//------------------------------//
// Chapter 82 - Crisis 
// Story: Off The Mark 
// by Goldfur 
//------------------------------//

Well, this wasn’t achieving anything.  I grabbed Twilight’s foreleg and started pulling her out of the room, catching Trixie’s eye and inclining my head to get her to follow.

“What are you doing, Mark?” the alicorn gasped as she stumbled along with me.

“We’re going to the Guild of Mages to see if we can figure out what’s going on.  Trixie – I can foresee a lot of demands coming from the nobles who will want to know what’s happening.  I suggest you head for the throne room to reassure them.”

“And what is Trixie going to tell them?” she asked with some exasperation.

“Tell them that their Triarchs are already looking into the situation and will keep them up to date with any new developments.  If that doesn’t satisfy them, I’m sure that you can find some other way to handle the situation.”

My wife smirked.  “Yes – Trixie can imagine a few.”

Some minutes later, I was beginning to regret not doing Trixie’s job and letting her take Twilight to the Guild.  There are few things sadder than a room full of powerful unicorns who are suddenly helpless because they don’t know how to manage anything without using their magic.  It didn’t take long for Twilight and me to realize that this was a dead end.  We did learn that enchanted objects were still functioning although Twilight suspected that if the drain continued, they might fail too.

When Twilight and I got back to the throne room, we found my wife listening patiently to a shouting Lord Jet Set.

“Perhaps you didn’t hear me clearly, Princess.  I demand to know what the Triarchy is doing to fix the current crisis!”

Radiating calm and concern, Trixie said, “Trixie cannot disclose that information, my Lord.  However, if it makes you feel any better, Trixie is now ordering the arrest of any pony that interferes with the Triarchs efforts to fix the situation.”

“No, I am not satisfied!  You must inform—”

“Guards!  That pony is preventing Trixie from performing our duties.”

I couldn’t suppress a snort.  He really should have seen that coming.  Twilight and I had stepped up to the throne by the time Jet Set’s yells of protest had faded away.  My wife smiled at me then addressed the nobles.  “Anypony else?”

To my surprise, one hoof rose hesitantly.  I recognized Silver Dreams, Queen Apicula’s premier love gatherer and a hanger-on of Lady Opulent Affair who took every opportunity to undermine Trixie’s authority.  Trixie said, “Yes, my little pony?”

“Is… is there anything we can do to help?” 

My wife smiled.  “Thank you, Silver Dreams.  Trixie will return to inform the gallant nobility of Canterlot how they can best be of service to Equestria.”  

She nodded to the Sergeant-at-Arms.  The stallion called out, “Day Court is adjourned!”

Trixie motioned with her head and the three of us headed to the lounge closest to the Throne Room.  I said to my wife, “I suspect you enjoy some parts of your job more than others.”

“All a part of protecting Equestria, Quark Smells.”

Waiting for us in the lounge room were Lyra Heartstrings and Rainbow Dash. As Dash wasn’t in Wonderbolt uniform, I assumed that this was one of her teaching days.

“Rainbow?  Did something go wrong at the school?  Is it about the magic failure?”

“You can say that again!  We had taken a class to visit Cloudsdale with Lyra providing the cloud-walking spell. Then bam!  Every student without wings starts falling!  Poor Yona was terrified.”

“I gather you caught them?  No being was hurt?”

“ ’Course not!  Trixie told us what’s happening.  Got any more news?”  She grinned. “I’ll take the good news first.”

“Sorry, not really.  The Guild of Mages is useless but Twilight assures me that Moonie will be working on the problem.  Until we have an answer, I suggest that you tell Starlight Glimmer to suspend classes after advising the students of the issue.”

“Good idea.  What about Discord?  Do you think he might have a clue?”

I grimaced.  “Tried that. He didn’t respond to my usual summons. Either the magic that allows him to hear it didn’t work or his power is failing like the unicorns’.  Maybe both.”

“Trixie cannot imagine him not turning up amid all this chaos so she is leaning towards Discord having a magic shortage too.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said.  “I better head back to the school right away.  There might be other problems brewing because of all this.”

Lyra said, “I don’t know how much I can do without my magic, but at least I can pass the word to Mayor Mare about the current situation.”

“Good idea,” Twilight said.  “The citizens of Ponyville deserve to know that their Triarchs are working on the problem.”

After Rainbow and Lyra departed, the rest of us began discussing ideas in the hopes of inspiration.  

“The only thing that I find remotely similar to what’s happening now is when Tirek was stealing everypony’s magic,” Twilight observed.

“Seems a bit of a stretch considering his modus operandi,” I said.  “However, we’re desperate for answers and he might have some if we can pry them out of him.”

Trixie beckoned to a nearby Royal Guard who came over and saluted.

“Yes, Your Highness?”

