Earlier…
The self-proclaimed ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’ managed to sneak past the adults as they fussed all over the angel. The angel however, upon being approached by Apple Bloom, had different ideas. The Angels changed as they fed off their new power source. Gaining a sentience higher than their former animalistic hunger for food, and as such, now have a means of communication, feeling. The Angels can communicate rudimentary ideas and concepts through radiating emotional energy.
The type of energy and the amount that it gave off changes its meaning. Normally, only another Angel could read these energies, but any other emotion driven race, such as Changelings or Crystal Ponies, will be able to detect them and even read them as well. The Angel sensed Apple Blooms curiosity as she neared it, and this curiosity grew as the little filly heard Charlene give explanations. The Angel then began to ‘talk’ to Apple Bloom, explain what they are, and what they were doing, and she was a good listener. Soon, AB pulled her fellow crusaders to the side and led them to the playing fields, where the Angels were headed.
“Do you even know where we are going?” asked a frustrated Scootaloo
“Of course! The angel said they were heading that a’ way!” cried Apple Bloom
“How exactly did it tell you?”
“I dunno,” said Apple Bloom, scratching the back of her head “It kinda… thought at me,”
“Thought at you?”
“Like that one mare in the Power Ponies who could talk to people in their minds?” inquired Sweetie Belle
“You read those comics too?”
“Sorta,” replied Apple Bloom “but it didn’t use words, they were more like… feelings,”
“Feelings?” Scootaloo said drily
“Well, yeah,”
“Pfft, whatever, we made it to the fields any way,”
“Cool!”
The three fillies galloped full pelt towards the big ball of dark, excitedly looking side to side at all the Angels who looked like they were petrified in the process of walking. One or two managed to fall over, while another was locked in a swimming position at the bottom of the pool. Upon reaching the centre field, they decided to hide behind one of the trees that grew around the grounds to serve as borders between fields.
“Is that… Princess Celestia?”
“Princess Luna?”
“A Changeling?”
They all took in the sight before them, barely fighting off the urge to scream and run like the little fillies they are. After a few minutes of surveillance, the dark sphere engulfed Princess Luna, while Celestia stepped back to keep herself away from the globe. Then suddenly, it retracted, and all that was left was some monotoned grass, and some surprised expressions gracing Equestria’s princesses. Then, what they saw next shattered any hopes they had of remaining unnoticed.
“ENDERPONY!” screamed Sweetie Belle, her cry was reflected by her fellow crusaders as they proceeded to run full pelt away from the field, ignoring the Angels and running right back to the others.
“Rarity! Help!” cried Sweetie Belle “An Enderman came out of the big dark ball!”
“Whatever do you mean darling?” Rarity said soothingly
The tour group managed to hurry down to the ground floor to meet the three fillies on the outdoor patio. All of them were gasping by the time they arrived to meet the crusaders.
“It was a tall, black unicorn stallion with white eyes and purple smoke coming out of him!”
“Oh, you mean from that game you girls play every afternoon?”
“It’s Minecraft, and it’s good! But the Enderpony is real! We saw it!”
She glanced to her two friends and they chorused in approval. Applejack took a good long stare at the three fillies. Being the element of honesty, she could tell if some pony was lying, but if said pony happened to truly believe something, lie or not, it would be impossible to distinguish it from the truth. Her ability to rat out a liar was something she was very proud of, even before discovering her element. She finished her critique of the three fillies with only one conclusion.
“They’re tellin’ the truth,” She gasped
“WHAT!?!?!” chorused the group. Chest Nut and Charlene however, had a very good idea as to what was going on.
*=_/)|*|(\_=*
After a few painful seconds exposed to what could only be described as ‘a miniature sun’ the light began to fade to a bearable level. And there before them, was Miss Sunshine, whose name took quite a literal meaning once she transformed. She was tall, just as tall as Celestia, and just as slender, but her wingspan dwarfed even the Solar Princesses, effectively being double in length and width. She had a creamy yellow coat, and a soft, sunset mane, which billowed lazily in a non-existent breeze. Her eyes, like her brother’s, were a startling white, but looking into them gave a sense of peace and calm, a stark contrast to Astral’s. Her circlet grew to match her new size, and her whole body radiated a soft, pulsing light. In fact, her whole new appearance just screamed ‘motherly!’.
"S-Sunshine?” stammered Twilight, struggling for words to describe what she’s seeing in her note book.
“If you are going to know everything about us Miss Sparkle,” said Sunshine “Then you will address me as ‘Verity’ from now on, for it is my first, and my true name,”Her voice was so soothing and warm that Twilight almost lost herself in it. Although the words were harsh, she could not hear any negative tones in her voice, only a calm, even and warm one.
