Chapter 7 - Warning Signs
"I couldn't believe how much I've missed you..."
A blue sea pony with fish-like tail said as she leaned herself comfortably on her beloved green alicorn's shoulder as they sat on the sandy shores of Seasaddle Beach, staring at the magnificent golden sunset on the horizon.
She wore a hat, previously owned by the alicorn, as she held one of the alicorn's hoof with her own.
"Neither would I..."
A green alicorn slowly said, wrapping one of his wing around the sea pony's back while he rested his head on the blue pony's head.
He too, was wearing an identical hat. Rarity made him another after he told her about his old one.
She squeeled and quickly started making him another hat.
It took Henry two months to finish writing the second book.
During those two months, Henry kept on visiting Seasaddle Beach every Sunday.
He managed to dry his wet notebook with his magic.
Though the ink were almost unreadable, he could still make out the words.
After all, he was the one who wrote them.
The season of autumn already came.
The wind has become cooler than when it was during summer, to the alicorn's delight.
Those two months were a bit difficult for the love-sick alicorn.
But he tried his best to fix himself to write his book.
Midnight has been busy with delivering some mail around PonyVille.
The majority of the letters are for Henry.
Aurora has kept herself busy as an assistant librarian.
She was already starting to be a natural at books.
Midnight and Aurora were getting along, with the usual arguing, and with Henry as their usual medium of breaking their argument.
Ponyville became a bit busy lately.
Autumn was the starting point for ponies to take a vacation.
Some go to PonyVille for a vacation, while some, who were working in other areas of Equestria, came back home to their families in PonyVille.
Pinkie Pie could barely manage giving parties to newcomers and returnees.
Rarity started to get busy as well. She received a number of orders. Despite her young age, she already created quite a name as a 'fashionista'.
AppleJack was as usual helping her family in Sweet Apple Acres in removing the dried fallen leaves of their apple orchard.
Fluttershy was busy helping her animal friends prepare for the winter season.
Rainbow Dash however, kept herself busy by helping AppleJack in Sweet Apple Acres, helping Fluttershy with the animals, or busy taking a nap on a nearby cloud.
On the quiet beach, there were no other ponies but them.
They have been sitting there for hours, simply enjoying each other's presence.
Having some small talk and a few kisses...or maybe a lot.
"Well, I'd best be heading back..."
The alicorn softly said near his lover's ear.
"The train will be leaving soon."
The blue sea pony was saddened.
It's still too early for her alicorn to leave.
But she shouldn't be a burden to him.
She softly smiled before they gave each other a kiss.
"Be safe..." she said after their lips parted.
Henry smiled.
"When I can save enough Bits," he kissed her forehead as he slowly brushed her mane.
"I'll build a house here, so we---"
Pearl brought her hoof on the alicorn's lips.
"I'd love that," she smiled, and then she frowned.
"But, would it be okay? You're leaving everything behind, for me?"
"Well, I may leave everything behind, but not forever."
He smiled at her.
"I could always visit PonyVille, that is, if you'd let me."
"Of course I'll let you."
She slightly laughed.
"Then it's settled then."
And another kiss.
Afterwards, they said their goodbyes.
Henry flew back to PonyVille as Pearl swam back to her cave.
----------
1. Gray Castle
----------
Henry woke up on a white comfortable bed inside the castle's dimly lit guest room.
He slowly rose up to a sitting position as he rubbed his eyes.
The room was, if he could still recall correctly, was the same in size as the room when he first woke up in the castle. The only difference however, is that outside the window, he could see the castle garden instead of the sky.
The darkgrey walls and ceiling hold nothing of interest.
A wooden table stood on the right side of the bed, where his hat and sidebag are.
There was a window on the right wall.
A wooden door on the left wall.
He blinked. It was still night time.
Well, he is still feeling a bit sleepy, so he brought himself back to bed, slowly remembering the day to put himself back to sleep.
---
He arrived in Canterlot a few hours before noon.
After a quick visit in his favorite bakery, he quietly walked his way towards the cemetery.
Spending some time in the quiet.
He talked to his beloved sister mentally, sharing the experiences he had in Manehattan, Talon Valley, and even under the sea.
He sighed as he tells her that he finally fell in love with a pony.
He then tells her that he's going to publish the second Daring Do book.
The air was cold, but he payed it no mind.
He wiped his eyes before a tear ran down his face.
And after saying goodbye, he headed to Canterlot Book Express.
As soon as he got inside, he was instantly given a warm welcome by the owner of the company himself.
He was excited to publish the alicorn (disguised himself as a pegasus)'s second book.
Afterwards, he was once again about to call an empty carriage when the purple filly unicorn spotted him, and called his attention.
Princess Celestia offered him a room in the castle.
He couldn't say no to the princess, so...
---
Henry once again woke up from a dreamless sleep.
He rose into a sitting position, and looked through the window.
Still night time? Is it really still night time?
Well, he is feeling excited for the book to be published.
Maybe that was making him not being able to sleep properly?
No, he's not feeling tired anymore.
He went out of bed and changed his looks as he used his magic to wear his hat and his sidebag.
He opened the door. As the door opened, what revealed on the other side horrified him.
The little Twilight Sparkle was grey and, not moving. She looked like she was about to open the door with a lot of force.