“Corporal, your Great and Powerful Princess needs information quickly.  Inform the Captain of the Guard that the Triarchs orders a squad be sent immediately to Tartarus to check on Tirek’s status.  Additionally, they should look for anything unusual that might be relevant to this crisis, then report back to us with due haste.”

“At once, Your Highness!”  He departed promptly.

Trixie nodded with satisfaction.  “Thankfully, with the daggerscale network, we now have the means to rapidly check every corner of Equestria in very little time.  We should have a report soon.”

We resumed our discussion while we waited.  However, a commotion at the door quickly got everypony’s attention.  The guards held back a frantic evolved changeling which didn’t stop him from jumping up and down while waving one forehoof. “Hive Mother!  Hive Mother!  All of the communication plates are flashing!  Even the one to your castle!”

Twilight, Trixie, and I sprang up and galloped after the changeling back to Twilight’s chambers.  She always kept the plates close by and monitored although I didn’t know she also kept a pair employed to communicate with Friendship Castle.  When we entered her room, I saw Twilight had arrayed the five plates in a wide arc across a large square table.  The three of us came to a stop where we could all see the faces of each plate.  Twilight had recovered enough magic to activate all five flashing plates at once. Of course, that meant all four queens and Moon Dancer began talking simultaneously the moment they appeared.

Twilight yelled, “Quiet!”  Surprisingly, all of them did so.  “Yes, the Triarchs are aware of the utmost danger this threat poses to you all. When a changeling is drained of all magic, it dies.”  The alicorn turned to the leftmost plate.  “Queen Carpacia – status, please.”

“Fifteen minutes ago, almost half the magic reserves in my drones were drained suddenly.  The remainder is being sucked out at a slow rate.  Our love vats are unaffected and consuming love recharges us normally, but with the continuing magic drain, the situation is untenable.”

Queen Apicula spoke next. “I have used my communication devices to order all drones to return to the hive where they will be podded.  As theorized by your problem-solving teams, this greatly reduces the rate of magic loss.”

Queen Polistae asked, “Could Tirek have escaped Tartarus?”

Trixie said, “Unlikely.  The guardspony report from yesterday included the correct passcode indicating nothing was amiss.  Trixie expects confirmation soon.”

I turned to one of the Royal Guards.  “Bright Beam, check on Queen Chrysalis.”  The unicorn mare nodded and her horn sparked.  With a disappointed sigh, she turned and galloped out of Twilight’s room.  She almost collided with King Thorax coming the other way.

He trotted up to us.  “I’ve ordered all of my drones to return to the hive.”  He looked at Twilight.  “Regis and his nanny have to leave with the other changeling princesses.”

Apicula said, “I will send my sister, Diadem.  Your agreement with Dragon Lord Ember is still in effect, yes?”

“Yes,” I said.  Glancing at Sanguine Dreams, I saw her confused expression.  Queen Polistae, as always, looked perfectly relaxed and in control of the situation.  I cleared my throat. “Equestria has a commitment from the Dragon Lands for them to shelter one princess from each hive in case of emergency.  The daggerscale portals still work, for the moment.  If you can get one of your princesses to the palace before—”

I paused.  “Twilight? How long do you expect the portals to remain working?”

Moon Dancer answered.  “Crispberry and I just started studying the continuing mana drain.  As a rough guess, they will work for at least the next eighteen hours.”

Crispberry shoved Moon Dancer out of the way.  “Hey!  Queen-types! We need you to run an experiment.”

Twilight said, “Crispy?  You’re still there?  Get back to your hive so you can be safe!”

The drone lifted his ever-present lab goggles so he could stare at the alicorn.  “Right when all the interesting science is happening?  Are you mad?”  He snapped his goggles back down.  “Now then. Moon-face and I have an experiment to determine where the locus is for the magic suck.  On my mark, I need everyling and Sparkles to lift their plate with the absolute minimum amount of magic necessary to do the job.  Don’t draw on your reserves, we’re testing when the magic fails on its own.  I’ll do the honors here.  Moony will record the times.  Call out your name when your magic cuts out.  Ready? And…. mark!”

I saw the horns on every changeling queen light and the perspectives shown in their plates changed slightly.  Crispberry’s plate fell almost immediately, soon followed by Twilight’s. One-by-one, the queens called out when their magic failed.  Apicula’s must have been at the edge of a table because her drop was followed by much crashing and cursing.  By the time she brought her plate back up to show her embarrassed face, most of us had the smirks wiped off of our faces.

In the plate to Friendship Castle, I saw Crispberry roll out a large map onto the Map Table.  I thought to point out the irony of it but decided the situation was too dire. Besides, Apicula had already supplied the comic relief.  The drone raised an opaque privacy bubble over the table, pulled a tape measure and clipboard out of his saddlebags, and then disappeared inside the barrier.  He called out to Moon Dancer for the number of seconds before the Canterlot plate fell.

