//------------------------------// // The Ill-Made Knight // Story: Vengeance of Dawn // by Scipio Smith //------------------------------// Chapter 8 The Ill-Made Knight Breaking Dawn gazed at Twilight Sparkle like a lion on the high plains gazing at a grazing antelope. She had stalked the young pretender for some time, learning her movements, learning where she would be at what time. How she hated that bounce in Twilight Sparkle's step, the way she would walk along with her head buried in a book as though she was too good for such things as looking where she was going. She hated the saddlebag she wore to school, she hated seeing her going to her special lessons with the Princess ─ those where her lessons! ─ she hated how content, how happy she always was. Breaking Dawn had only to look at her for a few moments to realise this was a pony who had never cried herself to sleep, never been consumed with doubt or worry. She had always had everything she ever wanted, and when she had decided that she wanted what Dawn had she had taken it without a thought. Well, today was the day she would give precious little Twilight something to really cry about. Twilight Sparkle wasn't old enough to dorm in the school yet. She had taken over Dawn's tower as a study but she didn't live there yet, not when she still had a place to go home too. On Monday, her mother picked her up outside of school and took her home. Wednesday through Friday she was collected by her foalsitter, the insipid pink alicorn Princess Cadance. But on Tuesday it was her big brother who came to get her and he always ran a little late. So the little lavender half-pint was standing at the school gates after everypony else had gone. She was all alone. Time for the lion to pounce. Breaking Dawn darted across the street, reaching Twilight just as the latter was pulling a book out of her saddlebag. It was a light lilac colour, with a clasp in the shape of her cutie mark. Custom made. Expensive. Dawn was seized with the desire to tear it into shreds. "Hey, Twilight Sparkle," she said. "Hello," Twilight replied, not looking up from her book. "How did you know my name?" "Everypony knows about you, Twilight Sparkle," Dawn said, circling around Twilight. "Princess Celestia's precious personal protege. The facetime you have with the princess, other ponies would kill for it. You must be honoured." "Oh yes," Twilight finally looked up. "Princess Celestia is the most amazing pony ever, I'm so─" Dawn aimed a savage kick that cut Twilight's legs out from under her and sent her sprawling to the ground with an thud, "That was the right answer. I'd have done much worse if you'd taken the Princess for granted." "Ow," Twilight whined. "What did you do that for?" She tried to get up, but Dawn put her hoof on Twilight's head and pushed down upon it. "Stop that, you're hurting me." "That's kind of the idea you thieving changeling," Dawn growled. "What?" "Changeling, changeling you idiot," Dawn said. "You crept into the palace and stole Princess Celestia's affection away from me. Oh, but I'm onto you, yes I am, and I'm going to take back what's mine you'll see!" "I didn't take anything from you! I don't even know you, get off me!" "Not until you admit that you're a thief and say you're sorry," Dawn snapped. As the thief squirmed beneath her, something fell out of that expensive saddlebag; something grey and fluffy. Dawn picked it up in the golden aura of her magic, "Huh? What's this?" "No! Give back Smartypants." It was, Dawn saw, an old grey donkey doll in shorts. Dawn's face twisted in scorn, "A doll? You still play with dolls, you brought one to school? How old are you? Don't you have any self-respect at all? You don't deserve to be Princess Celestia's student. I'm going to take your precious Smartypants and do to him all the things I feel like doing to you!" Dawn ground Twilight's face into the pavement as she pulled off one of the donkey's button eyes. "Hey! Leave her alone!" Dawn was thrown backwards by a burst of magic which caught her unawares. When she rolled to a stop she was confronted with the big brother himself standing over a half-sobbing Twilight, head bowed and horn aglow. "I don't appreciate ponies picking on my sister," Shining Armour snarled. Dawn picked herself up off the street, "And I don't appreciate being robbed by little brats. I'm giving your sister a lesson in the way the world is, she'll thank me for it later." "Turn around and start walking before I start to teach some lessons of my own." Dawn laughed, "Are you threatening me, big guy? You're