He poked her, but his hoof went through her.
Horrified, he took a step back. He quickly looked around, and touched the grey walls.
The walls are still solid.
He shook his head. He needed to figure this out.
He went outside, careful not to touch the filly. He wasn't sure of whatever damage he might give her, if possible.
He looked around the quiet and gloomy hallway.
Nopony was there. He looked back at the filly, still grey and unable to move.
He took a deep breath, exhaled, and walked towards the royal hall.
---
The door to the royal hall was locked. No matter how hard he tried to open it, both physically and magically, it didn't move. He'll have to go back and try the castle's gardens.
---
To his relief, the door to the garden was already open, though he couldn't move it.
Why was his room's door the only door he could open?
He shook the thought as he walked outside.
Sure enough, everything was gray, except for the darkblue evening sky.
He looked around. Royal guards were still standing tall, but all were gray.
He went to the nearest guard. He stared into his eyes, but he saw nothing but gray.
What is happening, he asked himself, but he received no answer.
Now that he was outside, he flew to the front of the castle.
Maybe he can open the door to the royal hall from there.
---
He was now above the castle's front yard. He was about to land when he noticed something...
He couldn't see anything beyond the castle's walls.
The buildings, the mountains... Nothing was beyond...
He slowly landed in front of the castle's large doors, where four royal guards stood, frozen in gray.
He tried to open the door, but just like before, the door didn't move.
He decided to fly around and see if there are any windows available for him to get inside the royal hall, but none was available.
He could try and smash through the used-to-be-colorful glass windows of the hall, holding important drawings of the history of Equestria.
But...
---
He smashed through one of the windows of the royal hall, but the shattered pieces all stopped in mid-air.
He used his magic to grab all the suspended pieces.
He dragged the sharp pieces down on the ground, near the wall.
He'll clean that up later.
He landed in front of the two royal seats, where he saw Princess Celestia, looking angry and seemingly preparing to attack, but attack who? Or maybe what?
He looked towards where the princess was facing, but saw nothing but the gray environment, and the large doors at the end of the hall.
He whispered the princess' name as he tried to wrap her around his brown magic, but he achieved nothing from it. He couldn't even manage to surround the princess with his magic. It was as if the princess was not a solid figure.
---
He flew outside from where he entered, and tried to fly beyond the castle walls.
But the instant he got over the walls, he was thrown back to the ground by a magical force of some sort.
He groaned in pain.
Never in his life was he thrown that fast. He saw the ground before him.
He left a nasty trail on it. Luckily, his sidebag absorbed most of the impact.
He'll need to ask Rarity to fix his bag later, if he gets out of here.
---
He was flying around for a few minutes, trying to figure out what is happening when he saw an open window on the highest tower of the castle.
Curious, he flew towards it.
Cautious, he looked what was inside first before going in.
It seemed like an abandoned storage room. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Convinced, he went inside.
Out of all the things, the first thing he noticed was the open door.
He wanted to get outside the room, but he decided to look around the room first.
Maybe he'll find something.
---
All he found was that this room was full of old worn-out books, rusted shields and spears, and other scientific junk; both around the room and inside old and dusty boxes.
He sighed as he went out of the door.
He found himself on a staircase spiralling down on the walls of the tower.
He jumped down on the center, and with his wings, he slowly got himself down to the next door, which was also open.
The first thing he noticed after he landed, was that the room beyond the slightly opened door was eluminated with light.
It wasn't gray light, but from a fire.
He quietly took a deep breath, exhaled, and prepared himself for whatever will be inside.
Without touching the door, he went inside quietly.
The room was lit by a number of torches (where their flames are moving normally) around the walls.
The room was full of bookshelves on each possible corners, large wide tables on the room, eating almost all walkable space.
On the tables were stuff related to scientific chemical experiment stuff, some books and papers.
What caught his attention the most was that this room seemed to be not affected by...whatever was happening that turn things gray.
He could even see and faintly hear the bubbles of some of the chemicals inside glass tubes.
On the opposite end of the room where he entered was another door, but it was closed.
He flapped his wings to get himself airborne and scanned the entire room, but he saw no one.
He slowly landed in front of the closed door, and brought his hoof to the doorknob to try to open it.
It was closed shut, like the other closed doors.
He sighed and turned around, only to be startled by the presence of a baby purple dragon floating right in front of his face.
The instant he saw the dragon eye-to-eye, his vision of the room started to turn gray, and he felt his body started to go numb, until his vision went black.
Henry Hoof, a changeling, disguised as a green alicorn pony, was frozen gray.
The levitating purple baby dragon giggled from the pony's horrified-and-petrified reaction.
It then floated towards the door behind the frozen alicorn, and, as if by magic, the door slightly opened for the dragon to go inside.
----------
2. Preparations
----------
"It's almost time..."
Somewhere, hidden in the darkness shadows, five figures stood in a circle.
"...are things in order?"
Asked a figure, shaped of a pony, with a pointed horn on his forehead.
The other four figures nodded their heads.
"Very good."
The pony sighed.
"Though it pains me to know that Silver String is no longer with us..."
Oddly, the pony's voice gave a hint of his age; a young teenaged filly.
"Yes, it is sad news..."
Another pony-figure said, his voice deep, and he followed it with a sigh.
