I let Rainbow off for the rest of the day. I told her to go to her room and reflect for a while, and I went back into the Biology Lab where Radiant Garden was ready to give me a review of the genes Rainbow provided. I entered the Biology Lab where I saw Radiant Garden standing in the center of the room with a soft, but sad smile on his face.
“That was very kind of you to reassure Miss Dash, my Lord.”
“Thank you Radiant Garden. I believe that what I said was the truth, and I will not keep the truth from my Thanes.”
“Yes, my Lord,” he said with a slight bow. “And I’ve discovered the secret to pegasi magic. It appears magic is contained or controlled in a gland. I was able to recreate it quickly, and I found that with said gland I can make anything fly with the right adjustment. If you so choose, I can use this to enhance Rainbow’s pegasi magic so she can control clouds and storms.”
“Control storms?” Well now I know Rainbow has the ability to control storms, she’ll become a powerful ally rather than just someone I have to protect. “Give her that ability. It’ll come in handy.”
“Yes, my Lord. I’ve also figured out how to store matter in her body, so she can grow several sizes larger. The only drawback is that it hast to be grown naturally, or her body will reject it and she’d be rotting faster than a leper.” he admitted morbidly.
“Eugh, don’t give me that imagery, please.”
“Sincerest apologies, my Lord.” he replied, bowing again.
“It’s fine. Is there anything else you can do?”
“Her anatomy allows for thicker and stronger skin, so I can make it hard to cut her.”
“Make it so.”
“Yes, my Lord. Oh, and if I want to make her an omnivore then I will need the DNA of a carnivore.”
“Let’s not give her the ability to eat squirrels just yet, ok?” I responded, shaking my head with a smile on my face.
“Very well, my Lord. Oh and I’ve put my DNA in the Splicer, so I can figure out Terrarian DNA. I’ve discovered that with extra care I can give Rainbow Dash an inventory!” he exclaimed rather ecstatically.
“Calm down my friend. I need you to also see if you can increase Rainbow’s strength, or at least make it easier for her to become stronger. And find a way to increase her wing strength; I need her to be able to outrun ponies who get a head start on her.”
“I’ll get to that right away, my Lord.” he said saluting.
“Good. You know I expected Hunger and Celldric to be back by now, with some buckets of wa-”
*Slam*
“Miss us?” came the unquestioned answer from Hunger. Hunger and Celldric joined Radiant and I in the Biology Lab, while holding buckets of water.
“My Lord, we’ve retrieved the first few gallons of water for the Biology Lab.” stated Celldric, in his respectful and chivalrous tone.
“Oh, hello friends. Just dump the water at the base of the tree, and it will do the rest.” Radiant started.
“On it.” replied Hunger as he dumped the water at the base of the tree went on.
“We’re short a few hundred gallons, so we’ll need much more.” said Radiant.
“Where did you get this water?” I asked them.
“Ponyville’s pond.” responded Celldric. “No one saw us, like you asked.”
“Oh yeah, I asked you to get it from there. All right carry on.” I turned around and began walking out the door.
“Wait sir, I’m not done with my report.” stated Radiant, trying to get me to come back.
“All right. You two continue gathering water for the tree.” I told Hunger and Celldric.
“Yes, Lord and Master!” exclaimed Celldric, and he ran off out the door. Why he needed to run, I have no idea. But Hunger walked out the door calmly, like nothing that transpired between him and Hunger.
“Ok Radiant.” I replied, pushing the thought to the side. “What else do you have for me?”
“Well, if you allow me I can give Rainbow Dash resistance to the corruption, by giving her a natural purification gland.”
“Whoa whoa whoa! You can do that?” I questioned with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes I can, my Lord.”
“Then do it. Oh, and find a way to make it so she can control the corruption. You know like self-injection, so she can have benefits of being corrupted. Or at least the ability to intimidate her enemy. And try to make it so there’s some sort of timer to it, so when she does corrupt herself, she doesn’t need to be in control to revert back.”
“Well thought of, my Lord. Shall the hollow be of concern?”
“T-the hollow?” I nearly forgot about the hollow. “We don’t have control over the hollow, do we?”
“Not to my knowledge, my Lord. But everything in the hollow is really powerful.” Radiant started tapping his chin and looking at the ceiling. “I wonder if the transformation to the hollow can increase the power of a being.”
“You should test that, when we get hollowed seeds. But for now, stick to corruption and try to develop a gland to remove hollow.”
“Yes my lord. I do believe that’s everything we should worry about, until we start the procedure.” replied Radiant, with a smile.
“Good… I’ll be in the mines, interrogating the prisoner.” I stated, turning my head toward the door.
I wasn’t stopped by Radiant, so I assumed he really was finished with brainstorming new body parts for Rainbow Dash. I exited the Biology Lab and walked down the hall to the spiral staircase. Once there I jumped over the railing, and allowed myself to fall into the depths of the lit up tower.
I quickly reached the bottom, and found myself looking at a hole in the ground. With no other direction to go, I jumped into the hole and found myself in another cavern. Only this one had brick walls, and it looked more like an unfinished hallway.
