A Time of Reckoning: Seven Days in Sunny June, Book IV

by Shinzakura

???: On the Outside

The piercing, shrill laughter roared through her ears. The darkness was then split by a bolt of lightning – but it was no ordinary bolt of plasma. No jag of energy shaded deep green and glowing with purple motes could ever be construed as normal.

A second flash of light occurred, revealing a figure better left in nightmares.

“Beware,” the voice said in malicious tones. “I live.”

Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, sat up in her bed, her eyes adjusting to the wooden walls of her home at the Golden Oaks library. At the foot of her bed, she could hear Spike gently dozing. Looking at her clock, she knew it wasn’t that far off from the daytime, and then after that, the next day would be her birthday. No doubt her friends had something in mind; Pinkie, in particular, was expected to probably show up at dawn with a huge cake and a heavily-decorated downstairs.

But that was something else, and certainly for another time. Right now, that had to take a backseat to the focus now at hand: her dreams. Certainly, she wasn’t blessed with oracular gifts, and even had this been a portent, she wouldn’t have been able to discern what it meant. Besides...even in her waking mind, pushing away the detritus of dreams, she could scarcely recall what had been at the epicenter of that nocturnal imagination. Whatever it was, however, had to be important, else why would she fret about it so?

Gently moving out of bed and walking quietly to the bedroom door so as to not disturb her younger brother, Twilight descended the stairs, silent as a ghost, and ready to do a little early reading…

...so it was a surprise to see a familiar figure seated in the library, making herself comfortable by the hearth. “Hello, Twilight,” Princess Luna said, a soft smile on her face.

“Luna! It’s a surprise to see you here,” the younger alicorn said to the older.

The smile the night alicorn gave her fellow princess was melancholy. “I wish I could say it was a personal visit, Twilight, but something’s just come up, and we’re calling for an emergency meeting of the princesses. We have an issue in the Badlands, and we have very little answers, and just a single indicator that something is amiss.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Twilight admitted. “Should I let the girls know?”

Luna shook her head. “Right now this is a preliminary briefing; a small one, but one that Shining Armor wanted the princesses involved in. We can notify our friends later, should it come to that.”

“Well, in that case, I’m ready when you are,” Twilight said, though in truth something felt off, not like anything she’d ever felt in her life previously. Even standing next to one of her former enemies (in a manner of speaking), the trepidation that the young alicorn felt was nothing like the days of her first adventure.

As for Luna herself, she didn’t respond, but instead closed her eyes briefly before opening them again. Incredible, incomprehensible power burned through her eyes as the night alicorn wrapped herself and her counterpart in a gauzy cocoon of magic before whisking them off, dozens of miles away, to the great city of Canterlot, seat of the power of the world.

Shining Armor looked at the troops that were on standby in the courtyard – a full battalion’s worth. For a change, the situation had been considered dire enough that not only was the guard being brought on in force, but the army and navy had been placed on alert as well. Seeing the rows upon rows of his guardsponies standing wither-to-wither with a battalion of troops from the Royal Equestrian Army, well...it was both awe-inspiring and worrisome. The former because his troops were highly-polished and professional, their golden-and-silver armor standing up leagues from the polished metal plate of the army.

But the latter because he knew that REA troops laughed at his folks, thinking them ineffective in a true emergency. And now that emergency had come...and Shining could only hope those soldiers weren’t right.

“Impressive, my lord Prince – the troops almost look effective,” a voice said behind him. “Of course, they’re not up to true military stuff, but such is the difference between the Guard and the military.” Shining turned to see a pegasus mare approaching, wearing the finery of the Royal Equestrian Navy. Behind her was an earth stallion wearing the steely armor of the REA.

“Admiral Tumblehome, General Halberd.” The unicorn prince nodded, acknowledging the presence of both. Technically his equals in terms of where they stood in rank, as a prince he had overall authority here – and both Tumblehome and Halberd, Shining silently noted, would be more than happy to try to push their luck in countermanding him whenever convenient.

“Prince Shining,” Halberd said. “Or should I refer to your rank, Captain?”

“Rank is fine, General. We are all equals—”

“I would strongly disagree,” Tumblehome spoke as she raised an eyebrow in impudence. “Your authority supersedes your inexperience and—”

“Enough, Tumble,” Halberd said, his bushy mustache quivering. “Captain Armor is quite aware of his youth as compared to his rank. And if you ask me, he’s been one of the finest and certainly most approachable guard captains we’ve had in awhile, am I not right?” Tumblehome’s answer was to merely scoff, a raspy sound as if the very tone was precursor to insult.

“Well, if you’ll excuse me, I have my sailors to inspect – they’ll be doing the heavy lifting after all.” Without waiting for a response, Tumblehome walked off down towards the parade grounds.

Halberd looked at the younger stallion. “Don’t let her get you down, son. She’s always been an insufferable plot who thinks ‘The Wooden Walls of Equestria’ are all that keep the nation safe. You can be sure that as little respect that she seems to have for you, she has even less for your sister.” The general chuckled and added, “You should’ve seen her the day she found out that Celestia’s student – a mere civilian – defeated the greatest threat the Crown had seen at the time! She was so infuriated I thought she would molt right then and there!”

“Thanks, General.”

Halberd smiled. “Hell, I remember the day your cohort came out of bootcamp. Most of them opted for the Army, but you – you went with the Guard. Always wondered about that one. Now I know why.”

“With all due, General,” Shining told him, “my concern is about Tumblehome and her flippant attitude.”

Halberd shrugged. “What can I say, son? She takes it personally. Think about it: we were caught flat-footed during the Nightmare Night incident, then completely neutralized during the whole Discord affair. Months later we were blindsided again because of the changeling invasion during your wedding – an affair that should have been bolstered by REA and REN forces, not left up just to the Guard. After that, we mobilized in time when Sombra returned...but we hadn’t even reached the Northern Wastes when news came that he was defeated. And how? That’s the part that chaps her hide the most: all of these incidents were stopped by your sister and her friends. Six civilians did what no branch of the military could, not once, not twice, but repeatedly!”

“But Twily never asked to do that,” Shining said, defending his sister. “She only did what she felt she had to.”

“I’ve met your sister, Captain – I know how she thinks, and personally, I’m glad she did – somepony stood up to face the big bad when a badass was needed. But I think of her as an asset. Tumblehome, however, is old school and set in her ways. She respects the princess’ authority because we know the legends of their battle prowess. But your sister and her friends started out as nothing more than mere civilians, and to Tumblehome that’s all they’ll ever be. It matters little that your sister was the former Grand Mage. Mark my word: if this turns into a situation where the military is mobilized in full, Tumblehome’s biggest priority will be that the Bearers sit this one out. She might tell the princesses that they’re too valuable to risk, but the truth is, she merely thinks of them as rivals that cannot be abided by.”

“Twily’s not interested in a rivalry,” Shining told his counterpart, gesturing that they should head in the direction of the meeting.

“It matters little if Princess Twilight is interested or not. As far as Tumblehome’s concerned, she is the Fleet, and if there’s anyone that’s a threat to her ships and sailors, real or imagined, she’s going to go after it, logic be damned.”

The two walked in silence for a bit, not sure of what to say, as the most important thing had been covered: Tumblehome considered the navy their best asset and the Bearers as a danger, and if that meant that she was going to get in the way of the job getting done, they would have to do something about her, and fast.

Intoxication.

That’s what it felt like, Tirek decided.

Holding the dead body of the pony in his hands, he grinned a little bit. This pony – a mangy stallion that looked as though his horn was broken – wouldn’t be missed, he was sure. After all, no one came here to be missed, especially if they remembered the stories of old. Doubtless, thanks to the simpering, whimpering princesses, they would have candy-coated the legend of this place until it was something sugary and happy, perfect for the weak-willed and quivering creatures that called themselves ponies.

But there was a time when he knew this place as the Black Garden – a place filled with poisonous plants as far as the eye could see. The caterpillars, immune from the toxins, ate the plants and became butterflies and in turn killed the things that ate them. Even birds stupid enough to try to eat the worms and insects of this idyll found themselves as bloated corpses not to long afterwards. Ponies too, were familiar with the death of the Garden.

After all, that’s what they did in the days of the Warring Tribes – those too weak-willed to commit atrocities in the name of their particular breed instead sought the embrace of death. From his recollections, after the alicorns took over, they banned its knowledge, but couldn’t kill it, for reasons he couldn’t recall.

And this pony likely came here to change all that, Tirek thought, seeing the vials in the pony’s rucksack. Neutralizing fertilizer, purity plant seeds, defender rose bulbs – all plants used to turn against dark flora, meant to beat it, just as the princesses once beat him by luck. Clearly this pony had come to put an end to the Black Garden, and establish a place safe for ponies – as if the whole world wasn’t safe enough.

Tirek couldn’t abide that. There was enough dark beauty in the world crushed by the forces of light – too much of the delicate, loving darkness that were stamped out by the hooves of ivory and navy, and that made the world a lesser place.

Savoring the last morsel of his magic, Tirek dragged the unicorn into the center of the Black Garden; like so many of the things in the surroundings, he too was immune to the sweet siren’s call of death that the Garden provided. Taking time to remove the pony’s rucksack so that none of the vile potions would harm the plants of the Garden, he let the body remain there. Eventually, worms, cask beetles and so many other residents would feast and grow stronger, and in turn Black Garden would grow stronger and larger.

One could only hope, he thought with a smile as he went to go destroy the sack. And with that adventure done, came the next ones: conquering the alicorns, as he was destined to; and then to find the dark, pulsating thing that was calling out to him. It was a dark power on a level he hadn’t felt in years; not even that simpering idiot in the Crystal Empire who fancied himself a king was this refined of a talent.

Perhaps he would find a worthy opponent, one on the level of Discord or any of the other one of legend – ones he knew were still in Tartarus, or no longer amongst the living.

He sniffed the air again, as the scent pointed towards the east, and likely the Everfree Castle. Perhaps it was chained in the dungeons there, and would be grateful for being freed.

Just long enough for Tirek to claim – and savor – that beautiful dark magic.

He continued his journey towards his new target.

“I must protest!” Tumblehome screeched. “To think that we should have non-military personnel within this meeting—”

“Princess Twilight is a former archmagus,” Luna reminded the pegasus, “and the archmagi are always welcome at these meetings.”

“Ex-archmagus,” Tumblehome replied, “not current.”