After a couple minutes of gawping, Celestia decided she’d had enough and began to look around them. There to her mild surprise, was a ring of something like 100 stone statues, who appeared to be… weeping. They all sat on the ground, wings outstretched to the side, and front hooves covering there faces.
“What are they?” breathed Twilight
“The Weeping Angels,” Honour Bound answered, the low thrum of his voice setting her on edge “beings that feed off magic, among other energies. They only move if they are unobserved, while if they are, they become mere statues,” He chuckled “Like an eternal game of ‘Red Light, Green Light’,”
“But why are they here,”
“In these forms, our bodies give off large amounts of raw magic,” he raised a brow at the sisters “You can feel it can’t you? There is a lot to feel. These forms are the manifestation of the very nature of their magic. As for myself…” he flexed his wings reflexively “This is just what I am,”
“The Angels are here because the our transformations have off set the magical field that they normally feed off of,” answered Astral “They are merely investigating the cause of the disturbance,”
Astral’s appearance was very hard to look at without sending shivers down the spine, but they found that Verity, as she is called, has the opposite problem. They find it extremely difficult to take their eyes off of her.
“But why are they crying?”
“They are not, that is just how they look,” Verity answered “But Legend has it they were beings who existed before time and space, but were punished by the disciples of light for their wrong doings, cursed into the state they are now. To us however, they are helpful and harmless,”
They let the matter rest as the princesses tried to come to terms to what they have just found, namely, the three magical beings that stood before them. This was clearly more than they bargained for. Not only were the answers given so readily, but they also found a set of beings, who rivalled themselves in power and age.
“Can we have a quick moment?” Celestia inquired “I have something to discuss,”
“I’d be surprised if you didn’t,” smirked Verity “be my guest,”
“Luna, Twilight, let us head back to the mansion, we have a lot to talk about,”
“We would be surprised if you didn’t, princess,”
The other worldly forms of Honour, Verity and Astral slowly shimmered out of existence, leaving behind the familiar forms of a changeling, a midnight blue unicorn stallion, and a creamy yellow Pegasus mare. The five ponies (plus one changeling) then calmly made their way back to the mansion, there was no rush after all.
“What do you think we should do now sister?” asked Luna “This is indeed an outcome we cannot possibly have forseen,”
“Quite so dear sister,” responded Celestia “but that just makes me more determined to discover the truth. We cannot let such powerful beings go about unwatched, peaceful or not,”
“So how do you propose we proceed?”
“We will go back to Canterlot and see what we can find in the archives, and attend to our royal duties. Twilight?”
“Oh, yes princess?” said Twilight distractedly, having not looked up from her note book since discovering the subject’s true forms.
“I need you and your friends to find out as much about them as you can, you can report your findings to me by letter,”
“You can count on me princess!” her faithful student cried enthusiastically
“I know I can,”
*=_/)|*|(\_=*
Back at the Lobby...
“Hello again, my little ponies,” greeted Celestia “It pains me to say that my sister and I cannot stay here much longer,”
“No worries,” replied Astral “was hope that your time here was enjoyable?”
He was met with a exclamations of happiness and joy, amongst them a ‘meh’ from Rainbow and a nervous squeak from Fluttershy, who aside from that, did not make a sound her whole visit.
“Very good. Just remember, you are all welcome in this house, just remember to call ahead first! Farewell for now!”
Chest Nut held the door open as the mane six, Doo-Smith family and Princesses Luna and Celestia filed out the door, chatting to themselves as they made their way off the grounds. Astral Star turned to his assembled companions
“Well, that went well,”
“Well enough,” Verity replied curtly “but we have to make preparations for their next visit,”
“And how do you know they’ll be coming back?” asked Honour Bound
“Call it intuition,”
The assembled ponies all groaned at Verity’s words. ‘Intuition’ was her code word for a mysterious power that Verity had. She rarely shared any details about it, but what they do know is that it allows her to look into the past present and future of an object, by looking at said object, or anything related to it. The extent of this power is a mystery to all but Verity herself. Verity, Astral and Honour said their farewells and trotted off to do their own business. Honour went to the library, Verity went to the workroom to check the dresses that Astral bought in Canterlot, while Astral himself went to the basement to work on his latest experiment.
*=_/)|*|(\_=*
Outside…
“Remember what I have told you Twilight,”
Celestia has been briefing her protegee ever since they’ve left the mansion. Twilight urged the solar monarch for more details on what she found in the archives, but she wouldn’t budge.
