• Published 1st Nov 2011
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Stories in Stone, Luna's Royal Guard. - TDR



The Gardens of Canterlot contain more than their fair share of stories. And more creatures than just Discord.

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Standing Stones [24] [e]

Stories in Stone
Luna's Royal Guard.
By TDR

Standing Stones

“Thanks for coming, it was nice to see you two again.”

“Tis no trouble Miss Sparkle. I am quite excited to find that this new song you have found is one of the few songs by Platinum that has been written down. I believe it has become something of an old sea shanty and such was preserved. I cannot wait to hear how modern incarnations of it sound against the original.”Octavia smiled.

“Yeah, and I for one am glad you managed to turn off the images this time grape. I don't need any more dark stuff. That last one had me mixing Death Colt for Cutie with Deathclop. Took me a month tah get over that nonsense and even longer to get my usual club goers back.”Vinyl considered” though I did dig all the gothmetal colts running around.”

“I did warn you about your track selection Vinyl, but as usual you did not listen to me.”Octavia rolled her eyes.

“Right, right, you won that argument Tavi, do you have to tell every pony about it?”Vinyl grumbled.

“Is that not your usual method?”Octavia grinned getting another growl from the white unicorn next to her.

“Any way grape flavored we're out, same deal as last time with this song?”Vinyl sighed.

“Um, yes, same school too unless you think there's another that might benefit more.”Twilight added.

“Got it covered, we'll send yah a copy. Same as before. Keep finding these and we might have an album before long. Later grape flavored.”

“Have a good night Miss Sparkle, You as well Miss Fluttershy.” Octavia nodded to both mares including the quiet one that had not spoken yet.

Twilight glanced back to her friend resting on the couch as the two musical ponies left. They had both been ecstatic and had come almost immediately as soon as they heard she had found another song, and a partial duet at that. This time she had prepared a little better, managing to take just the song out instead of both the song and the images. She was half tempted to add the Gala song as well, but if that was sung every year it likely would not be worth the effort. She had asked Princess Celestia about it, but her teacher seemed to do her best to dodge the question. While Vinyl had worked she had been talking with Fluttershy about the last few things she had witnessed.

With the musicians departure the conversation between the two picked up where it left off.

“Oh my, so they all failed? But I thought Celestia called them the Bearers of the Elements when you talked to her.” Fluttershy commented.

“She did Fluttershy, maybe she did not remember it correctly. She has yet to send me a letter back after I sent my last report. Then again, she did name them the Bearers, and the dragons attacked before they came back. So maybe they kept the title as some sort of propaganda, I won't know until I look again.”Twilight shrugged.

“Well I am here tonight so I can catch up on the reading while you study. Oh you did hear about the Crusader's greenhouse?” Fluttershy added changing topics.

“No, whats going on with that? Did the girls finally get their Cutie marks?”

“No unfortunately, they got bored and wandered off, Big Mac has continued the project however, and it looks like there might actually be a small harvest from it.”

“Fresh veggies in the middle of winter that will be a nice change.” Twilight nodded.

“Umm well they didn't plant any veggies.” Fluttershy corrected.

“Really what did they plant?”

“Well Sweetiebelle heard about something about a rock garden and planted some pebbles.”

“Ugh...”

“Scootaloo was convinced by Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash that the frosted cereal O's were doughnut seeds.”

“Please tell me Apple Bloom did not do anything like that.”

“Oh no, shes lived on a farm her whole life so she actually planted something that would grow. “

“So what's the harvest going to be if not fresh veggies?”

“Apples.”

“I should have guessed. The one thing we always have a surplus of every year.” Twilight sighed.”I love Sweet acre apples but seriously by the end of the winter I'm sick of them...... Please don't tell Applejack I said that.”

“Well at least they are tasty, Big Mac said when they are done he would bring a cart over for me. Angel and the others are getting a bit sick of the feed I have already.”

“Honestly I have to question your choice of pets with that bunny sometimes. Alright I am all set up, was there anything else you needed Fluttershy?”

“No, I am alright, Thank you for the warning about how bad this latest chapter will be however, I am ready to steel myself....” Fluttershy fluffed her wings attempting to look fierce and just wound up looking more adorable.

“Umm OK, here we go.” Twilight chuckled moving to her position before the blade. Letting the spell come easily to her mind.

The starry expanse opened before her, that same bit of unease from before creeped back into her mind. She likely would never even have noticed it if this place had not felt so calming other wise. She looked back into the darker part of the sky seeing only four of the stars she spotted before. They were all there save the bright golden star. However a new star had joined them a fairly large star that half hid the others. It flickered between green and purple never seeming to settle on either color even going black at times. It was a unusual sight. None of them had moved or done anything, maybe the gold star had turned into the larger one. This whole place was confusing. All she had figured out so far was this was not part of Celestia's spell. This was something else. It reminded her of the effects of a trifecta when Unicorn's joined magic to make bigger spells but it was far more clear and focused. For some reason she kept forgetting to add it into her notes to the Princesses. Of course with all that she saw in the spell proper, this little bit of oddity tended to get passed over.

Twilight took a glance behind her, smiling softly at the yellow and pink, softly flickering, star that was behind her. She could easily tell it was Fluttershy at this point and she recognized more than a few others that were closer to her as well.

She turned back looking at all the little jagged shaped windows floating in the either. She considered them a moment before floating over to one and slipping into it.


[Canterlot Guard war room, Canterlot Castle]

“So this is the situation. The manure has hit the fan.”

“Eloquent as always General Mustang.” General Shower sighed.

Jer'rahd looked up at the older stallion, shaking his head a bit. He had remained silent during the report and had kept quiet during the small argument that happened after. He had listened to the whole thing but his mind still dwelt on his failure to retrieve the Element of Loyalty and the images that acompanyed that failure.

The small briefing was only attended by the Princesses, Himself, General Mustang, and General Meteor Shower. Jer'rahd had gotten used to the less formal situations and briefings he and his friends had been getting so the sudden return to the proper military method took him a few moments to get used to again. His silence made most of them forget he was even there for the most part.

The Dragons had sent their forces forward destroying The Great Wall and Dullahan keep. They were currently setting up a beach head using the remains of the wall for materials. Initial reports had the dragons using Trolls, Orcs, half dragons and several beasts from the Darklands that they had some how managed to control. That alone explained why they wanted the wall down. If they had control of the Darklands fully it was the perfect place to attack from as they could fall back into it and few would be willing to follow. Most of Equestria's fortifications and bases faced in different directions. The wall was the only massive defensive measure between the heartland of Equestria and the attackers. That was gone now and the Guard was scrambling to recover from it even as the first waves of refugees started heading towards Canterlot from the outlying farms and villages.

“Refugees from the mines and farms are already pouring into Canterlot. There are hundreds left outside the gates, we do not have room or the food to accommodate this many at once.”Princess Celestia sighed.

“Ask the nobles for donations Sister. They can do without a feast for every meal.” Princess Luna snorted

“Some already have opened their homes to the refugees Luna. I am hoping this becomes common place, but we cannot force them to do anything. “ Celestia retorted getting a raised eyebrow from her sister at that news.

