difficult to see through all the crystal fragments and dust clouds, Twilight quickly found what she was looking, a small alcove carved into the wall of the Bastion. “Right there!” she shouted over her shoulder, diving for it. Once the three had landed and tucked themselves in close to the wall for added protection they let out a deep breath they hadn’t realised they were holding in, and waited as the Bastion carried them higher and higher. ~ Diamond Dust’s first thoughts when she regained consciousness were of surprise, surprise that she was still alive. If that falling building hadn’t killed her, the following wave of devastation surely would have. Yet here she was, lying among her fellow Crystal ponies, the sound of destruction safely in the distance. “Lieutenant, you’re awake,” a guard said, he sounded relieved. “I am,” she replied with an edge of sarcasm, “how did I get here?” “That would be me,” a voice said approaching the pair of guards. Diamond Dust twisted her head around to get a better look at her saviour, when she recognised the pretentious trench coat and fedora she immediately passed out again. ~ When the noise finally died down, Twilight dared to open her eyes. The sight that greeted her was not pretty. The Crystal Empire was unrecognisable, it appeared no building had survived the ruin that swept over, but as long as the crystal ponies had reached safety, Twilight could bare the state of the city. “I think it’s over,” Twilight murmured over to Cadance and Fluttershy who had their heads buried in one another’s shoulders. When Cadance looked up at her home, the expression on her face cut Twilight like a knife. “No…” she whispered, but was drowned out by Fluttershy’s scream. “Rainbow Dash!” following her terrified gaze Twilight saw the blue heap lying sprawled over a pile of rubble, recognisable even from a distance by her distinctive mane. Fluttershy sped off to the ground, Cadance and Twilight close behind. When they touched down, Fluttershy was already cradling Rainbow’s still body. “Is she…” Twilight began, but her voice stuck in her throat, unable to finish. “She’s alive,” came Fluttershy’s relieved voice, “just unconscious.” Twilight sighed before closing the gap and leaning down to view Rainbow. She had definitely seen better days, she was heavily beaten and bruised, and her wings were bent terribly out of shape, but she breathing evenly, and for that Twilight was thankful. “Is there anything you can do for her?” Fluttershy asked Twilight. “Let me look, I know a little healing magic,” Cadance announced, leaning down and touching Dash’s forehead with the tip of her horn. “Hey guys!” came the unmistakable voice of Shining Armour, bursting into a wide grin Twilight spun around to greet the rest, but her smile faded and her jaw dropped at the sight before her. “Yeah, this is my bad,” Clarity said shyly, her coat replaced by purple scale and her horn noticeably absent. “Woo hoo!” Pinkie exclaimed, cartwheeling in, now powder white with a blue mane and unicorn horn, “I look just like Shiny now.” Twilight looked over at her brother and immediately bust into an uncontrollable fit of giggles at the bright pink, hornless stallion before her. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” he said with an angry snort. “What happened to you all?” Twilight said after getting control of herself. “Clarity tried to teleport us,” the now blue Spike said, massaging the unicorn horn too big for his head, “ending up splicing us all.” “It’s only temporary,” Clarity insisted, before whispering, “I think.” “Don’t worry, it is,” Twilight assured them, “I did the same thing when I first teleported successfully.” “But Applejack seems just fine,” Fluttershy pointed out. Indeed Applejack looked just as she always had. “Don’t be so sure,” the blue Spike huffed, giving Applejack a hard pat on the back. Twilight and Fluttershy both ducked as a spout of green fire erupted from the earth pony’s mouth. “Well, that’s unusual,” Twilight admitted standing back up, Applejack looking annoyed with herself, her mouth shut tight. “Happens any time she opens her mouth,” Spike explained. “Well that’s a barrel of laughs,” a weak voice said before making a weak attempt at laughter. They all turned to see Rainbow peering up at them. “Rainbow!” Fluttershy exclaimed running forward before being tugged back by Twilight’s magic. “She’s still injured Fluttershy, be gentle.” “Oh, of course, sorry,” Fluttershy apologised, before walking over and leaning down next to Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie also bounced over to examine the Pegasus. “So how’s it looking?” Fluttershy asked Cadance as she lifted her horn away and opened her eyes. “She’ll be perfectly fine, but she won’t be flying for a couple of weeks,” she informed them, this seemed to send Rainbow Dash into cardiac arrest as she seized up upon hearing the news. “A couple of weeks!” she exclaimed. “I minimised the damage,” Cadance assured her, “if I hadn’t you might never have flown again.” The thought made Rainbow Dash turn noticeably paler and gulp loudly. “Hate to interrupt,” Shining began, “but don’t we have a damsel to rescue, a king to over throw and an apocalypse to stop?” “Well if that doesn’t win an award for sum up of the year,” Twilight joked. ~ The imposter had picked a good room, so much so that Clarity wondered if it was entirely random as she had previously thought. The large window gave a unique view over the whole castle and city of Canterlot; from here she could see all the comings and goings over the following days, so that when the day of the wedding arrived, she could recognise it. She had been forced to transfigure a lot of the furniture into edible food substances; otherwise she would not have made it this long. The imposter hadn’t sent any food, so clearly her method of torture was secondary to keeping her out of harm’s way. Clarity watched as the shield around Canterlot shattered and the city was over run. She had never seen creatures like these before, like ponies but black with insect wings, fangs and blue eyes. She watched as they wreaked havoc over the ponies of Canterlot. She knew without having to be told this was all part of the imposter’s plan. However, when all hope seemed lost, something caught her eye. Six ponies fighting their way out of the castle, heading for one of the other wings. Something about them drew her attention, and as she watched the reasons became clear. They fought countless of those monsters and came out victorious, Clarity felt the first sparks of hope light in her chest for days as she watched them do battle. As she did it dawned on her where she recognised one of them from. a lavender unicorn mare, casting spells left, right and centre, it had been years, but Clarity still remembered Twilight Sparkle. She had heard the stories over the last two years, defeating Nightmare Moon and freeing Princess Luna, imprisoning Discord, the spirit of chaos, along with her fellow bearers of the element s of harmony. Clarity grinned, if anypony could save her sister and Canterlot, it was those six. Clarity watched them fight until they were out of sight, while she could no longer see them, she felt the pain in her chest alleviate, they were going to win, she knew it. Then, after a short period of stasis, it happened. From the centre of the castle a wave of blinding, pale lilac light burst forth, spreading through the entire city, casting the monsters out along with it. Clarity felt the wave wash over her, felt the magic imprisoning her tear away, and knew there was only one source of power like that, her sister was the princess of love after all, she knew it when she felt it. ~ Rarity was backing away slowly from the divine form of Sombra, inching towards her. they stood atop a wide plateau at the top of the Under Bastion, which was now technically over but… “Listen, I believe there is some sort of misunderstanding here,” rarity began, panicking. “There is no misunderstanding,” Sombra breathed, “you are here once more, my efforts were not in vain.” “But listen, I’m not actually…” Rarity attempted only to be interrupted again. “For I have done a great many things, none of which I am proud of,” he continued bearing down upon her, “but at last, you are here with me, Platinum, my beloved daughter.” “Uhhh,” Rarity croaked as Sombra came inches away from her face. “See here is the thing; I’m actually not Princess Platinum… I just happen to look like her.” There was a long moment of silence as Sombra started down upon her. “No, you must be, you are the very image of my child,” he insisted. “Well, I thank you for the compliment, but I’m afraid I am not.” “But, that would mean my daughter is still dead, and everything I’ve done has been for naught,” he exclaimed, anger rising in his voice. “Well…” Rarity began to say, fear rising in her core, “yes.” ~ The interior of the Bastion was just as gruesome as Diamond Dust had described it. Since only three of their party could reliably fly they decided it would be better to ascend the fortress by hoof, that way they could stick together. “Remember everypony,” Twilight called back as they ran, “with Sombra back, he’ll no doubt have full control over his old soldiers, be on the lookout for them.” “Oh is that what this thing is?” Pinkie suddenly asked. They all stopped dead in their tracks and spun around to see Pinkie with an insect like creature, clad in black armour, sitting on her back as she fed it hoof fulls of cake from her mane. “Pinkie, where did you get that thing?” Twilight exclaimed, her eyes wide. “At the door when we first came in,” she explained, “can we keep him? I think I’ll call him Imp!” Twilight opened her mouth to respond when she felt a tapping on her shoulder. “What?” she asked turning around and seeing not a member of her party but yet another armoured creature, far bigger than Imp, and radiating shadows. “Oh great,” she said just as it swiped down with an armoured claw. She dropped to the floor and barrel rolled to safety, but soon the fortress was overflowing with creatures, emerging from every nook and cranny where shadows gathered. “Of all the times to lose my magic,” Shining Armour grunted, head butting one of the creatures away from him and Fluttershy. Another two charged up behind them but were dissipated in a gulf of green fire. “Huh, I didn’t know I could do that,” Spike murmured, firing off sparks from his new horn, doing zero damage on any of the oncoming creatures. “There’s no end to these things!” Dash shouted over a crowd of them pushing her into a corner, “I hate to say it, but I think we might have to make a run for it.” “Dash is right,” Clarity agreed, bucking one of the creatures ganging up on Rainbow. “Everypony for themselves, just keep climbing higher and we’ll all meet at the top.” “No, we should stick together!” Twilight insisted, but her voice was drowned out by the battle around her. Sighing, she spread her wings after clearing a path before her and swept forward, picking up Spike in her fore hooves before exiting the chamber they had been ambushed in. keep climbing higher and they would find Rarity, she just hoped the others would be okay without her. ~ “Looks like you’re with me,” Cadance said to Applejack as they ran down a side corridor, she nodded in response, only opening her mouth when an enemy reared its armoured head. They ran for about five minutes, encountering yet more creatures every time they turned a corner. “This is getting ridiculous! Get on my back Applejack; I’ll get us to the top.” Applejack obliged after clearing some breathing room for Cadance. Once she had clambered on, Cadance aimed her horn skywards, sending a beam of destruction through the ceiling, Applejack would have whistled if it wouldn’t have set her mane on fire. “That was a little revenge for my home,” she said bitterly before spreading her wings and calling over her back, “hold on.” Applejack wrapped her hooves around Cadance’s neck as she took off from the ground, accelerating into the air. ~ “Pinkie Pie, drop the damn Imp and let’s go!” Shining Armour ordered after flinging a limp Fluttershy over his back, he hadn’t seen anything attack her so more likely she passed out from shock. “Oh fine,” she huffed, crouching down and nudging Imp off her back, “go on home little fella.” Shining Armour was sure he imagined it; there was no way that thing was crying as it trudged away. Pinkie stared back up at him as if to say ‘how could you?’