//------------------------------// // Episode 91: Complications // Story: Equestria Girls: Friendship Souls // by thatguyvex //------------------------------// Episode 91: Complications When Timber Spruce woke up, his first thought was that he must have gotten into a car accident. His memory was muddled by a thick mental fog, and he couldn’t quite remember what had happened to him, but his chest was filled with a small army of aches and twinging pains that made him think he must have broken something. Possibly multiple somethings. He was laying in a clean bed large enough to accommodate a small country’s population, and it was sinfully comfortable. The room was dark, lit by only a few computer monitors, one of which was next to his bed and hooked up to a number of wires and tubes snaking their way up to his body. With a very uncomfortable realization, Timber realized he had needles in him, and what looked like an IV set-up, with bags dripping liquid into him. Only he’d been to hospitals before, and knew that IVs usually didn’t contain luminous glowing blue fluid. He was pretty sure nothing glowing ought to be going into his body, and he felt a stab of mild panic as his brain started to organize itself and recall recent events. The parking lot, the invisible force that had grabbed him and started to crush the life out of him, then the strange rescue by people he’d never seen before, including the cute girl with the glasses. He tried to sit up and immediately regretted that decision. Whatever was being pumped into his body might have been helping him heal, but not to the point where moving was going to be on the itinerary anytime soon. He lay back with a pained groan and tried to work out where he was. This didn’t look like any hospital room to him. Too fancy and large. Now that his eyes were adjusting to the gloom he could see the furnishing were rather lavish. Was he in some rich person’s mansion? But why? What had even happened to him? His memories only came to him through a pea-soup haze. Those people he’d seen must have brought him here, but who were they? “Huh, you’re awake. Figured that was you groaning,” said a young male voice that came from somewhere near the right side of the bed, followed by a yawn, “Wake a poor dog up why don’t you? I was having the nicest dream, too.” “Who’s that?” Timber asked as he tried to peer over the side of his bed, grimacing at the pain of the effort. When he looked over he came face to face with a small, purple canine who’d reared up to look up over the bed at him. “Yo,” said the talking dog. Timber starred, his eyebrow twitching slightly. “Hey, if you keep staring at me like that I’m going to start feeling awkward, buddy.” With a very slow gesture, Timber edged an inch away from the small, purple canine. “C’mon, I’m just a talking dog. This can’t be the weirdest thing you’ve seen lately.” “...I’m going back to sleep. Maybe then my mind will stop being crazy,” Timber decided out loud and laid back down in the bed, trying very hard to close his eyes and pretend he hadn’t just seen and heard a talking canine. Unfortunately his hallucination hopped up onto the bed and padded over to his head, poking it with a paw, “Dude, seriously? Ignoring me is super rude. Twilight set me here to keep an eye on you.” “Just ignore it, Timber. It’ll go away if you just ignore it,” Timber told himself, convinced that whatever drugs were being fed into his bloodstream had to be the explanation for this disturbingly real figment of his chemical addled brain. “Yeah, you keep telling yourself that. I’m going to go get Twilight. Don’t do anything dumb like try to get out of bed while I’m gone,” said the hallucination, and Timber felt it jump off the bed and heard its disturbingly real sounding paw shuffles as it went to the door. Timber didn’t question how the dog managed to open the door, but he heard the door open and close, after which he chanced opening his eyes again. He seriously considered just yanking out the IV from his arm. Healing him or not, if that stuff was making him this loopy, he didn’t really want it in his system. He was working up the courage to pull the needle out when he heard the door open again, and looked up in time to see a familiar girl entering the room. Timber recognized her quickly from his hazy memory. Foggy as those memories were, the image of her face was shockingly clear. Purple features, youthful yet somehow cast in a older light by intelligent and surprisingly intense eyes. Her hair was a dark shade of violet than her skin, worn in a loose ponytail, and bearing a bright neon pink stripe. He still couldn’t help but think she was cute, and the glasses only added to the charm. He shoved that thought aside quite quickly as he noticed her manner of dress was... odd. It was almost entirely white, and styled in some manner of military uniform complete with emblems in the shape of a silver five-pointed cross that Timber didn’t recognize. She also wore black gloves, which struck Timber as kind of odd for being indoors. He was so taken by her appearance that he didn’t notice the dog hallucination was with her until the mutt jumped up on his bed again and smiled in a strangely smarmy manner as the canine looked at the girl and gestured with a paw at Timber, “See, told you he was awake.” When the girl spoke it was in a breathy, soft tone, “He shouldn’t be. Even with our alchemy aiding his recovery it should have been at least one more day before he woke up.” Timber cleared his throat, “Well, uh, ‘he’ wouldn’t mind another week or two of sleep, plus some replacement ribs, but he’s not complaining. Also, Timber Spruce, good to meet you, cute girl and talking dog. Am I having a drug induced fever dream, out of curiosity?” “Cute girl...?” The girl blinked, then quickly shook her head, “N-no, you’re not having a fever dream, although I can understand why you might think that. Spike probably should have just come to get me the moment he realized you were awake.” “Hey, I just wanted to chat with him a bit,” Spike said, “Guess I’m just used to the people around here that are used to me.” Timber felt his brain trying to process things and it’s subsequent desire to shut down, and let out an awkward laugh, “Haaaa... so, what you’re saying is that I’m not crazy, the dog is talking, and you’re the one that saved me from an invisible monster that tried to kill me in the library parking lot?” The girl nodded slowly, approaching the side of his bed. She checked the monitor there that the IV was hooked to, then glanced at him with a look somewhere between wary and concerned. “So you do remember. Yes, we saw you being attacked and stopped the Hollow before it could do any worse to you than it already had. After that we brought you here to tend to your injuries. A regular hospital would have been... inadequate to heal you in time, given that you were suffering from punctured lungs in three places, and had every rib in your body crushed. Had we not intervened you... would have likely died before conventional medicine could have saved you.” “Okay, okay, hold up, I think you’re seriously overestimating my ability to keep up with what you’re saying here, so let’s slow it down a bit. In fact let’s put the brakes on everything and start over with ‘Hello, my name’s Timber Spruce, and you are...?’” His words seemed to catch the girl off guard as her eyes fluttered in a momentary, and Timber would admit somewhat adorable, expression of flummoxed surprise. “Oh, um, right I suppose introductions should come before anything else. My name is Twilight Sparkle. This is my dog, Spike.” “Yo,” said Spike, scratching