"It would be helpful to know what we are really dealing with,” she muttered
“I feel the same way,” Celestia said “Now, we must be off, it has been a pleasure as always, my little ponies,”
She and her sister took a gallop and rushed into the air on a beat of their wings. As they picked up speed, Celestia vanished into a white flash, high into the sky, and soon after, Luna followed suit.
“A strange spell for long distance teleportation,” the lavender alicorn mused.
“Come on girls!” she said aloud “Let’s head to the library, lunch is on me!” Their steady walk accelerated into a mad dash for Twilight’s house, motivated by the prospect of food, and judging by a cloud of dust where Rainbow had been, some more than others.
“We have a lot to talk about” thought Twilight grimly.
They arrived at the Ponyville Golden Oaks Library (or Twilight’s house) in record time, speeding from one side of Ponyville to the other in less than 5 minutes. The library was an extension of Twilight herself, really. A giant oak wood tree, grown carefully and precisely, hollowed out decades after its germination. That is to say, it must have been the most difficult house in Equestria to make.
Its walls were lined with shelves upon shelves of books, with windows higher up to provide light. There was a distinct lack of chairs, and only a single table that could fit them all. Twilight wasn’t the type to host a visit after all. A couple minutes later, Twilight and her loyal assistant Spike, a baby purple dragon, managed to seat every pony on cushions and tidy up the table, formerly used as Twilight’s experiment table. Soon they were all munching away on a garden salad with bread rolls and butter on the side.
“Somethin’ on yer mind sugarcube?” asked Applejack, she wasn’t the only one to notice that Twilight has been on edge during the whole meal,”
“It’s fine Applejack,” Twilight replied “It’s just that…”
The orange farmpony raised an eyebrow, while the rest of the guests stared in interest at the new princess.
“Your not gonna make this easy, are you?” Twilight stated dejectedly
“Eenope,” replied Applejack, imitating her big brother, Big Macintosh
.
“It’s just that…”
“Yes…?”
“Well, I…”
“Aw come on spit it out already!” cried Rainbow, who literally took off with suspense.
“Those three, they just scare me,”
“Whatever do you mean darling?” gasped Rarity “I mean yes, the décor could be a lot better (and a lot worse) but they still seem like nice folk,” she then added, under her breath “I wonder if that Astral Star fellow is single,”
Thankfully, nopony heard her say that as the conversation progressed.
“Yeah! Chill out Twilight!” replied Pinkie Pie, her voice, ever layered with that good humoured excitement of hers “They’re not bad ponies, I’ve known them since I came to Ponyville,”
“You have?”
“Sure! Astral Star let me stay in the old mansion for my first couple nights here, before the Cakes took me in,”
“That information could have been useful ages ago!” Twilight yelled exasperatedly “but that’s not it. First of all, the amount of magic their giving off is incredible, more so than I’ve felt from either of the princesses,”
“But how can that even be possible?” asked the Doctor “that amount of magic your describing is fatal to any mortal creature on this planet. Unless you’re saying they are aliens, which I highly doubt since most races don’t even acknowledge its existence, or you’re saying…”
“That’s what I think,”
“Immortals,” gasped a flabbergasted Doctor “more of them. Blimey, bloody hell…” his subsequent rant was cut off by a sharp blow to the back of his head. “Language Doctor,” admonished Derpy “especially not in front of the kids,” Said kids were watching the adults with high amusement.
“Terribly sorry,” he mumbled
“I wrote a letter to Princess Luna asking for the files they’ve made when investigating those three,” Twilight continued “Celestia seemed to be hiding things from me, but Luna gladly gave me the files,”
Using her magic, she retrieved said files from the shelf closest to her own bedroom on the top floor, and spread them out across the table. They were three worn, cardboard folders with numerous sheets, pictures and coloured labels on each of them. Each one contained an improvised mug shot, and several pages of their personal history, family members, magical capability, etcetera. Verity’s file seemed to be the fullest while Honour Bound’s the emptiest, but was still held a substantial number of material.
“Ok guys, Princess Celestia tasked me to find out everything I can about these three subjects, and present my findings to her in the upcoming Grand Galloping Gala,” stated Twilight, reasserting her trademark confidence “So, how about we go over Honour Bound first,”
She levitated his file to the centre of the desk and spread out the sheets to all members. As the her guests began to riffle through the files, she just remembered to tell them something
“Oh, and I forgot to mention, he’s a changeling,”
“A WHAT?!”
