//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 - Garth's Revenge // Story: The Lunar Chalice // by Spirals95 //------------------------------// Chapter 12 High up on the balcony of her lovely town home in the middle of the crystal empire, a mare tended to a beautiful window planter of tulips she had started growing ever since the sun had returned. Bright yellow and red blossoms on hearty green stems stuck out from the planter, a ceramic pot long and wide filled with nutrient rich soil. The pegasus mare hummed as she held a watering can with her right wing, giving the plants a refreshing drink. "Pretty soon you'll be ready for the gardens," she said to her flowers, hoping the old adage that talking to them might help them grow. Normally the sunshine beamed down onto the roof, but while watering, the usual sunlight started to get a bit dark, prompting her to stop watering and look up. She tried to scream, but a clawed arm reached out and closed her mouth shut. The watering can fell to the rooftop, spilling everywhere as she started to whimper. "Hush, pony," said the griffon in gray plumage, holding her mouth shut. He reached behind his wing and pulled out a piece of paper depicting Rosseth, showing it to the terrified mare. "Have you seen this zebra?" asked the intruder calmly, "Have you seen anyone like this?" Without having seen Rosseth, the pegasus's heart rate skyrocketed as she feared she was going to get hurt for not knowing. Bravely, she tried to shake her head even as the talons started to dig into her cheeks. "Fine," he said, "you're not going to tell anyone you saw me. You're smarter than that, right?" She nodded, finally earning back her peace of mind when the claw was removed from around her muzzle. As soon as the invader had spread his wings and flown away, she sat down on her rooftop, and seriously weighed the risk of warning the rest of the city. Catching up with Gaveler hadn't been hard, all the stallions had to do was ask each crystal pony they came to questions as to where their senator had gone. Along the way, one of the crystal guards out on patrol crossed paths with them as he scanned the street they were on, and Flaming Ivory pulled him over. "Yo," he said, stepping in front of the purple-coated armored guard, "I need your help." "Oh, I see you're one of the guys with Techorse from earlier," he answered bluntly, "what do you need, son?" "You gotta relay a message to Princess Cadance, our buddy Shadow Breeze just got thrown in prison by Senator Gaveler for using shadow magic," he said. The guard went silent for a moment before clearing his throat, "Well... I hate to say it, but... that is quite illegal." "It was an accident, not you too!" groaned Midnight. "I can still alert the princess, but it may not do much good," the guard said, "ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it." "He was set up and then thrown in without bail," mentioned Techorse. "That's different, I guess," he mused, regaining composure, "I'll go talk to the princess about it and see if we can get him out for you." "Thanks," said Techorse as the guard strolled down the street. Flaming Ivory shook his head, "How come our guards are this stupid? Don't they know we're the good guys and Gaveler's a crook?" Techorse rolled his eyes, "Let it go, Flaming." "Hey, here's an idea," continued the unicorn, disobeying the instruction, "why don't we just let Ross have the crystals? We might as well with how incompetent those guys are." "Flaming..." Midnight intervened, "Guys, can we stick to the original plan of getting to Gaveler and talking to her about this? I doubt Rosseth's going to raid the vaults in broad daylight, so we at least have until nightfall to get Shadow Breeze out of jail." "Good, we've got a few hours to 'persuade' that nag then," Flaming Ivory said, cracking the vertebrae in his neck. "And we're in luck," said Midnight, pointing with a hoof to a store down the street, "she's stopped with that stallion at the jewelry store on the corner there. Looks like she's decided to do some shopping with him." The three walked towards the senator, standing in front of the big glass window of the jewelry shop, admiring the display cases out front. Each case featured several long strings of pearls or other gemstones, and Gaveler scanned them all with desire. "Oh Sharp, aren't these necklaces simply gorgeous?" she said softly, "I bet they're all from gems your company has dug up." Sharp was rather good at taking a hint, "Oh I doubt it, but if you see anything you like, I might be able to get you something