//------------------------------// // The Future Holds Many Secrets // Story: Never Forgiven // by DragonassasslnGR //------------------------------// The ponies of Fort Faithless were on high alert. Agents that were out on the field were called back with the news of Flamearch's condition. Liz had sent word using pegasi messengers and unicorn carriers that sent scrolls back and forth. It had been hours scene the explosion and Flamearch was being kept alive by Cassius in his chamber. The young unicorn was trying to infuse him with his magic, but he was finding something resisting him. Liz had posted guards outside their chamber door to prevent anypony from disturbing Cassius's concentration. She was going to do everything in her power to prevent his death for as long as she possibly could. Liz sat in his chair inside the main hall addressing the three of the top commanders that were part of Flamearch's task force. A light blue earth pony in heavy iron clad armor and a javelin strapped to his back stood at attention. To his right was a brown pegasus in light leather with a crossbow on her side and on his left was a yellow unicorn in a form of robe with an amulet around his neck. "Madam, We are alerting the other outposts now. Commander Hail Storm wishes to know if he needs to bring the fragments that were recovered at the castle of the two sisters here." spoke the earth pony. Liz looked in the direction of her chamber where Flamearch fought for his life, "Tell him to bring everything he has and move some troops here as well. I also want you to tell the other fort commanders and task force units to enter battle ready positions." "Madam, with all do respect... Why?" the pegasus asked. "Because Talon, Lord Flamearch was going to and secure the Altar Of The Guardians." replied the unicorn. Liz turned and raised an eyebrow, "Well Ghetsis, I assume you were Flamearch's choice to perform the ritual then?" Ghetsis gave a bow and replied, "I was." "Well then, I am assigning Gold to be you guard. I want to guarantee this success. Talon you will be leading your flight to the area the journal said this altar will be. I want to know if this thing still exists after all of these years. Delgon I want you to personally find the pony that Gold and Sparky fought and either convert him to our cause or kill him. Now all of you go, I will do more research with the journal." Liz ordered. The three gave her another bow and spoke in unison, "It will be done." They walked off and left Liz to her thoughts, She looked down at her hoof and noticed the shadows clinging to it. For a moment she panicked and tried to rub it off. The shadows waved to her touch and fled from her limb. She sat there for a few minutes in surprise before remembering her near death experience. She could help if she knew more about this gift Cassius gave her. She got out of the chair and headed to her desk for more research. ********************************************************* Twilight awoke in Fire Hearts bed with the sun shining through the window and onto her back. She let out a yawn and looked over the bed to see Shadowheart still sleeping soundly on his side. For a moment she thought about waking him, but left him alone. Three days with no sleep wasn't good for anypony. He clearly needed as much rest as possible. She looked over to a clock that sat on the small end table next to her side of the bed, it read 12:58 PM. They had slept for only a few hours and she felt great. Twilight slowly got out of the bed so as to not disturb Shadowheart from his sleep. She made her way down the steps and into the kitchen where a sweat smell called her. Fire Heart was cooking something on the stove when a shadow blade cut Twilight off and nearly slashed her neck. With a flash of her horn she was in the Armor of Light that Sereen taught her six years ago. The blade retracted and another came into view for a stabbing motion. The purple Alicorn waved a hoof and called her own blade of light and parried the incoming attack. She now had a good look at her attacker, it was a pegasus consumed in shadows with the eyes looking glazed over like the pony was long dead inside. Twilight kicked the pegasus in the chest slashed at her with the her sword of light. Just before contact with the pegasus a tendril of shadows caught it and tightened around the blade. Twilight had fought Shadow magic before and even Rarity's blades were not this strong. How much power did Pinkie Pie have, Twilight thought as her blade shattered in the grip of the tendril. The pegasus slammed into Twilight knocking her over. The pegasus lifted her hoof to stab the downed Alicorn when Fire Heart finally intervened. "Xilas Stop! She is Princess Twilight Sparkle. She is on our side." he yelled as he placed himself between the two. The shadows around the Xilas died as fast as they appeared. Twilight looked at the now trimmed