his ear with a hind leg. “Alright, cool. I’m happy to meet you both, although I’m still trying to decide if I’m clinically insane or not at the moment. So, next step in the ‘Get Timber Up to Speed’ plan; what the blazes is a Hollow?” Twilight and Spike exchanged a questioning glance with each other, and Spike shrugged, and Timber noted it was utterly surreal to see a dog shrug. “Your show, Twilight,” said Spike, “You want to clue him in, or is this one of those Men in Black ‘flashy thing’ moments?” “I don’t even think we Quincy have ‘flashy things’, but we probably should,” Twilight said, and she slowly took off the military cap she’d been wearing, setting it aside as she ran a hand over hair and looked at Timber Spruce with a calculating gaze that made him feel uncomfortably naked despite being fully clothed. It was like she was weighting his entire future with that gaze, and he saw both empathy and pain in equal measures pass through her eyes before she spoke again. “A part of me think it would be best to tell you to forget what happened today and try to go back to your life as if nothing happened. But this is your choice to make, Timber Spruce. I can tell you the truth, but there won’t be any going back once you learn it. Or I can make sure you get home safely after you’ve healed up, and you can move on with your life as if we never met.” “Right, red pill or blue pill, I get it...” Timber said, taking a second to think about it. Not that he really  needed to think that long or hard about the situation. For him, life had already gotten strange before Twilight had saved him. Gloriosa was seeing monsters and weirdos all over town, and was toying with powers she didn’t understand. Timber had gone into town hoping to find something that might help his sister get a handle on the situation. He hadn’t found it in the library... but apparent the answer had found him instead. If this girl had answers, answers that could help Gloriosa and shed light on what was happening, then Timber’s path was already set. “Okay, red pill it is. Lay it on me.” ---------- Sunset Shimmer lost herself in the simple act of cooking, letting the atmosphere of energy in Discord’s shop kitchen help her forget the mountain of troubles that had piled onto her shoulders in the past twenty four hours. The soft sizzle of cooking oil and the sweet smell of cooking pancake batter filled the air. Sunset moved at her own, relaxed pace, while around her Pinkie Pie was a neon blur. “Here Mena, keep an eye on the bacon for me while I whip us up some more biscuits!” Pinkie Pie chirped happily, all but planting her doppelganger in front of the oven beside Sunset, where a frying pan was already set up with lines of bacon cooking away. Pinkamena wore a less than enthused expression, but surprisingly didn’t complain as she took to poking at the bacon with a spatula, while Pinkie resumed storming around the kitchen getting other elements of the “breakfast for dinner” ready. Sunset glanced at Pinkamena with a small, amused smile. “You look like you've adapted to Pinkie’s pace.” Pinkamena cracked a sardonic grin of sharp teeth, licking her lips, “Where food’s concerned, I can give her some leeway.” After a short pause, Sunset heard Pinkamena say in a much quieter tone, “It’s not so bad, feeling like part of the family.” The windows on one side of the kitchen showed it was already night outside, several hours since the attack on Sunset’s apartment. It’d been a mess, getting things sorted out afterward. Fortunately finding Chappy hadn’t taken long, and the fact that Sunset hadn’t technically been at home meant that she hadn’t needed to talk to the authorities for long. Once Sunset was back in her own human body and Chappy was returned to her rabbit doll gigai, she and the girls had gone to the school to talk with Celestia. Well, Celestia and Luna, as it turned out the Second Division Captain had returned, however briefly, to Canterlot City. It was there that Celestia had explained to them the plan. It wasn’t particularly complicated. The Twelfth Division had moved its portal research from the school to the Everfree Forest, for the sake of the city’s safety in case anything went wrong with their experiments. The entire statue in front of Canterlot High had been moved to this new research site, and a replica made in Soul Society put in place outside the school to allay suspicion. In order to both better protect Sunset and her friends, and to more easily gain their assistance in any portal experiments, they would take on the roles of camp counselors at a summer camp; Camp Everfree. Celestia had already acquired the camp for the school’s use, and intended to use a long term ‘Summer Fun Program’ as the cover for Sunset and her friends to be there. That also meant that a lot of students would also be there who had no idea what was going on, but with Sunset and her crew present, along with much of the Soul Reaper garrison, plus Celestia herself, Luna, not to mention Starswirl, it seemed plausible to say that any threat from the Arrancar of Las Noches would find no easy targets. Which didn’t mean Adagio, Gilda, or any other Espada wouldn’t still be a threat. Sunset wasn’t sure what Adagio’s plans were, but if she was working with Twilight to try and rescue Ember then it stood to reason that that’d have to make some kind of move on the camp. And while Sunset couldn’t confirm it without asking suspicious questions of Celestia, it stood to reason to conclude that Ember was at this research site in the Everfree Forest. Which means one way or another there’s going to be trouble at Camp Everfree... Sunset thought, almost flipping a pancake onto her own head, which Pinkamena caught with a stretching out hand that plopped the pancake onto its proper plate. “Worried about what your Quincy and Arrancar pal are going to try and pull?” the doppelganger asked. “Just wishing I could have had a chance to actually sit down and talk with Adagio. I get she had to keep up appearances with that Gilda girl, but if we’re going to manage anything at Camp Everfree without it turning into a gigantic mess, we’re going to need to have a serious sit down with Twilight and Adagio to hash out what our actual plan is.” As if by teleportation, Pinkie Pie appeared in Sunset’s field of view from above, shaking a battered caked spoon at her, “Relax Sunset! We’re always super good at winging it, so even if we don’t make a plan we’ll figure something out as we go along.” Ignoring that Pinkie Pie was somehow defying gravity for the moment, Sunset started to organize the plates of pancakes along with the rest of the food that they’d be ferrying over to the dining room, where the rest of the girls waited hungrily. “We are good at adapting on the fly, but I’d rather not leave this up to a coin toss. We really do need to play this carefully, Pinkie. Fortunately it seems like Discord is willing to help, so we’ve got that in our favor. I just don’t want any of our friends in Soul Society getting hurt, and from what I saw of Gilda, she’s not exactly the delicate type.” “But you were kicking her butt, so pretty sure big shots like Celestia or Luna could handle her, no problem,” Pinkie Pie pointed out, having popped up on Sunset’s opposite side, snatching up plates and balancing them on her hands and head as only a world-class waitress could pull off. “So chiiilllll. Tonight's for unwinding and getting you settled in with a Sorry Your Home Blew Up And You Have To Couch Surf At Discord’s Party!” Sunset sighed, but smiled at Pinkie Pie, “Okay, okay, no more worrying for the rest of the night, I promise.” In short order