//------------------------------//
// 21 Not every present is a good one 
// Story: A new breed of evil 
// by Rarity Belle 
//------------------------------//

	A box was given to the cloud of shadows by nopony else then the very queen herself. She nodded towards the nightmare force with a calm but powerful one. The plan was known and the directions were given to the force. All that was resting to be done was for the message to be delivered and the chaos to be erupted soon afterwards. In the throne room itself had the cloud made one last bow to its queen. After that it would have slithered away from her. It left Nightmare Rarity upon the seating of the throne with a deep sigh.

        “The tides are slowly changing, I can feel it in my bones and spells. The tables are standing at the point of being turned out of my favor. But the message should have them squealing for another set of months if not weeks. More than enough time to make some, rearrangements, in the plans,” the unicorn whispered to herself. A strand of mane fell before her right eye, but she didn’t care.

        The strand itself wasn't even removed when the mare left the seating. She went up the stairs and towards the courtyard again. Some of the nightmare forces that were out there, looked over to their queen with a questioning gaze for a few seconds. Though then they continued doing what they had been doing for most of the time already.

        In the blue rimmed eyes had the mare caught the gates being closed again and a grin formed itself with her lips. “This, will be my only message to the two of them. They better pray on their lives that they will be getting it straight away. If it is war they want, I shall give them a taste of what I can do,” mumbled Nightmare Rarity in a loud enough tone that all the beings around her could hear it. Yet it was the very tone in which she spoke her words that caused the shivers in the fibers of the beings themselves. Something about that whole creature was unsettling, then more than ever.

        Never in their existence had they heard such a mixture of a posh and proper tone that would be able of speaking such sadistic words. Once more had she proved herself as the queen of fright in their eyes. All of the nightmare forces could only hope that Nightmare Rarity would be leaving them alone as soon as possible. Which luckily for them, she actually did. After she had spoken the words, the queen turned herself back over into the tower and ascended upon the stairs.                     

        Once she had arrived in her chambers, the body would have been lowered upon the velvet cushioned sofa. When her belly made contact with the fabric and the hind legs had crossed one another, there was a loud and content moan which was slowly released through her mouth. A moan that caused the savages to look strange into her direction just to witness what was going on. The sights they saw were pretty much nothing of true interest for them four. So they turned themselves away again. They would leave their queen be, for the time being.

        The remaining visible eye of the unicorn closed itself off from the word. Before anypony could even be saying a word to her, had she sunken into a light slumber. Even though she appeared to be asleep, the mind was still recalculating every single option that she had. Options when it came down to a war between her forces and the armies of both day and night.

        It would have been a war that she would be losing quick in a head-on assault. That much was already certain for her. So perhaps the only way that she could actually get rid of both of the armies was perhaps not to fight them head first. Instead she had to flank them at all sides and take small pieces of it at any given time. Slow and steady, much like she had done everything up to that point.

        That idea was more than fit for her. The queen loved to be taking her time with fairly much everything there happened to be. It was a sadistic wait she would have given to both the soldiers and generals for certain. Though there also would be some traps set out for her. No doubt that after the message given to them, the royals would be knowing exactly just who happened to be torturing the ponies. Meaning that it was going to be hear who was placed right in the spotlights of everything.

        Though there always was that possibility that they wanted to negotiate with her. An option that seemed to be weak within her mind. Though it could give her some rather valuable information. Not to mention, it could give her time if it ever came that far. Because in that moment did the message still had to be delivered before the doors of the royals. Only after that would the decision be made. Whatever would have happened, it all came after the package was delivered.

        Yet it didn't stop her from thinking about the thousand possibilities of after the little box had been dropped before the throne. Though without a warning had the eyes of the unicorn opened themselves again and the cat-like irises looked over the entire room with a singular glare. Only to confirm the suspicion that nopony was there outside of her. Nightmare Rarity rose her body up from the sofa with a deep inhale of fresh air.

        Nightmare Rarity would finally have removed the strand of mane out of her eye. She placed it behind her ear before the head turned itself into the direction of the balcony. It was a much preferred place for the mare to go to and have a rest. It was perhaps even a place where she came more often than any other place inside of the tower, let alone her domain.

        When the doors opened themselves did the nightmarish queen appear upon the floor and a deep exhale was released through her mouth while the horn charged itself up ever so gently. While the magic surged itself through the horn as well as the gem, the unicorn looked over the lands in the brought daylight and she gave her imagination the free wings to think of whatever it could actually think about.
   
