//------------------------------// // Chapter 20: The Plans // Story: Turmoil Rising // by JFT //------------------------------// Howling winds ran across the snowy landscape. So far north of the Crystal Empire, where the magical protection of Crystal Heart ceased, snowstorms were present all year-round, yet even then, some made their home here, which meant somebody had to keep things in check. A little unicorn mare named Glitter Drops ran the Arctic Patrol, and she was going about her usual routine. No, not patrolling; it was that time of the week again and she had to go pick up the food for her numerous pets. Of course, that didn’t stop the occasional request for assistance, from which she was just returning, and it took longer than she anticipated, but she didn’t have to worry about her critters, knowing her co-worker was at home looking after them. This late in the afternoon it was almost nighttime out in the wilderness, so she had to pick up the pace if she didn’t want to run into any undesirables. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t have to look far, since they found her first. There was a movement in the nearby trees that made her stop. She couldn’t quite make up what it was, apart from a pair of yellow eyes glowing in the shadows. And then it came lumbering out, with heavy footsteps and breathing; it was tall, its body made of wood, shaped to resemble a giant omnivore. “Lumber bear,” the little mare whispered to herself. It wouldn’t be the first time she had an encounter with the species, and much like their distant cousins, the timber wolfs, they were extremely aggressive. She prepared herself, stepping into a fighting stance as her horn lit up. The creature stopped and then let out a roar. Suddenly, behind it, from the shadow of the trees, a dozen more eyes lit up, and before she knew it, more lumber bears joined him. Glitter Drops’ confidence sank; she might have been able to take on at least one of them, but a whole pack was too much. There was only one way out now. Her horn erupted in bright light, blinding them all. By the time their sight returned, their target had already dashed away, leaving hoofprints in the snow. She ran as fast as she could. She may have bought herself some time with her trick, yet she could already hear a massive stampede accompanied by roaring sounds right on her tail. If she was to have any chance at all, she would need to get her co-worker’s assistance. She was fast approaching the border, just one more turn, and the deep snow would no longer slow her down as much. She made a turn right around the cliff edge and… BAM! She had just hit her head on a rock, the blunt pain echoing in her head caused her to lose balance in her hooves and she collapsed in the snow. There was a distinct ringing sound in her ear, her vision had gone a bit blurry, but even then, she could see the pack of lumber bears fast approaching. There was no way for her to outrun then now. She cowered at the corner of the rock she had hit, covering her face. The stampeding sound suddenly stopped and there was silence for a moment, then she heard a strange sparking sound; first, it flickered, then the second time, and on the third turn it became constant, followed by a sudden sound of a lightning bolt striking, along with a strong flashing light. The wooden usras let out roars of terror and ran off. Finally, the quiet fell on the surroundings, the sound of the cold wind was all the was left in its place. Glitter Drops’ senses finally fully recovered, but it still boggled her mind what exactly happened? What could’ve scared a whole pack of lumber bears? The lightning? Even so, where did it come from? And what was that sparking sound moments before? She was about to depart while pondering, only to realize she was about to bash her head into the rock again, even though she could’ve sworn she avoided it, what caught her off guard though was that she was able to see her own distorted image on its surface. Startled, she took in the full picture as she took several steps back and realized what was actually in front of her. A giant bipedal shape towered over the little pony, covered with a cloak and cowl, yet past the lower half, its dark body was visible to her, showing a reflective, yet rough surface. She then heard the sparking sound again and then noticed there was light flickering in the palm of its right arm. As the northern winds blew, the cowl covering its head moved slightly, and the unicorns spotted a single teal eye under it. She was suddenly overcome with fear; the creature was peering right at her. “Huh?” a voice came out of it as it turned its head to the right side. “Yeah yeah… I’m going already…” With those words, the creature finally took a step, moving slowly in Glitter Drops’ direction… and stepped over her, acting as if she wasn’t even there, as if nothing happened. But something has happened; this creature of stone just saved her life, yet it acted as if it was not a big deal. “Thank you!” she called out to it when it was already a considerable distance away. It stopped for a moment and turned its head to the side. “Huh? Yeah sure… whatever…” Without another word, the creature continued its march, wandering off into the Frozen North. She wanted to thank it properly, but she could see it had other priorities. There was one little problem left, however: the encounter will have likely left the unicorn with a nasty bruise on her head, she’d prefer to just stick her head in the snow for a few minutes and let it cool off. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the luxury of time as her pets were hungrily awaiting her back home and her co-worker was likely growing anxious from her absence, so she didn’t waste much time and trotted off home. Her office finally came in sight. The cold wind may have been helping soothe the sting from her bruise, but she could really go for a nice ice pack in a warm home. She entered the reception lobby and took off her saddlebags. “Fizzy, I’m back! How are the kids?” Instead of a response, a crash followed. “Fizzy?!” Glitter Drops called and entered the living room. It was chaos. The furniture was turned over as a mare was running around, being pursued by a group of starving felines. “Dropsy, where’s that food?! Stop them already!” she cried. The unicorn brought out the bags, and she didn’t even have to do as much as shake them, and the sound of treats contained inside drew the attention of the attackers. “Come on, kitties! Mama’s got a little something for you!” she called out to them. The gaggle of cats immediately gathered at the hooves of their owner as she walked over to their bowls and began filling them up. It didn’t take long for them to finally go silent and proceeding to stuff their faces. With the pets dealt with, it was time to clean the mess, but not before a sigh of relief got her attention, from the co-worker who just emerged from behind a back chair. The mare was at least a head taller than her, the fur purple and her mohawk-shaped mane in a darker tone of pink. However, this unicorn had several other notable characteristics that would make anyone recognize her; the most notable was her broken horn, followed by a claw mark on her right eye, and the last but not least, the dark clothing with metal armor attached to it and a very recognizable symbol of two teal lightning bolts facing each other to shape eyes. Even with the name like Fizzelpop Berrytwist, she was mostly remembered by others only as Tempest Shadow, the Storm King’s former lieutenant. “Fizzy, what’s happened?” her smaller companion inquired. “Your critters are ravenous monsters, Dropsy. That’s what’s happened,” Tempest responded to her question. “Couldn’t you have just stopped them?” “How? You know I can’t use force on them. Or should I have just locked them in a confined space?” “Well, no, but look at this place, Fizzy. It’s a mess.” “Sorry, but this was as long as I could keep them calm before the hunger got the better of them,” she made excuses. “Where were you anyway? I thought you were gonna be back quickly, but you were away for more than an hour.” “Sorry, but I had a few side calls to take care. And on top of that-“ “Dropsy, what’s happened to your head?!” the ex-commander raised her voice in panic after finally noticing the giant bruise on her friend’s head. “Oh, this… I was getting to that. I had a close encounter with a pack of lumber bears.” The teal mare tried to gently touch her head only to flinch from the sting. The broken unicorn rushed into the kitchen and returned with an icepack, which Glitter Drops picked up and placed on the area of trauma. “Dropsy, tell me exactly what happened.” The streets of the Crystal Empire were lively as ever. The crystal ponies had their shops and stalls opened for visitors to buy their crystal-based products; visitors who came far and wide from all over Equestria. One of them took particular interest, not so much in the things that were being sold, but rather things that weren’t sellable. The figure sneaked to one of the houses, checked about to make sure nobody was looking and then quickly bit into the corner of the crystalized house, taking a huge chunk out of it. She chewed, the sound of crystals grinding against one another and breaking down inside her mouth made her feel giddy. This was the fourth house she tried and it had a distinct flavor from others, and she wondered what the next one would taste like. “Smolder!” a stern voice called out. She flinched. She’s just been seen, and at the moment’s notice, she jumped into the nearby trash can. Luckily for her, it’s already been emptied, though that didn’t eliminate the lingering stench. That’s however where her luck ran out as the dragon felt the can in which she was hiding, move, and then turned upside-down, causing her to fall out and onto the pavement. “Smolder,” the angry headmare looked down on her, “what do you think you’re doing? You can’t just go about eating bits of somepony’s house. How would you feel if somepony decided to take a bite of your house?” “Well, I-“ “Hey! What happened to my house?!” the resident returned only to find the state in which his home was. Starlight pulled a concerned face and pushed the dragon in front of her, trying to make sure