Over a thousand years ago
The castle was asleep, servants and nobles alike were in their beds, the halls and corridors were dark, the only sound that could be heard was the scurrying of vermin, fattening themselves on whatever scraps they could find.
This was Sobokas favourite time, during the day he had to deal with the hoards of sycophants watching his every move, as well as the ever present castle staff that seemed to be invisible to everyone else but him. Soboka smiled, with no one to bother him he could use the peace and quiet to do his favourite thing, read.
Sitting in the royal library, the only light source a lantern to read by, he could concentrate solely on his book. A rather interesting treatise on economic theory, something that he had recently taken a strong interest in, it filled his head with new ideas, things that he could implement when he became king. He had tried to talk to his fathers councillors about them, and they dutifully listened, but as he talked about gold being valuable because they believed it was he could see their eyes glazing over in front of him.
The councillors tried their best, but in his opinion they were too risk adverse, and with his father always away to fight some battle or to assault a stronghold they were being entrusted with more authority then they could handle, when his father came back he-.
Sobokas ear twitched, there was someone else here, he sniffed the air, catching a familiar scent. He picked up the lantern to investigate the intrusion. He heard the muffled sound of footsteps behind a bookshelf, he moved silently towards them. He approached the corner of the shelf, ready to confront whoever had dared to interrupt him. He readied himself and then jumped around the corner, snarling as he did so.
A rat ran squeaking away, but other than that, there was nothing else behind their other than the rows of books. Soboka smiled, it had only been a stupid rat, he shook his head, he could have sworn that he could smell-.
"BOOOO!!" A voice shouted behind him, Soboka let out a high pitched scream and tumbled to the ground. He looked up at the voice and was annoyed to see, none other than his sister laughing at him.
"You should have seen the look on your face" Engineer said wiping a tear from her eye, "And that scream, what the hell was that?" She held out her hand to Soboka, who reluctantly accepted it, allowing her to help him to his feet. "What are you doing up this late anyway?" She asked.
"I wanted to have some time alone to read, but that seems to be ruined now" He said, he picked up his dropped lantern, thankfully it hadn't broken. "How about you?"
"I Just finished a design on a secret project." She said "My work hours have been kind of erratic, so this is like the middle of the day for me."
Soboka returned to the desk to continue his reading, Engineer followed him and sat down opposite of him. He found himself unable to focus as Engineer stared at him from across the table. "What?" he asked.
"Aren't you going to ask me about the secret project?" She said.
"Well if it's a secret I don't think that you should go around telling people about it." He replied.
"Oh come on" Engineer huffed "I promise that it's much more interesting than whatever you're reading."
"This is actually very interesting, it's all about these things called market forces, and how they influence the price of" Soboka watched as Engineers eyes glazed over, "Fine, what's your secret project?"
"I can't tell you, it's a secret" Engineer chuckled at the expression on her brothers face. "Just kidding, you know how dad is worried about the griffon clans right? Well he has commissioned me with coming up with a solution, and may I present, the airship." Engineer rolled a drawing of a strange contraption on the table, it looked like a ship, but in place of sails was a large bag that was suspended above it.
"Is this thing supposed to fly?" Engineer nodded "I've gotta admit, that is pretty cool. If we built a fleet of these, we could make a fortune ferrying trade goods over land."
"But knowing our father it's only going to be used for war" Engineer sighed "I had a lot of fun working on something that wasn't just another weapon."
Soboka nodded "I'm afraid that it's going to bite us in the future, sure we've united the Diamond Dogs, but instead of consolidating, now he wants to fight the griffons, and after he's done with the griffons" Soboka scoffed "And after them he'll probably wan't to pick a fight with those ponies."
"I wouldn't be too worried about the ponies, I don't think there is a single one of them who could stand up to us." Engineer said "Speaking of our father where exactly is he?"
"He's gone off to crush some revolt, he'll be back in a few weeks." Soboka answered "And while he's gone, maybe we could work on something together? Something that isn't just meant to kill things."
"Will I have to listen to a lecture on economics in return?" Engineer laughed "What am I saying, of course I will."
