//------------------------------// // The Justice League of Equestria Vol. 1: Invasion: Issue #3: Descent // Story: MLDC: The Justice League of Equestria - Omnibus 1 // by littleman001 //------------------------------// Twilight had been pondering on the words of Jean Jeans for the remainder of the day. It was a very curious comment of him to make. She didn't think much of it back then, but the way he talked to her almost felt like he was trying to encourage her into doing exactly what he told her should be done by somepony who stands above the law. Or more precisely, the Batmare. There was no way Jean could have possibly even suspected that she was the Batmare. They never even met before and she made sure to always track down and destroy any photographic or any kind of evidence taken of her during her outings as the Batmare. But then she remembered that Jean was the assistant of Princess Luna. The second most powerful figure in all of Equestria. She was exactly the kind of pony who had the means to acquire knowledge seemingly impossible to obtain. It seemed like she was gonna have to keep her eyes on the newly returned princess of the night even more closely than she first thought. After an extremely tiring day of running around the castle, trying to cater to Princess Cadance's every petty and selfish little whim, Twilight and Spike were finally finished for the day and they wanted nothing more than to retire to their room and do nothing until morning. But as so many times in the past, fate once again didn't want to play out like they wanted. When they reached their room, they found Shining Armor waiting for them. The stallion looked almost as worn out as them from the whole day of running around. No doubt the groom's responsibilities were even more arduous than theirs. When he saw them, he smiled fondly and walked up to them. "Hi, guys! Tiring day, huh?" "I could ask you the same thing." Twilight said tiredly before letting out a yawn. "Do you need something? And please don't say yes because my hooves are about to drop off." "Well, I know just the remedy for that! Why don't you two come and join me and the princesses for dinner?!" Twilight and Spike exchanged a glance. A royal dinner sounded heavenly right now, but having dinner with the princesses immediately made it lose its appeal. "Thanks, but I think we've had enough of the princesses for one day." Twilight replied and walked around her brother to enter her room. Shining wasn't to be deterred though and followed them. "Yeah, I get it. Cady has been extra demanding lately." He admitted. "Even I hardly recognise her lately. But if it makes you feel any better, she will not be joining us." That statement made Twilight stop in her tracks. "Princess Cadance won't be joining the royal dinner?" She asked in disbelief. Shining shrugged. "Oh, you know how brides are. They have so much to do that won't even eat a bite. She's busy all the time with the wedding preparations. I don't even see her at night." Twilight frowned. "That's ... interesting indeed." There was probably something suspicious about that but Twilight was far too tired to care at the moment. The royal dinner suddenly seemed more inviting to her, but even without Cadance, Celestia would still be there. Was Twilight ready to face her again? She wasn't sure. On the other hoof, she could meet the mysterious Princess Luna. She was really curious about her. And Twilight was always prone to let her curiosity get the better of her. In the end, she let out a defeated sigh as she realised that it was going to happen again. "Very well." She gave in, much to her brother's delight. "Lead the way." Shining was all too happy to oblige. The dining room was already set for a royal feast and three of the royal family were waiting for the last of the participants to arrive. Along with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, their nephew, Prince Blueblood was also present. The royal stallion was rather famished by now and would have rudely demanded they start eating already if he was still his old self, but he grew out of that behaviour thanks to Rarity's influence. It was such a welcome change that Celestia strongly hoped that the relationship will be a stable one. And so did all of the castle stuff who were much happier with this new Blueblood. Finally, Shining Armor arrived with his sister and her young dragon assistant in tow and the three took their seat around the table. As soon as her eyes fell on the lavender mare, the princess of the sun found herself completely overwhelmed by a sudden surge of emotions. She hadn't seen her in years and the immsens guilt she felt from the part she played in the loss of her horn still loomed heavily over her. She wanted to address her former student but no words came out of her mouth. To add insult to injury, Twilight didn't even look at her as she gathered food to herself and began to eat. She seemed to be much more interested in her sister, taking quick and strangely suspicious glances at the princess of the night as she ate and she saw from the corner of her eyes that Luna returned them. This was rather odd. She had no recollection of her sister ever meeting her former student. She was about to address this before Twilight beat her to speaking. "Prince Blueblood, won't Lady Rarity be joining us tonight?" She asked the royal stallion. "I don't think she will be joining anything for a long time." Blueblood replied. "I finally got her to take some sleep and she's been slaving over that dress for so long that I think she's gonna be sleeping until the wedding is over." Shining Armor looked down in embarrassment. She knew that his bride's behaviour has been less than kind in the past few days and he did feel bad about it. "For what it's worth, I think the dress she made for Cady is perfect." He told Blueblood in perhaps the friendliest way he ever spoke to him. But it did little to propitiate the other stallion. "Try convincing your bride of that." He replied on a tone that