gonna fight me? You may be bigger than I am but it's magical might that counts here, and I've got you way outclassed." Nobody in all Equestria could cast a spell faster than she could, nopony. Shining Armour scowled, his horn glowed with a pinkish-red hue. Dawn fired a spell at him before he was done charging and knocked him to the ground. "You'll have to get up earlier than that," Dawn crowed. Shining Armour growled as he leapt at her. Dawn's spell missed. The big stallion descended on her and they rolled together in a furious mass of thrashing hooves. "That's enough, break it up!" the strong hooves of the City Guard grabbed them tight and pulled them apart. In the lead was an earth pony with a weathered face. "What's this, fighting? You can get hauled off for disturbing the peace for that. And you a trainee and all lad, I'm ashamed of you. What's the meaning of this?" "She attacked my sister," Shining Armour said. "Your sister deserved that and much more," Breaking Dawn replied. "Oh, so it's like that is it?" the guard said. "Unfortunately I can't let you off on this one lad. You're in the hooves of a higher power. But I'll take your sister to find the Princess and she can stay with Her Highness till somepony can take her home. Take the pair of them away, they can cool their heels in the cells." "What? Get your hooves off me," Dawn ranted as they dragged her away. "Do you know who I am? I am Breaking Dawn. Remember that name, Breaking Dawn!" *** Breaking Dawn sat at the veranda table in her countess get-up: mane and tail dyed, face liberally disguised with makeup, wearing a summer dress and a large hat and oversized celebrity sunglasses. A book was held in the grip of her magic, a book with a disguised cover. To an outside observer, it would have appeared that she was reading The Once and Always Princess. In reality she was reading a rather dry magical textbook: Theory and Ethics of Compulsion. It had been a long time since she had studied it for her lessons, and even then she had only studied the theory and the ethics of it, never used any such spell in practice. And she had been a less than stellar student by that point. "Are you listening to me?" Jugurtha demanded, sitting across the table from her, leaning forward. "Do you mock me by ignoring me in favour of that book?" Dawn shut the book with a sigh, "I have listened to every word of your rant, to summarise: you're being impatient." "Lord Mathos wishes to know when we will begin to see results," Jugurtha said. "In time," Dawn replied. "Do you know how difficult it is to lever a part a group of friends this tight?" "Then why waste time with it?" Jugurtha said. "They will abandon her swift enough once she loses favour." Dawn snorted, "Maybe that's how you do it, but it isn't how we ponies trot." "Why do you not strike at her?" Jugurtha hissed. "That is what Lord Mathos desires, that is what we want. Strike a blow, claim your victory. Why do you delay?" Dawn lowered her sunglasses to look the zebra in the eyes, "Have you heard of Nightmare Moon?" Jugurtha smirked, "A pony legend." "Discord? Chrysalis of the Changelings? King Sombra? Each one of them possessed of power on a level I couldn't imagine, each of them creatures on a higher level than us ponies. And each of them defeated, because they took on Twilight Sparkle in a stand up fight. They thought their power would protect them. And each one of them was destroyed because you can't beat this pony in a stand up fight. Not while she has all her friends around her. Well Breaking Dawn isn't going to make the same mistake. I'm not as strong as them, but I am going to use my brain. "Now I can break Princess Twilight, and when I do you Grevyians will have everything you want. But you have to be patient." "Have to? You dictate terms to us now?" "I'm just reminding you of something," Dawn leaned forward so that she and Jugurtha were almost nose to nose. "You need me as much as I need you. You can reveal me to Princess Celestia, but she won't thank you at this late hour. Without me, you have nothing." Jugurtha chuckled, "You should be less open with your threats, little pony. One new princess can fall as easily as another." Dawn laughed, "You're welcome to try it. After I have claimed what's mine. But for now we are bound together you and I, and neither of us can let go." "Yet you must give me something to take back to ease the mind of Lord Mathos or he will grow angry. If he is angry, he may demand some pony's pain to ease his own," Jugurtha's smile widened. "When you are too free with your threats, little