looking pegasus. She held herself like Fluttershy on any given day with ponies she had never seen before. As to confirm her assumption, Xilas' eyes were glazed over. Fire Heart and Xilas walked over and picked up Twilight as she dispelled her armor and what was left of her sword. "I am so sorry your highness, its just where I'm from my father is a ruthless tyrant and I have gotten used to defending myself and my friends from anything. Sometimes from each other." Xilas said softly. Twilight got back on her hooves with their help, "It's alright Xilas. Um... if you don't mind I would like to ask you about yourself. The unicorn called Crystal Glare kind of left you with us without telling me anything about you." Xilas pulled a chair out for Twilight and sat in one next to it at the table, " Ask away your highness." Twilight took a seat in the chair, "Please call me Twilight." Xilas smiled, "Okay Twilight. What is your first question?" The purple Alicorn sighed and went straight to the point, "You eyes are glazed, Why?" The smile left Xilas muzzle and she looked away, "If your question is implying, am I blind? Then the answer is no. The reason they are this way is, because of the shadow magic that I was born with."- She looked back into Twilight's eyes.- "What you are seeing is the Shadows that fused with my pupils making it appear glazed." "Okay, how about the shadow magic just now? How do you have a mastery over it already?" Twilight asked. "Well, my mother and father were infused with it when they were fighting to take the Altar of the Guardians from the Elements of Harmony." Xilas began. "Wait? What? We never fought at an altar before, let alone one called the Altar of the Guardians." Twilight said. "Twilight, Xilas is not from here. There is something you should know about Crystal Glare. He is old for starters. In fact he is about as old a Celestia herself, if not older." Fire Heart said. Twilight sat dumbfounded in her chair. The thought of that, confused her beyond her comprehension. She was still trying to figure out what that had to do with Xilas. "You know the story about Starswirl The Bearded?" She asked. "Yes." replied the purple Alicorn. "Well Crystal was the first tempted to make an Alicorn, Starswirl was the second, and you were the third. Now as to the inconsistency with Xilas here. She is from a future where we failed to stop Flamearch and get Cassius back." "In other words, I'm from another dimension, because that hasn't happened yet." Xilas said. "Well how did he beat us then?" Twilight began to panic over what could happen at any moment. "My father Flamearch was nearly killed by Cassius in a plan he had that went wrong in a positive way for him. After that, Cassius infused him with the shadow magic. Then after they took the altar he used the journal to reawaken the old Cassius Nightshade. From there he convinced him to fight by his side and they dethroned Celestia and imprisoned her in the Canterlot dungeon after taking her power and giving it to him. When that happened he had killed Sereen, my uncle, and the Elements of Harmony. He was going to kill Princess Luna, but Cassius stopped him and threatened to use the Elements of Chaos if he touched her." Xilas explained. Twilight sat there thinking about everything that was just said, "How did they kill Sereen?" Twilight asked. Xilas looked down, "My dad used a black pegasus named Sparky to kill her after He was eluded my aunt and uncle." Twilight when wide eyed and she slammed her head into the table, "What have we done? I should have let Shadowheart do what he wanted to with that pegasus. Now my mercy will doom all of us." Xilas shot a look at the lamenting princess, "Did you say Shadowheart?" "I did, he is upstairs now sleeping in the master bedroom." Twilight said softly as she tilted her head to meet Xilas' eyes. The orange pegasus jumped out of the chair she was sitting in and galloped to the staircase. Twilight and Fire Heart were stunned a moment but quickly took off after her. Twilight knocked over her chair as she flew over the table. Xilas found herself in a hallway with four doors and immediately opened the closest one to her right. She found Pinkie Pie laying unconscious in in a small bed meant for a single pony with a jackalope tending to her. Xilas closed the door and opened the next to find a very nice bathroom. she moved on the the next and door and found the master bedroom. She knew this was the one she wanted when she saw a lump moving in the bed covers. Xilas froze in the doorway of the master bedroom. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she slowly made her way in. When she was by the bed she saw Dragonslayer resting against the wall by the pony in the covers. All she could see of the pony was the tip of his white horn and brown mane, the rest of him was covered in blankets. She looked over to the door and saw Twilight and Fire Heart standing there watching her. They didn't make a sound or move to stop her. Xilas lifted the blanket from Shadowheart and almost dropped to the ground. Her glazed eyes filled with tears of joy and she gave him a light hug. "Twilight, Why is she holding me like this?" Shadowheart mumbled as Xilas held him tighter and tighter. Twilight walked in the room, "I have no idea Shadowheart. You must be very special to her where she is from." "He was... is." Xilas remarked letting him go. "He is my uncle, and that must mean you are Twilight Sparkle." All three looked at Xilas in confusion. It took her a few moments before she figured out why and began to explain. "Shadowheart is Flamearch's older brother, making him my uncle. And you Twilight Sparkle where's lover before my dad took Canterlot with Cassius and my mom Lizzy." Xilas said smiling. Both Shadowheart and Twilight turned pure red. Fire Heart caught on quickly and snickered as he walked out the door to keep from laughing at the circumstances of this new found knowledge. "Xilas! You... we haven't... why would he fa..." Twilight was having trouble with finding words under her embarrassment. "Oh. I'm sorry Twilight."- Xilas gave a meaningful bow. -"It's just... I haven't seen him in years and you..." "What about her Xilas?" Shadowheart said getting out of the bed. "The timeline I'm from she... She was converted by my dad at the Altar Of The Guardians and killed the Elements of Harmony when Sereen and Princess Luna failed to show up and stop them." she finished. "Why didn't they show up?" he asked as he put Dragonslayer on. "Because Sparky killed Sereen when they were on the way. There were two groups that were heading to the altar. The group with Luna and Sereen was ambushed and didn't make it in time." Twilight said. Shadowheart's eyes went wide at the realization of his actions and it's precautions to give the pegasus another chance at life. ********************************************************* Luna was walking around her chambers in deep thought. Crystal Glare had appeared in her room when she woke up from her nap. He had told her to get Sereen to the Altar Of The Guardians in the next two days. This alone wasn't to cause of her distress, He had been sighted in other locations in the last few days. Normally he only showed up to harass her sister with love tokens every few hundred years or so. This was different, He came to her to deliver a warning and didn't even bother with Celestia. Something was wrong and she was going to take this as seriously as she could. She had already made preparations to go there with the Elements of Harmony. The thing that made this a unanimous decision to go through with the plan with her and the element bearers, was the news of Cassius being there with Twilight. Luna was arming a special division of two hundred ponies that were created after the Dark Libra incident. This group was to keep Cassius and Sereen from awakening their old selves too soon and to execute if need be anypony that threatened to do just that. Queen Rosetta had told Luna that she was to keep the memories alive, but not let them out until the two reached the age's they had when they became the Guardians of the Balance the first time. Luna looked out of her bedroom window and to the courtyard below. Ponies of all races lined in formation to begin the march to the altar. Heavy plated earth ponies with spears made up the bulk of the mass of equine solders. Light leather armored pegasi stood in formations away from the main battle group so they could take to the sky's sooner. Unicorn magi with light robes were placed in strategic locations in the formation as to help the earth and pegasus ponies if they entered combat. From her perch, it looked like the princess of the night was declaring war on another land. In her mind, Luna was going to war to get Cassius back. If she failed to keep the Elements of Chaos suppressed until he was ready to use them with Discord, then everything would fall apart. She took one last look at the ponies below that were already entering the first few trains. She saw the bearers of the elements lining up to go with the first half of the army to the altar. Discord was with Fluttershy talking about what could only be arrangements to tend to the animals at her home. Rarity and Applejack were saying goodbye to their sisters. Rainbow Dash was also saying her farewell to her adopted daughter, Scootaloo and her husband Soarin. What ever happened in the next two days on their journey to the altar, Luna knew this would push everypony to their limits. War was knocking at Celestia's door for the final time and was going to be the last time either of the two sisters would be needed to defend Equestria form another Alicorn's powers if they won. If they failed, it would be the last time there would be Alicorns to defend Equestria from anything.