//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: The Magic Thief 
// by DraconequusInLove 
//------------------------------//

"Now, that's a name I haven't heard in a while," Xena says, trying to stay calm, but on the inside she's burning with fear and worry. How did she find her? "What did you want with me, Sulien? Feeling nostalgic?" 

Lord Sulien scowls. "You know exactly what I want, Athanasios. I want what belongs to me." 

"And that includes those ponies you've bound and are about to torture?" I point to Twilight and the ponies she's with. 

"You know what I mean." Sulien growls. "The machine is mine, and by extension, everything it has created." 

"What does she mean?" Comet whispers in Xena's ear as ponies and foxes alike look strangely at Sulien and Xena. "You belong to the Lord of Monsters?" 

Xena sighs. "Technically, yes. But I do not follow those laws. I do not obey the principal of the machine. And I will not be forced back into serving her." She annouces loudly, pushing her words over the crowds of ponies and foxes. Xena strides forward and in one swift motion, slices the rope binding Twilight Sparkle. "I am not your puppet, Sulien. I am my own fox." 

Sulien nods. "You are allowed to make your own choices. But all choices have consequences..." And lunges at Xena, her teeth bared and ready to sink into her throat. 

The two fall to the ground, clawing and pushing. Finally they break apart, Xena covered with scratches and bruises and Sulien barely touched except for some dirt on her coat. "Pathetic. I really expected better from you, Athanasios." Sulien shrugs and turns to her guard foxes, who have recovered the ponies and taken Rainbow Dash into captivity as well. "Take them all into captivity. The ponies to the farms, and the monsters to me." 

The foxes nod and pick Xena up, loosly binding her and pushing her into a wheel-less wagon. Comet soon joins her, along with several other Flying Foxes, and the Voidwings at the front take off. 





The ride to Sulien's domain was long and boring, and both Xena and Comet fell asleep. When they wake up, they find themselves to be in seperate dungeon cells deep below the surface of Equestria. 

Xena bolts upright and springs to her feet. "Comet! Wake up!" 

Comet yawns and slowly rises to her hooves. "What is it, fox." 

"I know how to get out of here, get to where they're keeping Twilight, and get away." 

"And how would you know that?" Comet asks, suspicion evident on her face. 

"Because I used to work here. Now let's go." Xena pulls at the iron cell bars while also sliding in just the right way that they shift. Purposeful design flaw, but it can only be executed by Flying Foxes.  She opens her and Comet's cells and leads them up out of the dungeon, through a surprisingly large and seemingly abandoned palace made of black stone, and out into a massive glass dome. 

Inside is a small village surrounded by ponies farming small patches of barren land and being watched over by Flying Foxes. Along one side is a line of ponies and Flying Foxes, the foxes draining the ponies of their magic. 

"It's a farm." Comet whispers. "And the ponies are okay with this?"

"It's this or die, so yeah. Most are." Xena leads Comet through the small farms and clouds of ponies farming them to where she knows new arrivals will be. 

Twilight and her friends are over there in a crowd of ponies, most of which are from the village Xena caused to be destroyed. I did this, didn't I? She thinks. "Twilight, Rainbow, come here." She says in an official voice, the voice she used to use when she worked here. 

Rainbow glares at her and separates herself from the crowd to confront Xena. "If you want her magic, you'll have to go through me." 

Xena shrugs. "If you don't want help, continue on like that." She whispers so that only Rainbow and Comet can hear. 

"Okay, but you need to include all my friends," Rainbow says, pointing to several ponies in the crowd: a white unicorn, a yellow pegasus, and two earth ponies, one pink and one orange. 

Nodding, Xena points to the ponies Rainbow pointed out. "And those." 

The ponies look at each other and trot over to Xena. "Rainbow, who is this?" The white unicorn says to her friend. 

Twilight introduces the other ponies. "Now, what is it you wanted with us?"

"Silence prisoner," Xena says with a wink, then leads the six ponies and one Voidwing out of the farm and into a small closet nearby. "Now we can talk." There's a way to make all this go away... but it would kill us. "I can get you all out, but... that won't solve anything long-term." 

"As long as foxes need magic, ponies will always be in danger," Comet says. "If it was possible to get rid of that desire..."

"Or get rid of Flying Foxes entirely." Rainbow put in. 

"Rainbow might be onto something. Foxes are the largest source of danger for ponies and the main thing preventing us from living like we used to." Twilight says. "If we had the Elements of Harmony we might be able to do something about it, but none of us know exactly how they work." 

"Elements of Harmony?" Xena asks in surprise. "I know how to get to them. But what would they do?" 

"Restore harmony silly!" Pinkie says, swinging a hoof around Xena's shoulders. "The world would go back to normal!" 

Xena nods. "I know what to do." She leads the group out of the closet and through several empty hallways, all the while briefing them on the plan. They arrive at a room made to look like the Canterlot Palace throne room, only with many more guards and shades of only black. 

Throwing the doors open, Xena strides in. "Attention everyone! There is an urgent emergency. Lord Sulien-" 

"Knows exactly what you're doing." The ruby Voidwing, Lord Sulien, descends from the ceiling. "Seriously, Athanasios. You thought I wouldn't know?" With a tilt of her head, the doors out are closed and locked, and Xena is locked in with her savior... and her worst enemy.