“This is war Princess, in times like this civilians will do what ever the buck we tell them to.” mustang growled.

“Or what General Mustang, we will not protect them when the time comes?” General Meteor Shower snapped back.

“Both of you calm down already. We're not here to talk about the refugees were here to figure out what to do about the invasion force camped just inside Equestria's borders. Kaisur, Pelt's still got contacts with the ambassadors whats the report from them.” Luna asked.

Jer'rahd's head snaps up as his name was mentioned. He blinked confused for a moment as all of them stared at him before remembering the question.

“Ahem, sorry. Same as we have been hearing everywhere Princess. The primary council of Dragons says they have nothing to do with this invasion. They claim they are trying to find out whats going on, but everything they have leads back to a group called the Flame Party. The Dragons also claim they have no control or contact with that faction any more. Another unfortunate situation has arisen as a result of this. The Griffons and Diamond dogs have closed their borders and are refusing Equestria aid in any way. They claim they have a non interference pact with the dragons. They will not help either side, though the reports are that Griffon and Dog mercenaries have already been purchased by the dragons pre-invasion. The Zebra lands are also refusing to aid us claiming they are still recovering from war themselves, however they have offered to allow refugees into their lands for the duration of this conflict, they will simply not be able to care for them once they get there. It's a start, but we would still need to find a way to feed ponies that crossed the border as they wouldn't. There is some good news however. The Flame Party has recognized the Queen's Cross as a neutral agent in this battle. So long as they remain neutral in what they do and help every one equally. The inclusion of trolls and beasts however in the Dragons forces does not fill me with confidence that this agreement will be fully kept.” Jer'rahd lists off.

“Well that is at least one thing in our favor. I did not expect a entire army of Zebras and Ponies flocking to the Banner of the Queen of the Zebra lands just to help others.” General Shower admitted.

“It is not just Zebra's and Ponies, nearly every race has a representation in the Queens Cross. With the exception of the Trolls and Orcs.” Jer'rahd corrected.

“Remind me to thank Queen Velkorn for setting that up General Kaisur. It is a great hope to see so many working together to help others.” Celestia nodded.

“Yes Princess Celestia.” Jer'rahd agreed.

“What else do we know, General Shower?” Luna asked.

“Nothing Princess Luna, but I think we can change that. I need a certain pony from your direct command Princess.” General shower grinned.

“Who? Say the name and they are yours.”Luna stated.

=================================================

“Are you sure about this sir? I look like a black peacock.”

“What don't trust me?” General Shower asked.” You're the fastest flier that any pony knows of, your the only one who would fit this mission. Besides we spent all these bits making this thing, better put it to use, hmm?”

The thing in question was a black suit of armor that looked like it was painted on Starfall, more than put on her. Her legs were adorned with loops of metal that looked and felt like they were made out of some light wood. Studded into each were countless gemstones. Her chest and neck were covered with a thicker version of what the bracelets were made out of though this had more weight than she was really comfortable with. Her mane and tail were both covered, and a mask was fitted over her mouth and was some how magically supplying her with air. She had a pair of goggles on her head that glowed a soft green and had nearly blinded her when she put them on while in the lit room. She was shown the control that allowed her to zoom the goggles in and out allowing her to view things far away, it took a little practice as the control for it was done with her left ear.

The weight and the weirdness she could handle, but she had been red faced and uncomfortable during the entire fitting as the two Unicorn stallion technicians were making her very uncomfortable as they added more length to her feathers, painting each with some sort of material that matched the suit and made her wings feel much heavier. The pair were covering them in some sort of black membrane that made her wings look easily three times the size they were supposed to be. Nearly everything had some gem stone set somewhere in it that’s sole purpose was collecting images of things far below her.

“I am not comfortable with all this touching, Sir.” Starfall growled.

“What? Two buff stallions playing with your wings? Sounds like a fun time to me. Still, just bear with it Starfall, after all, you are going to fly higher, faster and further than any Pegasus ever has before. Won't that be fun?” General Shower stated.

“If you say so sir.” Starfall muttered.

The mission was simple. Princess Luna was not going to raise the moon tonight. Starfall was going to take off and fly as high as she could in the darkness. She was to fly over the encampment at the wall and stay there for a while letting the gems capture everything that was going on below her, then she was to come back.

The plan was codenamed Project Black Bird, Starfall felt Drunken Peacock would suit it better, because this was crazy. The heights they wanted her to fly where beyond where ice would start to form on a flier, high enough that there was not any air to breath and the curvature of Equss was truly visible.

She understood the need for aerial recon, but what was any pony going to be able to see from that high up. Plus as fast as she was supposed to cover the planed path everything on the ground should be a blur. But an order was an order, General Shower outranked Jer'rahd even without Princess Luna giving Shower the go ahead with this. Starfall was not sure what was going on, but she hoped the others were not dealing with anything this silly, or embarrassing.

“Watch the hooves!!” Starfall snapped.

“Sorry Sir.”


He had been given one task. Just one. He had no troops to order, he had no targets to hit, Princess Celestia had tasked him with just the one order that no one else was allowed to over rule, including Princess Luna. He was to protect Princess Luna no matter what. Celestia knew her sister would not be sitting on the sidelines in this conflict, she never did in any conflict.

What likely bothered her was that the Dragons would only have come this far if they thought they had an edge. Something they could use against the alicorn sisters to ensure a victory. Celestia was sure of this and so Jer'rahd was given his mission. The others could be called away like Starfall had been as needed. Jer'rahd was to go no where unless it was with Princess Luna.

Given he was well known for taking out a full grown Dragon, not with guile, or spells, but brute force, Celestia believed his presence with Luna would be enough to deter most. While he had pointed out that Bleu had been there as well, Luna had pretty much argued that Celestia would need him more than she did. Something Celestia dismissed and pointed out that others thought Luna the weaker of the pair as shown by the attack of the Bone Hounds and the fact that even the Order had thought she was weak enough to easily kill. She deduced Luna was the one more likely to be attacked.

Jer'rahd admitted Celestia had a point, though Luna was not in the slightest bit thrilled about the logic. Still she accepted it.

Still Jer'rahd knew he needed to prepare. His mission was set in that he needed to protect Princess Luna, and by the stars he would not fail that, no matter what came after her. Dragons, Mercenaries, other Gods. The Dragons had several of those among their number. While he doubted there would be an encounter like what had happened with the Bone Hounds, he was not about to take the chance.

When he had been given his new weapon he had put it away , not thinking himself worthy of it , he had still trained with a mock up of it and had become rather skilled in the duel blades use even though he had yet to even practice with Luna's gift.

He lifted the helm with his magic slipping the bone plate over his head feeling the rest of the armor leap up and form around him. The Tank armor had been altered by the Princess and it fit perfectly now, she planned to eventually make it so that it would not simply fall apart when the helm was removed, but that was something for a less hectic time. He turned looking at the mahogany case on his desk, the brass plaque on its surface reflecting the light, highlighting the name etched into the metal. He lifted the lid with a hoof, flicking the silk covering from the contents, his magic finally gripping the blade lifting it from its case.