pony, it encourages others to be less circumspect in turn. A long walk your governess friend makes from her place of work to your home. Many long, narrow alleyways." Dawn scowled, "Tell your wretched master that Shining Armour will be out of the picture soon. Very soon. Now leave Laurel be. Leave them all, your business is with me alone." "If you wish it to stay that way, then adopt a more humble manner next time," Jugurtha said, standing up. "Countess." He leered mockingly at her as he began to walk away. Dawn's face was so disfigured by anger that she was forced to bury her nose in her book before anypony could ask why she was so marvellously distempered. She forced herself to focus on the words before her, blocking out of the sound of the prosperous Canterlot street, the service of the cafe, the chatter of her fellow diners. Only the book existed. Only the words mattered. Many forms of gentle and harsh compulsion exist, many different spells for causing a pony to act against their will or nature. They range from gentle nudges at the will of the other, making them more suggestible to the spellcaster, to rendering the subject wholly subservient, a puppet to the unicorn who cast the spell. What all these spells have in common is that they are forbidden: there is no ethical reason to deprive another pony of their will save in utmost defence of their life: getting somepony to cross an exposed ledge to safety by compelling them past their fear of heights, for example. In the normal course of business however any form of compulsion is considered not just unacceptable but illegal, punishable by... It can't be worse than the punishment for poisoning, Dawn thought. She skipped ahead to the part which dealt with actually casting the spell. It was almost time to put the theory into practice. She sat for a while, her cup of tea going cold before her, musing on the real Once and Always Princess, the book she was pretending to read now. The real thing was her favourite book, and had been for many years. It told the story of Princess Celestia's struggle to unite the five pony tribes and establish the glory of Canterlot. Unbidden, the words sprang to Dawn's mind and from thence rolled off of her tongue as she prepared to take the next step in her quest. "My wings are bound and weighted. They will not steady me nor lift me up. I must leap from the cliffs of hard decisions and into darkness fall without a light to guide nor path to walk. Well I know the journeys I must take will test me, the decisions I must make will score my soul. I'll take no easy roads, make no decision which does not leave some ponies quivering with fury. I'll fly upon black stormclouds and call myself a harbinger of doom and of destruction. "Yet will I be content, so long as one pony yet smiles. So long as eager light remains in Luna's eyes. I'll bear the hatred of all pony-kind so long as there are little ponies left to hate me. For their freedom will be my salvation, Luna's laughter shall be my grace, their innocence shall be the forgiveness of my sins for all I do I do for them. I will be princess, I will wear the crown and sit upon the throne, yet I will their devoted servant be while the sun yet shines." Dawn smiled, took a sip of her now cold tea and cringed at it, before continuing in her own voice, not in the borrowed words of her beloved princess. "I will do right by them, when I have raised our Canterlot. By all of them, who are the most deserving ponies in Equestria. My rising shall be the means and instrument of their ascent to greatness. I'll be princess, but still I'll serve them all my days. My friends. It is for their lives, for their happiness, I do these things." She got up, placing the book in her saddlebag, it was nearly time. *** Shining Armour and Lancer stood in the mouth of a rather grim looking alleyway. It was a rather dusty place, ill-kept, one of the seedier parts of Canterlot for sure. One of the parts not often visited by tourists. "I wouldn't expect to find anypony with access to the palace coming to a place like this," Shining Armour said. "Nor would I, as a rule," Lancer replied. "But you can't get the Tears of Nightmare Moon at a hospital pharmacy." The two them had been out since early morning, roaming the mean streets of Canterlot like a Questing Beast traversing the world. They had checked four places already, all similarly deadbeat looking places to this one. Two of the proprietors had confessed that they did indeed deal in such illegal cocktails, but denied having sold any recently. The City Guard had taken