. “Come on Pinkie, you wouldn’t want Gummy to be jealous would you?” he asked, that worked. Pinkie stopped her pouting and ran out of the room with him. As they ran, a detachment of creatures followed them. Shining tried to ignore them but they were gaining ground fast. “If only I had my magic,” he whined again, “it would make this so much easier.” “Magic? Hold on,” Pinkie said, her new horn lighting up with a deep pink light. In a flash the trio found themselves standing in an entirely different room, all the creatures following them gone. on top of that, Pinkie and Shining Armour had been restored to their original forms, there was only one explanation, Pinkie teleported them further into the Bastion after having a horn for no longer than half an hour. “Pinkie, how the heck did you do that?” Shining Armour asked amazed, Pinkie just shrugged. “Dunno, but when I do stuff like that back in Ponyville, ponies usually say ‘it’s just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie’,” she said before beginning to bounce towards the nearest door. Shining Armour just stared as Fluttershy began to stir on his back. “Has something happened?” she murmured. “If by something you mean a lot, then yes, something has happened,” he replied walking after the once again pink pony. ~ “So, uh…” Dash stammered as they cantered up a set of stairs, closely pursued by a wave of creatures, “guess this isn’t really what you had in mind when you went to visit home.” “No,” Clarity replied breathless, “I imagined more tea and casual chats, but really I should be getting used to this.” “Yeah, we lead quite the lives,” Dash agreed trying to laugh between sucking in deep breaths. “Come on,” Clarity panted at her partner, “I thought you were supposed to be athletic.” “Is that a challenge?” Dash questioned, grinning widely. “If it will get us up these steps any faster, then yeah,” she replied. “Oh it is on!” Dash exclaimed picking up the pace. ~ “Bet you wish I had this horn permanently,” Spike mused as they glided up the keep, “you could have your own faithful student.” “Oh Spike, you have enough responsibilities without adding learning magic to that list.” Twilight retorted. “Glad you think so,” Spike agreed, “maybe now would be a good time to talk about getting some time off?” “Let’s save the world first, then we can talk,” Twilight retorted. “We must be almost there,” Spike theorized, “we’ve been going up for a while now.” “I think that’s the end just at the end of this…” she began, but was cut off when both alicorn and dragon were rammed out of the air by two other groups of ponies all converging into their hallway from side corridors. “Wow, soft landing,” Dash exclaimed as she climbed off Twilight, “thanks Twi, I might have really damaged my wings if it wasn’t for you.” Twilight grumbled in response before getting to her own hooves. “Where’s Cadance?” Shining said in a concerned tone. They all looked around but saw neither her nor Applejack with them. “Maybe they…” Clarity began, but didn’t get further than that as they all felt a low rumbling rising through the Bastion. “Speak of the devil,” Spike said just before they all dived out of the way, clear of the explosion in the floor where they had just been standing. Once they reassumed their stances they saw Cadance rise up through the hole in the floor, Applejack clinging desperately to her back. “Oh good, the whole gangs here,” Cadance said as she saw them all gathered around the hole she had just blasted through, “I don’t think Applejack is a fan of flying.” As she said that, the farm pony leapt off her back and began kissing the filthy stone floor. “Sweet solid ground,” she said trembling. “Hey!” Spike exclaimed, “You can speak again.” “Oh yeah,” Applejack exclaimed suddenly realising she was no longer afflicted, “looks like you’re all back to normal too huh?” Indeed Clarity’s blunder had appeared to have worn off, leaving a purple scaled Spike and a blue coated Clarity with her horn returned. “Sorry again,” Clarity said awkwardly. “Don’t worry Sugarcube,” Applejack insisted, “no harm, no fowl.” “Alright girls, and guys,” Twilight said catching herself on when Spike glared at her, “I can feel Sombra’s presence just ahead, now be ready for a fight, he won’t go down easily.” “Alright, just let him try and kidnap our friend and see where that gets him,” Dash exclaimed rushing forward, the others in tow. Dash and Applejack were the first ones at the door and together they bucked it open, charging through. “Drop the mare buster!” Applejack shouted. “Put her down!” Dash yelled, but they all stopped dead in their tracks at the sight before them. Rarity stood in the middle of the plateau, still in her dress, trying desperately to console the giant Sombra… who was crying his eyes out. “What the…” Twilight began. “Is anypony else reminded of the time Fluttershy shouted down that dragon?” Pinkie asked, staring in confusion at the scene before her “Should we… maybe cheer him up?” Fluttershy asked tentatively. “Are you crazy?” Dash asked, “he’s our enemy, this is clearly a trap.” At that moment Sombra let out a loud wail and the puddle of tears forming beneath him got considerably deeper. “What do you think Cadance?” Twilight asked. “We’ll see what’s up,” she replied, “but don’t let your guard down.” With that they began approaching the pair, it was only then Rarity noticed them, presumably not having heard them shout over the sound of Sombra’s sobs. “Oh, you’re here, I’m so glad you’re all alright,” she said, sounding relieved. “Yeah, we’re fine, but how are you? What’s going on here?” Clarity asked concerned. “Oh this, it’s just a big misunderstanding,” Rarity replied casually, Cadance snorted. “I fail to see how destroying the city and endangering my little ponies could be considered a misunderstanding,” she replied tersely. “Well, I’ll let him explain,” she said, gently tapping Sombra’s muzzle to get his attention, “Sombra, the Crystal Princess is here to hear you out.” Sombra sniffed and looked over at them; there was no doubting the pain in his eyes. “Princess,” he murmured, “I have done many terrible things, I know you can never forgive me.” “If you truly want forgiveness, then you can start by explaining yourself,” Cadance replied flatly. “The last crystal princess was my daughter, Platinum,” he began, reminding them of what they already knew, “she meant the world to me, I even threw away my old kingdom when Discord attacked, all to keep her safe. When she died, I was distraught. I had delved into the mysteries of life further than most unicorns and discovered the secrets to immortality; alas I was too late to share my discovery with the one who mattered most to me. “Over the following years I toiled away in loneliness, it corrupted me, changed me into a monster. I began to do terrible things, experiments that cost the lives and happiness of many, all to bring my daughter back to me. In the end I lost sight of everything, changed beyond recognition, it was only when I saw Rarity, that I was reminded of what I set out to achieve in the first place, and along with that came the realisation that it had all been for nothing, my daughter is gone, and nothing can bring her back.” When he finished, a heavy silence hung around the air, even Cadance was left speechless. it was only Rarity speaking up that finally broke the silence. “He really isn’t that bad,” she insisted, “not deep down anyway.” “I never knew,” Cadance whispered, Sombra nodded sadly. “So few did, perhaps if I had let others in, instead of suffering alone, things might have been different,” he said, his voice heavy with mourning, “I have no right to ask anything of you princess, but if you could find it in your heart to do me one last thing, my spirit would be eternally grateful.” “I can’t bring Platinum back,” Cadance reminded him. “I know, I have accepted that,” he replied, “no, what I want you to do, is to end my life.” “What?” Clarity exclaimed, drawing Sombra’s attention, “but you shouldn’t have to die just because the one’s you love are gone, you can still live.” “There is a difference little one, between living, and living forever,” he explained, “to have lived out my natural life for my daughter, knowing that one day I would see her again, I could be happy with… but to live forever, knowing it separates me from not only her, but all those that I may ever come to love, that is a cross I cannot bear.” Clarity hung her head low and stared at her hooves as tears threatened to spill from her eyes. “If that is really what you wish,” Cadance said, walking forward, “then I will oblige.” “It is,” he whispered, Cadance nodded in response. “In that case, farewell King Sombra,” she said raising her horn as it glowed with ethereal light. “Thank you Crystal Princess,” he murmured before looking to Rarity, “and thank you Rarity, for reminding me.” “Goodbye,” she whispered in response before closing her eyes so she wouldn’t have to watch, and to stop the tears from escaping. ~ Cadance stood in front of the mirror in her dressing room, this was it. As she turned to leave she noticed someone had slipped in. Clarity stood next to the door, grinning at the sight of her older sister in the dress. “You pull it off well,” she said, Cadance blushed. “You really don’t mind about not being my maid of honour?” she asked again, she knew what her sister would say but she wanted to be sure. “Of course not,” Clarity insisted stepping forward and pulling Cadance into a hug, “you owe them after all.” “That’s true,” she replied with a little laugh. “I was so worried about you.” “I was worried about you too,” Clarity replied, the room immediately became silent as the two sisters just remained in each other’s embrace. It was only when Clarity noticed the clock on the wall that she broke it. “Well, I’d better get to me seat,” she said rubbing a hoof over her face to wipe away an errant tear, “as for you, don’t keep the groom waiting, he already had to push his wedding back a week.” “I’ll keep that in mind,” Cadance said laughing as Clarity departed the room. Yes, it was about to be the best wedding ever. As she arrived into the castle chapel she found it packed with all manner of ponies, she was impressed Cadance had managed to keep the usual Canterlot snobs off the guest list. as she arrived at the door a young colt offered to seat her, she ended up in the dead centre of the crowd gathered at the right of the alter, a big step down from standing next to her sister, but as the ceremony begun and she gazed upon her big sister, her future brother in law, and the elements of harmony standing on either side, she knew she was where she belonged. The limelight was theirs, not hers. And that thought sent a strange feeling through Clarity, one she’d never be able to describe, but she would remember none the less. As she looked up at the altar, she wasn’t looking at Cadance, Celestia or even Shining Armour; she was looking at the lavender unicorn standing to his left. Twilight Sparkle. “Thank you Twilight,” she thought, “you saved my sister, you saved my family. I swear, no matter how long it takes, I will repay you this debt. Next time I won’t be the damsel in distress, I’ll stand by your side, and save your world, just like you saved mine.” ~ The Crystal Empire was in ruins, but Cadance didn’t care. Thanks to the efforts of her guards, not a single pony had been lost. The lieutenant responsible for managing the evacuation, Diamond Dust, had been injured but was recovering quickly. It may take years to fully restore the Empire to its formal glory, but Cadance was prepared for that, she would be there every step of the way. But as she gazed up at the now desolate Bastion, she knew there was still one last deed to be done. ~ Spike adjusted the crown on Twilight’s head, and she nodded her appreciation before stepping forward to join the circle her friends were making on the plateau. When they had first seen the Under Bastion they were too far away to make out the gate, but not anymore. They all stared up at the rip in space, emanating ethereal blue light, the sight made Clarity cringe at the memory of that place she had been cast into. One thing that had grabbed all their attentions, was the thing floating in the centre of the gate, it appeared to be a large, black orb. Clarity had never told anyone the details about what she had seen in the Aether, even now as she saw this peculiar reminder, she remained silent, although she wasn’t sure why. “Alright girls, this is it,” Twilight said, suppressing a gulp, “the moment of truth.” With an exchange of nods all six mares closed their eyes, the jewels on their respective elements lighting up. Spike and Clarity stepped a few paces back for safety as the light grew in intensity. Soon the whole plateau was overcome by a pure white light before separating into a brightly coloured rainbow which twisted in the air and dived upon the gate. The resulting impact threw all seven ponies and dragon flying, lying in heaps all over the black crystal floor. When Clarity’s vision began to return she could make out the gate beginning to stitch itself back together again. “We did it!” Twilight exclaimed, rushing over and throwing her forehooves around a still dazed Spike, “we actually did it!” “Ah don’t believe it,” Applejack mused, “I was really worried for a moment that this was all gonna be for nothin’.” “Well I for one, never lost hope,” Rarity boasted, “I knew Twilight and the princesses had this figured out.” “Woo hoo! Now we can have ‘this-wasn’t-a-massive-waste-of-time’ party!” Pinkie exclaimed pulling a small, novelty trumpet out of nowhere and blowing into it excitedly. “I’m just glad we’re all okay,” Fluttershy said quietly, earning an ‘aww’ from the rest of the group. “Speak for yourselves,” a voice moaned, and they all turned to see Rainbow Dash had landed on her already damaged wings when she was thrown back. “Well, almost all of us,” Spike said which caused the others to break out into laughter. “Quit laughing and help me!” ~ “You know,” Applejack began as they loaded their bags back onto the train, “ah had a thought earlier.” “Always a dangerous moment,” Dash remarked, earner her a punch on the shoulder, “watch the wing!” “Like ah was sayin’!” Applejack said loudly, “that guard we met last night, Diamond Dust ah think she was, said somethin’ about Sombra makin’ soldiers outta crystal, and that reminded me a bit of that stuff your princess of order used to block the door. You don’t think that…” Applejack began to say before being interrupted by a figure appearing directly behind her. “Right you are Applejack Daniels,” Discord said causing Applejack to leap into the air with a yelp of surprise, “whoops.” “For pete’s sake Discord, quit doin’ that,” Applejack yelled after landing on the ground again, “now what are you blabberin’ on ‘bout?” “I was just confirming what you thought,” he replied leaning on a cane he pulled out of the grey trench coat he was wearing. “Why are you dressed like that?” Applejack asked flatly. “I’m investigating for Celestia, you have to look the part,” he replied, “now, as I was saying, it would appear Roma did indeed base the order crystals she used on experiments carried out by Sombra. Interesting to note, the difference between the two, is that Roma crafted hers from pure magical energy.” “You mean the stuff those gates are spewing out?” Dash asked, quirking an eyebrow thoughtfully. “Exactly,” Discord confirmed, “it only makes sense after all. Roma said she would create a perfect world after using the Aether to destroy all physical matter, it