Present day
Engineer couldn't believe what she was seeing, Chrysalis had promised her a surprise, but she had never expected this. "You have no idea how much I've missed a good steak."
"Trust me, we know." Chrysalis said "Every time we have something to eat you're always moaning about it."
"So thats meat." Cozy said "It looks weird, why is it that colour?"
"I don't know, I just followed the cook book." Tirek replied "I hope that it came out alright."
"Well you did a good job Tirek, It smells great." Engineer cut into her meal, and lifted up a piece to inspect. "Medium rare, Perfect." She couldn't help but let out an excited giggle, she brought it up to her mouth and bit into it "What the-!" It felt like she had just bit into a rock, she pulled it out of her mouth and was shocked to see that the piece of meat had been turned to stone. She looked around the table, her eyes going wide as she saw the three frozen faces of her allies. They had been turned to stone, Chrysalises face was locked in a silent snarl, Tirek was recoiling from an unseen force, and she could see the fear in Cozy Glows eyes as the fillies face was set in stone.
"Well, Engineer, it seems you have escaped." She felt a tightness in her chest as she heard a familiar voice behind her, she turned around and felt the blood drain from her as she saw her worst nightmare emerge from the shadows.
"Celestia?!" Engineer said "What have you done to them!?"
"We have done what needed to be done." Luna said, joining her sister from the darkness "They were too dangerous and had to be stopped, permanently."
"Give them back!" Engineer snarled, advancing on the Princesses, but before she could take another step, she felt an immense weight holding her foot down.
"And that goes for you too." Celestia said as Engineer slowly turned to stone. "Last time we were too lenient, a thousand years in stone and you still wished to do harm to Equestria. Well this time, we've changed things a bit." A cruel smile was on Celestias face "This time you will and your little league shall remain conscious while you're all set in stone."
Engineer could only look on in horror as once again her body was turned to stone, "How did this happen? How did you find us?"
"They didn't" The voice of Grogar echoed around the room "I led them here, you were all planning to betray me, and rule Equestria together." As the stone crept towards her face, the voice began to change in pitch, to one that was unrecognisable to her "Now you will all be together forever!"
Engineer awoke with a start, her eyes darting around the room, her heart was pounding as she took in her surroundings. She was sat up in her bed, an alarm clock was ringing on the table next to her, she silenced it by knocking it to the ground. "Am I still dreaming?" she asked herself as she got out of bed and trod on the now broken clock. "Ow, nope not dreaming" she said as she hobbled towards the bathroom.
She stared at her face in the bathroom mirror, she looked like crap, while she was looking at her own wrecked appearance she saw the figure of a purple pony standing behind her. She whipped around, only to find nothing there, she must have been more tired than she realised and decided that a nice shower would wake her up.
After her shower she dragged herself downstairs to the kitchen, it was her turn to make breakfast so she busied herself with all of the preparations.
"Morning Engy" Cozy Glow flew in and hovered next to Engineer "what's for breakfast?"
"Eggs and toast" Engineer said.
"Can I have mine sunny side up?"
"Scrambled it is."
Cozy glow crossed her hooves "Well someones grumpy this morning, what's wrong?"
"Nothing" Engineer said.
"Come on, tell me" Cozy buzzed right in front of Engineers face. "Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell m-"
"If I cook you're damn eggs the way you want will you stop pestering me?" Engineer asked.
"Hell no, now that I know you're hiding something, I won't stop bothering you until you spill it." Cozy said, an innocent smile on her face.
Engineer groaned "Fine, I had a stupid nightmare alright."
"Oh, golly" Cozy said, looking a bit deflated "I see." She floated down onto the counter and sat there, "Was it a bad one?"
"Yep, the Princesses found us, they turned you all to stone in front of me, then they did the same to me." Engineer said "I can still feel it."
"That's terrible Engy, I'm sorry I brought it up" Cozy said. "You know what you need? A hug."
"I don't need a-" Cozy was already latched onto her, Engineer rolled her eyes and returned the hug "Thanks Cozy."
