Shining Armor walked ahead of Oz and Nova. The two guards that had been with them had stopped at the door way to this long hall. Oz looked past his escort to see metal bars in front of many of the doors in this hallway. Except for one. The bars were swung open and a light green/blue hue could be seen projecting on the floor in front of it. This door is the one that they stopped at. Shining peered into the room, looking for his sister. Both winged ponies noticed the lines of bookshelves neatly running in rows in a circle around a hour glass in the middle of the room. Oz’s ears dropped when he saw the Pegasus sitting on top of it reading a Daring Do novel. The multi-colored Rainbow Dash was perched comfortably at the edge of the hour glass’s rim, her hind legs hung without care over the edge as she held the book up with her fore hooves. Shining also noticed her. “Rainbow Dash!” he shouted to get the cyan mare’s attention. Oz jumped when Shining gotten her attention and slightly scooted closer to Nova to hide behind the white Unicorn in front of them. Nova looked down at the cowering Pegasus and rolled his eyes. Rainbow Dash looked up at Shining and waved.
“Hey Shining, what’s up?” she asked.
“Have you seen Twilight anywhere?”
“I’m over here!” yelled Twilight from the back recesses of the room. Rainbow smiled slightly and pointed her hoof in the direction of Twilight’s voice. Shining nodded in thanks and began to trot in that direction with Nova and Oz shadowing him. Oz made sure to put Nova between him and Rainbow in an attempt to prevent being spotted. This only irritated the Alicorn and caused him to shove Oz snout first onto the floor in front of him. Rainbow watched them and laughed at the ponies, until she realized that not only was there an Alicorn here; but she also recognized the Pegasus that he had tripped.
“Do I know you?” she asked suspiciously to the blue and yellow Pegasus.
“N-no, we’ve never met” he said nervously as he scrambled to his feet and tried to hid behind Nova again. Nova rolled his eyes and picked Oz up with his magic. He then hovered the flightless Pegasus to Rainbow, Oz squirming to no avail. Rainbow studied him through squinted eyes as he smiled nervously at her.
“I do know you! You’re that little perverted foal from a few years ago!” she said as she reared back her hoof. Oz held his eyes shut waiting for the pain. When none came he opened one eye to see Rainbow’s hoof being held back by a purple hue. Shining was standing at the end of one of the book aisles, his horn aglow as he glared at Rainbow. She just lowered her hoof and went back to reading with a huff. The magic color that was around Oz changed from Nova’s to a darker purple hue. It wasn’t Shining’s. Oz looked at the aisle Shining was standing in and he saw Twilight Sparkle standing there, hovering a few books behind her as one was flipped open in front of her. She also had a drink hovering nearby. Nova was impressed by her levitation capabilities. Not only was she holding numerous objects, but a pony too. She also wasn’t even looking at any of them except the book in her face. Oz was put back on the ground and the magic around him faded. Twilight looked up at him with curiosity. She walked over to him and began to unravel the bandages on his hips.
“h-HEY!” Oz exclaimed.
“I’m just looking.” she said as she unveiled his scabbed sides. The cuts had not cut off Oz’s Cutie Marks completely, but still they were not visible on the untouched fur. “You have a removal spell on you…both of you.” she looked up to Nova.
“A what?” Nova asked curiously.
“A removal spell. An item or raw magic can be infused with this spell to remove anything the caster wishes. It’s a forbidden spell. Whoever did this to you two must really not like you.” she touched her horn to Oz’s scabs and began to cast a healing spell. Within moments Oz’s hips were covered in three scars, one crossing the other two, instead of damaged skin. The pain in his haunch also completely faded away. He looked at his hip and moved it. He was so happy to not be in pain there any more. She undid the splint around his wing, careful to grab his wing when freed so as to not move it. He yelped a little and bit his lower lip.
“Oh man up pansy.” Nova laughed, causing Oz to shoot him a short glare.
“I’m no medic, but I learned these healing spells recently, so I’m glad to have somepony to practice on.” Twilight said, not breaking her visual concentration. Oz looked at the books she still held up with her magic and began to grow nervous. She tapped her horn against his wing and the magical hue around her horn spread across the part that contained the bone. He felt a sharp pain and then it whisked away with the sound of a relieved coo. Oz stood, and flapped his wings. He lifted himself off the floor a little and smiled.
“What about our Cutie Marks?” Nova asked, killing Oz’s good mood. The Pegasus landed and looked curiously at the purple Unicorn. Shining also looked at her with question.