Everyone waited for a couple of minutes.  “Well?” demanded Sanguine Dreams.

We heard Moon Dancer and Crispberry continue to discuss numbers between themselves.  Finally, the shield dissipated and the pair approached the comm plate.  The drone scientist said, “You’ll neeeeever guess the town at the epicenter of the latest threat to Equestria.”

Every pony and changeling chorused out, “Ponyville.”

“Right in one!”  Crispberry beamed.  “Because the Southern Wastes Hive delivers artifacts to every Equestrian hive, I am aware of their locations.  The percentage of initial mana loss is directly proportional to each hive’s distance from Ponyville plus a constant.  Thanks to that constant, even Ponyville still has some of its magic left.”

“Where in Ponyville, exactly?” asked Queen Polistae.

Crispberry shrugged.  “Don’t ask where exactly – too few data points for that level of accuracy. Moon-mare and I will try running a few more tests and triangulating, but I don’t expect much.  No, scratch that.  We’ll try to estimate the rate of loss first.  Better to know how much longer the remaining magic will last.”

I turned to the purple alicorn.  “Twilight, would those spheres of magic you made in the Nightmare Dimension work here?  Would they drift toward the source of the drain?”

In answer, Twilight created one of the clear bubbles above our heads.  We stared at it for a moment as it stubbornly floated in place.

“I’m sorry, Mark.  These are tuned to seek out magical interference.  Maybe if we get closer to the source.”

That’s when I noticed somepony lurking at the back of the Map Room. “Cozy Glow?  What are you doing there?”

The mare came up closer to the plate.  “It’s Starlight Glimmer.  She’s not in her office at school or anywhere I’ve looked in Friendship Castle! I can’t find anypony that has seen her since yesterday!”

Sanguine Dreams spoke up.  “Isn’t she the unicorn who once tried to steal ponies’ cutie marks and later tried to eliminate Princess Twilight Sparkle by changing history?”

‘You’re extremely well informed,’ I thought to myself.  There was no point in denying it.  “Yes, she is.”

“I find it suspicious that she has gone absent at this time,” the changeling queen said with narrowed eyes.

Twilight scowled.  “Starlight Glimmer has proven herself to be reformed and of good character.  It was why I chose her to be headmare of my school.”

I added, “Besides, as she’s a unicorn, she would be affected by this power drain too.”

Sanguine Dreams said, “How do you know that?  If she is responsible, she could also have a way of insulating herself from its effect.”

I frowned.  “That is just paranoia speaking.  Correlation is not causation.”

Carpacia said, “Perhaps, but her disappearance bears investigation nevertheless.”

That much I could agree with.  “Cozy – I want you to organize search parties.  Recruit students and teachers.  Check everywhere both in and under the school.  Also, check the town in case she’s left the grounds.”

“Yes, Your Highness!  I’ll get on that right away!”

The tiny mare galloped out of the Map Room and Moon Dancer resumed her place at the communication plate.  She was frowning for some reason.

“Anything wrong, Moonie?”

She slowly shook her head.  “I’m not sure.  Cozy Glow seemed more excited than scared.”

I nodded.  “She’s most engaged when she has the chance to lead and strategize.  It’s the nature of her cutie mark.”

“Very well. What’s our next move?”

Carpacia spoke up.  “By the terms agreed to in our Mutual Defense Pact, I am formally requesting the Triarchy implement Code 76.”

“And I,” said Queen Apicula and Thorax together.

“Code 76?  What is that?” asked Queen Sanguine Dreams.

I said, “Code 76 is the protocol for Equestria to protect a hive if Tirek or some creature like him drains magic from an area. A squadron of Equestrian troops armed with non-magical weapons takes over protection duties for a hive while an equal number of caretaker ponies are in charge of supplying love to the podded changelings.” 

Sanguine Dreams pulled her head back and her nostrils flared. “No.  We have a way to deal with this crisis.”

That sounded familiar.  “Ah, you mean hypnotizing a group of ponies to do the same tasks then wiping their memories once the emergency has passed, all so you can keep the location of your hive secret.  Well, if that’s the only way you are willing to accept any help, then I suppose—”

“Wait,” interrupted Queen Polistae.  “You would expect us to believe that you would authorize this treatment of the ponies you are sworn to protect?”

I leaned toward the plates showing Polistae and Sanguine Dreams. “What I expect is that you will do whatever you feel is necessary to protect your hives and all of your children.  Keep in mind that entranced ponies can only do exactly what you told them to do.  What happens if your hive floods?  Or a quarray eel gets inside?  Or there’s an attack by diamond dogs?  If something novel happens, you will be defenseless.”