just like it. I used to make jewelry myself, you know." "You know a craft? That's just... perfect!" she beamed, giving him a warm look, "I'm so glad we're going to have a nice evening together. And to think, I didn't believe you were going to even give a mare like me a chance." "Speaking of giving others a chance, we need to talk, Senator," interrupted Techorse sternly, making the two turn heads. Gaveler's smile was instantly replaced with a scowl, "Oh, it's you again..." "You'd better believe it," threatened Flaming Ivory, shoving a hoof into Sharp's sternum, "we're not going anywhere until you go back to that prison and get Shadow out." A couple of ponies in the surrounding street area stopped to watch, Flaming Ivory's threats seemed to have carried some distance thanks to how loud he was shouting. Sharp gave the unicorn back a look of discomfort, in hopes of telegraphing his innocence in the situation. "Well I won't, you can forget about it," she snorted, "and if you keep this up, I'll have the guards sent after you." "They're on our side, we've already got them telling Princess Cadance about your actions," stated Techorse, smirking, "it's not too late to stop this." "Come on... honey", said Sharp slowly, the word causing him a bit of trouble, "maybe we should listen to them." Flaming Ivory's eyes got wide, "Woah, I feel sorry for you, sir." "Excuse me Sharp, but don't tell me you're taking their side," she snapped. "It's not about sides, really, it's about avoiding all the trouble this will cause for our date," continued Sharp, thinking quickly, "once that Shade gentlecolt..." "His name is Shadow Breeze," corrected Techorse. "Yes, Shadow, ends up in court," Sharp said, "you'll have to present your evidence. It'll be a waste of time." "And you'll be up against an Equestrian hero!" said Flaming Ivory tauntingly, "wait till the judge finds out you jailed one of Techorse's friends." Gaveler wanted to snap at them again, she didn't care who they were, they were in her jurisdiction and would not continue to impede her progress with Sharp! But now that her "future husband" had shown a little pity on Shadow Breeze, she needed a way to compromise... without really compromising on her decision at all. There was still a way for her to get plenty out of Shadow Breeze's arrest, look good in front of the other crystal ponies, and still enjoy her day with Sharp! "I'm still not convinced," she said cutely, waving her hoof at them, "but since Sharp is right and we'll be spending so much time on it, maybe we can work a little something out? How about two hundred hours of community service later on for your friend?" "Two hundred hours?" gasped Midnight, "Seriously?" "Well unless you want him to stay in jail," she said. A loud shattering was heard as glass was broken, and screams rang out through the streets as ponies started to run away from some commotion. "Now what?" asked Gaveler angrily. She started to huff off to check out the noise, before realizing no one was following her. "Well come on, let's go!" she shouted at the ponies behind her, "We'll argue about your friend later, I still have a duty as senator to do!" The city square was filled with panic and chaos, broken glass from shop windows piled up on the streets, ponies were running away desperately trying not to trample on one another. A circular area with a fountain in the center, the ring of family shops was being abandoned quickly, as the griffon intruder smashed windows and demanded to know where some strange zebra was. Gaveler entered the scene of commotion and halted a fleeing pegasus mare. "What's going on here?" she asked, shouting over the screams. "Senator Gaveler, there's a griffon, he's smashing everything looking for some zebra!" she wailed. "So Techorse was right..." she muttered, "all right, leave here, we'll take care of this!" The mare fled from the square, pushing past Techorse, Sharp and the others, who saw the griffon across the way, rummaging through a display case, apparently helping himself to some fine jewelry and stuffing it in some pouches on his belt. Across his back and front were a familiar set of bandoliers, and that gave his identity away to Techorse. "That's Garth," he said to his friends, "one of the griffons we faced back in Stargazer's Peak." "He must have followed us here to loot the Crystal Empire," figured Midnight. "You know this guy?" asked Sharp, "I do hope you know how to deal with him then, he's destroying this place!" Techorse stepped forward and shouted, "Hey, Garth! Over here!" The griffon ceased stealing