“Well,” Cadance replied in a nonchalant tone, “as I understand it, Baroness Sunset is unavailable at the moment. We could ask Princess Raspbe—”

“NO! I forbid it! It is bad enough that we have one useless archmage; do you really want to bring in somepony that could spell the end of the Crown?”

“Admiral Tumblehome, allow us to remind you that you serve at our pleasure,” Luna said in formal tones, “and we do not take insubordination lightly – and lese majeste even less so.”

Tumblehome winced at that and it gave Halberd a chance to step in. “Your highness, I surmise that my colleague is suggesting that as this is a hastily-arranged meeting, that inviting more ponies and waiting for them to arrive would only delay the matter. I presume she meant no ill will towards the baroness or the princess in pretense.”

“Well said,” Shining whispered to Halberd. The old stallion merely gave his counterpart a wink in reply.

“I am in agreement.” Celestia added. “We can pull in other ponies as necessary. Anyways, I have called you all here at the darkest of night – and my apologies for that – because we have a potential crisis. A few days ago, a team of hikers came across one of our scientists at a research station. She was murdered.” The room fell silent at the white alicorn’s announcement. “Furthermore, she was killed with this.” A glass case floated in the air, and within it was a flame-shaped dagger with runes etched on the sides; the dagger still had the blood of the victim on it.

“That looks hideous,” Twilight spoke.

“That looks familiar,” both Luna and Cadance said at the same time.

“It should; we have what I thought was the last of them in the armory section of the Royal Museum,” Celestia intoned softly. “These were the ceremonial daggers that Sombra made upon his ascension to the throne of the Crystal Empire. These were the daggers I asked you to destroy without looking in the contents of the box.”

“I took care of that personally,” Shining assured her. “Took a trip to Inari and with permission of their emperor, dumped it in the center of Sakurajima, their main volcano.”

Celestia nodded in thanks, but then said, “Yes, but the fact that this exists means that it was given out prior to our initial assault on the Empire, and then your subsequent invasion once it returned. And to my recollection, sixteen of them were given out by Sombra – and those sixteen are still alive. Fortunately, eleven of those who received them are still within Tartarus, and one of them, thankfully, is no longer a problem.”

“Which one?” Luna asked.

“Nightmare Moon,” the solar alicorn replied, with a pained look on her face. “The dagger was delivered to the castle the day after I banished the Nightmare to the moon. The courier was supposed to arrive the day of your, ahem, ‘change’, but it was delayed.”

“I wish to know no more,” Luna said, turning her head away. Cadance, sitting next to her, wrapped her forelegs around her aunt in sympathy.

Twilight then stepped in. “But then who are the remaining remaining four?”

“Omnigul the Death Singer, is one,” Celestia began, “but I was in conference a week ago with Iwisa, the king of the rhinos, and he said that his finest warrior, Impi, is hunting down Omnigul, as she’s started to prey on his gazelle vassals. Halberd, will you send a legion of troops to assist?”

“I’ll get right on it, Princess,” he insisted.

“My thanks. As for the other three: The King of the Shadows, who attacks the mind, but Luna’s been keeping a look out for him and like the Nightmare, he can do nothing without a willing subject; Torch Hammer, the scourge of the seas, but without his ship and a pirate crew, he can do little; and Tirek, but I believe that he’s likely turned his tail and headed back to the centaur and gargoyle lands. He is a member of the ruling family there and probably wishes to lick his wounds after such a long imprisonment in the bowels of Tartarus.”

“So who do you expect is behind this?”

Celestia sighed. “Likely Torch Hammer. Though he is a pirate now...he was once the Archmagus of Equestria. He vowed to conquer Canterlot….” She blushed.

“He vowed?” Twilight asked.

“He, uh, claimed to have found the Black Garden, and within it, a potion to, ahem, ‘tame’ me.” Twilight’s eyes widened, both at Celestia’s implications, as well as the mention of the Black Garden. Unlike most mages, she knew that it truly existed, and even had the map with the location noted on it, though she never had any interest in going there.

“The Black Garden?” Halberd asked. The senior military officers knew of its existence as well, though they didn’t know its location.

“About two weeks past, I assigned Rough Road, one of my best spies, with instructions to destroy the Black Garden. I should have done so in the past, but I was worried about the ecological imbalance that would result. He has not reported in since, and I fear the worst.” She sighed. “I knew I should’ve assigned two members of my Hooves….”

Tumblehome scoffed. “Oh, the Princess’ Hooves. Yes, because maids are obviously the ones to send in. Why you so often joke that your housekeeping staff and personal hoofmaidens are of any value, I’ll never know. You should’ve sent some of the Guard with this saboteur of yours – at least that way they’d have proved their worth!”

“Oh, that reminds me: I have a fencing lesson with Rhythm Inferno in the late morning. I suppose I’ll have to cancel,” Cadance said matter-of-factly.

“That’s a shame; she’s said that she enjoys sparring with you,” Luna replied with a smile.

“Why me?” Tumblehome muttered under her breath. Focusing on the matter at hand, she said, “I’d like to send an airship to the location of the Black Garden and put it out of commission.”

“I wholeheartedly agree,” Celestia said. “Twilight, please contact your fellow Bearers to get here as soon as possible; I’d also like Raspberry to come as well to be a liaison, as she’ll be able to tell the extent of the issue.” Tumblehome’s mouth widened in an o of outrage, and ignoring her, Celestia continued. “Luna, have some of your guardsponies start a search in full for the King of Shadows. While his physical form is weakened right now, we can take advantage of it.”

“I’d like to borrow a couple of your Hooves; they may be of assistance,” Luna asked.

“Contact the ones you need. Cadance, I need you to return to the Empire and brief your staff about what’s occurring. I want the Empire ready for the worst case scenario. After that, I’ll need you to speak to our closest allies. The griffins, bisons and others should be ready to defend themselves if necessary.”

“On it!” Cadance said with a smile.

“Shining, you will temporarily take command of both the Guard and the Army. Halberd, while I hate to remove you from your vaunted position, I feel that I need you where you’ll be of most help, and that is in command of the legion assisting the rhinos. Omnigul is a far-off threat but a bigger one than Torch Hammer, and I fear it’s only a matter of time before she turns her eyes on Canterlot.”

“So long as I get my cushy job back when I’m done,” Halberd said with a laugh.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep your office seat warm,” Shining teased. Tumblehome started rubbing the temples of her head, the migraine in her mind increasing due to the sheer unprofessionalism around her.

“And with that, I suggest we bring the meeting to a close. Twilight and Cadance, I asked the staff to make up your old rooms for you. Tumblehome and Halberd, you are welcome to stay overnight in the royal suites as well.”

“My thanks, your majesty; it’ll be nice to see how the lazy life is,” Halberd cooed, giving her a grin.

“My regrets, but I need to contact my captains and prepare them for their missions. Ships take a bit longer than troops when it comes to outfitting for a mission, and though I have every confidence in my sailors, they are not perfect yet.”

“I see. Well, I need to get a bit more beauty sleep,” Celestia announced. “All, dismissed.” The second she said that, Tumblehome raced out of the meeting as if her very life depended on it.

“Well, what bug got up her ass?” Luna said, her eyes narrowing.

“Forgive her, Luna. She can be brusque, but she has the best of intentions. She has just not learned the ways of gentility, not unlike our good general here.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere, Princess,” Halberd added, bowing.

She smirked. “I still remember the private who told me fifty or so years ago what a nice ass I had.”

He laughed. “I still remember all the laps the general made me run afterwards, too.”

As the group began to disperse, Celestia said, “Twilight, a moment, if you please?”

“Sure thing, Princ...I mean, Celestia,” Twilight chirped. “What’s up?”

The smile fell from the regent’s face. “I just realized that this mission will put you away from Ponyville on your birthday. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” the youngest alicorn said. “I’ve gotten used to it. Besides, I’ll have my friends aboard ship with me, and I’m sure that once Pinkie gets her hands on the galley, she’ll turn the place into a Party Boat.”

“That would be interesting,” the solar alicorn said with a soft smile. “But I promise to make it up to you as soon as I can.”

“You don’t have to.”

Celestia put her wings around her student and daughter figure. “It’s for you – so I want to,” she said with a smile. “I only wish Sunset could be here to share the moment with us.”

“You miss her,” Twilight said.

Celestia nodded. “Every mother misses their foal when they’re away.”

“Pinkie, y’ okay?” Applejack asked a few hours later as the other Bearers, along with Raspberry, caught the train to Canterlot. Normally, chariots would have been sent for the group, but given the military alert, few guardsponies could be spared for the duty. However, due to the urgency of the summons, they were placed on the fastest available train to the capital.

“Just thinking,” the party pony said quietly.

“Wait – are you sure you’re Pinkie?” Raspberry jested. “Hey, Rainbow, did you dig up another changeling?” Rainbow, already fast asleep, ignored the unicorn’s jest.

“Well, I for one think that watching Pinkie be, well, contemplative, I suppose one would say, is enlightening. It’s not often that something like this occurs.”

“Oh, but I think it’s cute,” Fluttershy said with a soft smile.

“There, done!” the earth pony announced.

“So what were you thinking of?”

“Me! Or the other me! The me that’s with Sunny! I guess that’s the SunnyMe? Or the MeSunny? Or...well, you know. Anyway, I was wondering if she goes by Pinkie, or Pinkaemena, or Diane, or Pinks, or something else, because I know I go by Pinkie and if she goes by Pinkie, then there are two Pinkies, which would make us PinkiePinkie or Pinkie squared, or DualPinkie or something like that! But then how would anypony tell us apart if we’re both Pinkie? And does she really qualify for anypony? Wouldn’t she be an anyhuman? An—”

Applejack reached over and clamped Pinkie’s muzzle shut. “Ah think we get th’ idea, sugarcube,” the farmer said sardonically.

“Well, can we get back on focus? Twilight wanted us to be prepared for this mission, and I think we should get ready.”

There was a yawn, and with a tired look on her face, Rainbow nonetheless tried to listen in as much as she could while semiconscious. “Yeah, for what? I get this letter delivered by Derpy at six this morning saying to be on the 7:30 train, so we can what, go take care of some evil garden or something? Why didn’t Twi just send for the Flower Trio? Yeah, Lily and Daisy are lunatics, but Rose has a stable enough head on her withers to keep those two in line.”