would be very fitting for the old Blueblood. Shining cast his eyes down in shame as he knew that unlike all those previous times he faced this rudeness from Blueblood, this time it wasn't uncalled for. He went back to his food and kept eating in silence that quickly became unbearable. To everypony's surprise, it was the usually quiet Princess Luna who broke the ice. "A pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, Miss Sparkle." She said. Celestia looked at her sister in shock. She didn't recall ever mentioning her to her. The pain, guilt and shame she felt from the past were still too big for her. For her part, Twilight wasn't caught off guard. She swallowed the bite she was chewing on before answering. "Likewise, your hignesses. I have been following your activity around Equestria with great interest." Luna raised an eyebrow. "Have you?" Twilight nodded. "Yes. Your contributions to the prison system are indispensable for containing the more... colorful circle of criminals who have been showing in the country. In the name of all of my fellow Manehattan citizens, I would like to thank you for your effort to insure our safety." Though her words were nothing but polite, her expression mirrored a level of animosity and suspicion towards the princess of the night and Luna's own expression was the same. "As the rulers of Equestria, the safety and the happiness of our little ponies are always of the utmost importance. But I suppose it isn't surprising that my work is more noticed and appreciated by the ponies of Manehattan. Given the exceptional infestation of super criminals and costumed vigilantes masquerading as heroes in that city." Luna made sure to put heavy emphasis on the last part of her sentence, which didn't go unnoticed by Twilight who narrowed her eyes even further at the alicorn. "Indeed. Lately it has been like most of these criminal elements have just disappeared. As if somepony just threw them in a hole and threw away the hole." Luna just returned the sharp stare with equal intensity. Celestia, Shining and Blueblood stopped eating and just watched the scene in confusion. Meanwhile, concern could be seen on Spike's face. He was not only Twilight's number one assistant, but the Batmare's as well, so he knew everything she did about Princess Luna's underground operations around Equestria. He should have known that this dinner with the shady mare would not be such a good idea. He was hoping Twilight would be able to take a break from her double life during this wedding, but it seemed like that wasn't working out. "Um... Could somepony pass the sauce?" He asked sheepishly, trying to lighten the mood, but he quickly regretted it as the looks he received from the five ponies made him really uncomfortable. Regardless, Shining complied with his request. They continue to dine in awkward silence until Celestia decided to break it. "So, how go the wedding preparations." Twilight wasn't sure if the question was addressed to her. She struggled trying to bring herself to answer, but her brother saved her. "Very well!" He replied, sharing a quick glance with his sister, seeing gratitude in her eyes. "Everything will be ready by Wednesday. I checked Twily's list before we came to dinner. The dress, the reception party and the bird choir among other things are all ready!" Twilight finally felt ready to speak and took over. "Apart from a few minor details, the only thing that needs checking on tomorrow is how the Wonderbolts are doing preparing for their routine." "The Wonderbolts are gonna perform?!" Spike asked in excitement. "Awesome!" This display of childlike enthusiasm made everypony around the table chuckle. Even Luna. But the good mood didn't last long as Blueblood couldn't help but make a bitter comment. "Let's just hope their performance will be enough to meet the bride's unreachable standards." He snarked, earning a sigh from Shining Armor. "By the way, will she be finally honoring us with her presence at dinner tonight?" "Don't start that again, Blueblood! You know how busy she is with the wedding preparations! It's very important to her that our big day will be perfect! Even during the night, she barely takes a break!" Shining replied angrily, but Blueblood just scoffed. "She can't be that busy if she has time to meander around the mountainside behind the castle." He said causally before resuming eating. Shining raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?" "Oh, didn't you know?" The Prince asked, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "Last night, I wanted to take Lady Rarity on a stroll around the castle so she can finally relax a little and I saw Cady heading flying one of the mountains. Will there be any festivities there during the wedding?" He asked, turning to Celestia. "Not to my knowledge." The sun princess answered. "Didn't you ask her what she was doing there?" "With the way she's been behaving lately, I've been trying to limit my interactions with her as much as possible." Blueblood replied. "Why don't you ask her yourself tomorrow?" The rest of the conversation went unheard by Twilight. What Blueblood said only increased her suspicions about Cadance's behavior. Being the studious mare she was, she's been thoroughly studying Canterlot's geography as well and she's never read anything about those mountains that was worth memorising. What could Cadance possibly be doing there? She looked down at Spike who saw the inquisitive look on her face and merely shrugged. He was about to go back to his dinner when suddenly his eyes widened and he froze in shock. He knew that look on Twilight's face. That was the same look she wore when she began investigating a new crime in Manehattan. The look of determination to crack the case before anypony else would do it and apprehend the perpetrator who committed whatever crime the case involved. But what scared Spike the most, was the fact that whenever Twilight wore that look, she would go into World's Greatest Detective mode and there was