//------------------------------//
// Part IV - Chapter 18: The Key to Success 
// Story: Return of the Mare 
// by Victoria 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 18: The Key to Success


I was shocked.

My heart kept telling me that it was some kind of trickery, but my mind could see the fallacy of such logic. Shade could have easily ordered his troops to capture or even kill us. There was absolutely no reason for the Doctor to endanger himself by appearing before us personally, without even a weapon.

Besides, if he planned to attack us, he wouldn’t be carrying an unconscious mare on his back. He wore a tired expression on his face and breathed heavily, like he’d been carrying that mare around the whole day.

So I waited.

“When I learned what Tenebris really wants, I rebelled against her,” said the Doctor. “But… It didn’t go as planned and my marefriend ended up badly wounded. The only pony who could save her is in the palace. Together we have a chance of getting inside.”

Looking him in the eyes, my heart changed its earlier opinion. It felt like the Doctor was telling the truth. But before I could share my thoughts, Ruby sprang into action. 

She advanced towards the Doctor, so I had to snatch her wavering tail in my teeth to stop her. Ruby glanced back at me; her face in a frown. Knowing my friend, I could guess what she was planning to do.

“Ruby, if he wants to help, we should let him,” I said firmly.

I noticed a flicker of surprise on the Doctor’s face — he had probably expected me to hate him. I would be lying if I said I could forgive him at a moment’s notice, but our situation was pretty desperate. If we rushed to the soldier’s post on our own, a lot of us would be hurt. So if the Doctor, our worst enemy prior to this point, was offering his help, I was ready to take it.

Starlight, however, wasn’t taking any chances. She ordered our ponies to surround the Doctor and his pegasus friend. They did so at once, pointing their various weapons at him. If he tried any funny business, he would be stabbed from every direction. But Shade ignored the ponies around him, looking straight at me. 

I broke the eye contact and addressed Starlight instead, “I think we should consider his offer, Starlight.”

“We can’t trust him,” she rebutted. “He’s behind all of this!”

I nodded in agreement. That fact couldn’t be denied.

“Obviously. But he wouldn’t have come here alone if he had a choice. I think he’s telling the truth.”

“Well, yeah… Probably,” Starlight shrugged. Then she furrowed her eyebrows. “But even so, he should die for what he did to you and the others.”

My ears dropped. I didn’t like this newfound bloodthirstiness from Starlight. Sure, the Doctor was pretty rotten, but we shouldn’t just kill him in cold blood, especially if he was basically giving himself up at our mercy! I shook my head stubbornly.

“It’s not for us to decide,” I said. “Let’s get into the palace first and let the Princess decide what to do with him.”

Shade’s face froze at the mention of the Princess, while his pegasus friend grinned for some reason. The rest of the ponies murmured in agreement with my argument. Even Starlight appeared thoughtful. In the end, she sighed and said, “Fine…”

“I hope Celestia boils him alive,” grumbled Ruby, too quiet for everypony but me to hear.

Though I sincerely doubted it was Celestia’s style, I let Ruby have her fantasies.

After the agreement, the tension dropped a notch. The Doctor finally shared his plan with us. I personally thought it had a solid chance of success, but it was a matter of our trust in the Doctor, which was basically nonexistent at this point. While I was prepared to trust him, my friends still had their reservations.

“It’s a trap!” exclaimed Ruby.

“Please,” Shade smirked, “If I really wanted to kill you, my minions would have already surrounded and slaughtered you. What’s the point in making some elaborate plans like that?”

Those were my thoughts exactly and it was slightly disturbing to hear them from the Doctor. It was like he wanted us to think that way. But the truth was the truth, I guess…

“Maybe you’re just a sick bastard who wants to see us all die personally,” Ruby thrust a blaming hoof at him.

The Doctor slowly looked down on her foreleg touching his chest. His tail was twitching from barely contained anger and I half expected him to break Ruby’s limb like a twig. Shade was a large stallion, a whole head taller than Ruby. Her face fell when she realized the danger she was putting herself in.

Everypony tensed up again.

“Get your hoof off of me,” Shade growled. “I’m helping you, so stop with your crazy accusations.”

Ruby took a step back, but instead of calming down, she lowered her ears like an angry cat and reached out for her sword. I quickly stepped between the two of them before anypony did something rash.

“Both of you stop,” I said, stomping my hoof on the pavement. “We’re in this together here.”

“Yeah, let’s do this finally,” Detective Seeker, who was tending to a wounded Lyra, spoke up. “Lyra doesn’t look good.”

We all glanced at Lyra and Fleur lying beside her. My eyes were on Lyra — the bandages on her wound were soaked with blood and her bright green color looked much paler. Reminding them about the lives at stake seemed to diffuse Shade’s and Ruby’s anger. I nodded to the detective gratefully and she returned the gesture.

The conversation continued in a constructive manner. After hammering out a few remaining details, we were ready to implement the plan.


***


The dying mares were left behind under the watch of a few of our Ponyville volunteers.

Shade and Starlight were trotting confidently out in the open, straight towards the soldier’s post, which blocked the way to the royal palace. They were noticed pretty soon, which wasn’t hard, considering the whole street was empty. The soldiers drew their weapons and went to meet the fools who dared to break the curfew.

That wasn’t smart, but according to Shade, he’d had trouble finding a lot of competent recruits for his secret army. The discipline was the main problem, which these soldiers were demonstrating. The only explanation for their victory was the element of surprise and, though I didn’t want to admit it, the poor state of the Equestrian military.

Everything was going according to plan so far.

Using thin passages between the houses and, sometimes, breaking through somepony’s place, we took our positions at both sides of the street, getting ready to ambush the enemy. The Doctor and Starlight lured them out of their defensible position — fighting them at the barricade would be too hard for our little untrained team.

My coat was hopelessly stained from all the crawling. The passage was too small for two ponies to go at once, so I was all alone as the first pony in a single file. Ruby was right behind me. Sometimes, I felt a slight tugging on my tail and heard some chewing sounds. What in the name of Celestia was she doing?!

I looked back sharply, but she was gazing at the wall; the very image of innocence. Disappointed, I turned back to watch the street, ignoring her questionable activities back there.

When the enemy group of soldiers passed by in front of my vision, I slowly stepped out onto the street. Ruby and the others were following quietly — we were going to attack them from behind. Starlight and Shade just stood away from us in the middle of the street, waiting for the soldiers to approach.

We outnumbered the enemy two to one, but they were much better equipped. Even worse, Starlight and I didn’t have our magic. It would be a tough fight. 

Catching the right moment, I gave the signal.

Seeker dealt the first strike. She launched her sword handle first like a missile at the pony before her, hitting him on the back of his head. The soldier wasn’t wearing a helmet, so he fell face down on the pavement, knocked out. The remaining four soldiers turned back to face us, forgetting all about Shade and Starlight, which was a big mistake.

Using their distraction, the two quickly drew their weapons and engaged the soldiers from behind. The unfortunate bastards were quickly overwhelmed; I didn’t even get the chance to hit anypony myself. Only one of them survived — the one who was dropped first. I didn’t feel any regrets.

It was either them or us.

I was just relieved that none of our own ponies had been hurt in the short fight; it had gone better than I had expected.

“Good job, everypony,” Starlight said, looking over the corpses.

Then she moved to the unconscious enemy, still holding a bloody sword. I blocked her path and she gave me an annoyed look.

“What?”

“Let’s capture him alive,” I said. “He may know something useful.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Sundae,” Shade said from behind and I turned sharply to face him. “I know much more and I’m willing to share. We don’t need him.”

Ruby suddenly stepped beside me and laid her foreleg over my back.

“We’re not like you, Shade. We don’t kill helpless ponies.”

I ignored the fact that Ruby didn’t mind killing off the enemy before, being happy at her support. Even if it was caused by her desire to oppose the Doctor, rather than true mercifulness. Starlight sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Fine,” she said. “But you’ll carry him yourself.”

I huffed stubbornly. Since Ruby was the stronger one, we loaded the pony on her back, stripping him of his armor beforehoof. The pieces of the armor were distributed among the group — it would be useful to examine its magical properties later. After a short argument, we decided to loot the rest of the armor as well.

