Twilight sighed, her head thumping onto the table top. “And that's when he stole the map and vanished,” she explained. “Now I have no idea what they are up to, where they are and...” Twilight looked around anxiously. She leaned forward to whisper her next words. “I’m always worried to say this because I half expect one of them to show up with some reference about how bad it’s gotten, but everything seems to have… fallen apart.”
Luna held her coffee with her magic as she raised an eyebrow at Twilight’s actions. “You do realize that, considering what you’ve observed about Light Patch’s teleportation and it’s similarities to Pinkie and Discord, whispering is unlikely to affect the likelihood of him appearing to just annoy you with another obscure reference?”
“I’m learning really fast to not tempt fate more than I need to,” Twilight muttered as she batted lightly at the uneaten muffin on her plate.
“What actions are you taking to find them?” Celestia asked, breaking her silence.
“I’ve already sent a message to the Royal Guard and the law officials of the largest cities to keep an eye out for them and to report if spotted. And I notified Armor and Cadence. I was hoping you’d allow me to inform foreign diplomats of the situation.”
“Casting the net rather wide are you not, Twilight?” Luna commented.
“Like I said, I have no idea what they are up to. For all I know, they’ve decided to go find some other lost relics and form their own elements of something and save the world just to annoy me.”
“That actually does jog a memory,” Celestia mused, sipping her tea. “Light Patch and I had a short, impromptu luncheon a day or two ago. His sudden appearance was a surprise to be sure, but I hadn’t noticed anything else off. I merely assumed he and Discord were up to something. He seemed determined to get me to talk about artifacts of power.”
“You didn’t tell him anything about those, did you?!” Twilight squeaked.
“Of course not. I kept the conversation away from such topics. He was very polite, but kept steering it back when he could.”
“As long as we are sharing encounters with your friends,” Luna said, “we have also met two of them.”
“Which ones?” Twilight blanched. “Not Purple Heart, I hope.”
Luna shook her head. “Hardly. We paid Wits End a visit in his dreams, so as to avoid an incident with the Royal Guard.”
“I want to apologize for anything you saw,” Twilight stated quickly.
“We were most discreet,” Luna said with a smile. “Aside from a brief interruption from Light Patch, Wits End seemed more interested in our time as Nightmare Moon.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow. “How did Light Patch interrupt a dream?”
Luna was silent for a moment. “To avoid tempting fate, as you put it, perhaps that should be left to later.” She cleared her throat. “Regardless, Wits End appears to be seeking guidance on how to be a villain. It seems he has taken your challenge to heart.”
“Great,” Twilight muttered. “But why would he be asking for advice on that? I would’ve thought he’d have enough ideas on how to be a villain from his world.”
After another sip of tea, Celestia cleared her throat. “Perhaps he wants to avoid going too far.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well,” Celestia set her tea back on the table, “if he knows as much about your history as you say, I imagine he knows the difference between being a villain like Sunset Shimmer, and being one like Tirek. Perhaps he’s showing some restraint in order to stay in your good graces.”
Twilight stifled a snort. “Sorry, sorry. Just… the idea of Wits showing any kind of restraint.” She took a few breaths to calm herself. “But, what do you mean ‘stay in my good graces’? He left because we had an argument.”
The two sisters looked at each other. “Well,” Celestia said slowly, “based on your letters about your adventures, he’s a young, fairly intelligent colt who sees you as an equal. It’s not too strange to imagine that he has some feelings-”
“Let’s change the subject,” Twilight said quickly, and in a slightly higher pitch than she intended. “That’s two of the colts, and I know for a fact that they rarely avoid the Rule of Three. So, did anypony see Purple Heart?”
The two elder princesses exchanged an uneasy look.
“Uhm...” Celestia hummed. “No?”
Twilight stared wide-eyed at the white alicorn. “Did you just say ‘uhm’?!” she squawked, surprise evident in her voice. “Since when does one of the rulers of Equestria go ‘uhm’?!”
Celestia grinned weakly. “I’ve seen neither hide nor hair of Purple Heart,” she said weakly. “Nor have there been any reports of anypony matching his description.” Twilight slumped across the table, a low moan passing her lips.
A frown crossed Luna’s face and the Princess of the Moon looked questioningly at Twilight. “Purple Heart is a large purple earth pony with blue tattoos, correct?”
Twilight nodded slowly. “He’s also got a cutie mark. A tree with two two masks hanging from its branches.”
Luna shook her head. “We’ve not seen anypony like that in any dreams we’ve come across.” Her frown returned in full force. “However, there were a couple of ponies with startlingly unusual nightmares over the past week.”
