When they got home, the first thing the trio noticed was the screaming. Actually, that was the second thing. The first was the massive bear towering over Ponyville and the rainbow and golden-grey blurs zipping around it, a light pink shield keeping it from the town.
The third thing they noticed was the military and press cars, which were right next to each other. Glancing at each other, they leaped off the train and dashed to where ponies were galloping and screaming away from.
“Do you have a better plan this time, you two?!”
“Other than knock ‘im out? Enope!”
“I think it’s going to be better depending you for the plans from now on, my mate!”
“EM-! *sigh* We’ll talk about that later, my mate-to-be! AJ, how strong are your bucks?!”
“While Ah’m mighty honored, mah bucks ain’t that strong. Wha’ abou’ you an’ Ember hitting her at da same time?”
Looking at each other, they nod and redouble their efforts, and the instant they had a clear shot--.
WHAM!!
The bear was lifted a foot or so, crashing into the ground and flattening the trees behind it. As it groggily shook it’s head and tried to get up, it was met by another twin hit, this one from the two armored ponies from the previous chapter. Faced with four warriors, along with the shield pony, robed pony, and the pathetic purple pony, she had enough and ran.
The ground shook from the townponies’ cheers, them grabbing the four warriors and carrying them up to the town square stage, where they were subjected to more cheers and photos from the news for a good minute straight.
“SIR!? HOW LONG ARE WE GOING TO LET THEM CHEER!?”
“FOR AS LONG AS THEY WANT, SARGENT FLASH! IT’S BEEN A WHILE SINCE THE HEROES OF LIGHT MADE AN APPEARANCE IN BATTLE, AND MY INSTINCTS ARE TELLING ME THAT SOMETHING MOMENTOUS IS GOING TO HAPPEN! WHAT, I’M NOT TOTALLY SURE, BUT I’M GOING TO KEEP MY MOUTH SHUT!”
As it turned out, they were right. The previous Heroes of Light announced they were passing the torch to Arc and Ember. As one, they gave them the sigil of the HoL, a sword behind a shield and both in front of the outline of Equestria. It was simple to place on his right gauntlet, exactly like a tattoo, but when it caused Arc’s whole armor to glow, it was pretty obvious it was anything but. When the second pony was going to place one on Ember, however, she politely denied it.
“Where he goes, I go!”
Nodding, they then reply,
“And now we must ask a final favor from you two.”
“Name it.”
Both of them unhook the hoofguards with the sigil from their armor and place them in his hand. “Take these to Canterlot, present them to the Princesses. They’ll understand.”
Nodding as one, they salute each other, the former Heroes of Light backing away and disappearing in a literal Blink as the newer ones followed, assuring the gathered ponies they’ll be back ASAP. Appearing in the right side of the Throne Room out of the holographic Sigil that appeared in advance, they looked down to see that there was one physically engraved into the floor beside the Thrones. Looking up, they saw the nobles and guards bowing to them as the Princesses strode to their side, teleporting to yet another location.
There are pictures of numerous Heroes, each of them with the Sigil in a place of their choosing, such as a chest plate, armband, even a horn guard. The actual piece of armor is on a pedestal right beneath them. Beside each of them are bookshelves filled with numerous scrolls, books, and artifacts. Ember was the first to ask the obvious, Luna answering.
“Where are we, if I may ask?”
“We’re in the Forbidden Section. Only this once do you need our permission. Afterwards, you’ll be automatically infused with our magical signatures and may come as often as you like. Pass me the sigils.”
Handing them over, she sighed and held them to her forehead, closing her eyes and whispering a short prayer in an unknown language before gently placing them in their place. Turning to them, she quietly gulps before asking.
“Did they suffer?”
Arc shook his head.
“They didn’t, Your Highness. They decided to retire after one last outing.”
Her face had relief written all over it.
“Good. I’ve read so many of these scrolls. How a partner died, what they did to avenge them, how they died… Too much death.’
She turns to the filled bookshelf behind her.
‘At least here’s another one that’s deathless and peaceful. I’ll- I’ll leave the rest to you, niece. I’ll have the Captains of the guards prepare their best for the Light Competition.”
As Luna Blinked away, Candence approaches them with two plain boxes.
“Every Hero of Light is given a special box they can change the form of to fit their needs. It’s divided into three sections. The top is linked with your bookshelf, the right is linked to any other shelf you personally handle stuff from, and the left is a direct drop into a special space in Tartarus.’
Opening them, they see that it’s separated into three triangular spaces. The top is the same color as the box, the right is pure white, and the left is black with red jagged lines throughout. Looking at each other, they gulp nervously before storing it in their rings, much to Cadence’s amazement.
‘So that’s how those works… Looks like you have some powerful friends, you two.
Hopefully, they won’t be needed a lot, because you two now have the same power and authority as us in every aspect, including in the event that we are incapable of ruling, unable to deal with certain situations, or… or attempt to take total control for herself.
That means that you can take control of any aspect of Equestria in order to counteract whatever she, or we, try to do. Yes, including the military, special forces, and spies.’
They stared at her with even more nervousness, shakily breathing and slowly nodded in understanding. She suddenly became serious, unnervingly so.