“Well then. If I am not worthy of you yet, let us see if I can eventually prove myself fit to wield you.”Jer'rahd muttered more to himself than the blade before him.

He slid the blade into the scabbard at his side snapping it closed. The new scabbard was much larger and covered both blades as it ran the length of his left side. It was designed that he could still draw the weapon with his mouth or his magic. As the weapon slid securely into place he paused closing his eyes at the weight and the feeling from it. This was something he had not known he missed, a familiar presence from the weapon. He smiled taking solace in the small comfort offered to him here by the blade, before trotting to the door.

Clad in the bones of a Tank and wielding the Waning Moon Jer'rahd left his quarters and set out back to the castle.

His duty awaited.


“You’re kidding me right? Please tell me you're joking, or at the very least trying to poke fun, and that you are not in fact, that bad at this?”Bleu moans though her claws slapped to her face.

Bleu had taken on the coloration of a bright red dragon with blue spines today. For once the color worked for her, as it hid the multitude of red marks on her forehead where she had been face palming all morning at these idiots.

“Why the buck did you send me here Celestia?” Bleu growls to no one in particular.

The six unicorns around her shifted nervously as they were supposedly the strongest magic users in Equestria short of the Princesses. All of them were graduates of Celestia's school for gifted Unicorns. All of them had dragon companions. All of them had been brought together by Princess Celestia to act as a think tank for ideas for the war. All of them also had no idea what they were doing.

Bleu looked up at the apple pie covered unicorn. The golden brown crust dripping down the stallions face as he sighed at the shredded remains of a paper thin shield that flickered in the air before him. One of the other unicorn and dragon pairs was hopping around triumphantly that their assault class baked good broke through the shield so easily.

“The assault pie did not do it so stop cheering. That thing was to weak to stop a baked good, how the buck is it supposed to deflect a dragons claw or even an arrow? This is what you ponies come up with? Starchy baked goods and a rain hat?” Bleu nearly screeched.

“You need to calm down already, we are not used to making things for combat, we need some more time.” one of the Dragon partners growled.

Bleu winced at the voice. The purple serpent dragon had been a thorn in her side since she had gotten here. Seamore argued with her every chance he got and they had fought on at least two occasions. Bleu had promptly beat the snot out of the smaller dragon, but unlike how Jer'rahd and Rhede met this only seemed to piss him off further.

Aside from Jer'rahd himself, Bleu had never seen any one fly into a rage so quickly. He was loyal too, any one said anything about his partner Water Lily, that he thought was degrading, he went off. All in all if he was not so bucking annoying he would be the draconic version of Jer'rahd, Well, if Jer'rahd had a voice that sounded like his balls hadn’t dropped yet any way.

“Calm down? More time? In case you have been unable to get your head out of your flank for longer than five minutes, ponies are already dieing. Time is something we do not have!” Bleu exhaled deeply rubbing her temples. “ Okay. The shield stone is a good idea Dusty, you and Fangy there keep at it and make it work the way it needs to, having a unicorn based shield protecting non unicorns would be great if we could get it to work. Saffron, Goldy, I don't care if your hungry, do something other than food based weapons, maybe work on a ration pill or something. Come on ponies you created a that train thing, iron horse, whatever, that was impressive, now put those skills to something that will keep ponies alive longer.”

Bleu glared at Seamore who shrugged and slithers back over to Lily who shook her head. Bleu might not think it that bad if Seamore had not been so boastful of the work the two had done. Lily was a impressive spell caster, during one of the first fights she and Seamore had gotten into Lily had freaked out and thrown an attack spell at Bleu. Thankfully she was rushed and although the spell hit like a truck and tossed Bleu through a wall, it had barely hurt. Bleu had no plans of injuring the annoying little worm, but Lily had not known that at the time. Now Lily sided with Seamore more often than not and Seamore knew it. The others at least just tuned them out. Unfortunately that one spell for attacking was all Lily knew but she had close to twenty other spells she could cast with a good bit of skill. A impressive feat for any unicorn, Water Lily was considered to be Celestia's favored student.

Seamore and Water Lily worked well together too, out of the entire group they were the only ones to make something worth while. Healing gems, the quality of the gem varied the level of the healing that the pony that crushed it gained. It was still a stop gap as those sort of Gems were hard to make and healing spells tended to make things worse if not properly utilized, but it was better than anything else that had been put out so far. The idea of putting that sort of power into small vials of liquid was considered as well, but due to the state of the liquid the spell would be a bit harder to cast. Using items that were solid, set for enchanting, and fairly easy to break made more sense.

The group had been here working together since the first attack on Dullahan. Bleu was only recently appointed as a overseer and point of contact. Usually the Princess herself came in to check up on what they were doing, though with the war effort Celestia's time was used on other things. It was also clear that Bleu was here for another reason. The influx of refugees had put all of the friendly Dragons under lock and key. With the amount of ponies who had recently been attacked by Dragons and driven from their homes the sight of one of them wandering the streets may have brought about riots. Bleu had a secondary job of being a guardian to the students as well as their director.

None of them were really happy about any of it.



“I don't like you volunteering me for this boy.”the mare growled

“I am not volunteering you for anything Ma, I am simply asking if you would do it if I did bring the idea up to the Princess.”Rhede sighed.

“You coming to suggest this to me is the same thing as volunteering me Rhederic. You know well enough we can't turn down a opportunity to help some ponies. Particularly on this scale. Once this starts it is not as if we can stop it either. “Ma's eyes narrow as she glares at her son.”But you knew that before you brought it up didn't yah?”

“Yes.” Rhede groans.

“Fine, The Pelt's will get on it. The whole of Equestria is in disharmony right now, and I’ll be damned if we didn't try to steer it back on course. ALRIGHT PONIES, YOU CAN STOP LISTENING IN !”

Maw Pelt glares behind her at the cluster of forms gathered at the door, peeking in to the study. The rest of the family had the grace to look a bit ashamed that they were caught eavesdropping, but they really were not trying to hide very well. Maw shook her head before turning to look up at Rhede again though she was still addressing the gathered group behind her.

“We are gonna need a lot of wood to make those shelters Likely have to tear down some of the farm house and outer barns for tha sake of expediting it. Find any of the refugees who knows how to chop wood or build stuff and hopefully we'll have a nice little town set up for them to stay at in no time.” Ma points a hoof at Rhede.”You tell the Princess we got this covered.”

“I will Ma.” Rhede agreed.

“Good. Now for the rest of you. You heard him, now git moving we got work to do GO! “ Ma shouted sending the others racing off in a tizzy.

She watches as the family tears off away from the door thundering about the farm house shouting orders to each other.

“Rhederic.” Ma started.

“Yeah Ma?”

“You better keep me in the loop next time something happens like it did. Specially if it nearly kills a family member.” Ma stated, not looking at him.”Word is you knew what might happen to Jer'rahd.”

“She threatened all of you as well...”