Cozy looked up at her smiling "So how about those sunny side up eggs?"
Engineer laughed "You devious little filly, alright then sit down at the table and I'll bring them over when they're ready."
While Cozy flew over to the table and settled herself in, Chrysalis entered. "Coffee?" she asked, Engineer handed her a mug full of the black stuff, which she accepted with a yawn and joined Cozy at the table.
Cozy Glow eyed up the mug "Can I try some?"
Chrysalis raised an eyebrow "Sure" she said, and handed the mug over to Cozy, who took one sip before spitting it out onto the ground. Chrysalis laughed while Cozy wiped her tongue with her hooves "You're gonna have to clean that up later."
"That tasted like sh- I mean poop" Cozy said, Chrysalis had threatened to withhold ice cream from her if she didn't stop swearing.
"That's better" Chrysalis said, while pouring a considerable amount of sugar into her coffee. "So what's the plan for tonight Engineer?"
"I'll wait for Tirek to arrive first." Engineer said, she didn't have to wait long as he arrived just a minute later and annoyingly chipper.
"Nothing like a good morning workout to wake you up." Tirek grinned "You guys should try it, it's amazing."
"I'd rather get my wing torn off again." Chrysalis said, sipping her coffee.
"Your loss" Tirek joined them at the table "Who spilled something on the ground?"
"Don't worry about it." Engineer said, bringing over the plates of food. The group enjoyed their breakfast, and after it was all cleaned up, it came time for Engineer to reveal her plan. "My work is almost complete, theirs just one last thing that I need. When I was working for the Diamond Dogs I made many interesting discoveries in runic magic."
"Is this going somewhere?" Tirek asked "Or are you just taking another opportunity to gloat."
"The point is Tirek, that I made extensive records of the exact methods to create powerful weapons and armor." Engineer said.
"And then it was all burned to a crisp." Cozy glow said.
"Not quite." Engineer said "While most of my work was lost, I had hidden a record of some of my more important notes in the library of our castle. All we have to do is go back there, sneak in, find it, and then get back here. Any questions?"
Chrysalis raised a hoof "Yeah, you do realise it's been a thousand years, what are the odds that your notes haven't turned to dust or been used as some creatures toilet paper?"
Cozy Glow laughed "That would be funny, powerful magical theory smeared with sh-" Chrysalis glared at Cozy "Never mind, luckily for Engy, I believe that theirs a good chance that her notes are still intact. While I was at the school of friendship, we went on a field trip to the 'King Soboka Museum', and while I was there the tour guide was quite proud of how well preserved the Library was."
"Huh" Tirek said "We've stolen from a mountain, then a train, a cave, a castle, and now a museum. Hopefully there won't be as much excitement as the other places."
"We'll go in tonight." Engineer said "We have a good idea of where it is so it should be easy for Chrysalis to get us there. We'll meet up in the main room in a few hours and then our heist begins."
The cave that led to the castle of the Diamond Dog kings was once one of the most heavily fortified places in Equestria. Hundreds of elite guard stood watch, enchanted gate houses blocked your path, hidden traps and magical curses could tear an army to pieces. The sign above the cave read 'two bits for adult, one for students, children under five for free'.
An uneasy feeling griped Engineer as she approached the cave entrance, flashes of what happened the last time she was here over a thousand years ago surfaced in her mind, she shook her head, trying to focus "Cut that crap out Engineer, we're here to do a job."
"Why are you talking to yourself?" Cozy said, hovered beside Engineer.
"I hope it's not that moon sickness again." Tirek said "The last thing we need is for her to be out of action in the middle of this."
Chrysalis rolled her eyes "Wow Tirek, you're just a reservoir of sympathy. Let's just get the damn thing so that we can all go home."
They walked into the entrance of the cave, Chrysalis and Tirek providing a light source with their magic. They didn't have to worry about getting lost, a raised wooden pathway led them straight to the entrance to the castle. They passed an empty admissions stand as they approached the castle gate.
"So how are we getting in?" Cozy asked. Chrysalis used her magic, the lock on the gate glowed green as she tried to pick it.
