//------------------------------// // Chapter 53: Cold hearts, Burning spirits pt.5 // Story: Era of Harmony // by Gambling_Sam //------------------------------// *Raiden POV* You'd think that, after all that has happened so far, I would cease to be suprised by anything that this world could throw at me. Well, after the Goldspoon mess was cleaned up and being informed of Celestia and Ronin's current lockdown in the throne room by Captain Bellflower, we made our way down there to come up with a battle plan against...whatever was in the gardens. But, as we opened the doors to the throne room, I learned quickly that one can always be given the sucker punch of life at any given time. Or in this case, my brother and his herds insane antics. "What in fausts name?" Luna exclaimed as we walked into the throne room, which reeked of the smells of sweat, blood, and intercourse. There where solar guards scattered in random spots around the place, some had more than two coupled together while one particularly unlucky stallion was tied to a pillar with a fenale guard snoozing underneath him. Bellflower walked over and picked up one of the females that was still conscious, but barely so, and looked her in the eyes. "Now what in tarnation happened here?" She yelled into the face of the dazed pegasus that had her back hooves cuffed together. The mare sighed wistfully as she pointed to the throne, where a giant orange bubble blocked all sight to what was inside. "Princess...ordered a mandatory lovemaking competition...She took the human and his friends into the bubble...." The mare passed out in Bellflowers hooves, earning a sigh from the captain. "It's as if heat season hit early this year..." She said as I frowned while Twilight stiffened. "What do you mean heat season hit early?" She exclaimed as Luna frowned. "We believe that our sisters passions have been sparked by Ronin, and the resulting pheromones may have an affect on the unsuspecting ponies." She stated as I gulped. "So since Celestia is finally getting some after a thousand years..." I began, afraid of the resulting answer. "...Then every mare that she is near will go into heat earlier than usual." Twilight finished, before looking to the bubble. "But why the bubble?" I shrugged as Bellflower went around waking up guards and Luns walked up to the odd bubble. "Perhaps a privacy thing?" Luna stopped and hopped over a rather large white puddle on the ground before turning back to us. "Doubtful. If she was in the thrawls of heat, she wouldn't care for such things. Besides, her shield bubbles are always see through, anyway." She poked the bubble with her horn, causing it to pop. Four things fell out of the bubble. The first was Ronin, who was wearing some pale white armour with a blue gem in the middle for some reason, who hit the ground with an audible oof and groaned while holding his head in his hands. Next was Redheart, who was out like a light and didn't even flinch when her body hit the floor. The next two were...less recognizable. One was a white pony that had butterfly wings and a horn that seemed to match her blue hair. I couldn't help but stare at her for a extra second because dang she was kinda hot. She landed on top of Ronin and proceeded to stand up after dusting herself off. She made eye contact with me before giving me a wink, causing a light red hue to appear in my face as I looked away, though something about her eyes were familiar... The last one was someone who looked a lot like Celestia, but instead had a flaming mane/tail with orange eyes. She landed on her hooves and smirked before noticing we where there. Twilight was the first to react as Luna looked at the flaming pony with extreme intrigue. "Um...I recognize Nurse Redheart and Ronin, but who are you two?" She asked as Ronin stood up and sighed. "Well, the blue and white beauty that my brother is eyeing like candy is Chrysalis due to reasons I'm too tired to explain right now, and the flaming seductress is Daybreaker." He said as shock appeared on Luna and my faces. "That's Chrysalis?! But how did she become so ho-OWW!" I exclaimed before getting a hoof to my clawed foot, making me hop around in pain while clutching my damaged foot. I looked to a satisfied looking Luna who smirked at the damage she did. "What was that for?!" She frowned and pointed at Chrysalis. "Thou is not permitted to even think any thoughts about the Changeling Queen in that matter." She said as Twilight shook her head. "But how did she even turn into that? I know