The journey back to Ponyville was silent. Even after the battle against Twilight Sparkle, there was still always something going on. During the train ride, Sunset kept her eyes on the windows and the landscapes beyond them. Where were those runes? Sunset certainly couldn't see them. She peered long and far, eyes open and scanning every last single surface out there. Something was coming. She could feel it, more than the other three passengers on this train.
The car hit that familiar bump, bouncing her from those dark thoughts of impending doom and back into the waking sun of Equestria. The cold of winter was making her drowsy. Nearly delirious. But she knew what she heard. There were runes out there of Twilight's doing. Why?
"Stop searching."
She turned around to Starlight, sitting across the aisle buried neck-deep in a tabloid about some celebrity. "What do you mean?"
She flipped a page and sighed deeply. "Stop searching for those runes. I highly doubt we'll be able to see them from here. They're in Manehattan and everywhere else along the coast. Nowhere near Ponyville."
"I know, I know, but..." Sunset faced the window again and leaned on her hoof. "If what Snap Seed said is true, and none of them are related to her attack, then we should worry."
Starlight glanced up from her tabloid and in Sunset's direction. "Do you resent her?"
"No. I resent nopony. I just want to understand. I think it's too late for that now."
"We could always ask the Princesses."
Sunset rolled her eyes and let out a breath. "The Princesses are biased. Their words are no longer trustworthy."
The hissing of the brakes alerted them of their location. The train station, back in Ponyville. They bounded off the car and into the chill air of Ponyville. Ever since Twilight attacked, business slowly turned over a new leaf to normality. But not nearly to the point where it should be. Where it was before. The walk back to the castle was thick, albeit quick, in a desperate attempt to get out of the cold. They would only speak again when they were clear of any ears.
When the doors of the castle would shut them into the isolation of the castle. It seemed so empty now. How active it was in the past deemed it necessary for a period of silence to reflect. Strange. The girls, even Spike, fail to come here anymore. For even this was out of their comfort zone. The smell of coffee was no longer prevalent. The talk of early morning plans no longer flowed through the halls.
Silence over, Sunset walked away from the doors and up the hall with Starlight closely on her tail. "I know the Princesses know something, but they would try and bend a lie to paint Twilight in a different light. That all of her decisions weren't influenced and, instead, were at random."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because they've done it before. They blamed Twilight entirely in public, until admitting to themselves in private that they too were partly responsible. Twilight doesn't act without valid reasoning."
They walked through the castle and back into the map room. So much history was conducted here; so much accomplished. Now, it was as if life itself stood still. While the ponies, the cold air, the temperatures, even the smells moved with time outside of these crystal walls, the settling of dust was all that commuted within. As if Twilight herself was the pinnacle of change here; and without her, nothing would evolve.
Sunset and Starlight slid into the seats around what used to be the Map of Friendship. They eyed the biggest one there. Embossed with a star.
Starlight pulled her eyes away. "So, what do you think? Are we going to help her?"
"Well, I suppose it's obligatory." Sunset pointed to that chair, the one looming over the times. The one with the cutie mark of an eight pointed starburst. "She would want us to. Snap's right. If Twilight is leading with a clue, then these runes would be the first ones to check out."
"I wonder what's happening in Psera. Did they actually try to assassinate Fresh Dawn? She's only a filly. I'm beginning to think she was safer here."
"It's no doubt that she was, but her citizenship is with Psera, so she must return to Psera. There has to be a more thorough explanation. Are they even investigating?"
Starlight shook her head. "Snap said that a majority of the Pserateps are tearing down all resemblances of Twilight. Does that include her daughter as well?"
A drink was needed, and Sunset stood to seek it out. "We don't have a lot of time to ponder it. According to the Princesses, all of Twilight's magic is supposed to return tonight. We'll have to meet up with Snap again soon before that time to get a good reading. Because if those things are standing afterwards, then they may be seen by the Princesses. There's no predicting what'll happen next."