"That reminds me..."
Said another one, with a quiet swirling water surrounding half of his body.
"...you said you already sorted things out with your visions."
"Have you forgotten, my friend?"
Said another one, his figure resembling that of a pony, but he's taller and has a sharper horizontal shape of his head.
"...he has told us about his vision."
He sighed.
"That on our next meeting, only five of us will be standing here again..."
The figure with a swirling torrent of water acted surprised.
He has completely forgotten about that small detail.
He lowered his head.
"I apologise... It seems my busy schedule of putting things in order has led me to forget such detail..."
He coughed, clearing his throat as he returned his gaze.
"It would seem that my old age is getting into me..."
He sighed.
"I certainly will miss the lad. His talent showed us quite a future for our plans."
The four looked at the unicorn pony.
"It is in the past now. The future is still clear, even without him."
The unicorn nodded his head.
He noticed the fourth of their member was busy in thought.
"What of you, doctor?"
"Ah, young lad."
Said a figure. His voice old and rusty. The visible outlines of his mane gives it a messy feel.
"I am flattered you have noticed my presence."
He bowed.
"My part of the plan worked perfectly. It'll only be a matter of time now."
The figure with a horizontal-pointed head smiled.
"Funny that you mentioned about time, yet it is not what we're after."
But the one with a swirling water finds this disturbing.
"...I still think we should get our hands on that..."
The unicorn-figure shook his head.
"You may be right, but it will not grant us victory."
He brought his hoof on his face, and lifted some of his hair out of his eyes.
"It took me years to see the future of available options. It was stressful."
He nodded his head.
"But after analyzing all possible course of actions, this will grant us a perfect chance."
"Flawless."
The pony with a deep voice said, flapping his wings twice.
"...but..."
The one with the swirling water said.
"...is there a chance, not that I'm implying, that our plans will fail?"
He received all the ponies' eyes.
"...I do not want to waste all our time and effort to simply fail."
He shook his head a bit.
"I trust you completely, but, if there's a slight chance of failing, I would like to destroy that chance."
For a while, it was quiet.
Only the soft water was heard from the swirling vortex.
Finally, the young-voiced unicorn pony spoke.
"...indeed, there is."
All except for the pony surrounded by the vortex of water gasped soundlessly.
"...and that is why we have gathered them."
The figure with the messy mane laughed.
"You mean, we still have to gather them, right?"
He received the other's nodding heads, but the pony with the young voice shook his.
"I have seen the flow. They will be gathered."
"It's sad to be reunited with her like this..."
The pony around the vortex sighed.
"Relax, it's for the best."
The winged pony replied.
"It's not like we're going to kill her."
Somehow, the figure around the vortex lifted his head up with hope, but after noticing the pony with a young voice lowered his, his hope crashed.
"...she will die, but not at our hands..."
"...is there a way to save her?"
The pony shook his head slowly.
"...no."
"It's just one mare."
The messy-maned pony chimed.
The figure around the vortex quickly took his gaze at him with an angry look.
"You'd best watch your mouth."
"The conflict between the two of you is also ahead."
The four figures turned to him.
"...the end result is important. Telling you about it will change the future I saw."
He sighed.
"For now, it's best for the both of you to do your part."
"One of us will die?"
Asked the messy-mained pony.
"Excellent! Don't care about any of you, but these old bones need their rest."
He said cheerfully, receiving the three figures' shocked expressions.
"You're actually looking forward to die?"
Asked the winged pony.
The receiver simply shrugged.
"Hey, no use to fear death when it'll come to you eventually."
He coughed a bit, to clear his throat.
"Besides, it's best to live each day to the fullest!"
"Tell me why you're here again...?"
Asked the winged pony.
"To do my part, of course. Although the plan is painful to bear at first, but the end-result would benefit a lot of ponies."
He nodded his head.
"As a scientist, sacrifices is common to achieve something great."
"You mean, 'sacrifices are common'..."
The figure inside the vortex corrected.
"Oh, hush, you swimming dictionary."
Suddenly, they heard loud flapping sounds from above them.
The five broke their circle to welcome the newcomer; a dragon, seven-times the height of a regular stallion.
The dragon's scaly color blended with the shadow of the area, it's red crimson eyes glowed despite the little amount of light available.
"Late as always..."
Sighed the winged pony.
The dragon landed as quietly as it could.
It took a few steps back before he went on all four, and lied down on its belly to get itself with the others' view.
The dragon said nothing.
"It's time for phase two..."
The unicorn pony with a young voice said.
The four nodded their heads, and their outlines faded into the darkness.
The dragon stared at the remaining pony.
"Where is Chrysalis?"
Asked the pony.
The dragon simply closed its eyes as it slowly shook its head.
The pony sighed.
"...as I saw it..."
----------
3. Second Phase
----------
The sun was about to rise when Midnight woke up.
As he yawned, he rubbed his eyes. After, he stood up from his flat cardboard bed and stretched his body as he yawned once again.
He stood out of his cardboard bed and he jogged in place, stimulating a normal blood flow around his body.
He stopped after he heard a familiar female voice calling his name from outside.
He walked to his only window, pushed it open, and poked his head out to see who it was.
At first, there was none, until a big orange head appeared right in front of him.
"HAI!"