appears she planned to replace it all with her own creations forged from the remaining magic.” “A world of dull, grey crystals,” Pinkie said horrified, “that sounds like, THE, WORST, POSSIBLE, THING!” With that she pretended to faint and Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Discord all burst into laughter, Fluttershy merely smiling discreetly. Rarity just stared at them all stony faced. “I am not like that,” she said before storming off. ~ Twilight, Clarity and Cadance walked together down the platform, still in deep conversation. “We won’t know for sure until I conduct a few test,” Cadance said at last, “but it looks like that gate is closed for good.” “We can only hope,” Twilight agreed, “with one down there’s still ten to go, hopefully the others won’t be too far behind.” “I’d say take this opportunity to relax while you’ve got it,” Cadance said, “Heavens knows there might not be a chance later.” “And you’re sure you don’t need help fixing this place up?” Twilight asked again, receiving an eye roll from the older princess. “Yes, I’m quite sure, you have enough on you plate without adding this,” she said gesturing over the city lying behind them. “Now go on, I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon at this rate.” Twilight nodded taking the hint, and quickly left to say goodbye to her brother, leaving the two sisters in silence. “Are you still mad at me?” Cadance asked after a long pause. “No,” Clarity replied with a sigh, “that whole thing with Sombra got me thinking, I would never want to lose you, but the thought of living forever without you or anyone else I’ve come to love just sounds…” “Difficult,” Cadance finished, “I know, it takes a very strong kind of pony to carry that burden, that’s why so few alicorns remain as such.” “It’s your choice,” Clarity said reeling the subject back, “I just hope that time won’t be for a long time yet.” “Nor do I dear sister,” Cadance said leaning down to hug Clarity. “Now go on, go see your friends, there’s a whole world to see and so little time to do it in.” “Yeah,” Clarity said laughing a little, “we’re going to see the world.” “It is something most only dream of,” Cadance agreed, “It’s a shame it wasn’t under better circumstances.” “No… but we can’t change that,” Clarity said, suddenly far brighter, walking for the train and calling over her shoulder, “after all, what better way is there to spend a life, than actually going out and living?” Cadance smiled as her sister broke onto a run for the train before whispering to herself, “that’s the spirit little sister.”
The Kindness of StrangersCautionary Tales Celestia rubbed her forehead as she collapsed into her study seat, she had forgotten the feeling of sinking into bed after lowering the sun, with her soft silk sheets and… No! Don’t be like that, there are plenty of ponies who would give a limb for such luxuries, and remember, it is for them that you stay up this late every night. Celestia was glad she could so easily remind herself of things simply by listening to her inner voice. Now, to get back to work. A knock came upon her study door, never mind. “Enter,” she said loudly while sorting through the numerous spell tomes piling her desk. As she did the door opened to reveal one of her royal guards carrying a leather satchel over his shoulder. “Apologies for the disturbance your highness,” he said matter of factly, “but this arrived for you just now, the courier said it was urgent.” With that he opened his satchel and levitated… a clam onto Celestia’s desk. She looked at this blankly for a moment before realisation dawned on her. “Of course, thank you very much.” the guard bowed and turned from the room, closing the door surprisingly gently behind him. “Now, what news have you for me?” Celestia reached forward with her magic and cracked the clam open, inside, not surprising the sun princess in the slightest, was a very small blue alicorn. “About time,” Mare Equus said curtly, “I thought this would never get to you. I tell you, when Vegnum perfects that system of long distance communication I will most certainly have to invest in it.” “Yes, what was it she called it? The telephone I think,” Celestia pondered, “regardless I’d rather she put all her efforts into locating the Metropolis gate instead of tinkering with her little inventions.” “That’s probably a bit of a stretch if we’re honest,” Mare Equus pointed out, “so I just got the good news from our friend in the north.” “Yes, isn’t it wonderful?” Celestia said, delighted now, “Cadance assures us she has carried out every test possible, the gate is exactly as it was before Roma’s interference.” “So the elements will do the trick then, that’s good, which brings me smoothly to the purpose of my, uh, visit,” she said clapping her fore hooves together. “You mean, you found it?” Celestia exclaimed, it wasn’t like Mare Equus to come bearing so much good news. “Indeed I have,” she said, her voice full of pride, “which I think is impressive considering I had the entire ocean to search.” “So where is it?” Celestia asked, ignoring her own research material. “Not far from Aquestria actually,” she confirmed, “If you send your little ponies there I can escort them the rest of the way.” “I shall, thank you Mare Equus.” the water princess nodded in appreciation of the thanks, “but, just one last thing, the method you used to find the gate…” “Don’t even go there Celestia,” she said, cutting through her theory before it was even fully formed, “I too tried the method Cadance used with no success, it appears each gate is different, perhaps the veil is adapted to its environment making it that we have to apply different methods to find each of the gates.” “That sounds like a sure theory,” Celestia said with a sigh, “thank you for bringing me this news, I will send for Twilight now.” Mare Equus nodded before liquefying into a pool of water that lay in the base of the clam. Celestia closed it and moved it to the side, conjuring parchment and quill before her. It was just under a week since Twilight and her friends had closed the first gate, while it was good another had been found so quickly after, Celestia’s motherly instincts hoped she wasn’t putting too much on Twilight’s plate. No, don’t think like that, Twilight is a grown mare, she’s a princess now for goodness sake, she can handle this mission, regardless, the safety of the world and life as a whole must always come before an individual. Celestia sighed once more, and put ink to paper. Cautionary Tales Rainbow Dash had just finished her morning rounds, a more difficult task than usual what with her wings still broken following her accident at the Crystal Empire. Deciding she needed a pick me up she chose to pay one of her friends a visit. Normally she would visit Sugarcube Corner since she could always rely on Pinkie to give her a snack on the house, but since it was still under quarantine it was obviously ruled out as an option. It was too late in the day to have a chance of getting breakfast at Sweet Apple Acres since AJ would already be in the middle of chores. The library on the other hoof, Twilight would just be up assuming she was up late last night studying as per usual, and if that was the case Spike would be cooking breakfast. It was settled, she would get food from Twilight under the pretence of a friendly visit. With a plan in motion she sped off, her keen eyes picking out the Golden Oaks Library from amidst the surrounding buildings of Ponyville. If she was to have any hope of being fed she would have to get on Twilight’s good side, that meant no smashing through windows, a feat that was admittedly harder to do when running rather than flying, but she had pulled it off before. Dash grunted at this thought, going through doors was so lame when there were far more exciting options available. As she neared her destination she began to decelerate, savouring the wind blowing in her mane, reminded briefly of all the flying she was missing out on because of her stupid injury, before coming to a complete stop in front of the library. Blowing a rainbow bang out of her face she sauntered forward and gave a confident knock on the door. It wasn’t long before it was enveloped in a blue light and swung open. “Hey Rainbow Dash,” Clarity said from the table where she sat reading. “Morning Clarity,” she replied scanning the rest of the main library for Spike or Twilight, “you the only one here?” “No, they’re in the kitchen, you could probably get something if you asked nicely,” she responded in a knowing voice. Dash smirked, Clarity had really settled in with their group in such a short space of time, she seemed even more relaxed since their return from the Crystal Empire a week ago. “Yeah, will do, talk to la…” but she stopped as she saw the book Clarity was reading, “Whoa, you like Daring Do!” “What, oh, well actually I’ve never read them before,” she admitted, “Twilight was talking about them yesterday and I thought I’d give them a go.” “They are awesome; I just know you’ll love them.” “I hope so, though I must say, I didn’t take you for a reader Dash,” she said with one raised eyebrow. “Well, I make exceptions for awesome stories like Daring Do,” Dash replied nonchalantly. “Of course you do, well I’ll talk to you later Dash, I’m at this rather good bit where Daring is trapped in a chamber filling with water.” Clarity had been looking at Rainbow Dash when she said it, but she still wasn’t entirely sure if the reaction she just saw was her imagination or not, it had only appeared for the briefest of moments. “Alright, talk to you later,” Dash replied in her usual tone, if that look really had been there she regained her composure pretty quickly. Dash left Clarity and entered the kitchen where Spike and Twilight sat at the table, Pinkie Pie stood at the oven flipping pancakes. “Pinkie, I think Dash would like some breakfast,” Twilight said blankly, not looking up from her book. “Of course, anything for my best friend Dashie,” Pinkie called back before turning to the room and gasping. “Rainbow Dash, what a coincidence! Twilight just suggested I make you breakfast. Oh my god, Twilight, are you developing Pinkie Sense? Or maybe we should call it Twilly Sense.” “No Pinkie I am not developing any supernatural sense,” Twilight replied still just as blankly, “I am simply observant.” “Psst, Spike,” Dash whispered leaning down to the dragon, “what’s up with her?” “Her magic isn’t working,” he replied, “she’s been moody all morning.” “Oh that su… wait what? Her magic isn’t working!” Dash shouted forgetting to whisper. Spike and Pinkie both looked panicked, but Twilight just groaned, stood up and left the room. “Nice going,” Spike spat, “she’s got horn rot, it’s a really nasty disease.” “Horn rot, geez, is it… fatal?” Dash asked, barely able to hide her fear. “Oh Celestia no!” Spike exclaimed, “It’s not even permanent, it’s just going to be an inconvenience until her immune system can clear it out of her body.” “Poor Twilly,” Pinkie said walking over and setting a plate of pancakes in front of Rainbow Dash, “magic is a big part of her, I wanted to throw a party celebrating all her other good personality traits.” “I’ll go cheer her up,” Spike said pushing himself away from his finished breakfast. As Spike left Dash began eating her pancakes, vaguely aware of an unpleasant feeling in her gut. The more she ate the worse it seemed to become, so it wasn’t hunger. “Pinkie, I feel funny, like bad funny,” she said pushing away her unfinished pancakes. “Uh-oh, looks like somepony needs to have a visit from the tickle fairy,” she replied playfully, Dash just deadpanned. “No Pinkie, just no. I mean after Spike told me about Twilight’s… condition I’ve been feeling, empty,” Dash explained, Pinkie just rolled her eyes. “Well duh silly, you feel bad for your friend,” she said turning back to her cooking. “Oh my god, you’re right. I feel bad for somepony other than myself, being self-centred is wrong… I’d know that if I paid attention to anything that’s ever happened to me,” she said standing up, “I’m gonna go cheer her up.” But before she could make a move for the stairs an excited squeal could be heard ringing down from the top floor. Dash barely had a second to think about this before a purple ball of fur and feathers came charging down the stairs. “It came!” she exclaimed brandishing a letter in Dash’s face. “What came?” Dash said brushing it aside with her hoof. “Orders from the princess, they found another gate!” Dash felt her jaw drop. “All right!” she said punching the air with a hoof. “What’s going on?” Clarity asked poking her head through the doorway. “They found a gate,” Spike informed her, walking down the stairs. “Yeah, isn’t it great?” Twilight said, barely able to contain her excitement, “of course you’ll have to wield the element of magic Clarity.” “Me?” Clarity said shocked, “you really think this horn rot will stop you using your element?” “Dunno, but why take the chance when we already know you can use it?” “I guess,” Clarity replied reluctantly, she looked over at Rainbow Dash who just shrugged, offering her a look intended to say ‘at least she’s in a good mood’. “So where we are we heading? I need to know what kind of party supplies to pack,” Pinkie asked flicking through a catalogue which Dash saw was full of pretentiously named party themes, much like a carpet catalogue. “Aquestria,” Twilight replied, Pinkie and Dash both raised their eyebrows and glanced at each other. “Uh, Twi, isn’t that… here?” Dash asked, sure she had made a mistake. “No, Aquestria, with an ‘a’,” she explained exasperatedly. “Oh, I’ve heard of that place,” Clarity said with awe, “the city at the bottom of the ocean.” Clarity knew she hadn’t imagined it that time when she looked over at the others; Dash had an unmistakable look of horror on her face as she said that line. Once again however she quickly switched back to her usual confident grin. “No biggie,” she said, only Clarity picking up on the quiver in her voice, “I’ll just go pack, when