"I don't think that will work" Engineer said "I would think that the people who run this place wouldn't just-" The lock clicked as Chrysalis unlocked it. "Oh, never mind."
"You'd think this place would have better security" Tirek said "Considering they were robbed recently."
"What do you mean?" Engineer asked.
"I read in the news paper that the diary of King Soboka went missing recently." Tirek answered.
"And of course that means that someone must have stolen it" Cozy said "Whenever something goes missing, it's always because someone stole it. Honestly someone must be the greatest thief in Equestria." Cozy giggled at her joke while the rest of the group just groaned. "We don't have to worry about security, this place doesn't make enough money for them to afford it."
Tirek pushed open the gate to the castle and they headed inside. Lanterns that lined the walls magically lit up to light the area up revealing the great hall that acted as the entrance to the rest of the castle, the whole castle was lined with them, meaning wherever they went, there would be light.
"Come on, the library is near the throne room." Engineer said, as she led the group through her old home.
"So how does it feel being back home Engy?" Cozy asked.
"It feels, I don't know, strange? Everything is the same, but different." Engineer shook her head "I'm making no sense, look let's just get what we came for and leave." The group entered the throne room on their way to the library.
"So, this is where it happened?" Tirek asked.
Engineer was silent for a second before she answered "Yeah. Soboka was sat on the throne right-" Engineer noticed something strange, the throne was not vacant, a figure was say upon it and it looked like "Father?" She ran up to the throne, but stopped short when she realised what it was.
"It's just a wax figure." Chrysalis said, as she joined Engineer next to the throne. "King Soboka." She read the plaque on the throne "The last king of the Diamond Dog Kingdom, his death left no heir to assume the throne and so the kingdom was dissolved and eventually annexed into Equestria." Chrysalis moved closer, inspecting the figure with interest "He looks so-"
"Old." Engineer finished "He had a full life of ruling the Kingdom, while I was stuck in stone." Engineer stared at the wrinkled face of her brother, he was smiling but the look in his eyes was, almost sad, what did he have to be sad about? He got everything he wanted, he got to be king.
"Hey Tirek check this out!" Cozy Glow yelled, she was pointing a hoof at a sign.
"This way to the Engineers workshop" Tirek read out "This I got to see." Cozy and him raced off down a pathway away from the throne room.
"We better go after them" Chrysalis said, "Engineer, did you hear me?"
"Why didn't he have kids?" Engineer asked.
"What?"
"Soboka, what was wrong with him?" Engineer was still staring at the wax sculpture.
"I don't know." Chrysalis said "From what I read, he never married, he just did the job and then wrote in his will that Celestia and Luna should inherit the kingdom. Listen we need to catch up with those two, who knows what trouble they could get into."
Engineer nodded and they followed after their comrades, they caught up with them in a hallway, the two of them were looking at a painting.
"There you two are, what do you think you're doing?!" Chrysalis barked at the pair of them.
"Oh come on, we just wanted to see where Engy lived." Cozy said "But then we got distracted by this."
Engineer looked up at the painting, and was shocked by what was on it. It showed King Rex meeting a strange hooded figure in the mountains. "King Rex meets the Engineer" Engineer took a step back "That isn't right, he found me when I was a baby." She noticed more paintings ahead and moved up to it. This one showed the hooded figure giving her father weapons and armor to fight. She noticed another painting and jogged up to it.
"Engineer, wait?" A voice yelled behind her, she ignored it, this painting showed King Rex with the armor on, but his eyes were blacked out, she could make out a sinister grin out from underneath the hood. She ran over to the next painting, this one showing the many wars that her father fought, the next showed a mix of ponies, gryphons, and dogs pleading to Celestia and Luna to save them from King Rex. The final paining was the largest, she stopped at it, allowing the rest of the group to catch up to her.
"Engy? Whats gotten in to you?" Cozy asked.
"This is how it happened." Engineer said, pointing at the painting, "It shows Celestia and Luna leading an allied army, then them striking down the possessed king with their magic. It then shows them meeting with Soboka to make terms, and then It ends with the evil Engineer being sealed away in stone for all eternity."