“Yeah cause you got involved in some shit you shouldn't have.” Ma glared at him.”It worked out this time, but you ran along a dangerous line there colt. Had that gone south and the reporters gotten wind of what you did with all those ponies you killed we'd have had to change the family again. We've changed the family name once before in recent memory when your great great grandpa brought shame on it. Merchant's like us can't build off a bad name you get me? I don't want to hear about you being the cause of us needing to do it again. You're doing good now working with the Princesses, so keep doing that. I doubt that dumb luck of yours would save yah a second time from tha bad press that would be spread around.”

“I plan to.” Rhede sighed not even bothering to ask how ma knew he was the one who took out the remnants of The Order. “My biggest issue seems to have been dealt with.”

“And hurry up and settle down with that Zebra already. I ain't getting any younger waiting for grand foals.” Ma fussed.

“Errr.”Rhede blinked.” Seriously?”



“How long has she been missing?”Luna demanded

“Three days now Princess. The Black Bird Project was designed for extended flight, but not this much.”General Shower grumbled.

Jer'rahd and Princess Luna had joined General Shower in the communication tower of the Canterlot research and development building just outside the Guard base in Canterlot. Aside from the building playing host to Celestia's schools think tank, it also had a few manufacturing areas and smithies for anything that came out of the research, or just to supply basic guard armor and weapons. As new things were needed new buildings were added to the old thus the trip to the communications tower wound through a number of other project zones, before reaching this one.

“Any idea what might have happened to her, sir?” Jer'rahd asked.

“Not in the slightest Kaisur. We were in contact with her til she went com silent before she flew over the invasion force. That was two days ago.” General shower grumbled as the trio looked over the proposed flight path on a wall map.

“Is it possible Starfall might have crashed or been shot down?” Luna asked.

“Anything is possible Princess, this is all new magic tech.”Shower grumbled.

“Was this equipment not tested first?”Jer'rahd asked

“It was tested, just not as extensively as we would have liked. We were pressed for time. But the gear exceeded all the limits of the testing we did do so it was near ready any way.” General Shower explained.” Any way we sent out a few fliers to look for her on this side of Dullahan as soon as we were able, we can't get too close to the wall, but none of them reported back with any sign....”

The conversation was stopped as a green coated earth Pony nearly fell from his seat by one of the crystal transmission terminals.

“Sir we have a contact signal from the transponder.” he stammered.

“Put it on open channel.” Shower grinned as the static humm came on over a speaker in the arcane mass of the terminal.”Air commander report!”

“I am going to need some of Bleu's coffee to do that coherently sir, hehehehe. Forget everything I said before. I love this thing hehehhe.” A crackling voice that sounded like Starfall at a much higher pitch was heard.

“Is she giggling?”Jer'rahd asked, rather concerned.

“There might be something wrong with the magic seal producing the air, it wasn't designed for this length of production.”Shower explained.

“Uh oh, bit of a problem here, hehe. My legs are kinda cramped and frozen, yep ice block..... … can some pony lay out a bunch of pillows somewhere?”Starfall chimed in.

“ What is her location. I will catch her, just tell her to come by the tower.”

“Yes Princess. Air Commander you are to head towards the tower and lower your speed as much as you can.......... Air Commander?”

The whole group leans a bit closer to the gem transmitter box waiting for a response. The sudden loud snore they gained in return nearly knocked them all back.

“She fell asleep? Get the med teams out there now!”Shower bellowed.

“We have the wall patrol reporting a contact from the east.” Another controller shouted out.

“General Kaisur, make a door, we do not have time to run back out side from here.” Luna demanded.

“Yes Princess.” Jer'rahd growled under the bone helm.

“No Wait!!” Shower shouted a moment to late.

The wood and plaster wall exploded outward as Jer'rahd barreled through a section of wall that did not seem to have anything important looking on it. His armor kept him from feeling much of the impact with the wall as he burst through, the sudden three story fall on the other side however, he felt quite a bit of when he hit the ground.

Jer'rahd picked him self up working to regain the breath that was knocked out of him, he glanced up as Luna leapt out of the hole and into the night sky searching.

Luna had left the moon down for the last three days, hoping Starfall would return. The pitch black night had another benefit of forcing the Dragons to realize who they might be dealing with. A final warning as it were, Celestia briefly pondered the idea of leaving the sun down as well, but that would hurt the ponies more than the dragons.

Luna's attention focused on a certain spot and she watched it her head tilting a little. She flapped her wings rising up higher, her head moving as if tracking something before her horn glowed softly a dark blue shimmer, barely visible in the night.

“General Storm, please ready the medical unit, I have her.” Luna called out.

“Yes Princess. GET ME THE TECHS NOW! GO GO GO! GET THE SUIT OFF HER!!”Shower bellowed as a number of ponies scrambled out of the hole and from some of the buildings main doors swarming out into the field.

General Meteor Shower ducked back into the hole in the wall shouting orders. Jer'rahd could only watch Luna floating above him. He briefly wished he had wings though quickly dismissed that. He had enough trouble not smashing through things while ground bound.

Starfall slowly became visible wrapped in dark blue magic, as Luna brought her down the glow of her magic all that was seen, the pitch black armor doing a good job of hiding Starfall from sight. She was barely at ground level before a host of techs and medics swarmed over to her removing the crystals and chunks of ice from her body tearing the suit from her despite some protests to be more careful from the techs. A bit of a argument started though it was quickly stopped when one of the medics pointed out Jer'rahd and Luna standing nearby. After that most of the tech waited until the gear was removed before starting to try and collect the equipment without another word about the suit getting damaged.

Princess Luna slowly floats down as the technicians gather up the gems running off to have them checked out while leaving a few behind to clean up the mess.

“You should go check on her later Jer'rahd.”Luna stated.

“Only if you plan on coming along as well Princess, I have my orders, besides, I likely would just be in the way now. When there's time later we should both look in on her.” Jer'rahd stated.

“You have become considerably more serious since you returned. It seems Bleu may have taken all of your humor.” Luna teased.

Jer'rahd blinked looking up at the hovering Princess curiously, not sure if she made a joke intentionally or not. He offered her a smile regardless.

“Like Bleu said, we all saw our weakness. That is not something anyone likes to have displayed before them.”Jer'rahd retorts.

“So tell me, what was yours?”Luna questioned.

“Was that a order or a question Princess?”Jer'rahd frowned.

Luna frowned slightly at that as well. She drops down to land next to the armored pony regarding him coolly.

“I was attempting to help find out what was bothering you. Is that not something friends are supposed to do for one another?”Luna demanded.

Jer'rahd winced at her tone, hanging his head and letting out a deep sigh.

“I am sorry Luna, but it is still something I would rather not discuss. It was not a pleasant experience, and it was made worse by the fact we failed. I thank you for the offer to listen however.” Jer'rahd responded.

“You should not dwell on that long. You were the first to even attempt to retrieve them in over three hundred years. We had hoped you would gather them, but we also planned for if you did not. Your failure has done us no harm in the long run. The Dragons had already attacked before any one even knew of the result. Possessing the Elements would not have changed anything.”

“Be that as it may Luna, tit does not sit well with me.”Jer'rahd grumbled. “It could have ended this before any one got hurt.”