The meeting was over, and the solution was as expected. The trip back to their secure pod was filled with anxiety. Still under a Code Yellow, the guidance to their sources of transportation was rushed, yet calm. Eyes forward, focused on the target until safely inside the silence of the pod. However, despite being in the safe hooves of the Elite Guard, Princess Fresh Dawn still didn't feel any safer as she did outside of them under the burning gaze of Psera's worshippers.
The solution was simple, yet so recurrent whenever it came to magic. It made Dawn truly realize how dependent Psera has become, mother's worst fear. The tales of ancient histories that made the Pserateps appear as gods no longer applied. The only gods to ever truly grace their presence was her own mother, and Narmeelah herself, with the latter to reemerge from the darkness of death with a taste for a reset.
In a matter of ten hours, Narmeelah would show herself in some form of fashion. With mom's magic in the way, she was unable to do anything save for watch and listen. But once it leaves Psera, the truest evil in any time, in any world, on any continent would finally be unleashed upon Equus.
They had to act fast, not go through a third party. Instead, the Pserateps chose to contact the very same ponies who turfed out the only one with an actual valid answer. Dawn didn't want to talk to them. She wanted to go against them and figure this out on her own with those who claim to be the greatest on Equus. Alas, it was not the way.
So, here she sat, in a secure pod rolling through the streets watching the blue winter skies of Psera. Look at them, soaring through the air as if nothing were amiss during a Code Yellow.
Dawn shook her head and focused her sights on the ponies accompanying her back to the castle. Gardeen, typing away on her pad and Her Majesty Molten Ice talking urgently on the Comm Block.
"I don't care if they are in the middle of a snowstorm, do whatever it takes to get in contact with Equestria as soon as possible. We are running out of time." She hung up before a response could be given and smiled warmly to Fresh Dawn. "We're going to figure something out."
"There's no point." Dawn faced the window again. "Psera, and the rest of Equus, have already chosen their fate." And opened up an irreparable opportunity for the worst disaster to ever invade our shores.
"You're not telling me something, Dawn." Dawn looked back to Grandma Ice, eyeing her prey as if ready to strike.
"What do you mean?"
Grandma Ice set the Comm Block to the side and glared to her seemingly gormless granddaughter. She, however, knew otherwise. "You've been acting strange ever since you came back from the trial. Did you see something? Hear something?"
Gardeen looked up between Dawn and Molten, ceasing her typing.
"...mom told me something," Dawn admitted. "A long time ago. It involved Psera and Equus."
"What did she tell you?"
"Would you believe me if I told you?"
"I'll believe that these words came from your mother, Dawn. Now, what was it?"
Dawn turned around and faced Molten's eyes. Void of any understanding or empathy. Instead, filled to the brim they were with the ferocity of a Queen, desperate to keep her ponies safe. Her warning would be unheard, and her words cast aside as soon as they left her mouth.
"Equus is in danger and under threat by the same pony who created it."
"Narmeelah," Molten assumed.
"Yeah. Mom wasn't wrong. Narmeelah's back."
Molten say back in her seat, but her stare didn't waver from Dawn. "She's back," she repeated.
Her tone sounded almost mocking. Were they near the Castle yet? A glance to the window showed her they had a few minutes left until then they reached the gates.
"Yes," Dawn answered. "Narmeelah's back and she's trying to kill us all to free Equus from corruption. She wants to start over."
"Your mother told you this."
"I witnessed it. One of Narmeelah's Daughters, Shaoloh, tried to keep us imprisoned on that island. When we managed to escape, she did as well. While I was there, I investigated the island and came across evidence by Narmeelah herself. Her plan was to rid of all the Princesses and mom in one go by using mom herself, the action of which was presented before us almost, if not, a week ago."
"But it didn't happen," Molten retorted. "Narmeelah's plan failed. The Princesses are alive."
"...but mom isn't."
"...what?" Gardeen whispered. She looked up from her pad, eventually setting it to the side. "What are you talking about?"