“Rainbow, darling, I hardly think the Flower Trio are qualified for a dealing of this nature, especially when Twilight asked for we Bearers to be here.”

“Except we don’t have the Elements anymore?” Rainbow stretched her wings, then sat up. “Twi can be a total egghead when it comes to figuring stuff out, but you know as well as I do that sometimes she tends to forget little details here and there. Oh, details, like, y’know, the Elements we no longer have?”

“Give Twi a li’l credit, sugarcube,” Applejack scolded. “Admittedly, she c’n be a bit out there at times, but ‘er hearts in th’ right place. Y’know that.”

“Additionally, Elements or no, we are still the Bearers and we have a responsibility,” Rarity pointed out.

“Oh my, but what about the evil garden Twilight was talking about?” Fluttershy asked, her voice tinged with worry. “What if the garden is hurting poor, precious defenseless animals? I’d hate to see a bunny get hurt because of some dangerous plant.”

“Oh, don’t worry!” Pinkie insisted. “I’m sure the local animals are smart enough to tangle with nasty plants!”

“Don’t you mean ‘not tangle’?” Raspberry asked.

Rainbow, in return, rolled her eyes. “What, did you decide that since Twi’s not here, you get to wear the egghead hat?”

The mulberry-coated unicorn groaned. “Rainbow, can you quit being an idiot for more than five seconds?”

“Whatever,” Rainbow shrugged. “Anyway, I hope everypony remembered the plan to cheer Twi up for her birthday! It’s going to be hard enough for us to be on this mission while that’s going on, so it’s our job to make sure that it’s one to remember!”

“You betcha!” Pinkie said with a grin nearly large enough to go around her head.

The next hour was spent mostly in silence. Rainbow Dash read from a well-dogeared copy of one of her Daring Do novels, while Applejack and Pinkie looked over a book about genealogy – for some reason, as of late there was a chance the two were related and they dived into research whenever they could. Rarity worked on sewing a dress for Cadance – “One long overdue,” she insisted – and Fluttershy played with the foal of one of the other passengers on the train. As for Raspberry, she looked over some Mage Guild paperwork, as well as poring through one of the books Twilight asked her to bring from the library.

Pansy Power’s Pamphlet of Pernicious, Poisonous and Perilous Plants, Raspberry thought, reading the cover. Wonder what this is all about?

“Girls, I’m glad you could get here in time,” Twilight said as she met them at the station. “There’ll be some chariots here in a second that will take us from the train station to the shipyard. We need to get to the Super-Electric as soon as we can, as we’re scheduled to take off within the hour. I’ve already briefed Captain Easychord on the situation.”

“Captain Easychord?” Applejack asked. “Name sounds f’miliar.”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah. Easychord is Octavia Melody’s cousin. We – well I – met her at the Gala last year. She’s in command of the Super-Electric, and she’ll be the one to get us to the Black Garden.”

“Well, that sounds fun!” Rainbow said, stretching. “Bet I could get there faster than the ship can!”

“Well, Rainbow’s bravado aside, Twilight dear, what information do we have about this Black Garden?” Rarity asked. “It sounds like a dreadful place.”

“Only what I sent you to read.” A pause. “You did read the material, right?”

“Yeah, but it was boring!” Pinkie supplied cheerfully.

“Aww, don’t mind them, Twi,” Applejack said, the twang in her voice practically vibrating mirth. “Ah c’n promise ya that Razz n’ Ah read th’ docs.”

“Thanks, Applejack,” Twilight said, feeling a little relieved.

“Well, while we’re on the way, why don’t you tell us a little more?” Raspberry asked.

“Sure,” she said as the chariots arrived. Applejack and Raspberry dutifully climbed in with Twilight, while the others got into the second chariot. As the pegasi-drawn vehicles pulled away from the street, the alicorn began. “We have reason to believe that a former archmage named Torch Hammer is headed towards the Black Garden to get something that could affect the alicorns, myself included. I don’t think I need to tell you what will happen if that occurs.”

The even look on Raspberry’s face turned into a grim line. “Right, then let’s get going.”

The chariots treated the girls to a sight only Rainbow – and now Twilight – rarely saw: Canterlot, from a pegasus’-eye view. However, most of them couldn’t enjoy the sights, due to the seriousness of the situation (though Fluttershy’s fear of pretty much everything also did no favors for her). For several minutes the two chariots raced across the Canterlot sky before finally arriving at the skydocks in the north of the city. Several of the finest airships of the Royal Equestrian Navy were berthed at their towers, the sailors aboard working their craft to make sure the lofts, lines and planks of the ships were in the finest working order.

“We’ll land just before Tower Six,” Twilight shouted, “and Easychord will meet us there.”

“Roger that, ma’am,” the sergeant in charge of the chariots replied, as the four pegasi towing the chariots arced downwards in a lazy circle, headed towards the concrete slabs of the ground below.

Standing there was a black unicorn with pink-and-white hair and light gray eyes. She wore the combo cover and bridgecoat that was the uniform of REN officers. “Hiiiiiiii~~~~~!” she shouted up.

Rainbow facehoofed. “Speaking as a military reservist...that’s just embarrassing.”

In the other cart, Twilight shook her head. “Octavia warned me that Easychord was a little...off, but I didn’t think she meant ‘complete lack of military bearing’ off.”

As the two chariots alighted on the ground, Easychord went up to Twilight. “Oh, it’s sooooooo good to see you again, your Studentness! Or...sorry, that’s Princessesness now, isn’t it?”

Twilight blinked. “Uh….”

“We were in the same class in Magic Kindergarten, remember? Only I went off to music school and then the fleet when my parents thought I was waaaaaaaaaaaay too chillaxin’ for a musician, not that I have any idea where they got that idea.”

“Uh….”

“Well, don’t worry, your Twilightness! We’ll get my ship underway, we’ll go bomb some plants, and then we’ll be back in time for your birthday! Didn’t think I remembered that? I remember e~~~~~~~verypony’s birthday! What kind of filly would I be if I didn’t?”

“Wow, a mare after my own heart!” Pinkie spoke up. She walked up to the other mare and asked, “Where have you been all my life?”

“Pinkie, darling, do you really understand what you just said?” Rarity asked.

“Well, I think it’s just wonderful that Pinkie found her special somepony,” Fluttershy interjected.

“Uh, what’s a ‘special somepony’?” Pinkie asked.

“Nevermind, Pinks,” Applejack said, trying to get a handle on the situation before it went out of control in their special method of insanity. It was then that another pony approached Easychord, got her attention and handed her a piece of paper. It was hard to tell, given the exuberant nature of the mare, but the smile fell from her eyes.

“Is there something wrong, Easychord?” Twilight asked.

The captain nodded. “One of our ships on long patrol, the Whisper Pitch, was captured by Torch Hammer off the coast of Las Pegasas. Most of the crew were hypnotized and forced to do his bidding, but one managed to escape, though he was seriously injured. Fortunately, he’s in one of the hospitals in LP. But based on that intelligence, it’s clear that Hammer’s headed to the Black Garden. To make matters worse, the Pitch is one of the fastest ships in the fleet, and it’s very well armed. Fleet Command has detailed two ships to intercept, but we’d best make haste if we’re going to get to the Garden faster than him – it’s a two-day trip, and he’s already got a lead on us.”

“You heard the lady, folks,” Raspberry cried out. “Time to get aboard!”

The unicorn would soon regret those words a couple of hours later as the airship got underway. Long treks were nothing new to her, but a long trek through the air, turbulence and all, was something entirely new to her.

“I’m going to be sick,” she said, turning a bizarre shade of green.

“Well, you wanted to come on this one,” Rainbow teased.

“Rainbow, stop being mean to her,” Fluttershy said. “She wanted to help Twilight and that’s absolutely the right thing to do.”

“Yeah, well my stomach’s regretting it.” Raspberry laid her head back down on the pillow, wishing that airships didn’t come with hammocks as the choice of sleeping locations. But this was a warship, not a pleasure cruise, and every movement and eddy in the air, despite the air-calming magic and a pegasus sent ahead of the ship as a scout and to untie air turbulence, reminded her vertigo of just how bad things could be right now.

Pinkie bounded right up to Raspberry, a bottle filled with a greenish-brown fluid in it. The liquid was thick and oily, and within it seemed to burble and swirl like something not of this world. “Here! Granny Pie’s special anti-sickness remedy! It’ll cure your airsickness right up!”

Applejack looked at the concoction. “Pinkie, can Ah see that f’r a sec?”

“Sure!” Pinkie chirped, passing it over.

Applejack uncorked the bottle, and a sliver of greenish fume wafted away from the mouth. Taking a sniff, the farmer’s muzzle crinkled up in distaste, and waving away the smell while handing the bottle back to her friend, she said, “Yup, that’s th’ Ol’ Apple Family Cure-All.”

Pinkie’s grin grew even wider. “See! Knew we were related!” She then passed the bottle to Raspberry. “Okay, drink it all up!”

The unicorn, watching all of this, felt even more ill. “Celestia, just kill me now,” she moaned.

Meanwhile, Twilight was in conference with Easychord in the captain’s cabin. “News just arrived, your Twilightness: the High Expectations was just shot down over the Badlands; we don’t know what the condition of the crew is. Additionally, the Tone Burst was heavily damaged, though they managed to make it to Dodge Junction, though she’ll need heavy repairs.”

“Do we have anything else we can send against the Whisper Pitch?” Twilight asked.

The second in command, a reedy pegasus by the name of Mizzenmast shook her head. “The nearest ship is the Miss Modular, and she won’t make before either Hammer’s ship or ours arrives at the Black Garden. Even at best speed, by then, it may be too late.”

“And we only have until two days from now before we arrive,” Twilight sighed. “Okay. Have our forces continue intelligence flights, but track only the Whisper Pitch. We need to know how much damage it took.”

“The Tone Burst is sending us a report just as soon as they get access to a dragonfire candle,” Mizzenmast replied.

“Good. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need time to come up with a plan, and that means sleeping on it. Let’s meet tomorrow morning in my cabin. I should have something up my saddle by then.”

“Roger that, O Royal Twilightster!” Easychord said with a smile and a wave.

Seeing that she had everything in hoof, the alicorn headed down to the private berthing section that had been reserved for her group. Explaining the situation to her friends and her need to get more information on the situation, there was only one real option: Rainbow would be the one to fly long patrol and find out the exact location where Hammer was coming from, as well as to head to the Black Garden to see if he’d sent any advance forces.