Aurora greeted with a sheepish grin, sending the startled unicorn back on his tail hitting the wooden floor.
"Aurora! You scared the sh...crap out of me!"
Midnight yelled as the young pegasus chuckled.
"Good morning too, grumpy face."
"Not funny..."
Midnight sighed as he went back on his hooves.
"Why are you up early, anyway?"
"Oh nothing..."
She cheerfully said as she worked her way inside the unicorn's room through the open window.
"Just checking to see if my favorite unicorn's already up."
Midnight arched an eyebrow as Aurora got on the floor, fixing herself.
Aurora laughed. "I was kidding y'know."
"Yes you were..."
Midnight replied sarcastically.
"Anyway, I came to get the keys of the library before you head out."
She started looking around his room.
"I don't want to look for you like what happened yesterday."
Yesterday, Aurora caught him flirting two mares at once in PonyVille market.
Taking this as a chance to enjoy herself, she quickly hugged the startled unicorn and started lying about their fun activity the previous evening was a blast.
Midnight's cheeks burned furiously.
Midnight sighed.
"The keys are downstairs..."
'How are you going to ruin my day this time...?'
---
"Good morning, beautiful."
Flame whispered to his beautiful beloved mare on her ear after the soft sun's rays landed on his eyelids.
Ember moaned as she pulled the blanket to cover her head.
"Five more minutes..."
Flame smiled as he rose up from the bed, slowly walking to the rear-end of their bed, and pulled the blanket, revealing a sleeping dark-blue maned yellow earth pony.
"Wake up, sleepy head."
Flame said as he walked to Ember's side of the bed.
"The grapes ain't gonna pick themselves, y'know."
He nuzzled his nose on the sleeping earth pony's neck, tickling her in the process.
"Okay, okay... I'm up..."
Ember yawned as she opened her eyes.
She rose up and walked out of the bed, being assisted by her colt.
"Careful now."
Flame said as he held her hoof.
"Don't wanna wake the baby just yet."
"What baby?"
Ember teased. She's pregnant for a few months now.
"If you don't want it to wake up, then put me back to sleep."
She slowly said, smiling at Flame.
"Now now, sleepin' in isn't all healthy."
Flame laughed a bit as Ember rolled her eyes.
Ember took her hoof back from Flame's hold.
"I can take care of myself just fine, Flamey."
And she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before she walked to their room's door.
Flame quickly dashed to the door before her, and opened it for her.
"Flame, really..."
"Aw, com'on... At least let me help you."
"Faaayyynnn..."
She said, a bit annoyed.
She doesn't really want Flame to assist her in everything, just because she's pregnant.
It makes her feel, helpless.
---
The calm Seasaddle Beach was as peaceful as it was.
A lone blue sea pony wearing a white hat was busy collecting some seaweeds on the sea floor.
After she was satisfied, she quickly swam towards the shore.
She never actually spend her time eating breakfast on the shore, but it all changed ever since she met the green alicorn.
As she sat there, slowly eating the seaweed, she remembered the times she spent with the alicorn.
Her love to him was enough to disregard the intimidating alicorn's true black figure.
She love everything about him, and truly wished she could go spent each day with him.
She yearns for the day the alicorn can finally start to build a home on the shore.
If that were to happen, then they could finally be together for the rest of their lives.
As dreamy as the thought is, she's feeling a bit sad.
Sad at the fact that she's somehow locking the alicorn in this place.
If only she was born as another pony, then maybe they could truly be together.
But, if she was born as a different pony, would she be able to meet her handsome and loving alicorn?
There might be a chance, but she doubts that she'll fall to him the same way she fell the first time she saw him.
She smiled. At least she knows she loves him, and he loves her back.
She sighed, wishing the days will go fast so Sunday will come quickly.
She ran out of seaweeds, and she still feels a bit hungry.
All this thinking must have made her hungrier than she thought.
She went back to the water to get herself some more.
---
A dusty street of Manehattan was abandoned by all life.
The building's windows were shattered, carriages were flipped over, some destroyed.
Traffic lights fell on the cracked roads.
Police ponies hid themselves behind a corner.
Fear was visible in their faces, but they're determined to do their duty this time.
All the need was the right opportunity.
On the center of the dead-silent street stood two ponies, furiously facing each other.
One, the city's most wanted crime-fighting vigilante. Her mask was already ripped in half, revealing half of her face. Her cape was burned, her outfit was dirty and bloody.
She's hurt, tired, and severely wounded, but she's not going to give up this fight.
The other was a golden-coated unicorn, enveloped by his own fierce magic, levitating himself from the cemented road.
His eyes glowed in gold, his tail and mane danced as if he had his own wind blowing them. His face full of rage.
Unlike his foe, he has no wounds, but he's tired.
For a while now, he has killed quite a number of ponies who are wanted by the law.
Now, he was one of them, but he doesn't care. He'll rid this city from criminals like the black pony that is standing before him.
Of all the ponies he has faced, BatMare has been the toughest one.
Her lack of magic made him confused of her ability to withstand almost any of his magic.
Of all the criminals the mare has faced, this one's the most frightening of them all.
Her skills were pushed to her limits, but she was still unable to bring the criminal down.
She will not lose.
---
"...we need to remove those who would be able to stand up against us..."