Trixie spoke up, a hint of annoyance in her voice.  “Let Trixie remind your majesties that you both were only willing to sign a Treaty of Friendship at the Queen’s Council.” That was a development that pleased Twilight no end but stuck in the craw for both my wife and I.  Neither queen had felt any need to do more than acquiesce to the most watered-down and symbolic of agreements with the pony kingdom in which they resided.  At the time, there was no pressure to get them to commit even a single drone to further their ties with Equestria.  

My wife continued.  “The Triarchy of Equestria vows to provide a full contingent of soldiers and careponies only for the hives whose queens have signed the Mutual Defense Pact that we proposed at the Council.  To do otherwise would put the ponies in our care at unacceptable risk.” I had played poker with my wife many times and even I couldn’t tell if she was bluffing.  Belatedly, I figured that Sanguine Dreams and Polistae would be at even more of a disadvantage since they were not in the same room.  

Twilight frowned and opened her mouth to say something, but I cut her off.  “I agree with these conditions.”  That caused our outvoted co-ruler to come up short and slowly close her mouth.

As Sanguine Dreams studied us, Polistae’s smile grew wider. “You have the sworn agreement of the White Tail Woods Hive.  I will have the portal with identification mark Y37 moved to our north entrance within the hour.”

All three Triarchs stared at Sanguine Dreams until finally, she spoke.  “The Hollow Shades Hive pledges our fortunes and shared defense with the Kingdom of Equestria.  Portal KJ13 will be in our main chamber forty minutes from now.  You have my word that your ponies will be treated as our honored guests.”

I turned to the door and was unsurprised to see General Crushing Blow and Chief Nurse Cherish Blossom standing in the hallway.  “Both of you need to expand your Code 76 teams to cover two more hives.  And do so within eighteen hours.  We can’t be certain the portals will last longer than that.  Nurse Cherish, ask the nobles waiting in the throne room if any want to assist.  General, after the teams leave, open the portals to the Dragon Lands for the hive princesses to get to safety.”

“As you wish, Your Highness,” said Cherish Blossom.

The towering guardspony said, “Your Highnesses, that will be our only opportunity to get Torch to come to Equestria.  Shall I use the largest portals?  Do you want him here?”

I looked between Trixie and Twilight.  The purple mare said, “I… I don’t think so.  Yes, this could be the first step to an invasion, but we haven’t seen any evidence to support that theory.”

“Trixie agrees.”  My wife turned to the General.  “Equestria will not call on the former Dragon Lord’s services, General.”

Crushing Blow bowed.  “By your leave.”  With that, she galloped down the hallway along with Cherish Blossom. 

Before we could resume our summit meeting, Bright Beam burst into the room and gave us a quick salute.  “Your Highnesses, Queen Chrysalis has encased herself in a pod already. The dungeon guards witnessed her doing so and were unsure of her motives so they brought in reinforcements. However, they were obviously not needed.”

I nodded.  “Good – she had the right idea.  Arrange to have her pod taken to the Crystal Hive.”

Twilight’s eyes widened.  “What?!  Why would we do that?”

I faced the upset alicorn.  “Twi, she’s the Crown’s prisoner and her protection is our responsibility.  We cannot allow her to starve to death while in our care.  Besides, as Princess of Friendship, don’t you think we should show her some kindness and generosity in this dire situation?”

Twilight cast her eyes down, her ears flattening.  “I’m sorry, Mark.  That is the right thing to do even if I’m not happy about it.”

I gave her a wing hug.  “Preaching to the choir, Sparkles.”  I looked over to Bright Beam.  “You have your orders.”

The unicorn mare saluted again, turned smartly, and hastened to obey.

“If you’re all finished agonizing over the fate of Chrysalis, we have some news,” came Moon Dancer’s sarcastic voice from the comm plate. Understandably, she didn’t much care what happened to the changeling queen.

“Speak!” Trixie ordered.

“While you’ve been discussing other matters, we’ve been running a quick experiment to measure the magic loss.”

Twilight’s ears perked up.  “What have you learned?”

“Bearing in mind that these are only initial assessments based on a small sample over a brief period, I estimate that approximately 65% of magic was lost in an initial quick surge but the rate of loss has slowed down to a steady drain.  Higher spellworking such as that done by unicorns is most vulnerable which is why the effects were first noticed by them, not to mention changelings for which magic is literally a vital necessity.”

‘Which makes me distressed that you aren’t evacuating too,’ I thought to myself.

“By the end of the day, no unicorn, changeling, kirin, or even alicorn will be able to cast the smallest of spells.”

“What about innate magical abilities?” Twilight asked.

“Judging by the way it’s affecting your castle guards, those will be the next to go.  Pegasi will lose the ability to fly and manipulate clouds and earth ponies their strength and power over plants.  Changelings who are not in pods will start to die.”