The gathered ponies skimmed the files with renewed interest, muttering relevant details to other members, and discussing any said details with others, while Twilight noted down anything of her interest. The page containing a brief overview of him, went something like this:
“Honour Bound is a Changeling with abnormally high levels of strength and speed. Not many sightings of him have occurred in the recent years, but we have found a trail of fake identities and dead ends to confirm his existence. These identities are all original, leading us to believe that he did not abduct ponies to feed. Said identities vary greatly from those of his companions, ranging from size, gender and even race. His greatest threat is mystery, every time the guard seems to have caught him, he surprises them with some previously unknown magical skill. That being said, he exhibits astronomically high amounts of magical radiation from his spells, measuring 800 on the Starswirl scale. He is also prone to violence without warning. Not much else is known about him, so proceed with caution.”
“Quite a charming fellow isn’t he?” muttered Ditzy
“You can say that again,” replied Rainbow “just look at what he did to the guards,”
“Hey Dashie! Look!” yelled an ecstatic Pinkie Pie “one of his identities was your old flight instructor!”
“You mean Wither Wing that old geezer?”
“The very same!”
“Whose Wither Wings?” inquired Applejack
“He was my old flight instructor, back when I was younger,” answered Rainbow “He was this old Pegasus who taught me the basics. I kinda got a little…” she started scratching the back of her head “Impatient, with him,”
“You? Impatient?” guffawed Applejack
“Yeah! Can you believe it? Anyway, he wouldn’t teach me all those cool moves the Wonderbolts did, saying that I needed to master the basics first, learn some control, and work as a team with your peers and some stuff like that,”
“Looks like he got the right idea,”
“Hey!”
The whole house broke into laughter at Rainbow’s expense, but being the good sport, she laughed along with them. When the laughter subsided, Rainbow took a seat again and looked to the floor, reality crashing down on top of her. “It’s just hard to believe that he was a changeling this whole time,”
“Don’t worry about it Rainbow,” comforted Twilight, draping an arm over the blue speedsters shoulders “Don’t think about what he is, but what he did. That makes him good in your book right?”
“I guess…”
“Great! Let’s have a look at Astral next,”
There was decidedly a lot more information in Astral’s file, but there was a lot more of it they didn’t like. Even Rarity withdrew her interest in him upon looking through those papers. The pony being described in this file, they agreed, is not the same pony they met this morning. Looking through his files, the gathered ponies winced, gasped and made other expressions as they read through. Twilight, who immediately put down the autopsy reports, started reading his magical detail. His magic level was around the same as Honour Bound’s, 800 Starswirls, herself only being somewhere around 250 and the princesses a bit northward of 500.
The page also included a list of all the magical arts he’s been seen performing. Alchemy, teleportation, mentalism, pretty much every art the purple alicorn has heard of, plus a few mythical ones, and a heap of ones she’s never even heard of were listed on this page. One art she could not help but whimper at, was Necromancy. Necromancy was an extremely forbidden art, it was death magic. It was extremely dangerous to everypony, especially the caster. It took its toll on the soul, as well as the mind and body, its power corrupting its users, and wasting them away with each spell. Even the Celestia and Luna cannot speak its name without disgust, or fear. It was all too obvious they’ve seen it first hoof. Again, a page containing a summary of information was provided:
“Astral Star is a dark figure, never to be trifled with. He is an adept in all the known magical arts, and as far as we know, all the unknown ones as well. Despite his huge magical arsenal, his greatest asset, was his intelligence. He extremely smart and cunning, being known to create marvellous pieces of engineering with mere scraps. He may appear charming at first, but there is a lot more to him than he lets on, sort of like a certain Time Charger I know. He too has a string of false but original identities and dead ends, but all identities are male, and are between the ages of 8 and 40. His true identity is a mystery. Several sightings have ended catastrophically for the witness and victim, often ending in insanity, loss of consciousness, and on the rare occasion, death. There is not enough evidence to convict him of murder, especially with his preferred weapon. Said preferred weapon is a pulse of negative emotional radiation originating from his eyes. This pulse inflicts all affected ponies with a vision so terrifying, only half the afflicted soldiers have fully recovered from it. Question this pony only if you have to. Stay safe, and do nothing to deserve what he can do.”
“And I thought the last guy was bad,” muttered Applejack
“Oh, he might not be all bad,” sighed Ditzy “the Doctor turned out to be a good guy, how about we find out a bit more about him before making judgments hmm?”
“I guess,” conceded Doctor “but that doesn’t mean we don’t exercise caution.”
"How about we take a look at Verity then call it a day?" suggested Twilight
The group all nodded in silent agreement.