We carefully took it off the bodies, while two of our ponies went to collect the wounded mares. They returned promptly and we were ready to go to the palace. The whole ambush hadn’t taken much time, but we were worried if there were also some patrols that would notice the missing post.

Shade and his pegasus friend had no idea, so we didn’t waste any more time. My heart beat faster when we crossed the open area between the city district and the palace itself. We were in plain view to everypony here; it was only a matter of time until the enemy noticed the intrusion.

The shield didn’t let us in, of course. It was impenetrable for Tenebris herself, so we had the same chance against it as flies beating against glass. Thankfully, the commotion we had caused was noticed soon by the Royal Guardspony patrolling the wall.

“Go away, civilians,” he waved his hoof at us. “The Royal Palace is closed.”

“Let us in!” Starlight hit a shield, causing a few sparks. “We have some wounded ponies.”

The Guardspony frowned, eying us warily. “I said, go away. The palace is under siege, if you hadn’t noticed. For all I know, you’re just some spies.”

The back and forth continued for a few more minutes. I watched our back, worrying that somepony from the enemy side would notice us, but everything was quiet so far. Finally, I turned to face the guard myself.

“Look, just go and find your superior,” I offered, but both he and Starlight were too deep into the argument to even notice me.

I knocked on the shield in front of Starlight’s face, producing a lot of sparks. She recoiled, startled, and finally looked at me. The guard did the same.

“We don’t have much time,” I said, looking at both of them in turn. “We’re friends of Princess Twilight Sparkle. Let us in or find somepony who can.”

The guard shook his head, chuckling.

“I know her friends — you’re definitely not them.”

“I’m her student, for Celestia’s sake!” exclaimed Starlight, whipping her tail furiously to her flanks.

“Never heard of you,” the guard deadpanned.

Starlight puffed and clapped her jaws as if she was biting the guard. She probably would have, if not for the shield separating the two.

“What is going on here?” a new voice joined in.

I looked behind the guard and my jaw dropped. A tall, blue mare appeared on the wall. She wasn’t like anypony I had ever seen. Her starry mane was waving next to her, even though there was no wind to speak of. Her horn was also much longer than usual, but the most important part was her wings. She resembled Nightmare Moon from the old tales!

“Princess Luna, the enemy spies are trying to infiltrate the palace,” the guard told her, giving her a salute.

Princess Luna — she was no longer Nightmare Moon, as I remembered — examined us with her intense eyes and her gaze stopped at Starlight. The mare nodded to her in recognition. Then Luna gave the guard a stern look, from which he took a step back.

“Those ponies are not spies, but the friends of Princess Twilight Sparkle,” she said, pointing at Starlight. “You should not assume things on matters you know nothing about.”

The guard melted under the Princess’ stare. He stood silently as Luna cast a spell at the shield, making a hole big enough for us to pass through. After we were all inside, the hole closed. I sighed in relief — we were safe now.

“Thank you, Princess,” Starlight said, bowing her head.

The rest of us bowed to the Princess as well, but she waved her hoof in annoyance.

“I see you have some wounded,” she pointed at Lyra, Fleur and the captured soldier on Ruby’s back. “Fortunately, Doctor Sparkler was in the palace when we were attacked. He’s the best healer in Canterlot. Follow me at once.”

I saw Shade perking up at the mention of the Doctor. I glanced at Fleur — his mare didn’t look well. But on the other hoof, Lyra wasn’t exactly in the best condition either. I hoped Doctor Sparkler, whoever he was, would be able to help them both.

Princess Luna levitated our whole group up onto the wall in one go. I couldn’t help but be amazed at such a feat. We walked past the stubborn guard; Starlight flickered her tail in his face on the way. He threw her an evil stare before continuing with his patrolling as we descended the wall and entered the palace itself.

“Before we go any further — this pony is the leader of this rebellion,” Starlight suddenly said, pointing at Shade.

Luna slowly turned her stare at the stallion, as if noticing him for the first time. To give him his due, he faced her with a calm expression. After a few seconds of their staring contest, he nodded.

“This is true… To some extent,” Shade admitted. “But I’m not with them anymore. Tenebris has assumed my place. I will tell you everything you want to know, just help Fleur.”

“Fleur will be tended to,” said Luna, levitating the mare off his back. “But if you are the one responsible for this disaster, you shall face the punishment for your crimes.”

Having said that, Luna called for the guards. A couple of them appeared from the closest corridor and she pointed at Shade, “He’s the enemy. Put him into the dungeons.”

Shade didn’t resist the arrest. He remained calm while the guards led him away. His pegasus pal stayed quiet, trying to blend in with the crowd, but Starlight pointed him out as well and he was escorted along with his boss. Our captured prisoner was restrained, but was left on Ruby’s back — Luna wanted Doctor Sparkler to see his injury.

While we went to see the Doctor, Luna dismissed the rest of our group. The volunteers from Ponyville were led to the guest rooms by the palace servants. Detective Seeker decided to stick with us, as she was the one carrying Lyra.

After that, we told the Princess all about the fight on Tartarus’ gates, our capture and escape from Twilight’s castle – thanks to Daring Do – our journey to Canterlot… Everything up to this point. Luna was quiet until we finished.

“Daring Do has indeed given us the grave news,” Luna confirmed. “But we didn’t get much time until the enemy hit us.”

“Where is she now?” Ruby asked.

“She left for Fillydelphia to check on her own family soon after we spoke.”

I sighed. I kind of wished to talk with her some more. We didn’t get much of a chance to catch up while in Ponyville. I could see that Ruby felt the same way — she was a friend to both of us after all. But I understood the importance of family. I wondered what was happening in Manehattan with mine…

“This pony I sent to the dungeon, is it Doctor Shade?” Luna asked.

“Yes, Princess,” I answered. “Princess Celestia should know about him.”

“She does. There was an investigation concerning him after Twilight had sent her letter. Unfortunately, our ponies found no solid evidence to connect him to any crimes.”

“No solid evidence?” Ruby burst out. “His pal almost killed us in Manehattan!”

I poked Ruby on her side — what was this mare thinking, talking to the Princess like that?! She used to be Nightmare Moon! But the Princess didn’t get angry, as I was expecting. Instead, she sighed and glanced at my friend with a guilty expression.

“You don’t have to convince me, little pony,” Luna said. “But Celestia says that we need solid evidence for the case to be successful in court. Equestria has become far too bureaucratic while I was gone…”

Ruby mumbled something unintelligible under her muzzle.

“Shade admitted to us that he was behind everything,” I said. “But he got into an argument with Tenebris, whom he freed from Tartarus. He claims she tricked him.”

Luna expression darkened.

“I remember Tenebris and the war with her,” Luna explained. “My sister and I were just fillies back then. It had taken a lot to defeat her then and I’m afraid that Equestria is not ready for her now.”

The rest of our way we spent in heavy silence.

Fortunately, we arrived at Doctor Sparkler’s room soon after that. Luna opened the door without a key, finding the older stallion asleep on his bed. She gently woke him up from his slumber and explained that without him the two mares would die.

Doctor Sparkler did not complain at his sudden awakening. He took one quick look at the mares to realize the importance of the situation. Before deciding on which situation demanded more of his attention, he shot a few questions at us concerning the injuries.

Detective Seeker quickly explained to him everything she knew about Lyra’s wound, while I repeated what Shade had told me about Fleur’s injury and the potion they had given her. Since Fleur was stabilized in her condition, the Doctor approached Lyra first.

I wouldn’t lie — I was relieved at his choice, even though I wished no harm on Shade’s marefriend.

“Now go away,” Sparkler threw at us, getting to work.

I didn’t mind his rudeness if it meant he was going to save my friend. Luna left a few servants who would make sure the doctor got everything he needed for his work and we left him to do his job.

“My sister would want to hear your story personally,” Luna said, as we walked back the way we came. “Daring Do was very brief, but she mentioned something about Twilight being in Tartarus. Celestia is quite worried.”

“What she said is true,” Starlight said, drooping her ears. “Tenebris put her and the rest of the girls – except for Fluttershy – into Tartarus.”

Luna nodded in acknowledgment. As we arrived in the chamber where Celestia was, Detective Seeker asked to leave. She explained that she didn’t know anything important anyway and just wanted to get some rest, so Luna let her go, having explained the way to the guest rooms.