they get away from the place of the incident unnoticed. “Don’t look back at him, don’t look back at him, don’t look back at him…” The students from the School of Friendship were all over the place across the empire, and Starlight Glimmer had to make sure that they were not up to any mischief. Sandbar in the meantime helped Silverstream carrying a few bags as she went on a shopping spree. “Sandbar, you know you don’t need to help me,“ Silverstream said. “Yeah, but I lost Yona and Gallus, and Ocellus is likely at a book store, the least I can do is help you… all things considered,” the young stallion said, as he struggled under the weight of the hippogriff’s bags. He stopped at one of the stands, spotting a plethora of mini-tarts of all kinds. “You go ahead. I’ll catch up with you at the next store.” The hippogriff flew off. As he browsed which desert to buy, the temptation set into the lemon-furred pony. All of these deserts, all of them so uniquely designed, all of them looking absolutely delicious… he couldn’t just take ONE! They all looked so good that he’d feel like he picked the wrong one. And since the old habits die hard, the earth pony couldn’t help himself but buy just about all the types at disposal. He would soon regret his decision, as the already heavy load he was carrying got him to wobble, threatening the surrounding passersby with a collapse. Eventually the inevitable happened the blue-maned stallion crashed into somebody, the cupcakes on his back came tumbling down and pelting the unfortunate victim. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” he started to apologize. “It… it’s okay,” the silky female voice spoke. “Please let me help you get cleaned up,” he frantically grabbed paper towels from a nearby stall and desperately tried to wipe the cream off the mare’s face. “No… please, it’s okay. I can do it myself,” she argued. A green aura surrounded the mare’s bulge on her forehead; she was a unicorn. Suddenly all the cream on her was enveloped by the magical aura, and in a split second, it all went flying off her, splattering right into Sandbar’s face. “Oh… oh dear, I’m so sorry about that,” she apologized back. The young stallion chuckled. “Nah, it’s okay, I totally deserved that one. I’m so sorry for making a mess, miss-“ He stopped after wiping off the cream from his eyes and actually seeing the mare. She was white as snow, her mane long and green as a grass field with a single pink streak running down it. He could’ve sworn he’s seen her before somewhere. “What?” she asked him. “Why are you staring at me like that?” He shook his head. “I’m so sorry, but… you look like somepony I saw somewhere before…” She smiled. “Trust me, you wouldn’t be the first one who told me that. Now if you excuse me…” She trotted off past him. Sandbar still couldn’t figure out why this mare looked so familiar, he did however notice that she carried a saddlebag filled with books, and one of them lay to the side where she was just now; it likely fell off when he bumped into her. “Miss, wait!” he called out to her, before grabbing the book between his teeth and ran after her. The mare eventually stopped when she heard him, turning to face him, and the young stallion finally got to her and offered her the missing book. “Oh my… why thank you, young man. I’d get some really mean looks from the librarian if I didn’t bring that back.” She picked it up and levitated it to her side. As it did, the earth pony managed to catch the book's title, “History of the Crystal Empire”. There were other books with related titles, such as “Magic of the Crystal Heart” and “Amore: The First Crystal Princess”, to name some. “You seem to have a lot of books about Crystal Empire, miss…” he let her know his observation. “I’m not a local and this is my first time visiting, so I’m trying to learn as much about this place as I can,” she answered him. “Well, I won’t hold you back any longer if that’s the case. Again, I’m sorry for the inconvenience, miss.” He quickly scurried away to the mess he had left behind, picked up what wasn’t destroyed, and ran after the rest of the group. As the student left, the mare quickly trotted off, picking up the pace until she finally slipped into an alley between two houses, proceeding to an old rundown door, checking whether or not anyone has followed her, and then snuck inside. It was dark, the thick curtains blocking just about all the light inside, while a mess lay all over the place. This building has been condemned for a long time and it’s been years since anybody has lived in it, so it made a perfect hideout for anyone trying to keep a low profile. “Did you bring them?” a grizzled voice spoke. A shape of an old ram emerged for the shadows, becoming only slightly clearer. “This is all I could gather on the Crystal Empire, Grogar,” the mare said as she levitated the books from her saddlebag to his side. “But is all of this necessary? I could just tell you all you need to know.” The books that levitated were now enveloped in dark light, as the sorcerer brought them closer. “As generous as that may be, I’d prefer to not gloss over any details.” “You don’t trust me?” the unicorn asked. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, I just don’t trust you have the information required,” he explained himself. “So… what? You’re just gonna go through books? Shouldn’t we be doing something more productive while we wait?” “Until that rug rat comes back we’ll still have more than enough time. We’re dealing with ancient magical artifacts of great power here, so we have to find a way to disable it, as well as finding the seal to the prison.” “But what if the answers you seek aren’t contained in any of the books?” she inquired. Grogar levitated one of the books to his face and opened it. “If all else fails… I suppose the child can be of assistance.” “The child…? Wait a second, you don’t mean-?” “She’s young and naive… she doesn’t know any better, nor does she know any of us. These kinds of weaknesses are easy to exploit. We’ll just have to use a proper approach,” he chuckled to himself. “But we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.” The afternoon sun was high and Princess Cadence walked through the crystal flower garden. Ever since she took the legendary Mistmane into her service, she served as the royal landscape artist of the Crystal Empire. Much like plants, the quartz and other forms of crystals bent to her will as if clay, making it look as if the empire was in a constant blooming spring. It was in places like this that the Princess of Love took a momentary respite from the everyday struggles of the ruling. As she walked through the quartz garden, she heard a voice in the distance, so she peeked around the corner. It seemed that the old unicorn had a visitor today: it was an earth pony, his fur and mane were both of earthly color, and he had a strangely indifferent look on his face. She couldn’t quite make it out what was being said, all she saw was the stallion nodding after a prolonged discussion and then walking away. The princess finally decided to move out in the open to confront the old mare. “I don’t remember ever seeing you receive visitors, Mistmane. A friend of yours?” The old mare turned to the sound of her voice. “Oh, hello Your Majesty. No, nobody I know. But it seems the young man was very keen on finding me for a special request.” “A special request?” Cadence frowned. “He didn’t ask you to undertake a dangerous mission, did he?” Mistmane laughed. “Oh no, nothing as drastic as that, but he did consider it important. He asked me to fashion for him a very special crystal flower jewel… for a special event… for his special somepony. Though if I’m honest, I think you should do the honors in my place of delivering it, considering your position.” “Me? My position? What are you trying to-“ the Princess of Love was confused for a moment, but then it immediately all clicked into place for what the landscape artist was implying. “Wait… are you saying he’s going to…?” Mistmane simply nodded in response. A little squirm escaped the princess’ mouth. “Awww, that’s so sweet. No wonder he decided to seek you out for an occasion like this.” The old mare smiled. “Mind you it will take a lot of work, likely a day or two.” Just then, Cadence noticed a strange smoky shape fast approaching her from the distance, and when it reached her, it transformed into a sealed wrapped up parchment. It bore Twilight’s seal. She quickly opened it and began reading through it. Meanwhile, Mistmane watched patiently, as she noticed the expression on the princess’ face became burdened with concern. “Your Majesty, is there something wrong?” She didn’t respond to her. “Twilight… what are you thinking?” “Are you absolutely sure, Scotaloo?!” Applebloom frantically asked her friend as the two young mares ran down the street of Ponyville. “There’s no doubt about it. The way Princess Celestia reacted when I delivered her Zecora’s message, it was clear something’s gone wrong,” the orange pegasus explained. “After that, I went to check up on both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy and they weren’t home!” “Applejack hasn’t come home since yesterday,” the country pony said. “She said she was going to check on some Council business and that's it!” Another set of galloping hooves could soon be heard, as it came rushing to their side from opposite direction. It was Sweetie Belle. “Rarity’s been gone as well! Her store’s been closed since yesterday and she left no note or message or anything that she’s gone somewhere!” “Pinkie Pie was absent from Sugarcube Corner!” added Applebloom. “And it seems that even Twilight is gone!” “But where? Where could they have gone?!” Scotaloo flailed about. “I can only think of one thing that happened…” Applebloom stopped herself before she could finish the sentence, remembering that what she’s heard was supposed to be a secret. “Never mind.” “Applebloom?” the fashionista’s little sister caught on. “What were you trying to say just now?” “Nothing…” The two young mares suddenly glared at her. It was clear she wasn’t telling them something. “Come on Applebloom, what is it that you’re not telling us?” Scotaloo urged her. “I… I can’t say, I promised Applejack,” she resisted. “Well