“Really?” Twilight groaned, trying and failing to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.
“Really,” Luna confirmed. “The newly recognized Lord Mountague and Lady Canterlet.”
Both Twilight and Celestia perked up. “Newly recognized?” Twilight echoed. “Roam and Jewel were named Heads recently?”
“What happened to the previous Lord and Lady?” Celestia asked.
“Apparently, late Lord Mountague and Lady Canterlet took a nasty fall and didn’t survive,” Luna explained. “Whether it was an accident or foul play, we are not certain. However, the fallout speaks for itself: Roam and Jewel are now Heads of their respective families.” The Princess of the Moon paused. “Their dreams however do not reflect their recent change in status. They are to be married, and yet they have fears that plague them during the night. The visage of a green pony commanding hundreds of green strings.”
Twilight slammed her hooves on the table. “Bael!” she cried. “Bael killed their parents for some reason!”
“Bael was Purple Heart’s villain, correct?” Celestia clarified. “Wasn’t it only the three colts who came from Limbo?”
“It was…” Twilight trailed off. “At least, I thought so.” She stood up, her tea remaining untouched on the table. “I have to go. Sorry, Princesses!” With that, she vanished in a flash of light.
Luna raised an eyebrow at her sister. “Do you ever get tired of her doing that?”
Celestia shrugged and sipped her tea. “Equestria hasn’t been destroyed or conquered yet.”
* * *
“Soooo, why are we here again?” Rainbow asked. “I’m more than happy to help track down those three weirdos, but I fail to see how a pegasus can be helpful with unicorn magic stuff.”
“It was a pegasus,” Starlight said, pointing at Rainbow’s wings, “using Pinkie-like powers,” she emphasized by pointing at Pinkie, “or Discord-like powers, on an artifact of harmony of unknown origin.” Starlight shrugged. “I don’t know what we’ll need but I plan on being as ready as I can.”
“Trixie can tell you exactly what she needs,” the mare in question said, letting the magic leave her horn and wiping her brow. “A break.”
“Do you have any idea how he broke it?” Fluttershy asked as she hoofed over a glass of water.
“I- I mean... Trixie isn’t sure he broke it exactly,” Trixie replied, taking the offered drink and gulping it down greedily while she considered her next words.
Applejack hummed contemplatively. “Well, if’n he didn’t break it, then whut is it?”
“Trixie was getting there. It is hard to explain and Trixie isn’t even sure she’s correctly read—no, that's not the right word—interpreted what the spell is telling her.”
“What's the feeling you get, besides being hooked on one, anway?” Pinkie asked, pronking in place with her usual excitement.
“Trixie isn’t sure, but it feels like it’s working. Just not here. It's as if the spell is metaphysically here,” she gestured to the table, “but part of it was busy somewhere else… Not that that makes any sense.” Most of the others seemed to be puzzling through the unicorn’s riddle-like statement, trying to find a way to parse the words so the statement made sense. Spike was the first to look up.
“So you're saying that Light Patch switched which viewer it’s displaying on?” the little dragon asked.
“What's a viewer?” Rarity asked, looking at Spike.
Spike’s went cross eyed for a moment as he tried to put his metaphor into words. “Uhhhh...” He blinked and his eyes realigned. “To sum up, magic signature goes in and graphs and data come out.”
“So Twilight.”
“...Yes, but with less friendship lessons.”
“Trixie feels like that is surprisingly apt.” The showpony-turned-repairpony paused, as if her thoughts were elsewhere. After a moment, she blinked and shook her head. “And it has given her an idea. It is back to work for Trixie, the great and powerful artifact repair pony!” She declared, throwing her hat off in a theatrical display as her magic charged and she turned back to the table with renewed vigour.
The group went back to idly chatting and Spike went back to wringing his claws, wrestling with the fact that, once again, something big was going down and there wasn’t much he seemed able to do about it. Granted. getting to sit back at the castle and catch up on his chores and comic books was nice. But so was making sure Twilight and the others didn’t die or get captured. He looked over at the stack of comic books he and Rainbow had been reading through when one of them caught his eye. He picked it up and a cursory glance at the cover gave him an idea.
“I have an idea,” the dragon declared, standing up. “I could contact Paladin Just Duty.”
The mares looked confused. “I believe he’s still in Discord’s game world,” Twilight said. She frowned. “At least I think he is... Didn’t Discord say that the Hydra was the only one unaccounted for, Fluttershy?”