        In the meantime had the cloud of shadow who was send out to deliver the package to the castle of Canterlot, managed to unseen sneak its way up to the gates of the metropolis. With the eyes were looking with care through everything and everpony it met. The illusion to stick with the deepest shadows that it could find was performed. Only through that could it have survived in there.

        It travelled through shadow and shadow, the cloud had remained hidden and the package unseen for prying eyes. That was the case until it arrived at the gates of Canterlot castle itself. The security was too uptight for its liking. Not to forget that the princess of the moon and sun being there at the same time. Wandering in didn't seem to be very good idea but the mailbox on the other end, did brought an entirely different perspective to the matter.

        With a crackle in its voice would the cloud have traveled over to the mailbox of the castle. It placed the package right in it. Everything seemed to be just perfect with an address to return it to and all of that other official stuff. Another crackle was released by the nightmare force before it began to slither its way back to the domain of the queen. A queen who was waiting and imagining the very response they royals would be having about her little package. She wished that she could have seen it in person though.


~~~~

                     
All of the five friends had been gathered in the throne room of the castle. They seemed to be helping out as some sort of adviser to the princess. It was all in an attempt to keep them both happy and busy during the day. Not a job that either Rainbow Dash or Applejack had wanted from their stay, but Twilight seemed to be doing a rather good job at it. Even Celestia herself had to admit that fact.

        The only pony who was missing from the company was Luna herself. With her days literally shifted around by twelve hours, she most likely would be in bed at that time. Perhaps it was a good thing though as some of the matters that their ears heard were truly brain breaking.

        Even the always so hyperactive Pinkie Pie sometimes went literally cross-eyed. She had not a single clue of the events that were going on. Though little did each of them knew, just what would be delivered to all of them.

        “Hmhm, it’s not easy being a princess, now is it?” Celestia spoke up to the five of them with her soft and soothing tone. In response did all five of them quietly nodded with their head. None of them could have even imagined just how much time and effort there was stuck into keeping the land running. Most of them thought that it was just smile and wave, they couldn’t have been more wrong.

        It was even something that caused nopony else then Twilight to think about the fact. How Celestia had managed to do it all when she took her as her student in? It seemed to be impossible for her to understand. Though the alicorn of the day had turned into her second mother. She had helped her to become the mare she was that day yet the land wasn't in total ruins.

        Twilight never admitted it openly, but she had great respect for the princess no matter what others would be saying about her. A respect that was mutual for the mentor to the student.

        “Mail!” the voice of a stallion spoke up. The trolley filled with bags of letters and packages rolled in with him. All five of them looked up towards the cart and their eyes went even wider. None of them even could believe the fact that so much mail had come in.

        “F-From how many days is that?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. She had almost jumped out of her chair at the massive pile of it. It looked like a literal mountain worth of mail.

        “Days? This is from this morning,” the courier replied to the cyan pegasus. He came in further just a bit more before he made a small bow to Celestia. “Your highness.”

        “Thank you,” the princess replied before she gave a nod to him. That very nod was the signal that he was allowed to leave the throne room and thus continue on his own duties.

        “T-T-This m-m-morning,” Rainbow stuttered as she had fallen on her bum in a flabbergasted position and never seemed to have been able to keep her eyes off of the stack. “T-That can’t be right! It just can’t be, I refuse to believe that!”

        “Oh, but it is, my dear Rainbow,” spoke Celestia before she released a giggle. The body of the mare rose up and she wandered down on the steps of the throne. With calm and grace did she went over to the trolley and turned herself around in order to look at the five mares. Her lips curled themselves up into a gentle smile as the horn charged itself up.

        “But… how?! That, that’s what I’m not getting here!” The pegasus helped herself back up upon her hooves before the head was given a couple of shakes. Her little and feeble mind just couldn't understand one tiny bit from what was shown to her. Though perhaps it was best left unexplained to them all.

        Yet the princess wanted to give them a visual demonstration. With her magic she took out of the packages and held it before the five of them. “Most of these packages contain a thankful letter, as well as a treat for my sister and myself to, keep up the good work, shall we say,” Celestia added. With her magic had opened the top of the box and the flap actually hid the content for the princess.

        Her magic began to search inside of the box for the content and it eventually raised something to a gentle height. A height that still kept the content hidden from the princess but the five mares were given the sight of a lifetime. Whatever it happened to be that they saw, their eyes all went as wide as possible.

        It was a mere second afterward had each of them released a near deafening scream of utter terror. The fear of the thing what they saw coming out of that box was something that not even Celestia could have expected. “Calm down girls, calm down, it’s not that bad now is it?” she said to them, unaware of the things that they saw in their own eyes.

        “N-Not that bad, l-look for, yarself princess!” Applejack managed to being out of her mouth. It was just before Fluttershy jumped behind her chair in the shivers, almost if she had seen a ghost.

        “Now I know you all are exaggerating a bit much here. There is nothing to be afraid about…” While she spoke her words had Celestia raised the object to a height that even she could see it and was already surprised. Celestia then turned it around. Within a second did she got the scare of her life as well. Her eyes would be looking straight into the closed ones of a severed head.

        To be a little bit more correct, it was the severed head of a bat pony with purple mane. “…A severed head gotten into the mail, right. One doesn't see that every day.” the princess of the day quickly mumbled to herself. The head was then lowered again in the box and closed off for their eyes. “Wake my sister, she needs to be seeing this right here and right now no matter what. Tell her it’s urgent,” Celestia spoke up towards one of the guards. She remained oddly calm, but deep inside of her body was her heart racing like mad.

        The guard gave the princess a salute before the post was left in order to wake the lunar princess. Though waking her up in the middle of the day could always have some nasty consequences for the waker. It was a price worth to be paid no matter what.

        “And could you please calm down! Your screaming isn't exactly helping here,” the princess huffed to the five of them in an annoyed tone. It did help for them though. The sounds they all produced did lower themselves until they were all nothing but silent. “Thank the heavens for that.”

        “W-Who could have p-possibly send it?” Twilight dared to ask after she had gotten more than enough of her guts together to actually do it. “Does, does it say where it’s from?”


