"Okay," Gilda thought, nodding as she neared the entrance to the throne room, "you're the King's personal assistant. He clearly trusts you. Just tell him you don't think the invasion is a good idea, he'll listen!" Despite her reassurances, she began to perspire.
As she peeked her head around the corner of the entryway, she stopped short. King J'aggerdov was speaking with someone.
"Are you sure about this?" the King asked. "The changeling queen was quite clear with her desire that they not be harmed."
"It's become necessary," an unusually deep voice replied. Gilda leaned forward a bit more until she was able to see whoever J'aggerdov was talking to. She threw her talon over her beak to stifle a gasp as she beheld the tall, hideous figure with the long arms.
"Necessary?" J'aggerdov elevated his brow. "We have the six of them in custody. The Elements of Harmony will be useless without them. Is that not correct?"
"One can never be too careful," Delacroix replied with a grin. J'aggerdov averted his gaze. "Besides, Chrysalis needs them alive in order to feed on them. Wounds heal, and superficial wounds will be more than enough to compel their friend in the Great Hive to talk."
"Very well, but I won't give up both of them." J'aggerdov turned his back to Delacroix and took several steps toward the exit. "You can use Rainbow Dash. She's got a rebellious streak in her, and some pain might just make her a little more compliant." Gilda's eyes widened, and she ground her teeth together. She turned around and flew down the hall.
***
Coming out of his teleportation, Clarion Call looked around to confirm that he had, indeed, touched down near the underground home of the diamond dog exiles on the outskirts of Ponyville.
He cupped his hooves over his mouth and shouted, "Hey, dogs, I know you guys can hear me! I'm here to make sure you idiots are still keeping your muzzles shut, so get topside. Pronto!" Suddenly, he felt a burning sensation in his horn and an irresistible force knocked him flat on his side. "What in the hay was that?" he said with a gasp, rubbing his forehead.
A nearby voice called out. "Clarion Call!" Before Clarion could respond, a hoof connected with his jawbone, causing him to lose his newly regained balance and drop to the ground again. "Where are my sister and her friends?!" Clarion scrambled away, only standing up again once he had put some distance between himself and his accuser.
"That you, Shining Armor?" Clarion asked as he finally got a good look at the armor-clad stallion. "Haven't seen you in a while. How've you been? Say, while I have you, have you ever heard of that magician the Great and Powerful Trixie? Any idea where she's performing these days?"
"Answer the question!" Shining said. He narrowed his gaze and took a step toward Clarion.
"Whoa! Hey, take it easy," Clarion replied, lifting his hoof between himself and Shining Armor. "Your sister's missing? That purple little filly who used to follow you around everywhere? I didn't have anything to do with that!"
"Right!" Shining rolled his eyes. "You're completely innocent."
"I didn't say that." Clarion Call smirked. "I handled Fluttershy and Rarity. Your sister and the farmer were somepony else's problem." His horn lit up. "Good seein' ya. We'll have to do this again some time!"
Shining Armor only gritted his teeth and lowered his stance as Clarion realized that despite his increasingly concentrated effort to teleport, his magic was not fully charging, and he was unable to cast the spell. Eyes wide, he quickly ran a hoof over his horn, only to find that it was now covered with a strange, jagged substance. His eyes darted back and forth as he began to sweat, his smirk replaced with an insecure smile.
"Little trick I picked up from King Sombra." Shining took a step forward.
"Yeah, I heard about that." Clarion backed away as Shining Armor approached him. "First you made Captain of the Royal Guard, then became a prince! Always knew you were a company man. How's the wife?"
"You're going back to jail no matter what," Shining replied, quickening his step. "Tell me where my sister and her friends are, and you'll spare yourself a world of pain on top of it."
"Hey, come on now," Clarion said, his voice shaking. "You've always been a 'by the books' kinda guy, what sort of example would you be setting for your men if you beat me up?"
"We're the only ones here," Shining replied, beginning to close the distance. "I'm the only one who can detect those marks you like to put down everywhere, and I wasn't about to risk anypony else contaminating the scene!"