them away for questioning. The other two had turned out not to be trafficking in the Tears, or in any other such poisons. They sold a lot of dubious stuff, but nothing illegal. One pony had tried to sell Shining Armour a cure for Cadance. He'd bought it, just on the off chance. He would take any chance, no matter how slender. He would sell his marriage and all his memories of Cadance to Nightmare Moon if it would make her well and happy in another life. If this apothecary had sold the Tears that had stricken her, if he was responsible, then Shining Armour didn't know what he would do. He wasn't sure he could be responsible for his actions. He was amazed he had not snapped already today. Lancer led off, the glint of his armour fading as he passed into the shadows of the street, "Do you want to be the good guard?" "No," Shining Armour said shortly. "Didn't think so," Lancer replied. They walked down the street, the sound of their hoofsteps echoing upon the cobblestones, and pushed open the door to the low apothecary's shop. There was no one there, and the inside of the shop looked in dire need of cleaning. "Hey there, anyone about?" Lancer called. "I'm here within," an old pony called from the back room. "Who is without?" "The Guard," Lancer said, "stay there, we'll come to you." "No need, no need," the old apothecary cried in a strangled voice, and soon enough he stomped out to the front of the shop. His beard was scraggly, his face was flushed, his eyes were wide. Shining Armour knew that he was afraid of something. If he was not the pony they were looking for he was yet another scoundrel of some kind. "Now, what can I do for you gentlecolts?" Lancer smiled, "Good morning sir, my colleague and I are just going door to door, making routine enquiries, we wondered if we could ask you a few questions." The apothecary swallowed, "Of course. Always happy to help the Guard. What is the matter regarding?" "The recent attack upon Princess Cadance," Shining Armour said tersely. The apothecary blanched, "I don't know what I can tell you about that." "Well actually sir," the smile never left Lancer's face. "We were hoping we could search your stock room. That way we can tell that you have no stocks of the Tears of Nightmare Moon and thus couldn't have sold any. Once we have ascertained that we can eliminate you from our enquiries." The apothecary took a step back, "I, um, I never─" "I don't think we'll be eliminating this one from our enquiries," Shining Armour snarled, prowling forwards towards the apothecary. "I think he's the one we're looking for." "No, no," the old pony stammered. Shining Armour vaulted over the shop counter, "Then why are you sweating?" "I didn't mean to, I didn't know she was going to─" "Didn't know," Shining Armour grabbed the pony in his front hooves and pinned him up against the wall. "Or did you just not ask?" "Help me," the apothecary choked, looking pleadingly towards Lancer. Lancer shrugged, "Nothing I can do sir. I used to have him on a leash but he chewed through the last one. I can't control him. Your best defence will be the truth. Innocent ponies have nothing to fear from the guard, after all. If you are innocent." "Yes, yes I'm innocent," the apothecary said. "I never meant for anypony to get hurt. But she had gold, and I have rent to pay." "You never meant for anypony to get hurt? What did you think somepony was going to do with an illegal poison?" Shining Armour yelled. "I didn't think about that. I just, I was so desperate." "Who did you sell it too?" Shining Armour demanded. "What was her name?" "I didn't ask." "Where was she staying?" "I didn't ask." "What did she look like?" "A golden unicorn," the apothecary spat out. "Her mane was red and white." Shining Armour frowned. That was familiar to him from somewhere. "Eyes?" Lancer asked. "Cutie Mark?" "Green eyes. She was wearing a dress, I couldn't see her cutie mark." "And you just sold her that stuff without thinking what she might do it, what misery she could cause?" Shining Armour snarled. "You disgust me. Why I ought to─" "But you won't," Lancer said. "Prince or no you're still a guard. You know what that means." Shining Armour exhaled slowly, letting the apothecary stew in his terror. He want so badly to just pound on the guy, but Lancer was right. He wasn't that kind of pony. And if he had stooped to that then Cadance would have been ashamed of him. He had to remain the stallion she'd fallen in love with, even if she didn't remember any of it. He let go of the apothecary with his hooves even as he seized the pony