are we heading?” “This afternoon, could you go inform the others?” she asked before remembering Dash’s wings, “oh sorry, never mind. I’ll do it myself… hang on, how are you able to get into your house if you can’t fly?” Dash grimaced, “a ladder, and no it’s not easy.” With that she trotted from the kitchen, her half-finished pancakes forgotten on the table. “Pinkie, could you go round up the others?” Twilight asked after Dash had left. “Sure thing Twilight, I need to pick up some under the sea themed party equipment anyway,” she said bouncing out happily. “Alright, we better get packing, come on Spike, I want to take this opportunity to practice every aquatic spell I’ve ever read about.” “But Twilight, uh, your horn,” Spike reminded her causing Twilight’s shoulders to slump. “Oh yeah,” she said woefully before brightening up, “still, a little light reading can’t hurt.” With that she skipped up the stairs leaving Spike to roll his eyes. “Light reading, yeah right,” he scoffed at Clarity, “have you seen how many spell books she has on the subject.” “Well then you’d better get started if you want to pack them all,” Clarity said smirking. “Since when were you on her side?” Spike complained, trudging up the stairs after Twilight. ~ Rainbow Dash paced her living room for the tenth, no, twentieth… okay she wasn’t keeping count, but she had been at it longer than she usually had the patience for so it must have been somewhere around that number. Normally the climb up her new house ladder would earn her a well-deserved nap, but her mind was too active after what Clarity had said, the city at the bottom of the ocean… the ocean, the big blue wet thing. The raging, swirling, chaotic, sent sailors to their deaths ocean. Dash gulped loudly, knowing only Tank could hear her, and he could hardly judge. “It’s okay, nothing bad can happen,” she reasoned, but try as she might her thoughts inevitably ‘swam’ back… “And the Equestrian Games goes to… Fillydelphia,” the games inspector announced, she was immediately responded with a harmonious groan of disappointment as well as one high pitched ‘nooo’ from one very distraught filly. Rainbow Dash landed back on the cloud next to her father and tried not to cry, but she felt a hoof wrap around her and looked up into the face of her father, his expression apologetic. “Sorry Dash, maybe next time,” he said, Dash simply nodded and allowed her father to walk her out among the crowd and head home. Dash’s thoughts were interrupted by a soft knocking on the door, swinging her head around she could make out the tip of a long, pink tail through one of the windows. “Come on in Fluttershy,” she called out. The door opened gently and Fluttershy poked her head in. “Oh, I’m sorry Rainbow, but the others were wondering where you were and so I decided to see if you were okay and…” she began explaining quietly, but as soon as Dash heard her say the others were waiting she snapped her around to view the clock and her heart missed a beat. “Oh hay! I’m late!” with that she scooped up Tank and ran out the door stopping just short of the edge of her cloud house. “Drat, can’t fly, of all the times to be late.” "It’s okay, I can get us down,” Fluttershy offered, Dash mulled it over quickly before relenting and clambering aboard Fluttershy’s back, if anypony ever saw this she would never be able to live it down. After an agonisingly slow descent to the ground, Dash hopped off. “Thanks Flutters, hey do you know anypony who can look after Tank for me?” “Oh I can fly him over to my house then meet you at the station,” Fluttershy offered, “uh, Big Mac offered to look after all my animals while we gone.” As soon as Tank was unloaded, Dash began galloping as hard as she could for Ponyville. She had left it too late to pack anything so she would just have to hope the others could provide her with any essentials. It didn’t take her long to reach the station, she ran in the running of the leaves every year after all, just because she preferred to fly didn’t mean she didn’t take the time to exercise in other ways. “There she is,” Applejack called as she came panting onto the platform, “what in the hay took you so long?” “Sorry, lost track of time,” she said trying to hide the fact she was exhausted. “Well hurry onto the train now,” Applejack ordered, “you’re lucky Twilight was able to use her status to hold it up for you.” “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Rainbow muttered climbing onto the carriage, ignoring the disgruntled looks other passengers were giving her. After another few minutes Fluttershy joined them apologising profusely for holding everypony up. “Alright,” a very irate train conductor began, “if we’re all here, then this train to Van Hoover will be departing right now to make up for lost time.” “It’s about time,” Spike moaned from where he lay with his head on Rarity’s lap, “next time we’re leaving her behind, I could probably be the element of loyalty after I tag along with you lot on every crazy adventure.” “Didn’t we already try making you Rainbow Dash once?” Pinkie asked, “Didn’t work out to well if I recall.” “Probably because you weren’t laughing very much,” Spike responded bitterly. “So Twilight, what are the travel arrangements?” Rarity asked, looking up from her magazine. “From Van Hoover we take a ship to Aquestria,” she began before hesitating, “I’ve never been so I’m not sure how we get to the city itself.” “Maybe we have to swim down,” Pinkie suggested, Dash shuddered at the thought. “That would be ridiculous Pinkie, nopony could survive that,” Twilight said, Dash clenched her eyes and began picturing the sky. “After all, it’s built in the very deepest part of the ocean.” That did it; Dash screamed at the top of her lungs and ran from the compartment, leaving six very confused mares and one equally bewildered dragon. “Oh my,” Fluttershy said quietly, “was it something we said?” “I’ll go check on her,” Clarity said suspiciously. “So, yeah, after we reach Aquestria, Celestia says Mare Equus the princess of water will escort us to the gate,” Twilight continued after Clarity had left. “I never had any interaction with her,” Rarity said thoughtfully, “do you know what she’s like?” “Personality wise, not at all,” Twilight admitted, after all the extent of her own interaction with her had been listening to her talk about colonising the ocean before the summit was cut short. “She’s very strange looking; she appears to have undergone a lot of magical alteration to adapt her to life in water.” “So she’s like a freaky fish lady?” Pinkie asked. “That’s, actually a pretty accurate description,” Twilight said laughing at the thought. ~ The filly Rainbow Dash trudged into her bedroom and curled up on her bed, throwing the covers over her head as if to block out the world. Pretty quickly however she heard her bedroom door open and her father’s heavy footsteps cross the room. “I know you’re upset, but you can’t hide away,” he told her, sitting lightly on the end of the bed, “it won’t solve anything.” “I know,” she muttered, still not pulling her head out. “We can still go to see the games,” he continued in an optimistic tone, “I still have all that time off work.” “I don’t think I want to,” Dash said mournfully, her father sighed. He loved his daughter but she could be as stubborn as a mule. “Well tell you what, why don’t we go on our own holiday? Forget this rotten business and take a trip somewhere, just you and me?” There was a long moment of silence before Rainbow pulled her head out from under the covers and looked back up at him with bloodshot eyes. “I’ll think about it,” she said dully, but her father was happy nonetheless. He leaned down and kissed her forehead before standing up. “Love you Rainbow,” with that he left the room, closing the door gently behind him. The filly smiled as he left before whispering to herself. “Love you dad.” ~ “Rainbow,” Clarity called, knocking on the toilet door, “I know you’re in there, I can hear you breathing.” “Hey Clarity,” she called back after a moment of tense silence. “Rainbow Dash, what’s wrong? I’ve noticed you acting weird all day,” she asked leaning against the door frame. “What? No I haven’t,” she insisted in a quivering voice. “Then why are you hiding in the toilet?” Clarity asked, a victorious grin spreading over her face. “I’m not hiding, I’m taking a sh…” “Dash!” Clarity shouted, disgusted, “even if that was true, which it isn’t, you don’t shout something like that out for everypony to hear.” “I wouldn’t have to if you weren’t interrogating me,” Rainbow retorted, Clarity opened her mouth but found she had nothing to bite back with. “Fine,” she said at last, “but we’re your friends, if something’s bothering you we’re here to help.” With that she left the now silent toilet cubicle behind and made her way back to the others. Dash sat on the other side of the door, staring deep into space as her mind drifted back through her memories. ~ Van Hoover was a progressive town, much like Manhattan it dealt in shipping and trade with foreign countries. as well as this it had a budding industry district which a certain individual overseas was insistent would bring Equestrian society into the new age, Twilight briefly wondered which one with a knowing smirk on her face. However, the call of duty meant that none of them would be able to enjoy this new slice of life, as the train from Ponyville only arrived shortly after sunrise the day after it set off, mainly due to its slightly delayed start courtesy of Rainbow Dash. As such Twilight and her friends were forced to make a run for the boat, forced to ignore the sights and local landmarks, much to Twilight’s dismay. The harbour was packed when they arrived, but then, it gave Twilight the distinct impression of being a place which was busy all hours of the day. “Well blow me down,” Applejack said giving a low whistle, “maybe I ought’a do some business out here.” “Focus monopoly mam!” Dash said giving Applejack a clap around the side of the head. “Come on girls,” Twilight shouted before the two could start brawling, “the boat won’t stay forever, and I can’t hold it up like I did with the train.” with all arguing aside they set about navigating the busy harbour, the boat they were making for was a large steam vessel, it was actually intended to carry metal works back from Metropolis, but the captain had been willing to make a drop off at Aquestria as they passed over as a special favour to Equestria’s new princess. As they arrived, the predominantly male crew were lined up next to the gang plank, ready to greet Twilight as her and her friends made their way aboard. “Your highness,” the moustached captain greeted in a crisp voice, “welcome aboard, may I just say what an honour it is to be able to provide you with transport today.” “That’s quite alright,” Twilight responded, her cheeks turning a little pink, “we’re very appreciative of the offer. What time will we reach Aquestria at may I inquire?” “We’ll be ready to drop you off around midnight,” he informed her, “until then we have cabins prepared for your short stay. I’ll have my son show you the way.” With one last thanks to the captain, the crew saluted and dispersed to ready the ship for take-off. One colt, not much younger than themselves rushed forward. “If you would like to follow me your highness,” he offered, stooping a little. “My my, I must say, the manners of these fine sailors is commendable,” Rarity whispered to Twilight as they were led below deck, “tell me Twilight, is there any form of royal thanks you can grant as princess?” “I’m not sure,” Twilight admitted, “I’ll have Spike send a letter to Celestia while we travel.” The cabins they had been offered were impeccable, clearly the crew had been working overtime to have them in such presentable condition with so little forewarning. “Oh my,” Fluttershy commented, fluttering over to the porthole, “you can see under the water as we’re travelling, that’s fascinating.” “Uh,” Rainbow said with a small sway, “I think I’ll take the other room.” Clarity watched after her, and noticed as she opened the door the other cabin had no windows. “Have you ever been on a boat Fluttershy?” Twilight asked stepping up next to her. “No, never,” she said in awe as some indistinguishable creature swam past. “Now that yah mention it, ah’ve never been off the land myself,” Applejack commented. “Oh, there’s nothing quite like a relaxing voyage, I’m sure even you will absolutely love it,” Rarity informed her with a little sigh added in for dramatic effect, “why don’t we head up on deck after take-off?” “That sounds mighty fun, you girls in?” Applejack said sounding trilled at the prospect, Fluttershy nodded eagerly. “I’m going to get some rest first,” Twilight said, “and remember if you’re up there to stay out of the crew’s way, this isn’t a cruise after all and we don’t want to abuse their kindness.” “You have nothing to fear Twilight, our decorum will be nothing short of regal,” Rarity assured her. “I wasn’t referring to you,” Twilight said stiffly, her eyes bouncing over to pink mare who was currently spinning around to see if you got dizzy quicker on a boat that on land. “Ah, well I’ll keep an eye on her,” Rarity whispered back knowingly, Twilight nodded appreciatively before sitting herself down on one of the cabin beds and trying to relax herself. The girls departed soon after they felt the ship roar into life and begin pulling out of the harbour. “Spike, aren’t you going as well?” Twilight asked when she noticed the baby dragon was still in the room. “Really? You don’t remember what happened the last time we were on a boat?” Spike deadpanned. “Of course I remember,” Twilight said rolling her eyes, “but seriously Spike, the chances of being kidnapped by merpeople twice in a single life time are highly improbable.” “Well for once I’m gonna take the safe option and stay inside,” he replied with a disgruntled snort. “If you insist, but while you’re here can you write a letter to the princess for me?” she asked, Spike seemed