“The Element's do not work the way that we think they should. What happens when they are used is not often what we desire most, but it is what they think is the best. You have gotten too used to winning every fight perhaps?”

“I have yet to win a fight without loss.”

“Perhaps we can speak of this later, we should check on the data gathered and on Starfall.”Luna admitted after a few seconds.

“Alright.”

Luna rears up to fly back up to the hole Jer'rahd made, though she stopped as if to consider only for a series of green panels to make a ramp running from the ground back up to the hole. Jer'rahd started up the ramp his hooves thudding loudly.

“You are getting better control of your spells I see.”Luna chuckled following him.

“When you're only good at two spells, you make sure you are really good at them.”


Bleu tilted her head looking at the device. A cream colored unicorn pony, with a small plump green dragon resting on his back watch expectantly as Bleu wandered around the thing looking at it.

“And this flies?” Bleu finally asked.

“It's only a prototype but we tested it and yes it does, not particularly well mind you, but if towed by a Pegasus, or flown by a unicorn using wind spells it can carry a great deal more weight than just a Pegasus could and thus can be used to resupply remote locations with ease.” the cream pony Launchpad stated.

“The only problem with it is its fragile, we could try adding some armor, but that would reduce the transport weight.” the green Dragonling, Bosco, admitted. “Granted this did give us an idea for chariots with a spell imbedded that could be pulled by pegasus the way an earth pony pulls a cart.”

“Still not bad, something that allows earth ponies and unicorns to fly. What do you two call it?” Bleu stated.

“Well since its using heated air and its based off a child’s toy for all purposes.” Bosco muttered.

“We think Hot Air Bubble or Balloon might be good.” Launchpad stated.

“Not bad, this is a good start, work on that chariot idea though too. This seems to fragile to be used in any kind of conflict.”

“Right.”
“Of course.”

This was a little better, a few days in and they were getting the hang of it. Celestia might have had the right idea using her students as a think tank. Even if the ideas themselves might not work too well initially there were engineers a plenty who could make them work for something else even if it wasn't for the approaching conflict.

The shield stones were altered and now even good enough to stop ranged weaponry and some breath weapons, though only a few before they broke, durability and power seemed to be the issues. Dusty and Fangy had gone to Princess Celestia, not as Bleu had first thought to complain, but to learn the shield spell she used. They then came back and implemented the alicorn's spell into the stone. These Ponies and Dragonlings actually seemed to want to help, even Lily and Seamore, though he was just still a jerk about it.

It had only taken a week to get the really dumb ideas out of their system, there were still a few useless things however. Altering a Dragonling's breath weapon to send letters, or small items, for one. Simple trick, but there were not enough Dragonling's for it to be feasible. Another item showed promise, A sword that shot bolts of arcane energy. The problem with this was that to fire the energy required some strange maneuvers for a sword as well as it only worked if the wielder had not been injured.

“Alright Lily, Seamore, what do you have this time.” Bleu sighed already regretting coming over to the whispering pair.

“FIRE!!”
“Seamore, No!”

“What?” Bleu asked.

A strange beam of purple and blue light erupts from the device on the table arching across the room striking Bleu. The serpent dragon grinned wide as Lily cuts the machine off looking over at Bleu curiously and with the inklings of panic setting in. The group of Unicorns and Dragonlings make their way slowly over towards the tiny little dragon Bleu had become peering down at her. Seamore slithers over laughing at her as Lily tries to apologize. Bleu crossed her arms looking up at the towering forms around her.

“Shrink ray, cute.” Bleu snorted.

Seamore pokes her a bit grinning.

“Not such a big deal now are you?” Seamore chuckled.

Bleu growled lightly suddenly shifting into her pony sized form and glared down at Seamore.

“Yeah I still kinda am.”Bleu grinned.

She shrinks back down to her normal size checking herself out a moment to make sure every things back to normal.

“Not a bad thing, but it doesn’t seem to work well on those of us who can change our size. On top of that, your device seems to be on fire.” Bleu pointed out.

Seamore and Lily both yelp running around to put out the fire as Bleu shook her head. Aside from the few drawbacks she was actually starting to enjoy this.


“I still do not understand why you want us to go Princess.” Rhede sighed looking up from the map he was studying to Princess Celestia and the few advisers she had gathered around her. “Wouldn’t you rather speak with them. Peaceful negotiations are some what your thing.”

“Normally yes, but it would not be wise to have both leaders running around the country side in a time like this. I also know that if I left Luna here she would not stay in the castle.” Celestia rolled her eyes.

“Really, nothing to do with the fact all of us have been wrecks since coming back?” Rhede snorted.” maybe you think a bit of good news might be enough to get us out of the funk we are in?”

“I do find it odd that my sister has been less depressed while you all have become more so. I do hope it is not some sort of odd trade off.” Celestia chuckled

“No, nothing like that. We just have had a bad time of it. We'll be fine before too long I am sure. “ Rhede muttered as one of the asides set another map before him on the table.

“Yes well then on to other business. Mrs. Pelt has agreed then?” Celestia smiled.

“She has Princess. The Pelts have already started clearing the land. That will take time and any additional aid will help. Ponyville is only so big and with this winter being as cold as it is already the refugees will need something much better than some tents.” Rhede admitted.

“Perhaps if we kindly suggest to some of the nobles that aiding in the building of the Ponyville refugee camp will move them out of Canterlot faster, we might see some rather rapid results.”One of the advisers points out.

Rhede looks up at the blue and gold colored adviser and nods lightly to the Princess.

“Sounds like a good idea to me, Maw has pulled back quite a few of the trade caravans already to bring the supplies in to use for the town. Likely that's going to hurt the family for a bit.“ Rhede muttered.

“Money is not the issue here Rhede. We can make the offer to pay her for what losses she might receive, but do you honestly think she would take it?” Celestia frowned.

“You are right Princess, I seriously doubt she would. “ Rhede sighed. “ Honestly how am I supposed to under stand this map it's all white......”


[The next day]

“SHE DID WHAT?!?” General Shower bellowed.

“According to this data General Shower, Sir, the Air Commander not only flew over the army at The Great Wall, but she also flew over all of the Dark Lands and the Dragon Lands as well.” a piebald lieutenant explained.

“So you are telling me we have pictures of everything?” General Kaisur asked.

“Yes sir, every military base, every outpost, every camp. The images are excellent as well. We have information on things that no pony has ever seen before. We are currently still gathering everything and transferring it to a viewer for non unicorns.” the lieutenant explained.

“Heh, Starfall's trying to outdo herself further.” Jer'rahd smirked.

“She still should not have put herself under that much of a strain to do all this General Kaisur.” Luna chided.

“You try telling her that when she wakes up Princess. She never listens to me.”Jer'rahd shrugged.

“Alright then lets see what sort of information we can get out of all of this. lieutenant put the images you have ready on the wall.” General Shower ordered.


[“ I still wish you would have asked me first before you decided to do this Baelit. I did not expect you to make all this when I appointed you as a Surgeon General.”] Velkorn huffed.