“Actually, the Hydra’s returned to the game world, but Discord said there was another minor character whose whereabouts are unknown,” Fluttershy replied. “He is confident they’d turn up soon... ish.”.
“No, no. The pony that they based Paladin Justice on from the comic book series Paladins of Equestria,” Spike corrected, holding out the comic to show it’s cover.
“Spike, don’t tell me you are actually one of those ponies that believes that the PoE is actually based on true events,” Rainbow sighed.
“I'm a dragon and you're the one that introduced me to the theory and the local fan club of the real life Paladins,” Spike deadpanned back to Rainbow who just blushed and coughed a fake cough into her hoof.
Rarity looked at the small dragon gently. “Spike, dear-”
“No! They are real! He is real! Twilight and I ran into him back during everything that happened in Sunset’s world!” The small dragon frowned, looking down in rumination. “What did she say one of them called it once? Technicolor Human Town or something...”
“Look, Ahm sure some of the events have some basis in actual guard missions or encounters, but ah really doubt that there’s a secret force’a ponies and non-ponies that travel the world dealing with threats to Equestria before they become threats,” Applejack offered. She blinked at the questioning looks from everypony else in the room. “What, I’m not allowed to read one of the oldest comic book series in Equestria when I was a filly? Or to catch up on it every now and then cuz I’m a farmer?”
“I hate to say it, but Applejack is right. While I’m sure some of it is based on facts and stories, I don’t believe the Paladins exist. The pony you and Twilight encountered was likely just pulling your leg,” Starlight suggested, earning not the mopey look she’d expected, but instead a glare of anger from the small dragon.
“Fine. I’ll just have to prove that they do exist. I’ll go contact him myself.” Spike stomped off as loudly as he could. He left the room and slammed the door behind him.
“Spike, don’t slam the doors! You’ll probably shake the castle apart!” Twilight shouted, having just appeared in a flash before Spike had left the room. “What was that about?”
“Spike’s having trouble with the whole ‘books aren’t reality’ thing,” Rainbow Dash said. “You can’t believe everything you hear.”
Applejack cleared her through loudly, in a way that might have been misheard as ‘Daring Doo’. “Sorry. How’d the meetin’ with the Princesses go, Twi?”
Twilight made a beeline for the table. “I have an idea.”
“That ain’t an answer t’my question, but okay then.”
The Princess of Friendship ignored Applejack’s comment, focusing on Starlight. “Is the map working yet?”
“We’re working on it,” Starlight replied. “So far, it looks like the underlying magic is working, but somewhere between that and the map itself, something’s broken.”
“How’d you figure that out?”
“Through Trixie’s cunning and brilliance,” Trixie’s voice said from under the table. “Also, you are standing on her hat, and she would appreciate it if you moved your hoof.”
“Sorry, Trixie.”
“S’aright.”
“The idea, darling?” Rarity asked.
“Right.” Twilight placed her forehooves on the table. “I think something followed the boys out of Limbo.”
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “Can that happen? I mean, we didn’t even know this Limbo place existed until you got the report from Sunset. What else would be in that place?”
“Yeah!” Pinkie exclaimed. “It’s like saying something lives in the pickles that’re between the bun and cheese of a hayburger!”
“Pickles have got living cultures,” Applejack said. “That’s how they ferment.”
“Are you saying alien probiotics followed them here?” Pinkie gasped.
“No. What?” Twilight blinked. “No, I’m saying the boys weren’t the only ones in Limbo when we pulled them out. Bael, Just Duty, and Holdfast were also pulled into the portal, according to Sunset.”
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “You mean Bael in the shape of Purple Heart’s kid brother, Holdfast’s soul possessing the human version of him’s body, and the alternate version of Just Duty with that Hydra’s influence in him?”
Pinkie gasped again. “Interloping pickles,” she whispered.
“Do you really think those three could have followed the colts into Equestria?” Fluttershy asked. “I mean, I thought that your spell was specifically targeting them. Wasn’t it?”
“It was,” Twilight said slowly, “but it also assumed they were the only targets. The boys couldn’t tell us anything about how space and time worked in Limbo, so it’s possible that the villains… I don’t know, grabbed on to them while the spell was transporting them here?” She sighed, slumping against the table. “It’d explain why the spell fizzled out initially, at the very least.”
“Hang on.” Starlight was pinching the bridge of her muzzle. “These villains. They’re from that game thing Discord put you through, right? Are you saying they’re here, in Equestria?”
“It would explain why the boys have been acting so strangely,” Rarity mused.
“Are you trying to say that three stallions would be stupid enough to push away their only friends in an alien land, just because some bad guys from a game were also in that land?”