the gems in front of him and turned around, a wicked smile coming across his feathered face. "Oh, it's you! The stallions from Stargazer's Peak. Have you happened to see that zebra around here? That punk still owes me quite a bit of money. He decided our contract was void since you showed up and ran away... so I decided to come and 'negotiate' it with him." "We're looking for Ross too, but this is not the way to do it," answered Techorse, moving forward to a position just behind the fountain, "but back the jewelry, Garth." Flaming Ivory turned to Sharp and Gaveler while the two were talking and whispered, "You folks might wanna think about stepping back. This guy's one of those Ironbeak mercenaries." "This is my city and I have to help protect it," answered Gaveler, shaking her head, "why do you think I jailed your friend in the first place? My job and reputation are at stake here!" The musician was fine with being unable to convince her, knowing his warning absolved him of any responsibility should harm come to her now. He turned back and watched on as Techorse and Garth continued to argue. "Well, these fine citizens of the Crystal Empire are some of the easiest ponies to steal from," explained Garth, his talons moving slowly towards the razor-sharp darts loaded into this bandoliers, "it's not my fault Equestrians are pushovers." "I'm offering a chance to catch Rosseth, Garth," warned the inventor, scraping his hoof on the ground, "but you have to follow the laws here." "The only law in the world is the mighty golden bit, Techorse," Garth answered, "and since you guys ruined my contract... well, I'm going to have to take the law into my own talons." Midnight Blaze saw the griffon grab his darts, and load them into his claws, sharpened flechettes three inches long and made of the sharpest tungsten, each plumed with what looked like to be one of his own feathers. Thinking quickly, the unicorn charged up a quick blast and fired off a bolt of magical energy, catching Garth off guard. The projectile exploded on his left side, knocking him backwards into the display window. "Good shooting Midnight!" cheered Flaming Ivory, grabbing him by the side. To his shock, Garth had taken the blast fairly well, and jumped out of the window, wings spread. Grabbing his darts again, he threw two handfuls of the armaments at Midnight and Flaming Ivory, who were forced to jump out of the way. Loud noises of crushing stone and flashing sparks happened as the darts stuck into the pavement. "Techorse, now would be a good time to help!" said Midnight. Techorse focused on Garth, and opened up his saddle, training his laser cannons on the griffon before opening fire, sending alternating streams of energy at him. The griffon proved to be somewhat hard to hit, as his training allowed him to weave between the shots before throwing a spread of three darts at Techorse, who dove behind the fountain. Small columns of water shot up as the spray hit the surface. "What's the matter Techorse, scared?" laughed Garth, taking out his next volley and readying it. The pony popped back up quickly, this time with his missile launcher prepared, and quickly shot off two of the small, red-colored rockets. Garth attempted to flee from the projectiles, but the missiles locked on and chased after him. Unable to escape, the missiles exploded just behind the griffon, burning his tail and sending him careering into the roof of the bakery just next to the jewelry store, blue roof tiles flying everywhere. "Senator, you have to leave, now!" demanded Flaming Ivory, shoving Gaveler with a hoof, "This is starting to get nasty!" Garth overheard the words and popped up from the crater on the roof, hardly hurt by the missiles. He prepared his next volley and laughed. "Senator? Oh this just keeps getting better!" With a sweep of his talons came a single, precise dart headed straight for Gaveler's face. The mare screamed, and braced for the inevitable stab of the projectile. Without even hesitating, Sharp bravely stepped in front of Gaveler, and the dart buried itself in his back, surprising Garth as to how well he took the blow. "Gah, there goes my new suit," gasped Sharp, trying to be funny. Garth tried to throw another dart, but a hail of laser bolts sent him back into cover inside the hole in the roof. "Keep him pinned down, Tech!" ordered Midnight. Flaming Ivory moved beside Sharp, the dart buried into his back, and the unicorn's horn glowed orange as he tried to yank it out quickly. "Leave it in," said Sharp, "I'm fine, I've suffered worse in the mine I run!" The