nothing he could do about it. Spike wanted to treat this wedding as a vacation for both of them. To get away from the insanity that seemed to haunt the city of Manehattan for a week. But he had a bad feeling that that insanity was about to catch up with them tonight. It looked like no matter where Twilight went, she could never escape the shadow of the Batmare. And neither could he. After finishing her meal, Twilight excused herself and headed towards the exit of the room. Shining and Celestia shared a troubled glance. The princess didn't even get the chance to talk with her former student and it really pained her, while Shining who sat next to his sister saw that she bearly ate. She couldn't have gotten enough already. "Is everything alright, Twiliy." The stallion asked. "Yeah, I'm fine." Twilight replied over her shoulder. "I'm just much more tired than I thought." She said, faking a yawn. "Enjoy your meal. I'll be turning in early tonight." She resumed her walk until one last comment from Luna stopped. "You look like you've been working nights too frequently, Miss Sparkle. Perhaps you should stop." Twilight stopped briefly and shot one last glare at the alicorn before finally leaving. Nopony in the room thought much of Luna's comment, but Spike felt fear rising inside his chest. Luna definitely knew something about her and she looked like the kind of pony who would take ruthless advantage any knowledge she obtained. Spike definitely hoped they wouldn't cross her in the future. His worry made him lose his appetite and he excused himself shortly after his caretaker. He could only pray she wasn't about to do what he thought. Twilight headed straight to her room and locked the door behind her. She then went to her bed and pulled out one of her briefcases without hesitation. She knew exactly what she had to do and she didn't want to waste any time. She opened the briefcase and pulled out some pieces of clothing including a shirt, ski mask, four shoes and a bedsheet. At first, they would have looked completely ordinary to anypony but Twilight was far from an ordinary mare. No doubt Spike went through her luggage several times and made sure to remove everything that even remotely looked like a bat, but she had her ways. She laid the clothes on her bed and pulled out a bottle from her saddlebag. She sprayed the clothes with the bottle's content and they slowly started to harden and change colour. Soon, they were the exact same colour as her batsuit and just as resilient too. She was about to put it on when she heard the door opening and turned to see Spike standing behind her, looking at her disapprovingly. "Please, tell me you're not gonna go all bats." He pleaded as he locked the door. Twilight turned away and began to pull the shoes on. "I have to. There is something strange going on here, Spike and I have to find out what it is." She told him before moving onto the shirt. It wasn't as hard as her armor but it will do as long as she won't meet encounter any crushing forces out there. At least it will allow her to move move faster. "In Equestria’s capital during the biggest event of the year?!" Spike asked in disbelief. "And there is that Princess Luna too. I have no idea how, but I think she might be onto you and the last thing we need is validate her suspicions!" "They are certainly more than just suspicions." Twilight replied as she attached the sheet that hardened into the same substance as her cape to the ski mask. "But we also have quite a bit of dirt on her. We can destroy her reputation and reveal all of her dirty little secrets with one swift movement and tomorrow, I'm gonna make sure she knows that. But now, I've got bigger things to worry about." "Bigger than your identity possibly getting revealed?!" Spike exclaimed. Twilight ignored him and continued to put together her makeshift suit. "And what about your gadgets? You can't go out there without them." Twilight reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a couple of black mane clips which she then unfolded into batarangs, a mane dryer which turned out to be a grappling gun, a box of bonbons which contained smoke bombs and a radio which she dismantled into two miniature walkie talkies. She used some string to tie one of them to the ear of the ski mask and tossed the other one to Spike. The last thing she pulled out was a miniature computer which she opened up and turned on before giving it to the drake. "We'll stay in radio contact and you will see everything on that screen." She instructed him as she put two white lenses into the eye holes of the ski mask. Spike watched her in disbelief. The way she went from Twilight Sparkle, the simple librarian and guest at the Royal Wedding to the dedicated detective superhero about to launch herself into the night to uncover some sinister conspiracy was astounding. It was like a reflex to her. Everytime he saw it, it served as a frightening reminder that the mare he knew from his youth was gone and has been replaced by this bat creature. "What do you expect to find out there?" He asked, still hoping he might have a chance to talk her out of it. "If I knew I wouldn't have to go out there." She replied as she put on her suit. She walked over to the window and pulled out her grappling gun, aiming it at one of the castle's towers before turning back to Spike. "Don't give me that look. I know you wanted us to relax and enjoy this wedding without any of this. Trust me, I don't like it any more than you do, but if my suspicions end up being correct, there won't be a wedding and Faust knows how big of a threat might be facing instead. Is that what you want?" "You have already decided." Spike sighed, sitting down on the bed and putting the computer on his lap. "I know you're right. It's just... so hard to see how easy this became for you. How naturally you slip into this role. It's like Twilight Sparkle is the real mask." Though Spike couldn't see it through the white lens, Twilight cast her gaze down. The dragon's words