Two Royal Guards gave a salute to Luna; she answered with a nod. The Guard opened the door for the Princess and she walked in first; the rest of us were following right behind. I’d heard so much about Princess Celestia from Twilight, so I was excited to finally meet her in person.

We found ourselves in a large room with a big, impressive table in its center. Princess Celestia sat at its head, having a conversation with a unicorn in a fancy golden armor. If I had to guess, he was the general or something.

Their attention switched to us as we walked in. I felt nervous probably interrupting a very important conversation, but Luna approached her sister unperturbed. It wasn’t the first time I saw Princess Celestia — I had vague memories of seeing her from afar on some ceremony back in the past — but I’d never seen her up close.

Despite her being the legendary alicorn who ruled Equestria, I didn’t feel much trepidation. I guess it was Twilight’s fault, since she had shared a lot of stories about her ex-teacher. Those stories had made me realize that she was still a pony like the rest of us, only much older and wiser.

“Your Highness,” Starlight greeted her, making a small bow. Ruby followed her example and so did I. Celestia nodded to us in return.

“Welcome, my little ponies,” Celestia said. “Did you get to the palace safely?”

Her voice was calm His name was Blueblood and he had become the acting Captain of the Royal Guard after his superior had gone missing in the aftermath of the attack. and collected, despite the grave situation outside and her tired looks. Unfortunately, we were bringing only more bad news for her.

“I’m afraid not, sister,” Luna answered for us. “Their friend was badly wounded; Doctor Sparkler is already tending to her.”

Princess Celestia sighed. “Too many good ponies have suffered already. And a lot more will until Tenebris is defeated.”

Before asking us any more questions, Celestia introduced us to the pony she was having a meeting with. His name was Blueblood and he had become the acting Captain of the Royal Guard, after his superior had gone missing in the aftermath of the attack. She didn’t tell us what they were discussing and it wasn’t in our position to pry.

After the introductions were done, we repeated to her the same story we had told Luna, finishing with our capture of Doctor Shade.

“That stallion has given himself up?” Celestia asked, furrowing her eyebrows. “I shall hear what he has to say personally.”

“He said that Tenebris has fooled him, so he wants to help,” I put in quickly.

I felt that Shade deserved a chance to redeem himself. After all, he’d helped us get into the palace. Not that it diminished his previous crimes, including the attempts to kill me, but I wasn’t one to hold a grudge. If Starlight was able to come back from the dark side, then why not Shade?

Of course, Starlight’s actions, though pretty bad from what I’d heard, can’t compare to his own…

Princess Celestia dismissed Captain Blueblood and he left with a sullen expression, dragging his hooves. I watched him go — he didn’t exactly fill my heart with confidence. He looked like he’d already given up.

Our little group, led by both of the Princesses and a guard’s detachment, went to the dungeon where Shade had been imprisoned. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at the fact that the palace had its own dungeon. Despite Equestria’s friendliness in comparison to the human world, it still had its criminals — the recent events were a glaring example of that.

At least, the dungeons weren’t dusty and covered in cobwebs like I would have expected. No, they were pretty clean, if not brightly lit. The Princess’ horn illuminated the place much more than a few torches spread out on the staircase. 

The stallion we came for was sitting on a bench in the closest cell; his pegasus companion was pacing on the neighboring one. I noticed the soldier we’d captured was lying there with a bandaged head, still unconscious.

Shade shifted uncomfortably at the sight of our procession, but didn’t stand up to greet the Princesses. Instead, he watched us approach in silence. We stayed silence as well, stopping in front of his cell.

“How is Fleur?” Shade suddenly asked, looking at me.

Everypony’s attention turned to me and I gulped. I wasn’t used to being the center of attention, especially if the two princesses were involved.

“Eh… I don’t know…” I said and Shade’s ears dropped in disappointment. “But the good doctor has promised to help her, so…”

Shade nodded.

“Is Lady de Lis your accomplice?” Princess Luna asked coldly.

Shade narrowed his eyes, but then flattened his expression. He shook his head in denial. Nopony seemed to believe him, including me. Fleur, whoever she was, was obviously important to Shade. There was little chance she didn’t know about his dealings and he had already told us that Tenebris herself had hit the mare with a spell.

Ruby mentioned exactly that.

“Fleur knows little about me,” said Shade. “The poor mare loves me, but she’s not to blame for my misdoings.”

“Misdoings?” Celestia’s voice filled the dungeon. “Is that how you call your crimes?”

I took an involuntary step back from the alicorn’s rage, folding my ears. Her horn flared brighter and for a second a real flame appeared there instead of a magical light. Shade cringed, but then continued to talk, “Whatever you want to call them. I know that you all have a reason to hate me, but I have a good offer for you.”

Celestia and Luna listened without interruptions now. Both of them had probably realized what the Doctor had meant. I knew it too — he was the only pony who knew where our captured friends were and had all the information about the organization he had created. He would be a fool not to use those in exchange for improving his position.

We were right, of course, as that was exactly what he did next.

He demanded a lot — a full pardon for every crime he’d ever committed, no less. In return he would freely share everything we bothered to ask. Celestia, despite her obvious dislike of Shade, seriously considered his offer. She and Luna exchanged a look.

“He can’t just get away with everything!” exclaimed Ruby, seeing what was about to happen.

A harsh glance from the Princess shut Ruby up. Celestia then addressed Shade himself, “You shall tell us everything we want to know. If you tell us the truth, then you and Fleur, if she survives, will be banished from Equestria. You would never return. The alternative is spending eternity in Tartarus.”

“Deal,” Shade agreed quickly.

I realized that he was happy to get even this; he’d probably half-expected his offer to be refused outright. True to his word, Shade told us where our friends were kept first — some small village near Canterlot — and then he revealed the location of the Key of Tartarus. 

He didn’t know its exact placement, but he told us it was somewhere in Tenebris’ possession. Not that it was hard to guess for ourselves. But we needed this item to free Twilight and the rest from that damned prison. I had no idea how we would get it back…

Shade’s next words ruined my mood completely.

“The same attack as here should happen in every large city in Equestria,” he told us. “If everything went as planned, our forces have taken control everywhere.”

Celestia flinched at this bit of news. It was truly disastrous if that was true.

“But Tenebris is not in control of my organization as of yet,” continued Shade. “She may have gotten rid of me, but her plans are bound to make some ponies go against her. You need to take her out before she solidifies her control. The rest would squabble for the power.”

“What about the Crystal Empire?” Celestia asked.

“Well, we made some preparations there, but we didn’t have much time, since it appeared out of nowhere very recently,” Shade shrugged. “I figured we would crush it after we took control of Equestria.”

“We could not establish the long-distance connection to Princess Cadence,” said Luna, narrowing her eyes.

“Maybe Tenebris put some spell ward against it or something,” Shade waved his hoof dismissively. “The Crystal Empire should be safe, I guarantee it.”

“We’ve already sent somepony to the north. If they return with some bad news…” Celestia trailed off. “But Doctor Shade is right about one thing — we need to strike fast against Tenebris’ forces and free our cities. I can hold her off the palace for as long as it takes; that would keep her bound to Canterlot. She won’t dare to leave while I’m here.”

“Yes, sister. I will leave to rally our forces in the country at once.”

“No, Luna,” Celestia looked at her sister. “We can’t underestimate Tenebris. If she attacks the palace, both of us must be here to face her. I’m afraid she may defeat each of us alone.”

I shuddered inside. It was one thing to guess how strong Tenebris was, but it was another to hear it straight from the Princess’ mouth. I looked at Shade, who was the reason for all our troubles, wondering what had caused him to do what he did. I held back the desire to ask the question directly; I didn’t want to interrupt the Princess.

“You, Starlight, are the strongest unicorn besides Twilight that I know of,” continued Celestia. “Only you would be able to do what I ask of you.”

Starlight swelled with pride, but quickly deflated, glancing up at her horn. Celestia looked there too and her eyes widened, for the first time noticing the inhibitor ring. 

“You’d better take that off fast,” Shade warned from the cell. “Those things can have a nasty aftereffect, I’ve heard.”

I looked at him feeling a coldness growing in my stomach. We’d been wearing those things for more than a day now; I wondered what an enormous headache I was going to have trying to use magic. It seemed like my horn was attracting injuries… I snapped out of my thoughts in time to hear Luna say.