---
Midnight and Pearl were seated outside SugarCube Corner, enjoying their breakfast.
Ember and Flame were busy picking the grapes hanging down on their garden.
Pearl is enjoying her seaweed as she sat on the sandy beach, staring at the blue horizon.
BatMare jumped to the side on time before she got herself evaporated from Daybreak's mighty blast of golden-yellow magic beam.
---
"...we need to remove those who would be able to stop us..."
---
"Hello, young one."
Midnight and Aurora turned their heads to the source of the old and rusty voice.
It was from an old black earth pony with a very white and messy mane and tail.
"My name's Doctor Psycho and---"
Aurora tried her best to hold her laughter, while Midnight bursts in laughs.
"Y-yes, well, anywho, I'm here to deliver a message."
Aurora glanced at Midnight angrily, shutting the unicorn up.
He wiped his eyes from the tears that had formed.
Aurora then faced the earth pony.
"Hello doctor."
"Yeah, hi doc."
Midnight chuckled a bit.
"Well, anyway, to the point."
He coughed to clear his throat.
"I'm here to collect this lovely pegasus here."
---
Flame and Ember have gathered enough grapes in their baskets.
As they turned, they saw a tall white pegasus stallion with long black mane and tail.
"Howdy!" Flame greeted the pegasus, despite feeling intimated by the pegasus' muscular body and scary look.
"Can I interest you with some grape fruit or grape wine?"
"Actually..."
The pegasus smiled coldly, enough to bring some shivers to the couples.
"...I came to deliver a message..."
"O-oh? A message?"
Flame said, his fear a bit visible now.
The pegasus nodded.
"I'm here to collect an earth pony by the name of Ember."
---
Pearl was enjoying the quiet melody of the sea when suddenly, a small whirlpool started forming a few hooves in front of her.
Curious, she was about to jump back into the water when a pony so familiar appeared in the center of the whirlpool.
She gasped. "D-dad...!?"
A blue-green seahorse-tailed seapony slowly nodded his head, a great sadness painted on his face.
"Pearl... It's good to see you again..."
Pearl just sat there, frozen in shock.
Pearl's father looked at his daughter in great sadness.
He does not want to hurt his daughter.
---
BatMare was once again slammed onto the road. This time however, she could no longer manage to stand up.
Daybreak slowly levitated towards the mare as he began to envelop her with his yellow magic.
BatMare could only stare at her foe's death-yellow glowing eyes.
She was at his mercy. One more, and she's sure her life will escape from her grasp.
Her breathing was shallow and slow. Her vision was starting to blur.
Her aching body was too much for her mind to inform her how hurt she was.
The police ponies have finally started to run at them, with their magic already focusing on the threat at hand, but Daybreak easily sent out a wave of magic, enough to push them back with unimaginable force, knocking them unconscious before they could get back to the ground.
"I'll rid this city from criminals like you..."
Daybreak whispered after he was finally beside his pathetic foe.
The mare closed her eyes slowly, awaiting for her fate.
Daybreak lifted her higher than him, preparing to slam her one more time on the ground.
A shadow flew past him, and the source landed a few hooves in front of the golden pony.
Before him was a brownish-red griffin, staring straight at him.
"Daybreak, correct?"
The levitated mare managed to turn her eyes to the source of the voice.
If that griffin's here to save her, then thank Celestia, but if not then never mind.
Daybreak said no word, nor made any action.
The griffin nodded his head.
"Right. Anyway, I have come to deliver a message..."
Still no response from the golden unicorn.
The griffin sighed.
"I am here to collect a yellow unicorn..."
---
"...whatever they will do, they will not escape the already written lines of their destiny..."
---
The black earth pony immediately installed a weird device around his left hoof, and immediately fired at the startled pegasus.
"Aurora!"
Midnight shouted as he tried to stop whatever with his magic, but it was of no use.
Aurora was hit by a thin ray, and instantly turned her gray and petrified.
The ponies who witnessed the event ran away in panic while some called the police.
The doctor immediately pressed some buttons before focusing the device at the pegasus, and soon, Aurora was absorbed to the device.
Midnight, fueled by confusion and anger, ran towards the old earth pony.
Henry thought him about respect, but he won't apply that now.
He pointed his fiercely glowing horn at the offender as he ran with his might, but in a flash, the black earth pony became white and vanished just before Midnight could land his attack.
He stopped, leaving a trail on the ground. He quickly turned around, just in time to witness a white flash and the doctor was back on his spot, unharmed.
"I'd say, I'm impressed."
He laughed as he turned to the unicorn, managing to catch a glimpse of police ponies running towards him from a distance.
"I never would have thought my experiment would be flawless!"
"Give me back Aurora!"
Midnight demanded, his horn still glowing fiercely.
The black earth pony shrugged.
"Get her if you can."
And with a flash of white light, the pony was gone, leaving the furious unicorn cursed his name.
---
"...I have studied every possible outcome of different courses to take. And I am confident that no one will be able to stop us..."
---
The white pegasus instantly appeared in front of the pale-red earth pony, and with a mighty punch, Flame was out cold, leaving Ember to shed tears of fright.
Managing to snap herself back, she quickly ran to her lover, but she was stopped by a strong hoof holding her neck, and lifting her off the ground.