to brighten up at the request. He reached into Twilight’s bags and whipped out some writing utensils. “Fire away,” he said, glad to be doing something that resembled the way life used to be between them. “That’s my number one assistant, now,” she said clearing her throat, “’dear princess Celestia…’” ~ Rainbow Dash’s father was in the kitchen, trying his hoof at cooking. This was swiftly becoming a weekly tradition in their house, he would dabble in cooking, insisting this time it would be different, and every time he’d all but burn the house to the ground, Dash would sigh and hand him a take away menu and the two would laugh about it later over pizza. It was the smell of his weekly tradition that finally got Rainbow Dash to come out of her room, knowing that if she want there to stop her father, nopony would. “Look who’s finally up and about,” her father said happily, noticing a very disgruntled filly stomp into the kitchen, “today’s dinner will be Roasted chestnut & herb pesto pasta with mushrooms.” “No dad,” Rainbow Dash deadpanned, “dinner will be burnt Roasted chestnut & herb pesto pasta with mushrooms, a warning from the fire department and the cheapest noodles we can get at seven in the evening.” Her dad started laughing, “How did I raise such a smart ass?” “So, I was thinking about what you said,” Rainbow Dash said taking a seat at the dinner table, “maybe a holiday… wouldn’t be such a terrible idea.” “That’s the spirit!” her dad exclaimed as the stove behind him burst into flames. After a panicked several minutes the two sat on the sofa, every window in the house cracked open to allow the clouds of smoke to flow freely from the cloud house. “You know, you don’t have to cook,” Dash said quietly. “I know,” her dad replied sadly. The two sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before Dash finally broke it. “So what did you have in mind for holiday?” “Well, I wanted to hear what you fancied, but I did notice a pretty decent cruise in a magazine the other day.” Dash mulled this over in her mind; she’d never been on a boat before let alone a cruise. “Sounds like fun… what could go wrong?” ~ “Is anypony else seein’ the problem with this?” Applejack asked as the ship slowed to a snail’s pace. Indeed the group of ponies saw nothing as far as the eye could see but a vast stretch of inky black waves. “Yeah, shouldn’t there be a rig or trawler or something?” Twilight asked, gazing over the side of the boat. No sooner had she said so than a loud, slow ringing began echoing from the bridge of the boat, and the captain called out over the deck. “Hold onto something ladies!” Twilight obeyed without question, gripping the rails she was leaning against, then she felt something wrap tightly around her and turned her head awkwardly to see that Rainbow Dash had finally come up and was now clinging to her, her eyes screwed shut. “Rainbow, what are you…” but she never finished as at that moment there was a low moaning sound, and before Twilight’s eyes the waves broke apart as something began to rise from the depths. It was difficult to see in the low light, especially since the moon was clouded over, but the ships lights illuminated it. It appeared to be a cylindrical tank, crafted from what appeared to be pearl with glass lining the wall. “What is that?” Clarity asked dumbfounded once the structure stopped rising and stood stoically on the water surface. “That’s the Lift,” the captain informed them stepping out of nowhere, “that’s your transport down.” “Down,” Rainbow repeated with a nervous gulp that nopony acknowledged, they were too busy staring in awe at the Lift. With a hoof gesture the crew members ran forward and readied the gangplank, sliding it out to meet a glass door that had slid open on the Lift. “I guess this is where we let you off,” the captain said bowing, “it’s been a pleasure.” “The pleasure has been all ours,” Twilight replied nodding at Spike who held up leather pouch. “As recognition of your service, I am here by bestowing upon each of you the Evening Star for services to royalty.” As she spoke Rarity levitated half a dozen medals from the pouch Spike held and gave them to each of the crew members and finally the captain. “Your highness, I don’t know what to say,” he said, his formal manner slipping in his surprise. “There’s no need to say anything,” Twilight bowing her head gratefully, “May peace and harmony always be with you.” As the whole crew bowed once more, each one unable to hide the thrill at receiving such prise, Twilight stepped onto the gang plank and made her way over to the Lift. Once inside she found it lit with a pleasant white glow, she quickly noticed this was due to a series of complex runes carved into the pearl forming the floor and ceiling. “Look Spike,” Twilight said as the dragon joined her in the Lift, “there must be hundreds of enchantments placed on this room alone to make it fit for living in.” “Renewing those must be a drag,” Spike groaned. Very soon all the others had joined them in the confined space, including Dash who needed some encouragement from the crew to step out onto the gang plank. “So now what happens?” Fluttershy asked, walking around the room admiring the feat of magical engineering. “I guess we just…” Twilight began, but then the glass doors slid shut and the Lift gave a small rumble answering her question, “never mind.” After the initial tremble the Lift began to descend into the waves, in a surprisingly smooth motion. Almost all of the ponies stood around the wall, peering out of the glass, waiting to catch a glimpse of Aquestria, Dash on the other hoof stood in the centre picturing the sky on a mildly cloudy day. “Oh this is going to be so much fun,” Pinkie squealed, “do you think they keep fish as pets and walk them on leads.” “Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds?” Applejack asked, although she was smiling at the notion. “Wouldn’t it be just marvellous if the whole city resembled this?” Rarity asked, gesturing to the rune carved pearl construct they stood in. “Oh, I see something,” Fluttershy gasped, they all rushed to press their noses against the glass as indeed a faint glow seemed to be emerging as they continued to descend. “Ohhh,” the all breathed as the pale glow spread throughout the ocean around them. Then something began to emerge, it looked like a spire of sorts, pearl white, however it was difficult to make out through the constantly rippling current. Then, without warning, the Lift broke right through the water, emerging into a relatively dry environment. All the Lift’s inhabitants stared, their jaws swinging open, even Dash’s mouth formed a small ‘o’. “That…” Clarity began, looking for the right words, “is incredible.” They no longer descended through water; instead the entire city of Aquestria was contained in an invisible bubble, almost like a snow globe. However this feat was nothing compared with the actually city. Rarity could not have been more accurate in her desires, the city was an awe inspiring cluster of domes, spires and cathedral like structures, all carved from the same rune embroidered pearl, thus explaining the heavenly pale glow spread out from the city. There seemed to be no space that was not being used for something, the entire hemisphere Aquestria was contained within was filled to the brim with structures. “You said it Sugarcube,” Applejack murmured, her eyes glued to the sight before her. “What do you think Rare?” Rarity just babbled some indistinguishable nonsense, her eyes glazed, and a tiny amount of saliva dripping down her chin. “It’s beautiful,” Fluttershy chipped in. “At the next summit, I am supporting whatever plans Mare Equus has for expansions,” Twilight said firmly, the others hadn’t a clue what she was referring to, but nodded absent minded none the less. They became so lost staring down upon the city that the ride ended all too soon. With a shuddering jolt, the Lift touched down upon a pearl platform where a group of figures were gathered, apparently to greet them. As the glass doors slid open, Twilight led the way out, staring all around her at the incredible sights. “It is quite the sight isn’t it?” a voice said, drawing Twilight’s attention away from the city. She looked forward to see one of the figures had stepped forward from the group, not just any figure either. “Mare Equus,” Twilight said bowing politely, the alicorn quirked an eyebrow in response to this. “I appreciate the gesture Twilight Sparkle, but you and I are of equal standing, you should not bow to me,” she informed her; Twilight was surprised by her matter of fact tone. Infact, now that she was here, she was only now getting her first good look at the water princess. The sapphire blue scales and translucent orange fins where an alicorns wings would normally be, she remembered well. The mane of bubbles which had seemed short and active during the summit appeared more relaxed and flowing here, much like Celestia’s mane. Twilight also noticed she was still wearing the steel breast plate, adorned with the trident across the front and looking thoroughly worn with the sea wear and coral lightly encrusting it. Similarly were the bangles around her legs and the tiara perched upon her head, each topped with a smooth jewel. Twilight wondered if this was her version of royal dress, much like Twilight’s crown. “Thank you for extending the invitation, your city is just beautiful,” Twilight complimented, Mare Equus’s expression didn’t change. “Yes, aesthetically there are few that can hope to compete,” she admitted, “but i worked hard to build it, as such I know of its deepest flaws. For example, the Lift that brought you here, gives passengers a nice view, but for transportation to and from the outside world, it is almost useless. Aquestria has been for nearly two hundred years and it remains our only door outside.” “I can see why that would be a problem,” Twilight acknowledged, she could tell Mare Equus was frustrated by the lack of development, this explained why she was so eager at the summit to push forward her plans for expansion. “Once this terrible business is all over, I’ll certainly see what I can do to help.” At that comment the water princess cracked her first smile. “Thank you Twilight Sparkle,” she said, sounding genuine, “I had a good feeling about you from our brief encounter at the summit, now I am beginning to see that initial view was quite close to the mark.” “Thank you,” Twilight replied, this was going swimmingly. “Now that pleasantries are out of the way we can set off,” she began again gesturing for Twilight to walk with her, “no doubt you are as eager to see an end to this Aether problem as myself.” “Definitely.” “Good, then we shall not delay,” she continued as they walked, “you can inform your servants that we’re heading off now.” “Servants? They’re not my servants, they’re my friends.” Mare Equus didn’t seem to care about Twilight’s contradiction. “Whatever,” she replied with a shrug. Twilight frowned, they were getting along well, she didn’t want to spoil things by arguing with her over something as small as this, but she didn’t like having her friends referred to as servants. Shrugging it off, she looked over to them, they had stood at a polite distance, unsure whether they should approach the princess or not. “Come on girls, we’re moving on to the gate,” she informed them; they seemed satisfied with this and trotted to catch up. Aquestria was a fascinating city; Twilight prayed they would have just a little time after closing the gate to hang around. As she examined the many buildings they passed through she recognised many of the different rune combinations. Some were designed to support the protection bubble, keeping the entire city from flooding; others were used to maintain the varieties of sea life in the city that would otherwise have been deprived of water. The locals were a varied bunch, while they saw many ponies, few could be considered ‘normal’, many had some adaption much like the princess herself, whether it be scales, gills, fins, some even had entire limbs altered to give them an underwater advantage. Besides the ponies there were octopuses, turtles, all manner of fish (it was mainly for them that the protection runes were intended). They all seemed relatively cheery, it reminded Twilight of life in Equestria, but then of course Aquestria was still a young nation that had originally stemmed from Equestria. As they journeyed Mare Equus gave Twilight a brief history which she lapped up with delight, it was incredible to think how so much had been constructed in such a short space of time, there was no denying Mare Equus was a diligent type. “But I ramble on, you’re probably more interested in the gate,” she said after a long lecture on the challenges involved with underwater farming. Frankly Twilight could have listened forever but she did have a mission that came first after all. “The gate is actually many miles out, not too far mind you, but we’re going to have to take one the subs from the royal dock.” “Sub?” Twilight repeated. “Yes, a submarine,” she elaborated, “in simple terms it’s an underwater boat, they’ve been essential in the development of Aquestria.” “And, quick question, the gate is in the ocean right?” Mare Equus nodded, “then how will we close it? We have to be standing around it to use the elements.” “A valid question, one I had already considered,” she explained, “after discovering its location I sent my most trusted mages to erect a dry zone around it for your benefit.” “Dry zone… like the one around this place?” Twilight asked gesturing to the dome surrounding Aquestria. “Indeed,” Mare Equus replied, letting the conversation die there. After walking for some time their destination came into view, they had diverged from the main road they had previously been travelling along and walked until they arrived at a low, bunker like building sitting right at the edge of the dry zone. Like all the buildings in Aquestria, it was crafted from pearl, featuring many windows. Unlike