with his magic, the better to pull him along, "Come on, let's go." "Look on the bright side sir," Lancer said brightly. "You won't have to worry about rent in the cells." As they took the old pony away, Shining Armour tried to remember: where had he met a golden unicorn with a red and white mane before? And what was her name? *** "Ambassadors, please come in." Celestia smiled beatifically as the Quaggaian and Grevyian ambassadors were ushered into the council chamber by the Royal Guard. Luna stood at Celestia's side, waiting in front of a round table in the middle of the spacious chamber. One side of the room was hung with Equestrian flags, on the other side the banners of Quaggai and Most Ancient Grevyia hung. Behind the two princesses waited Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy was receiving a deputation from the Cloudsdale Guild of Cloudmakers in Celestia's stead. It was not the same as having Twilight at her side, or standing in place of Celestia and Luna before the representatives of Equestria's powerful interests, but she knew Twilight's friends to be faithful, good and able ponies all and she had no doubt that they would give invaluable assistance. Only a couple of days earlier and Rarity had been very helpful in dealing with a deputation from the Dyer's Guild. Lord Mathos insisted upon going in first, Sophoniba coming in after but then quickening her pace to match him nose to nose. He started going faster, then she did too until they were almost running to reach the table first. Sophoniba won by a hair. "Thank you both for coming," Celestia said. She had decided that she would not rhyme nor speak in verse on this occassion. She was neither Quaggai nor a Grevyian, and need not conform to all their standards and expectations, at least not in her own palace in her own land. Besides, it was exhausting trying to speak in a manner that did not roll naturally off her tongue. "I am sure that this meeting, and the ones to follow, will be very productive for all concerned." "Render unto Grevyia, Ancient and High, That honour which from younger unto elder's due, And we shall be most pleasant friends, As e'er Equestria could wish to have," Lord Mathos said. "None have slandered Most Ancient Grevyia, nor will they do so," Celestia said. "Please, everypony - everyone, excuse me - please, sit." Lord Mathos sat down with a ponderous dignity. Sophoniba sat with the unmistakeable sound of a whoopee cushion beneath her. The ambassador from Quaggai pulled it out and stared at it while Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie began to giggle into their hooves. Well I can't pretend I didn't know that they were a pair of pranksters, Celestia thought. Luna looked torn between a desire to roll her eyes and an equal desire to look shocked in front of the zebras. Rarity did look shocked. Celestia would have liked to laugh herself, but dared not until she knew how Sophoniba would respond. Sophoniba stared at the pink cushion for a few more moments, then she gave a great bark of laughter and thumped the table "Excellent! In Quaggai I regret we do not have such things, You must show me more like this, and I will teach you our tricks." "Really?" Pinkie Pie said. "Zebras play pranks and tricks as well?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Zebras without taste or breeding," Lord Mathos muttered in an aside. "Of course, in the desert it is important to have fun, Or else the hardscrabble life will make you numb," Sophoniba said. "What kind?" Rainbow Dash leaned flew forward curiously. "Perhaps that would be a discussion best had in private," Celestia said, though she was a little curious herself. "What are these children doing here?" Mathos demanded. "Send them away, they have no place in these gatherings." Celestia frowned, not missing the way that he talked down to them, "These children are among the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, the great magic of ponykind. They have helped protect our world from all manner of dangers, and have passed through more perils than many ponies three times their age. For these feats they are considered heroes by many in Equestria and beyond. Including by myself." "Yeah, that's right," Rainbow Dash said. "Don't toot your own horn, Rainbow dear, it has a much sweeter sound when you let others do it for you," Rarity murmured. Unfortunately, the discussions that followed proved almost the exact opposite of productive. Lord Mathos seemed to go out of his way to be obstructive, to the extent that it seemed he was there more to stop