She swung her hind hoof, managing to land a kick on the pegasus' side, but he was unaffected.
"I'd suggest you cooperate if you don't want your foal to die inside of you."
He grinned, to the mare's horror.
The pegasus was about to fly when Flame gave him a powerful double back-kick, managing to drop the mare back to the ground.
"Run Ember!"
Flame shouted as he quickly got back to his hooves.
Ember ran away as fast as she can while Flame docked to dodge a powerful punch.
He then rolled to his side to avoid a powerful stomp, but before he could regain his momentum, the pegasus gave the earth pony his own version of a back-kick, throwing him back on the ground.
"Strong..."
The pegasus grinned as he spat blood out of his mouth.
"...but not strong enough..."
He said as he flapped his wings and gave chase, leaving the unconscious earth pony lying on the ground.
---
"...I have gathered the most talented ponies in all over the world."
---
"Pearl," the blue-green musculin sea pony slowly said as he gave chase to his daughter.
"please, don't make me do this...!"
Pearl did not answer, and continued to swim as fast as her fins could do.
She could not believe her father would show up just to ask her to come with him.
She could almost not believe her father was faster than her.
And no matter how much she tried to lose him, he was still behind her tail.
"Pearl! Listen to me!"
He shouted. He could use his magic to stop her, but he couldn't do it.
He couldn't use his magic against her own daughter.
Ever since she left, he began to realize how much he cared about her.
Now however, the world needs her to be gone for a moment.
It's for the best. It's for his daughter to have a brighter and peaceful world to live in.
"Pearl!"
"Go away!"
Pearl finally shouted back. She picked up a rock and threw it at her pursuer without slowing her speed.
Her father however, managed to reroute the rock with his magic.
He swallowed a lump of guilt. There is no other way to stop her daughter.
His horn started to glow.
Pearl was about to pick another rock when she suddenly felt strange all around her.
And in an instant, her vision went black.
'Henry...'
Pearl crashed on the seafloor, leaving a long trailmark on the floor.
She was unconscious, to her father's sadness.
---
"...Not even the princesses of the seven kingdoms of the world could stop us."
---
Daybreak quickly removed his grip on the black-suited mare as he quickly shifted all his power on the griffin.
The griffin however, spreads his wings, breaking the yellow magic that was surrounding him, sending a shock of pain in the yellow unicorn's head.
The sudden pain made him lose his magic around him, making him land on the ground, to his surprise.
The griffin took flight, and summoned a fierce flame from his mouth, burning the golden unicorn.
The flames vanished, revealing a burned unicorn, still on his hooves, eyes glowing golden-yellow.
Daybreak sent a massive bolt of magic energy towards the griffin, but it was easily evaded.
The griffin swiftly worked his way towards the unicorn, giving him an uppercut.
Daybreak was sent flying, but not unconscious.
While the two were still in the air, Daybreak blasted another massive beam of magic energy, and this time, the griffin was not prepared to dodge it.
The griffin cried in pain, to Daybreak's delight as he enveloped himself with his own magic once again to levitate himself, cancelling gravity from slamming him on the ground.
The griffin recovered his flight and immediately flew towards the unicorn.
Daybreak blasted a beam of magic, and the griffin countered with a fierce flame.
Both their attacks collided, and soon, a huge explosion.
---
"...We will change this world."
The pony said as he turned to face the dragon.
"...phase three."
The dragon roared with all its might, rumbling the dark area they were in.
It stretched its strong wings, and flapped to make itself airborne.
----------
4. Aftershock
----------
Henry woke up feeling horrible and found himself lying on a gray floor. He saw his glasses and his hat on the floor in front of him.
He groaned as he brought himself on his four feet. With his magic, he wore his hat and glasses back.
Now that he's up, he found himself on the same, yet gray room where he saw that terrifying purple dragon face to face.
Now that he thought about it, the dragon looked like...Twilight's pet baby dragon...Spike...
He looked around, and sighed in relief. At least the dragon was no longer around.
He turned around to try the door again, only to make himself fall into a sitting position with horror after he saw his own disguise in front of him, gray.
"T-that's..." he managed to stand back up, though still shaking from fright.
He looked at his gray disguise, looking quite terrified.
"...me...?"
He slowly touched the face of the gray alicorn, and his black forefoot went through.
He quickly brought his foot back in disbelief.
He shook his head to calm himself. It seemed to work.
He then concentrated his magic around him to disguise himself as the green alicorn, but he failed.
Startled, he tried again, only to achieve the same result.
Confused as he stared at his gray disguise in front of him, he formulated some thoughts, and finally settled on a theory that the 'Alicorn Henry Hoof' no longer exist, for the time being.
If the dragon can indeed wipe creatures' existence, why was he still here?
As he thought about it, he noticed the door was now slightly opened.
Probably, the dragon opened it, and he's not going inside that door only to face the terrifying dragon again.
He instead turn around and slowly started to walk as he was deep in thought, until his attention landed on pieces of paper on the table, each were stacked in a messy way.
With his foot, he tried to separate the papers, but he couldn't move them either.
Sighing, he instead started to read the paper on top of the stack.
"Research On Space and Time"
Space and time, he wondered.
He wanted to learn more, but that was the only words written on the paper.