she and the two Pinkies transported a veritable feast down the hall and through the sliding paper doors into the sizable dining lounge, where much of the residency of Discord’s shop was waiting for them. Discord sat with Screwloose and Screwball at one of the floor tables, while Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy were at the second table, with Chappy lounging in the middle of the table. “Move aside Chappy, foods incoming,” Sunset said as she got to setting the plates down. The rabbit doll leaped to her feet and deftly hopped up onto Sunset’s shoulder, balancing there with ease as Sunset set the table. “Need a hand there, Sunset?” asked Applejack, but Sunset just waved the question off. “Nah, I got this. Worked at a sushi bar, remember? I can handle a few plates.” Pinkie Pie and Pinkamena had set out their own plates of food at the other table, Screwball all but salivating on the table while Screwloose gave the smaller woman a thwack on the head to keep her from digging in immediately. Discord, eyes shadowed by his green and white striped hat, fanned himself with a paper fan and took a deep breath of the sweet smells of fresh cooked breakfast for dinner. “This looks wonderful, girls. I should put people up more often, if they can cook like this.” “Yeah, you’ve been officially banned from the kitchen since your last attempt gained sentience and tried to devour us,” said Screwloose, showing an amused flash of teeth, “This is why I swear by takeout.” “One can’t live off of convenience store food forever,” Discord commented. “I think that is a debatable theory, at best,” Screwloose shot back, and Pinkamena leaned over her from behind, licking her lips. “If you don’t want any, I’ll gladly eat your portion.” To this Screwloose quietly and pointedly started putting pancakes on her plate, and soon enough everyone was seated and eating. Sunset took up a spot at Discord’s table, while Pinkie Pie and Pinkamena sat with the other girls. Conversation was briefly stalled by the simple enjoyment of good food, and Sunset tried to let the tension roll out of her as she filled her belly. Still, it was inevitable that the quiet, contented atmosphere wouldn’t last, and Discord looked at her meaningfully from across the table. “So Celestia intends to keep you girls under her watchful eye by having you play camp, while our wayward siren has teamed up with young Miss Sparkle to crash Starswirl’s research site. A dangerous and chaotic situation to say the least, isn’t it?” “Ain’t like we got much we can do ‘bout it, Discord,” Applejack groused, stuffing a slice of bacon into her mouth and munching with furious abandon, “We didn’t ask fer the Soul Reapers ta nab one o’ Adagio’s friends. We’re just tryin’ ta do what we can ta help out her n’ Twilight outta a’ jam.” “Of course, and I quite agree that you girls wouldn’t be yourselves if you abandoned your friends in their time of need. That said, school ends soon, and you’ll not likely have much time to plan once you’re at Camp Everfree, so you might wish to work out a plan while things are still calm.” “Kind of hard to do that unless we can work out a way to get in touch with Adagio and Twilight without getting caught,” Sunset said, and at Discord’s look she let out a sigh, crossing her arms and giving him a frank look, “You’ve got something, don’t you?” Discord’s smile was quite innocent, even as his eyes gleamed, “I do so love being able to pull one over on Starswirl’s designs. You girls do recall those tokens you received before you returned from Soul Society?” “Ah, you means those darling little badges that use the same skull pattern you use?” Rarity said, “While a bit garish, I did think they were just this side of tasteful.” “I guess,” Dash said with a shrug, “I haven’t really looked at mine since we got ‘em. Don’t they open up those fancy gate things the Soul Reapers use so we could go to Soul Society if we needed to?” “That and act as emergency beacons if we ever got in trouble,” Sunset said, and now that she thought about it she’d been keeping hers in her back pocket most of the time, and hadn’t really thought about them since, but now that she checked, it wasn’t there. “Discord, what did you do?” “Hehehe, Discord wanted to tinker with them, so he had me go and snatch them from all of you,” Screwball said, giggling around a mouthful of pancake, which earned looks from all of the girls. Applejack’s frown was the deepest of them as she eyed the short, swirly eyed girl. “Now how n’ tarnation did ya pull that off?” “I’m very, very hard to notice when I don’t want to be,” Screwball said, still giggling under her breath. “Must be, if I didn’t smell you crawling around the family home,” Pinkamena said, with a surprising amount of chagrin and protectiveness in her tone. Sunset glanced at her sidelong, then noticed how Pinkie Pie gave Pinkamena a friendly little elbow and smile, to which Pinkamena eye rolled but settled down like a rattlesnake ceasing to rattle its tail. Perhaps all that time spent with Pinkie Pie’s family was doing Pinkamena some good? “Screwball only acquired the tokens for me to make some modifications to them,” Discord said, “I promise you she didn’t snoop around into anything private. Now, Screwloose, if you would?” Screwloose nodded and reached under the table to pull out a cloth-wrapped bundle, which once opened revealed eight medallions of dark iron, each with a skull carved motif in the center. They looked exactly as Sunset remembered them, only they’d originally been given six, not eight. Also she couldn’t help but notice that the medallions looked thicker by perhaps half an inch. Nothing one would pick up on at a casual glance, but noticeable on a closer look. “Go ahead, each of you take one,” Discord said, and the girls, after looking at each other, did exactly that. “What are the extra two for?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Those will be for Adagio and Twilight,” Discord replied, “I suspect we’ll find opportunities to bring these to them soon enough. Once done this should allow for communication.” “How?” asked Fluttershy, examining her medallion, only for the answer to come on its own as she pressed on the top right side of the badge, which turned out to be a hidden button. The medallion flipped open, revealing an internal mechanism with a small screen and tiny buttons within. “Oh my? Was I supposed to do that?” “You made magical cell phones,” Sunset said, chuckling under her breath, “Just like what Twilight made when we first started hunting Hollows.” “I will say I have taken some inspiration from young Miss Sparkle’s design. I’ve, of course, provided my own upgrades. First of all the medallions will work just as Starswirl originally intended, allowing you to make Senkaimon Gates to Soul Society, and activate an emergency beacon to call for help from Soul Society. However I’ve also installed a communicator that allows you to speak to each other through the badges, and also contact me at the shop. They have video function as well, plus my own installed scanner that should pick up on magic signatures. Should make tracking each other easier if you have to hide your reiatsu.” “Nifty, does it get wi-fi as well?” asked Rainbow Dash, and Discord smirked. “Cute, but I don’t want you girls downloading porn on my data plan. No, these mostly just have the communication function, but most importantly its a very long distance communication function that also happens to be encoded to make their signals difficult to trace. Once Adagio and Twilight have theirs, you can talk to them without fear of eavesdropping. That should make coordinating efforts to rescue Miss Ember much easier.” “Oooo hey! You’ve got pong on here!