changelings can change forms and all, but this looks similar to a type of ascension than some form change." She looked at Ronin for a second. "It appears that you were affected by it as well...but how?" He shrugged as Chrysalis scoffed. "Like I would tell a sniveling bookworm like you what happened anyway." For a second, she didnt break from her snide facial expression, then she broke. "OK! It was an exchange of love directed at his soul!" She exclaimed before placing a hoof over her mouth. "Why did I tell you that?!" Ronin laughed as Twilight dawwwd. "So your finally learning to give love to others? That's so sweet! And it seems to give an explanation to your sons transformation as well, though you seem to be undergoing an extreme version of what affected him." She said as Luna walked up and nearly went muzzle to muzzle with "Daybreaker". "And where is our sister? We have a feeling you know of her location." She said as the flaming mare laughed rather loudly. "Your sister is fine...though she is currently residing in the back of my mind right now." Daybreaker said as Luna and Twilight gasped as I turned to Ronin, who looked quite nervous all of a sudden. "And what does that mean?" I asked as he sighed before looking at me with a rather emotionless gaze. "It means Celestia is stuck in Daybreakers mind until further notice." He said as Twilight reeled back in shock. "WHAT!!! What do you mean by further notice? WHAT DID YOU DO TO PRINCESS CELESTIA?!" She yelled at him as Luna growled at Daybreaker. "We believe we know. This 'Daybreaker' is our sister's version of Nightmare Moon. Only in this case someone was foolish enough to help the demon win." She glared at Ronin, who glared back with equal venomosity. "Like Dadiolus helped Nightmare Moon overcome you?" He stated, causing Luna to gasp in suprise. "What!? How do you know about such things?" She exclaimed loudly while Daybreaker groaned and Chrysalis face-hoofed. This was getting out of control fast. "If you idiots are finished bickering, we have worse things to worry about...such as that explosion from earlier." Suprisingly Chrysalis said, effectively stopping the tirade of questions...for now. Ronin looked around the room for a second before turning to me. "And where is Pinkie and Larxene? I sent them to investiage the situation." I shrugged. "The explosion was due to a traitor in the castle, though the threat is still here. But we didn't run into those two at all." Chrysalis frowned as Luna gave Daybreaker one of those "we finish this later" stares. "What do you mean by still here?" Twilight sighed as she looked outside towards the gardens. "It started in Luna's bedroom..." ************** Nicholas POV ************** After getting onto the ship, Octavia and Flash gave us the grand tour. The room that was underneath the wheel of the ship was actually a control room for the magic output the ship gave. It was like a computer, but instead of a screen they had buttons...and there were a bunch of buttons (each one had some sort of label on them). Apparently, the thing ran on magic crystals that were obtained from the crystal caverns beneath the castle. (who knew?) Other than that, everything else was straightforward. The deck was the deck, the mast was the mast, and the lookout that was located on the highest mast was the lookout, though Roxas refused to get down due to how "cool" he said it was up there. While Flash conversed with Axel and Tal about plans for using the ship, I found myself pulled into the control room alone by Octavia. "What's going on?" I asked, but she shushed me. "Shh!" See. "I need to know how much of your powers have you used?" She asked as blinked in suprise. "Um...about three or four times since we last saw each other, though I don't really lnow how to control it." I smiled sheepishly. "Haven't gotten around to getting training from Twilight yet and-" "NOOO!" She yelled, causing me to jump in shock. She took a deep breath before giving me a fierce look. "You can't go to Twilight Sparkle about this, or any magic user at all!" I frowned and put my hands on my hips. "And why shouldn't I? I can barely control this power, and it might end up hurting someone I care about!" She groaned. "You don't get it! There's nothing to control! Your powers...they are a part of you, not some accessory to wear or weapon to master." I frowned, noticing some very Spider-Man vibes coming from this. "Really? Then how do I use them? And how do you know so much about them?" She kept a steady gaze with me