“And how long before all the magic is gone?” Trixie asked.

“Three days tops.  More like two and a half.  By the third day, even our enchanted objects will fail.  And if all magic is drained, then the damage will be irreversible. Unlike Tirek who merely drained the magic from sapient beings, this affects all magic in all things.  We need to find the cause and we need to find it now.”

Twilight asked, “Can you narrow down the source of the drain?”

“Not yet, but I’m working on it,” Moon Dancer replied.

Before anyone could say anything else, there was a rapping on the door. Penny investigated and then admitted a pegasus Royal Guard who saluted.

“I got back here as fast as I could, Your Highnesses.  The rest of the squad is still in Tartarus looking for more clues.”

“What did you find out, Easy Breeze?” Twilight asked.

“Tirek is still caged but he’s acting suspiciously.  He kept grinning at us for no apparent reason. When questioned, he said he might know something but he’d only speak when all the Triarchs and Element Bearers were present.”

“Does anypony else have the word ‘trap’ screaming in their heads right now?” I asked.

Everyone held their hooves up, including the images of all the queens on their communication plates.

“Thought so.  Tirek knows something alright, but he’s got no incentive to tell us.  Did you find out anything useful while you were there, Easy Breeze?”

The mare nodded.  “Yes. There were several muffin wrappers on the ground.  When we asked Tirek about them, he said the mailmare must have dropped them.”

“Tirek gets mail?” I blurted out.

“Surprised us too.  All Tirek said though was that he was bored and he was exchanging letters with a pen pal.”

My wife muttered, “Somepony’s head is going to roll when Trixie finds out how this failure of security occurred.”

“Does any being know who this mailmare is?” Carpacia asked.

I addressed the room.  “Which mare do we know who would be naïve enough to deliver to Tartarus, eats muffins, and happens to live in Ponyville, the epicenter of the problem?”

“Derpy!” chorused everyone in the room including our bodyguards.

“We need to talk to her,” I told Easy Breeze.

“I’ll get right on it, sir,” she replied.  She then saluted and left the room.

While we waited for Easy Breeze to return, we spent the time working out the fastest way to implement Equestria’s emergency measures and bringing our two newest allies up to speed on the finer details of Code 76 plans.  While many ponies could get along without magic for a little while, without mana to sustain many aspects of normal life, Equestrian society was going to descend into chaos if efforts weren’t made to forestall it.  Cloudsdale would have to be evacuated and warnings sent out to all the pegasi who lived in cloud homes.  Without their flight magic, pegasi could plunge to their doom as their tenuous constructs failed to support them anymore.  Less obvious dangers were everyday practices by the other races.  For example, earth pony construction workers who routinely handled very heavy materials with their enormous strength might find themselves crushed as their enhanced fortitude failed them.

Eventually, Easy Breeze returned with a puzzled gray mare in tow.  As soon as Derpy saw me, she gave me her usual cheery smile.

“Hi, Mark.  You wanted to see me?  Are you missing a parcel?  You’ll have to check with the post office first.”

“Nothing like that, Derpy.  I’m afraid this is serious royal business.  Have you been delivering mail to Tirek in Tartarus?”

“Of course!  The Royal Equestrian Mail Service delivers everywhere.”

Twilight sputtered.  “But it’s Tartarus!  How did you even get in there?  Entry to that place is strictly controlled.”

Derpy giggled.  “Don’t be silly, Princess.  If a letter is correctly addressed and postage paid, then REMS will deliver it.”

The purple alicorn face-hoofed.  “That’s not what I meant, Derpy.  You can’t just walk or fly into that place.”

Before Derpy could further boggle everyone, I interrupted. “That’s not important now.  What we need to know is how often you’ve delivered letters to Tirek, who sent them, and did he send letters back?”

One of Derpy’s eyes looked up to the ceiling thoughtfully while the other wandered around.  “Hmm. I’d say that Tirek has been getting mail for about six months now.”

“From whom?” Trixie demanded.

The gray mare shook her head.  “That is strictly confidential information.  By law, we of the Royal Equestrian Mail Service are required to maintain the privacy of those who utilize said service.”

Trixie, Twilight, and I winced.  Then a glance of understanding passed between us and we nodded.

Trixie imperiously stated, “By unanimous royal decree, that provision is temporarily suspended in the interests of national security. Please inform us of the recipient of Tirek’s mail.”

Derpy tilted her head, considered what Trixie said for a moment, then opened up her mailbag and pulled out her favorite treat.  “Would you like a muffin instead?  I really shouldn’t tell you.  It’s not right.”

I groaned and my co-rulers looked ready to pull their manes out. Behind us, I heard one of the queens say, “This is a waste of time.”

I said, “This is a national emergency, Derpy.  Ponies may die if we cannot find what is causing the loss of magic.”