other buildings however this one was decorated in flowing banners of royal blue, a trident emblazoned on each. The entrance was a tall and regal set of double doors, flanked on either side by two armoured guards. As they approached the guards snapped to attention and the doors swung open for them. “There are docks all over Aquestria,” Mare Equus explained as they passed through into the wide expanse, “but this is my own private one, nopony but I and my personnel are permitted to enter.” Twilight didn’t respond, she was barely listening as her eyes had fell on what she could only assume was the submarine; it was an impressive sight, befitting of the city she had just witnessed. It appeared to be stylised to look like a sword fish, like the buildings it was carved from pearl with runic letters etched into it, however Twilight also noted there was a brass, skeletal frame attached, as well as four arms reminiscent of the claws princess Vegnum had, stretching from the walls to hold the vessel in place. “A beautiful vessel your majesty,” Rarity complimented, but much to Twilight’s surprise, Mare Equus ignored her. “We will set sail in twenty minutes,” she announced curtly, “you may board when ready.” With that she walked away from them, assumingly to make her own arrangements, Twilight turned to her friends for the first time since they had arrived. “Well girls, what do you think?” she asked, her tone clearly telling them her own thoughts. “Spectacular,” Rarity exclaimed gazing all around her. “It’s mighty impressive,” Applejack acknowledged, “and that’s comin’ from a girl who’s about as in love with the land as ye can get.” “It is so under-waterific!” Pinkie declared, hoping madly around them, “what do you think Dashie?” They all looked to Rainbow Dash and let out a collective gasp as they saw the usually cool and collected Pegasus sitting on her haunches, her coat sweaty and breathing like oxygen was about to have a tax put on it. “Oh Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy began sounding worried, “are you sick?” “I’m fine, what are you talking about?” she replied in a voice vaguely reminiscent of the time Rarity entered the Young Flyers Competition in Cloudsdale, “I mean, we’re in this amazing city under water! We just met the princess of water! And now we’re about to get on a boat that sails, UNDER THE WATER!” All the ponies gathered looked nervously at one another. “Alright Rainbow Dash,” Twilight began, “I get the feeling you’re trying to tell us something…” “Seriously Twilight,” Spike said with a deadpan expression, “even I can figure out what’s going on.” Twilight opened her mouth but was interrupted by a whistle coming from the submarine. They all looked around to, to their surprise, an octopus sitting on the ramp leading to the rear entrance. “The princess said ‘board when you were ready’, but that basically means now,” he explained in a surprisingly comprehensible tone. Looking back at the others, who just shrugged, Twilight started for the sub, the others following closely behind. Only Clarity was left with the still shuddering Rainbow Dash. “How long are you going to keep denying this?” she asked exasperated, “admit you’re afraid of water.” “I am not afraid of water!” Dash spat back, Clarity sighed and walked away from her, at which point Dash whispered to herself, “I’m afraid of drowning.” ~ Rainbow Dash was finally ready to admit she was enjoying herself, though she wasn’t looking forward to the ‘I told you so look’ she would receive from her father. The cruise had been far better than she could have hoped for, it was the perfect balance of relaxing with its lounge chairs and on deck pool, and fun with its many activities in the evenings and the bar games available. They were the only reason her dad had permitted her to be in the bar, and it was only to be when he was there to keep an eye on her. It might have seemed silly to some but her dad knew all too well of her astounding ability to hustle darts and pool. The trip had been the perfect thing to help Dash forget her disappointment at losing out on the Equestrian games. It was their fourth day when she finally broke the pleasant silence between the two of them as they bathed in the sun. “Thanks dad,” she said simply, this caused him to raise his eyebrows in surprise. “What was that? I didn’t hear you,” he replied jokingly. “Please don’t make me say it again,” Dash whined, “this was just a good idea is all.” Her dad didn’t respond, nothing needed to be said, and he didn’t want to make his daughter feel any more uncomfortable than she already did. Rainbow Dash sighed contentedly, her eyes shutting gently, her breathing slowing down. She didn’t even notice when the sun was blotted out, or hear the waves turning violent, not until she heard the sound of the siren wailing over the deck. ~ “If you’ve liked everything up to this point,” Mare Equus began, joining Twilight at the cockpit window, “you’re going to love this bit.” With a curt nod of approval to the octopus who now sat behind some sort of command console, the submarine shuddered into life and the arms Twilight had seen earlier picked the entire vessel up so it no longer rested on the floor of the dock. The octopus continued to fiddle about with controls before anything else happened, Twilight noticed Pinkie’s head spinning around madly, desperate she didn’t miss anything. “Eyes ahead,” Mare Equus advised, Twilight returned her attention to the window in time to see the entire facing wall of the dock crack open in the centre and began sliding open. The dry zone ended at this point, held impossibly still in front of them, as if a glass sheet had been erected where the dock wall once stood. Next Twilight felt the sub lurch forward, as it was thrust quite unceremoniously by the metal arms through the vertical sheet of water. With a quick flurry of tentacles the pilot detached the sub from the arms holding it and let it drift through the water, not for long though as following yet more fumbling Twilight felt something come to life deep within the sub and it began to propel itself through the water. “We will arrive at the gate in a matter of hours,” Mare Equus informed them, stepping away from the window and making for the door at the back of the control room. “If you require rest now would be the time to obtain it.” With that she opened the door in her liquid aura and departed the room. “This is pretty fun,” Applejack admitted, still staring out the window. “Pretty fun!” Pinkie exclaimed, shocked by Applejack’s choice of adjective, “this is super, duper, awesome, amazing fun!” “Or that,” Applejack gave her, “so have you calmed down yet RD?” But as they turned to see how the panicking Pegasus was holding up they just caught a glimpse of a rainbow tail swishing through the door. “I’ll go check on her,” Twilight said before any of the others could say anything. Without waiting for a response she marched for the door, giving a polite smile to the driver who waved back with one of his tentacles. Reaching the door she subconsciously summoned her magic to telekinetically open the door… and walked face first into it. Rubbing her nose she ignored the snickering of her friends behind her and opened it by hoof instead. The rest of the sub was fairly basic, the door she entered through led into a narrow corridor with several other rooms leading off from it. One door had an armed guard standing by it which Twilight presumed was the princess’s quarters. As she walked along she was about to ask the guard if he had seen Rainbow Dash before she noticed one of the doors was partly open. Crossing the distance towards it she began to hear a peculiar sound coming from within, she couldn’t distinguish what it was as it was too muffled. Reaching forward she pushed the door open steadily to see Rainbow Dash lying on a bed facing away from her. “Rainbow Dash, are you alright?” Twilight asked moving into the room, Dash didn’t reply, but flinched noticeably at the sound of her voice. “Please Dash, we’re worried about you. Whatever it is that’s bothering you, you can talk to us.” Still no response, Twilight sighed and pulled up a chair, taking a seat at the opposite end of the room, facing Dash with folded hooves. “I’m staying here whether you talk to me or not,” she informed the Pegasus, still nothing. Twilight suppressed a groan, why was Dash so difficult? ~ Rainbow Dash must have been lying there for a couple hours at least; a part of her was impressed by her unusual display of patience. It wasn’t until she finally heard the rhythmic snoring of Twilight that she finally rolled over. Twilight looked anything but regal slouched on the chair, her jaw slack. Rainbow sighed as she stretched her limbs, she missed land, she missed the sky, but she missed her wings most of all, her one constant safety net over the years, the knowledge that if things got too bad she could fly straight up to freedom. Yet here she was, countless leagues beneath the ocean, and her wings made useless. With a sigh she crawled off the bed and landed awkwardly on her hooves, soon this would all be over, they could go home and she would never have to come back again. With a more optimistic outlook she finally cracked her first smile of the day. “Just a couple more hours,” she whispered so as not to wake her friend, “what can go wrong in that time?” She just had to say it… ~ Pinkie Pie had been having the time of her life, glued to the window of the cockpit with her friends, pointing out the various sea creatures that swam past them, if only Twilight would come back with Dashie, and then everything would be perfect. Yes, she had been having the time of her life, that is, until she wandered up behind the pilot, intent on getting a closer look at the creature she had never encountered before. It was as she had stood there, pondering the best way to go about befriending him, that she saw it. The control console the octopus was fiddling with was incredibly complex; Pinkie couldn’t even begin to fathom what anything did. Until she saw one button that drowned out everything around her, the big, round, red button, labelled ‘do not press’. For Pinkie it was like the rest of the world stop existing, all that remained was herself and the button, the only sound, the thumping of her heart echoing through the whole cockpit. As she stared her eyes became wide, she licked her lips, she was becoming filled to the brim with that unforgettable feeling, the one she felt every time she saw a sign saying ‘do not walk on the grass’ or ‘wet paint, do not touch’. Before Pinkie knew it, she was raising a pink hoof, slowly and steadily, her left eye giving an involuntary twitch. She was nearing he button, she was so close, she could almost feel it giving way beneath her… “Hey Pinkie, whatcha doin?” a voice asked, pulling her back to reality. She felt dizzy as she turned to see Applejack walking up towards her. “Just seeing how this all works,” she lied, although be now she was struggling to remember what the truth of the matter was. “Well leave the gentleman alone, he needs to focus,” Applejack scolded, Pinkie nodded sadly and walked back to the window with her fellow earth pony. The octopus had barely noticed the pink pony’s presence, far too focused with his own task to pay any heed to what unbeknownst to him was about to be a disastrous situation. He was so focused in fact, that when one of his tentacles absently reached out for his cup of coffee, he didn’t notice his oily grip over the polystyrene cup was insufficient. He barely noticed when the cup slipped from his grasp; it was only when it hit the console, spilling scalding hot coffee all over it that he finally noticed. ~ Rainbow Dash was launched off her hooves, she was sent spiralling across the room by the sudden jolt that travelled through the sub. The next thing she knew her head had collided sharply with something of equal density which was purple. The ringing in her own head was enough to drown out the sound of the emergency sirens being blasted through the ship, but even if Dash had heard them she couldn’t have reacted as she was still being thrown across the room, this time bundled with what she now realised was her own alicorn friend. By the time the two had stopped being hurled around the small room; they were in a heap… on the ceiling, surrounded by their last meal. “Rainbow, what the hay…” Twilight began screaming, but Rainbow Dash wasn’t paying attention. Now that they lay relatively still, though she could still feel the sub getting buffeted about, she was beginning to make out the room as her vision cleared. All the previously white runes were now flashing red; the door to the room had been buckled in, and all around the room, cracks spider webbed over the pearl walls, slowly but steadily spraying the room in water. Rainbow Dash clambered to her hooves, ignoring the pain shooting through her body, particularly her wings which she had landed on more than once while getting tossed about like a rag doll. She stared in disbelief as sea water gushed into the room, filling it slowly from one corner of the ceiling. Twilight was shouting something, but Rainbow Dash had become frozen in horror at what was happening around her. I’m going to drown! I’m going to die! Her breathing became panicked and laboured and she didn’t even acknowledge Twilight dragging her from the room by the tail. The hallway outside was no better, the flashing red was incredibly disorienting for Twilight as she pulled the seemingly paralysed Rainbow Dash along with her. Her head was throbbing where Dash had impacted against her, she was angry but at the same time she was afraid she wouldn’t have woken up in time otherwise. She needed to get back to the cockpit with her friends, that meant going left. Unfortunately whatever had happened caused the hallway to slant steeply upwards, and the gradient was still increasing until soon it would be vertical and she would have no hope of getting up. She wasn’t a strong enough flyer to pull Rainbow