"Oh. Well in that case, I'm gonna take my chances!" Clarion turned tail and ran.
"You're not getting away, you little weasel!" Shining Armor yelled as he took off in pursuit.
***
"Lady Gilda!" the guard said, opening the dungeon's door. "Is something the matter?"
"It's nothing," Gilda replied. She was holding a large, metal pot. "The prisoners are getting a second chamber pot, that's all."
"I see." The guard nodded. "Well then, I'll see that they get it." He reached out to take the pot from her.
"Actually, I'd like to give it to 'em myself," Gilda replied, tilting her head and smiling. "Ya know, as a token of royal hospitality or whatever."
"Oh." The guard scratched his head. "I guess that makes sense. Sort of. Right this way." He turned around, reaching for the cell keys. Gilda brought the pot down onto the back of the guard's head, and with a resounding clank, the unsuspecting griffon fell to the ground, moaning in pain as he lost consciousness.
"Yoink!" She snatched the keys away from him and rushed to the cell containing Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. The two ponies had silently watched the exchange, but didn't react until Gilda took down the guard, at which point their eyes grew wide and they glanced quickly at one another.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Busting you out, what's it look like?" Gilda replied, hurriedly jamming the key into its hole and opening the cell.
"A prison break!" Pinkie leapt to her feet. "I've always wanted to do one of those!"
"Hold it, Pinkie!" Dash commanded, sticking her foreleg out in front of her friend. "Why the sudden change of heart, Gilda?"
"What, you think this is a trick?" Gilda scoffed. "You're already prisoners, it's not like I could trick you into somehow being more imprisoned if I was still working for King J'aggerdov!" Rainbow Dash thought this over for a moment before nodding. "And there's nothing sudden about it, I didn't want to kidnap you guys in the first place, and when I heard what they were planning to do to you..."
Pinkie Pie frowned. "What are they planning to do to us?"
"The King was talking to some weird... monster thing, I dunno. It looked like it was straight out of your sasquatch story, Dash!" Gilda frantically waved them out of the dungeon and into the torch-lit hallways.
"Huh?" Rainbow said. A single eyebrow jutting high above the other.
"I know! It was just standing in the throne room, talking with the king, like it was no big deal! It wants to take you to the Great Hive, and use you to interrogate one of your other friends!" Gilda replied as they began descending a flight of stairs.
"The Great Hive? Wait, other friends?!" Rainbow Dash scowled.
"Keep your voice down!" Gilda hissed, raising her index finger over her beak. "Look, I'll explain everything once we're out of here. Right now, we need to get the two of you back to Equestria as fast as possible!"
"Then do you think you could take off these braces?" Dash tilted her head towards the metal restraints that pinned her wings down.
"Right, sorry!" Gilda tried several of the guard's keys, but none of them worked. "Looks like he didn't have that key on him. Maybe we could—"
She was interrupted as a loud alarm began to rush through the halls. From the staircase leading up to the dungeon, they could all hear King J'aggerdov, though it was unclear where his voice was coming from.
"The prisoners have escaped!" the king shouted. "Find them immediately, and consider Lady Gilda a suspect in their disappearance! Quickly, before they leave the palace! They are not to be harmed!"
"Crud!" Gilda looked back at Dash's restraints.
"We'll worry about it later!" Rainbow Dash said, shoving Gilda and Pinkie Pie forward. "I can still run!" They fled down a series of hallways until Pinkie Pie spoke up. "My Pinkie Sense!"
"What about it?" Rainbow looked toward her.
"New combo!" Pinkie said as she narrated her body's involuntary reactions: "Eye flutter, ear-flop, then twitchy tail. Jump!"
"Huh?" Gilda raised her brow.
"Just do it!" Rainbow said. All three leapt into the air as high as they could, almost touching the ceiling. The portion of the left wall directly beneath them exploded and a long, razor-sharp claw reached out through the flying rubble. It was accompanied by a piercing shriek.