Derpy munched thoughtfully on her muffin for a moment before coming to a decision.  “The letters don’t have return addresses on them, and I don’t sort the mail so I don’t know who posted them.”

Trixie ground her teeth.  “But surely Tirek responds to them!  Who are they addressed to?”

The mailmare looked a little startled.  “Oh!  Of course. They go to Nom De Plume at the School of Friendship,” she replied proudly.

I face-hoofed this time.  “Derpy – ‘nom de plume’ means ‘pen name’.  It’s not a real pony’s name.  Do you have any idea who this pony is?”

She shook her head.  “All mail delivered to the school goes into the one mailbox to be sorted by the staff.”

“I wonder which of the staff that would be?” Carpacia said sarcastically.

“Still only circumstantial evidence!” I barked back irritably.

Twilight said, “Maybe Cozy Glow can help us there?  As Assistant Headmare, she should have her hoof on most things happening at the school.  She used to bring the mail to me each day when she started but she would have had to delegate that job to concentrate on more important things.”

I said, “We’ve got to interrogate Tirek about these letters and query Cozy about the mail going to the school.  However, she’s probably busy with the search for Starlight right now.”

My wife spoke up.  “Princess Twilight Sparkle and King Thorax will have their hooves full with the changeling situation.  My husband needs to pursue the investigation of both the mail and Starlight Glimmer’s whereabouts.  It is up to Trixie to visit Tartarus to interrogate Tirek.”

I said, “Do you think you can make him talk?”

“I will wear my Number One Show-cloak.  The experience of witnessing the Most Dazzling Show On Hooves will doubtless convince the centaur to talk.”  Trixie smiled.  “Also, the Great and Cunning Trixie will have a secret weapon.”

“And that is…?” I prompted.

“Have you ever been cornered into a conversation with Pinkie Pie when you couldn’t get away?”

I shuddered.  “That’s borderline torture.”

Trixie smiled tightly.  “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

I said, “If it wasn’t too dangerous for them to stay unpodded for too long, I’d have changeling volunteers take our place.  If Tirek supposedly got his wish to talk with all the Bearers and Triarchs, he might reveal what he knows.  Meanwhile, we would be free to act still.”

“Wouldn’t that be risky for them?” 

“Very.  But I suspect that he might just want to get us out of the way until we have no magic to overcome his trap, whatever it is.”

Carpacia spoke up.  “I like this plan.  My drones attached to the Royal Guard will join Princess Trixie and Pinkie Pie.”

Twilight gasped.  “What will happen if they run out of magic while they are in Tartarus?”

Carpacia smiled smugly.  “Do not presume that you know all our secrets yet, Crystal Hive Mother. They will be sustained long enough to accomplish their mission.”

The alicorn slowly nodded.  “I don’t like it but we have no choice.”

A thought suddenly occurred to me.  “Wait!  Speaking of days, if you and the entire Guild of Mages can’t use your magic, how are you going to set the sun and raise it again in the morning?”

The alicorn gave me a glum look.  “Simple – we can’t.”

“Then what’s going to happen to the sun?”

“It will hang near the horizon until it’s moved.”

I felt relieved.  “Phew! While it isn’t ideal, at least that’s one disaster averted.”

Twilight looked nervous.  “Not quite.”

I gave her a sharp look.  “What do you mean by that?”

“While the sun won’t go much lower, it will continue drifting further away.  If it goes too far, eternal winter will set in.  The need for the sun to be close enough to warm our world is why its rising and setting needs to be controlled.  It won’t orbit close enough naturally on its own.”

The fact that a tiny star orbited a planet in this universe instead of the other way around still boggled me.  Right now though, all it did was add to my concerns.  Equestria was screwed one way or another if we didn’t sort this out soon.





After the changeling queens shut down their end of the communication plates to attend to their emergency preparations, Twilight left with Thorax to deal with their hive and the Canterlot changelings under their protection.  She would later meet up with the rest of the Element Bearers at her castle. Seven armored Royal Guards entered the suite and saluted Trixie in perfect synchronization.  Some of them were in pony guise but a few showed their natural selves.  Whether this was how they normally did their duty, we did not ask.  It was part of the agreement that we had with Queen Carpacia – she put them under our direct authority with the proviso that we used them in good faith.

At a nod from my wife, they removed their armor, placing it in a pile on the floor.  Soon, duplicates of the Elements of Harmony (complete with simulated jewelry) and myself were standing at attention before us.  Trixie rolled her eyes.  “At ease, soldiers.  Try to act like the ponies you look like.”

The group did so, with the six mares chatting happily.  My clone walked up to my wife with a smirk on his face. He waggled his eyebrows suggestively, earning another eye roll.  

“Hardly convincing.  My husband is more prone to action than teasing.  Still, Trixie shall consider you a work in progress." 