for a couple of seconds before she sighed and turned towards the controls before spinning around and bucking the controls, causing the whole thing to shatter. My jaw dropped at the action. "What the heck are you doing?! We needed that!" She my eyes and smirked. "Then fix it." I looked between her and the broken machine. "What?! How?" All she did was shrug and walked to the door. Before leaving, she turned to me. "If you really want to learn about your power, here's lesson one: Your magic has no rules, and doesn't obey the rules of the other types either. Instead, it draws on your life force." With that, she walked out the room, leaving me VERY confused. What kind of rule is that? I thought as I looked at the control device. She said it uses my life force...could that mean that too much of it could kill me? I shudder as I raise a hand at the device. Well, might as well see what happens...how did I do this before? I thought as I recalled when I had used my powers before. Each time, I had a clear idea in my head about what I wanted...maybe that's all it takes? I focused my gaze in the busted device as I saw it envelope in a red light. As the light got brighter, I could myself slowly getting tired. After a minute, the device was fixed and I found myself out of breath. "Whoa..." I gasped, breathing slowly. "That was harder than enchanting a sword or putting up a shield...but why?" I said aloud before shaking my head. I needed to focus on the mission, not this. I walked out of the cabin-sized room and was met with Axel and Tak waiting for me, the latter looked irritated for some reason. "We need to talk." Tak said, causing me to sigh. Here we go... ************* Larxene POV ************* As a drone, it is my job to be loyal to the throne and to the queen that sits on it. And if there is more than one queen? Be loyal to each one in the order of which they became queens, of course. (Although the Queenship wasn't official due to no marriage happening, it was good practice.) This meant that minus Queen Chrysalis, Queen Pie was of the utmost priority, and that meant many things. From taking orders to simply being someling to talk to. However, I never thought I'd be standing next to Queen Pie in a bathroom as she upchucked her guts into a toilet...that's just plain weird. I sighed as I rubbed the back of the second queen. "My Queen, your sure you have no idea as to why your currently puking?" She wiped her mouth and gave me a VERY disgusting yet weak smile (several gooey leftovers from the barf fest were still there). "I have no idea! Recently, I've just been feeling like a hurricane is in my gut!" I tilted my head, confused at the odd simile. "Hurricane?" She growled, her eyed narrowing. "It's the best I could do right now, ok!" She snapped, causing herself to gasp and myself to bow my head. "My apologies, my Queen. I didn't mean to upset you." I said, regretting my earlier question. Queen Pie sighed. "No, I'm sorry. Whatever's wrong with me is making me a big sourpants, and I'm taking it out on you when you've been helping me this whole time." She gave me a grateful smile, one that made me all giddy inside knowing I was able to be of assistance to her in a time of need. "Queen Pie...Not to rush you or anything, but we have been here for a while...and considering the explosion earlier we are bound to end up in a conflict soon and I'd rather us not be found in this...vulnerable position." She nodded and stood up from the toilet, with a little assistance from yours truly, and pulled out a water bottle from her hair. After guzzling it down and swishing it in her mouth a bit, she spit it out in the toilet and flushed it. She turned to me, smiling with thankfully clean teeth. "Well, let's get going then!" I nodded as I followed her out the door, though as soon as we vacated the bathroom she jumped behind a potted plant. "Your highness...what are you doing?" I whispered as she pointed ahead. I looked forward and saw the griffon from before walking into a room while holding what looked like a sword in her claws. "What is Gilda doing? She should be back downstairs with the others..." Pinkie stated as I frowned. "Queen Pie, I recommend two options here. We either investigate ourselves or alert the others of the suspicious activity." I stated, watching her for an answer. After a moment, she sighed. "We can't tell anypony about it until we have proof that she's up to something." She stated as she snuck over to the door and put some device up to it. I snuck over, looking