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed happily as she started playing on her medallion’s screen. Discord just blinked. “I... don’t remember installing pong.” “Don’t question it. It’s Pinkie. Anyway, I’ll hold onto the spare two,” Sunset said, picking up the extra medallions and slipping them into her pocket. “Figure if Adagio’s going to show up again, she’ll probably show up here. As for Twilight, we can probably pull off another clandestine meeting before the end of school.” “Well then, no point worrying about things further, is there?” said Rarity, “We can’t really plan much without our co-conspirators, and really I think it's best we take this last week of school to unwind before our lives get complicated again.” “Assuming no more dang Espada go ‘round tryin’ ta blow up our homes,” muttered Applejack, and there were silent nods of agreement all around. As they all resumed eating, looking for lighter hearted topics to discuss, Sunset found her thoughts drifting towards Equestria. Things were quickly looking as if they’d lead to another dangerous battle here in the human world, but how was Princess Twilight doing on her own quest, and was it going any smoother than things were over here? ---------- “Oh my, I must say that there is absolutely nothing about this dreadful place that I’m enjoying thus far,” Rarity said, using the soft glow of her magic to stretch out and start dusting off the blanket to the bed within the room of what could generously be termed the ‘inn’ that they’d purchased lodging at for the night. Amid the cloud of dust wafting off the moth eaten blanket, there was a swarm of fleas that dropped off as well, and Rarity wrinkled her nose while in the next bed over, Applejack flopped down on her own bed without so much as a moment’s hesitation. “It ain’t that bad,” Applejack commented, yawning as she tossed her stetson onto the nightstand, which was little more than an empty barrel set between the two beds, “This here city’s pretty lively, an’ once ya get past the smell, an’ the fleas, an’ the unfriendly locals, an’ the overcharged prices on everything, an’ the sand that gets everywhere, this town is... huh, kinda just forgot what I was going for here.” “I’m just glad Twilight won’t be forcing us to stay here for more than a day,” Rarity said, finally giving up on the blanket and simply folded it and set it aside, resolved to just tough out the night’s chill. “Ain’t like we were gettin’ anywhere with questionin’ the locals. These folks ain’t exactly the chatty types.” “It’s hardly as if we needed to, Applejack. It seems quite clear to me that Starlight and her dastardly minions are responsible for the destruction we witnessed outside of the town. The only real question is whether or not they remain in the area,” Rarity said, going to the room’s only window, which consisted of little more than a wooden board covering an oblong opening in the wall, and threw it open to try and air the musty room out. It did little to help, given that the window looked out onto a narrow alley, with only a few feet between the window and the wall of the next building. “If they are, I’m hopin’ we can mosey on to the hippogryph’s kingdom without bein’ noticed,” Applejack said, propping her forehooves behind her head when it turned out the ‘pillow’ on her bed was little more than a potato sack with hay stuffed in it. “A fight’s the last thing we need right now.” “Fortunately with how many creatures pass through this place I imagine we blend in as well as can be,” Rarity replied, then chuckled under her breath. “What’re ya chucklin’ about over there?” Applejack asked, quirking an eyebrow. “Oh, I was just thinking, while it’s quite nice that Twilight planned ahead and ensured we had ample gems and coins to rent out so many rooms at the inn, it’s quite interesting that there were only four rooms left available.” “What’s so interestin’ about that?” “Well, you and I are sharing a room. Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash are sharing another. Our siren friends are in the third, while Starlight Glimmer and Trixie are using Trixie’s caravan outside. Which leaves the fourth room...” Applejack blinked for a second, then shared Rarity’s chuckle, “Heheh, oh, right, wasn’t even thinkin’ about that. Bet Twilight wasn’t either, when she paid fer the rooms. Still, ain’t that big a deal. Flash seems a right gentlestallion by my recokin’.” “Most certainly. I only hope they work themselves out before we reach our eventual destination. They do make for a nice couple.” “I ‘spose. Ain’t my place ta be gossipin’ on my friends relations.” “And yet you’re speaking to me about it.” Applejack’s cheeks heated to a rose hue and she turned over in her bed, facing away from Rarity, “Yeah, well, I’m goin’ ta sleep now, so ain’t no more gossip comin’ outta me. You can go on imaginin’ whatever ya want to.” “Oh, you’re not fun,” Rarity said, but laughed lightly again as she settled onto her own bed, getting ready for a long and much needed night’s sleep. Neither mare noticed that outside the open window, atop the roof of the next door building, a pair of shadows crept quietly out of view. ---------- “So the Princess is alone, except for one bodyguard,” Tempest Shadow mused aloud, her features calculating and contemplative as she crawled along the rooftop, eyeing the other windows to the different rooms of the inn. She’d already made a mental map of the building and was working out potential points of entry. Beside her, Grubber gave her a look halfway between worried and bemused, “So what’s the plan? We try to nab the pony princess and make a break for it?” Tempest’s eyes narrowed in deep, rapid thought. From what she’d seen and eavesdropped, it seemed that the exceedingly powerful mare who’d done so much damage at Mt. Aries was staying in the wagon parked in front of the inn. Tempest was extremely wary of alerting this ‘Starlight Glimmer’ to her presence. If they were to take Princess Twilight Sparkle, it needed to be both swift and relatively silent. A risky proposition, but Tempest was in a desperate situation. By capturing the Princess, she’d have a bargaining chip to use against Starlight to get back the Storm King. But how? If Twilight Sparkle was staying with the one stallion in the group, then the chances of making a quiet foalnapping was low, unless she was able to hit them with the complete element of surprise. If she could find a way to isolate the Princess from her bodyguard, that would be ideal. “Capturing the Princess is key, but we’ll need a distraction,” Tempest said, turning her contemplative look towards Grubber, who in turn gained an uneasy smile as he pointed at himself. “You mean me, don’t you?” he said, expression sinking rapidly as one who already knew the answer to the question he’d asked. To this, Tempest only gave him a knife edged smile. ---------- The two ponies sat staring at each other from across the unoccupied bed. Flash Sentry, with a exasperated breath, nodding to the bed and said, “It’s okay Twilight, just take the bed.” “No, I couldn’t. You’re still adjusting to being a pony and need the rest far more than me, I insist you take the bed tonight, Flash,” Twilight’s voice had a strained, higher pitch to it as she waved her hooves in front of her and then patted at the ground beside the bed where she’d already laid out a thin blanket, “The floor’s just fine for me! I swear, I slept on the floor all the time back in the library when I was too busy reading to bother with a bed.” Flash wished he still had hands