"You know that's not how the story went, right Engineer?" Chrysalis said, but she was ignored. Engineer had instead walked further down the hallway towards a large door, opened it and went inside. The Inscription above it read, The Engineers Workshop.
She wasn't sure what to expect when she entered, part of her thought it would be just as she remembered, a scrambled mess of blueprints, materials and tools, to an outsider it seemed like chaos but to her it was home. But that was all gone, and what replaced it was both hilarious and infuriating. The walls were covered in cheap plastic swords that were designed to look frightening, lots of serrated edges and bends in the blade, but even if they were real would be useless in a fight. Armor that was unnecessarily bulky and covered in spikes, but seemed to leave as many vital organs exposed as possible.
Engineer walked to the center of the room, where their was a display set up, another wax figure was inside it. A hooded figure, hard at work on another cruel invention, its gnarled hands the only thing visible under its cloak. She knew why it was designed this way, there were few surviving records of her, so they had to work with what they knew about her, much like the mockery that was the cheap junk that decorated the room, she was cruel, senseless, and evil. She heard the door open behind her, the rest of her team had followed her in.
They approached Engineer as she stared at the figure, studying it, "So, this is how I'm remembered, as a monster."
"You're not gonna let all this stuff get to you, are you?" Chrysalis said "It's just a bunch of lies that they can sell to tourists."
"But they aren't lies." Engineer said "I might not have been the one wielding the weapons, but I killed all the same. Dogs, Ponies, Gryphons, and who knows what else. Because of me, so many died, Including my father."
"Don't blame yourself for that." Tirek said "It was the princesses who killed him!"
Engineer shook her head "If it wasn't for my damned weapons he wouldn't have gone off and gotten himself killed! No wonder my brother handed me over to the Princesses!"
Cozy zipped over and put herself between Engineer and the wax figure "Engy, listen to me!" She said staring directly into Engineers eyes "What happened to you wasn't your fault, we know you're not a monster, so please stop pretending you are."
Engineer scoffed "Thats a load of crap, you all know what you are, ponies, changelings, centaurs. But what the hell am I? Some weird ape looking creature that has done nothing but create death and destruction! If thats not a monster then I don't know what is. It's why I was treated so well, why they pretended I was family, why I was sealed away in stone, and why Grogar got me out. It's why you all pretend to care about me." Engineer turned away from Cozy, trying to hide the tears forming in her eyes. "So let's just get the damned book so we can all leave."
"Engy wait!-" Cozy was ignored, Engineer stormed out of the room leaving the rest of the group to run after her. They tried to follow, yelling for her to stop, her but lost track of her in the winding corridors of the castle. They ended up back in the throne room with no idea of where Engineer was
"Damn it, what the hell's gotten into her?" Tirek asked.
"The last time she was here she got turned to stone you idiot!" Chrysalis snapped "She'll be heading for the library, Cozy, do you know how to get us there?"
"It was months ago, how the shit would I remember!" Cozy shouted.
"COZY, LANGUAGE!" Chrysalis rubbed her head with her hoof, trying to calm herself. "Alright, we'll split up and look for her. Make sure to remember the path you took so you can make it back. We'll meet up here every ten minutes to see if someone else has found her. Go, and bring her back, now!"
The group dispersed into the castle to find their missing comrade, Cozy buzzed through the hallways of the castle, trying to keep track of all the twists and turns that she made. As she flew past a door she heard a heavy thump sound coming from it, she doubled back to it and went through. It was the library, "Engy, you in here?" she asked, "We are kind of worried about you. Engy?"
She darted between the bookshelves, looking for Engineer, after a short search she found her, along with someone else. Engineer didn't look up as she heard Cozy approach, she was too focused on the unconscious form of the security guard she had knocked out. "He saw me" She said flatly. "I found the book, but he saw me."