Rainbow nodded in agreement. “Probably going to completely wear me out, but you’re right; we need to know. Okay, give me a couple of minutes to change into my flightsuit and then I’ll get going.” She grinned. “Heh – been itching to try out the camouflage mode on it – it’s supposed to make me look like a cloud to anypony who doesn’t have the right magical frequency.”

“Just be careful, okay?” Rainbow nodded, then walked off towards her bag, while the rest looked at their friend with concern. This far out, all they could do was to sit and wait. In the meanwhile, it would be a long, anxious race against time to reach the edges of the Black Garden and the terrible secrets held within its floral grasp. And the result of this could be the end of a long-forgotten threat to Equestria, or a genuine unstoppable threat that could spell doom for Twilight and her fellow alicorns.

But for now, all they could do was wait and to see what happened next, whether for good or ill.

The following morning, with the exception of Rainbow Dash, the girls met in Twilight’s cabin; as agreed, they had been joined by Easychord and Mizzenmast. As a princess, Twilight was entitled to the use of the flag cabin aboard ship, and despite the fact that she didn’t like that her friends were sleeping in the ship’s open bay berthing, there was little she could do aboard the vessel; as the highest ranking member of the group, only she could use the room. At the moment Pinkie and Easychord were in the private galley attached to the flag cabin making Pinkie’s Super Duper Especially Awesome Enpañadas for everyone.

“Oh, I hope Rainbow returns soon,” Fluttershy said, looking out the window afforded to the cabin. “She wouldn’t want to miss breakfast.”

“Oh, don’t worry!” Pinkie chirped. “I have it all in hoof – she’ll get fed! Only the best for Dashie!”

“Besides, with her caloric debt from her reconnaissance flight, I daresay she’ll need the repast,” Rarity said. “It’s not as though she’ll get fat.”

“Well, everypony eat up!” Easychord said, passing out plates filled with the pastry delight. “If it’s as good as it smells, it’s gotta be good!”

Just as everypony was about to take a bite, there was a pounding on the cabin door, followed a second later by Rainbow barging in, soaked in sweat and breathing heavily. Her soaked-in-sweat outfit dripped pools of perspiration onto the deck, and her wings looked as if they’d seen better days. “Sorry, just gotta catch my breath,” she gasped, panting a few more seconds before adding, “I don’t think I’ve ever had the challenge of flying fast enough to do a triple rainboom – and then trying not to make sure anypony sees it.”

Twilight motioned to the chair reserved for her friend. “Rainbow, sit down – you look exhausted.”

However, to the alicorn’s surprise, Rainbow looked at her before standing in a ramrod-straight posture and saluting. “Returning with a report, ma’am,” the pegasus intoned with utmost gravity.

“You don’t have to do that right now, Rainbow,” was Twilight’s reply.

“With all due respect, no, I have to. You activated my duty status, we’re on a military ship and you’re the highest ranking pony on this vessel, while I’m just a sergeant, ma’am – I do take the Wonderbolts seriously, you know.”

Twilight smiled and returned the salute. “Wouldn’t have it any other way. You said you have a report?”

“You betcha,” Rainbow began, relaxing her posture.

“ROYAL ON DECK!” a voice boomed; everypony was jolted out of what they were doing when the shout came. Rainbow, however, acted on the instinct of a military flyer following an order and snapped right back to attention. The girls took a second to look at where the audio onslaught had come…

...and to their surprise, it had come from Easychord, who took a deep breath and then steeled herself. Gone was the easygoing unicorn and in her place was a steely-eyed commander. “Sergeant Rainbow Dash,” the unicorn said in an even but firm tone that brooked no argument. “You will act with the proper bearing that is required of an NCO when in the presence of superior officers, is that understood?” Rainbow Dash, having seen the goofy unicorn turn deadly serious, was taken aback by the change in demeanor and suffered for that. Eyes narrowing, Easychord said, “I asked if you understood me, Sergeant. I will not repeat myself a second time.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Rainbow Dash said, coming to attention.

“That’s ‘aye-aye, Captain.’ You’re on a naval vessel; you should follow proper etiquette.”

“I...understand, ma’am,” Rainbow Dash replied, unsure of what else to say. “Won’t happen again, ma...er, Captain.”

“I’ll let it slide this time. Now then, lay before the mast.”

“She means ‘give your report’, Rainbow,” Twilight said, who then got a glare from Easychord.

“With all due respect, Princess, I would appreciate it if you leave the main military and naval matters to me?” Not waiting for an answer, Easychord just stood there, as if expecting the report. Now.

Rainbow looked at Twilight out of the corner of her eyes, who gave her an understanding nod. With that, the pegasus began: “First thing I did was fly to the far perimeter of the Garden’s spread; based on that, we’re looking at about 160 acres, if the size bears out—”

“160 acres?” Twilight and Raspberry said at the same time.

“Everything burns if the right pressure is applied,” Easychord said nonchalantly. “Continue.”

“There’s a contact bearing 285 and inbound at seventeen knots, about a day’s flight away. BRAH indicators identify it as the Whisper Pitch.”

“BRAH indicators?” Raspberry asked.

“It’s a system of being able to tell ships apart based on their Ballast, Rigging, Armament and Hull,” Mizzenmast explained. “For example, we Equestrians use magically-buoyant inflatables for our airships’ ballast, but the griffins tend to use ensorcelled sails. It’s not a perfect system, but for watchstanders and advance scouts, it’s the quickest way to identify a ship class, if not the ship itself.”

“Well, whatever it is or means, the Whisper Pitch is clearly headed to the Black Garden at best speed,” Rainbow explained. “By my estimation, at our current speed, we’ll get there just before they will, with only an hour, tops, to spare.”

“That’s not good enough,” Easychord snarled. Turning to Mizzenmast, she ordered, “I want the ship at Battlestations, now. Have all air assets ready for strikes on the Whisper Pitch or to interdict their flyers. I want all cannons, cannonades, sakers and culverin ready; mixture of shot and rounds. All crew are to be issued cutlasses and knives, in case of boarding. Lastly, have our battlemages prepare for guided strikes. We need to be ready and we need to be ready, now!”

Mizzenmast saluted. “On it, Captain.”

Easychord took a couple of quick bites of her food, then wiped her chin with a napkin. “My apologies for leaving so abruptly, Princess, but I need to ready my ship. I leave the planning in your capable hooves. We have a battle to fight and personally, I intend not to lose.” Nodding slightly to Mizzenmast, both departed Twilight’s cabin.

The others paused in silence as they digested Easychord’s Dr. Jingle and Miss Hide behavior.

“Okay, she turns on and off like a switch like a light and is completely insane,” Rainbow muttered. “She remind you of anyone?”

“Really? Who? Tell me!” Pinkie asked excitedly.

“Nevermind, dear,” Rarity replied. “That being said, Twilight, Easychord does have a point. What plan do you have for dealing with both this Torch Hammer fiend and the Black Garden?”

“Well, let’s start with the bigger issue: the Garden itself. Razz, as our resident black magic specialist, what were you able to come up with?”

The mulberry-coated unicorn lit her horn; a second later, Pansy Power’s Pamphlet of Pernicious, Poisonous and Perilous Plants appeared in front of her. “Based on my research, the Garden is likely composed of seventeen of the most deadly plants in Equestria.”

“Such as?” Applejack asked.

“We’re not talking about anything as relatively harmless as poison joke,” Raspberry replied. “For starters, there’s ghost flowers, which have thorns sharper than knives – a cut from one of those will never heal, not even with the most potent healing magic.”

Fluttershy hid behind Rarity. “That sounds scary,” she said in a timid tone.

Nodding, the black mage continued. “Then, there’s bloodroses, which gives you a horrible fever which lasts for weeks. Probably other fun things like plundervines, ponydrake, cherrybomb trees, and so forth as so on.”

“Ah’m thinkin’ we should’ve brought Zecora with us,” Applejack said, a knot twisting in her stomach. Plants that had negative effects could be handled by most earth ponies, but there was something about Raspberry’s descriptions that told her otherwise.

“I wish we could have, too; her advice would’ve been invaluable,” Twilight agreed. “But she’s back visiting her family in Zebrica, and it would be unfair to call her back for this.”

Just then a flash of green exploded above the dragonfire candle on the desk in the room, and a second later the smoke from the candle turned into a large package on the desk. The brown box looked as to be made of cardboard and had unusual symbols and glyphs on it.

“What’s that?” Rainbow asked, while Fluttershy, already worried about their mission, nearly passed out in fright.

“It’s a package from Spike,” Twilight told them as she went to the desk. “I asked him to send me anything that urgently needed my attention and I guess this applies.” Twilight pulled the note attached by her brother from the box, quickly perusing it. “He says the box is from Sunset.”

“Yay human candy!” Pinkie cheered.

“I wonder what’s in it,” Rainbow asked. “Looks kinda boring.”

“Good question,” Twilight replied, opening the box. Inside was a pearl of incredible size, as well as a note written in Sunset’s hoofwriting, or rather, handwriting. There were also some various things inside that looked like, sure enough, candy.

“Knew there was candy in there!” Pinkie said, without being anywhere near the contents. “The nose knows!”

“Whatever, Bon-Bon,” Rainbow teased. “Well, don’t keep us in suspense, Sparkle. Read the letter!”

“Oh, sorry. Sure,” Twilight agreed.

“Oh! It’s good to hear she’s doing so well,” Fluttershy said with a soft smile.

“Ah agree,” Applejack added. “She’s a nice mare, even if’n she’s in an odd situation.”

“GIMME CANDY!” was all Pinkie could blurt out.

“Well, let’s take a quick break while I look at this thing,” the alicorn suggested, using her magic to pass each pony a candybar. Afterwards, she reached into the box with her hooves, and pulled out the massive jewel.

“Wow, that thing’s huge,” Raspberry said, whistling in appreciation. “And I can feel the magic from here. And that came from the human world?”

“Apparently so – the magic signature doesn’t match anything I’m familiar with. Plus, Sunset wouldn’t forge magic, and she couldn’t back when she was, ahem, ‘misbehaving’. So this has to be on the up and up.” Setting it on the desk, she asked Rarity, “I think I have an idea of what Sunny would want, but I think I might need your help on this, Rarity. Up for the challenge?”