stallion collapsed to the ground in front of the senator, who reached him and held him in her hooves. "Sharp, you saved me," said Gaveler softly, looking deep into his eyes, "you really do care." "Of course, but... I could use a favor," he said, grunting from the pain, "we need to go free these stallions' friend. Look at how hard they're trying to stop this maniac, Gaveler... they must be good ponies even if they do have shadow magic." "I... I'll do it," she agreed, helping him up to his hooves, "Shadow's in the nearest jail, we'll have him out!" "Go! We'll keep Garth busy," assured Flaming Ivory. The two retreated from the square, another pair of darts missing behind them as Garth managed to get out from the foxhole. Techorse had been keeping up his barrage of fire for so long that his saddle had overheated and shutdown, and the laser cannons drooped towards the ground. Garth landed on top of the fountain, smashing the very top of it and ruining the sculpture. He reached for a large canister on the side of his belt, and detached it, holding it for the three remaining ponies to see. It was a clear plastic squeeze bottle filled with some kind of light blue gel, with a nozzle of a very peculiar diameter. "Since you guys won't go down with regular darts, I'll have to raise the stakes a bit," he said, taking out another three projectiles. After giving the bottle a gentle squeeze, bringing the gel up to the top, the griffon reattached it to his belt, and quickly pushed the darts into the nozzle, coating the tips in the substance. Then, with another skillful flick of the wrist, he sent the darts towards Techorse. Thinking they were poisoned, the stallion tried to simply move out of the way of the darts, but the instant they impacted the ground, they all detonated in a ripple of blasts that tossed him and most of the road into the air. He hit the ground hard, the impact crunching his left gun underneath of him. "Magical blasting gel!" figured Midnight Blaze. "I see you're very familiar with the tools of the mercenary trade," said Garth, "here, try it for yourself!" Another three gelled darts flew towards Midnight, who ducked and projected a flat, square field of energy that matched the light blue-green color of his eyes,. Three more explosions threatened to puncture the energy shield, and the final one shattered the panel, blowing back Midnight Blaze who held on desperately to the ground with his hooves. "All right, that's it!" shouted Flaming Ivory, "You're going down!" His eyes and horn glowed orange, a large sphere of energy appearing at the tip of his horn. Garth jumped into the air again and spread his wings, gliding over Flaming Ivory to drop more explosives directly onto him. With a shout and quick motion with his neck, the unicorn unleashed a length beam of orange magical energy, particles shaped like musical notes flying off it. The beam struck Garth dead center, shooting him down and crashing him into the upper windows of the building behind Flaming Ivory. "Come on Techorse, get up!" he said, his eyes returning to normal, "That probably didn't do the job!" The two of them went over to help Techorse up, while Garth slowly collected himself from the small bedroom he had found himself in. The griffon felt a stinging chain in his ribs from the blast Flaming had struck him with, but he still had plenty of ammo left. Shadow Breeze carved another tally mark into the walls of the prison cell with his hoof. It was just a small room made of dark brick, and only a small window with a few bars gave him sunshine in the otherwise empty little cell. They hadn't even given him a bed or a commode yet, seemingly going against the hospitality the Crystal Empire usually embraced. "Oh my gosh, you've been in there for five minutes, stop carving tallies," groaned the police mare nearby. "It's been a very long, sad five minutes," he answered, ears drooping, "I'm an innocent stallion, ma'am." "Sure you are kid," she answered, looking back at his amulet being kept under a glass bell-jar, "I'm sure we'll get you to your trail really soon, then you can explain that little trinket over there and how you spooked half the town with it." "I didn't mean too," assured the graphite colored pegasus, softly. "That's what they all say." "Really?" asked Shadow Breeze, "Ponies are caught using shadow magic here a lot?" "You know that's not what I mean, you brat!" Gaveler, along with a hurt Sharp, burst into the police station, startling the officer and getting Shadow's attention, who poked his head through the bars. "Excuse me, officer, we