“That is a different matter. You see…” she trailed off as she trotted into the opposite part of the room. As she left the area with the hour glass, she neatly piled the books at the end of an aisle without even looking. Rainbow looked down at Oz and saw how he had been healed. She just snorted and continued reading. Nova walked over to Oz and looked him over.
“How is it she could detect a spell that I could not?” Nova thought aloud.
“Well, I’m sure-” Nova shot Oz a dirty glare, indicating he wasn’t talking to him. The Pegasus bit his lip and smiled innocently. The clopping of Twilight’s hooves could be heard getting closer, drawing every ponies attention to her. When she reappeared she had a book hovering in front of her, on its cover read A disambiguation of the Forbidden Spells. she was flipping through the pages searching for the right one. She stopped in front of the two winged ponies and kept searching. She glared at the pages as she flipped back and forth until she just turned to the table of contents. Her face lit up and then she furiously turned the pages again.
“Here it is!” she exclaimed. She then read the page aloud. “Forbidden spell #1031: The Removal Spell. It was discovered by the young Starswirled the Bearded and quickly made forbidden by his Arch-Magus. The spell’s dangers outweighed its usefulness.” she looked up at Oz, then looked back at the pages. She flipped it and then went back,
“What’s wrong Twily?” Shining asked.
“The next page is missing.” she said shocked.
“Missing? What do you mean by th-” Oz started, but a creaking noise as if there was movement nearby startled him into cutting his question short. They all looked in the direction of the noise and the silhouette of a ghostly pony could be seen sneaking out of the room. The ponies eyes were aglow with an orange radiant light. It was a Pegasus though, indicating it wasn’t the same one that attacked Oz.
“HEY!” shouted Twilight. In the mouth of the pony could be seen a sheet of paper. “He has the missing sheet!” the Pegasus looked up at them and then darted for the door. Twilight teleported in front of him and then barred the door with a spell. Shining did the same to the window. The Pegasus lifted into the air and began to fly around looking for an escape. Before anypony in the room could react, a rainbow streak shot through the air and the Pegasus was now pinned to the floor, by Rainbow Dash.
“And where do you think YOU’RE going?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at it. Before the others could get to her, the black mist surrounding the Pegasus began to crawl up Rainbow’s arm. She screeched and jumped back, flailing it in the air. The Pegasus on the ground went limp as Rainbow became completely enveloped in the mist. She fell backwards onto her side facing away from her crowd of friends. The shadows picked her up and hefted her onto her hooves. As this happened Shining hovered the page from the incapacitated Pegasus to Twilight. Rainbow’s eyes shot open at this action. They were a vibrant orange.
“Give me that!” she demanded, a dark and sinister voice echoed hers.
“Who are you!?” demanded Twilight.
“I’m your friend, Rainbow Dash. I just want the page.” whoever was in control of Rainbow Dash’s mind was trying to play innocent, even though it knew it wouldn’t work.
“No, give us our friend back!” Rainbow ignored the demand and zipped towards Shining’s spell blocking the window. A thin line forming in front of her. “Shining, your spell can’t stop a Sonic Rain-boom!” Twilight shouted.
“STOP!” Nova yelled, holding his fore hooves out. Magic erupted from his horn as everything in the room became still. Shining was in mid step, Oz still watching in disbelief and Twilight forming an orb around herself. She broke out of Nova’s spell and walked up to him.
“A stop everything spell, genius” she remarked. She walked over to the still in motion Rainbow Dash and wrapped magic around her. She then closed the magic inside of the cyan pony. The mist fell off of Rainbow and then was contained in a small spherical ball that Twilight pulled from her. Nova looked at what she had with great curiosity. Just as she started to expand the ball to let free whatever she had, it cast an orange spell around itself and teleported away. Nova watched with shock as Twilight’s orb shattered from the spell that was cast inside. She looked up at him with great concern. “Whoever, or whatever, that was, they are very powerful.” she said as she canceled Nova’s spell. Nova looked around and the felt very light headed. Twilight interrupting his spell made him lose a lot more energy suddenly and he had to sit down. Rainbow Dash stopped flying right in front of Shining’s blockade and looked at it. She then spun around and looked down at Twilight.
“I’m so sorry, Twi! I couldn’t stop it!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she faced her friend. Oz shook his head and looked at Nova.
“How’d you get over there?” he asked the dazed Alicorn.