“… remove them. It shouldn’t be too hard.”

The blue alicorn touched the ring with the tip of her horn and concentrated. It took her longer than I had expected, but in half a minute the ring clicked and fell in two halves. Luna caught it before they hit the floor and examined the pieces closely. Her face twisted in a scowl.

“Those items are vile!” she pointed a hoof at Shade, crushing the halves in her magic. “How dare thou make them?”

“Me? I don’t even know magic,” Shade lifted one eyebrow quizzically. “Morning Bright is responsible for them.”

I didn’t like Luna’s reaction and not because I was afraid of Nightmare Moon, who still had to be still somewhere inside of her. Before I could ask what had made her so angry, she turned her attention towards me and repeated the procedure she did with Starlight, removing my ring as well.

Immediately, I felt the magical flow around me. I had never noticed it before, but now it felt like I had been breathing some stale air the whole time, and then suddenly went to a pristine forest after a rain. I felt the urge to cast something simple immediately and so concentrated on the illumination spell. I was prepared for a world of pain, but for some reason no reaction followed.

Not even a few sparks.

“The natural flow of magic should restore within a day, Sundae,” Luna said gently, looking me in the eyes. “You’re lucky it was only on for a day, the damage would have been permanent if it had stayed for longer.”

“Bright assured me that there would be no permanent damage,” said Shade. I glared at him, understanding Luna’s anger perfectly now.

“Then he was either lying or incompetent,” stated Luna without a shadow of doubt. “Such barbaric design was forbidden to use for a reason. I shall add it to your long list of crimes.”


***


Soon we were back in the conference room. On the way here, I tried a few more spells — Luna said that the attempts should accelerate the recovery process — but had gotten no result yet. Starlight had more luck and produced a tiny dot of light at the tip of her horn.

The five of us were sitting around the table and were waiting for what Celestia had to say. She had mentioned the task she had for Starlight, but she hadn’t shared it with us yet. Everypony was curious, including me.

“What do you need me to do, Your Highness?” my friend asked.

“As soon as you get your magic back, I need you to get back into the city and steal the Key of Tartarus from Tenebris.”

Starlight agreed without thinking, despite how dangerous the offer sounded. She’d probably expected something along those lines.

“Thank you, Starlight,” the Princess continued. “I have nopony else to ask, but even if I did, you would be my first choice, Twilight’s student.”

“I understand, Princess. I’ll do it.”

“I’ll come with you,” I said on impulse. I didn’t want Starlight risking her life all alone after all.

Celestia looked at me and I sunk into my chair at the ruler’s attention.

“Your offer is admirable, Sundae, but I’m afraid it would be too dangerous,” she said in a warm, but firm voice. “Only Starlight here is strong enough to withstand Tenebris’ attacks to give her time to escape if it comes to that.”

I drooped my ears, but didn’t take my offer back.

“We’ll have a better chance together,” I simply said.

“If Sundae wants to go, we shouldn’t stop her, sister,” Luna supported me.

We exchanged a glance with Starlight and she nodded.

“I would feel better with Sundae,” she said. “She’s learned to teleport recently, so if worst comes to worst, we can escape from Tenebris together.”

I wanted to point out the fact that my only teleport had been just a few meters forward and I’d fallen on my face in the process, but it wouldn’t add anything to my argument, so I stayed quiet. Celestia leaned her head in, considering Starlight’s words and then nodded curtly.

“Then it will be so,” she said. “Time is of the essence, but you should go only when your magic is fully restored. It would be foolish to go out unready.”

“Can I go too?” asked Ruby.

“It is up to Starlight and Sundae to decide,” Celestia said neutrally.

I glanced at Ruby’s hopeful face, but shook my head. The earth pony was a strong fighter, but she wouldn’t fare well in a magical fight against Tenebris. Of course, we were hoping to avoid a direct confrontation with her if possible, but it was still too risky to take Ruby. 

How ironic it was that I had the same objections as Celestia about me earlier, but it was the truth.

“Please, I’d hate to sit here knowing that you both are risking your lives. Besides, I know Canterlot better than both of you. You’ll get lost without me,” Ruby smirked.

A tiny smile appeared on my face. I shared this feeling as well. I didn’t want Ruby to risk her life with us, but it would be cruel of me to leave her hanging in the unknown here, at the palace. I imagined myself in her place, waiting and worrying — and shuddered.

“Fine, you can go…” I said, looking at Starlight for approval.

“The more, the merrier,” she shrugged. “But how are we going to get out of the castle? We can’t just break out like we did on the way here.”

“There are secret passages under the palace…” Celestia began.


***


We spent the night and the whole next day in the palace. I paid a visit to Lyra, who was still bedridden. Doctor Sparkler gave a positive prognosis on her recovery, so I wasn’t worried. We had a chat where I brought her up to speed with what had happened after she had been wounded.

“Too bad I can’t go with you…” sighed Lyra, when I mentioned our upcoming mission in the city.

Starlight’s magic and mine had basically been restored at this point. I even felt good enough to try a teleport, making it across the room this time. My shield spell was improving as well — if it could hold against Ruby’s most powerful bucks, it could survive anything.

“How bad is it in the city?” Lyra asked.

I didn’t want to worry her, but I told her the truth. Celestia had scouts, who used the hidden passages to sneak out into the city, in order to learn how the situation was unfolding. The very first days after Tenebris’ takeover and the city was already plunging itself into chaos.

Tenebris’ first move was to start a whole recruiting campaign, offering anypony to join her growing army. So far, she wasn’t getting much in the way of recruits, but an increasing number of ponies from the poor neighborhood found her offer appealing. The first patrols, made up of those new recruits, were going around the city already. They had no training or serious weapons, of course, but it could make our trip to the city more risky.

It was getting pretty late, so I said my goodbyes and went to my room. The palace was mostly empty with its dimly lit passages, but I remembered the way quite clearly. Halfway to my room, I suddenly stopped in hesitation, as a thought entered my head.

I still hadn’t talked with Shade. Of course, we’d been to his cell a few times, but I felt a growing need to talk with him alone, without Ruby’s angry remarks or Starlight’s snapping. I wanted to really understand his motives. 

Just a few days ago, I used to think of him as an evil psycho, but his surrender and the care he’d showed for his marefriend, Fleur, had made me reconsider. Speaking of Fleur, I’d just learned from Lyra that she was recovering as well. The mare was still unconscious, but her life was no longer in danger. If I brought Shade the good news, he would be more inclined to talk.

Having made my decision, I turned in the direction of the dungeons.

It was a little harder to find the right way than I had expected — the palace was a large place after all. Thankfully, I stumbled into a familiar face while gallivanting through the corridors. Blueblood wasn’t dressed in his armor — he had no clothes at all — and appeared to be under the weather. 

I could ask him for directions!

“Hello, sir,” I greeted him with a nod. “Would you show me the way to the dungeon?”

The white unicorn looked at me, like he’d just noticed me. I crunched my muzzle, smelling his heavy alcohol breath, and took a step back. On second thought, I should have left him alone…

“A commoner? Here? This part of the Royal Palace is forbidden, you know,” he complained.

He shooed me away with his hoof, like I was some annoying fly. I didn’t like his attitude one bit. Wasn’t he supposed to be on duty anyway?

“I’m a guest of the Princesses, remember?” I said firmly, ignoring his drunk hoof motions.

The unicorn stood there, blinking, and then opened his mouth. I had expected him to say something, but all he did was let out a hiccup. I snorted and attempted to pass by him — there was no point in talking anymore — but he stepped in to block my way. I suddenly realized that he was much larger than me and we were all alone out there.

“It’s because of the likes of you that we’re losing!” he screamed into my face in unexpected fury.

My blood rushed to my head. How dared he?! In a sudden surge of rage, I grabbed him in my magic and lifted him off the floor like a ragdoll. I barely stopped myself from squeezing too hard, but even so he reddened and struggled to breathe.

“You’re the one in charge of the Guard now!” I yelled, shaking him to emphasize my point. “If we’re losing, it’s only your damn fault!”

“But… I’m just a deputy…” Blueblood wheezed out, coughing.

My rage was passing, so I eased my hold on him, but didn’t let go. I wasn’t done yet.

“Get your act together. You’re in charge now; the whole country depends on you. You can’t just get drunk in a situation like that.”

