//------------------------------//
// A Fight to Reunite 
// Story: Phantom Krystal: An Unstable Ruby 
// by Lifeblood_Wisp 
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Twilight Sparkle awoke in her queen size bed. She rose with a long but soft yawn and looked around to get her eyes adjusted to the morning’s golden light. Her eyes adjusted, and she noticed a yellowed piece of paper with singed edges on her nightstand. The somewhat burnt paper was an indicator of who it was from, thus, Twilight pounced on it with charisma and joy in her face. She read the letter intently from top to bottom. 

Hey Twi. The strangest thing happened to me last night. I was doing some shopping, y’know, normal Ponyville stuff. Then I got to my house, and it looked like a bunch of foals had trashed the place. Everything was everywhere. I went upstairs to see what else had happened, and I saw something floating. I know magic can do the same thing l, but there was no aura around the floating things. They just stood stationary in the air, as physics just didn’t apply to them! I looked at the floating objects, and then I just fainted, out of nowhere. The next thing I did was wake up and write to you. Hopefully we can find out what’s going on together. 

P.S. I’ve missed you Twi.

Twilight’s face showed genuine concern, but nonetheless, she smiled at the last line of text that Spike had left for her. She set her letter down and began to think aloud. “Floating, but no aura…but that could only be possible if somepony is invisible. The invisibility spell is really advanced though. If this pony isn’t good news, we might be in for a big threat.”. Feeling that this was important and interesting enough, she levitated a device that had symbols of all the elements on it, and pressed a purple, crystalline button in the middle. She then teleported to the meeting room, where she and all her friends met up when there was an issue. After that, she sat, and waited for the other to arrive. 

Meanwhile, Arachnis and Zoey were sneaking through Ponyville on their way to Canterlot. Arachnis was invisible, walking through Ponyville’s streets, hidden in plain sight, while Zoey was high in the air, following Arachnis’ tether from above. A tether being a sort of beacon that links a magic user to anyone he wishes. Its maximum tensile strength depends on the user’s magic power, and unless one uses a spell, it is invisible to anyone other the two people being linked. This is what Arachnis casted on Zoey to help her follow him while he was invisible. This also allowed Arachnis to travel as fast as he could without leaving Zoey behind. He was dashing through the crossroads that linked Ponyville and Canterlot together. Eventually, they reached the much more majestic, and more advanced, Canterlot. Arachnis was amazed at the visual features of this kingdom. He felt much more interested at what secrets the place held. He phased through shops, homes and other structures to see the wonders of his location. One place after another, and he had reached a magmatic looking castle, one that had many distinct differences from Tirek’s. It was much more inviting. He phased through the front doors. Using his tether, he spoke to Zoey through telepathy.

“I’ll go straight in. If anyone’s here, they’re more likely to see me first, which buys you time to find any info. I’ll be fine.” Arachnis said. Immediately after, the bond was severed between him and Zoey. Tethers become weak and sometimes break if too many surfaces are interrupting the connection. Arachnis ventured on, seeing if he could find anything useful. Zoey looked for an entry point and spotted an open window. She flew inside like the rays of sunshine that also entered. She landed, but froze dead in place when she saw Twilight Sparkle sitting right there in front of her. Twilight readied her magic and Zoey tried to escape through the same window. The window suddenly had a purple aura around it and it closed right in Zoey’s face, causing her to ram right into it, giving her a bloody nose and cracking the window. She fell to the floor, and tried to resist further, but was held still by Twilight. 

“Now, changeling…” Twilight started, being sure to put heavy emphasis on the word changeling. “What’s your business here? What’s Chrysalis planning next hm? Did you come with anyone else?”. Her interrogation, combined with the immense pain from her bloody nose made the experience overwhelming for Zoey. She relaxed her muscles, and gave her answer. “I ain’t telling you a damn thing. My friend would beat the shit outta you if he saw you interrogating me.” She said smugly. Twilight’s patience remained intact, and she trapped Zoey in a purple bubble and lifted her up next to her. “You’ll stay by me for now.” Twilight said. Meanwhile, Arachnis had been through numerous rooms, and many more staircases, all to end up back where he started: the main hallway. He was about to start phasing through ceilings to find Zoey until he heard a creaking near the front doors. They opened, and in walked the other elements: Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy, all in the midst of conversation. 