~~~~

 
It was an excellent question asked by Twilight. The princess levitated the box closer to herself to read whatever was stamped upon it. The eyes went over pretty much everything before they came to a shocking conclusion. “Impossible,” she whispered to herself before a shake with the head was given. “No, no, no, this can’t be happening. It couldn’t have come from there. That’s about the last spot...”

        “Well, speak up princess! We don’t take too kindly to waiting, not anymore,” Applejack growled in an annoyed tone. She wanted to have clear answered for a change of pace.

        “Normally I wouldn't, but this time I side with Applejack, your highness,” added Twilight. Even more pressure was added upon the princess of the day. Pressure that turned itself into nothing but tension that could eventually break into a million pieces.

        That was about the last thing that she wanted to have happened right there. So in order to give the mares the answer they were looking for, Celestia released a deep exhale through her mouth. Then she looked upon each mare with her violet rimmed eyes. “The package, this very package is send from a place that you five all know very well. It originates from Ponyville.” Suddenly went all of the eyes of the mares looked at one another in a genuine confused look. None of them could have ever even imagined that such a gruesome ‘gift’ could have been send from their sunny little town.

        “To make it even worse, it’s coming out of a recently abandoned building. This very package, comes from the Carousel Boutique.” Those words alone were more than enough for the mare to look at one another as they just couldn't believe what was just spoken to them all.


~~~~


        Though it also caused a rather unforeseen side-effect to be taken place in the throne room. The discussion heated up again and accusations flew around. Nopony had forgotten about Rarity even if they wanted to. That caused the tension between the five of them. “Ah told y’all, it’s Rares who’s behind everything! And look at it now, she is sending our princesses such gifts of horror. Ah say that that mare has gone completely insane and she’s planning to take over herself!” Applejack rambled about. She removed herself from the chair and did a couple steps into the throne room.

        “Close the doors, nopony else needs to be hearing this,” Celestia quickly spoke up to another guard. One who executed the exact order. Her head turned itself over to Applejack before a shake was given to it. The cowgirl meant her thoughts well, but the manner in which she brought them forth was something she still needed to be working on from time to time.

        Though the words caused both Twilight and Fluttershy to walk up to the cowgirl with an angered look in their eyes. The two were on the same wavelength when it came down to thoughts. Those thoughts were worded by Twilight. “And now you've gone too far, Applejack! Can you imagine if Rarity takes over?! She has to pass through both Celestia and Luna first, not to mention the entire army before she even can claim herself queen of all. It’s all illogical Applejack, illogical!”

        “Well if yar knowing it all so well, why don't y’all just come up with an explanation for this entire mess! Ah even recon if you hadn't come to Ponyville in the first place, we wouldn't have gotten here in the first place.” Applejack replied to Twilight as their foreheads were pressed against one another with force applied by both sides. “So beat it, bookworm.”

        “Applejack! That’s not how you are talking to a friend of yours, and you know it!” Fluttershy interrupted without any hesitation. Twilight herself had to fight for her tears to be staying inside of her eyes. “You two, need to calm down for a moment!”

        “Oh Ah will Fluttershy, long after this little harbinger of bad news is out of mah life!”

        “That’s enough!” Rainbow Dash shouted before she literally tackled the earth pony to the ground and laid her on her back. “Time to bring you some manners, pegasus-style!”

        “Rainbow, Rainbow… no!” Celestia pleaded. She wanted to interfere between them, but the hit was already dealt. The hoof of Rainbow Dash met up with the cheek of Applejack before anypony could be doing anything.

        “Don’t you dare,” the cyan pegasus spoke up in a growling hiss towards the princess. Who oddly enough did a step back to let the events roll as they would be doing. “You just listen to me, miss Grumpy. Just because we are in this mess, doesn't mean that Twilight is to blame! We can give anypony the blame but it doesn't get us out of it! You understand that, right? Right!?”