‘Now, I need your full attention to what I’m about to say.
My aunt and Luna’s sister, Princess Celestia, has been missing for nearly two months and a half. It happened when a mysterious mirror appeared in the gift room during her birthday celebration. None of the other royals were aware of it, with hidden lie detector spells confirming.
The next day, when royal scientists unveiled it, she was Blinked through it despite precautions taken. While we figured out she’s not on the planet itself, we’re at a complete loss as to where to direct their scrying. We’ve started broad, trying to find her magical signature, but with as many solar systems we’ve discovered just from the basic pulses alone…’
She shuddered and attempted to hold back tears as Arc slowly approached and stroked her mane, not stopping until she calmed down. Meanwhile, Ember was thinking, speaking up when they were done.
“I’m assuming the first thing you did was try to use the mirror, right?”
She nodded.
“How much later did you give Twilight the mirror Arc got dragged out of?”
“Three days later, why?”
“Was that mirror in anyway close to or linked to the one your Princess got kidnapped by?”
She shook her head, then thought, her eyes snapping open as she wrote on a sudden piece of paper which she sent to the head scientist. Barely thirty seconds later he sent back confirmation that she was on Arc’s planet, and they were starting to narrow their search.
“That’s good! Er, do you guys have any idea about the size of my planet or its population?”
“None. Any help will be useful.”
“Thankfully, Twilight and the former Heroes installed more upgrades in this thing… Let me… A-ha!”
Out of a small jewel in his helmet came a sizable holograph of the planet, leading to the Princess of Love to skeptically inch forward.
“Your planet doesn’t look that big with so much water. How large are your continents?”
“The smallest one to your lower right is roughly three million square miles, called Australia, and is home to around 26 million people. The ones nearby are called Africa and Asia, with a combined land area of about 28 million square miles and an estimated combined population of around 5 billion. The other three-.”
A thoroughly unnerved and frankly terrified Candence halts his monologue.
“Are huge and have millions or billions of humans. Got it.’
She turns around and Blinks away, the last they heard being,
‘I hope Sunburst-.”
Staring at the space she left, they stared at each other before shaking themselves and deciding to walk around a bit, exploring the shelves. The first one they checked was their immediate predecessors, which, safe to say, had a storied and exciting life.
One particularly unnerving mission was when they picked up two orphaned fillies from an abandoned town that didn’t exist the next time they went. The unnerving part was that the land it was on, upon further investigation, was completely undisturbed.
When asked, Princess Celestia informed them that there was a powerful spell that made it so that its target was, as it’s called, ‘reconned’. The only problem was that there was an insanely limited number of ponies or a large group of them that could cast such a spell. That immediately eliminated her and any potential alicorns, as well as any creatures from Tartarus. If there was any creature or group of creatures capable of such a thing, they would have had done something by now.
The two fillies, one called Tempest Shadow and her sister, Cerulean Skies, were then transferred to the New Beginnings Orphanage in Vanhoover, where one grew into Special Agent Shadow, and the other into the personal assistant for Vanhoover’s judge. The former became the best of the best before “retiring” and became the new Matron for NBO, where 90 percent of Equestria’s military began coming from, while the latter helped many families out of poverty with her ‘personal touch’.
Ember read a newer scroll that was bound to the older one. This one was dark blue and had traces of Luna’s magic.
“This whole orphanage is disturbing, Arc. Every soldier from there has been reported to have the majority of the nations’ worse nightmares. They’re of a shadowy pony starving them, beating them, or forcing them to fight each other for the right of dessert and/or to use the restroom. They also, quite bizarrely, dream of the same pony, covered in light, rescuing them from its counterpart and doing the exact opposite.”
Through grit teeth and furious eyes, Arc replied.
“That’s definitely not a coincidence. Make a copy of it and let’s get to the train station.”
“New Beginnings?”
“New Beginnings.”
After she made a copy, she replaced the original, then froze as her claw left the scroll.
“What if the sister princesses are behind it?”
Furrowing his brow, he stares at a spot in the floor, then grits his teeth.
“There’s no way they can’t be behind it. I mean, a Special Agent being assigned to overlook an Orphanage, dreams and nightmares from the grown-up foals themselves being recorded on paper right from the Dream Princess herself…!’
He makes eye contact with an increasingly furious dragoness.
“To be fair’, she makes air quotes’, ‘maybe those were dreams that exaggerated what happened?”
“And for them to be as vivid as described? Not a chance for it to be overblown imagination or exaggerated memory. And even if there was a “surprise inspection”, my gut tells me that such a highly placed agent would still have friends and if not that, contacts here. And if it was dealt with, as the notes in this scroll,’ holding up the older scroll, ‘imply, why isn’t there another detailing how it was done, as they would’ve wanted to be involved?”
After a moment of silence, they say simultaneously.
“We’ll do it ourselves.”
As they made their way to front gates, they were politely stopped by a subtly scared-to-death Twilight, who meekly requested they follow her to the kitchen. Halting just inside the doorway, they found an overly excited Lyra with an amused Luna and a slightly blushing Candence around a table in front of a lit fireplace, the darker pone speaking up.