I walked along the walls and came across a wooden door, which was covered slightly by dirt. I assumed this is the door I asked Darkness to seal off once he put the prisoner inside.
“Can I help you my liege?” I spun around and my eyes met the shadowy figure of Darkness partially obscured by the shadows of the incomplete cavern.
“Oh, Darkness good. I need to see the prisoner. If he hasn’t been corrupted by the ground, that is.”
“Well actually, my Lord. He is corrupted. The moment I set him down he bolted for the closed door. And you know how pegasi open doors? Apparently the same way all other ponies do, and they land.”
“So we need purification powder… wait.” I responded, as the realization hit me.
“Yes my lord. Isis is needed. And since you left her in the forest deep within Equestrian boarders-”
“Then I’ll need to resolve the current issue with Celestia… oh joy.” I said rolling my eyes. “You can control him while he’s corrupted, right?”
“Yes I can, my lord.” he responded.
“Is it possible that you can make him answer my questions, or does he have to access his memories through free will?”
“Actually my Lord, I might be able to do just that. I’ll need some time to experiment with him, and it will take time. Anything specific you wish to know?”
“Who ordered him to attack me? That’s what I want to know.” I replied, walking back out of the unfinished hallway.
“It will be done my lord.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Luna just walked into the throne room and after a brief embrace from a concerned Sun Goddess, she explained the betrayal of her own guards. Celestia was silent for a few moments, while Luna explained Rainbow’s betrayal.
“-then after a talk with Puppet Master, I concluded it would be best not to apprehend Rainbow Dash and I excused her, because I didn’t want to arrest her and I also didn’t want to risk open warfare. Celestia, he treats her like his own citizen, maybe more. If we were to act upon the laws of our land, and try to apprehend Rainbow Dash, we may be risking innocent lives.” Luna stated sadly.
Celestia hung her head low for a few moments. When her head rose up, she had a look of determination on her face.
“Luna. Assemble all the guards on station during this incident. I want to swear them to secrecy.”
“So, you don’t wish to punish Rainbow Dash for treason?”
“No… but I would like to talk to her.” replied Celestia with a calm voice, and with an angry glare directed at no one in particular.
“I understand. That does sound like the logical course of action.” Luna stated, a look of relief on her face, that Celestia wouldn’t take drastic action with the news.
Celestia’s expression softened, and she looked back at Luna. “I want to see if there’s an ounce of loyalty still within Rainbow Dash. Maybe I can exploit it, and she could tell us everything about Puppet Master.”
“I fear that’s a risk we can’t take Celestia.” answered Luna. “Rainbow is as loyal to Puppet Master as she was to you. If you try to exploit her and she feels threatened, then she’ll tell him about your attempt to take information from her and he might be angry.”
“I know, and I’m ready to take that risk.”
“NO! WE CAN’T!” shouted Luna, she quickly regained her poise after the outburst. “I’ve seen his army, Celestia. In that castle is a barracks larger than a city.” she admitted, while giving Celestia an angry glare. “He can chose to remove Equestria from the map or completely take it over… we can’t let that happen. If that means putting on a smile and playing nice, then I’m fine with it. But I can’t allow you to make the decision to potentially break his trust.” Luna’s expression softened. “I worry for the safety of our ponies too, Celestia. But so far I haven’t seen Puppet Master truly want to use the army he has. That leads me to believe he wishes for friendship between us. Please, if he’s sincere about his want of friendship then we must hear him out.”
Celestia hung her head in defeat. “Fine… we’ll play nice. But the moment he slips up-.”
“Princess!” A Solar guard rushes in on their conversation. “The Night Guard that informed you of Luna’s capture is gone!”
“Night guard?” asked Luna.
“A guard claiming to be one of your bodyguards came before me cut and bruised. He told me you were captured, and I sent Barricade to save you.”
“This is disturbing. They’ve not only breached the castle and infiltrated our ranks, but they are using their positions as a tool to destabilize our country.”
“I can only hope that we can stop the threat, before it’s too late.” Luna said somberly.
“Or tell real threats from false ones they want us to act against.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After a long day’s work, the Night guard that protected Luna put his gear away in the armory, and exited the castle to take his leave for a long time in ages. The first thing he did, was go to Donut Joe’s and order a few glazed Donuts to pass the time. He then got up and left that store, to make his way to the train station.
Once at the train station, he waited for his contact.
An hour passed before a fairly small griffon appeared out of the corner of his eye.
“Setting Sun?” asked the female griffon.
“What do you want?” he replied, with a hint of irritation.
“Black Beak wants to know how it went down.” stated the griffon nonchalantly.
“The idiot got caught when he tried to attack Puppet Master. He was not only unsuccessful, but he was arrested and taken to THEIR dungeons. Puppet Master wouldn’t let Luna take him, so we can’t do a jailbreak. So he’s been compromised.” replied the Night guard, showing more irritation.
“Bring these orders to Infiltrator.” the female griffon took her bag off her side, and handed a small parchment, from within the bag, to the Night guard.