around for guards and suprisingly not seeing any, and looked at the device. "Majesty...what is that?" I asked before getting shushed. "Shhh. I'm listening to the conversation on the other side, silly." She said as she pulled out another device. They were these suction cup things that came with some sort of headset. I put it on and listened close to the door. "What do you mean, there's a problem in the castle?" A snotty voice rang out, causing Pinkie to frown. "That's Blueblood. He's the prince of all meanies." She said, making me stifle a snort. "You didn't hear the explosion earlier? There's something causing problems in the castle, and it isn't us." What sounded like Gilda could be heard reporting to the prince. A third voice, much deeper and gravelly, rang out. "Silence, Griffon spy. I am aware of the situation, but it will not halt our plans with the human." There was a pause. "Good work retrieving his blade, but what of the weilder?" A sigh could be heard from Gilda. "He is currently in the throne room with several guards and royals. We might need to pull the trial early." A groan could be heard from one of the males, probably Blueblood. "We can't move too quickly, or we risk failure or exposure. It took a long time to get you into that jail without questions, Gilda. And I'd rather not have that time wasted." A snort came from the other male. "Indeed...I will not leave this palace without my prize." The pink pony besides me blinked in suprise at the mention of Ronin, her eyes wide. I pressed closer against the door, eager to hear more. "Of course, you said you only need is sword and his soul. I will need the body for the execution to look realistic." Blueblood stated as the other male laughed. "You are right, comrade! And do not think I have forgotten about you. Once we can manufacture the dark power that resides in Ronin's soul into a weapon and overthrow the princesses, you shall be made king of this despicably colorful city." He said, causing Queen Pie to audibly gasp. The room went deathly quiet...Buck. "There's someone outside." We heard Gilda state as talons scratched on the floor, getting closer to us. I turned to the pink Queen, who went to run but suddenly fell forward clutching her stomach. "ooooh." She moaned weakly, looking to me. I looked between the door and her before sighing, realising that for the second time today I would be teleporting someone away from danger. "Warn the others, your higness." I said, for the second time today charging a teleport spell. She looked at me in shock as the door behind us swung open. "You two?!" Gilda yelled as I fired the spell at Pinkie Pie and warped her back to the throne room. I turned to the Griffon and growled, flashing fangs. "How DARE you attempt to sabatoge the future king!" I roared as Gilda went to charge at me, murder in her eyes. I held fast, ready to avoid her strike counterattack "Stop." A voice rang out, halting her advance. We both froze to look at the monstrosity that walked out the door alongside a princey looking pony. He was a griffon like Gilda, but was waaaay worse for wear. There were gears and pistons running all over his body that seemed to focus on supporting him. Any feathers he did have were old looking and looked like they'd molt permanantly anytime soon. The second he had appeared Gilda froze and backed away with her head low. Whoever he was, he was important, and that didn't bode well for my luck. He eyed me with amber eyes that looked centuries old. "So, you were smart enough to look for our spy after she disappeared from the throne room? Then my weapon has already fortified the changeling species as well." He laughed, causing gears to screech due to a lack of oiling. "Ronin truly brings out the primal best in people, huh?" I frowned, taking a battle stance. "Don't act like you know the King! You've never even met him!" The griffon frowned. "Hmm...intelligence training seems to be lacking...a side effect from being sent to another planet, perhaps." He shook his head. "No matter, I cannot allow you to alert him that I'm here, so this is where you must die." He pulled out a purple orb and flashed it, creating a bubble around the hallway. I looked around in shock before attempting to fire off a lightning spell...but nothing happened. The male laughed at my confusion as Gilda and the Prince went back into the room they were in before. "My dear, that bubble is a magic suppresent. No spells will work in here!" I gritted my teeth. Damn. This wasn't good. I couldn't flee