so he could pinch the bridge of his nose to help relieve the oncoming headache he felt. Instead he settled for flattening his ears, which he wasn’t entirely conscious of doing, and shook his head. “There’s no way I’m using a bed while you’re stuck on the floor. I’m a Soul Reaper, Twilight. I barely need sleep anyway.” “Right now we don’t even know if your body works the same way while you’re a pegasus, and helloooo, I’m an alicorn. We’re not exactly built delicate. I could probably stay up all night and not even feel it.” “I could stay up all night and not even feel it, too. And I will, if you’re not going to take the bed!” “Well I’m not taking the bed either, so I guess we’re both staying up all night, aren’t we?” Flash ran a hoof over his face, “Alright, look, this is silly. Why don’t we just both use the bed?” Twilight blinked, “You mean, as in... together? At the same time?” Flash could only wonder why her wings spread out like that, but he put the question aside and took a deep, calming breath. “Twilight, we’re both mature, sensible, adult individuals. It’s just coincidence that we happened to end up in the same room, and there’s only one bed. Yes, I’d like to be a gentleman and let you have the bed, and I’m sure you’ve got plenty of perfectly rational reasons to let me have the bed instead, but we’ve both had a long day and while we could stay up all night, that’s just not sensible at all, is it?” “N-no, I guess its not.” “So here’s the plan. We can both climb into this bed, in a purely platonic and not at all awkward fashion, and go to sleep with zero problems. Right?” “Right.” “...Right. Okay then. We’re agreed.” “We are.” “...” “...” “A-aren’t you going to get into the bed?” “Well aren’t you?” As they stood there, staring at each other in red faced, awkward silence, each waiting for the other to make a move, Twilight’s nostrils twitched as she picked up the scent of smoke. “Is it just me or is that a fire?” she asked, sniffing the air some more. She turned towards the window, but Flash held out a hoof, “Wait, let me check it.” Twilight didn’t argue with him and watched as Flash went to the wooden board covering the window opening and carefully peeked outside. The smell of smoke was growing thicker in the air, and Twilight had a sinking feeling in her gut. “What is it?” she asked, and Flash opened the window more and gestured for her to look. Their room’s window looked out on the street in front of the inn, and across the muddy road several of the merchant stalls hugging the ramshackle buildings were now thoroughly ablaze. Even in the middle of the night, Klugetown was filled with people still awake, so the fire had hardly gone unnoticed. Amid its orange glowing lights, numerous creatures were calling out warnings and rushing to get water from local wells. However Twilight knew how fast fires could spread, especially in dry climates like the desert. On top of that, so much of Klugetown was wood and cloth, rather than stone. If the fire wasn’t dealt with quickly then it could threaten the entire town. “We have to do something!” she said, and Flash nodded agreement, but his face was wary. “I’m on board, but something’s not right about this. It’s too coincidental this started right across from where we’re staying.” “We can worry about that later. We have to stop the fire, now!” Twilight said, and before Flash could say anything else, she was already leaping out the window, spreading her wings to glide down to the street. Flash let out a curse under his breath and jumped out the window after her, gliding down less gracefully but reaching her side just as the side window on Trixie’s wagon opened and the magician mare poked her head out. “What in the name of Starswirl is- AAAAH! FIRE!” Trixie shouted, waving her hoof at the flames that were already licking up the side of the building. The door to the wagon burst open and Starlight stumbled out, soon followed by a panicked Trixie. “Where did that come from!?” Starlight asked, but Twilight just shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Starlight, Trixie, help me keep the fire contained. Flash, go get the rest of my friends up to help form a bucket brigade.” Flash Sentry’s expression remained worried, and Twilight felt a warm rush as he quickly put a hoof on her shoulders, “Just be careful. Something about this doesn’t feel right.” “O-okay, I’ll be fine,” she said, and Flash nodded and rushed back into the inn. Twilight didn’t doubt her friends were probably already awake, but hopefully Flash could work with them to get a bucket brigade going fast. She had a few spells that could readily contain the fire, but putting it out would have required something so powerful that it would also be dangerous for the nearby buildings. Large swaths of ice, or water was something she or Starlight could conjure, possibly, but the force would be too much. She could tell Starlight was thinking along similar lines, although the other mare had a far more ready look on her face as she looked at the fire, “I don’t know what idiot started this, but we can stop it without needing to rely on some bucket brigade. Twilight, if you can get up high and conjure water from above, I’ll surround the fire with a force field that’s open up top so the fire can’t spread and will get doused quicker.” “No Starlight, if there’s anyone still inside those buildings they’ll be trapped if we try to use any barriers to contain the fire. Hit it with ice or water down here and support the people bringing water from the wells. Trixie, do whatever you can to help.” “Wait a minute, I don’t know any kind of spells for this this!” Trixie said, “Unless you want me to conjure fireworks, or impress the fire with my dashing good looks, what am I supposed to do?” “Help the bucket brigade then,” Twilight said, then paused as she heard screams coming from above, “Oh no, somebody is trapped up there!” “Twilight, wait!” Starlight shouted as Twilight went flying up the side of the building. Whether Twilight didn’t hear or or didn’t care, Starlight was stuck watching the fire start to spread, and with no other option started to wreath her horn in magical light. Elemental conjuring was actually one of the harder types of magic for unicorns to pull off, but Starlight was certainly exceptional when it came to magical talent, so in short order she had a steady stream of water hosing down the nearest inflamed merchant stalls. Trixie, in a fit of panic, just started levitating clumps of mud to try and smother what parts of the fire she could. Moment’s later Flash Sentry came rushing back out of the inn, with both the rest of Twilight's friends and a pair of very confused sirens in tow. "Aww, why did someone start a fire without telling me?" asked Sonata, "I could have gotten some marshmallows to roast. Super inconsiderate!" "Stop thinking with your stomach, Sonata, we need to clear out of here before this thing spreads," said Aria. "I think what yer meanin' ta say is that we gotta help put the fire out" said Applejack, who was already running to join the slowly forming bucket brigade. Aria shrugged, looking less than enthused with the prospect of doing anything other than keeping a distance from the flames, holding out her tail protectively in front of Sonata to keep her sister from making any hasty moves. "Yeah, sure, whatever. You guys have fun with the fire, I think I'll keep my sister here where it's safe." As most of the group moved to help with dousing the fire, Rainbow Dash grabbed Flash Sentry and said, “Follow me, newbie. It’s time you learned how to rustle up rain clouds like a real pegasus!” “Hold on, where’s