Applejack is likely in danger now and you’re the only one who may know what’s up!” pushed Sweetie Belle. She kept her mouth shut. The unicorn and the pegasus looked at each other and then promptly jumped the earth pony. They were determined to get a confession out of her. “Say it!” the white mare poked her. “No.” “Say it!” the orange mare proded. “No." “SAY IT!” they both cried out in unison. Suddenly a flash erupted in the sky above Ponyville and it blinded everybody temporarily, including the Cutie Mark Crusaders, which was more than enough to grab their attention. A wide purple magical screen opened above the town, the imagery showing the balcony outside the throne room. And then the Council of Friendship walked on to the stage, accompanied by the legendary wizard, the two sisters, and the shaman. “Rainbow Dash! Rarity!” both the unicorn and the pegasus yelled. The earth pony exhaled in relief. “See? You guys got frustrated for nothing.” And then the Princess of Friendship spoke. “Residents of Canterlot! Of Ponyville! I’ve come before you today as the ruling princess of Equestria to make a few important announcements. In the last few days, you’ve been a witness to several events taking place here in the heart of our kingdom, starting with the invasion of the earth elementals on Canterlot, however with the changeling infiltration that took place not long after that, we can confirm the following.” She conjured the image of the reborn changeling queen for everybody to see. “Queen Chrysalis has escaped her stone prison. We’ve yet to discover where her other two associates are, but it is very likely that they’re yet to reveal themselves. The Queen of Changelings has summoned some unspeakable evil that resides in the depths of the Everfree Forest, as such it is hereby decreed that all the citizens stay clear out of the Everfree Forest and report all the comings and goings out of it to your local authorities.” Sweetie Belle and Scotaloo could hear a sigh of relief coming from Applebloom. “Thank goodness. I don’t have to hide it anymore.” “Wait, that’s what this was about?” the Pegasus looked at her. “I was at the wrong place at the right time, so I heard it, and Applejack made me promise I wouldn’t tell.” “Which brings me to the second point,” the Twilight announced on the big screen. “After yesterday it’s become clear that the Queen of Changelings is not acting alone in this matter. Somehow she’s managed to acquire allies that nopony could’ve ever expected.” She conjured an image of a grizzled old ram. “Only kids may recall this creature from their storybook, but I can assure all of you that he is quite real. Grogar, the dark sorcerer from the legend of Gusty the Great has returned and is now working alongside Queen Chrysalis.” Murmurs could be heard on the streets of both Canterlot and Ponyville, but it was nothing compared to what would soon follow. “Which brings me to the last and final point. Due to the circumstances that have presented themselves, it’s become clear that the situation has escalated to the point where I cannot simply just sit by and let others handle the situation, and since this is something that will require the whole of Council of Friendship’s attention and involvement, and I have no idea how long this endeavor will take…“ she paused, preparing herself for the reaction of what she was about to say. “…I will be abdicating the throne until further notice, effective immediately.” The moment she finished the sentence, loud noise erupted across Canterlot and Ponyville. They couldn’t believe that their princess decided to simply stand down after ruling for little more than three years. Some of them even started to panic. Starswirl had just finished unloading the burden of knowledge onto the Council and the two sisters, a burden of which only he was privy to for more than a thousand years. The darkness called Turmoil that slept under the Everfree Forest, which he used as his extension, the only alicorn king who defeated it and now… to the possibility that it might return. And by the end, Applejack asked the obvious question. “So… now that we know what we’re dealing with, what’s our plan of action?” For a while Twilight just stood there, unsure what to say, but after what she’s just heard, there really wasn’t any way to mince words. “I… I don’t know. All of this… it’s just so much to digest. Our enemy clearly has an advantage since they seem to know what to do and in which direction. Me? I don’t even know where to start. If we’re supposed to beat Queen Chrysalis and Grogar to where the next fragment of Turmoil is, how are we even supposed to track it down? We’ve no leads to go on where they could’ve gone.” “I don’t think that’s entirely true, darling,” the fashionista responded. The group looked at her, but only the old wizard answered. “Is there something on your mind, Miss Rarity?” “Mister Starswirl,” she addressed him, “can you conjure up the memory of Turmoil’s defeat again?” The old sage didn’t really enjoy the idea of revisiting a past he did not want to be remembered of again, but if the mare had some idea on how to deal with this, it was worth