Dash up with her, especially with her being so inflexible. Without wasting any more time she pushed forward, dragging Rainbow along, trying to ignore the water cascading down the hall making it almost impossible for her to get a solid footing. More than once she slipped and would have fallen straight down if not for her being able to brace herself by wedging herself in the narrow corridor with her outstretched wings. “Rainbow, I need you to help me!” she shouted through gritted teeth, still clinging onto her tail, but the Pegasus was still being unresponsive, now shaking violently. With no choice, Twilight gave up trying to talk a sense of urgency into her and continued her uphill battle towards the cockpit, trailing her friend along with her. All the while the she felt massive jolts go through the sub and hear sickening cracks indicating the pearl it was built from was giving way even more. With a gasp of air Twilight finally reached the end of the corridor, rounding a corner, allowing her to release Rainbow and taking a moment to catch her breath, but something was wrong. This didn’t look like it did when she first left the cockpit to go find Rainbow Dash, it looked more like… And with a horrifying moment of realisation she understood, she hadn’t even realised the ship was upside down, her splitting headache had seen to that. So when she left the room with Dash in tow, she should have gone right to the cockpit, but she went left… to the rear exit they had entered through. Twilight swore loudly, the sub was now hanging vertical, she couldn’t get back down the corridor safely, and they were trapped up here for the time being. Twilight cursed her horn rot now more than ever as she thought desperately of what they could possibly do, however she didn’t have to think long as she could hear a low aching coming from behind her. Snapping her head around she managed to see the widening cracks in the wall just behind the still panic stricken Rainbow Dash, and just had time to leap forward and grab hold of her as the whole wall, or maybe it was actually the floor, of the sub gave way, and water came rushing in. The next moments were absolute chaos, Twilight was for the second time in far too short a time frame, thrown about with Rainbow Dash wrapped up in her hooves. When she finally started to slow she opened her eyes, but she immediately wished she hadn’t. In the commotion the two had been wrenched out of the hole made in the sub and were now caught in the outside current, and she could see what remained of the sub. it had apparently crashed nose first into rocky outcrop, why the octopus had steered them into such a hazardous area Twilight couldn’t fathom, and she didn’t have time to either as both her and Dash were being dragged down. Flapping her wings she tried desperately to direct them, but her feathered wings were made for the air, not water, and her lack of magic meant she was desperately running out of air as well. On top of all that she didn’t even know what state Dash was in. As she fought against the current, she was inexorably tugged deeper and deeper, until the pair of them collided with the side of what resembled an underwater mountain. Twilight pushed desperately against the water, rolling hopelessly over the jagged surface. She was beginning to lose all hope, when suddenly the rock behind her gave way and she was sucked into something much darker. Again she was at the mercy of the current, that was now intent on dragging her further into the cave until all light was extinguished from view and the two of them were lost in a pitch black underwater prison, that was very quickly going to become their tomb. Twilight would have cried if she had been able, to have come this far, to have so many depending on her, and she was about to drown in this little ocean cave, probably never to be found or heard of again. Then a faint glimmer of hope sparked in her chest, if the others found safety, perhaps Mare Equus protected them, Clarity could still wield the element of magic, the world still had a chance. But then she remembered the weight she was carrying, Rainbow Dash would still die with her here. No! I will not give up! Dash would never roll over and die if one of us depended on her! With new found determination she kicked out desperately reaching forward with a hoof. All around her she felt nothing but rock, but she wasn’t going to give up. She kicked herself in the direction her mind was telling her was up, still feeling around for anything that might… something felt different, the cave seemed to be stretching upwards. Without a second thought Twilight kicked out with the last of her strength, following the tunnel she had found. Her lungs were screaming, she had tried until that point to hum, having read it in a book, but now there was no air left. This had to be the right way, there had to be something, anything, if not this was the end… Twilight’s head broke the surface of the water, followed swiftly by her grateful gasp of air. Dash made no sound and for a moment she feared the worst. Paddling herself and the now very heavy weight that was Rainbow Dash across the water, she flailed her free hoof, looking for anything she could set Dash onto. It seemed her luck hadn’t let up as soon enough she found a small shell of rock jutting out over the surface. Surprising herself with the sudden burst of strength, she heaved the Pegasus up onto the platform, before pulling herself up after. Twilight had never been in an emergency situation quite so text book as this one, but luckily she had read and memorised the text book, and just about every other vaguely relevant book, so she knew what to do. She quickly lowered her ear to the Pegasus’s mouth and chest, no breathing but there was a faint pulse, no doubt she had swallowed water. Immediately she set about pumping down on her chest, before performing mouth to mouth, in the back of her mid she was desperately thankful Rainbow Dash wasn’t awake for this; she would never let Twilight live it down. This exercise continued for some minutes, Twilight knew it wasn’t supposed to be instant but a nagging doubt started to make itself known that it was a lost cause. She shook her head, ridding herself of the negative thoughts. She would do this forever if she had to, however the minutes began to stretch out and steadily the worry began creeping back into her mind. She barely noticed how her own breathing had become panicked, the pace quickening frighteningly. Tears began to sting the corners of her eyes, as she began a cycle of mouth to mouth. “Wake up!” she screamed pulling back and hammering on her chest, the dam of composure finally breaking and her tears spilling out, “please Rainbow, don’t leave me!” Then, suddenly, miraculously, the Pegasus spluttered. Twilight was so taken aback she simply froze up and stared as her friend began coughing up enough water to fill a bath. When she was done she began taking deep rattling breaths, Twilight finally managed to shake out of her stupor to sweep Rainbow up and hold in hug Pinkie would have found too tight. “You’re okay,” she cried, easing up on her hugging when she heard Rainbow start to choke again. “Twilight,” she breathed in a disturbingly weak voice, “I… I’m alive?” “Yes, you’re alive,” Twilight said at an attempt at her normally calm, analytical voice while she began wiping her eyes. “You saved me,” Dash whispered, staring at Twilight with an odd look in her eyes. Twilight laughed modestly looking away slightly. “No thanks to you,” she joked, “you were frozen up like a statue.” Her words seemed to strike a chord with Rainbow who turned her head away and cast her eyes down in shame. “I’m sorry,” she muttered, Twilight wasn’t really angry, as she had fought to get through the corridor she had imagined tearing Dash a new one for causing her so much trouble, but after the panic that had just ensued she found she couldn’t be angry at her, she was too grateful to see her alive. “What… what happened back there?” Twilight asked tentatively. “I…” Dash began, shaking once more. What followed shook Twilight to the core. Rainbow Dash looked into her eyes, her brimming with tears, “I’m afraid of water!” Twilight just stared for a moment, in any other circumstances she would have assumed Dash was just being really committed to a prank, but now it just freaked her out. The Rainbow Dash, afraid of something to the point of freezing up and crying! “But… but you’re not afraid of anything,” Twilight replied quietly. Dash looked away in shame once more, Twilight realised she had been callous in her choice of words, she scooted forward sand embraced her friend. “Shhh, it’s alright,” she whispered as her friend quietly sobbed into her shoulder, “Just… talk to me.” Rainbow took a deep shuddering breath, not replying for a long time, when she did however, her response wasn’t what Twilight was expecting. “It was my father…” ~ The filly Rainbow Dash was rushed away by a member of the crew, he didn’t answer any of the questions she asked him, jut told her they had to get to the life boats now. She didn’t want to leave without her father, but the crew member was insisting he would be there waiting for them. Once they arrived they found the other side of the ship packed with ponies desperately fighting for a place on the life boats. “Mares and foals first!” the captain was shouting, the crew member who had taken Rainbow Dash whistled for his attention. When the captain saw them he waved them over. Rainbow Dash was led over to the captain, where he immediately set about finding room for her on one of the boats. “Please sir,” she began, politer than usual; “I need to find my dad.” “Your daddy will be fine,” he assured her, “he’ll get on one of the other life boats once we’ve made sure you’re safe.” Rainbow looked all around the crowd, it was comprised mostly of men, being the last group to be moved onto the boats, her father wasn’t among them. “No wait!” she squealed as the captain tried to pick her up, “my dad isn’t here yet.” “Don’t worry little filly, we won’t leave anyone behind,” he replied in his kindest voice, Rainbow Dash could have trusted him, she could have got onto the boat and hoped for the best that her father would be okay… “No!” she screamed running from the edge of the deck, fighting through the crowd to get back intot he ship, “I won’t lose him too!” ~ “Too?” Twilight questioned, “Rainbow… are you saying your mother…” “Yeah,” Dash said glumly, “it was a year earlier, just an accident, nothing more.” Suddenly she let out a small laugh taking Twilight by surprise. “She was always the cook in our house,” she explained, her expression suddenly very distant, “she would insist on making up home cooked meals. After she passed dad tried his hoof at it, it would never be very good, it became more of a running joke than anything. Although I think he did as his own way of remembering her…” Rainbow drifted off for a moment, thinking back to those happier days, Twilight hated to have to tear her away from them but she wanted her to continue her story, and she knew Rainbow needed to get this out. “Rainbow, you were saying about the cruise,” she reminded her gently, Dash nodded sadly. “The boat was a nightmare to get through, I won’t give you the details, I think you’ve experienced enough of sinking ships today,” she explained before continuing. ~ Rainbow Dash found her dad, whatever had happened to the ship, a beam had come loose in the engine room and fallen across her father’s hind legs. The cruise ship they had been on had been one of the earliest models of ship designed for recreation. It had been built, boasting itself to be the most unsinkable ship to date; clearly the engineers’ pride had resulted in them overlooking obvious defects when treating the hull of the ship for water resistance. “Rainbow,” her dad called out weakly as he saw her running forward, “you need to get out of here, I’m sure their evacuating ponies.” “They are, but I wasn’t going to leave you,” she told him, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and… a part of him had been afraid it was. “That’s really heroic of you, but Dashie listen,” he said, his voice turning stern, “I’ll be fine, I’ll get myself out of here, you just worry about yourself.” Rainbow Dash shook her head, what a stubborn filly, just like her father. “I’m not leaving you,” she replied, her dad opened his mouth to reply but at that moment a section of the wall ruptured and water began pouring. Rainbow rushed forward and began pushing against the beam, her father yelled out in agony. Confused, she looked closer, her heart sank. a twisted barb of metal had been jutting from the beam as it fell, and it was now embedded in her father’s hind leg. She looked up, meeting his eye, and realised, when he’d told her he’d free himself, he had been lying to get her to leave, he had accepted his fate. “No,” she whispered. “Listen to me Rainbow,” he said, his voice quivering, giving away his own fear, “I’m not getting out of here.” “No!” Rainbow repeated, screaming this time, her eyes welling with tears. “Listen!” her father ordered, water was pooling around them now, “I will not make it out of here, but you can. You can get to that deck; you can get off this boat. You can go to flight academy; you can show everypony you’re the fastest flyer in Equestria. You can join the Wonderbolts and become famous. You can have friends and a family of your own. You can have all these things but you have to leave now!” “I can’t go without you,” the filly sobbed, “I can’t do it alone.” “You won’t be alone,” her father whispered, his voice weakening, “you’ll never be alone. Just so long as you always remember…” Another explosion drowned out her father’s words, as more streams of water cascaded down upon them, the room filling even faster now. “GO NOW!” her father shouted as the water threatened to cover his head. Rainbow Dash took one last look at her father, before she turned tail, and ran. ~ Rainbow Dash was now crying with full