need to talk!" demanded Gaveler. "Hi Gaveler," said Shadow Breeze, still trying to give her a friendly smile despite his feelings. The officer took notice of the dart sticking out of Sharp's back, "Oh my, he's hurt!" "Look it's nothing, really," answered Sharp, "Gaveler, please focus on the task at hand..." Agreeing with him, she turned to the cop and demanded, "Officer, we need to release Shadow Breeze at once! I've made a terrible mistake." The other mare looked dumbfounded, "Are... are you sure?" "Yes!" she answered, "Come on, unlock the cell." She obeyed, albeit reluctantly, fetching the keys and unlocking the cell, letting Shadow Breeze out into the hallway of the tiny holding station. Soon his amulet was back around his neck where it belonged, and he ruffled his wing feathers, glad to be able to stretch them again. "I am so sorry I decided to lock you up," Gaveler said, begging for forgiveness, "I only did it because your friends were ruining my moment with Sharp. Now, your friends are in danger, along with the town. Can you help us?" "What's going on out there?" he asked. "A griffon followed your friends here to the empire, they're fighting with him right now," Gaveler explained quickly. "Take me there!" "Of course! I just hope you're not too shook up from the arrest," she said as they headed for the door. "Oh don't worry," said Shadow Breeze meekly, "I was only in there for five minutes." The officer shot him a nasty look of disbelief as they were ushered out the door. Several more blasts rocked the town square, attracting the attention of many residents, who tried to watch from relative safely. Pegasus ponies with cameras were covering the action in hopes of selling a shot to the local newspaper, and a few crystal guards had started to arrive on the scene in order to help. With a damaged saddle, Techorse was left with only one cannon left, wanting to conserve the remaining three pairs of missiles he had. Midnight and Flaming were attempting to keep Garth from bombing Techorse with more darts using their shield and music spells, but the blasts were knocking them down and making it hard to fight back. "Who throws darts as a weapon anyways?" taunted a visibly sweating Flaming with some frustration in his voice. "It works against you doesn't it?" teased Garth, drawing three more darts into his hand before pausing. The bandolier had finally run dry, the griffon having worked his way down the rows of darts to his belt line. He realized he'd need to make his next shots count, and thought,"I'm down to my last three... better trick them into bunching up." Enough attention had been drawn to the fight at this point that even Rosseth had caught on to the battle, and as usual he hid himself carefully behind the crowd on the roofs of the nearby buildings. His previously hired mercenary apparently was trying to finish the contract, and the zebra smiled, glad to pay up if he dealt with the ponies after him. But to his annoyance, the griffon seemed to be giving up the fight, and landed near the stallions, his talons behind his back. Rosseth's attitude quickly changed when he saw the darts clutched in his talons, and wondered how the griffon intended to use them. "That's enough collateral damage, don't you all think?" said Garth in hopes of confusing his enemies. "I agree," answered Techorse gruffly, his face covered in dirt from the previous blast, "ready to give up?" "We're just not getting anywhere with this, kid," explained Garth as he held his other talon outstretched, "maybe we ought to call this one a tie and let the best bird win in terms of finding Rosseth." The aforementioned zebra recoiled in surprise. Now that his own mercenary seemed to be out to get him too, he wasn't sure who to cheer for in the fight! As the griffon expected, Techorse and his friends gathered roughly together to try and talk things out with him. "Just a little bit closer..." Verbally, he offered to help, "I'll even put back the jewelry..." "I don't know man, you've already destroyed the place, don't think you're going to get away with all that damage," Flaming Ivory said firmly, "you might still be in for some charges." "I'm sure they can forgive once we catch Rosseth," the griffon said, watching the three get nearly side by side. "Something's not right here," whispered Midnight, "why is he suddenly changing his mind on us? Is he out of ammo?" Garth's sharp hearing picked up on the unicorn's confusion, and he smirked as he prepared to throw his last volley into the group of ponies. "Wait!" cried out Shadow Breeze, arriving