“For a chance to create a masterwork for a human?” she cooed, her eyes lighting up at the size of the pearl. “Admittedly, metalwork isn’t my forte – Golden Earring is much better at it than I am – but I certainly understand the need for discretion and so I think I can come up with something.” Enveloping the huge sphere in her magic, she added, “If I may?”

“Be my guest,” Twilight nodded.

Rarity reached out with her magic, enveloping it in a hue of blue energy, lifting it...before the glow disappeared with a pop, dropping a small distance back on the table. “Odd...I thought I put enough lift into it,” the fashionista said. “Let me try again.” A second attempt was just as fruitless, as was a third.

“Ya feelin’ okay, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.

“I think so, but I hope I’m not coming down with the horn flu...I do so hate losing my magic while at a critical junction. But that’s odd; I had the flu shot last week.”

Twilight, however, noticed something else. “Did you see that?” she asked Raspberry.

“Yeah, let me try it,” Raspberry said, reaching out with her magic. A second later, she had the same problem. “This...is weird.”

Twilight’s eyes lit up in that way. “Simply amazing! It seems to have a magic canceling spell on it, but it’s not canceling so much as it’s absorbing the magic! If we could just study it—”

“Focus, Twi. We can figure out the strange hoofball-sized pearl later. In any case, we still need to come up with a plan of what we’re going to do – and then we’re all probably going to need to get ready.”

“Right,” Twilight said with some reluctance, getting back to their conversation.

The rest of the meeting went out smoothly, the positions plotted out: Raspberry, most likely the safest around the Garden, would be in charge of putting a stop to it. Twilight would deal with Hammer directly. As for the others, Rainbow would have overwatch on everyone; Fluttershy would be in charge of corralling the animals and keeping them away from the operation; Rarity would try to shield them all with some techniques Twilight would go over; Applejack would be in charge of seeing what plants could be safely kept on site; and Pinkie would use her Pinkie Sense as a tripwire in case something went wrong.

After that, the remainder of the day was spent with Rarity practicing her spells and Pinkie vibrating to and fro as she tried to actively control her Pinkie Senses to get an idea of what Torch Hammer’s group was up to. Fluttershy and Applejack, with nothing else to do, assisted the ship’s crew in preparations. The ship’s flyer squadron, eager to learn some tricks from an actual Wonderbolt, listened to her every word. Finally, that left both Twilight and Raspberry, both standing on the ship’s poopdeck, looking out at the distance receding from them as the vessel moved ever forward.

“Something on your mind, Razz?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah. Just thinking about what’s coming ahead. We’ve faced werewolves, unintentional curses and all sorts of other things, but something feels different about this one. Not that I’m worried anything’s going to happen to us, only that I think something’s about to go very wrong.”

“You know, that’s funny: those are the same words Sunset told me the night she got here.” At the news of that, Raspberry gave her friend a curious glance. Twilight nodded in reply. “Serious. She was terrified: her sister was under attack by a magic spell she couldn’t comprehend—”

The unicorn laughed. “I have a real hard time imagining a Twilight Sparkle who’s not good at magic.”

“She’s not me, Razz, and magic is dead to the point of myth on their world – it’s natural she wouldn’t know what it is. If our situations were reversed, I’d probably be the same way. But I’m getting ahead of myself here. My point is that Sunset was on the verge of breaking down – she was desperate to save...well, Twilight...and all she felt was that everything was going to go wrong, that her sister could already be dead and she was here on the verge of a death sentence from Celestia. All I could do is to tell her the same thing that I’m going to tell you: that choosing to ignore your feelings isn’t much better than doing the wrong thing. Believe me, I have those same concerns.”

“Really? How so?”

Twilight looked at the moonlit sky and Luna’s orb, floating in the ocean of stars above. “Well, it’s simple: we know that Easychord is going to take on Torch Hammer’s ship, but that’s not the problem. No, the problem is Torch Hammer himself. Remember, he’s a former grand mage.”

Raspberry shrugged. “Yeah, well, you used to be one, and I currently am the one for dark magic, so?”

“But he’s had plenty of time to figure out some new spells that we don’t know, and while I can figure them out, in a battle you know that time is of the essence. Plus, we have to prevent him from accessing the Black Garden while finding a way to destroy that. The girls can keep innocents – well, the ones not already completely corrupted by the Garden’s influence – away from the battle. But I’ve got to be the one to stop Torch Hammer, and the responsibility of so many lives when they’re under his metaphorical hoof can be stifling at times.”

“Well, as soon as we arrive, we’ll get a good look at it and I might be able to do something about it. Although, admittedly I have my reservations about destroying something like this. Not because of the evil, uncontrollable magic – I might not even be able to do so – but because, well, it’s destroying something natural, even if it’s not nature as we know it.”

Twilight put a comforting hoof on her friend’s withers. “I know. And if there’s any way to stop it without destroying it, we will. I don’t like the idea either, even with the fact that it could hurt me, Celestia and my fellow alicorns. But I promise we’ll find a way to fix this. But believe me when I say that I know you have reservations about destroying the Black Garden; believe me, I’d be worried if you didn’t. But I also believe that you’ll do the right thing, when it’s time, because you’re Raspberry Beryl.”

Raspberry grinned. “Grand Mage of the Black Arts, Princess in Pretense to the Crystal Throne and Head of House Sombra?”

“No,” Twilight smiled back, hugging her. “Because you’re my friend.”

The day of reckoning finally arrived, and the girls stood on the weatherdeck of the ship, staring out into the vast expanse before them. The exception had been Pinkie, who had commandeered the ship’s galley, and with the happy assistance of Easychord, made smiley-face pancakes for the whole of the confused crew. Now the two were in the middle of bonding over huge stacks of pancakes, talking freely as two old souls tended to do. For the others, however, they gazed with growing dread over the vista that was the Black Garden. The skies above were mottled black and purple, looking all to the world like an ugly, pulsating bruise. An odd, wintry cold seemed to settle over the area as if the location was ruled by windigos hell-bent on wresting the whole of the world from ponydom. And below, stretching for acres upon countless acres, were giant slabs of an unknown stone, being slowly swallowed up by blackish-green vines from which blood-red flowers sprouted. The air was filled with the sickly-sweet scent of rotten honey, dying sugar ants and too many other perverted delights.

Strangest of all was the whole configuration of the location: spreading out from the center like the legementon of the damned, the unnaturally-patterned pathways of the mysterious vegetation forming a magic circle that was strong enough for every unicorn aboard the ship to feel – and it wasn’t anything particularly pleasant.

“Hoofprints on the edges of my mind….” Rarity moaned, grasping her head in the throes of pain, until Twilight tapped her horn and a shield of purple surrounded her. The agony abated, the fashionista looked at her friend with utmost gratitude. “My thanks, Twilight, dear. I felt...as if something was reaching into my consciousness.”

“Ah think all th’ unicorns ‘board th’ ship are actin’ that way,” Applejack said, looking at her friend with concern.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be here sooner,” Twilight replied as she joined her friends. “I thought Rarity would be able to withstand it better given the shielding spell I taught her, but it seemed to have overwhelmed all the unicorns aboard. I’ve been moving through the ship trying to help each one back to rights, but I forgot about my friend.”

“That’s alright, dear,” Rarity said, lying down on the deck and rubbing her horn gently. “The crew of the ship takes precedence; I understand that.” Rarity closed her eyes, concentrated, and a second later a dome of blue covered her. “Ah, that’s much better, certes,” she happily said as she returned to a standing position.

There was the stomping of hooves as a lower hatch opened and Raspberry, clearly none the worse for wear, came to a stop on the deck. “You were right, Twi,” she said, gasping. “I laid down countermeasures, but they’re only temporary – in fact, they could just intensify a second wave once the initial spell bounces back and then rebounds.”

“That’s okay,” Twilight said somberly. “By that time I’m hoping that we can put an end to thi—”

A blood-curdling scream filled the air; everypony turned to see Fluttershy at the gunwales, her body shaking as if a leaf caught in a deadly whirlwind, her eyes radiating abject horror.

“They’re...they’re….” She turned away and her eyes were filled with tears. “They’re dying, Twilight! This...monstrosity is killing them! Killing those poor animals so it can use their bodies as fertilizer!”

“Sugarcube,” Applejack began, a heavily feeling sitting in her barrel as she instinctively knew her friend to be right even if a part of her said otherwise. “That’s just a part o’ nature; you know tha—”

“THIS ISN’T NATURE!” the quavering pegaus screamed. “This is evil, and we have to stop it!”

“We will,” Applejack said, scowling at the ground as if her anger was a blast from Celestia herself. This overgrown weed patch had managed to hurt Fluttershy at her core, and Applejack would do anything to protect her friend, including pulling weeds on an industrial scale if need be. However, she trailed off as she saw the hatch open again and a woozy Easychord was stumbling onto the deck, with one leg around Pinkie, who was supporting her. But it was Pinkie that was a surprise: her hair was straightened and she was slightly grayed in her normally bright hues. Her eyes radiated ice cold fury and she seemed almost on the verge of madness. Setting her friend down, she walked over to the gunwale and shouted down at the Black Garden.

“YOU WILL NOT WIN, YOU HEAR ME, YOU BIG BAD MEANIE GARDEN! I AM PINKAMENA DIANE PIE AND WHEN I SAY FUN, YOU SAY ‘HOW HIGH’, DO YOU GET ME?”

Raspberry sighed. “I always knew this day would come. Did anypony bring the straightjacket?”

“Oh, hush, she’ll be back to normal sooner or later, you know that,” Rarity scolded, then amended it with an “I hope.”

“WHEN I SAY YOU PARTY, YOU WILL PARTY!” Pinkie shouted down at the Black Garden.

Letting go of Pinkie, Easychord steeled herself and looked at Twilight. “Princess, we are ready for your command to commence the operation. A skiff is standing by in the well deck to take Archmagus Beryl and her strike team.”

“Execute your orders,” Twilight said gravely. She then turned to Raspberry. “Okay, get going, girls. Take care, okay?”

The girls all got into a group hug. “You too, Twilight dear,” Rarity said. They remained that way for a few seconds until necessity made them break off. With that, they headed towards the hatch and towards the well deck, where the ship’s skiffs were.

“I’m sending my best flight of combat fliers to escort them, your highness,” Easychord said. “I know it’s not easy, but in my opinion, there’s no finer troubleshooters in Equestria than the Bearers.”