I finally put the stallion down; he fell to his knees as soon as he touched the floor. He gasped for breath and I looked at him apologetically. I shouldn’t have snapped like that, even if he was acting annoying.

“I’m… Prince Blueblood,” he coughed. “You’ll pay for treating me like that!”

His threat sounded silly, since he was the one kneeling before me at the moment, but it made me frown. A prince, huh? I didn’t know Equestria had those. But then I remembered — Rarity had told me about this fellow! He had been quite rude to her at the Gala once. I hadn’t realized it was him at first, but after seeing his bad side for myself, it seemed obvious.

I used my magic to put him back on all fours and he just stood there, swaying from side to side.

“You’ll pay,” were his last words before he left, didn’t letting his eyes off me for a second.

I didn’t pay much attention to his threat. Rarity had publicly humiliated him at the Gala, but he’d done nothing in return. I guess he was more of a loudmouth than an actual threat. I had enemies far more dangerous than him. 

One of them was sitting in the dungeon I still didn’t know the direction to.

It took me ten more minutes of wandering around before I found a servant, who explained to me how to find it. Finally, I was there, but another obstacle presented itself. The dungeon guard refused to let me in without an order from the Princess… I smacked myself on the forehead — I should have thought of that beforehoof.

Thankfully, it wasn’t difficult to go from the dungeon entrance to the council room, where Princess Celestia was spending most of her time lately. I was sorry to interrupt her meeting with one of the scouts, but she was kind enough to quickly write a note, which would allow me to freely meet with Doctor Shade.

She didn’t even question my motives — they must have been obvious for somepony wise like her.

I approached the guard again, showing off the note to him and he let me in without further trouble. I refused the torch he’d offered me; the stairs weren’t lit, but I had my horn to illuminate the way; the perks of being a unicorn. It gave out a steady light of the same color as my magic aura. It looked more pleasant than a torch fire. It was brighter too.

The Doctor was asleep on the cot. His accomplices in the adjacent cells were sleeping as well. I hadn’t learned their names and I didn’t feel the need to. My hoofsteps didn’t wake Shade up as I approached the bars. I extended my foreleg and hesitated.

On the one hoof, it was rude to wake somepony sleeping, but on the other this pony owed me some answers. With a sigh, I tapped on the iron bar, producing a loud ringing sound. Shade twitched and flickered an ear. The pegasus in the other cell grunted something and continued sleeping, but Shade lifted his head and looked at me.

“Sundae. I see you’ve come alone this time.”

“Fleur will live,” I said straight away.

Shade let out a long sigh of relief and sat on his haunches on the cot; his back legs touching the floor.

“That’s wonderful news. Thank you for telling me.”

“You’re welcome,” I said. “But I didn’t just come here to tell you the news. There was a question I wanted to ask…”

Shade waited patiently while I was thinking of the right way to say it. But I guess there was no nice way of putting it.

“Why did you try to kill me, Shade?”

“You were threatening my plans, obviously,” Shade shrugged. 

I drooped my ears. I should have been expecting that answer, but it just seemed so… typical. Ordinary. You know too much, Sundae. You have to die. That reminded me of the plot of some old spy movies.

“Why did you plan all this? Did you want power?”

“Well, I won’t deny that I enjoyed the power I held, but that’s not why I did it. You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

“Okay. I guess you deserve to know my reasons,” Shade nodded with a slight frown. “Equestria has become stagnant. Nothing really has changed for centuries. No advances are being made, nopony wants to do anything! Our neighbors think we’re weak and they’re taking advantage of it already. Equestria is a toothless, dying state. Tenebris should have changed it, but… You know how that turned out. Trusting her was my only mistake in all this.”

I listened to this and felt an anger rising up inside me. My tail twitched in agitation and Shade must have noticed it.

“You disagree with me?” he chuckled. “Of course you do. But I don’t care. I agreed to help all of you because I think that Tenebris would make Equestria even worse than it is.”

“Equestria is not in a bad state,” I said, glaring at him. “Celestia has been keeping the country stable for a millennium.”

“Exactly my point,” Shade nodded with a victorious grin. “Maybe you’re not that hopeless.”

I growled, but then suppressed my annoyance. There was no point in arguing with him about the state of Equestria — we’d never see eye-to-eye anyway. Instead, I asked him about Tenebris herself. Everypony seemed to know more about her than me; it was time to catch up.

“She’s a bitch,” Shade stated.

I arched my eyebrow. “I need a little more information than that.”

“Okay,” continued Shade.

The more he talked, the more I realized that I could agree with Shade at least on one thing — Tenebris was an awful pony. I was disgusted to learn about her views on different tribes. Of course, I’d already had my suspicions, but now they were fully confirmed.

The most shocking revelation of all was that Tenebris turned out to be Shade’s grand-grand-a-lot-of-grand-mother. Now I understood why he would be inclined to believe her in the first place. It did not change the fact that it had been the dumbest idea ever though. No pony in their right mind would trust a creature from Tartarus; even if they were family.

Unfortunately for us all, Shade had learned his lesson too late.

I nodded to him in goodbye and left the dungeon. I should get some rest — tomorrow we were going to the city.


***


A loud banging woke me up the next morning. Based on its strength and consistency, I guessed it was Ruby. That and the yell, barely muffled by the thick door, “Sundae, wake up!”

My eyes had some trouble opening. I rubbed them with my hooves and, for a few moments, it felt weird — even after my memory had returned and having lived as a pony for more than a month, I still wasn’t completely used to my eyes being so big. They took up half of my face, for Celestia’s sake!

I finally opened them and looked around the room, ignoring the impatient Ruby outside. I couldn’t see any difference in my vision. Maybe it was because I’d forgotten how it used to be, because my ponified brain considered my vision completely normal, even though it probably was different from a human.

Soon, Ruby got tired of waiting and opened the door herself, since I hadn’t bothered to lock it. She saw me awake and froze, having realized that I’d been ignoring her. Her smile was gone, and her ears sagged a little.

“It’s time, Sunny,” she said flatly.

I immediately felt rotten inside. Waking up had always been a hard process for me; my mind often wandered for the first seconds after waking up. I’d had no intention of upsetting Ruby. 

Thankfully, I managed to restore her good mood with my heartfelt apology and a tight hug to reinforce it. 

Then my sleepy mind decided to do something totally unexpected — kiss her. Just on her cheek, though, but Ruby jerked at my forelegs and stared at me like I’d bitten her flank off or something. Then she giggled.

“Why’d you do that?” Ruby asked, looking me in the eyes.

I realized how close our eyes were. So awkward!

I took a step back, breaking our hug; a heavy blush blossoming on my cheeks. I had no idea why I’d kissed her myself. Or rather I had… The more I blushed, the bigger Ruby’s grin become.

“Just admit that you love me,” she said, poking me in my nose.

There was no turning back now…

“I do love you… as a mare,” I spilled the beans.

She opened her mouth, looking at me in shock. Oh damn, I’d blown it… I’d misread the signs and Ruby had no strong feelings for me; I was just a friend to her. Why had I done it? Why?!

My heart was beating rapidly; my thoughts driving me into panic mode. I was so caught up in them that I missed it when Ruby got close again and put her forelegs on my shoulders.

“Well, that was unexpected,” she said slowly and then smiled, “But I’ve always felt the same way.”

My heart started beating even faster than when I’d been panicking.

“R-really? I was afraid that your jokes were…well, jokes.”

“Of course not, Sunny,” Ruby said, pulling me closer. “I wasn’t sure if you were into mares, so I was hinting my damndest, but you’re so thick-skulled sometimes! When I finally worked up the courage to share my feelings… you disappeared.”

“I’m sorry,” was all I could answer.

“It’s not your fault, Sunny, it’s the Doctor’s,” said Ruby, frowning. “I’ll never forgive him, even if he claims to be on our side now.”

We shared another kiss, this time taking it slow. I enjoyed the feeling of Ruby’s soft lips, but sadly we had to break it off quickly.

The Princesses were waiting.


***


Blueblood was waiting by the entrance to the council room. Seeing him made me worry. Noticing my reaction, Ruby tensed up. My imagination was running wild, imagining the things the prince could have done in revenge.