Equestria from reaching an agreement with Quaggai than to make any kind of agreement himself. When Sophoniba had asked for Equestria to supply guards to patrol the border as a neutral party, on account of the raiders that continually crossed into western Quaggai from Grevyia, Mathos had swollen up like an angry toad and denied that the raiders had anything to do with Grevyia whatsoever. But when Celestia had suggested that Equestria might supply a token force to mediate a tripartite effort to stamp out the banditry Mathos had been equally vehement in stating that no non-Grevyian troops would be allowed across Grevyia's border, which suggested to Celestia that at the very least they were turning a blind eye to this mass banditry. Mostly though, she found his behaviour strange. Why was he being so antagonistic? He had to know that he could not stall indefinitely, and would wear out her patience sooner rather than later. His demands were so unreasonable ─ on the issue of sharing magical knowledge, he had refused all offers of Equestria's earth pony alchemy but had instead demanded the secrets to unicorn magic which zebras would be incapable of using ─ that they had to be deliberate in their unreasonableness. But why? *** "For a lord, that Grevyian zebra is certainly very rude and altogether rather uncouth," Rarity remarked as she slipped into her room. Opalescence, curled up in a basket on the floor, purred softly in response. "Oh, Opal, why is it that there are no true gentlecolts left?" Rarity sighed. "Does being born noble rob a pony of all manners and politeness. Or do I just have atrocious luck in the ones that I meet?" Opalescence purred again, which frankly could have meant anything by way of response. "You always understand what I'm talking about darling, you're such a sweetheart," Rarity murmured. Then she saw the note lying on her pillow, and froze. She suddenly felt very cold, in spite of the fire that was burning. She did not pick the letter up. She was afraid to even touch it. "Who, how?" she was afraid to ask the servants about it for fear that it would involve telling somepony what the letters were about. That would be terrible, it would hurt Twilight so. No, she would keep this to herself as she had already decided that she would. Gingerly, Rarity picked the letter up in the grip of her magic, holding it far away as if afraid it would explode in her face or something, and opened and unravelled the scroll to read the words within. Mi Amore, You have been avoiding me, my pretty dove, hiding behind Princess Celestia or in my sister's palace. There is no need for shyness. A mare of your beauty and grace should not be afraid of the gifts that she possesses. In any case it is too late: you have bewitched me body and soul and I will have you in the end. Oh Rarity I am so deep in love the pain of it feels like I have fallen from a great height to land upon the ground. The hurt of passion unreturned it wounds me, and only you can mend my aches by telling me you feel it too. Why deny our feelings? Rarity, let us live and love and not care two bits for old ponies who sermonise and disapprove. Is it my sister that you fear? I will protect you from her wrath and make her see that it is for the best that both of us are happy. I know you feel this love as much as I, I see it in your eyes. Come, the way is clear now; come to me and let us be together as fate disposed. I love you, I want you, I burn with passion unrequited. I beg you save me from these flames. Your Shining Stallion "Ugh," Rarity snarled, tossing the letter away. "Who is doing this? This isn't funny!" There was a knock on the door, "Rarity? Are you okay?" Rarity opened the door a little and poked her head out, "Fluttershy dear, yes, yes I'm fine, thank you so much for asking." "But you were yelling in there," Fluttershy murmured. "Oh that was nothing, nothing at all," Rarity laughed nervously. "Opal just made a little bit of a mess that's all, I was scolding him." Opalescence gave an offended meow from behind her. Fluttershy frowned, "You know Rarity, yelling at animals doesn't really accomplish anything except to frighten them. I find it's much better to talk things over nicely and reasonably so that they understand what they did wrong. Would you like me to have a word with Opalescence?" "No!" Rarity said a trifle too loudly. "No, thank you darling. It's very kind of you to offer, but I think I can handle this myself." "Oh. Okay. So, how did the first meeting with the ambassadors go?" "Very tedious," Rarity said. "But at the same time very