The three girls screamed as they landed on the ground. They ran faster.
"For now I'll assume that combo means 'watch out for sasquatch'!" Pinkie said.
"Is that what you were talking about?!" Rainbow asked as Gilda looked back to observe their pursuer.
"Yes, and it's catching up!" Dash and Pinkie risked a look back as well and sure enough, as fast as the three of them were, their pursuer was steadily gaining ground as it chased them through the halls on its hind legs.
What's more, each torch that adorned the walls at intervals of several feet was extinguished as the creature drew near. Cracks in the floor, ceiling, and walls seemed to follow on the heals of the three escapees. It's pale, glowing eyes were clearly visible, but the rest of the thing was hard to make out.
"Who the heck is this dude?!" Rainbow said. Her eyes widened in alarm.
Gilda shook her head. "I'd rather not find out, so pick up the pace!" They turned another corner, taking a hallway on the right. They were immediately halted by another exploding wall. Their attacker slid out in front of their path, roaring and bringing the darkness with him as more torches went out.
Rainbow, Pinkie, and Gilda took less than a second to look at the monster before pivoting on their heals and taking off in the opposite direction, returning to the intersection in the hallways and going straight. "Is it still following us?!" Rainbow asked.
"I dunno, and I'm not looking back again! Just keep running, and stay together!" Gilda said.
Rainbow turned to Gilda while keeping a steady pace. "Do you even know where we're going?"
"I don't really know the layout of the castle yet, but right now all that matters is keeping away from that thing!"
Pinkie's right ear flopped repeatedly. "Turn right!" They rounded the next right corner.
Pinkie's left ear was now flopping. "Turn left!" As they turned, they could hear the wall they would have run past had they not turned come crashing down, and heard the familiar shriek.
Gilda grinned. "Good call, Pinks, he would have gotten us that time!"
"My Pinkie Sense never steers me wro—another left!" They turned, and Delacroix followed closely behind, having resumed his more direct method of pursuit. All four were running as fast as they could, with the girls getting winded.
"If we just keep turning corners, he'll catch us sooner or later!" Gilda said.
"No! Window!" Pinkie jerked her chin toward the source of natural sunlight at the end of the hall. Jump!"
"But I can't fly!" Rainbow said. All three of them began to feel as though something was pressing down on them, and Delacroix's heavy breathing could be heard just behind them.
"I can, just trust me!" Gilda replied. Rainbow frowned.
"It's the only way, Dashie!" Pinkie said. She dove through the opening and out the side of the castle. Rainbow gulped and followed. Gilda brought up the rear, barely escaping the outreaching claw. Delacroix slid to a halt, leaning over the edge and looking down. He gave one final shriek and turned back towards the hall with such force that the end of his long overcoat cracked like a whip.
As Rainbow's eyes readjusted to the sunlight and wind flooded her nostrils, she came to realize that even though there were near the bottom level of the castle, it was still built on top of a mountain and they were still falling a very great distance towards the barren ground below. Her wings instinctually shifted in their restraints, but to no avail. She felt Gilda's arm hook around her waist. Pinkie Pie continued to fall as Gilda dove after her.
"G!" Rainbow Dash looked up.
Gilda nodded. "I'll catch her!" She narrowed her gaze towards Pinkie. The free-falling pony simply tucked her forelegs in front of her chest and scrunched her eyes shut. With one final burst of speed, Gilda grabbed hold of Pinkie and bottomed out, flying parallel to the ground, just a few feet above it.
"Phew." Dash wiped the sweat from her brow.
"Whadaya mean, 'phew'? I'm the one that did all the work!" Gilda scowled, her own face covered with sweat as well.
"It is really hot out here," Pinkie said.
"Yeah, hey..." Rainbow Dash looked up again. "I don't mean to be a buzzkill, but we got a problem!" Gilda and Pinkie turned to see a swarm of armored griffon guards pursuing them. "Let me go!" Dash shouted.
