Rainbow Dash stood in front of a squad of eight ponies. One half wore golden armor, had white fur and fire colored manes of red and orange. The other half wore purple armor had dark blue fur and blue and purple manes. Two fire teams, fireteam Sun and fireteam Moon. Fireteam Moon had all pegasi. Fireteam Sun all unicorns. Rainbow Dash marched in front of them examining them one by one for any fault, but found none, they stood tall, firm, and proud. She could actually sense the threat levels these ponies gave off.

Rainbow Dash grinned. “I’m used to commanding larger forces then this, but keep in mind I am the leader of the Wonderbolts, small force strike teams are my thing.”

Luna replied from behind her. “You are not the only one in command here, Rainbow.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Sure, but how often do you lead troops into the heart of battle.”

“Enough to realize your tactical mind is useful.” Luna’s horn lit up and the lights in the warehouse came to life one by one.

In the distance Rainbow Dash could see a dark blue airship. Its design was quite unlike any ship you’d see in the ocean. Sharp points, smooth and sleek designs. The sails on the top of it were currently unrolled as a group of ponies wearing overalls and caps were busy checking them. Rainbow Dash had to admit this thing was pretty nice looking.

Luna admired the ship herself and glanced down at Rainbow Dash. “So, the ship has yet to be named. I could think of a few, but seeing as how you’re leading this operation, would you care to do the honors? So long as you don’t name it something juvenile that is.”

“How fast is he?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Luna nodded. “Fastest ship ever built. Even has twin Solar Cannons added that can swing out of the sides and fire blasts capable of penetrating solid steel.”

Rainobw Dash smirked. “Fast as lightning, and it penetrates things…” Rainbow Dash felt her heart crack a little as she thought about what she was going to do. Her kid was out there, in danger and going to be needing a real rescue. The stallion who had helped her create Blackout was gone now, but for some reason she felt like he was still around. He was a bastard in life, but he only wanted to make amends at the end, and she had been too selfish to really let him do so.

Rainbow Dash let out a sigh and resigned herself to this incredibly stupid name. Even if only in spirit, he was going to make up for putting Blackout in danger by saving her. “We’ll call him, The Rider.”

Luna smiled. “The ship that rides the wind, Wind Rider… I’m surprised, you actually came up with a good name.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t meet Luna’s eyes. “Nah, I just stole it, but it sounds pretty cool doesn’t it?”

Amber walked through town her family by her side. Maud was pulling the wagon behind her, now stacked with virtually everything they owned it felt like and the home was left locked behind them. Of course they weren’t quite done yet, they were also going to Twilight’s Tree Castle to do some non consensual looting before going back to the Castle of the Two Sisters.

The atmosphere here was only feeling dark. Few ponies were outside, and although most smiled, it seemed like a few were trying to shy away from them, and one group of ponies were actually glaring at them. Amber didn’t understand why, or what had happened to her home. Of course ponies were scared, entire villages were just up and vanishing, but this seemed a bit absurd to her.

Lucky for them, Fluttershy was already at the castle herself, a wagon being pulled by Pinkie. Fluttershy nodded to Amber, even without words they both knew one of the most important things they needed to get was currently stashed inside here. They weren’t exactly sure what it did, nopony was, but they weren’t going to risk leaving it for any crazy looters. At least a small group of guards still stood at the front of Twilight’s castle, as Twilight’s Apprentice, and Princess Trixie’s daughter, Amber had full run of the place, but it looked like outsiders were going to be deterred for now.

Amber and Fluttershy entered the castle and didn’t take long to get to Twilight’s private study. Inside it was cleaner, but there was still a mess of papers left behind by a mixture of Trixie and Twilight’s attempts to formulate a plan and research the Pony of Shadows. Yet it was none of these that they were looking for. It was in fact a single safe in the back that held the object that Amber needed. She had the code and upon using it managed to get the safe to open up.

Inside Amber found the round orb. It was a metal orb decorated with a mess of gemstones. It gave off a faint magical aura. She shoved it into her saddlebag and it hardly fit. She was about to leave when she saw something laying on the floor of the safe. It was just a single sliver of some kind of red gemstone. Upon picking it up Amber felt a deep sense of magical power, raw and unshaped residing inside it. The thing also felt a bit cool to the touch, colder then perhaps a gem should feel. Into her saddlebags it went.