The Elements of Harmony looked at each other for a moment.
“Yes,” Rainbow Dash said shortly.
“Most definitely,” Rarity sniffed.
“It’d be weirder if they didn’t!” Pinkie proclaimed.
Starlight’s mouth formed a thin line. “...Yikes.”
“Fillies and gentlecolts!” Trixie emerged from under the table, her hat slightly askew. “If the Great and Resourceful Trixie may direct your attention to this perfectly ordinary map…” Her horn glowed with magic as she connected the last of the arrays. After a momentary flicker, the three colts’ cutie marks sparked to life over the recreation of Equestria. “Please, feel free to hold your applause for Trixie’s mighty works of engineering and wizardry.”
Applejack looked over the map, and the cutie marks spread out across it. “That’s them, I reckon. Split the party an’ everythin’.”
“Trixie,” Twilight said quickly, “can you key in three more magical signatures? I’ll give you the formulas.”
Trixie scoffed. “Of course! There’s nothing Trixie loves more than laying under dark and dusty tables doing repair work.” She slid back under the map. “Go for it.”
A few incomprehensible, vaguely arcane phrases from Twilight later, and three more symbols flickered over the map. “I think those were made-up words,” Rainbow Dash whispered.
“All words are made up,” Pinkie whispered back.
The assembled ponies looked over the new additions to the map. “It looks a little…” Starlight prodded one of the marks—a mess of white cloth and bird talons, “broken.”
“Not broken,” Twilight breathed. “It’s a change in the z-layering. They’re overlapping.”
Suddenly, the symbols became clear. An eagle’s claw grasping a golden crown, laid over a white glove. A long-handled hammer with scale trays hanging from its head, overlaying two sheets of paper folded together. A green tree flanked by the sun and moon, merged with another tree with masks hanging from its branches.
“What’s that mean?” Fluttershy asked.
“It means they’re with the villains!” Rainbow Dash shouted.
“Or that they are the villains,” Starlight mused.
“Maybe the villainy was the friends they made along the way?” Pinkie asked.
“Twi,” Applejack said slowly. “What’s it mean?”
“I… don’t know.” Twilight frowned. “The map’s never done that before. It’s almost like-” The symbols flickered, cutting off her train of thought. “Trixie?”
“On it!” The glow from Trixie’s horn lit up the underside of the table. “It’s like there’s something rewriting the connection as Trixie is working on it. Trixie’s giving it all she’s got, but-” With a sound like a branch snapping inside a metal pot, the cutie marks fizzled out of existence. “Oh, come on!” She poked her head out from under the table. “Map machine’s broken, Princess.”
Rarity sighed. “Well, now what do we do? If the colts are in danger, or worse, working with their villainous counterparts, we can’t exactly leave them on their own. What about a tracking spell, Twilight?”
“I tried that when Purple Heart and Wits went rogue,” Twilight replied. “There’s something blocking it, or their humanity is interfering with it. It just points to the native versions of them.”
“What about the villains?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“I need more than just a magical signature for that. I’d need… well, a whole suite of information that I can only get in person. All we can do is head for where they were on the map, and hope we can find them.”
Starlight perked up. “There might be an easier way. You said the tracking spell points to the Equestrian version of those colts, right?” Twilight nodded. “Would it do the same for those villains?”
“I don’t see why not…” Twilight mused. “But… Wait, if we have a baseline template-”
“Combine that with the original magical signature,” Starlight continued, “and apply Jargon’s 13th Principle to it-”
“If we use the 17th Principle, it’d account for the astral decay…”
“Oh for the love of Celestia…” Rainbow Dash slammed her hooves on the side of the table. “Equestrian, please!”
Twilight blinked, and folded her wings back alongside her body. “Sorry. Essentially, we can track the villains by using a broad-range tracking spell. They usually only pick up a single pony, but if we make it broad enough-”
“It’ll pick up all iterations of that pony,” Starlight finished. “...What? I thought we were still doing the ‘finish each other's sentences’ thing.”
“But to do that,” Twilight continued, “we’ll need samples from the native versions of the villains. Holdfast and Just Duty should be in Canterlot, but Bael… Would Heart Burn work as a replacement?”
“Wait,” Rainbow Dash held up a hoof. “Just Duty, like, Paladin Justice? From the comics?”
“We met him in Canterlot,” Twilight said simply. Her eyes followed the pegasus as she headed for the door. “Where’re you going?”
“To find some gemstones for a dragon-style apology! And brag to the fan club!”