Eager to find out more, he searched the entire room for other papers, but found none.
The lifeless and frozen gray room started to terrify him.
He needed to calm himself, so he closed his eyes and started breathing deeply.
Soon, he got himself a bit calm and opened his eyes, staring at his gray disguise.
If his disguise, somehow, saved him from being frozen, then he needs to disguise himself again.
He thought of disguising himself as a pegasus pony, and so he concentrated his magic energy to his disguise, but it failed.
Confused, he decided to try and be a unicorn, but it failed as well...
An earth pony? He tried, but failed once more.
Did he lost his ability to disguise himself?
He tried to be a Diamond Dog, but failed again.
He's starting to feel fear once again.
How will he save himself the next time he'll see that dragon again?
Suddenly, seemingly from out of nowhere, he heard a faint and long yawn coming from the door behind his gray disguise.
He finally started to grow some courage, despite feeling scared.
He slowly went to the door, and slowly poked his head to see what was on the other side.
He saw yet another set of spiralling staircase leading down.
'Well', he thought, he is on the highest tower of the castle.
He jumped to the center and used his wings to slow his fall to the surface floor.
Once again, an open door was in front of him.
He took deep breaths to calm himself down, and finally poked his head slowly to see what was on the other side.
This time, he saw a large yet gray library.
This must be the castle's royal library. He quietly walked out of the door, and found himself on a raised platform, much higher than the very high bookshelves occupying the room filled with large numbers of books and quills.
In front of him was a staircase leading down to the floor. A gray thick carpet was lying from the end of the staircase to the opposite end of the room, ending on the two large double doors.
In the middle of the room, he saw the baby purple dragon, curled on the carpet, sleeping.
Right next to the dragon was an empty potion bottle, lying on its rounded side, resting on the carpet.
'Okay, so the dragon's asleep...' to his relief.
Henry thought...
So far, the dragon can float, and can freeze anything to gray.
He, on the other hand, can...blast beams, lift stuff, fly, and...he's doomed.
The dragon was yawning as it slowly stood on its two feet.
Wait, he can use his puppeteer skill.
The dragon stood up on its two small feet, its back on the changeling.
Henry immediately casted some magic around the dragon as soon as it was about to turn around.
The dragon stopped, to his relief.
Now, he can once again feel his puppet.
He remembered the gray unicorn managed to make him change his disguise.
Maybe the gray unicorn used his magic to get inside the changeling's head.
He could try to use it on the dragon.
Maybe he could reverse everything than has been happening here.
He'll try to make sense out of all of this later.
He managed to make the dragon float, though he has no idea how he did it.
Maybe it has something to do with that potion?
No, no time to think about anything else.
What else...
The dragon can open doors.
We flew and landed behind the dragon.
He levitated the empty potion bottle and put it inside his damaged sidebag.
Afterwards, he slowly walked forward as he controlled the dragon to hover forward towards the tall double doors.
---
Midnight and Aurora's mother immediately took the train to Canterlot.
They knew their changeling friend is there. Maybe he can help.
---
Flame, after recovering his consciousness, immediately got himself back on his hooves, only to drop himself back to the ground after he felt pain around his body.
But he has no time to lie down.
He slowly went back on his hooves.
"Flame!" Shouted a familiar young voice.
Ember's brother ran towards the beaten earth pony, and assisted him.
"W-what happened?"
"I don't know... Ugh..."
They slowly went back inside the wooden house.
Just then, Ember's and Flame's parents were seen in the distance, running towards them.
"Ember... Where's Ember...?"
The young filly didn't respond.
"She...no..."
The young filly nodded with great sadness.
Tears were already forming on his eyes.
---
The police ponies slowly regained their consciousness.
Some have already managed to get back on their hooves, and started to search the streets for any sign of the two criminals, but all they found where the leftover effects of a fierce battle.
BatMare finally allowed herself to rest.
She lied down on top of the tall buildings on the street.
She breathed deeply, and although she hated herself for losing, she thanked Celestia she was still alive and breathing, and currently suffering from a severe aching body.
She knew who that griffin was, but she has no idea why he took the yellow unicorn with him.
She needs to find the reason, but she first need to recover her strength.
It would be a while for the police to try and search the buildings anyway.
----------
5. Phase Three
----------
The morning of Canterlot was full of surprised and worried ponies, as they gather around the castle, only now, there was no castle, but an empty hole on Canterlot.
A number of royal guards blocked the crowd of ponies; both to prevent any stupid pony from falling through the huge hole, and to provide space for invetigating ponies to do their job.
There was indeed, no more castle, and the hole is real.
Clues to any logical reasoning were nowhere near their grasp.
Suddenly, behind the royal guards, a bright light occured, revealing two tall and mighty alicorns, the same height as their princess.
As the light subsided, the new arrivals allowed the audience to see them clearly.
A brown alicorn, with black long mane and tale, carrying an hourglass in front of a starry background as his cutie mark.
The other was a pale-blue alicorn, with black long mane and tail, and holds a vertical white line in the center of a starry background as his cutie mark.
Those ponies who have read the legends recognizes them.
Sure enough, all the royal guards are educated well, and all of them bowed before the two mighty alicorns.
The ponies followed to bow down, despite having no idea who they were.