There was a folder next to it that Amber wasn’t familiar with. The writing looked old and there were yellow stains on it. Amber opened it up and saw a few mouth scrawled notes. Clearly written by Twilight but from when and where she wasn’t quite sure.

“I think I’ve finally figured it out. The one thing Celestia had been keeping from me all of these years, an inkling I had when I first met Nightmare Moon but only grew worse as time grew on. Alicorns are powerful, immortal, and hardy creatures. Yet for all the good alicorns have done there is a dark side to them as well, a dark side that I wish to never see.

Sneaking into the Dark Archive led me to find various notes, books, and histories on alicorns from before Celestia and Luna. Once I would have thought this an impossibility but now I know better. To tell the story, to let you know the truth I have to go to the beginning, the very beginning, to the creation and rise of ponykind.

Once upon a time there were two races. A race of beings of pure light and energy, of order and perfection. These were the alicorns and they were many, they were proud, and they were in absolute control of all under their domain. There was another race though, a race of darkness, of chaos, and of imperfections, this was the race known as the Draconiquis, and they too were many, and all chaos and freedom existed in there domain.

For a time the two existed in peace. The alicorns created servants for there menial tasks, pegasi to control the weather, unicorns to create their home comforts and entertainment, and earth ponies to grow their food and build their structures. Their creations, having never before having freedom had never wanted for anything more than to please their creators.

It wasn’t until the Draconiquis encroached on the alicorn lands and interacted with the lower life forms did they finally learn what freedom was. At first they asked for freedom, and when it was denied the lower races took it by force. At first the alicorns laughed as they destroyed their rebellious creations without fret, but soon enough the Draconiquis saw something more than there mindless chaos and entertainment from before, they saw a chance to cause the most chaotic event ever known.

They joined the fray, aiding the lower life forms in their attempt to be free. A long and bloody war came to pass. Many alicorn and Draconiquis both died, many more ponies along with them. It wasn’t until six beings came together to form a new union did a solution to end the war finally come. Two alicorn sisters along with a Draconiquis, a white deer, a demon and a simple earth pony banded together. First they sealed the alicorn race and their empire of perfect order away. Next with no order left to fight, the Draconiquis race relaxed but slowly, one by one they vanished. Seemingly without purpose or order to fight they ceased existing.

With the pony races now free to build, create, or explore to their hearts content, they were free to start their own kingdoms and empires. The alicorn sisters, now the last of their kind choose to pass on their power and teachings to the lower life forms, in an effort to fully remove the alicorns of old from influencing the free world of the future. These two became the Goddesses that many of us worship now. The draconiquis in question went to explore the world and spread chaos himself in an attempt to make sure that the perfect order could never again appear. The deer himself left to create a perfect sanctuary, one that would be forever free of any control by higher beings, and the demon left to his homeland to teach them the value of working with others. Finally the lone earth pony that had helped the four seal away the alicorns was left to his own devices. Many believed he would join his kind and construct a new world, but instead he went south, far south and vanished never to be heard from again. It is said he himself may have become the first pony to ascend to alicornhood from a mortal life, but if he had, where he disappeared too is and will likely forever be unkown.

Now that you know the history of this world, a heresy that would have me executed should it ever be read by anypony I’m sure. I can talk about the dark secret the alicorns truly hid. You see Celestia and Luna both remained in their normal, down to earth and mortal forms, but each one could if they chose, or were pushed to the brink, transform into a true alicorn. The Alicorn Empire were masters of such transformations. Armor, weapons, incredible magic that can hardly be imagined were all parts of these true forms. Of course so too came emotion, rage, anger, sorrow, and domination. The Perfect Order, meant to master ones emotions and to rule with absolute logic and authority. At least that’s what I’ve read.

I feel Celestia and Luna have chosen to remain in their normal forms as a way to distance themselves from the alicorns of old. Yet now that I am an alicorn, I have had moments where my temper has risen and I’ve achieved power beyond even my imagination… I fear that if this True Alicorn form is as dangerous and temperamental as they say, should I ever achieve it, the damage I may cause is uncountable. Hopefully Luna will stop me if I ever do transform…”

Amber slipped it into her saddlebags as well and with a whistle turned on her fetlocks and started toward the door. Fluttershy had filled a saddlebag with books, journals, and notes left behind by the combined forces of Twilight and Trixie.