He appeared to be sober now and dressed in his royal armor, but I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad sign. He’d probably be more dangerous in his sober state… His eyebrows tilted upon seeing me and he went ahead to meet us.

“Miss Sundae,” he nodded to me, as I stopped.

I looked at him in suspicion. Instead of anger, his face expressed sorrowfulness and his next words were quite surprising for me.

“I sincerely apologize for my misbehavior yesterday evening, miss,” Blueblood said, looking down in shame. “I let the situation get to me and drank too much wine… You experienced the result. But that’s no excuse, of course.”

To be honest, I was shocked to hear this. His apology sounded and felt genuine. Perhaps my earlier impression of Blueblood as a rotten noblepony had been a little hasty…

After all, he’d gotten a lot of responsibility falling on his shoulders out of the blue; no pun intended. That could bring out the worst in anypony.

“I’m sorry too for throwing you around like that,” I said in return.

The Prince chuckled. “That’s okay, I deserved it. Your little speech stung, but when I thought about it later, I realized that you were right. So I hold no grudge and I take back everything I said in my pitiful state.”

“Thank you,” I nodded, ignoring Ruby’s quizzical glance. I’d explain everything to her later.

“After you, ladies,” Blueblood said, opening the door with his magic.

We went through first and he followed, closing the door behind us. Celestia and Luna were already having some vivid discussion going on between each other. Starlight was listening in from her own chair, but wasn’t participating. Our arrival interrupted the conversation, as Celestia offered us seats. I took the closest to Starlight; Ruby settling by my side.

After a short exchange of pleasantries, Celestia cut to the chase. Her scouts had learned that Tenebris had set up a base at Fleur’s manor, just as Shade had told us. With no need to hide anymore, the security of the manor had been increased dramatically, with soldiers openly patrolling the nearby streets. Our guess was that she kept the Key of Tartarus close to her, so it was our task to break into her residence unnoticed and steal it. 

It sounded simple as plans go, but the execution would be a lot harder.

“I trust in you, my little ponies,” Celestia said in conclusion.

“May the harmony be with you,” added Luna.

Blueblood’s best remaining guards would watch the secret passage’s exit and make sure we didn’t run into the same troubles as we did coming to the palace for the first time.

“They will come to your support in case of trouble,” the prince guaranteed.

He personally led the three of us to the secret passage.

It was in one of the bedrooms on the first floor. Its interior was typical, the only difference being a large fireplace at the wall. The fireplace’s back held a hidden opening leading down into a tunnel. 

Blueblood wished us good luck and closed the entrance behind us. We walked in complete darkness; only our horn lights illuminating the long and dusty corridor. It was obvious that nopony had used it in years prior. After a good ten minutes, we got to a second staircase going up.

There was a basement. A thick spiderweb was hanging from the ceiling and the walls were covered in some growth. Despite that, a group of guards in full armor was waiting for us.

Their leader greeted us.

“Be careful, there are enemy patrols outside,” he warned us. Waving a hoof at the two pegasi in his squad, he said, “My boys will watch you from the clouds. If you run into serious problems, they’ll help you.”

With Starlight’s restored magic and mine, no patrol consisting of the new recruits posed a real threat, but it was good to know we were being watched by a friendly eye. I nodded to the stallion in thanks.

Of course, the best course of action would be staying undetected. We weren’t sure if Tenebris knew we were in the city or had given the orders to look for us, but we assumed that she did.

“Tenebris is looking for powerful unicorns for her own elite guard, I’ve heard,” the Guard said. “That may be your pretense to get in.”

“Thanks, but she already knows our faces…” Starlight dismissed the idea.

When we finally got outside, it was already well into the morning. A lot more ponies were on the streets, but still fewer than when I had first been to Canterlot. They looked uneasy as well — I hadn’t seen a smile on anypony’s face yet, despite meeting quite a few of them.

Our first encounter with a patrol took place on a crowded street. The five ponies walked through the crowd like they owned the place. A red band on their foreleg differentiated them from anypony else, but otherwise they wore no protection. Each of them had a club, which wouldn’t be much use against an armored guard, but was quite effective against a simple pony.

The latter we witnessed firsthoof.

One unlucky — or dumb — young fellow blocked the way of the patrol and openly called them traitors. I didn’t know what he was thinking, but the only thing he’d achieved by that was making those ponies mad.

In a second, they were upon him like a swarm of angry insects, dropping him to the ground by swinging a club at his face. Nopony was raring to help — the ponies looked to the side and pretended to ignore the crime happening before their eyes. 

Nopony wanted to be the next to face the club, so to say.

I hated myself for trying to ignore it too. Our mission would be endangered if we brought any attention to ourselves, but saying that to myself didn’t make my guilt feel any easier.

“Hey, douchebags,” Ruby suddenly called, approaching the group.

Ruby had no weapon, but she walked towards them confidently. The group’s attention switched from a bleeding pony on the ground to her. Starlight and I joined her on both sides — there was no point in hiding now. Despite Ruby breaking our cover, I wasn’t mad at her; I felt grateful.

Those savages needed to be taught a lesson.

“What did you call us, horse?” one of them asked, waving his club menacingly.

The random ponies on the street, seeing what was happening, gave us a wide berth. A few of them stayed to watch at a safe distance. Once again, nopony made a move to help, but I hoped they were at least cheering for us.

The mobsters — that was the only appropriate name for those bastards — approached us, half-circling me and my friends. They outnumbered us and that thought made them confident in their victory. Some of them already had a predatory smile, probably imagining the good time they would have by beating us up.

Reality was about to crush their dreams.

Starlight and I both raised our magical bubble around ourselves, which easily shrugged off the clubs’ strikes. A unicorn who was among the attackers shot his own spell, trying to tackle the shield, but it didn’t even shake. I allowed myself a tiny smile.

After exchanging a glance with Starlight, I dropped the shield and put all my power into pushing forward. It was far more powerful than I had expected myself, sending the unicorn flying backwards and rolling on the ground like a ragdoll. 

Starlight wasn’t so gentle with her own opponent, casting a spell that sank his hooves into the previously solid ground and then proceeding to hit his face repeatedly. He was helpless against her attacks.

Ruby just tackled her opponent head on and, wrestling the club out of his grip, used it on him instead. My bets were on Ruby in that fight.

The two remaining enemies screamed in rage and tried to take us out quickly, but Starlight teleported away from the swing to behind the attacker’s back and bucked him hard in the flank. For me such a quick teleportation was beyond my abilities, so I just dodged the club the traditional way.

The pegasus before me raised off the ground and dashed at me from the air, but I stepped aside, using my magic to clamp his wings during his flight. He crashed into the pavement and before he could recover, I added a few kicks in his belly. His eyes bulged as his mouth opened in pain.

I felt a strange satisfaction from watching him suffer — he deserved it.

Soon, all of our opponents were lying on the ground, which meant the victory was ours. The small crowd around us cheered loudly at our success. A big smile sprung up on Ruby’s face and she bowed to the crowd, producing even more cheers.

“Let’s go before they send reinforcements,” I cooled off her enthusiasm.

Ruby nodded. She led the way; Starlight and I following behind her. The crowd parted to give us a path. I even received a few pats on my back from random strangers. We’d won the ponies’ admiration, but was it worth breaking our anonymity? The enemy would look for us all over the city now.

We cantered for a few minutes before Ruby stopped in some small alley. It was a rare pony that used it as a shortcut, so it was a good, quiet place to recover.

“We kicked those bastards’ flanks, but now they’ll be looking for us,” I said what was on my mind.

“It was still worth it,” Ruby grinned.

“Well, it was pretty satisfying,” nodded Starlight with a hint of a smile, “But they’re going to tell their friends about us. We should avoid the other patrols from now on.”

Ruby and I nodded in agreement.

“It was cool how you sank that guy into solid stone, by the way,” I said. “What spell did you use?”

“I’ll teach you when we get back to the palace.”

I nodded; it was time to continue on our mission anyway.

Ruby knew the city better than both of us put together, so she showed us a way to Fleur’s mansion using the most deserted streets she could find. We still met ponies on our way, but no patrol had bothered to use them.

Soon, we stood a street away from where Fleur’s old manor was. Here, the street was actually empty; we stood out on it like a sore thumb. 

Thankfully, we had a plan.