        Nopony could even understand just what was going on between the two of them but it did seem like it was working. Though to make matters perhaps even worse, the other princess had arrived in the room. “Am I… interrupting, something here?” the voice of Luna then entered Celestia’s ear. The alicorn looked over to her side, only to see her sister.

        “Don’t ask, just arrived,” Celestia commented with a worried tone in her voice.

        “Ah,” was the only thing that came out of the mouth of Luna.

        “Ah heard yah, yes,” Applejack replied to Rainbow who then pulled her back up. Before she would be doing anything else, the cowgirl walked over to Twilight and gave her a genuine warm hug as she felt herself sorry for the words. “Ah, Ah shouldn't have said those words Twi.”

        “It’s, it’s alright Applejack,” the mulberry unicorn replied calm. One of her hooves traveled its way over to back of the earth pony to keep the hug going. “Thanks.”

        “So now that is solved, you might want to tell me just what on earth is going on?” asked Luna with a genuine curiosity to her voice. She still didn't had a single clue of what had happened. Something that was reflected inside of her tired eyes.

        “Oh, yes, though you’re not going to like it a bit,” Celestia said. It was just before she began to whisper within her sister’s ear. Who on her own turn nodded a couple of times as well as opened her eyes wider at a slow rate. Upon hearing certain words, Luna had only one desire. The desire to look in the box itself to see whether it was true or not. She couldn’t believe the words her sister said.

        The horn of the younger sister charged itself up and the box was levitated over to her, just before it was being. Her blue rimmed eyes were looking down into it and almost immediately she got the feeling of emptying her stomach in her mouth. The horrific sight in the box, was truly just horrific. “Oh goodness me, this can’t be happening,” she whispered to herself. Then the box was placed upon the ground with the lid closed.


~~~~

 
“This, this is everything but good, girls. However, the truth also needs to be revealed to you all,” Luna managed to get passed her lips. She looked each of the ponies in their eyes with a serious gaze. Though it was Celestia who was having the biggest worries with it. Telling Twilight openly that they had lied to her, could she still be trusting them?

        “Luna, are you sure about this?” Celestia whispered in an inaudible tone towards the other mare. The last thing that the alicorn of the day needed, were the other elements resigning.

        Though Lina only gave a nod on her turn. Then she charged up her horn again and took a deep inhale. “I have been doing some investigating on my own and came to some rather, interesting conclusions. The head in the box, is indeed from one of my very own ponies. She was an informant for me, and a very good one at that. Her duty were never given upon paper, they had always been verbal,” the mare explained to the six of them

        “You send an innocent pony straight into her death?!” Rainbow spilled out. It had become her turn to be a bit angry at the way everything was handled. Though in response did Luna shook her head. Almost as if she was saying that her words weren't true.

        “Not straight into it, miss Dash. By following the leads I have gotten. I intended to keep them quiet until the time would have been there. Suppose the time is now here to reveal them.” Those very words even confused her older sister as it wasn't something they had agreed upon nor something that even she was knowing about.

        “And what leads were you exactly following?” the cyan pegasus questioned her. Rainbow even gained the very guts to actually fly up to Luna and press her face into that of hers. One way or the other, she would be getting to know the fine details of everything about it all. Even though she didn't care about what the others would be thinking.

        Luna on the other end just pushed the pegasus away before she was being held in a levitational field and brought back over to the rest of the group. “These, leads,” the princess of the night spoke up before she conjured both the diary and the letter out of her personal safe.
      
        All of the ponies present –including Celestia herself– looked up in a massive surprise to the event as they were being played out. Nopony could have ever predicted that Luna had actually gone to such an extend to find something.

        “While you all were lying in the hospital to recover from your dreams, I took the liberty to look around the boutique for a little bit and found these two items. Two common items which held the key to the subject we’re after,” Luna explained before she opened the diary of the ivory mare. She even began to search some of the entries that interested her the most.