"What?!" Gilda's eyes went wide.
"You heard me!" Dash nodded sternly. "I'm weighing you down! Let me go, and get Pinkie out of here!"
"No way am I leaving without you, Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie's eyes shimmered.
"Yeah!" Gilda clenched her jaw. "Also, shut up! I'm an awesome flier and I don't need to drop anything!" Dash went quiet after that, but in spite of Gilda's reassurance, the guards were gaining.
Gilda flapped her wings to bring them to an abrupt halt as another large cluster of griffons now hovered in front of them. Unlike the guards pursuing them, they did not wear armor, but instead wore ragged cloth around their heads and necks, varying in color from griffon to griffon. The guards behind Gilda came to a halt as well.
"These are fugitives!" the guard at the frontsaid. "Be on your way, citizens!"
"You're in our territory now, canaries!" one of the plain-clothed Griffons replied. "If J'aggerdov wants 'em, you can be sure we won't let you have 'em!"
"'Canaries', you call us?" The head guard folded his arms. "That's an term thrown around by rebels."
"You catch on quick," the apparently rebel said. "You didn't bring enough goons to throw down with us this time, so shove off!"
"He's right, sir," another guard whispered. "They outnumber us two-to-one!"
"What of it?" the guard hissed. "Should we fly away with our tails between our legs?!"
The guard protested. "You know that King J'aggerdov needs all of us for his war, we can't afford to throw our lives away! We'll return with greater numbers and wipe them out!"
"Very well, they all get a stay of execution. Move out!" They all departed.
"I don't know who you guys are, but you saved our butts, so thanks," Gilda said. She turned to face the rebels.
"Yeah, those guys would have totally fed us to the sasquatch!" Pinkie said, nodding vigorously.
"We owe you one," Rainbow said.
The rebel who had talked down the guards smiled at them. "Always happy to help out someone in need. The name's Peirce. I don't know who you are or why J'aggerdov wants you, and I don't know what you mean by 'sasquatch', but explanations will have to wait. The canaries will be back with a bigger fleet, and we don't want to be anywhere near here when that happens. Follow us!" Two other rebels flew over to Gilda and removed Pinkie and Dash from her arms before she could protest.
"Figure we'll lighten your load. Not used to travelling with non-fliers, though," a griffon said, pulling Rainbow Dash's back into his chest.
"Watch it!" Rainbow shouted. "I'm not a non-flier!"
"Oh, sorry, miss!" He apologized. "Didn't see the wings, there. Once we make camp we'll take care of those bindings for you."
"Gilda?" Pinkie said from the arms of the other Griffon. "Thanks for catching me, and for springing us from griffon-jail."
"Hey, you're the one who led us to safety." Gilda smiled as she and Pinkie bumped fist against hoof. Rainbow Dash smiled too, and breathed a sigh of relief. The group flew away quickly, Peirce taking the lead. They maneuvered between the mountain bases and cliff-sides, keeping close to the ground as the sun began to set.
***
"Off you go!" Clarion Call pushed down on the long, thick branch he had jammed between the dirt and the boulder on top of it. The large rock shifted and rose, revealing a hole in the ground. Clarion had been running from Shining Armor for the entire day, and had finally managed to lose him for at least a little while within the Everfree Forest.
He had disoriented himself along the way, and did not recognize the area he was in, but when he came upon the boulder, for reasons he didn't fully understand he felt compelled to investigate it.
"Some kinda cavern down here," he thought. "If nothing else, I can probably hide until whatever's up with my horn goes away." He cautiously passed through the hole and into the large cavern, which contained many strange, glowing flora, and a large lake in the center.
"Anypony here?" he called out. His only response was the echo of his own voice. He shrugged, and approached the pond. Whatever force that drew him down there in the first place growing stronger.
He leaned over the water, gazing at his own reflection, and was finally able to get a better look at the strange material that covered his horn and suppressed his magic. He tried to cast his teleportation spell again, but found that his horn's aura only lit up in the small segment above his forehead that wasn't covered by the black substance.