The pale-blue alicorn rose his hoof, and the instant he did, a soft wave of wind swept all over the area.
The royal guards rose their heads.
While the pale-blue alicorn looked frighteningly serious, the other looked childishly bored.
---
Henry was able to open the double door after a few minutes of trying to sense how the dragon can open them.
He found out that the dragon couldn't, but he strangely sensed a weird aura swirling around the dragon.
Carefully controlling the dragon's mind, he let the aura run through the dragon's senses, and sent his request to open the door.
Finally, the door did open.
Behind the doors was a hallway that circles around the library's outer walls.
He silently walked the gloomy hallway behind the levitating dragon, still under his spell.
He soon found a stairway leading down.
He took a deep breath before he started walking down the stairs.
If only he remained there for a few more seconds, he would have noticed a strange white light swirling above the castle's walls.
After reaching the end of the stairs, he found himself in another hallway.
This hallway however, will lead him to the castle gardens, or to the castle's royal hall.
He slowly walked towards the later, but later stopped after noticing a frozen royal guard standing near the hallway's walls.
He took this as an opportunity to try and see if he can 'unfreeze' the ponies here in the castle.
He levitated the dragon right in front of the royal guard's face.
Sensing the dragon's sight was eyeing the guard's eye, he concentrated himself to sense the aura around the dragon, absorbing it to the dragon's mind, and...he has no clue what to do next.
He thought about it for a moment as he released the aura out of the dragon's mind.
It might stress the dragon's brain.
---
Sensing that this is beyond the capabilities of Fillydelphia Police Department, Flame decided to take the train to Canterlot. He needs the help of the royal guards.
With him was Ember's brother, Coal.
Their parents would have wanted to join them, but Flame needed them to run the grape business while he's away.
---
Finally recovering some of her strength, BatMare stood up and slowly worked her way back to her base to recover.
---
Sunset, Aurora's mother, is trying to calm the angry dark-blue coated unicorn.
Midnight has been complaining of how slow the train is, despite knowing the fact that the train is already running beyond it's normal speed after the train driver received a special order to do so from PonyVille Police Ponies.
The police ponies riding the train needed to head to Canterlot as soon as possible.
---
The pale-blue alicorn is concentrating his magic on one spot of the used-to-be Canterlot Castle.
Out of all the ponies present, he's the only one who could still see the castle.
He explained, that the castle is still there, but was standing on another dimension.
Now, he's trying to create a portal, so he could fly inside and return the castle back.
The other alicorn however, has already grown bored.
"Are you done yet?"
Despite his adult-looking form, the brown alicorn's voice was strangely sounding young.
"Patience, brother."
Replied the pale-blue alicorn, his voice more mature than his brother.
"The magic surrounding the castle is surprisingly powerful than I expected. It will require me some time."
He continued, his voice calm, despite having a hard time trying to stabilize the portal he's creating.
"Are you pulling my leg here?"
Asked the brown alicorn, clearly surprised from what the other alicorn just said.
"You? Require time to control space?"
"I see no reason to repeat what I just said."
He was clearly annoyed at his brother for the question, but he kept himself calm.
"From your question, you have clearly heard me correctly."
"Then I guess I should help."
He spreads his wings and lifted himself up.
"I'll see what I can do from the inside."
"Do not add to the stress of the unbalanced fabrics inside."
'Why is it taking me so long to stabilize a simple portal?
The brown alicorn nodded and flew through the portal.
Knowing that his brother managed to get inside indicated that he's in fact opening a portal, but the reason why he couldn't stabilize it to keep it open without the aid of his magic is something he couldn not understand.
There must be something inside the castle that is stopping him.
His river of thoughts stopped and his focus on the portal almost broke after a mighty dragon's roar echoed around the city.
From a distance, a black dragon was flying towards Canterlot.
Panic struck on the crowd of ponies.
'Brother, get out of there, now!'
He tried to communicate with his brother through telekinesis, but strangely, he could not connect himself with his brother.
If he closes the portal, his brother will be trapped inside until he tries to reopen it again.
The dragon was now above Canterlot, where the castle was supposed to be.
It flapped its wings slower to get its head in front of the pale-blue alicorn.
"Begone, you fiend!"
The alicorn shouted.
The mighty black dragon ignored the alicorn's message, and instantly opened it's mouth, and snapped the alicorn inside its mouth.
Inside, the alicorn's magic focus was broken, aching his head.
The dragon however, started to fly away.
"You shall not get away with this!"
Yelled the alicorn has he focused a huge amount of magic energy on his horn, providing him light to see himself standing on the slimey tongue of the beast.
And, he found himself surrounded by a green gas coming from inside the dragon's neck.
Before he could realize what was happening, he lost his balance, and slowly felt his power and strength flowed away.
---
The brown alicorn, standing a few hooves from the castle's closed doors, heard a loud electric snap from the vortex.
He quickly turned around to witness the portal slowly vanished.
'Hey bro, what's happening?'
He tried to connect his thoughts to this brother, but he couldn't.
'Bro?'
He then heard the castle's doors opened.
He turned to see who or what opened the door, only to witness a brown-eyed changeling walking out, wearing a white hat and a brown sidebag, along with a levitating baby pruple dragon with green spikes.
The changeling was startled after seeing the presence of the brown alicorn.