tiring. Would you excuse me Fluttershy dear, I find myself in need of a nap." "All right, I'm sorry to have disturbed you," Fluttershy said meekly, bowing her head a little as Rarity shut the door. On the other side of the bedroom door, Rarity sighed with relief. If it had been Pinkie Pie on the other side of the door she might not have gotten away with it so easily. *** Twilight Sparkle growled in frustration, "I don't get it, Spike. Even if nopony ever came up with an antidote to this specific potion, it's just a potion that causes amnesia, right?" "I guess," Spike said. "Then why are none of these cures for amnesia having any effect on the rat?" Twilight demanded. "I can see why they might not cause a complete recovery, but we're not seeing any evidence of any return of memory at all, not even the temporary return we saw in Cadance when I used my memory spell on her." Perhaps she shouldn't have been so surprised. After all, this poison was stronger than a spell she had used to defeat Discord's brainwashing, why would a potion to undo the effects of a blow to the head make any difference? She had tried it in the hope that a simple solution might have been overlooked, and because her earlier ideas hadn't worked out so well either. Spike looked downcast as they stood in the makeshift laboratory. He seemed at a loss for anything to say as he kicked his heel upon the carpet. "Maybe the neutralisation approach was our best one," he suggested. "Perhaps we just didn't find the right agents to neutralise all the ingredients?" "I know Spike, but that's just the point," Twilight shook her head. Potion theory taught that every ingredient used to make potions had an equal and opposite that possessed the properties to neutralise the first: much like mixing acid and alkaline together would produce something Ph neutral. But this particular poison was something very special and very nasty. "From what we could tell, and I'm not even sure we got all the ingredients trying to break it down, it hasn't used the usual ingredients for the effects its had, rather, it seems like the Tears of Nightmare Moon somehow perverts the ingredients of the usual antidote. Rosemary is a memory restorative, 'Rosemary, that's for remembrance' . It's a key ingredient of a dozen antidotes to memory loss. But this potion has twisted it somehow so that it steals memories instead of restoring them. But how can you neutralise something when it is the neutralisation agent? And how is it even done?" "I don't know Twilight, stop yelling," Spike said, cringing away from her forcefulness. Twilight sighed, "I'm sorry, Spike, I just...it's so frustrating, you know. Why can't I do this? I wish there was just a monster to blame for this so that we could use the Elements of Harmony on it and make everything right in an afternoon." "Maybe using the Elements of Harmony on Cadance would get her memories back?" Spike suggested. "They turned you into an alicorn." "My friendship with the others turned me into an alicorn, I think the elements just facilitated the channelling of our power," Twilight replied. "I think. I still don't really understand the spell I wrote myself. But I think I was protected a little by being the element of Magic. If we fired the Elements at Cadance it could hurt her or worse, and I won't take the risk. Not to mention we've never used the elements on anyone who wasn't evil before, so I'm not sure if they would even respond to our will if we tried to use them on an innocent pony. In fact I'm inclined to think they wouldn't, otherwise anypony could use them for evil." "So what do we do?" Spike asked. "I need to work out how the properties of the potion's ingredients are being perverted from their natural true effects," Twilight said. "I mean, magic would be the obvious answer, but I've never heard of a spell that could do such a thing." "Well," Spike cupped his chin with one hand. "It is a nasty spell, an evil spell even. Perhaps the reason you don't know the magic involved is that it uses dark magic?" Twilight's eyes widened, "That's it! Spike, you're a genius." "What else is new?" "Spike!" "Okay, okay, you're welcome." "That's it then," Twilight's face become fixed with determination. "If dark magic is at the root of this, then I guess I'll have to use dark magic to understand it, and to beat it." "Are you sure that's a good idea?" "I need to know what I'm dealing with," Twilight replied. "Until I understand it I can't beat it. And that means using dark magic." "But it's dark magic," Spike reminded her. "Remember what happened in the