hit her deep. "Sometimes I feel the exact same way." She replied. A long silence fell between the two as they both felt unsure what they should say next. Eventually, Twilight broke it first. "The past is in the past, Spike. There's no point in moping over it. We cannot change what happened. But we can change what will." She said before leaping out the window. The dragon watched her with a heavy heart. "I guess High Culture wasn't the only one who died in the park that night." Prince Blueblood headed back to his room after finishing the rather satiating royal dinner. He never really ate that much before, considering he didn't live a very active life, but all that changed when he started living the life of a costumed crimefighter. Now he needed every bit of energy he could get. He actually stayed after Luna and Shining both finished and Celestia was the last one in the dining room. Blueblood chuckled. No doubt she waited for everypony to leave so she could indulge in her guilty pleasure of stuffing herself full of cakes. He reached his room and made sure to open the door very quietly. Rarity was probably still sleeping and the last thing he wanted was to disturb her. Indeed, the purple maned mare was still curled up in his bed under the covers with a blissful smile on her face. She really needed a good night's sleep after all the days she spent working tirelessly. Blueblood smiled fondly. He was tempted to plant a kiss on her cheek, but he wasn't sure if their relationship was quite there yet. So instead he just sat down next to his window. The Canterlot night was always so beautiful. It paid off to have the Princess of the Night residing in your city. Luna sure put a lot of effort into her work. The sight of the night sky often helped him fall asleep, even back when he was a foal and way before Luna returned. But ever since she came back, it was even better. He found it quite hard to believe that ponies in the past appreciated it so little that his aunt became Nightmare Moon out of rage. He stargazed almost every night and probably knew every star above his window by now. Which is why the dark shape gliding across the sky caught his attention so much. His eyes widened as he watched the giant bat shaped shadow glide in the starlight and land on one of the castle's towers before continuing its way towards the mountains surrounding the castle. Blueblood could barely snap himself out of his stupor. To his knowledge, no bats that lived around Canterlot grew to sizes that massive. Not to mention bats flew and not glided like the figure he just saw. First, it was Cadance retreating into those Faust forsaken mountains and now some giant bat creature? This was way too much weirdness to be coincidental. He backed away from the window in horror, trying to figure out what to do now. His first idea was reporting this to the Royal Guard, but they probably wouldn't take this seriously and he had no proof of what he's seen. And he couldn't bother his aunts with this either. They've had way more important matters on their hooves. But it wasn't like he had to go to anypony for help. He was the archer vigilante of Canterlot. He could investigate this matter himself. He headed to his closet to get his costume and his bow. As he gathered them from the shelf, he caught a glimpse Rarity's own costume. The mare has been his trusty partner ever since they defeated Golden Platter and decided to keep up this unorthodox lifestyle. He couldn't have asked for a better partner and he wouldn't trade what they had for anything, but given how exhausted Rarity has been lately, it would probably be best if she sat this one out. But apparently, fate had different plans.. "Blueblood, what are you doing?" He heard a groggy voice from behind him. His eyes widened as he turned around and saw Rarity standing at the closet's door, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. When she saw the equipment in the prince's hooves however, everything became clear. "You are going crimefighting without me?" The heartbroken look she gave him made Blueblood regret all of his life choices at once. "No! Of course not, my lady!" The prince defended himself. "It's just a little patrol, nothing else! I saw something outside that I thought I should investigate! That's it!" His explanation however did little to console Rarity. "Even then, didn't you think I should be by your side on a patrol? I thought we had something special!" The mare wailed. Blueblood knew she only had a few seconds to avoid a full blown canary cry. "Beloved, you have been working yourself to death lately. I know you don't like it, but you need rest. You need to be completely recharged and fully rested out there. I couldn't bear to see you get hurt." Blueblood pleaded, taking a hold of one her hooves. "Darling, while I am flattered that my safety is you biggest priority, I think I am able to make a decision about whether I am rested enough to join you out there." She told him defiantly. "For example, if I wasn't rested enough, would I be able to do this?" The fashionista ignited her horn and levitated her costume towards her and twirled around. When she turned back to face Blueblood, she was fully dressed and ready for action. The prince was stunned. Rarity's talent with clothes never ceased to amaze him. "Now then, are we going out to patrol or what?" The Batmare grappled herself up to a cliff that overlooked the area beneath Canterlot Mountain. From up here, she will be able to see any movement on the ground. The distance shouldn't be a problem as her lenses also operated as binocular and even though the darkness of night has already fallen, she wasn't called the Batmare for nothing. She raised a hoof to the walkie talkie at her ear. "Spike, activating echolocation mode now." She said before poking the side of her mask, making it let out a low frequency sound that was completely undetectable to pony ears and it quickly covered the entire valley before returning to the mask's ears. Back in Twilight's