The Zebra smirked as Velkorn tried to scold him. He practically ignored all the negative aspects of the conversation they were having. The pair of them were currently in the medical supply tent going over the inventory making sure everything was ready. Forces were building on the Equestrian side and the Dragons had held their position to build fortifications out of the remains of The Great Wall. The Queen's Cross had set up in one of the abandon mining towns just outside of the massive open fields of farmland where the brunt of the fighting was likely to take place. A giant red cross on a field of white adorned every member of the organization and was painted on every single cart, tent, and supply crate they had. Ponies, Dragons, Zebras, Griffons, Diamond Dogs, and a few others ran around outside to finish setting up the tents and ready everything for the instant the fighting started. Baelit had left his post in the Zebralands to oversee the whole operation.

[“You told me once, my Queen, that we should be ready to help any creature at any time, regardless of how we might feel about them, or what their intent might be. You have also told me that putting yourself in danger to help others should never result in you putting yourself in more danger than necessary. The Dragons and the Ponies both recognize this banner we wear, and will not attack anyone wearing it. To prevent confusion only the Zebras will be going out into the field to recover the fallen. We are the only ones who can without being confused for the enemy. We have two sections to deal with both dragon forces and pony forces so they do not even have to come into contact with each other here while recovering. What they do when they leave however, we will have no control over. We will strongly suggest they return home however and give up the conflict.”]

[“Do not call me that” Velkorn scoffed. “What you do is a noble decision, but what of the Trolls and Orcs they are barely sentient enough to follow such rules. There is far too much that can go wrong with this plan.”]

[“ The Orcs have agreed, their leaders are not as stupid as they would like others to believe, and the Trolls we will leave in the field. If they are only wounded they will recover. Their healing abilities are remarkable, if they are not outright killed or burned they can recover from nearly anything.”] Baelit explained.

[“ I still wish you had not come. This is far too much for you you are only nineteen”]

[“And yet you put me in charge of things when you fled the Zebralands. You worry to, much Auntie, perhaps you should not be around the Ponies you do if all it brings you is worries. Or at least a certain one you associate with...”]

[“ Who I associate with is not your concern. I am not comfortable with you calling me that either. My brothers child or not.”]

[“Too bad it's either queenie or auntie.”]

[“Brat.”]


“That is not a good thing.” General Shower whistled.

“How the buck did the dragons even manage that? I mean, I know they tamed the trolls, but they can be lead by fear of a stronger creature. This though?” General Kaisur grumbled.

“Look at this image. There is not just one. They have two.” Another tech pointed out.

“At least the second one is smaller.” Luna sighed.

“Yes, it cannot house a whole town on its shell, just a guard outpost. “ General Shower grumbled.

“What worries me is the smaller one is the size of the Tank that ate me.” Jer'rahd frowned.

“You were eaten by a Tank Sir?” One of the Pegasus Guards asked.

“Where do you think I got this awesome armor Major. Keep in mind they tend to be squishier on the inside. Though that route will swear you off oranges.” Jer'rahd explained.

“I will decidedly pass that information along, Sir. Maybe not the oranges part however as that makes little sense... umm sir.” the Pegasus Guard blinked

“Cut your way out of one and it will.” Jer'rahd Chuckled.

“Major what are these five things here. They look like towers of some sort.”Luna asked pointing at a few points on the map.

“I am not sure Princess, but they appear to be quite tall, they may be left over chunks of the wall.” the Pegasus Guard considered.

“No, the wall fell further south on this image. These are back further in the Dark Lands.” Luna pointed out.

“Those are Discord's Castle Princess.”

Jer'rahd, Luna, Major Pine. And General Shower all turn back to look at a clearly tired Starfall. She smirked slightly at the attention offering a weak salute as a pair of medical ponies wheel her in on a gurney. The gray pegasus was wrapped up tight with her wings and limbs in bandages looking much like Jer'rahd did after all his fights.

“Shouldn't you be in bed Air Commander?” General Shower asked.

“With all due respect Sir, you need to know what I saw more than I need another nap. A couple hours and some lunch will be good for now. Besides I sort of am still in bed.”Starfall chuckled.

“Whats her damage?” Jer'rahd asked.

One of the medical ponies saluted.

“Dehydration, traces of frostbite, air deprivation, over all strain to nearly every part of her body from staying in the air as long as she did, mild starvation, wing tears along the first and second vertebrae, and a rather large stubborn streak sir. She threatened to get up and trot here herself if we did not bring her.” the medic huffed.

“The last one is normal for her.” Jer'rahd smirked.

“Nice to see you too Jer'rahd.” Starfall snorted.

“While I am glad you are at least moderately well Starfall, what did you mean these are Discord's Castle.” Luna asked.

“I am not sure if any of the gems got a better shot of it, but I flew a bit closer to see for myself what they were. They all look just like Discord's castle, and they all move. Two of them were gone when I flew back from the Dragon Lands.” Starfall explained.

“We have those images as well Princess.”

“Put them up Major.” Luna ordered

The image on the wall changed as the gem was adjusted. This image was a good bit closer and showed one of the towers from a different angle than directly above. The floating statues and strangely placed architecture were easier to identify from this picture.

“That definitely looks like the castle we went to Princess.” Jer'rahd growled.

“It does. I see no reason for the dragons to have built something intentionally with his visage so predominate in it. They may have found a way to take control of its abilities however. Everything might have been left the same for the simple reason that it could alter how the castle runs if they change it. Chaos magic is odd like that. But I was unaware there were five of them.”

“Illusion maybe?” General Shower suggested.

“Not much point in that, I doubt the dragons would have figured we would be able to see all of this. Heck I was the one flying and I didn't expect to see all that I did. There were troops moving into and out of all five of those castles. They are really there. Major switch to the big shot I want to point a few things out. “Starfall stated.

The image moves to the bigger view of the area. Starfall gestured the medical ponies to push her closer. The Pegasus lifted a bandaged hoof pointing to a small grouping on the far corner of the map by the edge of where the wall used to meet the mountain.

“We all should remember this group Princess. Seems the dragons got those little teddy bear things to side with them. Not surprising given how they were worshiping Bleu. Not a massive problem, but the bears have large numbers and tend to make traps and hunt using guerrilla tactics. This section over here on the other side is the Orc encampment, there seem to be more of them then anything else. There are pens full of trolls and other monsters here, I was too far away to tell what most of them were but the trolls howling was easy to hear even that far up. This group over here looks like a series of armored wagons pulled by monsters, they seem to be made of the same strange metals we saw in that ship graveyard. You noticed the two Tanks already. There is a small fortress on the back of the larger one and a smithy on the back of the smaller one. The half dragons are every where likely being used as go between for the various forces. There were also easily a dozen full grown dragons flying about at random times. There’s no telling how many might be in the castles.”

“Going by that, and the amount of tents and the size of the supply train, if that’s what those carts are for, we are looking at a army of several thousand strong. This is larger than the force that attacked us in the last war. We were on our way to losing that one before their leader made an error in judgment that turned the tide.”