a shot. His horn began to glow and the light enveloped everything. They found themselves back at the courtyard and they all saw the events played out: Turmoil’s approach, King Titan’s arrival, and his sacrifice as the light tore the dark mass apart and exploded. “STOP!” Rarity cried out and the moving imagery came to a stand. “Rewind it just a little bit.” The vision slowly moved backwards, it was really odd experience watching the whole thing move in reverse. “There!” she finally called. “Now look up.” The vision stopped where the Turmoil’s body exploded, just before it unleashed a shockwave that knocked nearly everything down, high above where the six-faced amalgamation stood, there were three noticeable trails of magical light, in colors of purple, green, and orange, flying across the sky, each in their own direction. “What is that?” Spike asked. “It’s them…” Twilight’s whispered upon realization. “Starswirl said he found one of the fragments where the Turmoil’s remains were, that it was trapped inside a gemstone of the king’s bejeweled crown. Which can only lead to the conclusion that these must be the other stones that the explosion scattered all over the place.” The old unicorn looked at the fashionista. “I must say, your keen sense for details may have saved us all, Miss Rarity.” “Oh, pshaw, sir, ‘twas nothing.” She flipped her mane with her hoof. “Hold on, this doesn’t add up,” Pinkie pie interrupted them. “The way I see it, Grumpy’s daddy had six faces, one was found by mister “the Bearded” and is now back in the cave with the tree, and the other three are scattered about, if all five are needed to make the sixth, then we’re still one short.” “Errr… Grumpy?” Starswirl crooked his brow. “That’s what she named the piece of black mass which Zecora keeps sealed in a jar,” Applejack explained. “But she does bring up a point. If these are the gems that contain each of Turmoil’s “faces”, where’s the fifth one?” No answer could be found on that matter, but even so, Celestia spoke. “We don’t know, but sadly, it’s the only thing we have to go on. At the very least we have to try.” “Princess Celestia’s right, at the very least we have a lead in which direction the possible fragments went,” Twilight said. “And if we take into account the geography of the castle in the way it’s positioned, the purple went flying north, the green went east, and the orange went somewhere southwest.” “True, but that “somewhere” still has a lot of ground to cover, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash responded. “Those gems could be anywhere between here and the other side of the world. No way do we have that much time to look for them.” “But where else do we look for gemstones that hold powerful forces that can cause calamities?” Rarity wondered. “Where the calamities took place,” Luna finally spoke after a prolonged silence, garnering everybody’s attention. It did make sense what the Mare of the Night was saying; the Manifestation of Hatred was only pacified for so long because Starswirl made sure to isolate its influence, but other pieces… “So where exactly is somewhere north that something horrible had happened?” Fluttershy asked, her sight fixated on the purple trail. Spike almost immediately answered the shy pegasus’ question. “The Crystal Empire!” They all made their way out of the archives. They may have finally found a destination. Crystal Empire had faced many calamities in the past; firstly, the mysterious storm that had been pacified only thanks to the Crystal Heart, Sombra’s rise, and his inevitable return, twice. If there was any place for sure that one of the fragments was, it was there. “Okay, now we finally have a course to follow: go to Crystal Empire, track down one of the fragments before Chrysalis and Grogar get to it. It may take some time before we find a trail there, but we can do it,” Twilight explain her plan as they returned back to the old study. “In the meantime, Starswirl can try and decipher where the other two places that calamities took place in Equestria are.” “We? Who’s we?” the dragon questioned. “The Council of Friendship of course,” she answered him. “But without you?” She stopped in her tracks just as she walked out of the room. That was Celestia’s voice, and it was stern, something she rarely did. “Princess Celestia?” she turned to face her former mentor. “Everypony, please wait for us in the courtyard,” Luna announced. Everybody looked at each other and then quickly departed; something serious was afoot. As the door shut closed, the former Princess of the Night resumed. “Twilight Sparkle, my sister and I do not believe you’ve thought this through.” “P-princess Luna, what do you mean?” she inquired. “This is the best plan I could come up with.” “I’m not talking about your plan of action, rather who you’re planning to involve in the plan. When you said “the Council of Friendship” you only meant others, but not yourself, didn’t you?” The purple alicorn froze; how could she have picked up on that. “I… I can’t leave. My priorities are in Canterlot, to run the whole kingdom. I mean I could send a few soldiers to assist the girls