Crystal Empire? Remember how dangerous that stuff is? What if you lose yourself, or lose control or─" "I know the risks, Spike," Twilight said calmly. "And that's why I'll be able to avoid the pitfalls, for being aware of them. Knowledge, after all, is a power greater even than dark magic. And besides, I don't have a choice. Cadance would do the same for me." Twilight closed her eyes, and concentrated, and twisted the usual pattern of her magic in the way she had learnt to do on her way north after the reappearance of the Crystal Empire. Her horn did not glow as it usually did, but seemed to bubble with a black ooze or sludge which covered it up, bursting in angry green pustules on the surface. Her eyes turned a sickly green. Oh the power, the sweetness of it. Even for her, even for the most gifted unicorn to have come out of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns in many years, this was something else entirely. It called to her, beckoned to her, promising lavish gifts that would be showered down on her head. It offered to make all her dreams come true if she would let it loose. There is only one thing in this world I want right now, Twilight thought, and she steeled herself to ignore the magic's blandishments as she brought her strength to bear and bent it to her will. *** Shining Armour sat in his room, trying to remember that name. Lancer and Stonewall were interrogating the apothecary further, but he had the feeling they had gotten all that they were going to get out of the frightened old pony. They could arrest him for trading in illegal substances, perhaps even for accessory before the fact on a wide interpretation of the law, but that would bring them no closer to catching the true culprit, the one who had poisoned his love Cadance. The golden unicorn who bought the poison. Either she is the poisoner, or she knows who is. Either way, she holds the key to unravelling this mystery. And I know her, I know I do. I've seen her before. What was her name? A golden unicorn with a red and white mane. That set so many bells a-ringing in his head. But the name eluded him. He had taken to making a list of possible names, hoping that one of them would unlock his memories. Windwaker. No, that wasn't it. He was a red pegasus with a golden pony sister. Not at all the pony the apothecary had described. Shining Armour crossed the name off his list. Red Wyne. No, Shining Armour remembered, that was another pegasus, a friend of Princess Luna from somewhere. You're getting too hung up on the red. Gold, think of gold. Golden with green eyes. Green eyes... Green eyes filled with fury blazing as they stared at him, a horn glowing as she prepared to strike, a red and white mane and tale, eyes that were even angrier as the guards dragged her away. "I'm Breaking Dawn!" Breaking Dawn. Shining Armour wrote down the name. Yes, he remembered now, the crazy mare who had attacked Twilight outside of school that day. He had never worked out what her problem was, and Twilight hadn't known either. Was Lancer right after all, was this all part of an elaborate ploy to get at Twily? Was that mare still mad at her after all these years. I can get the answers to all those questions after I find her. First I have to warn Twilight, get Lancer and then find this Breaking Dawn before it's too late. Somepony knocked upon his door. Shining Armour shoved the piece of parchment he had been writing on underneath some other papers before getting up, "Come in." The door opened, and the Countess Mercedes Zaccone walked ─ perhaps strutted would have been a better word ─ into the room. "Your Highness," she purred, "I hope I'm not intruding overmuch?" "I guess not," Shining Armour replied warily. He had not met the mare since the reception, and nothing associated with that night gave him fond memories. "What can I do for you?" "Nothing, it is what I can do for you," the countess replied. "I am here to express my condolences with regard to your wife. Such a tragedy." "It will be even more tragic for whoever did it when I get hold of them," Shining Armour said. "When that happens, and Twilight reversed the effects of the poison, they'll wish they'd never been born." The countess laughed, and her peculiar accent fell away as she said, "You still threatening me, big guy?" Shining Armour frowned in confusion as─ Golden with green eyes! His eyes widened, "You? No!" he summoned his magic, his horn glowing as he readied a shield spell. He was only half ready when Dawn's spell struck him. "You'll have to get up earlier than that," Dawn murmured.