“We have an advantage of having been in several battles lately Princess. We have a great many more forces available to us this time then we did a hundred years ago as well as new technologies. They are also attacking us during our winter. We have no crops for them to burn this time as everything is stored and easily moveable to a more secure location. “

“You may be right General Storm. Something does seem off with this however. Why would they attack now?” Luna pondered.

“Princess if I might suggest something.”Jer'rahd stated.

“Go ahead General Kaisur, any insight will be useful.”

“Who is to say they are going to attack now? From what these images show they are simply building a beach head that they can easily defend. They do not seem to be preparing for anything more than a holding action.”

“Interesting in their place what would you do then?”

“Wait till the spring when our food stores would be at their lowest. That would also have the benefit of the weather being more to their liking and a number of our troops would be needed to start the crops for this year. Plus with your sister drained from clearing the winter from the land we would be at our weakest.”Jer'rahd listed.

“Astute observation there Kaisur, pity we can't speed up the crop growing some how to be better prepared.” General Shower sighed.

“Hmm? What was that General Shower?” Luna blinked.

“Oh sorry Princess, it was little more than wistful thinking. If we could speed up the seasons some how to make spring come early, preferably without your sister doing it all, sort of a early end to winter.” General Shower shrugged

“It might not be that wistful General. I have an idea.” Luna grinned.


“No, just no,..... OK, yes it is absolutely hilarious, but no.” Bleu pointed out.

“What! Lily learns a new spell and you have to react like that? This is sheer brilliance.” Seamore stated.

“It is not that good Seamore. It was just something I thought might be neat and it worked.” Water lily muttered.

“It is silly and does not have much use for what we need. But it is silly so I like it. Plus you look absolutely hilarious Seamore.” Bleu grinned.

“Bah you are only jealous because Lily has given me this magnificent Mooustache and you get nothing.”Seamore snorted.

Bleu fell over laughing at the purple Dragonling who now sported a ridiculous orange mustache to match the unkempt hair on his head. The purple serpent like dragon frowned twirling his new facial hair with a claw.

“Bah, you have no taste.” Seamore scoffed,



The Queen's Cross was very well stocked and prepared, even Velkorn could not dispute that.


Baelit had gone to meet a faction leader of the dragons to discuss the plans the Queen's Cross had set up, leaving Velkorn alone in the camp. She rather wished she had left earlier as the glares she was getting from some of the Queens Cross were starting to bug her.

It was not just the Dragon members of the Cross, a large number of Zebra's were also sending her accusing glares. It seemed there were a great number of them who were not thrilled with her choice to pick a side. She expected a number of them recalled her position in the Zebra-Pony war and wonder why she had chosen soly side Equestria this time.

The small Guard group with her trotted along the road heading back towards Canterlot. She wished she could stay, but she knew there were going to be ponies that could not be reached by this group that would need her help. Not to mention her vision still troubled her and she wanted to stay near Rhede and the others until she could make more sense of it.

She simply hoped that she could believe that was her true reason, over the one her mind and heart kept giving her.


“Honestly, I did not think you all could do it.” Celestia whistled

“HAH, never underestimate a Pelt, Princess. “ Ma cackled

“Yes well, Mrs. Pelt your son has quite proven that .” Celestia smiled.

“Oh, which one?”

“Hmm? Oh yes, I had forgotten you had adopted General Kaisur. Hmm at this point I would say both of them. They do continue to surprise. For example, I would never have guessed Rhede could keep quiet longer than a few moments without saying something he thought witty or trying to hit on some mare.”Celestia chuckled.

“Yeah he gets that from his fathers side.” Ma snorted.” I certainly didn't have stallions lined up chasing after my tail.”

Celestia glanced down at the shorter mare and the massive grin on her face as Rhede walking on the other side of his mother made gagging motions with his hoof.

Rhede and Princess Celestia as well of a sizable collection of Guards and a number of specialists stood in the center of town looking over the collection of structures that had been built in little under a month. Many of the refugees had already taken up residence after completing the work on the houses, the small camp had turned into a fair sized town.

“So tell me again what this is Mrs. Pelt.” Celestia asked looking down at the area of grass with a small hole dug in the dirt at the center of it.

“Ahh, bit of earth pony tradition here. We cut down so many trees to make this place we are planting a mess more to make up for what we took from the land. This one here's the last one to be planted, just a little oak tree. We planned to put it here let it grow into something massive later in life. Not exactly the middle of town, but when it grows you will still be able to see it from all over. We held up when we heard you were coming Princess. Thought you might want the honor of replanting the last tree.” Ma explained.

“Oh? Why thank you, I would be delighted to.”Celestia smiled.

To the surprise of many Celestia slipped her hooves out of her golden hoof covers and trotted across the grass to take the seed from Ma Pelt with her hoof. She fluttered her wings a little partially hopping to the small hole and pushing the acorn into the soil at the bottom then used her bare hoof to push the soft soil over the little acorn.

The gathered ponies seem rather surprised she did not use her magic to plant it, but a loud cheer rose up as the hole was covered over Celestia smiled waiting for the cheer to die down and wiping off her hoof with a towel a guard brought over for her before redoning her shoes and gesturing for Rhede to come closer with his bags.

“I regret to lay more tasks on you Mrs. Pelt, particularly with you being with foal, but having accomplished this much in so little time I am afraid I have two more things of note that I must request.”Celestia frowned a little.

“It's alright Princess, I ain't afraid of a little hard work.” Ma smirked.

“Well the first is, even though this is a refugee camp it will need a mayor until such time as this conflict ends. Which may not be as soon as we would like. I would like to place you in that position for now Mrs. Pelt.” Celestia stated to another rousing cheer , mostly from the gathered Pelts. None of them recalled a time when Celestia herself had selected a pony to directly be mayor of a new Town.

“Pffft, half the ponies here already think I run this place anyway. Nothing new there. What else yah got?” Ma scoffed, not seeming the slightest bit concerned with it.

The Princess nods and Rhede pulls out a large bundle of scrolls offering them to his mother.

“Whats all this?” Ma questioned.

“Plans for something my sister thought up. We would like to test it here first and as soon as possible to see if it will work without magic. With this being predominately a earth pony community if it works here it will work any where.” Celestia explained

Maw flips through the plans whistling loudly.

“Tall order Princess, but it seems doable. Likely need more Pegasus though, lot of this will need some weather manipulation.... Can't say an early harvest wouldn't be a bad thing though.” Ma ponders.” What do yah call this little plan of yers any way?”

“Winter Wrap Up.” Celestia smiled.

==========================================================
[ Two days later]
“Alright level with me Princess, why did you put me in charge of these ponies?” Bleu hissed.

“Hmm, what do you mean Bleu?” Celestia an expression so innocent on her face Bleu decided then and there to never play cards with the mare.

“I get the body guard bit, cause I'm a bad ass. But you put me in charge of them, that I don't get. I have nothing akin to even a fraction of the magic your students have. I've got no idea even what they are talking about some times. Why did you put me as overseer of that little think tank of yours?” Bleu growled.