Twilight?” Flash said, looking around for the Princess. “Probably doing something better than standing around, dude, not c’mon and help me! With some rain we can keep kick this fire’s butt in no time flat!” She all but yanked Flash Sentry into the air, consequently flying in the opposite direction Twilight flew when she went up the side of the building earlier. As for Twilight, she’d gotten to the top of the building without any trouble, and had cast about searching for the source of the scream she’d heard. The fire was still contained to the lower levels, and she was worried there might be more people stuck inside the building. Hopefully her friends would be able to handle the fire and help anyone out through windows, but if anyone was on the roof, she’d be there to get them to the ground safely. Landing on the roof, Twilight looked around desperately. “Hello!? I’m here to help! Where are you!?” The roof wasn’t flat, but was rather strewn with protruding sheds, clothes lines strung up with dirty laundry, and ramshackle chimneys. Amid the tangle, a shadow stirred to Twilight’s left, a oddly strong and calm feminine voice speaking. “Thank you, Princess, for rushing to help. It was very predictable.” “Huh-!?” Twilight spun towards the voice, her sense of danger spiking, but also a second too late to respond to the shadow as it struck with the speed of a serpent. Pain exploded across Twilight’s face as a hoof struck her solidly and with expert force. She barely had half a second to comprehend she’d been hit before her assailant rushed her, slamming another hoof into Twilight’s chest so hard that it knocked the air right out of Twilight. A sudden sweep of hind legs knocked Twilight’s own hooves out from under her and she hit the ground hard, head dazed. She started to conjure magic, the beginnings of a teleport spell, but her shadowy foe lashed out and struck Twilight’s horn. The blow was nowhere near strong enough to break the horn, but it hurt enough that it caused Twilight’s teleport to fizzle. “No running away, Princess. Now come along quietly, or you’ll just make this hurt more.” “Gugh!” Twilight attempted to backpedal, scrambling to her hooves and leaping to the side to try and get some distance from her assailant. The figure moved with smooth speed and the assurance of an expert fighter, easily keeping pace with Twilight and leaping over one of the laundry lines with one easy bound. A spinning kick hit Twilight in the side, sprawling her into one of the roof sheds with a dull thud. “Got to admit I thought an alicorn Princess would have more fight in her than this. Or is it that you’re just nowhere near as strong as Celestia or Luna? Don’t even have to waste a Misfortune Malachite on you.” Misfortune Malachite? What was that? And who was this mare!? Twilight pretended to be more hurt than she was, faking a groan as she hid her face with one of her wings. She still hadn’t gotten a clear look at who was coming towards her, but the sound of hooves on the roof suggested it was another pony. But why? Why would there be another pony here, and why were they attacking her!? Could this be one of the human Starlight’s allies? Whatever the case, Twilight waited until she heard her assailant get a few steps closer before suddenly moving her wing and unleashing a powerful beam of purple magic from her horn, hoping to catch her foe off guard and stun them. The beam almost hit, she saw that much, but her opponent had jumped aside at the last second. Still, a bit of moonlight through parting clouds finally showed Twilight who she was facing. She was definitely another pony, a unicorn mare with a rather athletic build only partially hidden beneath a dark cloak. Twilight saw what she thought might be armor under the cloak, and the mare’s deep purple coat nearly blended perfectly with the shadows around the rooftop. Other than the mare’s striking mane of magenta, her most notable feature was the clearly broken horn atop her forehead. “Hmm,” the mare looked at Twilight with measuring eyes, “So you do have some fight in you. Shame it's not going to be enough.” “Who are you? Are you with Starlight Glimmer?” That seemed to confuse the mare, her face pausing with a questioning look for a hesitant second, “Starlight Glimmer? You’re the one with Starlight Glimmer. And I’m going to use you to get the Storm King back from her!” “Huh!?” Twilight had only a moment to be equally confused before this mare with the broken horn lowered her head towards Twilight. A stream of barely controlled, bright blue sparks danced around the broken horn, then Twilight had barely a second to react before a stream of chaotic but powerful magic blasted out of the mare’s broken horn and came straight at Twilight. If she hadn’t practiced so much with Starlight Glimmer after the incident with the time travel, Twilight might not have had the skill to pull off a barrier with such speed. Her horn lit up like a purple lighthouse and a bubble of protective magic encased her as the mare’s stream of destructive magic hit it. Arcs of blue magic bent and twisted around Twilight’s shield, shattering parts of the rooftop. Twilight’s barrier held firm under the onslaught, but her foe wasn’t letting up, only pouring out more and more magic from her broken horn in a barely controlled flood. Twilight could see the pain on the mare’s face as she struggled to control even a fraction of the energies pouring out of her, and could only marvel that the mare had even this much control with a shattered horn. It had to be agony to channel magic like this through that broken stump. Why was she subjecting herself to this, just to capture Twilight? “W-why are you doing this?” Twilight asked, struggling herself to keep her barrier up, and getting ever more worried as the arcs of magic from the unicorn were tearing up portions of the roof. It wouldn’t be much longer before the entire roof caved in at this rate! Grunting in obvious effort and pain, the mare narrowed her eyes fiercely at Twilight, “Tell me where you and your pal took the Storm King, and I’ll consider letting you go.” “I don’t know any Storm King!” Twilight shouted, and pushed back with her shield, shoving as much magic as she could into expanding the barrier. This seemed to catch the mare off guard, and she let out a yelp and ceased casting her own magic as the barrier hit her, knocking her back a half dozen paces. Sweat now beading her brow, Twilight let down her shield and caught her breath, stamping a hoof as her own anger flared, “I have no idea who you are or why you want this Storm King, but I have no idea what you’re even talking about! People are in danger from this fire, so if you started it, you’ve put a lot of lives at risk for no good reason!” There was a wet, pattering noise as rain started to fall. Twilight looked up to see that a dark rain cloud had gathered around a hundred feet above the building. She could see Rainbow Dash’s prismatic trail flying around the cloud, and spotted the slower form of Flash Sentry with her, helping corral the cloud into place. Twilight was glad Rainbow had thought fast enough to get into the air and get Flash’s help with the cloud. The rain would ensure the fire couldn’t spread any future until it was put out completely. However, the rain had distracted her, and in having taken her eyes off the unicorn for even a split second, it gave the mare more than enough time to get back on her hooves and rush Twilight. The alicorn tried to get another barrier up, but the mare was already in hoof’s reach and while Twilight may have been training herself to be better at combat magic, her