now, and without spells... I shook the thoughts from my head as I looked into the eyes of the mechanized chicken in front of me. For Queens and Country I rushed forward as the griffon followed suit. But as he swung at me with talons spread wide I slide underneath him, sending a hoof straight where it hurts. Or at least, it should've hurt. All I felt as I slid past was a metal plating that was cool to the touch. I recovered from the slide and stared at him in shock as he looked down at himself before laughing. "Clever move, changeling. If I had been a average male, then you would've had me there. But I lost most of my body ages ago, so there's nothing left to hit!" With that, a metal chain from his left wing shot out and wrapped around my front legs, sending me to the ground as the chain slowly retracted. He laughed again, a coarse sound that sounded like horns on a chalkboard. "I wasn't planning on getting bloody so soon, but your a liability. And I don't do liabilities." A circular saw came out of his right wing as he brought it close to the chain that was pulling me towards him. I looked at the rotating saw as it buzzed almost evilly and felt a new emotion surface. Fear I struggled against the chains, attempting to free myself as I drew closer to the red stained saw, some of which said stains looked reeeeally recent. The male had ceased talking, and was now simply watching me struggle like a buzzard watching its prey gasp for breath as it died. As I struggled, my horn pressed against the saw, causing me to yell out in pain. "This pain can stop, you know. Just tell me where the other humans are." He said as the chain kept tugging me closer, causing my horn to slowly split in two as the saw kept buzzing deeper and deeper still into it. I screamed again, wondering why there weren't any guards around...probably bought off by the prince, and looked into those amber eyes of death again as I smiled despite the pain. "Go-AGH!-to Tartarus, you overgrown metal rooster!" I declared as the saw was centimeters from my face. He shrugged, causing the pistons in his chest to wheeze in protest. "Your decision. I'll just look for them later myself." He said, thrusting his right wing forwards, causing the saw to overcome my horn. At that moment, I saw something odd. I saw images of my fellow lieutenants flash by my eyes. From when we were hatched and we saw the king and queen for the first time, to the farm work we did together under the kings guidance. I even saw those girls that fawn over that Nicholas kid flash by before I teleported them away from that irritating brat. I Hope Axel and the others find themselves mates that'll treat em like those girls treat that boy. I thought with a chuckle as the bloodstained saw finally pierced my horn and made contact with my skin, causing me to see red in the corners of my eyes. Heh...At least I managed to save the Queen. I thought, tears going down my face as all went dark. **************** Nicholas POV **************** Tak and Axel guided me back into the control room so we could talk in "private" while Roxas, unwittingly, distracted the others with his natural goofiness. Without any sort of chairs in the room, we were forced to stand while conversating. Axel was the first to speak up. "I don't trust these ponies. Why help us when one: that guard doesn't even know us, and two: That Octavia doesn't get anything out of it." I sighed. "Well, I think Flash is like Roxas in that category. He seems like the kind of guy who helps anyone, even if its something super small." Tak chuckled. "Pony is innocent as Tartarus, but what about Octavia?" "Well, I know you guys don't trust her due to her vampiric ways, but for some reason she knows about my powers and how to use them." I replied as they both were taken aback. "What?! How?" Tak asked as I shrugged. "I'm not sure, but until I can figure it out, we need to keep an eye on her. She didn't want me to tell anyone about my powers, and I want to know why." I stated, earning a nod from both of them. "So we're keeping an eye on the vampony. Should be easy enough with them helping us fly this ship." Axel said as Tak went to say something else, but stopped as they both stopped moving. I looked between the two, slightly worried about them. "Uh...guys?" I asked as Axel fell to his knees, eyes glossed over and a tear going down his left cheek. I looked to Tak, now VERY worried. "What the heck is going on?" I said, louder this time. He looked to me, sorrow in his eyes. "Dude...Larxene-" He was