Dawn's expression fell into solemnity. She closed her eyes and looked back to the window.
"Mom and I have this empathic connection. I could always feel her emotions, and she mine. After she was extradited, I lost connection shortly after. I could feel her all my life, but now... There's a hole inside where she used to be."
Dawn's hoof lifted and grasped at her chest. An emptiness, a void. Those emotions that defined her purpose was no longer there. Where a thickness occupied was now filled with a feather-like existence.
"Mom...she's not with us anymore." Dawn looked away from the window with tears in her eyes. "She's with dad now. That gives Narmeelah her open window; and it all starts when mom's magic leaves this place."
Molten crossed her hooves. "When your father was alive, he would tell me about the emotions you and your mother shared. I figured it was only a standard connection between mother and daughter."
"No. This is more. I could almost read mom's mind. That's how close we were. I would know exactly what she was thinking without even looking at her. But she's gone now. Now, we're all in trouble. The only pony who could even stop Narmeelah is dead because of all of you."
"Dawn, that's not fair."
Dawn steeled her gaze and narrowed her eyes. "Neither was it fair to keep me from seeing her until you kicked her off Psera. It wasn't fair for me to be shot at and almost killed. It wasn't fair for me to be kidnapped by Zebras. And it isn't fair for me to face hate and ridicule as a filly after all of it. I think I reserve the right to be unfair."
"Dawn—"
"Don't talk to me." Dawn turned away from Molten and out the window. Despite it being just about the end of the world, Dawn couldn't wait for the lights to go out. Then, for once, she would be right. She'd certainly be more than just her mother's daughter. She'd be the pony who warned Psera that danger was near, the pony they ignored.
The castle could not creep closer fast enough.
So, they were actually doing this? Following the lead of that excitable pony? She spoke so fast it were nearly impossible to follow her words exactly, let alone understand what she was speaking about. But there were a few keywords Sunset and Starlight did understand.
Twilight. Runes. Plan. Even beyond her banishment, she was still out there protecting them. The question was, why?
Bags? Check. Gear? Check. Sunset burst through the entrance to the castle of Ponyville and back out into the noisy air of Equestria. The birds sang their daily songs, the wind blew their tunes into the airs of any who dared listen. Life was slowly beginning to return to normal. At least, that's what Sunset heard. Maybe it was a trick of the brain, placing sounds into her mind that were never there.
The slamming of the door behind them brought Sunset back out of her reminiscences. She was joined by Starlight, gazing into the distant city of Canterlot, a kingdom upon a mountain.
"Are we going to the train station?" Starlight asked.
"No need!"
A very birdlike shriek expelled from the back of Sunset's throat. She and Starlight whipped around to face the source of their sudden visitor. The one lying back in a beach chair and drinking from a bottle with a pair of sunglasses on facing the blue afternoon sky, accompanied by her assistant next to the door. As if time were on their side.
The straw popped from between Snap Seed's lips followed closely by a relieving sigh.
"It's about time you two came out," she said. "Before you ask, yes, I've been waiting. I followed you back here because I knew you'd say yes. Besides, our being here will prevent you from taking quite the pointless trip."
Sunset wanted to be mad, but how could she fight against a valid point? Instead, her response was a stare, the likes of which were unwavering, dangerous to approach.
Starlight quickly cleared her throat to disperse this tension. "Why are you here exactly? Why meet us back at the castle?"
"It's too late in the evening." Snap Seed rolled out of her chair and into the grass. It folded automatically and into a shape to allow easy carry. "While we're investigating, Twilight's magic is going to leave Equestria. The runes in Canterlot and Manehattan are up high. So, one, if that building collapses, we'd be near it and nopony wants that; two, we have to travel further east, into the woods. There's no point in staying in Canterlot; and three, if the princesses or IHT decide to investigate, and we're seen near these runes, things could go down that we don't want to go down. You get my drift, ladies?"