“He had cast a Stop Everything Spell” Twilight said as she walked over to the Pegasus that had been under the influence of whatever entity it had been in contact with. She leaned down and looked him over. She frowned and turned to Shining. “It’s Velocity” she said. “And…he’s dead.” Shining ran over to his long time friend and looked down at him. The brown pony just laid there without moving. Shining lowered his head and lifted the corpse with his magic. He then began to walk out of the room. “Where are you going, Shining?” he stopped and looked back at his sister, saying
“I’m going to take him to the morgue. We’ll give him a soldiers burial in the morning.” he then walked out of the room. Twilight’s ears were flat on her head as she felt for her brother.
“I’m so sorry Twilight.” Oz said.
“It’ll be okay…and so will he.” she turned her attention to the page once again. Hovering it in front of her face she began to read the page to herself silently. After some time, she looked up at the two flighty ponies with a worried look.
“What is it?” Oz asked.
“To reverse the spell, requires three Eulanar Crystals.”
“Eh-who-what-now crystals?”
“Yul-a-nær. They’re very powerful magic infused crystals that can help Unicorns focus their magical energy into a spell. This counter-spell requires the focusing power of three crystals.” Oz tapped his chin thinking for a moment.
“So, where do we get’em then?” he asked. Twilight walked over to her neat pile of books and picked up the whole stack with her magic. She pulled out the bottom one and then placed the rest back on the ground. She trotted back over to the two ponies with the book hovering in front of her. As she flipped through the pages Rainbow Dash hovered over her, trying to see the text on each page before Twilight flipped to another.
“AH HA! According to this book the Crystals can be found wherever large quantities of magic is found.” She lowered the book to the ground and then hovered a nearby globe to her. Holding it up in front of Nova and Oz she tapped her horn inside the drawn borders of Equestria. The whole nation was aglow with purple magic for a moment. Then Twilight closed her eyes and focused. The aura shrank down to three flowing dots.
“Shit” spat Nova. “One’s in the Everfree Forest.” Twilight opened her eyes and looked at the globe.
“Yes. It would seem there is one in the Everfree Forest, the Crystal Mines and…oh pony feathers. Here in the Crystal Catacombs.”
“Wait, I thought you said the Crystals formed where there were high amounts of magic?” Oz inquired.
“I did.” Twilight responded in an irritated tone.
“Well, the Everfree Forest is devoid of magic isn’t it?”
“Not entirely. The Everfree Forest runs on its own kind of magic, which is what makes it so unique to Equestria, and why everypony is afraid of it.”
“Oh, I get it…I think.”
“You said here, in the Crystal Catacombs?” Nova inquired. Twilight looked at him and twisted his face begrudged.
“Yes. I’m not to surprised I didn’t see them when I was down there a long time ago.” she hovered the globe over to a makeshift desk she had made in front of the hourglass. Rainbow landed on top of the center piece and peered down on the shoddy workplace. The two blue ponies walked to either side of the desk and sat, waiting patiently for Twilight to finish whatever it was she was doing. She had pulled out a map of Equestria from a stack of rolled up papers that sat on Oz’s side of the desk. She unrolled it in front of her and took a quill from a nearby ink jar and began to circle the three locations on the map. She glanced out the window and saw that it was late in the night. She turned around and levitated the now marked map next to her, showing it to the two winged ponies. “I have marked the locations on this map. If you two want, you can start looking for them tomorrow.” Oz and Nova looked at each other, then back at her.
“We might wanna rest a little. Both of us have been traveling for a while.” Oz said.
“Then the catacombs will be a perfect place to start.” she retorted as she rolled the map back up and slid it into the roll on Nova’s back. Oz let out a subtle groan causing the Alicorn to look at him.
“Do you want your Cutie Mark back?” he asked.
“Yeah I do.” Oz responded in a down tone.
“Then no matter what you’ll do whatever it takes to get it back. Remember, Equestria’s in danger and only YOU know why.” Oz let out a sigh.
“Then I guess we should be off to bed.” he said as he hung his head and began to walk away.
“Tell the guards down the hall to escort you to one of the guest rooms.” Twilight called out to the Pegasus.
“Okay.” he walked out of the room and disappeared around the corner. Twilight looked over to the Alicorn that was beginning to meander down one of the aisles.
“You’re not going to bed too?” she inquired surprised.
“Not just yet, I’m curious of these spells.” Nova responded. Suddenly Twilight heard snoring above her and looked up at Rainbow dash. She was asleep with her fore hooves laid over the edge of the hourglass and her head on one of her arms.