cut off as the door slammed open and Roxas walked in. He found Axel and immediately knelt down and pulled him into a hug, softly crying into his shoulder. What the heck happened? I thought as Tak put a hand on my shoulder. "Nick...Larxenes dead." Wait...what?! That was the yellow eyed changeling that saved the girls! I looked to Tak, noticing he looked terrible, and pulled him into a hug that he quickly reciprocated. I felt him shake slightly as I held him, but for some reason I wasn't sad. oh noooo...I was angry. I didn't need the guys to tell me that Larxene had died due to someone else sending her six feet under, and that meant that there was trouble at the castle. I would be darned if I didn't find a way to help out our friends at the castle. I pulled Tak off of me and looked into his tear ridden eyes. "Here's the plan. We will fly across the city, doing our original plan. Then we will U-turn back to the castle. There we will be able to not only transfer the love over to my brother, but we can also find the guy who killed Larxene. Are we clear?" Tak looked to Roxas and Axel, who had recovered slightly and were now standing up, though both looked miserable. He sighed and looked back to me and nodded. "Let's do this!" He said, patting my shoulder and turning for the door before pausing. He turned back to me, looking slightly worried. "Uh...speaking of the plan. We were supposed to get the Necklace from Celestia to harvest the love, but we fled the castle grounds before we could. How are we gonna transfer the love to Ronin?" I blinked. I KNEW we forgot something! Now how are we gonna-AGH! I was pulled from my thoughts by a slight brain freeze, which was weird considering I hadn't ate any sort of ice cream recently. Axel frowned, noticing the pain. "You alright, champ?" I nodded, smiling weakly. "Yeah, I'm good." Something popped into my mind as I looked back to Tak. "Oh, and we shouldn't tell Sentry or Octavia about our plans. We need to figure this out without alerting a guard to a prsion break of sorts." Tak nodded as the door swung open, with said pegasus coming in. "Guys, Octavia just had a new installment added to the ship that I think you'll like a lot! C'mon!" He said as he did a decent one-eighty and walked out. We looked to each other before shrugging and following him out. We followed him to the front of the ship...where a cannon the size of a car was now on the front of the ship. My jaw dropped. "What's that for? We're a Music group! Not a military squadron!" Axel snorted as Roxas finally deattached from him, standing to the side looking like he was pondering something. "Heh, I think its cool. Now we can fight back against anyone who tries to stop us from partying!" He said, pumping a fist. "Or you could use it to help your performance." Octavia stated, causing all of us to turn around and face her. Mare had somehow snuck behind us. "And...how would we do that?" Tak stated as Roxas walkes over to Sentry and whispered something in his ear, causing him to smile and run off the ship. "I was made aware that three of you are changelings earlier, so I decided to give you a way of transfering the love you'll undoubtedly collect into this cannon." I frowned. "And how does it do that?" Like seriously...this sounded oddly like something we needed, and Octavia just HAPPENED to have this on standby? She smiled. "Vamponies weren't always enemies with changelings. This was left over from the days of our alliance with each other. BEFORE Chrysalis took the throne, we made weapons for your kind that ran off of love energy, this included." She said as I smiled, slightly giddy. Forget the history lesson, we could really use this! Tak nodded, a smile on his face. "Thanks for the gift, it's sure to help." At that moment, Flash returned with three briefcases that looked oddly like my own. Each one had the nickname and color scheme of the other guys on them. Roxas ran forward and grabbed the one with the 3R on it and pressed the button on the side. With an orange flash of light, two drumsticks popped out. He picked them up before looking around, confused. "Uh...where are the drums?" He asked as Flash smiled. "Dont need them. Use the drumsticks." He said as Roxas swung the drumsticks down. What looked like an orange circle appeared, and when his drumsticks hit it a drum sound effect was made, causing Roxas to grin like the Cheshire cat. "I HAVE MAGIC DRUMSTICKS!" He exclaimed, causing Axel to roll his eyes as Tak and I chuckled at the enthusiam. Axel grabbed