“My thanks,” Twilight said, turning her attention away from the naval captain and towards the bruised sky above and the sea of black-green and red below. Bloodflowers appeared to take up most of the area, but with her pegasus vision, the alicorn could see signs of ghost flowers, plundervines, ponydrake, cherrybomb trees, and so much more. Then, in several strategic places she saw the thing that could spell doom for the alicorns: spirit mint. Looking more than a little like it’s more mundane relative, the unknown chemical in spirit mint took over control of three parts of the alicorn’s body: the mind, the nervous system, and….

Twilight blushed as she thought of the third thing it took over: the reproductive system. Anyone who distilled spirit mint blooms as the core of a control spell would have any alicorn under their control; worse, said alicorn would be a love slave, unable to think of anything other than the spell’s caster. In many ways, it was worse than the love potion the Cutie Mark Crusaders came across; that would at least allow for the final embrace of death. Between absolute control of an alicorn and the immortality each had, it was a fate worse than anything else Twilight could think of. Granted, it was just theoretical, but it was the kind of theory that Twilight had no interest in proof-testing.

Rainbow, seeing the dire look on her friend’s face, tried to assure her. “Don’t worry, Twi. Whatever this Hammer blockhead thinks he can do to us, we’re gonna show him he can’t mess with the likes of you and me, okay?”

“Right,” Twilight said, rising to the air. Rainbow followed suit, and with that, on cue, two squadrons of combat flyers fell into position behind them, their intent to bring the fight to the enemy and to protect their princess.

As the group rose into the sky, Mizzenmast joined Easychord on the deck. “When I was a filly, I wanted to be a Wonderbolt. Imagine my shock when I found my cutiemark made me more suitable for a naval officer than a combat flyer. I was shocked.”

“And now?” Easychord asked.

“With ponies such as the Bearers behind us? I would sail this ship into Tartarus if those were my commands, Captain.”

Easychord smiled. “Good, because going up against the Whisper Pitch? That’s exactly what we’ll be doing.”

The skiff landed near the painted rocks just across from the start of the grass that signaled the domain of the Black Garden. Stepping off the skiff, Raspberry looked at the flyers assigned to them. “Stand by for immediate rescue if need be,” she ordered, “but don’t get too close until you have to. We’re protected by magic that you might not be.”

The senior flyer saluted. “Roger that, ma’am.”

As the group wandered off, Applejack stated, “Ah think they could’ve come with us. Won’t they be in danger this close t’ the Garden?”

“Which is why I asked them to stay behind, AJ. With Rarity handling the brunt of shielding, I don’t think we can afford to strain her magic on protecting extra ponies. At least this way, we can all focus on our job without Rarity having to worry about unnecessary distractions.”

Rarity nodded. “That being said, darlings….” Rarity immediately cast the spell and the four mares became enveloped in near-bubbles of energy, the bottom portions flat in order to allow them to walk unimpeded.

“Wow, Rares, nice work,” Raspberry replied.

The fashionista bowed. “Why thank you, Raspberry, dear. It is nice to be appreciated for a mare’s touch in the arts.” The four soon were walking into the Garden, and as they did, Applejack’s eyes grew impossibly wide.

“This...this shouldn’t be possible!” she gasped, pointing at the plants. The group stopped and looked down at the grass, which had a look very much akin to thread and yarn. Rarity in particular noted that some of the tufts of grass resembled serge.

“Care to explain?” Raspberry asked.

“Yeah – it’s fibergrass,” the farmer noted. “In an’ of itself, ain’t a bad thing, but it’s when y’ put it together with other plants that it becomes a problem. Mah cousin Pinova Apple’s farm in Maneasota almost got completely ruined b’cause of this here grass. Once it gets in touch with other plants, it turns them into giant yarn balls.” Her face scrunched in distaste as she said, “Entire crop got destroyed, and if’n it weren’t fer the fact that she was able t’ sell the garbage as textiles, she woulda been ruined.”

“And yet it seems to exist symbiotically with the other plants,” Fluttershy said, a sad look on her face. By her feet were the remains of a rabbit, with strands of fibergrass making a home amongst the bleached ossification. It was both beautiful and macabre at once and a fitting symbol for this hell that was the Black Garden.

“We need to get to the center of the Garden as soon as possible,” Raspberry told them. “The sooner we do so, the sooner we can get this mess over and done with.”

“That’ll be a little bit of a problem, missy,” a voice suddenly came out of nowhere. The girls looked up to see a group of pirates standing there, amongst them a stallion with a tawny coat, red mane and charcoal-grey eyes, behind glasses. He had an outdated manestyle and wore pince-museau glasses. If it wasn’t for the fire-and-maul cutie mark the stallion had, they would have assumed him to be the Whisper Pitch’s accountant, reluctantly forced to work for the pirates.

Raspberry looked at the stallion with distaste. “Torch Hammer, I presume?”

He grinned. “You assume correctly, lass. Though I’m not surprised to see that Celestia has sent her newest pupil after me – a smart move, but not smart enough. After all, I’ve taken the time to study your ways, and me and my crew are more than ready to deal with the likes of you, Miss Sunset Shimmer. Though I must admit, you don’t quite look like your description.”

Raspberry and the others looked at each other, and she could see that they were very much trying not to laugh at their situation.

“It’s...um...a disguise,” Fluttershy said, trying to look serious and hide behind Rarity at the same time.

“Yes, well…Sunset, dear, perhaps we should just confess,” Rarity “admitted”. Raspberry heard the slight titter of amusement in the fashionista’s voice, not that Raspberry could blame her. Sunset’s personal peeve when she met Raspberry was being confused for her “copy”; now that the horseshoe was on the other hoof, the unicorn could see why her friend was now so vexed. However, there was an advantage in being confused for the wayward pony, especially if Torch Hammer was behind the times as he seemed to be.

Focusing greatly, Raspberry recalled a spell that was in Sombra’s personal journals. He’d used the spell often to spy on his people, and the very basics of the spell utterly disgusted her: it was a glamorie spell similar to the one she used as her everyday guise, but added a touch of compulsion to it in order to make somepony actually believe it to be the individual in question. The page where Sombra discussed it…the concept had rankled her on a personal level. But if could be turned to good, like now….

She lit her horn, the appendage bathing itself in magical tones of claret…

...and a second later the magic vanished, leaving a rankled maize-hued pony to glare at Torch Hammer, her cyan eyes radiating irritation behind locks of red and yellow.

“Okay, you have us at a disadvantage,” Sunset Shimmer said to Torch Hammer. “You may as well explain your terms.”

“Twitch – twitch – itchy eye – creaky knee!” Pinkie suddenly shouted proudly on the bridge. Her eyes then widened and she whispered, “Oh, no!”

“Something wrong, Miss Pie?” Mizzenmast asked.

“My Pinkie Sense just told me that we ran into that meanie Ham Torcher—”

“Torch Hammer.”

“Whatever! But that something doesn’t seem to be what it is!”

Mizzenmast pondered on it for a second, her chin propped up by a posed hoof. Speaking to the bos’n, she asked, “Do we have a location on the Whisper Pitch?”

“We have it spotted just entering the far side of the Black Garden, and our combat flyers have already have engaged theirs. Strangely enough, though, the Pitch itself has not attacked.” The bos’n looked at a small compass-like item that was flickering with a magic glow. “It’s just floating there, no cover fire or additional support, though it has a heavy magical shield around it.”

“What of the princess’ strike force?”

“Wait one.” The bos’n checked the device for a few seconds before saying, “Inbound, and nopony’s challenged her yet. Shield might stop her, though.”

“Nuh-uh!” Pinkie said with a grin. “When it comes to magic, Twi’s the best! Nopony can outdo her!”

Twilight, using all her knowledge of her brother’s shield spells, tore down the enemy barrier in an instant. Seeing that, Rainbow ordered her combat flyers to board and take out the enemy forces, but to their surprise, there was no one there. Rainbow’s forces scoured the ship in seconds, but soon another one of her flyers reported that aside from some prisoners in the ship’s brig, the ship was completely empty.

“I don’t get it! Why would they abandon the ship?” Rainbow asked. “That makes no sense! Common sense you don’t just not use your heavy hitter when you’re under attack! That goes against everything that military experts like Von Canterwitz and Pommel have repeatedly said!”

Twilight smiled. “You read military doctrine, Rainbow?”

The pegasus shrugged. “Started out because of training needs for Wonderbolts; ended up reading because some of the awesome things some of them did. Did you know that during the Diamond Dogs war, Rocketfuel lead a two-pony team deep into enemy territory to recover stolen battle plans?”

Twilight, who read Gen. Rocketfuel’s memoirs only about four times, only nodded, silently promising to expose her friend to more doctrine as necessary. RightStuff’s books on hyperflight might be of use to her. But the princess said nothing, merely nodding silently while listening out for anything unusual. After all, it took more than just eyes and magic senses to find something that could be dangerous – and given that the ship was practically abandoned with living prisoners, that definitely meant something was up.

A few seconds later, the answer was discovered. “Sarge! Princess! We have a problem!”

Rainbow looked right at the flyer. “What’s up, Farshot?”

“There’s an explosive of some kind around the ship’s magic core – it’s set to detonate within thirty minutes. Furthermore, Airspeed just checked out the ship’s course and based on our best guess, it’s going to detonate right over the center of the Garden!”

“Detonate over the center of the Garden?” a second flyer named Control Point asked. “But that doesn’t make sense, at least not from his standpoint! Doesn’t he want to take it over or something?”

“Let’s check it out,” Twilight insisted. “In the meanwhile, why don’t we check this explosive out? Might be something I’ll be able to stop, and we might get an idea of what Torch Hammer’s game is.” No objections were raised and with that the four ponies raced down the hatches, deck by deck, until they reached the engineering spaces and the large half-machine, half-crystal lattice that was the ship’s magic core. Surrounding it was a series of spinning, magical chains that glowed with a fiery aura. Twilight knew the spell the moment she saw it; after all, it had been her predecessor, Sunset, that had created it.

“Th-that’s Sunset Shimmer’s Special Solar Circlement!” Twilight stammered. “H-how did Torch Hammer learn this?”

“Something up, Twi?” Rainbow asked.

“Yeah: it’s an illegal spell – not dark magic, but an incredibly destructive spell nonetheless. Celestia told me that Sunset created it when she was a foal, and by complete accident, as she’d been trying to create a spell to use the sun’s warmth so everyone could use it.”