on the mission-” “You are the Element of Magic, Twilight Sparkle!” Luna scolded her. “Without you, the other Elements cannot act as a whole. You cannot seriously believe that sending your friends into danger, even if we may face an enemy that is immune to your powers, is a good idea!” “But I cannot leave Canterlot and the whole kingdom unattended either!” she cried out in frustration. “No…” former Princess of the Sun finally spoke in a silky voice. “No, you can’t.” Twilight knew she was trapped between a rock and a hard place. She couldn’t be in two places at once. Long gone have been the days when she was sent on a mission with her friends, while somebody else held the reigns of ruling the kingdom. Now she was in the position of a ruler and she couldn’t just abandon it even for some high adventure to the ending of a world. Her hooves were tied. “Then…” she struggled to find the word, begging her former mentor for an answer she didn’t have. “What am I supposed to do…? The two sisters looked at each other for a moment, then faced the Princess of Friendship as the younger one spoke. “There’s only one way to handle this, Twilight Sparkle. But I can tell right now you will not like it.” “Discord!” Fluttershy flew about, trying to find the draconequus. The rest of the group simply lounged about in the courtyard, with Rainbow Dash desperately trying to fly and failing miserably, and Rarity combing her hair, while the zebra in the meantime stared off into the distance, looking at the rising darkness over the forest. She wasn’t the only one, however. Somewhere, high on the broken walls of the castle ruins, the patchworked creature looked down on the same scenery, his thoughts burdened. “There you are!” The pegasus finally found him. “Discord, please forgive Pinkie Pie for the lack of tact.” “Truth is never not tactful, Fluttershy,” he answered. “Only painful.” “Discord, you didn’t stay to listen,” she traipsed closer to him. “Starswirl explained that even if the Tree of Harmony and the Elements weren’t destroyed, this would’ve likely still happened.” “You mean just as likely as Sombra discovering where they were and destroying them? If I hadn’t brought him back, there would’ve been so many things that could’ve gone better but instead-” He got interrupted as the yellow pegasus scooped him up with her hooves and pulled him into an embrace. “Shhhhh, it’s okay. I’m here for you.” And a loud prolonged moaning sob followed. “Father was right… I just keep repeating the same mistake over and over again…” The wailing could be heard all the way down to the courtyard, and it lasted for a few minutes before it finally went silent. Soon after, the pegasus descended back to the ground, with the draconequus wrapped around her neck. FLASH! The three princesses appeared instantly in the courtyard, everybody but the zebra, who took some time before her attention was roused, went to their side. “Alright Twi, what’s the word?” Applejack asked. Twilight was quiet for a moment, before finally speaking. “I know how to handle this… but it’s not going to be easy for anypony.” The three young mares just stood on the street of Ponyville, flabbergasted. “What in the world is Twilight thinking?!” But that was nothing compared to what was happening at the seat of power. Chaos had erupted on the streets of Canterlot, the ruling princess had just abdicated the throne. And most of the residents were frightened of what will happen now; who’s going to lead Equestria, who will fill the vacuum of power? But the alicorn princess wasn’t finished just yet with her announcement. “So, until things return back to normal, I will be hereby transferring power over to the two mares you all know and adore, who had led this kingdom long before I ever did, and you know you can trust in dire times, who have been the eternal guardians.” She removed the crown from her head and stepped aside as two figures stepped forth. “Princesses Celestia and Luna!” The rabble suddenly went completely quiet as the tall white alicorn with flowing rainbow mane, accompanied by the smaller darker one by her side, spoke. “Citizens of Canterlot and Ponyville!” she loudly announced. “You have just witnessed a Princess of Equestria relinquish her own position of power, but let us reassure you, you should not look at this as a moment of sorrow and despair. Twilight’s Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship has decided to personally undertake a mission to protect you all, along with the rest of the Council of Friendship. And while you all await her victorious return, my sister and I will look after the kingdom. It may be some time, but know that the bringer of dawn and harbinger of the night, will work diligently to ensure your lives will not be anything less than they were up until now. All we ask, is that you put faith into her… and into us, as you have in the ages past.” Silence loomed for a moment, then a pair of hooves started beating the pavement on the streets, followed by another, and more, and soon enough the whole street began clopping, echoing well beyond the wall of the city, reaching as almost as far as Ponyville.