force, clinging to her best friend who stroked her hair and draped her wings over her. Twilight didn’t say anything, just held on to her friend and gave her a shoulder to cry on. After several minutes of painful silence, Twilight finally felt Rainbow Dash’s shaking eased. “Rainbow, I’m so sorry,” she whispered into the Pegasus’s ear, “I know that was hard for you.” “I-I’ve never told anyone that before,” she stammered, her voice a mere croak now. “I tried to be brave when we came here, but when the sub… it just felt too much like…” “I know, I know,” Twilight soothed as she broke into another wave of sobs. Twilight thought desperately of what she could possibly say to make Dash feel any better, but when nothing came to mind, she settled for silence, letting her friend cry herself dry. She didn’t know how long they were sitting there for, but Twilight became vaguely aware of a chill sweeping up her body. Foolishly she chose to ignore it, passing it off as a reaction to hearing Dash’s story. When she became aware of it again, it was obvious the water was rising. “Rainbow!” she exclaimed, she had noticed it then too. Both of them leapt to their hooves, the water in the cave was rising, but how? Twilight could only assume the subs crash had upset something. Looking around desperately they scanned the small cave for a possible exit, trying not to think about the fact that it would only lead to the rest of the ocean. “Twilight,” Rainbow said hoarsely, “I can see you!” “Well of course you can,” she replied slightly exasperatedly, “I’ve been able to see you since we first got into this cave.” “No, I mean, if we can see each other, then there must be some kind of light.” Twilight slapped her head, of course, why hadn’t she realised that? The light in the cave was dim but present none the less. Looking around once more, but this time with a notion of what she was looking for, Twilight guessed the light was coming from above them. “Up!” she shouted, Rainbow nodded and moved over to Twilight. They embraced awkwardly; Twilight wasn’t a great flyer with passengers, much less a mare the same size as her. Flapping her wings she gained some height, it wasn’t mush and t was a strain none the less, but she kept it up. As they began ascending higher and higher, Twilight got the distinct feeling the water was rising at an accelerated rate. Looking back over her shoulder her eyes widened in shock, after taking minutes to rise over their ankles, the platform they had once sat on was long since buried. “Something must be giving way,” Twilight said, still pumping her wing muscles, “it’s getting faster!” No sooner had she said it than there was a stomach churning crunching noise below them, followed swiftly by the familiar sound of rushing water. Twilight didn’t need to look to know the cave wall was giving way, Dash was also beginning to show symptoms of fear, soon she would become unresponsive and too awkward to fly safely with. Twilight picked up the pace, fighting to reach the crack of light so near and yet so very far above them. They were closer now and while Twilight couldn’t discern the source of the light, it was a strangely familiar shade of blue. More cracking could be heard rising through the cave as they continued to ascend; Twilight chose to ignore it, focusing instead on the increasing difficulty of flapping her wings. She was so intent on reaching the cave ceiling and that pale blue light that she didn’t hear Dash’s cry of warning, when it did register with her, she looked up far too late to avoid the falling rock. ~ The sudden moment of panic sent a burst of adrenaline through Rainbow Dash, temporarily freeing her from her paralysed state of fear. When the rock connected violently with Twilight’s face, and they began spiralling out of control, she was able to latch herself onto a fragment of rock jutting from the cave wall. Twilight on the other hoof, who had been knocked clean out, dropped like a rock into the churning water below. Dash’s eyes widened in horror as she hung helplessly from the wall. “Twilight!” she screamed, but to no avail. Her friend, her princess had been pulled away in an instant, obscured by the foaming water still rushing in. it seemed like an eternity Dash hung there, staring in disbelief, her body frozen in terror. It was as if the trauma had forced her consciousness to recede into the depths of her mind, seeking shelter from the harsh reality she had just witnessed. Rainbow Dash was a filly, trying to hide her nervousness as her father taught her to fly. Rainbow Dash was in Ponyville laughing as her best friend Twilight Sparkle flapped like a foal, unaccustomed to her new wings. She tried to hide her head in shame, but then suddenly Rainbow stopped laughing and stepped forward and began walking her through the steps, unusually understanding of her initial difficulties. Rainbow Dash was a filly, planting her face into her hooves as her father explained to the Cloudsdale fire department that ‘he was trying to cook a casserole’. Rainbow Dash was a in the Golden Oaks Library as the lavender unicorn wafted the smoke of her latest failure at baking cupcakes out the open window. While Pinkie continued laughing hysterically, Dash stopped and flew over to Twilight and offered her one of Pinkie’s to cheer her up. Rainbow Dash was a filly, crying into the shoulder of a social worker at her father’s funeral. Rainbow Dash sat in a cave, crying her heart out into the shoulder of her best friend, the very mare that moments earlier had saved her life, Twilight Sparkle. “NO!” Dash yelled, a sudden fire igniting in her chest. Smashing from the fear gripping her she leapt off the rock, away from safety and into the jaws of her greatest fear. She hit the water like a stone weight, but ignored the pain shooting through her body as a result of her poor dive. Her eyes wide with new found determination she sought out her friend in the swirling darkness, and seeing her limp form falling just metres below her. Kicking out she propelled herself down, her teeth were bared in defiance beneath her clenched lips I won’t lose you too! With one last kick she reached Twilight, wrapping her forehooves around her torso. She was heavy, although that might have been due to Dash’s exhaustion, but she didn’t let that stop her. Kicking wildly she tried to right herself, and once she was pointed upwards she began kicking for the surface. The trip up was made more difficult by the unconscious Twilight in her forehooves as well as the continually rising water. But Dash wasn’t going to quit, she wasn’t going to let Twilight down like she had let her father down. Converting her anger and determination into physical strength, she powered upwards, breaking through the surface. She inhaled deeply before turning her attention to Twilight, unlike her studious friends she neither had the knowledge or the patience to carry out the same resuscitation techniques on her. She knew enough, and so proceeded to slap her face a couple of times before grabbing her head, a little more forcefully than necessary, and locking lips with her. As she tried desperately to breathe life into her she continued kicking her hind legs under the surface to keep them both afloat. After a short, panicked minute Twilight finally began breathing of her own accord, although her breaths were short and she bore a strange resemblance to Ditzy Doo as a result of her impact with the falling rock, she was likely concussed. “Twilight, you’re okay!” Dash exclaimed, clutching her friend tight. “Dash, what’s happening?” she asked, terrified as she realised they were neck deep in water. “Doesn’t matter, we need to reach the top if we’re to…” she stopped short as she looked up. The water had risen so that it was now metres away from the ceiling of the cave, the light now revealed to be spilling through a narrow crack. Dash felt all hope die in her chest, they couldn’t fit through that, and with the water rising at this rate and both of them in their current conditions they wouldn’t have the time or the means to make it any bigger. “Rainbow, what’s wrong?” Twilight asked, frightened by the Pegasus’s lack of words. “Nothing,” Rainbow lied in a whisper, clutching Twilight close to her chest, “nothing at all.” No… it’s not fair, after everything, we’re still going to die in here. Rainbow felt tears of hopelessness rising to the surface, Twilight continued to struggle against her, desperate to know what was going on, but Dash didn’t let up, she didn’t want to watch her spirits crumble. Dash closed her eyes and took one last breath as they began to near the top, the end was fast approaching… but it never came. Dash opened her eyes again, surprised that they weren’t submerged yet. Looking down she saw the water was still churning around them, it was trying to rise, but it was as if something was holding it back, some invisible barrier… the dry zone? Could it possibly be… Dash reached up with a hoof and began hammering at the ceiling. “Hey!” she yelled, “is anypony there!” She kept pounding the rock with her hoof, ignoring the pain spiking down her leg. Just as she was beginning to lose hope she heard muffled sounds coming from over their heads, and saw shadows flickering across the crack. Then, as she held her breath, the rocks above their heads shattered. Rainbow quickly cast her eyes down; covering Twilight’s head with the hoof she had used to knock on the ceiling. “Rainbow! Twilight!” a voice exclaimed. Dash looked up; it was, impossibly, her friends, all of them. They all reached down, grabbing hold of the Pegasus and alicorn, pulling them up to safety and laying them down on the damp rock. “You’re okay!” Rarity exclaimed, looking in disbelief. “We were so worried!” cried Pinkie, hugging Dash tightly. Looking up at their friends Dash saw they all had been crying, even Spike who knelt down beside Twilight who had drifted back into unconsciousness at some point. “I…” Rainbow tried, but at that point all the strength she had exerted in order to keep herself and Twilight alive was sapped from her, and she slipped into darkness. ~ Rainbow Dash awoke, her head heavy and numb, to an unfamiliar face. Screaming she scooted as far back from mysterious figure as she could. “Well that’s grateful,” Mare Equus said with no attempt at hiding her disdain. Dash froze, she had just screamed in the face of a princess, but before she could say or do anything, the princess stood up and called over to her friends who were gathered awkwardly some distance away. “She’s awake.” as soon as they heard that they all rushed over, eager to see her up and about. “Hang on,” she said, cutting off the barrage of questions they were asking, “what’s going on? Where are we?” “We’re at the gate,” Clarity replied simply, gesturing behind her. Of course, the light they had seen was the gate. The familiar ethereal blue rip loomed over them, the ominous black orb hovering in the centre. “We thought we’d lost you both.” “Both… Twilight!” Dash exclaimed, looking around wildly for her friend. “The princess took her away after examining her,” Fluttershy explained, “she hasn’t told us anything yet.” “So why am I here?” Dash asked uncertainly, at which point a purple claw tapped her on the shoulder and she turned to see Spike holding out a familiar gold necklace. “Oh yeah.” ~ As the light faded, and Dash felt the element of loyalty go limp around her neck, they looked up, and let out a sigh of relief when the gate was no longer present. “Two down,” she whispered to herself. With the light source gone they would have been cast into absolute darkness if not for a deep blue glow approaching the group. Dash turned to see the princess walking forward, her horn alight. “Well done,” she congratulated, although she sounded indifferent to their accomplishment, “I should apologise, the mistake of my own citizen turned what should have been a simple mission into a nightmare for you all.” “That doesn’t matter,” Dash said dismissively, “how’s Twilight?” “Your princess, will be fine,” she replied sharply, “she has been through a lot, as have you, I only saw to it that you were fit to use your element, but you are still in desperate need of medical attention. I will be teleporting us all back to Aquestria, as we are without transport.” Dash nodded reluctantly, she didn’t want to drop Twilight’s condition, but she figured it could at least wait until they were somewhere safe. Mare Equus raised her head, as her horn lit up, her face became strained. Dash knew from listening to Twilight that long distance teleporting was difficult enough let alone throwing in multiple ponies, even for alicorns. Soon however the spark ignited upon Mare Equus’s horn burst, and the world around then dissolved before snapping back into focus, except now they stood in a room that resembled Celestia’s throne room back in Canterlot Castle, the obvious difference being the pearl walls carved with white runes. “Twilight!” Dash exclaimed, as she saw her friend’s unconscious body lying almost peacefully a short distance from them. Rushing forward she dropped to her knees, Twilight was alive, that much was obvious, and Rainbow Dash was grateful for that much. Mare Equus stood over her, an almost sad expression as her eyes gazed upon Twilight. “I’ll place you under a sleep spell now,” she began, “and move you both to the medical centre.” Dash hesitated for only a second before nodding in acknowledgment. Applejack walked over to her and put a hoof on her shoulder. “Don’t worry RD, we’ll be right there watchin’ over yah the whole time,” she assured her, Dash appreciated the sentiment, “and besides, after closing that gate, we’ll have plenty of time to rest before the next crazy adventure.” Dash was about to respond but was interrupted by a loud belch behind them. They both turned their heads to see Spike standing along with the others, his eyes wide as they swept over the scroll that had just arrived. “Actually,” he said hesitantly, “we might not have that long to rest before the next crazy adventure.”