Answering to IHT isn't a wish they want granted. Answering to the Princesses wouldn't be good. But there was still one question Sunset wanted recognized.
"What rune are we going for then?" She asked.
Snap Seed pointed behind the castle. "It's in that direction. Near the cliffs. We have to move fast; we're running out of time. Let's go."
Their journey began at a gallop behind the castle, leading into the woods until they were out of sight and out of mind. Was it traitorous to investigate that of which had the possibility of killing them all without permission from higher authority? If so, then Sunset feared for their safety upon them finding out.
Fine. Don't listen to her. But she was no foal. Not anymore. Dawn didn't need any figure to watch over her, treat her like some kind of fragile being. Dawn was more than that.
After arriving within the safe walls of the castle, Dawn went up to her room and waited. She and First Light had a plan, and it involved more ponies. Those she hasn't seen in months, who believed she was dead.
She watched the door from under the bed sheets. Ears up and listening in. Counting the time as it ticked slowly by. Tick, tock, tick, tock.
"What are we waiting for?" First Light asked.
"The right moment." Dawn pointed to the ceiling. "Grandma tends to her garden at five every evening. And she stays up there for two hours."
"That's very unhealthy."
"Regardless, we'll be able to hear when she moves up the stairs down here. When she's in and settled, we'll move."
"And how do we know she won't look for us?"
"We don't. Which is why we have to move quickly." The plan was last minute. But experience and study would make up for what was certainly reckless actions. Dawn was anxious. Her tail swished along the floor. Her fur shivered. The cold of winter seeped through the castle walls.
A creak. Small, almost unheard. But it was there. Dawn tracked the sound with her ears and eyes. Until they pivoted off and faded away. She was in the greenhouse.
"Now?"
"Wait." Too early and grandma would know that they were moving, arousing suspicion and a reason to watch. Wait until she's watering, and she'll be so in her zone that a simple creak downstairs would be happily ignored. Time ticked by too slow. One minute and Dawn was squirming. Two, and a small sweat appeared upon her brow. Her eyes narrowed at the clock, her enemy. Why must it be so unwavering. No matter what would happen next, time would never waver, no matter how much one pleaded. Oh why, clock? Why must you toy with the innocent lives of those who depend on you?!
"Dawn, we've been waiting for four minutes, can we please go?"
Oh. Well, would you look at that. Time listened for once. Dawn teleported away from the bed as fast as she could and into the foyer of the suite. It was silent, enough to convince Dawn that Molten was neck-deep in fauna.
With that thought in mind, Dawn walked to a shadow in a darkened library and slid inside slowly. Danger was now a barrier they needed to consider. Not just Narmeelah or Shaoloh. The latter would be considered after Arcadia's magic departs. But of their own home. The castle inside.
Dawn slid out the other side of the shadow to arrive where she wanted to. Her family's old suite. Where mom used to read to her, and Dad would help her get ready for meetings with executives. Now, it was a shell of what is used to be, a safe haven. A cocoon of comfort. Instead, it permeated dread. Beauty was left behind for a new slate. A sign of what was to come.
"We can't sit here all day, Dawn," First Light regarded.
"I know. Just wanted to think back to a normal time before things got out of control again."
Dawn cautiously creaked open the door and peered out. So far, so good. It was clear. It wouldn't look good for the castle staff to see her coming from her previous home. Dawn stepped out and into the silence of the Royal Suite. Like an ocean, it swept her up threw her back into memories. They even took the little swing set mom made just for her many many years ago. Now, it was a slab of rock and sand.
On timid hooves, eyes narrowed forward, Dawn rushed around and up to the entrance of this abandoned world. She grabbed one of the doors' handles and slowly pulled downwards. It gently creaked in, allowing her to peek out. The lights of the offices beamed out into the hallway, shining bright into her eye.
Someone was walking her way before turning into an office. She has to be careful. She tipped out the door and into the hall. Were there any shadows?
Dawn scanned the hallway. So far, light covered every surface. Tables were non-existent in this region of the castle due to this area being restricted from tourism. That made it a little difficult.