As she turned to leave, I held up a hoof.  “Wait.  Wasn’t Pinkie Pie, uh, the real one supposed to accompany you?”

An agonized scream tore through the room and I jumped.  All of the disguised changelings fell into identical Royal Guard ready stances.

Heart pounding in my ears, I turned behind me to see a pink foreleg shoot out of the pile of armor, scattering pieces left and right. Another foreleg appeared, similarly clad in gold-plated shin guards.  With a continuing yell, a fully-armored Pinkie Pie climbed off the hill of helmets, breastplates, and greaves.  The scene reminded me of a John Romero movie—so much so that I did a double-take to make sure the Element of Laughter hadn’t turned into a zombie.  

When free of the pile, Pinkie gave her biggest grin and pronked noisily around the room.  She clapped her counterpart changeling on the shoulder.  “Thanks, Sawfly!  I’ve got it from here!”  She smiled at the remaining ‘Elements.’  “And the rest of you need to stop reacting to every surprise like a soldier guarding a princess, even though you totally are!”  With a tumultuous clatter, she bounced out the door.  “Time to deliver a centaur party!” 

I briefly wondered if Pinkie would stop doing impossible things if she lost all her magic, then decided it was slightly preferable never to find out.

My wife gave me a parting kiss and left in the company of a facsimile of me by her side, along with doppelgangers of Twilight and the rest of the Element Bearers.  Trixie would requisition a squad of normal Royal Guards who would be unaware of the nature of her companions and therefore not inadvertently give away the fact that they weren’t the real deal.  As for me, I headed for the throne room.

Sawfly fidgeted a bit before saying aloud, “How did she know my name?”  He shook his head before resuming his red changeling form and picking through the spread-out armor pieces.  “And how did she know which armor pieces were mine?”

I said, “I advise you to just not think about it, soldier.”

He shivered.  “Yes, sir. I hope I can do that.”

I nodded sympathetically.  I knew the feeling.

A few minutes later, I entered the throne room to find Silver Dreams praising the remaining two dozen or so nobles for their willingness to help in this time of Equestria’s need.  Belatedly, I recognized the tremendous personal risk that the disguised changeling was taking.  If her magic ran out, she would die like any other member of her race.  Also, she was ignoring her queen’s order to return to the hive.  I updated her and those still present on what we had learned.  I put Silver in charge of organizing emergency relief efforts for unicorns that found themselves in trouble due to the absence of their magic. I cautioned her that pegasi might soon be in the same predicament, followed by earth ponies.  I subtly stressed the danger to changelings, knowing her true nature.  She assured me that she could handle the situation.  Hopefully, she was right about that.  I certainly didn’t know any better yet.

I left Canterlot for Ponyville with both Penumbra and Crimson accompanying me.  I didn’t even try to argue when they double-teamed me.  Sometimes the situation was too dire to warrant anything less.  Besides, I thought I might need somepony whom I could explicitly trust to act on my behalf, and neither would leave me unattended if they were acting by themselves alone.  I immediately headed for the School of Friendship to try to find Cozy Glow and get an update on the situation there.  I found the place abuzz with excitement with teams of teachers and students searching every nook and cranny for Starlight Glimmer.  What I did not find was Cozy.

With neither her nor Starlight to question, I had no idea how I could go about tracing the letters that had been sent to “Nom-de-Plume” at the school.  None of the other teachers whom I asked were aware of how the mail was handled.  It was when I started getting desperate and asking the students that I noticed that I hadn’t seen Gallus anywhere.  His friends too, for that matter.  I turned to face my guardsponies once we reached the school courtyard.

“Perhaps they are searching the town for Starlight?” Crimson suggested.

I nodded.  “That’s quite possible.  As a resident of Ponyville, Sandbar would be familiar with some of the more obscure places. Still, I don’t like the thought of Gallus or the others being out under these circumstances.  Despite what I said to Cozy earlier, all the students should confine themselves to their dorms for now.  We have enough to concern ourselves with at the moment without worrying about the welfare of the younglings in the school’s care.”

“But that’s Starlight’s or Cozy’s responsibility,” Penny pointed out.

I sighed.  “And we can’t seem to find either.”  I came to a decision.  “I’m going to head into town to see if I can find Gallus, his friends, or perhaps even Cozy. She might have decided to check Ponyville once the school search was fruitless.  However, if she’s still here, I need her to meet up with me as soon as possible.  Crimson, you stay here and watch out for Cozy Glow while Penny accompanies me.”

Penumbra and I headed out of the school and were just passing by Twilight’s castle when I felt a familiar tingling in my hindquarters.  I stopped and turned to look at myself and saw my cutie mark flashing.  A Friendship Problem now?  Either this was related to our present predicament or the most massively ill-timed event ever.  We altered course and galloped to the Map Room.