room, Spike saw the echolocation mode creating a 3d model of the valley on his computer screen and everything in it. Including the living things. "It's working like a charm, Twi." The dragon said on the other end. "In fact, I'm already seeing two pony sized life forms heading your way." Spike quickly transferred the image to Twilight's lens and sure enough, she saw the two ponies closing in on her location. It was highly unlikely they would spot her on this cliff, especially during the night so she wasn't worried. She'll just gonna have to stay put and watch the events unfold. Little did she know, the two ponies below the cliff were exactly looking for her. And they had just the way of locating her. The Batmare would probably never consider a little canary much of a threat to her, but the little canary currently watching her was special. It had two heroic friends who asked it to track the shadowy figure they were looking for. And when it spotted her, it immediately reported back to them. While Rarity didn't have the ability to talk to animals like a certain yellow pegasus, she managed to gain an understanding of the little yellow bird's chirping and gestures by now. And she managed understand that the figure was sitting on a cliff above them, looking down at the trees beneath her exactly where they were, as if knowing they were there. "Looks like it has spotted us." She told her partner, Prince Blueblood. The hooded archer next to her frowned. "No point in sneaking around then." He replied, loading an arrow into his bow and taking aim before letting the arrow fly. The dark of the night concealed the flying arrow from the Batmare and she became so focused on her echolocation that she didn't see it coming until it was almost too late. She barely managed to lift her cape in time to shield herself from it before launched a counterattack. She pulled out two batarangs and threw them at the spots where her echolocation was marking the two hostile ponies. She managed to knock the bow out of Blueblood's hooves and startle Rarity long enough for her to jump off the cliff and glide right in front of them before striking a defensive fighting stance. Blueblood was disarmed but Rarity didn't need a bow and she was ready to pounce on their opponent, until she saw who it actually was. "Ba... Batmare?!" She gasped in shock as she came to a halt. The two other ponies shared her surprise. "What?!" Blueblood exclaimed as he took a better look at the dark clad heroine. "It IS her! What are you doing here? Canterlot isn't your turf!" Batmare looked at the other two crimefighters and instantly recognised them as Green Arrow and Black Canary. Two of the more recently debuted vigilantes of Equestria. "I wasn't aware I was restricted to my own city in investigating potential threats to Equestria." She spoke after a few seconds. The other two realised their mistake and Rarity quickly tried to safe face. "I apologise. My partner here is simply surprised to see you here. As am I, I must confess. It is quite extraordinary to see you outside of Manehattan. There must be a pretty serious threat looming over our heads if came all the way to Canterlot to stop it!" She realised with worry. Twilight frowned beneath her mask. It wasn't like she could just tell them that she came to the wedding and only heard about a potential threat later. They'd immediately deduce she was one of the guests. But fortunately, she didn't have to say anything, as Blueblood did it for her. "Is this about the wedding?" He asked as he retrieved his bow, sharing his partner's concern. "First Cadance and now the Batmare also shows up? Just what the heck is going on here?" "I don't know." Batmare replied before being interrupted by the sound of a branch snapping somewhere between the trees, making all three costumed ponies jump. "But I intend to find out." She said as they all ran to hide. "Alright, Bolts! That's enough for today!" Captain Spitfire called out to her fliers after a long and tiring day of training. 'Finally!' Rainbow Dash and Applejack moaned in their heads in unison. Rainbow loved being a Wonderbolt and she enjoyed every second of it, even the exhausting training sessions, but even she had her limits, both in terms of endurance and interest. As for Applejack, while she initially enjoyed the impromptu photo session with the Wonderbolts, Spitfire dragged the training session out so long that the moon was already up in the sky by the time they were finished. She used up quite a lot of film and was beginning worry about how much she had left for the wedding. After the team was finally dismissed, the two mares left the training field together. "Sorry I dragged you into this, Lark." Rainbow apologised to the earth pony. "Our training sessions are usually not this arduous. But since it's a royal wedding and all, Spitfire sees it as out most important performance of the year. And she's also been one the edge ever since her old partner turned into a supervillan and tried to bankrupt the team a while ago. These are tough times." "You can say that again." Applejack replied. Her life wasn't exactly mundane either. She felt bad for Spitfire. She herself has been through some tough times but she managed to keep her hope and optimism. Sometimes she wondered if Supermare's message about hope was actually working as she intended. "Well, I think I'll turn in for the night." She said as they walked back to the streets. "So long, Dash! Good luck with the show!" "Thanks! Hope you'll snap some good pictures for your boss!" The pegasus replied as she left towards her own place. Applejack returned to her hotel room and began to look over the pictures she had taken. They were quite good. She should be able to make a good montage of them for a side article in the Sun next to the one about the wedding. As she looked them over, something suddenly caught her eye. Something that would have escaped the attention of anypony without her super senses. In the background of one her photographs, she