"Just great," he hissed. "Can't cast spells? That only throws a wrench in, like, everything!" He peered a little deeper into the water and was able to make out the outline of a rectangular object.
"Something's down there," he said, diving in head first with an unusually reckless abandon.
The pool wasn't very deep, and at the bottom Clarion could see a small, wooden box. He quickly scooped it up and brought it to the surface. "Really letting my self get sidetracked here," he thought. "But for some reason I really wanna know what's in this box!" Upon discovering that it was a lockbox whose key was nowhere in sight, he abruptly hurled it against a rock, smashing it open. Its contents landed at his hooves.
"Well now," he mumbled, staring down at the Alicorn Amulet and struggling not to laugh out loud. "This is pretty much the last thing I expected to find. Can't believe my luck! You and me are gonna do big things together..." Just then, the sound of hoofsteps caught his attention.
"You got sloppy at the end, Clarion!" Shining Armor descended the path into the cavern. "Didn't even try to cover the trail you left coming down here."
Clarion picked the necklace up and held it in front of his face. "I read that this thing corrupts the wearer over time. Heh, rain over the ocean." He grinned as he fastened the trinket around his neck.
"What are you mumbling about?" Shining asked, finally catching sight of his prey. Clarion Call turned to face Shining Armor, who stopped short at the sight of his fugitive wearing a magic charm whose shape he recognized from an old case file. "Is that....?"
"Yep, the Alicorn Amulet!" Clarion's eyes glowed red as he began to resonate with its power. "You like?"
"Zecora must have hidden it down here after that incident with Trixie," Shining thought. "Clarion, you don't know what you're doing!" He extended his hoof. "That thing corrupts the wearer! You need to take it off before it's too late!"
"Actually, I know exactly what I'm doing," Clarion said before revving up the red aura that now formed in his horn. It struggled against the black substance that coated most of his appendage for only a moment before shattering it entirely, his magic now freely flowing again. "That's the stuff!" The red glow in his eyes grew brighter.
"This is bad," Shining hissed as his own horn ignited and he fired an impact wave straight at Clarion.
"I respectfully disagree!" Clarion shouted as a red force field surrounded him, absorbing the force of Shining's attack. "Okay, this thing is awesome!"
"I'm still going to bring you in! I'm just getting started," Shining Armor said. He prepared to launch another attack.
"Yeah, I might not be strong enough to beat you yet." Clarion shook his head. "I hear it takes some for this thing to really get going, so I gotta to practice with it. I'll catch you later, dude!"
"Wait!" Shining charged at Clarion Call, who was preparing another spell.
"No can do, pumpkin!" Clarion gave one final wave before vanishing, his laughter echoing throughout the cavern as Shining Armor came sliding to a halt.
***
"So what now?" Clarion asked, having heard from J'aggerdov that Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie had escaped. "You gonna punish the girl?"
King J'aggerdov shook his head. "No, it's my fault that this happened. I let Gilda hear too much, and her psyche is still tainted by equine logic. It's no wonder she acted the way she did."
"Regardless," Delacroix said, "we're going to have to find the Elements on our own. And Clarion? The meeting we've planned will have to take place soon."
"You sure that's a good idea?" Clarion elevated his brow.
"There's a chance the two escapees might make it back to Equestria. They know too much. Worse still, they've seen me."
"They won't make it back to Equestria." J'aggerdov interjected. "Our border is secure on the ground and in the air. If they attempt to leave the Kingdom, they will be apprehended immediately."
"Even so, there are the two Canterlot guards from the other night to consider, as well. I hadn't realized they'd survived," Delacroix said.
"I guess it's gotta be done, then," Clarion said.
"What meeting are you talking about?" J'aggerdov asked. He was focusing more on Clarion Call so as to avoid staring at Delacroix.
"There's a good chance that, very soon, Celestia and Luna will realize I'm still alive," Delacroix said. A grin spread across his face. "And I think it's best that they hear it from me."