Starlight cast a chameleon spell on us, which made us practically invisible. Our shapes could still be seen if you looked really hard, so we kept ourselves close to the walls.

The main disadvantage of using this spell was that we couldn’t see each other; we had to move while holding each other’s tails. Slowly, we approached the street where the manor was. It wasn’t nearly as empty — a small crowd of ponies mulled about in front of the entrance gate. As we watched, it opened and a group of five was admitted inside.

Fresh recruits, I thought, shaking my head in disdain. How could anypony willingly serve Tenebris? Especially considering that most of those recruits were earth ponies. To be fair, none of those ponies likely knew what Tenebris really stood for. She’d probably offered a good life if they joined her; the less lucky ponies of Canterlot were only happy to accept. 

Of course, some of them, like the bastards we’d beaten up, just wanted to use their newfound power to satisfy their petty feeling of self-importance.

“We could pretend to be the recruits,” Ruby offered in a loud whisper.

I shook my head, but then remembered that I was invisible.

“What if they already know what we look like? We can’t risk that.”

We just stood around and watched the manor for some time, coming up with the best way to get inside. The chameleon spell wouldn’t be very useful — Tenebris had proven that she could see right through it with her freaky eyes. But all the other ideas we had were far too risky to try.

At one point, a couple of soldiers in full armor walked through the gate. Their sets of armor covered them from top to bottom, hiding their appearance completely. Nopony challenged them on their way in. 

Idea!

“We should get ourselves an armor like that!” I exclaimed.

“Oh, that’s good,” Ruby said, tugging on my tail in her excitement. “Nopony would recognize us under it.”

“That does sound good,” said Starlight, a doubt in her voice, “But how are we going to get that armor? It’s pretty resistant to magic; it wouldn’t be easy for us to ambush those soldiers.”

That was a weak spot in my plan, I admitted, but which one didn’t have those? It was the only possible way for us to get in, so I convinced my friends to follow it.

The question before us was where we would find a small group of soldiers that was easy to ambush and do it in a way that we wouldn’t damage the armor. The latter was easy as the armor was pretty tough by itself, but the former was a lot harder.

So far, the only ponies in this armor we’d seen were positioned around the castle. Each block post had around five ponies guarding it, but there was no way the three of us could take them out, even with our magic at full power. The soldiers there were also prepared after we’d killed their friends the other day. 

It was just too dangerous.

In the end, we chose to wait until some soldiers left the manor. Luckily, it didn’t take long; we saw a group of three walking out – we followed them immediately. The group comprised a unicorn, a pegasus and an earth pony – such a nice representation of tribes – each having their own type of armor. Since we were two unicorns and one earth pony, that would pose some troubles later, but first things first.

It became increasingly hard to keep up with the fast-moving soldiers when they got to the populated streets, so Starlight took off the chameleon spell. Some passers-by gave us a weird glance as we appeared out of thin air, but with what had been happening in the city lately the ponies preferred to keep away. The soldiers were none-the-wiser at our presence.

Soon, it became clear they were going in the palace’s direction — probably to change their comrades at one of the posts. We followed them until about halfway between the palace and the manor when Starlight decided it was the perfect opportunity to strike.

We exchanged glances and gave each other a supportive nod.

A lamppost on the street corner suddenly snapped and fell before the soldiers, startling them. Just a few more inches, and it would have fallen on their heads – which had actually been the intention. Starlight cursed, already preparing another spell. 

Seeing the opportunity, I levitated the lamppost off the ground and swung it at the ponies. The unicorn was the slowest one and his legs were swept from under him. He fell, yelling in pain; his foreleg was likely broken at the impact, despite his armor. I frowned — we were supposed to get the armor intact, not all crumpled up.

The rest turned around, noticing us and charged, drawing their swords. I hastily dropped the lamp I was still holding, but I didn’t have the time to protect myself as the pegasus flew right at me, using his wings to give him a boost. My eyes went wide as the tip of his sword pierced my chest.

I felt a slight sting and I slowly looked down, fully expecting to see the gash, but his sword had barely touched me. My eyes widened at the pegasus in surprise, as only now did I notice that he was being held in place by Starlight’s magical aura.

I had almost died!

I took a step back and rubbed my chest — he’d managed to leave a small cut anyway. Swatting the sword to the side, I grabbed his helmet and took it off, while Starlight was grunting, trying to keep the pegasus immobile. A hoof straight into his face knocked him out for good and Starlight finally dropped him.

The last pony was fighting Ruby. It was a one-sided fight where Ruby had to jump like crazy to avoid his attacks, while she didn’t even have a weapon of her own to damage him. But her opponent had no chance against the three of us. Together he was brought down, along with his pals.

As he fell, I ran over to Ruby to check her for any wounds.

“I’m fine,” she waved me off with a hoof.

I still made sure there were no serious or minor injuries, while she was fretting over the small scratch on my chest. It took some convincing to assure her that it didn’t even hurt, which was a slight bending of the truth.

Starlight was still panting heavily; I looked at her in concern. A simple levitation shouldn’t have strained her so much… I asked her what was wrong and she just shrugged.

“It must be the effects of the armor,” she said, nodding at the downed soldier. “It takes a lot more power to pick it up than it usually would.”

It was a reasonable explanation, but I was still worried. I feared that it was the lingering effect of the inhibitors we’d worn. To make sure I wasn’t still being affected by that, I levitated a lamp again and swung it around — a little hard, but it was to be expected because of its weight. Then I tried to pick up the helmet. To my surprise, it felt heavier than a big iron lamppost!

It was amazing how Starlight had been able to hold the pony in full armor for so long.

I shuddered, now fully realizing how close I’d been to death. Seeing my distress, Ruby approached me. I was expecting her to pull me in for a hug, but instead she brought her muzzle to mine and we connected to a kiss. It lasted for a few more seconds, when we finally broke the contact.

Ruby grinned, seeing the blush I was having right now.

I threw a glance at Starlight, who was pretending to look elsewhere, but I could see a smirk on her lips. It made me blush even more. It wasn’t the kiss itself that was so embarrassing — public displays of affection were just difficult for me. Besides, it had just caught me off-guard…

“Let’s get the armor,” I said, redirecting everypony’s attention to the task at hoof.

The street around us had mostly cleared after we began our short fight, but now the ponies slowly started to return. Each of us grabbed a soldier and carried them out of the main street to some back alley nearby. 

The citizens were steadily ignoring us as we did so — nopony wanted trouble. Once out of sight, we removed the armor from the soldiers and tied them up, so they wouldn’t reveal our mascarade.

We had succeeded in getting the armor, but as it turned out, wearing it was another issue entirely. The first problem, which was obvious in hindsight, was that the armor was stallion-sized. I put on the helmet and it hung on my head like an oversized bowl. The leg armor felt like I was trying to wear boots a few sizes bigger than my own. 

I felt more and more disappointed.

“Well, this is a bust,” Ruby summarized everypony’s feelings.

I sighed. That had been our only idea and we’d blown it. It was always possible to find some more ponies to ambush, but it was an unnecessary risk as the enemy would be ready for it. Besides, I hadn’t noticed a lot of mares among the enemy ranks for some reason.

“Do you know some spell to make the armor smaller?” I threw a random idea at Starlight.

She froze for a moment before giving out a crazy laughter.

“You’re a genius, Sunny!” she exclaimed.

“So can you make it smaller?” Ruby asked, excited.

“No!”

I blinked a few times at Starlight’s answer. If not, then what was with the whole I’ve got an awesome idea display?

“I can’t make the armor smaller, but I can make us bigger,” explained Starlight with a grin.

I punched myself on the forehead — why hadn’t I thought of that? An enlargement spell wasn’t easy, especially on living beings like us, but it was definitely possible for a unicorn on Starlight’s level. Though I wasn’t sure how long her enchantment would survive in close contact with the armor’s anti-magic defense.

Ruby seemed even more excited at the prospect of getting bigger, probably daydreaming about how she would be crushing our enemies under her hoof, but if so, I had some disappointing news. The spell would make us bigger, yes, but our strength and mass would remain the same. 

I chuckled, as Ruby drooped her ears after hearing it.

Starlight cast the spell on herself first, but overdid it just a tad. She was resembling Bulk Biceps, the ridiculously large and bulky pegasus I had seen in Ponyville. The second attempt proved to be more successful. After we’d helped her into her set of armor, she looked just like a run-of-the-mill goon.