saw a pink shape flying towards the mountain in the background. She narrowed her eyes to get a closer look and saw that the pink shape had wings and a long flowing mane with a horn peaking out from beneath it. Applejack's eyes widened. A pink alicorn? That could have only been Princess Cadance, the bride. What was she doing out here at such a late hour? She couldn't imagine why would she be out here. She looked back at the photograph until she managed to determine where the princess was flying to. She then quickly grabbed a spare camera and her costume just in case before heading out. She had a feeling she was gonna discover something big. Batmare, Black Canary and Green Arrow were hiding between the trees as they waited for whoever was behind them to make their presence known. To their surprise, the pony emerging from the shadows was none other than Princess Cadance. The pink alicorn landed in front of them before looking around to make sure she wasn't being followed and heading towards the the the rock wall that Batmare was sitting the top on a minute ago. "Cady?" Blueblood asked in surprise. "This is where she was sneaking out to?" He was quickly silenced when Batmare raised a hoof to his mouth. If Cadance was doing something out here she wasn't supposed to, she obviously didn't want to be seen. At first, she became worried that Cadance heard Blueblood, because she stopped and looked around suspiciously. But after a few moments, she turned back towards the wall and simply passed through it. The three costumed ponies behind the tree could only stare in astonishment. "Did you see that?" Rarity asked, baffled by what she'd just seen. Batmare had slowly approached the rock wall and the other two ponies, encouraged by her action, followed suit. The dark clad vigilante stared at the wall for a few moments. There was obviously an entrance concealed by some advanced illusion spell behind it. She used her echolocation to detect what could lie behind it and when the soundwave came back, she saw a hidden tunnel behind the wall with a staircase leading down the tunnel. Batmare raised a hoof and reached out to touch the wall. As she expected, her hoof simply passed through it. Rarity and Blueblood once again mimicked her movements and the situation became clear for all three of them. "This is an illusion." Blueblood said. "And I have the feeling she isn't organising a secret wedding afterparty in there." "Down there." Batmare corrected. "There is a staircase leading down behind the wall. Watch your step." Before the two other ponies had the chance to ask how she knew this, she already passed through the wall. They looked at each other in slight uncertainty before steeling themselves and following her. They pushed their heads through but they couldn't see anything at first, prompting them to use a luminance spell to light their way. They looked down and saw the staircase with Batmare already several steps ahead of them. Given her loss of horn, she couldn't light her way with magic, but her lens contained night vision mode so that wasn't a problem. Once they reached the bottom, they found themselves standing on a circular wooden railway leading further down into the tunnel. Batmare looked down and used her echolocation to see how deep the tunnel went. She saw the bottom, but of Princess Cadance, there was no trace. "What is this place?" Rarity asked as she looked around. "Looks like an old, abandoned mine." Blueblood replied. "A mine for what?" The mare scoffed. "I don't see anything worth mining." "Obviously that's the reason it was abandoned." Batmare said, pulling out her grappling gun and firing the hook at the railway above them. Blueblood quickly realised what she was about to do and followed her example by doing the same with an arrow that had a rope tied to it. Batmare lowered herself into the hole and Blueblood threw down the end of the rope before turning to Rarity. "May I?" He asked, extending his hoof, which Rarity took gratefully. "How gallant." She said as Blueblood pulled her close. She grabbed onto him and the stallion grabbed the rope, sliding down on it after Batmare. Once at the bottom, Batmare used her echolocation to map out their surroundings. There were several tunnels surrounding them but they didn't know which one Cadance went down. "Does anypony see any tracks?" She asked, failing to detect any through her night vision. "I do, but these don't look like pony tracks to me." Blueblood replied, leaning down to analyse the tracks he found. The mares joined him and saw a set of hoofprints leading down a tunnel. At least, they looked like hoofprints. They were circular like a pony's hoof, but had a strange distinguishing feature. Namely, that they had holes them. Holes of varying sizes and placed randomly around on the hoof that made the impact. "This case is getting more mysterious with every new development." Rarity commented. Batmare got up and began to follow the tracks. Rarity and Blueblood were hesitant to go after her, but the prince quickly remembered that a member of his family might be in trouble and if that was the case, she needed help. And while Rarity didn't know Cadance that well, and what she knew wasn't exactly pleasant either, but she realised that without the princess, there would be nopony to wear her dress at the wedding and all of her work would have been for nothing. With a sigh, she accepted she had no choice but to tag along. The tunnel they walked down was very dark and very narrow. So narrow in fact that they had to get behind each other. Suddenly, they heard a strange buzzing sound coming from the distance that seemed to get louder the deeper they went the tunnel. Blueblood was beginning to grow nervous. This whole scenario reminded him of a movie he saw. He was praying they wouldn't encounter it any ponies cocooned to the wall with some freaky spider things wrapped around their faces. Blueblood's prayer was heard as they came across no such thing, but they did find something just as