his and followed Roxas's lead. With a blue flash, a guitar found itself in his hands. Axel grinned wide as he strung a cord, making a loud note. Definitely an electric guitar. I thought as Tak grabbed his and pressed the button. A mic popped out, causing Axel to chuckle as Tak looked confused. "Ha! Princey poo got a mic!" He said as Octavia smirked. "Tak, speak into the mix while facing Axel." She said as Tak turned and did as instructed. "Hey!" What followed was everyone losing hearing for a second as Axel was knocked off the ship. With a muffled crash, the 'ling landed on one of the beanbags on the ground. We all looked to Octavia as Tak grinned deviously at the OP weapon given to him. "That right there is known as the Canterlot mic. It allows the average pony to be as loud as princess Luna." Sentry was wide-eyed. "I thought those were illegal!" Octavia turned to him, smiling softly with half-lidded eyes as she wrapped a hoof around Sentry. "They are, but my favorite guard wouldn't rat out his friend...especially when his friend is willing to pay his silence back with a...private orchestra?" Flash looked to Octavia and shook his head like a bobble head. "No! I would never rat you out!" I turned away as Axel got back on the ship, rolling his eyes at Tak and Roxas's laughter, and felt my head. Even though it was only for a second earlier, I still had a slight headache from the brainfreeze from earlier. Wonder why it happened? I thought as Roxas continued to play his magic drums as Axel and Tak argued about who's gear was better. ************** Ronin POV ************** Could I go a month without causing some sort of drama? Apparently not, considering that as Twilight explained what had happened earlier I was being glared at by my brother while Luna glared daggers into a unaffected Daybreaker. I don't entirely blame them, if I learned my brother had been replaced with an alter ego, I'd be miffed as well. Thankfully, we were alone due to the guards being dragged out by the captain, so any sort further confrontation would be private. However, in my defense, Celestia was NOT helping anybody, and Daybreaker at least hasn't committed genocide on a species yet. And, through all of this, Redheart was STILL asleep! Damn, the girls a heavy snoozer. "And that's when Goldspoon snapped his neck." Twilight said, effectively finishing the story as Chrysalis frowned. "So there's a thing in the castle gardens holding a pegasus hostage and your waiting her why?" She asked as Luna sighed, breaking from her glare at Daybreaker. "We cannot move to quickly, or else we may endanger the hostage." She stated as I went to reply, but stopped. There was a sudden ache in my heart...as if something had been ripped out of it and nothing replaced it, and that something was- I looked to Chrysalis and saw a tear or two going down her face. "Chrysi...Do you feel that?" I croaked out. She nodded slowly as everyone else looked at us, extremely confused. "I do, Ronin. One of our own just died." She said as the throne room doors swung open, letting the Lunar captain run in with- "Pinkie!" Twilight exclaimed as I shot up and ran over to her while Twilight and Chrysalis teleported over. I grabbed her off of Bellflowers back, who immediately left the room after being relieved of Pinkie, and sat down with her in my lap. She looked up at me, tears in her eyes. "Pinkie...what happened?" I asked, noting that Larxene was not with her. Pinkie sniffled as she looked from me to Twilight to Chrysalis. "Guys...I'm so sorry. We saw Gilda sneak into a room, and she was talking with Blueblood and another guy about hurting Ronin...but I gave us away and Larxene teleported me down here." She said as I gritted my teeth. Then the pain I felt earlier was her...Damn it! Twilight, connecting the dots, backed away slightly as she grimaced. "Gilda's here? And she was talking with Blueblood?" Chrysalis stood, her face emotionless as she turned to Luna, who had followed us to Bellflower along with Raiden and Daybreaker. "Night princess...When I find Blueblood, he will pay for this." She said as Luna looked at her and sighed. "It seems our nephew is more involved in this than we thought." She stated with a frown. "Indeed, I am. Though I'm afraid you figuring it out now changes little." We turned to the doorway to see Blueblood standing there alongside some older griffon and Gilda. Well, looks like the prince decided to show himself...but why? I thought as I kept eye contact with the male griffon. And who's this guy?