hoof-to-hoof skills still let much to be desired. She was tackled to the ground and before she knew it the mare had her in a neck hold that rapidly cut of her air. She tried to cast a spell to teleport, but the second her horn lit up the mare slammed Twilight’s head into the ground, disrupting it and dazing her. “I don’t know who you think you’re fooling Princess, but I will get answers out of you, and if your friends want you back, they’re going to have to deliver the Storm King.” Twilight felt her lungs burning for air, and her vision darkening, but she refused to give up. She was an alicorn Princess, and she’d faced worse than this. Ignoring her throbbing lungs, she got her hooves under her and with all of her strength she shoved herself towards one of the roof’s remaining, intact sheds. She slammed the unicorn and herself through said shed in a shower of wooden splinters. Twilight rolled as she did so, flailing back with an elbow that managed to catch the unicorn on the side of the face and knock her off. Then, before she came rolling to a stop, she focused a quick and simple spell, sending a flare of purple light into the sky to pop off like a firework. Twilight then, coughing, swayed to her hooves, shaking dust and wood splinters off herself. The unicorn was on her back, but with no small amount of agile grace she kipped up and was on her hooves even faster than Twilight. Angry eyes a luminous shade between blue and green glared at Twilight. “Okay, I’m done playing with you. Foals gloves are officially off,” the mare said, taking a menacing step forward. However at the same instant there was a yellow streak of motion, and in a heartbeat Flash Sentry was there. His Zanpaktou was already held in his forehooves as he stood on his hind legs behind the unicorn mare, the blade poised against the side of her neck. “Just FYI, if you’re trying to capture someone, probably not a good idea to spend so much time talking about it.” “Flash!” Twilight said in relief, “I didn’t know if you’d see my signal or not.” He gave her a quick, embarrassed smile, “Almost didn’t. With the smoke from the fire it’s hard to see anything clearly up in the sky, but seriously, good thinking Twilight.” The unicorn mare, eyes narrowed, started to shift her balance, but Flash pressed the edge of his Zanpaktou firmer against her neck, “Don’t even try it, lady. In fact, let’s just go ahead and make sure you stay put, eh? Bakudo Number One: Sai!” “Huh!?” the mare let out an exclamation as her forelegs suddenly bent under the invisible force of Flash’s Kido spell and were locked behind her back, causing her to flop to the ground. “Grr, so you are with that Starlight mare! She used the same kind of magic! Who are you people!? Why did you interfere with the Storm King!? Where is he!? Answer me!” With the angry rise in her voice there was also a surge of magic that sparked from her broken horn. It didn't shoot out in a controlled burst, so much as shot randomly, as if the mare's growing anger was agitating her magic and causing it to surge within her like a barely contained maelstrom. Flash saw her straining against the binding effects of his Kido, and to his surprise the magic inside her, combined with a remarkable amount of physical strength, was allowing her to slowly start moving her forehooves. “Wow, what’s this gal’s deal?” Flash asked, not taking the point of his sword away from the mare's neck, raising his other hoof and quickly moving it in a series of gestures. Red spiritual energy flowed around his hoof, leaving a trail of curved and straight symbols that combined into one complex sigil in the air as he chanted another Kido, this time putting the force of a full chant behind it. "Disintegrate, ye black dog of Rodaninil! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat!" Twilight gave him a rather horrified look, but Flash just smiled sheepishly, "Uh, it sounds a lot worse than it actually is. Ahem, Bakudo Number Nine: Geki!" (Strike) His body flared with a blood aura, which was then mirrored upon the struggling unicorn mare as her body was encased in red light. She was still struggling, her body twitching against the stronger binding Kido, but it seemed to be doing the trick. Her horn still sparked with magic, but Flash put his Zanpkatou tighter against her throat and said, "I'm trying to be nice here, lady, but if you keep this up I'm going to have to do something we're both gonna regret." This finally seemed to get through to the mare and she cased struggling, albeit with harsh, angry breaths and a death glare shot at both him and Twilight. Flash sighed and looked over at Twilight, "Okay, who is this and why was she after you?" “I have no idea. She just lured me up here and attacked me. She keeps going on about this Storm King, and seems to know Starlight...” Twilight’s voice trailed off as her eyes opened wide with realization, “Glimmer! She must be talking about the human Starlight!” The mare paused in her growling struggles against Flash’s Kido to give them both a strange look, “Human what?” ---------- With the silver disc of the full moon and a wide carpet of stars filling Equestria’s sky, the night time landscape was nearly as bright as day. For many scores of miles in all directions the gently rolling hills and fields of Equestria’s eastern heartland spread in all directions, dotted by the warm lights of farming villages and numerous farmsteads. Rich and clear rivers cut across the land in glittering streams of silver under the moonlight, only adding to the enchanted and picturesque scenery. Platinum was irritated by it to no end. Her mood was not inclined towards enchantment, this night. That said a part of her was glad to be away from the depressing, dark corridors of Hitsuyo-Aku, and the accusing eyes of her son. Her heart clenched every moment she thought of Pipsqueak, yet she couldn’t bring herself to feel any ire towards him for his attitude. His being alive was all that mattered. However, it was much easier to direct ire towards the woman next to her. Or rather “mare”, as it were. Platinum was still getting used to the notion that this was her life now, as some half-baked equine in a foreign reality. “Will you quit glaring at me?” Firefly said, wearing an unapologetic smirk as he glanced sidelong at Platinum. Both of them were standing amid a small copse of trees atop one of the taller hills overlooking a portion of the hill lands where a dark and snaking length of railway passed. “Who’s glaring?” Platinum said with a chilly huff, turning to look away from the irritating pegasus. “You. You are.” “I may no longer be a Captain, nor possess my noble title, but I am not so undignified as to glare at someone for no reason. You must be imagining things.” “Uh-huh, because you’re totally not angry at me for spending time with your kid, right?” A hard grinding noise issued forth as Platinum’s teeth treated each other as shifting tectonic plates, but she maintained an air of frigid detachment, her voice steady as glass, “On the contrary. I am grateful he seems to have taken such a liking to you over his own mother. It’s good that he speak with someone...” her voice turned to a low growl, “Even if he can’t spare a word for me that isn’t laced with contempt.” “Platinum, girl, seriously, you need to have a heart to heart with the boy before both of you drift too far for anything to bridge the gap.” “I don’t need parental advice from you. In fact, let us cease this pointless conversation and focus on the task in front of us,” Platinum replied with all the subtlety of grinding rocks between her teeth. Firefly flopped down in an utterly