I stared at the sight of my cutie mark hovering over the Map Table like the first time it had called me.  And just like that time, it was sending me back to where I’d just come from!

“The Friendship Problem is in the School of Friendship,” Penny said.

“I can see that,” I replied with some asperity.  “Like I didn’t already know we have a problem there.”

“It’s a bit vague, isn’t it?”

“Twilight has the knack of getting it to focus down to someplace more specific.  I’ve never gotten the hang of it even though she’s told me how.  Not that I’ve had many opportunities to practice with an ongoing event.”

“Well, maybe if you wait long enough, you’ll have a better chance than right now.”

I gave Penny a dirty look but had to admit that she was right. I concentrated on the image and tried to project my intentions as Twilight had taught me, but for a long minute or so, nothing happened.  I growled and shouted, “For buck’s sake!  Show me where you want me to go!”

Abruptly, the view zoomed in on the school.  It filled the whole table and continued to close in on the library wing.  Then it appeared to pass through the walls and I could see the rows of bookshelves. Right in the middle was a grate in the floor which I realized was what Gallus had told me led to the crystal caverns underneath.  I blinked in surprise.

“Wow!  I don’t think it’s ever gotten that specific for anypony before.”

Penny chuckled.  “You had to show it who’s the boss first.”  Her lips pulled back and I could see her fangs.  “Good thing it listens better than me.”

“Whatever.  We’re heading back to the school.  I think we’re going to find our answers there.”

We retraced our steps and found Crimson.  After informing him where we were headed, he frowned and said, “I’ve been asking every creature about Cozy’s whereabouts and no one knows. Some students suggested she was underground but the teachers were checking that out.  However, one of the professors told me that a team of students had been sent.  I haven’t been able to get a definitive answer.”

I said, “That would make sense.  Gallus and his friends are the ones most familiar with the caves under the school.  We’ll have to find out for ourselves, I suppose.”

Penny and I made a beeline for the library.  Unlike the image in the Map Table, the grate was closed. Had someone put it back or was the image I saw Harmony’s way of telling me where to go?  We made our way down and I looked around.  I knew to expect the crystal-lined tunnels as Gallus had described them to me, but they were still impressive.  Despite the lack of any kind of lamp, there was adequate illumination due to a soft glow coming from the crystal itself and we could see our way as we headed downslope.  There were a few side passages that opened up into caves, one of which had a small lake in it.  Nothing else of interest was in any of them though, so we continued further.

“Do you hear that?” Penny asked.

Now that she had pointed it out, I became aware of a low buzzing hum.  “It’s coming from straight ahead.  Looks like it’s a bit brighter there too.  Could be what we’ve been looking for.”

After a short bend in the tunnel, it abruptly opened up into a large cavern.  We walked up to what turned out to be a balcony wall and gaped at what half-filled the enormous volume.  On the floor below, a gigantic circular rune glowed.  Six objects hovered equally spaced above its perimeter surrounded by blue spheres of energy that were shooting beams into a coruscating sphere of raw mana.  But it was what was within that sphere that made me gasp. Gallus and his friends were all trapped within, not to mention our missing headmare.  When they spotted us, they all started gesticulating wildly but we couldn’t hear a word that they were saying.

“This has got to be the source of the magic drain,” Penny said.

“Yeah, I can feel it tugging on my mana stores.  Gallus and his comrades must have decided to check this place out and found Starlight in there.”  I looked around and saw a passage down to the floor and headed that way.  “But how did they get trapped inside?”

“I have a better question,” Penny said as she took the lead to look for danger.  “How didn’t word get back to anypony about this?”

The answer hit me like a ton of bricks.  “Oh, buck!  Cozy already knows!”

A beam of magic force came from behind me and struck Penumbra. She crashed into the crystal wall and went limp.  I whirled to face our attacker, switching to Marklestia form and raising my shield. Through the bubble, I got a glimpse of Cozy Glow, not so small anymore and wearing a large green bell around her neck. And she had a horn!  A beam shot out from the bell, hitting my shield and then myself as the bubble collapsed.  My stomach hurt with the same empty sensation I experienced when Tirek sucked out all my magic.  I stumbled onto my knees, overcome with fatigue.  Once again I was in my stallion form.

In front of me, a smiling Cozy Glow spread her wings and angled the cracked bell upwards.  This time magic flowed out of the artifact to strike the mare on the jaw.  She grew slightly, now an even taller alicorn than Twilight. “Ahhhh!  Thanks for all your magic!  I needed a pick-me-up.”

Her smile turned nasty as she aimed her horn at me.  It glowed red and a beam shot out, slamming into me as if I had flown into a brick wall.  As my consciousness faded, I heard Cozy laugh.

“That’s what I like about you, Prince Mark – so clever and yet just as gullible as all the rest.”


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