“I take it that didn’t happen?”

“No – she created something that uses the sun’s warmth to burn away everything in its path.” Her eyes widened horribly. “Now I know what he’s going to do—”

At that point, another flyer called out “Princess!” and brought before her a frightened mare. Her name was Ocean Wave and she was the ship’s jack-of-the-dust, the one in charge of the ship’s foodstocks. She looked as though she’d been roughed up by some of the pirates, and she wove a horrible tale: somehow, Torch Hammer’s escape had been planned for some time, as many of the crew aboard the Whisper Pitch had been descendants of his original crew and had been taught from the cradle to the grave to break out their leader when appropriate.

“I’m ashamed to admit, I’m one of the relatives of the crew,” Ocean Wave said, “but I wanted no part of this – I didn’t even know until we were told! But I’m loyal to the Crown and when I told him I refused to go against the Princesses, he had his pirates rough me and the other innocents up and then he killed the rest….” She broke into sobs and it was all that Twilight could do but to hug her.

“Sergeant! We have a message from the Captain!” A new flyer, this one clearly exhausted from flying from the Super-Electric at the fastest speed possible. She all but collapsed in front of Rainbow as she passed over the message.

“Couldn’t send by dragonfire?” Control Point asked.

“Probably being blockaded; if you know what you’re doing, you can intercept a message sent by dragonfire. Grand Mages know the spell easily, and I’m glad Easychord knows that as well,” Twilight said with relief, looking over Rainbow’s withers as her friend read the message.

A second later, Rainbow grunted. “Well, that’s great – Pinkie’s Sense went off and we haven’t heard from Razz and the others.”

“Then it confirms my theory,” Twilight replied.

“Your...theory, ma’am?” one of the combat flyers asked.

Twilight nodded. “My guess was that he never intended to keep the Whisper Pitch. No, he intended to crash the ship in the middle of the Garden, thus spreading the spirit mint everywhere due to the explosive force of the cherrybomb fruits. Between that and the mint, it would be carried in the wind and would hit us alicorns with no problem and not have any effect on the rest of the populace! He could conquer the world without so much as a single bit of effort!”

“Ma’am, we’re approaching the center of the Garden – the ship should start its terminal dive any minute now,” one of the combat flyers said. “If there was only a way to neutralize the ship—”

“Neutralize the ship?” Twilight repeated and as if guided by a mechanical god, her mind immediately laser-locked onto a solution. “That’s it!” she chirped.

“What’s it?” Rainbow, completely out of the loop on whatever her friend’s mental processes were at the moment, asked.

“I’ll be right back!” Twilight replied. “For now, evacuate the ship and make sure it stays on course!”

“On course?”

“Yes! Don’t move it so much as an inch!” With that, Twilight winked out as she activated her teleport.

On the bridge, Pinkie started up again.

“Grumbling stomach – twitchy tail – teary eye!” Pinkie cheered before shouting, “Be right back! I have an important date with the outside!”

Mizzenmast looked at her oddly. “Is something the matter, Miss Pie?”

“My Pinkie Sense just told me that Twilight just found a super splendiferous way to beat that meanie Spam Scorcher—”

“Torch Hammer.”

“Whatever! But I gotta do it now! See ya!” With no further ado, she raced out of the wheelhouse and towards the lower decks.

Mizzenmast watched the earth pony go. “I will never understand her, Captain.”

Easychord allowed herself a ghost of a smile. “Only like can understand like, Mizzenmast. It’s how the world goes.”

Twilight appeared above the ship, hoping her plan would work. It made more sense to send Rainbow, given her speed, but at the same time, they knew who she was and they would target her. No, teleporting back and forth made the only sense. Now if the damn thing would cooperate with her – after all, she was the one using her magic on herself, not on it; that meant it was merely along for the ride and nothing was being actively applied to it, right?

As she landed by the bow, Pinkie was already there, with a box in hoof, gift-wrapped and a gift tag that said HERE’S FOR YOU, MEANIE! “Hiya, Twilight! I brought the thing! I don’t know why I brought the thing, but my Pinkie Sense told me to because I had a series of incidents that happened that told me so!”

“Oh, really? Like what?”

To Twilight’s surprise, Pinkie blushed. “It’s not polite to talk about that,” was all she said. Twilight did not inquire further, but instead gratefully took the package and with a muttered hope it would work teleported away from the ship.

As Pinkie watched the magic dissipate, she grinned widely. “Silly Twilight, of course it’s gonna work!” With that, she raced off to the kitchens to plan the victory party. Parties weren’t going to plan themselves, after all.

“And you’re telling me you planned this via time jumps?” Raspberry, still wearing her disguise as Sunset and currently “helpless” being tied up, asked. Torch Hammer turned out to be the stupidest kind of villain available: the mustache-twirling-while-cackling-maniacally-and-telling-you-all-their-plans type And oh, how he was doing it with gusto.

“Of course! Now, you having been trained by Celestia, I know you can barely understand some of the concepts – now, now, that’s not an insult to your intelligence, but rather an understanding that you weren’t taught properly by her, as I know she hides all her secrets. Unfortunately for me, I learned the truth, and that set me free!”

“Rather full of himself, isn’t he,” Rarity, tied up next to her, whispered.

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” Raspberry replied.

Either not noticing or caring that he was the subject of a second conversation, he continued. “So then I decided to look through Star Swirl’s secret archives and stole some of his unfinished spells, like time anchor and the like – oh, what a hoot for Celestia to think I was in Tartarus all this time, when I was merely there for seconds! In all this time, I’ve been anchoring myself to several time periods, all so I could study the time spells in peace – and it was then when I discovered the Black Garden! A wonderful land that could give me both the chance to rule Equestria – because after all, it should be someone intelligent and wise to rule, correct? – and a chance to make Celestia understand exactly what it’s like to be a slave under her rule!”

“Then why not bring it up t’ ‘er?” Applejack asked. “Ah know Celestia, an’ she’s a fair-minded gal.”

Torch Hammer theatrically sighed. “I wouldn’t expect somepony, who is the result of Equestria’s poor education system – again, no offense intended and certainly not your fault – to understand the futility of bringing something like that to Celestia. All she cares about is cake, her throne, and her own sybaritic pleasures. So, it stands for someone to take the throne. And with nopony in the royal line save for her, that leaves it to outside talent, shall we say, to make amends.

“So with time, ahem, on my hooves, I formulated a plan: for decades, my loyal minions have been infiltrating the highest levels of government and the military. We’ve been carefully shepherding weather patterns and keeping watch over the other nations. And now, while the changeling attack – which, I will sadly admit, I had no involvement in, as it was a masterful stroke – proves that Celestia is incapable of protecting the populace and that somepony with a firm hoof should rule. Naturally, we know who that is.”

“Smart move,” Raspberry replied, deciding to play to his strengths. If he was stupid enough to give away his plan, he was surely stupid enough to give up extra information that the Crown needed to protect Equestria. And if there was one thing Raspberry took seriously, it was her oath to protect the realm. Giving a quick wink at Rarity, she then continued: “Tell me more.”

Finally he seemed to realize some bit of common sense. Eyeing her carefully, he asked, “And why should I? How do I know this isn’t some trick by that harridan to keep Equestria under her bit and to prevent me from freeing the world as is my right?”

“Because I, too, have hidden something from Celestia – I know dark magic.” On cue, “Sunset” activated her horn, channeling dark magic for the pirates – and her allies – to see.

Fluttershy, not having caught Raspberry’s ruse, cried out, “No! You can’t!” Granted, it worked in their favor, as Fluttershy’s belief had been genuine and so her worries had not been faked. Applejack, not sure of what was going on, but a terrible liar, opted, to stay shut and continue to stew at the situation.

Rarity, however, was a better actress in this regard: “Sunset! How could you? Celestia’s like a mother to you!”

Torch Hammer, however, smiled. “And yet you hid this dark knowledge from her – quite shrewd. You vow to follow my path?”

Raspberry tried not to double-take at the sudden change in the stallion’s ideas. This is the biggest idiot I’ve ever met – and I’ve met more than a few in my life! “Yes, I vow.”

“Sunset! Don’t!” Rarity screeched, a little too loudly, Raspberry thought, but if this was going to be an accurate trick, then it had to be so.

“So, what’s the plan, boss?” she asked.

He grinned. “Simplicity itself: I’ve made very special adjustments to the Whisper Pitch’s magic core, then added some magical explosives. I’ve then set it to crash in the middle of the Black Garden, where I’ve spent centuries growing a particularly strong strain of spirit mint. Between that explosion, the cherrybomb trees that ring that grove and the specially-trained people under my aegis, the world should be blanketed in the spirit mint I need to control the sole alicorn in the world – and thus rule the world myself with Celestia as my whore!” He cackled like the psycho he was. “I WILL RULE THE WORLD AND ITS SOLE ALICORN! BEHOLD!”

True to his word, the Whisper Pitch appeared and started its fall towards the ground, and each foot it descended, the manic howls of laughter from Torch Hammer continued, showing the stallion had zero sense of normalcy whatsoever. But then Fluttershy’s pegasus eyes, staring at horror as the ship fell, caught a distinct purple glow underneath the bowsprit of the great vessel and she couldn’t help but say the words that utterly confused all the enemies present:

“Too bad there’s another alicorn. And she’s about to stop you – you meanie!” Fluttershy said with a confident smile.

With mere dozens of feet to go as the airship rushed towards the ground, Twilight teleported right into its path, holding onto the pearl while she conjured up some tar and a lemegeton that she’d written down once on a whim, but never thought she’d use for any occasion. Slapping the tar onto the hull of the ship, she affixed the pearl, and then the lemegeton sheet, hoping that it would work, as it was a one in a billion chance – and a stupid one, too: it was a prank she’d created once – just for research; back then she had zero interest in using it much less friends to use it against – and the rules were simple: the magical circle would create a jolt against whatever the paper was attached to, then amplify it based on the ambient magic in the air. The victim would receive a huge harmless, but shocking blast of magic energy.

“TWILIGHT!” She could hear Rainbow should at her, moving at a hurried speed. “WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!”

Twilight looked at the pearl one last time, then at the ground oncoming below. It was now or never, if not, she might be able to last the crash as an alicorn, but Rainbow certainly woudln’t. “NOW!” she shouted and Rainbow grabbed Twilight, then going from zero to Sonic Rainboom faster than anypony had ever expected her to.