It was my turn. I felt a little ticklish as I got inflated by Starlight’s magic. After its effects settled, I made a few test steps — so far so good, despite feeling light on my hooves. Ruby was the last one to have the spell cast on her.

“We should hurry,” said Starlight, prompting us to move. “The armor is eating at my spell — it won’t last for more than an hour.”

We went out onto the main street and cantered in the manor’s direction. The citizens’ reactions to our presence was vastly different with us wearing the armor. Ponies gave us a wide berth now, throwing suspicious glances our way.

Soon, the entrance to the manor appeared in our view again. A crowd of ponies was still there, but they stepped aside for us to pass. I nodded to a guard at the gate and he nodded in return. We got into the inner yard unchallenged and continued our walk into the manor.

I looked upon a small training field that had been set up on the lawn. A bunch of ponies were doing their exercises under the watch of their instructor. I guess it was how they tested their new recruits. Nopony gave us more than a passing glance, as they were too busy working out.

We stopped by the porch to discuss our further plan.

“So far so good,” Starlight said.

Ruby shushed her.

“Shut up, you’re going to jinx it!” she whispered furiously.

I looked around to make sure we weren’t drawing unnecessary attention, but everything was quiet. Shade had explained the layout of the manor to us, but we’d never been here before. We quickly went over the main points of our plan, making this porch our meeting place if we had to separate at some point.

“Do you think Tenebris is home?” I asked my friends.

They both shrugged in answer.

“Only one way to find out,” Ruby said. “Let’s go.”

We trotted up the stairs like we owned the place and walked inside.Inside, the manor was rich, but the furniture had a weary appearance, like no pony had tended to it in years. 

Starlight continued forward with a confident stride and we followed her closely. I don’t think she really knew where we were going, but we didn’t want to risk stopping the other soldiers we met to ask for directions.

An older pony looked harmless enough, though. We would be able to take him out quietly if something went wrong.

“Excuse me, sir, would you tell us where Tenebris’ room is?” I asked him politely.

The pony glanced at me in confusion. I realized that to properly fit the role of an enemy soldier, I should have been more abrasive, but it was too late now. I repeated the question. After finally getting an answer, we parted ways, but I still felt the pony’s stare at the back of my head.

His instructions were clear enough and soon we stood before the right door. It was easy to differentiate it from any other by Tenebris’ sign on it – a unicorn’s horn with a golden crown.

The pony warned us that Tenebris would be inside, so we came up with a way to lure her out. It would be extremely risky — as basically everything concerning Tenebris — but it was possible.

My heart was beating very fast as I knocked on the door.

It flung open immediately and Tenebris herself stared at us from behind the table. She silently watched us, frowning at the sight of Ruby’s hornless head.

“Your Majesty!” Starlight distracted her, as Ruby stepped out of sight, “My friend and I have heard about your testing and we want in.”

“Good,” Tenebris nodded sharply. “For your own good, I hope you’re better than the rest of that trash that came before you. I’m quite tired of wasting my time.”

I gulped, quietly wondering if I’d made a wise decision. I had no doubt that Starlight would pass whatever test Tenebris would throw at her, but me, on the other hoof… There was no way I would hold to the same standards.

Tenebris stood up and walked past us; a wave of chilly air emanating from her. What was it with her and the cold? I shrugged to myself and trotted behind — to back out now would mean bringing her rage upon myself. Besides, the more time Ruby has to check her office, the better. 

I just hoped Tenebris wasn’t carrying the key on herself all the time...

  The testing ground was in the big hall, which had seen a lot of such testing recently: its burned walls and broken furniture were telling. Tenebris stood on the opposite end of the room and gestured somepony to stand before her. I exchanged glances with Starlight and she stepped forward.

At first, Tenebris began with simple blasts which Starlight was supposed to block or reflect. My gifted friend had easily succeeded in that challenge. I could see by Tenebris’ perked up ears that she was hopeful.

Without any warning, she threw an especially powerful ice bolt at Starlight, but her shield held up against the assault and the bolt was destroyed, spreading the ice pieces all around. A few of them whistled just past my ear, but I ignored it. A confident smile grew on Starlight’s face.

“Good job,” Tenebris nodded in approval. “One more test left… Attack me.”

“I’m sorry?”

“You will be if you don’t follow my orders,” snapped Tenebris.

Starlight shut her mouth and lit up her horn. I could see in her expression that she was seriously contemplating using this unique opportunity to throw something really nasty, in the hopes of taking down Tenebris for good, but I shook my head slightly when I met her eyes.

Tenebris had survived Celestia’s and Luna’s rage — she would survive against any attack Starlight could muster.

Thankfully, Starlight understood that and settled on something simple instead. Her horn charged and a torrent of fire shot from it. Tenebris met it halfway with an ice wall. I covered my eyes from the hot steam spreading all over the room. When it dissipated, I saw that the ice had done the job of stopping the fire.

“Excellent!” Tenebris said. “I can see a lot of potential in you; even in old Unicornia you would be considered a powerful unicorn. Now it’s your friend’s turn.”

I couldn’t see Starlight’s expression behind the helmet, but she shifted uncomfortably when Tenebris mentioned me. She knew I wasn’t strong enough to pass Tenebris’ test. 

Unfortunately, I had no other choice. Until Ruby gave us the signal that she’d acquired the key, we had to distract the self-proclaimed queen for as long as possible.

Tenebris was watching, her eyes sparkling, and I stepped forward. “Good luck,” whispered Starlight. I barely registered that, as I walked past her and took her spot in front of the mare. I was transfixed by her gaze. What would she do if I failed her? Nothing good…

I stood with my legs wide and braced myself for whatever she was going to throw at me. My body was tense, so I forced myself to relax by breathing in and out. Tenebris was nice enough to give me the time to prepare.

When I was ready, she started off with simple attacks. Of course, coming from her it meant that I had to use all my concentration just to survive. Surprisingly enough, my shield was able to protect me from any harm, except for a slight headache. I knew Tenebris hadn’t used her full power against me, but she seemed to be satisfied with my results nonetheless.

My body was all sweaty under the armor and I was panting heavily; using a lot of magic was akin to trying to lift a mountain. My helmet slid over my eyes and I lifted my hoof to correct it. Suddenly, I realized that my helmet was fine — my head had just gotten smaller. Starlight’s spell was wearing off!

The helmet was yanked off of my head and thrown to the side.

“You!” Tenebris exclaimed, recoiling in surprise.

“Ah, yes! I’ve decided to join you after all!” I shot out the first thing that came to mind.

Tenebris stopped a moment away from blasting me to oblivion. A doubt flickered on her face and her horn stopped its menacing glowing.

“Really?”

With the corner of my eye, I saw Starlight, still under her enlargement spell, take off her helmet and stand beside me. She hadn’t acted yet — we both knew that it wasn’t a fight we could win.

“Yep. That’s why we came here,” I said. After a moment I added, “But we have one condition.”

“What is it?”

“Remember my friend, the earth pony? Her safety should be guaranteed.”

The mare narrowed her sparkling eyes, but didn’t reject my offer out of hoof. Of course, the whole thing was a lie and I was just trying to buy us some time; it was preferable to direct fighting. And it seemed to be working.

“Of course. If this is what it takes to get you two to join me,” Tenebris said.

I was surprised at her accepting my fake offer, but I suppose she really wanted the unicorns for her little team. Judging by her earlier words, she hadn’t had much of success finding some suitable candidates. 

Despite who Tenebris was, it still felt good that she considered me a worthy candidate after all.

At that moment, Ruby finally gave her signal.

A cracking of fireworks that Ruby set off in the yard distracted Tenebris for a second, but that second was enough. As planned, Starlight and I teleported simultaneously back to the entrance, where Ruby was awaiting us. She waved a key chain with a lot of keys before my eyes as we appeared, grinning happily.

Before I could let out a sigh of relief, a wave of coldness blew over my back. Even before turning, I knew what I would see there.

“You lied to me,” Tenebris said calmly.

A shudder ran over me from the sound of her voice. It sounded calm, but I could almost physically feel the rage hidden under it. Even if there were no guards approaching, I knew we stood no chance.

We were doomed.