Cozy Glow looked at the unconscious pony, he was one of the old tour guides when she first came here. "He'll have a bad headache after he wakes up." She said "He'll probably think it was all a dream, if he even remembers you. Come on Engy, the rest of us are worried." She motioned for Engineer to follow her out, but Engineer stood still, staring at the unconscious pony at her feet.
"What if he tells Celestia about me?" Engineer said.
Cozy rubber the back of her head nervously as she hovered nearby "Golly, if he even gets near her she'll probably think he's a crazy old cooke. But let's leave before he wakes up, just to be safe."
Engineer shook her head, standing over the unconscious pony "I-Its too much of a risk, Cozy, you should leave, I don't wan't you to see this."
Cozy Glows eyes went wide, she shot between the pair of them "What are you doing!?"
"I've got blood on my hands already, whats a little bit more, now move." Engineer commanded.
Cozy Glows narrowed her eyes, squaring off with Engineer "What the hell, are you talking about!"
Engineer felt her breath quicken "I-I have no choice, if I don't do this then-"
"Then what!" Cozy yelled "I told you, we can just walk away, nothing will happen!"
"If I don't do this then we'll all be turned to stone! I don't want it to happen to me, to us!" Engineer screamed "If I am a monster, then at least I can use that to protect those that I care about!"
"Listen to me Engy." Cozy hovered just inched in front of Engineer, "YOU! ARE! NOT! A! MONSTER!" She pulled back a bit before continuing "In fact I can prove it." She pointed a hoof at the unconscious guard "Go ahead, do it."
"What?"
"Prove what a horrible monster you are and kill him." Cozy said "Lets see what that bullshit you've been spouting is worth."
Engineer stood stiff, she could do it easily, she could choke him to death, stamp on his head, or do any manner of things to the pony lying on the ground. But her body wouldn't respond, she began to breath heavily, she had to do it, it was the only way to save herself, to save Cozy, Chrysalis and Tirek. But no matter how hard she tried she couldn't move a muscle, she began to panic as her breathing accelerated, she pulled together the strength to look at Cozy, who had a smug look on her face, but she began to look concerned and then frightened as she saw Engineers distress. Engineer felt her legs give out, but she didn't feel herself hit the ground.
She heard the clanging of armor pursuing her, she was back in Tireks castle with Torgovors creations nipping at her heels. No matter how fast she ran they seemed to be getting closer, as she turned down a hallway she noticed a door just slightly ajar, and a purple pony staring at her from within. Despite the urgency of her situation, Engineer felt herself slow down, and as she did the sound of armor seemed to fade away with it.
The figure slipped away from the doorway, but left the door open for Engineer to follow, which she did, as she pushed the door open she was temporarily blinded by a bright light, and as it faded Engineer found her environment had changed. She was in the middle of a forest, tall trees surrounded her, she saw wild creatures scurrying in the trees and heard the sounds of nature. But strangest of all was a strange crystal house that shimmered in the sun, crystal branches hanged from the side of the house supporting a canopy of admittedly beautiful pink crystal leaves.
Engineer spotted the purple figure at the door way, it waved her over before disappearing inside the crystal home. "What the hell is going on here?" Engineer said to herself, before following the strange figure. As she walked through the door, she found herself in a long corridor along its length was decorated with paintings in the same style as in her old castle. The first one that she saw, showed King Rex meeting the Engineer, but instead of a mysterious hooded figure, it was her as a young child, scared and alone on a mountain top, her father offering her his paw.
A voice spoke to her "Do you remember any of this?" Engineer jumped and turned to her left. For the first time got a good look at the enigmatic figure that had led her on.
"You're Twilight Sprinkle!" She said "What the hell are you doing here."
Twilight smiled kindly "I'm not Twilight Sprinkle, nor am I Twilight Sparkle, I just prefer to appear as her. Let's just say that I been in your company for a very long time." As Engineer inspected her more closely, she noticed that she seemed to shimmer much like the crystals and was, semi-transparent? There was a word that for that which escaped Engineer at the moment. "I think the word you're looking for is translucent." Twilight said "And as to why am I here, well what do you think?"
Engineer thought on this for a moment before answering "Well I am dreaming, so you're a figment of my imagination."