“So, ‘they aren’t picky about which hole they use!’ Huh?’
To the duo’s look of utter befuddlement,
‘Your species’ supposed ‘mating habits’, Arc.”
They froze, and while Ember’s imagination started to run wild, Arc glared furiously at the now terrified Lyra.
“Where. The buck. Did you hear. Such a disgusting. And vulgar. Thing?”
She gulps and shakily takes out a rather old book, holding it out to Arc who not-so-gently takes it from her with telekinesis. Reading it, he alternates between confusion, sadness, amusement, frowning, and at one point, outright hatred. Unfortunately, that last emotion was the one he ended the book on, slamming it shut and awakening Ember from her extended daydream.
“Wha-? What ha-?”
“Lyra. As soon as I can, I’ll have an interview with you so that we can…clarify some of the more… revolting things and outright lies.’
To prove a point, he hurled it into the fire. Nodding, Lyra slowly gets off her chair, snack unfinished.
“So, interview for to-?”
“Delayed.”
“GoodgoodIwasjust… Ahem! Good. Um-bye!”
She left behind her shadow, who squeaked in terror and followed her body at an equally fast pace. Growling, he shakes his head and sits next to a still amused Luna, while a slightly dripping Ember sat on his other side next to a subtly shaking Candence.
“Now, what have you discovered, Heroes of Light?”
Looking as one at each other, they shake their heads and shrug.
“Nothing much.”
After they chatted a bit while barely keeping their anger in check, they immediately made their way to Vanhoover, where they found the orphanage after some questioning. The building in question was happy, but not overly so, with spots of darkness that made the lighter paint pop a bit.
“Uh, Arc? Are you sure-?”
“I am. This has to the right-.”
A dark purple unicorn with a broken horn, flank blank, and a scar over her right eye approaches them, admiration in her eyes as she bowed, then quickly hopped up.
“Whoa, so my gut was correct! There are new Heroes!”
To say they were taken aback was putting it lightly. As Shadow led them around, the doubt and questions only grew and grew as they saw the foals genuinely loving her and her returning the affection. She ate with them, played with them, bathed them, and read to them until they went to their mid-afternoon nap.
As she gently closed the door, she released a shuddering sigh before forcing a smile as she urged them to her office.
“N-Now, w-which families are you adopting for?”
Biting their lips, Ember showed her the copy of the scroll, to which Shadow sighed and shook her head, her breathing becoming erratic and tears threatening to fall.
“Be… Believe me, if you were to face my ‘twin’, neither of you would survive, which is why they’ve left me alone for all this time…”
“What’s been done?”
She made eye contact with them.
“EVERYTHING. They’ve tried cures, they’ve tried artifacts, they even tried killing her, which she amusedly allowed, up to Celestia straight up blasting her and me… Nothing.”
Looking at each other, Ember’s actions were a blur, ending with Courage and Hope in Shadow’s chest and stomach. The unicorn in question smiled sadly, tears falling, as she effortlessly pulled them out and handed the first to Ember and the second to Arc.
“P-please… adopt them… As many as you can, before she comes out for the week. This is the only day I get to enjoy-.”
She screamed in surprised terror as a spearpoint erupted from her chest, blood pouring from it and covered her. The last thing she did was Blink them into the foals’ resting room, where they stood bravely in wait. Ember was the first to react.
“Wha- what are you doing?!”
“B-b-being brave for Miss Shadow. She’s-she’s terribly sick, and we need to be ready for the evening.”
The next thing they heard was heavy, echoing hoofsteps, the locked door being slowly unlocked and the unicorn’s body, now wearing black, heavy armor, entering, holding a pitch-black spear with the same point on it. Staring in distain at the armed and ready Heroes, she sighed and Blinked away her suit and weapon.
“I… Suppose I could play with my food befor-.”
She moved like lightning, bucking Arc in the chest and striking Ember in the face. As the two were blasted through the walls, Ember was able to thrust her spear into the ground, using the force to fling herself back and block another strike.
Meanwhile, Arc had used the Armor’s magic to Blink himself into Tempest, slamming her to the ground. She countered with her legs, bucking off and electrocuting him. Much to her slight surprise, her magic did nothing but strengthen the armor and its magic, allowing him to get up and move almost just as fast.
“Hm, looks like I get a challenge, after all.”
The strikes, dodges, and blocks between the three went on for a bit, the foals supremely worried as various guards who tried intervening got their motor control forcefully rewritten by her electrical magic and used as cannon fodder. The duo was able to knock them out, but they were getting tired.
“Give up, already! I’ve trained for this for my whole life!
You two? What, you spend some time in Tartarus, be backup in taking down a gang, and just deliver some taps to a monster, and you expect to outmatch me?! I would be laughing if it wasn’t so pathetic.”
As they helped each other up for what felt the hundredth time, a force activated from within Ember, while another force flowed from Derpy’s spear into Arc, with Tempest Blinking on her armor and grabbing the spear. Moving even faster than before, she’s only able to get 1/3rd of the way there before the energies joined and penetrated the exact center of her chest.