“Remember our deal. If my wife is harmed in any way, I will expose your little operation.” he responded threateningly.
“She’s fine, and you should be careful who you threaten, soldier. You might cause an unnecessary amount of attention. You know, for your wife’s sake.” she stated with a malicious grin.
“Fine, just don’t do anything rash.” he replied, with concern in his voice.
The female griffon watched him leave, and took flight. She headed toward the north west.
After a few hours of flying, night began to fall across the land. In the distance, she saw camp fires set up in the thick foliage below. She dove for the campfires and found a particularly large fire in the center of a clearing filled with tents. She swooped down, and landed in front of a particularly large tent near the center of the cluster of tents.
She walked inside after being cleared by the two griffon guards, who checked her for any hidden weapons. She walked inside and spotted a particularly large griffon, hovering over a war board that showed the positions of all the griffons’ troops. His beak was black as coal.
“Commander Black Beak.” stated the female griffon respectfully.
The male griffon looked up from his war board, and stared into the soul of the female griffon.
“News from the field?” he asked her.
“I’m here to tell you that Equestria and the Red Rose Empire haven’t gone to war yet. It also appears that our attempt at causing tension between both nations were unsuccessful, but not without some degree of mistrust between them.”
“Right then… get out, I have war to plan.” he ordered sternly.
“Yes, commander.” the female griffon saluted, and left the tent while throwing the tent flaps to the side and strutting out of the tent.
The male griffon returned to the war boards and looked at his options… none of them would be successful if Celestia didn’t decide to fight Puppet Master. He then looked at the entrance of the tent, and stared through the crevice between the flaps trying to find that female griffon. No such luck.
“I don’t know what the monarch is thinking, but whatever she has planned for Equestria… well that shouldn’t be my concern.” mused the general to himself, lowering his head back to the war board.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Puppet Master opened the door to Rainbow’s room. Inside was the pitiful sight of Rainbow Dash sprawled out on her bed that was almost ten times bigger than her… it was queen size for human standards.
“Hey Rainbow.” I said, grabbing her attention. “The Biology Lab is almost ready for you. I want to know what you think.”
“What do you mean?” she asked curiously.
“I want to know your opinion on the situation. More importantly, if you want to go through with this.”
“Go through with changing myself? Yeah I do…” She rolled over and stood up on the bed. She trotted over to the edge on the left side of the bed and laid down, so her head will hang off the side along with her front hooves. “But…”
I waited for her to continue talking for a few seconds, before I had to lead her on. “Yes? Something wrong?”
She picked up her head and looked right at me. “Can you-? ...Know what? Forget I said anything.” she dismissively stated, incapable of looking me in the eye.
“…all right then. I want to know how you’re doing.”
“I guess…” She rolled over on her back, and splayed her wings out from her sides and looked dejectedly at the ceiling. “I guess, the situation is kind of sinking in. I’ve never done something to betray the princesses before.”
“Yeah, I can understand that. But I want to know if you’re ready for the future.” I replied, watching her features carefully. “We have a lot of work to do, mainly finding the right artifacts that can send me to the past.”
She rolled her head to the right and looked at me. “Hey about that? Why do you get to go to the past? Why not send anyone else?” she pointed her hoof at herself, and smiled. “Like me!”
“Because, I really want to make Celestia think highly of me again.” I answered sincerely. “And I also want someone to sit on my throne, when I’m gone. That means you, Rainbow Dash.” I pointed at her.
“W-what?! You want me to keep your castle?” she asked bewildered.
“Eyup, and you’re going to annex yourself to Celestia. I don’t want to leave Equestria unguarded while I’m gone, but I also don’t want to leave you with nothing.” I truthfully stated.
Rainbow rolled onto her stomach, and gave me a blank look. “How do I annex the castle?”
“Just ask Celestia to annex you to become a part of Equestria, or something. I’ll leave behind my friends, so they can help you. But most of all, I want you to keep Darkness in line.”
*Knock Knock Knock*
I turned around and looked at the closed door. “Uh, come in?” I replied awkwardly.
The door creaked open to reveal none other than Darkness himself. “News from Shadow Master, my Lord.” He said nonchalantly while holding out a scroll in his hand.
“Thank you.” I replied, grabbing it. I read over the context of the scroll. What I found inside it made my features lighten up, as I read more of it. “Well, Rainbow Dash. It’s been confirmed, Celestia is going to keep this incident silent from everyone, and allow you back in Equestria.”
“What? YES!” she yelled, springing from the bed and hoof pumping the air.
“Glad that you’re happy. But I don’t want to compromise Shadow Master, so we’re going to have to wait until Celestia sends us a letter. Also I still want to make you ready for battle before I send you back. Darkness, what’s the status of the Bio-Lab?”
“Almost done, my lord. I still have some purification powder to locate. It appears I didn’t stock any.”
“Dammit. Still have to find Isis. Rainbow, lets go downstairs for the final stages of the stasis chamber's completion.”
“Sure.”