Amber raised an eyebrow. “Why are you taking those?”

Fluttershy smiled. “I figured it might give you something to do between training sessions.”

Amber rolled her eyes. It felt like homework, she hated homework. Still she would accept it, after all not ever problem could be punched away, sometimes you had to research and study a problem before finding just the right place to punch it.

With this little diversion done, it was time for Amber and Fluttershy to go back to their family and then back to the Castle of the Two Sisters.

Before Trixie was ready to leave she had to take another stroll around Canterlot city. It was quiet here now. There were ponies walking the street still, but most had a desperate look in their eyes. The markets were the only places overcrowded with ponyfolk. Trixie had never seen this response, even during the height of the Windigo War things were relatively normal, just cold. Yet even then there was a chance they could fight back, but against these corrupted alicorns, there was no real hope.

Still, Trixie was among the very few who knew this was not the worst to come. She had to think of how best to protect them, to safe guard these ponies. Some movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.

Trixie looked to see a shadow flee into a back alley. There was a cold chill in the air as she saw them for a brief second, somepony wearing a purple hooded cloak. Trixie began walking toward the alleyway.

A pony landed behind her. She could feel Red’s presence without having to look. “Yes?”

Red replied, “It’s about time we leave.”

Trixie stared into the alley. Thoughts of how the infection started in the homeless population came to her. “Not just yet, we need to investigate something first.”

Trixie walked into the alleyway with Red behind her. A few trash bags lay outside of the nearby dumpster. Piles of rotten clothes were further back. The smell was of mildew and something far worse. She remembered what it was like living in those back alleys in Manehatten. All alone, cold, and dark. It had been years since she thought of that time, but the further into the alley she walked the more it came back to her. Valiant Heart, the lone filly just looking for food and friendship, the dumpster home she’d made, the abuse she’d suffered from Frailty and her gang.

Trixie remembered how she killed Frailty. It wasn’t quick, it was slow, it was painful, it was personal. She killed her over and over and over again before finally allowing Frailty to die for good. There was a monster that lived inside Trixie’s body, one she didn’t want to ever let out again, but one she knew could easily return if pushed in the right direction.

Trixie rounded the corner and saw a lone pony standing there. They wore a dark purple cloak with the hood drawn over there face. They were facing a brick wall but turned to face Trixie and Red. There face was mostly obscured but there brown muzzle was visible underneath. They showed their teeth to reveal fangs. “Princess.” It spat the words like venom.

Trixie could feel a darkness coming from this pony, one that she’d only encountered a long time ago and deep inside her own soul. Red’s horn had lit up. Trixie glanced at her. “Don’t do anything hasty. Maybe he just hates royalty.”

The cloaked pony opened there mouth and vomited a torrent of purple sludge toward Trixie. The sludge hit an invisible bubble and the air around her and Red flashed red for a moment. This wasn’t a pony, not any kind she’d ever seen. Trixie’s horn lit up and she unleashed a lightning bolt that went through the invisible shield and toward the cloaked pony. The pony was struck dead center and flew back before slamming into a wall.

They slid to the ground, there hood drawn back to reveal an earth pony who’s eyes glowed a soft purple. The place on their chest where Trixie had struck was burned through and she saw their chest was covered in a mix of brown and purple scales. They glared at Trixie.

“Who are you?” Trixie growled.

“Who I am is not important, but who we are is.” They replied. There body began to change, to melt into a purple slime. “We are the Cult of Smooze, and we will cover the world in his smoozy love.”

Trixie blinked. “What are you going on about? Cult of Smooze?”

The pony laughed. “You too will feel the loving, slimey embrace of our one true god soon enough.” His body was melting into a sewer grate beneath him. “Princess Trixie.”

Trixie shot another bolt of lightning at the pony but it was already gone. Melted into the sewer system of Canterlot city. She stood there for a moment and then cursed. “Another dang mystery! I hate mysteries!”

Red chuckled. “Another puzzle piece to a puzzle we can’t put together. Though I feel this one might be more important then we’d realized.”

Trixie glared at the sewer grate. She reached out mentally but found nothing she could identify down there save for a few rats. Trixie let out a sigh and turned to leave. “Let’s just go to the Everfree, I’ll leave a message with Celestia about this event, might be nothing but it could be everything.”