“You have a way about you Bleu. You can rile up any pony and by the same token sooth any pony. While my students are quite capable ponies in their own right, most of them lack the actual drive to put their talents to the use it is needed for. Which at the moment is the war effort. What were they working on when you first arrived? “ Celestia asked flipping though another page of a book she was studying on the table.

“A mustache spell....... they completed that by the way.” Bleu admitted with a groan recalling Seamore was still wearing that thing.

“And what have they made since you have been there as their director?” Celestia asked innocently enough.

“Healing Gems, a portable shield, that barely works, but it's a start and a device for hurling magic spells at high velocities they call a cannon.” Bleu growled” okay okay... I get it, I get it ,…. and here I thought it was to keep me out of every ponies mane so they wouldn’t have to explain a Dragon on our side every ten paces.”

“That as well.” Celestia admitted.


[Three days later. Celestia's meeting room]

“That is everyone I suppose. Lulu, General Kaisur, Air Commander Silvertail, Ambassador Pelt, Queen Velkorn, and Director Scale.” Celestia listed.

“HAH, I finally got a title!!” Bleu exclaimed.
“I do not think we all need the titles in this meeting sister.” Luna sighed.
“I barely use my last name, I almost didn't recognize you were talking to me Princess.” Starfall stated.
“General? More like Body guard lately, not that I mind of course, but still.” Jer'rahd sighed.
“Not to pick a nit, but I was officially Queen only for a bit.” Velkorn pointed out.
“I was unaware I still retained that title Princess.” Rhede questioned.

“Um, yes, moving on. I have another mission for you all.” Celestia snorted.

“Is this the time to send us out some where sister. There is a conflict going to happen.” Luna chided.

“By your own report Luna it is not likely the Dragons will attack before winter ends. Right now they are simply consolidating forces. As Starfall's images have shown us there is a massive build up in the Dragon homeland as well. Whether they are going to support or defend against the forces in the Flame Party we do not know. The Dragon's have the Orcs, Trolls, and their own half breeds as well as several companies of Griffon mercenaries and whatever they drug out of the Darklands. We have ourselves. Equestria is in need of allies, and as such I am sending you all out to find them. “

“Would you not be a better choice for negotiations sister?” Luna demanded.

“Would you stay in the palace while I was gone, or go running off to deal with the military matters your Generals can handle? Besides with Rhede, Velkorn, and yourself the part of negotiator is far above average. Bleu, Jer'rahd, and Starfall should be enough to protect you on a diplomatic mission. Though if you like a small force may accompany you.”

“I feel you planed for this sister.” Luna grumbled.

“Perhaps, Rhede inform them of where you shall be headed.” Celestia ordered.

“What? I was here, but you picked all these spots Princess.” Rhede protested.

“Rhederic.”Celestia flattened her ears.

“Akk, Alright.”Rhede yelped as he gathered his information.

“That was a very good impersonation of Maw, Princess.” Jer'rahd stated, not able to suppress a chill at the tone himself.

“Thank you Jer'rahd, now then.” Celestia pointed to Rhede as he unrolled a map of known Equss.

“We have four groups to try and contact. The plan is to contact them in a certain order for the ease of it, time is always of the essence. The first will be both the easiest and the hardest. The Buffalo Tribes of the south west. Equestria has only ever been on moderate to decent terms with the plains dwellers. However their shamanistic abilities and simple brute strength would be a great boon to us.”

“Wait West? Ohmygoshthetrain!! that thing was just completed we can ride the train hahahahhahaha.”Bleu cackled.

“The what now Bleu?” Starfall asked.

“Do not worry Starfall, you will find out soon enough. Continue Rhede.” Celestia answered.

“From there we need to head south towards the Great Western sea. The Princess Bride will be waiting for us there to take us to Neighlantis to meet Princess Aqua. Well hopefully. Relationships with the Seaponies have become a bit strained as of late. We have not had any real contact with them in some time in fact. The Princess might not be happy that we only speak with her in a time of duress.” Rhede considered.

“I never really liked the name of that ship.”Celestia interrupted.

“You named it Tia.” Luna sighed.

“Doesn't mean I liked it.” Celestia grumbled.

“Ooooookay...., depending on how that goes we either come back up here to the port of Wilmingtrot , or drown in the ocean depending on the Princesses mood.” Rhede continued.

“She is not that bad Rhede.”Celestia sighed.

“There's reasons ponies do not go out into the Western Sea very often Princess. Princess Aqua is at least number two on the list of reasons why, and number one on the list is the storms she makes.” Rhede snapped.

“Do keep in mind Luna will be with you and as far as I know Luna has never managed to make Aqua angry. “ Celestia tried to sooth

“She is your sister, I hope guilt by association does not count.” Rhede snorted.

“Move on Rhede.”Celestia ordered with a roll of her eyes.

“We will be hitting Whitetail Woods after that and hopefully finding the lands of the Elks. That ones a hit or miss as they are rather reclusive.” Rhede continued.

“Well lets see, we can be stampeded, drown , or lost in the woods, whats the last group gonna do to us Rhede? Eat us?” Starfall growled.

“Possibly. We will be crossing the northern mountains after that, no where near the Griffon lands, but we will need to head into Old Equestria.” Rhede sighed.

“Old Equestria? Boss isn't that the place ponies first came from where they fled the winter?” Bleu asked.

“I think so, I never was much one for history, or the theater. Maw always thought Hearth's Warming should be spent with family rather than watching some play about the past.” Jer'rahd explained.

“Does any pony even still live there, or are you sending us to find some sort of polar bear?” Velkorn muttered.

“To a degree. There are ponies....... creatures up there that supposedly still owe the Alicorns a great deal. Like Dragons they tend to lead long lives. There may be some historical information or word passed down that may allow us to request their aid. At the very least, you five are the most suited for this mission.” Celestia explained.

“Who are we seeking out there Rhede?” Luna asked.

Rhede sighed, one hoof pressing to his face the other waving at Celestia who seemed to nearly be bouncing with the urge to say it. The rest of the group nervously turned to the giddy Celestia waiting expectantly.

“The Windigo.”

A bolt of lightning cracks behind her for some reason and the thunder clap and her sudden evil laugh after the statement sent Bleu, Velkorn and Starfall diving for cover, mostly behind Jer'rahd.

Rhede face hooves and Luna calmly takes another sip of tea.

“Do you have that out of your system now Sister?”Luna muttered.

“Oh that was rather fun. I have been waiting a while to try that laugh.”Celestia chuckled.


A soft voice singing, greeted Twilight as she pulled back out of the image, her ears perked up as she smiled.
The purple Unicorn stretched a little as she lowly turned her ears perking up as she moved behind the stool Spike sat on as he stared with rapt attention to the mare on the couch.

Twilight had only heard Fluttershy sing once or twice, the mare could easily do it for a living if she wanted to.

Twilight said none of this however, settling in to focus on the yellow Pegasus in as rapt attention as Spike as Fluttershy finished the song.

“....then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness too, so I stayed in the darkness with you.....”

Author's Note:

Another rebuilt chapter. I added another thousand words or so to an already large chapter as i fleshed out a great deal of things, corrected a few more and hopefully plugged some plot holes.

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