Shadow teleportation it was then.
Dawn cautiously took her next step out into the hall, listening out for anything that could spook her. Oh, she wish she knew a spell that could turn her invisible. Was there even such a thing? Invisibility?
Mom would know. Would've known.
Dawn stopped at the office of that pony and teleported to the other side of the entrance, out of sight. In, out, in, out, until finally, she arrived at where she wanted, no, needed to be. Labeled by a golden plaque, the situation room served as the smallest-most-powerful brain in all of Psera. Connected to the information center of Psera's Office of Defense, whatever they had there, they had here as well.
"What are you doing?"
Dawn froze and whipped around to face Gardeen, watching her from a nearby hallway. At least it wasn't her assistant. She was carrying a notebook, wearing a pair of reading glasses and that castle access badge.
Dawn looked back to the door then her sister.
"Look," she said. "We can't just sit around all day and do nothing about this."
"We?"
Dawn pointed to her head. "First Light and myself. Once mom's magic is gone, we have to act fast, or else Narmeelah's going to tear us a new one. So I need to get in contact with someone."
"You know, if you wanted contact information—"
"And," Dawn interrupted. "I need some classified information. Excuse me."
"Wait, Dawn I don't think—"
Dawn opened the door and lead herself inside, effectively shutting and locking Gardeen out of the situation. Here she was, the brain of Psera. Another subtraction from the areas of the castle she's never stepped hoof in before. The situation room. All the comp systems were connected to the table, small slabs of glass with a larger one at the head, where her parents would sit, the late king and Queen of Psera.
"Finally," First Light whined. "It took forever just to get here."
"Sorry for wasting your time." Dawn slid into her mother's chair and slapped on their system. The screen, covered in dust. A sweep of the hoof rectified the matter quickly. Now she could see. Doesn't housekeeping come in here anymore?
Come on, hurry up. Finally! Fully booted! Dawn quickly tapped away. Would her mother's login still work? Only one way to find out. She slowly tapped it in, then cautiously submitted the key. Boom, yes! On a side note, why was this still in the system? Anyone could get in here. It's a backdoor to highly sensitive information! Secretary Manny needs to be informed.
But only after Dawn streaks some information.
Digging, constantly sifting through endless folders and wikis. As convenient as it was to find information on Psera's networks, finding these kinds of files certainly took time. Dawn wasn't sure how much more she could take. She wiped her brow and glanced up to the door.
"I'm sure it's cool," First Light assured.
"Confirming that would be helpful," Dawn replied. But even she knew they didn't have time to waste looking for eyes. They had work to do. She clicked around some more, watching the files fly by. Back and forth until finally...
Dawn stopped and narrowed her eyes. DON. What does that stand for? Dawn clicked on the folder and opened a plethora of documents. All titled the basics of numerical filenames. One, two, three, four, so one and so forth. Strange.
Dawn glanced up to the door then clicked on one. The document downloaded into a temp folder and then opened. Boom.
"Yes," Dawn whispered. It was The Diary of Narmeelah. Buried so deep it took her almost an hour to find it. Dawn quickly skimmed through, much of which she already knew. As if mom herself wrote this. She probably did. Dawn exited out of the file and into another one.
"Finally," First Light decreed.
They reached it, the security diagram. Dawn hummed in thought. She would need a copy of this. Was there a printer? Yes, there, in the corner. A second later and she had three copies. Now that that was done, Dawn turned to another task that would take merely a fraction of the time it took to find those files. thirty-three minutes, are you serious?
Dawn quickly exited the files and swiftly opened a new tab. Typing in a link she accessed the castle's references to find a specific pony in Psera. Erikia Malnoro Torue. There had to be only one, right?
Wait... There was four?! Ugh. Dawn snipped their addresses and pasted them into another printed document. Then logged off, and teleported back to the room. Time was running out. Numbers that would ignite a war between her and Narmeelah were close to falling to zero.