alarming. If not more so. At the end of the tunnel, they saw a glowing light which illuminated their way enough that they didn't need their light spells and night vision anymore. But once they reached the source of the light, their eyes widened. In front of them was a giant glowing crystal pod in the center of the chamber. Batmare slowly began to approach it, lifting one of her hooves and touching the pod. It was extremely hard but seemingly translucent as she could make out the silhouette of a pony inside. She leaned closer as the other two ponies walked up next to her so they could also see what was in it. The silhouette slowly floated forward, revealing the pod's occupant. The three ponies backed away with horrified gasps. It was none other than Princess Cadance. "What in the name of Faust?!" Blueblood exclaimed, dropping his bow in shock. "What is Cadance doing in there?! Is she some sort of vampony and this mine is her lair?" "But if that was the case, wouldn't she come to rest here at daytime?" Rarity questioned. Blueblood didn't have an answer to that. Batmare examined the pod. It was unlike anything she'd seen before. She tried to punch it to break the princess out, but to the pod proved to be much more solid than she anticipated and she ended up only hurting her hoof. "Allow me, darling!" Rarity said as she stepped forward, raising her hoof to reveal the purple crystals on her boot. "These aren't just for show, you know." Indeed, the mare used the crystal to cut a circular hole into the crystal pod, big enough for the three heroes to pull the princess out. "Is she alive?" Blueblood asked worriedly. Thankfully, Batmare was able to check her life signs with her lens. "She is, but she's very malnourished and weak. We have to get her out of here." The two of them each grabbed one of Cadance's forelegs around their necks and pulled her onto their shoulders. "But what about the Princess Cadance we saw entering the mine?" Rarity asked in confusion. "She was perfectly fine and healthy! This cannot be her!" Before the other two could answer, they were interrupted by a loud, hissing noise from above them. They looked up but saw nothing but darkness. Twilight used her echolocation and the image that came back frightened her more than anything she ever encountered as Batmare. She saw figures on the ceiling. Dozens of them. And the other two heroes soon saw them as well when they opened their red glowing eyes and glared down at them. The buzzing noise came back as the creatures flew down in front of them with insectoid wings and surrounded them, giving them a chance to get a good look at them. The best they could describe them was pony shaped giant bugs with horns on the top of their heads, black cithin covered bodies, translucent insect wings and holes across their bodies. They stood back to back with each other with Cadance in the middle of the circle, adopting battle stances. Though they weren't sure if they stood a chance against such an overwhelming numerical superiority. They needed an escape plan. Fortunately, Batmare always had one. "Close your eyes, count to three, open them, grab Cadance and follow my lead." She instructed the two behind her before pulling out several smoke bombs and throwing them around the chamber. They exploded, covering the room with thick smoke, concealing them from the creatures and giving them the opportunity to run. Through her lens, Twilight saw where the exit was and managed to lead her colleagues toward it. She knocked two of the creatures in front of her out of the way easily as they were still coughing from the smoke and they could all slip through the gap. They ran down the tunnel they came through, but Rarity briefly stopped and turned back towards the opening. She gathered as much air into her lungs as she could before letting out a deafening wail, making the rocks above them collapse, preventing the creatures from chasing them. They made their way back to the railway and Batmare fired her grappling gun up at an upper platform and took Cadance from the others. "I can pull her up. You use that rope." Rarity and Blueblood nodded before running over to the same rope they used to climb down, but before they could start climbing, they once again heard the buzzing noise of the creatures' wings. Apparently, Rarity's idea only delayed them as they simply used the other tunnels to keep chasing the heroes. They flew out of the tunnels and swarmed the room, surrounding the heroes once again. Two of them immediately flew at the unconscious princess on Blueblood and Rarity's shoulders, taking hold of her and flying away with her, out of the two unicorns' reach. Batmare pulled back her grappling hook and fired it at the creatures, managing to wrap it around one of their hind legs. She tried to pull them back but they were stronger than she assumed and ended up dragging her after them. 'Well, time for plan B.' Twilight thought. She grappled herself up to the creature the hook was attached to and crawled onto its back. She bashed the creature on the head, knocking it out and grabbed onto Cadance, trying to pull her away from the other one. The creature fought desperately to keep its hold on the unconscious mare and it was much stronger than Twilight so she had to come up with something else. She pulled out a batarang and threw it at the creature's head, knocking it back against a wall. She was about to put Cadance onto her back before two more of the creatures pounced on her and forced her on the ground. She struggled to break free but they were too strong. She reached for her belt and pressed a button which sent a shockwave throughout her suit, making the creatures let go of her and allowing her to incapacitate them. She turned back to Cadance, only to see that she was gone, no doubt carried off by more of the creatures. With a heavy heart, she realised that there was no way for her to find her again in the middle of a battle and had to return to her two partners. For their part, Rarity and Blueblood