Luna stared through the window to the Starswirled the Bearded wing from her perch at the precipice of Canterlot Tower. She had been attracted to the window by the commotion that had happened in there a few moments ago. She could see Twilight talking to the two new comers, and she couldn’t stop watching Nova. To her he was everything she had dreamed in a man. Mysterious, dark furred, and gruff. He also showed assurance about himself that she knew she could never have. Even though it had been seventeen years since she had been trapped on the moon, she still felt awkward addressing her subjects. Maybe if Nova stood by her side she’d feel more confident. Also the scars made him look more appealing to her. Showed how tough he was and that he’d be willing to not only protect her, but her kingdom as well. “Staring at him isn’t guarding the night, sister.” Celestia said jokingly as she walked up behind her younger sibling. Luna broke from her ponderings and looked over her shoulder at her sister, blushing.
“My apologies sister, he’s…just…”
“He’s not from these lands, Luna.”
“He would be perfect then.” she said smiling up at her older sister.
“How so?” Celestia raised an eyebrow in genuine curiosity.
“If me and him were to get together, it could make a bond between our nations.” Celestia sighed. Once again she knew her sister had a valid point. She looked down at the window and briefly saw in Nova what her sister saw. She then looked back at Luna.
“I’ve done enough harm to you sister, I’ll not stop you from what you believe to be a good choice.” She turned to leave when Luna jumped into hugging her.
“Thank you Tia!” Celestia smiled down at her sibling as she returned the hug. Celestia pulled away from her sister and disappeared into the tower. Luna turned back to the window to see nopony there Anymore. She frowned and returned to gazing across the land. She could see Cloudsdale and Ponyville easily from this perspective. She watched as the last few lights began to shut off in Ponyville. Like all cities however, Cloudsdale was still a-buzz with life. She looked through the telescope in front of her and watched the Wonderbolts practice another routine for their upcoming show. She sat down and sighed. She looked around Canterlot and saw some of the couples sitting together at the roadside parlors. Even though she was a princess of Equestria, she was very lonely. Celestia spent most of her time teaching Twilight magic and Luna herself was usually resting during the day. For a sheer moment, she embraced the feelings that had turned her into Nightmare Moon. She shook her head to get rid of those thoughts. She swore to herself that she’d never go back to being like that. She knew why ponies slept at night and she was willing to forgive them of it. She glanced out across the land again just in time to see a black mist with an orange core fly away from Canterlot and head for the Everfree Forest. She opened her wings and went to follow. She followed the wisp to the edge of the forest where she landed on the road there. She took a step forward when she stepped on something not usual to the ground. She looked down and saw a blood covered blade. Nearby were hoof prints that led away to Ponyville. The other way looked like the place where a tent had been. She realized that this was where Oz had been attacked.
“Come princess of the night. I beckon you into these woods.” echoed a dark disembodied voice.
“Who are thee!?” Luna demanded, letting some of her ancient slur slip.
“I am a mere visitor to these lands only wanting to become more familiar with these lands.” Luna gazed into the forest and saw two orange eyes appear and glare at her. She gasped and stepped back, but it was to late. The eyes rushed her and the mist entered her body. She fell backwards and struggled to keep control of her body. Her horn began to glow as she attempted to cast a spell, but her eyes flashed orange and the spell was interrupted.
“You are under my control, Princess.” the voice echoed in Luna’s mind. Her body fell limp and she laid there for a moment as the entity completely gained control of the powerful Alicorn female. She opened her eyes and they flashed orange again, then faded to her normal eye color, except the edges of her eyes maintained the orange hue. “You will help me get my revenge, your highness.” the entity used Luna to say the words aloud. Luna panicked in her suppressed mind. Everything happening seemed as if it was a dream that she couldn’t break from.
“Who are you!?” she screamed in her thoughts.
“Why should I tell you?” a vision of a dark Unicorn’s face appeared in front of her and then began to slowly spin around her. “Once I’m through with you, you’ll be a meaningless pile of shit.” Luna gasped.
“But why!?”
“Because, you’re the perfect pony to get close. Close enough to kill.” the Unicorn’s eyes narrowed with a malefic grin. In the real world Luna was flying back to Canterlot. As she landed on her perch she looked around with a evil grin. “This day will be perfect, the day I’ve been dreaming of since I was alive.” she said and then chuckled evilly to herself as she pretended to care about watching the land. “In a couple of hours…you’ll be mine.”