in flight, "Look out guys, he's got more ammo!" Caught red-handed, Garth turned his head and glared at Shadow Breeze, who landed behind him. "Ah, I thought there were four of you," said the mercenary delightfully, "I'm a bit displeased you've chosen to ruin my plan though." "I'm ok with ruining a dirty trick," answered Shadow. Several of the ponies watching the scene whispered amongst each other as Gaveler and Sharp returned behind Shadow. "Isn't that the pony the senator locked up? I thought he was a bad guy with dark magic!" "Why is he here?" Now, with four ponies around him and closing in, Garth felt the sting of being outnumbered. His skill was not going to be able to cover his lack of ammunition, and he knew Techorse still had a few functioning weapons left. There was only one way out of this situation, and the griffon got on all fours, backpedaling slowly, and making it clear he wasn't going to throw the darts. "Now let's discuss this in a sane manner," he said, "see, I'm putting my talons on the ground so you can see the darts." It didn't seem to help his case, as a group of crystal guards entered the city square looking to arrest him. Capture was not an option for Garth, who wasn't interested in spending more time in prison than he already had. But he could still go after his former employer if he could just get away. Noting that the guards were all unicorns or weighed down with armor, he quickly stood up even as they moved in to jump on him, and spread his wings. "Not good enough for ya? Well, it's been fun, but I must go, I've got a zebra to catch!" Midnight Blaze attempted to zap him with a short burst of electricity from his horn, but the griffon was already in the air, and climbing fast. "He's getting away!" cried Gaveler. "Oh no he's not!" said Shadow Breeze confidently, spreading his wings and taking off after him. The pegasus caught up quickly with Garth, who looked back at him and the shrinking ground. "Gah! Just give up already, kid! I already said I'm done here," he shouted back, readying his last three darts, "don't make me do something even worse!" "I'm not afraid of you!" called back the pegasus, "Well... mostly not afraid of you.' "You're not afraid of me?" said the escaping Griffon, rolling around and beginning to fly backwards so he could make eye contact with Shadow Breeze from a distance, "Well, are you afraid of what's going to happen when these bomb darts hit those ponies below?" Garth threw his last three darts in a wide triangle pattern in hopes of making them all impossible to catch, and then laughed as he turned around and headed for the nearest cloud formation. Shadow Breeze looked back at the falling weapons, then back at Garth, before letting his amulet charge up some wisps of shadow energy. A long black tendril shot out through the air, and grabbed Garth's left wing, wrapping around it like a vine, which made him begin to lose altitude. "Why you stupid..." was all he could get out before falling below Shadow's altitude. Now that he was taken care of, Shadow Breeze dove down sharply, the wind whipping against his face and drying his eyes out as he dove for the darts. The ponies below could see the falling projectiles begin to glow blue, and screamed, running away for their lives yet again. "Techorse, shoot them down!" shouted Midnight, pointing at the projectiles with a hoof. "Right!" he answered, aiming his cannon at the sky and letting loose with the bolts. A lucky shot exploded the closest dart, but the other two were farther away, still threatening to cause serious harm and injury. Shadow caught up with them, just a few hundred feet from the rapidly approaching ground, and shot two small spheres of shadow from his amulet at them. They formed their usual rounded bombs, and intercepted them perfectly, disappearing in a loud blast of colorful fireworks and black smoke. The citizens below watched on, amazed that shadow magic could actually be used to their benefit. Garth's act of hatred had been stopped, but the griffon had managed to rip away the tendrils wrapped around his wing, and once again he was gaining height. But now, Shadow Breeze was right on top of him, and was coming in fast. "Aren't you supposed to be the wimpy one?" he complained, somewhat scared of the pegasus now. With the pegasus not gracing him with a response and flying right in for the finishing blow, Garth became desperate, and quickly unhooked the rest of the blasting gel from his belt. Reeling back, he threw the container overhanded, knowing the huge blast would take out his foe. "Catch