were holding their own admirably. One of the creatures jumped onto her back, but she managed to throw it off by launching her hind legs into the air, launching it right on top of another one. Three others launched themselves at her from all directions, but Rarity got onto her front legs before spreading her hind legs and spinning around, kicking them away at the same time. Blueblood fired his arrows at them with pinpoint accuracy. Their chitin armor was tough enough to prevent them from getting penetrated, but he did manage to knock them back. But he quickly realised that he can't keep this up forever. He was running out of arrows and the number of the creatures was just too overwhelming. "There's too many of them!" He yelled as he knocked back one more with an arrow. "We have to get out of here!" "We can't get up to where we came in!" Rarity replied, jumping on her back and kicking a pouncing creature away with her hind legs, slamming it into another one. "They won't give us the chance!" "They will!" Batmare exclaimed as she returned to them, firing her grappling gun into a creature and yanking them back, slamming it into another. "Once I'll give them a little distraction!" "Distraction?!" Blueblood shouted, placing his bow around one of the creatures' head and throwing it back into the darkness. "What we need right now is a skilled mage to teleport us out of here! Or some serious backup!" As the number of the creatures around them dwindled, they became more cautious in their attacks, but saw that the heroes were becoming more and more exhausted. They surrounded them once more and began to slowly advance on them with the clear intention of finishing them off. With the sounds of battle dying down, Rarity and Blueblood could hear a strange chirping sound from distance that seemed to be getting louder and louder. Even some of the creatures seemed to take notice of it as they halted their advance and looked around in confusion. "What's that?" Blueblood asked. "Backup." Batmare replied casually as she took off a radio from her belt and threw it between the creatures. Just a second later, a huge swarm of bats burst into the chamber from all tunnels and every direction. The room exploded in a cacophony of screeching bats, the hostile creatures panicking and Rarity's shrieking as she jumped in fright and grabbed onto Blueblood. Batmare took advantage of the situation by pulling out her grappling gun and firing it upwards once more. Blueblood followed suit by grabbing the rope, but before they could begin climbing, the entire room was shaken by an enormous thud that made the walls of the nine tremble so hard that Batmare’s hook and Blueblood's arrow fell down on the ground, once again ruining their escape plan. The thud was soon followed by another even louder one that made all the creatures snap out of their panic. They all turned towards the opening of one of the tunnels where the sound came from before fleeing in terror, trampling over each other before taking flight down the other tunnels. Even the bats fled, flying up and escaping the mine altogether, leaving the three heroes alone with whatever was heading their way. Batmare used her echolocation on the tunnel and the image that came back was worrying to say the least. The silhouette of a giant creature soon became visible for all three of them as it emerged from the tunnel, making them all back away. It was another of those pony bugs, except at least three times larger then the rest, sporting two enormous chelicheare in front of its mouth, a giant horn half as long as its body and two glowing dark purple eyes. But what caught the attention of the heroes the most was the enormous axe in its left foreleg. Blueblood was the first one to get over his shock as the creature began to march towards them. He pulled out all of his remaining arrows and shot them all at the monstrosity. They pierced it's chitin armore, making it stumble a little, but it merely tightened its body, making its armor snap the arrows. Rarity then tried to use her wail on it, but all she accomplished was slowing its advance down. Batmare then threw her remaining batarangs into the rocks above the creature's head before detonating them, making the rocks fall on its head. The creature lifted its axe and sliced the falling rocks in half before they even touched its body before resuming its advance. There was nothing the three heroes could do to even phase this monster and as that knowledge slowly sunk in, they began to realise that these were probably their last moments on Faust's green earth. They raised their hooves in front of them in a vain attempt to protect themselves and waited for the inevitable impact. An impact that never came. Instead of the axe piercing their flesh, they heard a very loud metallic knock from above them. When they summoned the courage to open their eyes again, they saw a flowing red cape in front of them with a giant golden S in the middle of it. The creature stared in shock as its axe connected with an earth pony mare's head right in the middle. But instead of cutting it in half like it should have, the mare's head stopped the axe like it was made of paper. The mare was floating in the air vertically in front of it as she folded her front legs across her chest and glared up at the giant with disdain. "I don't think so." She said before inhaling and breathing on the weapon. Ice slowly began to form across the axe as the creature could only stare in disbelief. The mare tipped the frozen axe, shattering it to frozen dust before raising a leg and kicking the creature down the tunnel it emerged from. She then turned to the other three ponies. "Grab my hooves!" They didn't need to be told twice. Batmare grabbed her left hoof, while Blueblood took her right with Rarity clinging onto him. They then began to slowly lift from the ground before their rescuer took off, carrying them to safety. While they survived, deep down they all knew that what they went through was only the beginning.