“It’s mighty disrespectful that they just left ya there like that Shy.” Applejack said. “I strongly agree. It’s highly unsanitary to just lie on the floor for extended periods of time.” Rarity said. Rainbow butt in, placing a hoof on Fluttershy. “So what if it’s a ghost? So what if it’s anypony? We got this!” She said charismatically. “Oh don’t worry Shy. The cupcakes I made should get your mind off it. If you want, I can feed you another one!” Pinkie said.”. Watching them converse so casually whilst in a royalty’s domain somewhat confused him. He swiftly came to the conclusion that they might’ve been acquainted with the element of Magic. Intrigued to learn more, he went invisible, climbed onto the wall, and eavesdropped on the group. As they walked by, the front tip of Pinkie’s mane began to twitch, and point in Arachnis’ direction. Arachnis realized this, and moved higher up the wall and even strafing left and right. Her mane followed his every motion, and eventually, Pinkie looked behind her and spoke up. “Uhhh, girls? We might not be the only ponies in here.” Pinkie said nervously. She looked around, as if her sixth sense didn’t already identify Arachnis. The other four mares had known Pinkie long enough to know that her “Pinkie Sense” was more than just accurate. After she had performed the feat of dodging falling objects while blindfolded, they knew never to underestimate it again. 

“Well? Where is it, Pinks? I’m ready for a workout today!” Said Rainbow. “Yeah sugarcube, where’s it sittin’ at?” Said Applejack, nervous but wanting to match Rainbow in fearlessness. Pinkie’s tail slowly pointed in Arachnis’ way. Arachnis himself was dumbfounded at how an earth pony had a magic-like ability. He wondered if he was looking at a psychic. Thinking he had not much of any other choice, he jumped from the wall with Pinkie’s tail following his position. He uncloaked himself, and his horn flashed red. “So you thought you could just sneak into our friends castle and do whatever you wanted huh?” Rainbow said smugly. “I sure did. And now, I think I’m gonna put you all to rest and move on.” Arachnis replied. “Tough colt, eh? Bring it then!” Rainbow said. Rarity flared up her horn, Applejack cracked her joints, and Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy ran to the higher floors of the castle to alert Twilight.

Rainbow opened the battle with what she did best: rushing in for a quick win. She blasted right at Arachnis at nearly the speed of sound, tackling him into the wall. Arachnis, who was astounded at Rainbow’s speeds, saw her demonstration as a reason to go all out. Rainbow held him against the wall, an arrogant smile forming on her face. “Still think you can beat all of us now!? You can’t even match my speed!” Rainbow said. “Maybe not…” Arachnis phased through rainbow, and his eye turned cyan. “But I can now.” He said coldly. He tapped into his imitation abilities, and seemingly out of nowhere, he grew cyan wings, and flew into Rainbow at her signature speeds, cracking the wall behind her, and knocking the wind out of her. Arachnis’ horn flared up, but he was levitated by Rarity. Arachnis teleported behind her, and the blast that was meant for Rainbow was directed to her. The large wave of energy devastated the ground below it, and Rarity herself. As it subsided,  Rarity fell to the ground, but not unconscious and cyan hexagon disappeared. She drained herself of her energy, and barley had enough to keep herself awake. 

Rainbow was now furious. She decided not to waste her breath; she saw no point in reasoning with Arachnis. She charged at him, yelling in anger. Arachnis strategically placed himself right in front of a wall, and made himself intangible. Rainbow went full speed right into solid stone, nearly breaking her nose and making her brain smack against her skull, which put her unconscious. “Hold it right there, bastard!” A voice yelled. Arachnis then turned to Applejack twirling her signature lasso. She slowly inched toward him, careful to watch for any sudden movements. Arachnis, on the other hand, stood perfectly still, a grin forming on his face. “Go ahead. Make your move, cowgirl.” He said. Applejack made no attempt to reply, and instead kept inching forward. Almost in a sudden burst of energy, she ran, jumped over Arachnis, and prepared to roundhouse kick him with her hind legs. As she propelled her limbs, Arachnis swiftly moved behind her with a rainbow trail behind him. “How did-“ Was all Applejack could say before she was kicked right in her gut. She fell to the floor, the wind knocked right out of her lungs. She tried to catch it, but the only result was uncontrollable coughing and gagging. 

“Ready to set your badge down sheriff?” Arachnis smugly asked. Applejack couldn’t respond due to her excessive failure to properly breathe. Arachnis noted that Pinkie and Fluttershy were nowhere to be seen, and immediately ran for the stairs. He tried to form a tether with Zoey to see if she ran into them, but to no prevail. He suddenly heard a sound that could only be described as struggling, and it only got louder as he approached a peculiar looking room. He opened the doors, only to see Zoey, tied up and in the corner. Arachnid walked forward, and right into Twilights trap.