Twilight chuckled "I suppose it doesn't matter, but would you mind answering my question?"
Engineer turned her attention back to the painting "No, I don't remember being that small."
"You were so scared up on that mountain, you were barely old enough to walk and talk." Twilight said "But then Rex found you while out hunting for bears and he took you in." Twilight began to walk along the corridor, Engineer followed her to the next painting "You always had a strange talent for making things, Engineer." This painting was of her when she was older, showing off the first helmet she had made all by herself, her father was ruffling her hair proudly "If you were a pony, this is where you would have gotten your cutie mark." Twilights smile faded "But you know what came next."
Engineer did, the next paintings showed conquest, then defeat and finally, her being turned to stone. She felt a shiver run up her body as it remembered its petrification. "And that's how the story of the Engineer ends." She said.
Twilights smile returned "Not quite, look." She pointed with her hoof further down the corridor, with more paintings lining its walls. "That was who you were, but this is who you are." Engineers eyes went wide as she followed Twilight down the corridor. She saw herself being freed from her stone prison, her meeting the rest of the legion of doom, giving Cozy a piggy back ride and celebrating her birthday. Twilight giggled at a painting of Engineer making out with Pharynx causing Engineer to blush, her face went fully red when she saw Chrysalis applying make up to her face. She also saw Tirek yanking her out of that pool of water and him treating the cut to her face.
"I've been through a lot haven't I?" Engineer said. The next painting was quite weird, it showed her back in her bedroom, unconscious with Cozy, Chrysalis, and Tirek, with all three having worried looks on their faces. "When did this happen?"
"Right now." Twilight answered, "They've brought you home, as well as that book of yours."
Engineer was puzzled by this, as she looked further down the corridor, seeing more paintings lining the walls the. She looked at the next one, but it seemed to be blurry, all she could figure out was five figures watching a sunset. "How would you, I mean, I know that, seeing as this is a dream?"
Twilight sighed "You'll find out sooner or later. But right now, you need to wake up, and see your-" Her last word was cut off as Engineer woke up.
"She's awake!" Tirek announced, Cozy and Chrysalis rushed to the bedside to see it for themselves. Engineer groaned, as she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was the furious face of Chrysalis.
"Don't you ever do anything like that again!" Chrysalis yelled, giving Engineer a rather unpleasant awakening "You have no idea how much you worried us by running away!" Engineer shrinked back from the angry Changeling.
"I-Im sorry." Engineer almost whispered "Being there brought back so much pain, and I didn't know how to handle it. And I almost-" Engineer began to tear up "I almost-."
Chrysalis hugged her, interrupting Engineer "I was so scared, when you ran off, and when Cozy said that something had happened to you, It frightened me more than anything." Chrysalis smiled "I'm just glad you're okay."
"Group hug!" Cozy yelled, jumping on the bed to join the pair. "Come on Tirek, group hug." Tirek sighed, and reluctantly joined in. This touching moment was interrupted by a rasping laughter of the goat, Grogar.
"How disgustingly sappy" Grogar said, as they tried to disentangle themselves. "While I'm off trying to acquire powerful magical artifacts, because you were too incompetent to retrieve my bell, you're all sitting around doing who knows what." Grogar shook his head "If I didn't need you all, I'd gladly return you to the pathetic states you were in before I gathered you." With that Grogar turned and left, leaving the four of them angry and not just a little bit embarrassed.
"What an ass." Engineer said "I wish we could use that bell of his on him."
Tirek smirked "The only problem is that none of us know how to use it."
Cozy Glow thought for a moment before coming up with an idea "Twilight Sparkle may be the worst, but she does know stuff. She once said the Archives in Canterlot has a restricted area."
"Celestia and Luna love to hoard information for themselves." Tirek said "If there's information on that bell, it would be there."
"My triumphant return to Canterlot?" Chrysalis grinned "I like the sound of that."
"It sound like there is one more job to pull off." Engineer said, she looked at the book that they had risked so much to acquire, sitting on her bed side table. "But first, there is work to be done."