With nothing to stop it, the Whisper Pitch collided right into the dead center of the Black Garden. At first there was the massive crunch as the great ship broke against the unyielding surface of the ground. The impact, as expected, set off the explosive magical core, which in turn set off the cherrybomb trees, culminating in a gargantuan ball of fire that reached into the sky, sending up a mushroom-shaped blast of magical mist and dust and a shockwave, a huge wall of white noise that rocketed out to the extremes of the Garden.

Seeing that Torch Hammer was still too much into his self-congratulatory laughter to protect everyone from the explosive onslaught, Raspberry dropped her disguise, returning to her normal form, and threw up a shield to protect everyone as the blast of energy passed them. Fluttershy screamed in utter horror, and yet Torch Hammer, lost in his insanity, paid no heed to the destruction around him, his laughter railing on.

But then a second wave, a warm and gorgeous enveloping wave of soft-blue, warm-yellow and pure white, seemed to reach out from the center of the Black Garden, appearing to pull the deadly force back towards the center. Like a supernova in reverse, the power of the light overmuscled and compelled the power of the Black Garden in on itself, countermanding it at every turn, until it compressed, a brilliant, blinding star at the blastpoint which then turned into a column of solid power that roared into the air for a second before strobing into nothing.

The Black Garden became a lifeless collection of strange stones and inert columns, its floral denizens having been obliterated in the blast or captured by the white brilliance. And in the center of it all was a white pearl, now the size of a large pony, glistening with power and radiating a sheer brilliance of light. Marks of black briefly appeared across its surface, but were soon erased in golden flashes, as if something within the pearl slapped the hand of a petulant child drawing on a window.

In the air, having been thrown a mile away, Rainbow and Twilight looked at the place that was once the Black Garden. The speedster looked at her friend and said, “Twilight, I have no idea what you did, but you stopped it!”

Twilight smiled. “Oh, I can’t take the credit for this one. This one is entirely Sunset’s fault.”

Torch Hammer finally realized that his plan hadn’t gone according to plan. “Wait? Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!” His face turned into a snarl. “This makes me very angry, very angry indeed!” He then turned to “Sunset”, to demand to know what happened. Instead, he found the unicorn to be back in the colors she wore earlier, and with a wise grin, looked to her friend, the farming dunce.

“Care to do the honors?” Raspberry asked Applejack, a wide grin on her face.

“Gladly,” she said with an equal one, then turned and bucked Torch Hammer in the face, point blank. He was catapulted off his hooves and sent cartwheeling in the air before crashing face-first into one of the battered columns that remained of the Garden.

“An’ that’s fer callin’ me stupid!” the farmer said, shaking a forehoof.

For her part, Rarity simply smiled at the remaining pirates and asked, “Darlings, who’s next?”

The pirates, as one, surrendered immediately. They didn’t need further evidence of their defeat.

“There,” Sunset Shimmer said to herself as the last of the box she’d sent the pearl in vanished into the flame of the dragonfire candle. With that done, she could activate its normal candle mode before her sister or her cousin got back an—

Suddenly a small wooden box appeared from the dragonfire candle. Not wishing to risk further mail, Sunset turned it into a normal candle once more, closing the small portal back to her home world.

Looking at the small box, she thought, What’s this? Opening it, she found a pair of gorgeous amethyst stud earrings, along with a necklace made of pure white silver. Expensive, sure, but with Sunset’s paycheck, it wasn’t anything she couldn’t cover with pretending to have saved up. Once again, her friend had come through, though Sunset had to wonder what Twilight did with the pearl. Given its size as well as the mysterious magic within it, the object was probably taking up space as in her lab, Sunset laughed silently.

There was also a note, which she assumed was from Twilight. Unfolding it, the flame-haired girl read:

With that, Sunset slipped the letter in her desk, just as she heard footfalls outside the door. She looked to see her sister, Twilight Sparkle, standing there with a load of laundry in her hands. “Can you help me fold this? Tavi’s practicing and we have a ton of laundry.”

Sunset smiled. “Sure thing, sis.”

Twilight set the laundry on her sister’s bed. “You’re in a good mood. Something happen?”

Sunset nodded. “Yeah, just got a text from someone. Good news, too. Remind me to tell you about it sometime.”

Author's Note:

Well, that didn't take long, right? Good things come to those who wait and all that. Seriously, I didn't expect my misadventures (and a small writer's block) to tie my up so. Thanks to those who were patient.

The next chapter will be in two weeks, as I've got a con to do and trying to rebuild the buffer. Hopefully after that, we'll be back at weekly updates.

Comments

[Flynt Coal]

And now, back to your regularly scheduled Shimmy Sham the Horse Woman adventures!

[Shinzakura]

6901878
Shim and Sham are two characters, not one.

[FlashFrame]

Quite the exciting ride wasn't it?

On that note, the Codex Innocencia has been updated: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SRWTnFjZYfn6FNjKot7AEnrr08i_XhE7Zdsu0J0aWdI/edit?usp=sharing

For those who enjoy keeping the Tally.

[Zekromic]

Date "???".....? interesting

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

Great chapter, and well worth waiting for!

Although honestly, I don't know why Flynt Coal thought that this chapter was "only going to piss people off". It was great , like I said!

Unless it's because the majority of it was located in Equestria, and Sunny didn't show up til the end of it.

And personally, I liked the quick return to Equestria. It was a nice change feom all the death and "insane nutcase wanting to conquer and rule the world" shenanigans in the previous chapters.

Although I get the feeling that Twilight and the others are gonna have problems with a certain Admiral at some point in the future on their end.

And Tirek is still on the loose.

Lovely.

Just... lovely.

[Shinzakura]

6902052
Well, if you didn't notice, someone changed their upvote to a downvote.

[Seirs]

“Wait? Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!”

Let me guess, Torch Hammer's middle name wouldn't happen to be Marvin would it?

Nice chapter and have fun at the con.

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

6902063 What?!

Well, someone's a huge dunce, then.

6902069 Ah, you caught that one, too, huh? I was wondering about that myself.

And what you said.

Have fun at the con, Shin, and we'll see ya in two weeks!

[Qhrono]

The guardians salute you for the references be real

[Zekromic]

Well, I could say this chapter was pretty amazing

[Night_Moon60606]

at least twenty percent of Twilights return letter didnt show up for me, so im a bit lost on what happened.

[Shinzakura]

6902501
Having a problem loading them?

[Night_Moon60606]

6902603 unknown, i just know that a good chuck is missing from the end when i was reading it, maybe it will load the next time i look, i dont know...

[Shinzakura]

6902657
As with real letters, the third page is mostly blank. That's intentional. The letter stops once you see her sig.

[Shinzakura]

6902052

And personally, I liked the quick return to Equestria. It was a nice change feom all the death and "insane nutcase wanting to conquer and rule the world" shenanigans in the previous chapters

As opposed to the death and "insane nutcase wanting to conquer and rule the world" shenanigans in this chapter?

[Night_Moon60606]

6902779 the missing chuck is before that, but hey, like i said, might be a loading error on my end...

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

6902847 Hmmm, good point.

[Kingofsouls]

Okay, so let me get this straight: Torch Hammer is a pirate, used time travel, and because of this time travel has assembled a crew from a time period not his own (sortof).

...Do you play Sentinels of the Multiverse? Because this sounds a little bit like La Capitan.

[Shinzakura]

6903031
Not. It's a Destiny reference, though.

[namar13766]

6903373 sounds like House of Wolves to be precise.

May the Light of the Traveler be with you in all the dark places you must walk, Guardian.

Also, this is a nice diversion from the events on Earth. I wonder how many Chekov's Guns you just loaded...

[Shinzakura]

6903493
Calling him Skolas might have been a bit too much.

[BigLurker]

Very nice return chapter. It's good to see some of the things going on in Equestria; I just hope this doesn't develop Wheel of Time Syndrome...

[Kingofsouls]

6903373
Oh. Can I just pretend it's a La Capitan/ sentinels reference?

[Shinzakura]

6904009
Sure, if you want.

[drowelf]

Should've contained more ketchup&mustard, but whatevs, I take what I get Let's hope the two weeks won't turn into 20, and I'll be a happy walrus
Otherwise, good chapter

[Shinzakura]

6904680
I can turn it into 21, if you want.

[ToaofTwilightZ]

"I AM PINKAMENA DIANE PIE AND WHEN I SAY FUN, YOU SAY ‘HOW HIGH’, DO YOU GET ME?"

You never fail to deliver awesome, quotable lines. Once this fic is complete, I'm thinking I'm gonna have to read all four of these again just so I can make a list of best Badass Boasts.

“Wait? Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!”

What you did there, I saw. Laugh out loud, I did.

So I'm curious how much of this was Shin, and how much was BlueBastard? I was under the impression that Blue wrote most of what happens on the Equestrian side, but...?

[Shinzakura]

6905558
I wrote the whole chapter.

[ToaofTwilightZ]

6905619 Cool.

[Starcat5]

[Vortex]

Excited to see the story finally back in action.
Spirit mint has a bad case of OP macguffin syndrome but it doesn't seem to important so it's fine.

Can not wait for Sunset to finally tell her family what she is. Seriously, give it to me now.

[Shinzakura]

6907284
Spirit mint likely no longer exists after that, so it didn't matter. There's also the fact that Torch Hammer, like so many other things, was way off the mark.

Also, regarding Sunset's family: Princess Celestia knows what she is, so why would that be a big deal?

[RMWarPony]

nice ,not AAG but nice.

[shy sad jaded shard]

6907428 did you make both letters? Becouse they seem done in two different styles

[Alaborn]

I see someone is old enough to have played Sinistar.

[badninja]

Ouch, pony Twilight needs to work on her penmanship as I cannot make out much of her letter.

[HeartfireFirebrand]

Perhaps he would find a worthy opponent, one on the level of Discord or any of the other one of legend – ones he knew were still in Tartarus, or no longer amongst the living.

He sniffed the air again, as the scent pointed towards the east, and likely the Everfree Castle. Perhaps it was chained in the dungeons there, and would be grateful for being freed.

Just long enough for Tirek to claim – and savor – that beautiful dark magic.

He continued his journey towards his new target.

Tirek is far more arrogant his than his canonical counterpart, he steals one Unicorn's magic and he thinks his hot shit.