this, coward!" The bottle flew straight for him, beginning to glow violently from the shaking and spinning in the air activating the gel. Thinking quickly, Shadow spun around and grabbed the glowing bottle with his wing, before throwing right back at Garth. The mercenary saw rays of light come out of the destabilizing gel, and he put his right arm over his eyes and yelled. A large, blue and white explosion burst overhead, sparks raining down from the sky, consuming the two figures above. "Shadow!" cried his friends below. The blast settled into a cloud of white smoke, seconds later a very badly burnt dart bandolier landed on the ground next to Flaming Ivory. "Ugh," he said, cringing at the sight, "not gonna be much to arrest after that." Gaveler stepped up slowly, Sharp behind her, "Is Shadow Breeze going to be ok?" Techorse's ears sank, "I... I don't know." "Guys, stop looking up, we're already down here," said Shadow Breeze from a nearby roof. They all looked over in joy at the pegasus, alive and well, with a long beam of shadow magic holding Garth by the rear paw. The grumbling mercenary, nearly featherless now, was shaved pink and blackened by the explosion, but he had survived. His captor descended from the roof with a glide, wings outstretched, and he dropped the defeated mercenary in front of the guards, the tendril of shadow energy snaking back into the amulet. The griffon was cuffed quickly, and made to stand in front of the senator. "I guess I used shadow magic again," said Shadow Breeze softly to her, “do I have to go back to jail now?” “No, of course not,” she answered with shame, “you've saved us! I just hope you can forgive me, after throwing you in prison in the first place!” Shadow Breeze ran up and gave the senator a big hug, “This is me forgiving you!” “Heh, so sappy,” teased Garth. “Hey, shut up, you're lucky to be alive now!” snapped Flaming Ivory. “Oh I know. I'm just happy knowing that since you guys basted me, you're going to give that jerk Rosseth an even worse butt kicking for me,” he said before bursting into a maniacal laugh, “if you're out there Rosseth, you'd better run!” Rosseth had indeed seen the battle, and fled the area quickly. He'd have to be a bit sneakier in taking the crystals, now that he knew his enemies were capable of taking on more than just his illusions. “Clearly Garth has gone mad,” said Shadow, waving his hoof, “take him away, please.” “We'll send him over to Griffonstone for trial,” said the guard, “I think they'd love to try an Ironbeak mercenary for us.” “I'll just send for my friends and lawyer, and be out in a month!” warned the now pink bird. “That gives us thirty days to plan on blowing you up again,” smirked Flaming Ivory. “Lousy rainbow mules,” grunted Garth as the guards led him away. Once he was a good distance away, the crystal ponies were eager to praise Shadow Breeze for his accomplishment. While they were getting close to talk to their newest friend, a door in the middle of the Crystal Palace opened, and a ray of light shown from it, bathing Shadow Breeze in its warm glow, and making his coat sparkle brightly. “I suppose even the Crystal Heart believes you're truly a good stallion,” sighed Gaveler, “I suppose I owe you all a little something to repay you for your troubles.” “We need to go after Rosseth now, Gaveler,” said Techorse, “we don't have a lot of time left.” “I was going to offer you all a nice dinner together first, don't you have time for that?” she asked, a pleading look in her eyes. The crystal ponies were all watching with patient smiles, and the four stallions got the point that they weren't allowed to refuse. “Well, maybe a meal wouldn't be so bad, just the six of us though,” said Shadow Breeze softly, accepting the offer. They left the citizens to begin work fixing the destroyed chunk of the city, although they had cheerful looks on their faces as they swept up the broken glass and mended the damaged roofs. Some of them finished a bit early, having heard about the zebra and wanting to help their senator find him. The team was now a good distance away from the now calm city square, when Midnight spotted the forgotten projectile lodged in Sharp's lower withers. Midnight's aura slowly extended from his horn, and with one quick motion, he plucked the dart out of Sharp's back. “Ouch!” said the mine owner, jumping from the sting. “Sorry!” answered Midnight, smiling, “I didn't want to leave that in you forever!” “I forgot it was even there,” he said, shaking his head and starting a healthy round of laughter in the group of friends.