undignified manner upon her equine belly and groaned, “You’re impossible. Whatever, I tried. As for our ‘task’, I think you mean ‘trap’, because that’s what this obviously is.” “Trap or not, our duty is to ensure that if there is an item of power upon this train that is supposedly coming, that we acquire it intact,” Platinum said as she rested a hoof upon the hilt of her Zanpaktou, somewhat awkwardly sheathed through a sash around her black robes, “Any opposition we encounter is irrelevant. We’ll simply eliminate it.” “Hmph, that confident, are we?” Firefly said, yawning as she flopped onto her side, propping a hoof on her chin as she idly flicked her tail, “Considering that this is almost one hundred percent a trap, that means the Princesses themselves are likely going to be waiting for us.” “You can stop speaking as if I’m a fool, Firefly. I know better than to underestimate this land’s defenders, but it doesn’t change that, Princess or pauper, whomever stands between us and our goal must be dealt with. Or are you suggesting we retreat the moment we run into opposition?” It was actually an honest question and not an arrogant, rhetorical question on Platinum’s part. Much as she disliked Firefly and was less than fond with how easily the woman seemed to get along with Pipsqueak while Platinum struggled to get even half a word out of her son, she did respect that Firefly was Starlight Glimmer’s second-in-command for good reason. Her casual demeanor was something of a front that hid a fairly keen mind, and much as it galled Platinum to admit it, Firefly’s tactical instincts were superb. If Firefly was worried about doing battle with Equestria’s Princesses, then it was probably for good reason. “I don’t know if I’d go that far,” Firefly said, “It’d be exceedingly lame of us to give up the moment things got tough. I’m just saying, let’s not be cocky about this. Princess Celestia and Luna are probably at least on par with their Soul Reaper counterparts, otherwise this peaceful nation would’ve fallen to any number of threats over the centuries. We don’t even really know the limits on what magic can and can’t do. So if they’re the ones springing the trap, I’m saying we need to play this careful and be prepared to split the moment things go south. Chances are what we’re after won’t even be on the train, if this is a trap.” Platinum let out a long, slow sigh of reluctant agreement, “I... can’t gainsay your logic, much as it pains me to say so. Of course, if the Princesses do show themselves, this could be an opportunity to remove future problems here and now. Because while we don’t know the extent of their magical powers, they also don’t know the extent of our spiritual powers.” “Yeah, well, we’ll see soon enough...” Firefly said, standing once more, her ears perking up, “I hear the train coming.” Platinum had to wonder at just how keen Firefly’s senses were, because she hadn’t even heard the train yet. Yet at a moment later she heard it to, the distant and regular chugging of steam engines and the metallic, rolling clanks of metal wheels on rail-line. Platinum slowly eased her Zanpaktou out of its sheath with the still unfamiliar unicorn magic she was capable of now. She’d spent numerous hours since arriving in this world practicing with the magic, working out new sword forms with the unusual new power available to her. She still preferred using her hooves to hold her blade, but the telekinesis had its uses too. Firefly cracked her neck and stretched her wings, “Remember the game plan, Platinum. We’re in and out fast, you take the front of the train, I’ll take the back, we meet in the middle. No casualties among the train crew if we can help it. If we don’t find anything, we’re out of there. If we do find what we’re looking for, we’re out just as fast. If it is a trap, we use my portal rods to make a getaway. We do not try to make a fight of it. Got it?” “Yes, I understand,” Platinum said irritably, just as the train came into view. Its lights were a tiny pinprick of light among the silvery glow of the hills. Platinum was struck with how gaudy the train looked, with its swirls of bright pinks and regal purples. It looked more like a toy than a modern conveyance of passengers and goods. Aside from the engine, there were nine cars. She saw lights on inside the cars, but couldn’t make out any passengers. With a deep breath she stretched out her spiritual senses. As always there was the annoying and prevalent background buzz of magic that made it hard to discern anything on a spiritual level, yet Platinum did think she sensed several living beings on the train. It wasn’t empty, at least. “We’ll wait until it crosses that bridge over the river there,” Firefly said, pointing with a wing, “That’s when we make our move.” Platinum nodded in silent agreement. Firefly reached up to the flight goggles perched on her head, and in a lime green glow of Fullbringer light, she drew out the form of her Fullbring. The dark purple, high-tech armor coated her body, and formed the wide, blade-like wings around her natural pegasi wings. Her head now clad in a full visor, Firefly focused on the train, small lines of data scrolling across the visor’s screen. “I count thirteen life signs on the train. Wonder if that’s a normal crowd for a train this time of night?” “We’ll find out soon enough anyway, so no point in speculation, is there?” Platinum responded, and Firefly shrugged, hefting the large energy canon of her Fullbring over her shoulder as she slowly hovered up into the air. “True enough. Okay, its at the bridge. Let’s do this!” The train had just reached a large, elegantly curved bridge of thick stones that arched over one of the wider rivers winding through the hills. As one, Firefly and Platinum vanished from the hillside they’d been watching from, Firefly streaking out on motes of purple light shooting from her wings, while Platinum strode across the air in leaping bursts of speed. As planned, Firefly split off to head to the train’s front engine, while Platinum used Flash Step to reach the back of the train even faster. The train was just reaching the halfway point of the bridge, and with a screech of wheels and magical runes flaring along its wheels to assist with the braking, the whole thing came to an instant halt. “Uh-oh,” Firefly said, just as a burst of magic went soaring up from the now halted train’s middle car. This stream of light purple magic went up about two hundred feet into the air, then instantly spread out in a thick dome that encased the train, the bridge, and a good portion of the surrounding hills. Then the area was bathed in radiant sunlight as a sphere of light appeared at the apex of the magical barrier. Just below the sphere were two forms descending on wide wings. Even at a distance Platinum could make out the sight of two tall, statuesque equine forms, one luminous and white as dawn-light, the other the deep midnight blue of the night sky above. Both were clad in armor, one of gold radiance, the other of icy black. Weapons floated at the alicorn’s sides, twin blades of fire matched by twin axes of darkness. Platinum's spiritual senses were filled with a heavy pressure, not form spiritual energy, but from the overwhelming background buzz of what had to be a truly incredible amount of magic now pooled into one location. “Trespassers on Equestrian soil!” boomed a voice that spoke with the might of a thousand trumpets, “We are Princesses Celestia and Luna, rulers and guardians of these lands! Surrender yourselves immediately and you will not be harmed. Fail to do so... and face our full and unrestrained wrath!”