        “Wait, wait, wait!” Pinkie all of the sudden shouted. She hopped in between the groups of mares and the princesses. “You said you had been to the boutique, so…i t could also have been you who send the package!”

        The initial response that Pinkie got for her words was that Luna huffed out a gentle cloud of steam. “You really think I would end the life of one of my personal ponies?! I haven’t done that since Nightmare Moon has left my body, thank you very much. Old habits don’t wear they say, I’m aware with that one. But that habit was gone in the blink of an eyes. And yes Twilight, it would be illogical if I did such a thing. Now if I may, please?” the lunar alicorn said to her.

        Pinkie lowered her head with care. After that she had returned to the group. Twilight herself released a little but also embarrassed squee in response to the words. Only to finally aim their ears over to the words Luna would be speaking to them all. And each sentence that she would be speaking, would be even more surprising than the previous one.

        Nopony had ever heard the unicorn complain about the nightmares she seemed to be suffering from. Not to mention given the fact that they had been going on already for such a long time through the mind of their beloved friend. Each of the mares was genuinely shocked as the princess of the night continued to read through the journal.

                    The fun didn't stop there sadly enough. When the diary was closed at the last entry was the letter still needed to be read. All of the ponies were already speechless, but the biggest smack in their faces still had to be delivered. The paper letter was brought before the eyes of Luna. She started to read the entire thing aloud for all of them.

        When the final words, when the final name was being spoken, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle and even princess Celestia herself looked at the lunar mare with an open mouth and a shocked confession.

        “Emerald, Masquerade, my little ponies,” were the only words that Luna had to add to everything. That was the only next and obvious lead that they had.


~~~~

                     
All the way over back in Ponyville, had none of the three little Cutie Mark Crusaders been able to actually shrug the facts off of themselves. They had seen them within the woods of White Tails. Neither Scootaloo nor Apple Bloom could be sleeping well. Because every time they closed their eyes, they would be seeing those horrible incarnations of both Applejack and Rainbow Dash respectively. It terrified them almost down to the core, seeing them in that demonic state of being.

        But Sweetie Belle might have been the more curious case of it all as she never had been able to forget the moment that the two hearts were beating in sync just for that little bit of time. All three of them laid a bit scattered through the building. Sweetie laid upon a chair while Apple Bloom had taken her position in a beanbag whereas Scootaloo just laid on the floor with her belly down.

        The silence in the place was something that had never been heard before. It almost seemed as if they weren't even there to begin with. Which they were to some degree. Their bodies laid within the walls of the building but their minds had been going all over the place. With the eyes wide open, none of the three dared to fall asleep even if they wanted it just so badly.

        Their very own fears and frights were there as they had been there since their escape from the dreaded woods. Yet to break the eerie silence, Sweetie Belle was actually the very first one to speak up. “Hey you two,” she spoke up before her eyes went over to the other fillies. “You know we are like a couple dozen miles away from White Tails, right? I mean, that’s a lot of ground to cover for the both of them no matter what.”

        It were words that caused the other two fillies to not only raise their heads up from either the beanbag or the floor and looked into the direction of the unicorn. Neither of them even seemed to be understanding a singular word of what was spoken against them. Yet they did cause the two of them to even leave their spots and walk closer towards Sweetie.

        Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had their heads tilted to one side. They both tried to follow Sweetie Belle’s train of thought, but didn't seem to be getting far. Their minds tried, they really tried, but with the fears that were still in there seemed that any form of logical thinking had been thrown right out of the window.

        It was something that caused the little unicorn to facehoof a little bit before she jumped off of the chair. Shen then wrapped both of her forelegs around the necks of her friends. What resulted in a massive hug from all three of the fillies. “What I’m saying is that nothing what you saw back there, ever would even be getting the of coming close to here. We’re safe here in Ponyville itself and the surrounding as they will remain inside of the woods themselves. You two following me?”

        The other two fillies listened with care towards the words that were spoken. After that did their minds finally seem to have received the gap through which Sweetie spoke her words. The hug itself was tightened a little bit more while the two fillies closed their eyes with force. They even would have drilled those very same words right into their skulls.

        Whatever it was that the two were trying to be doing, it seemed to be working more than well. For when they opened up their eyes again, that bright coloring had returned into them instead of the dulled out one the unicorn had to be looking at for some days. “Hey hey, there are some eyes I have missed!” she spoke up with a happy tone and gave both of her friends a nuzzle.

        Though the nuzzle itself didn't seem to be that big of a success by either of the fillies, but they didn't minded it for the moment, as it was the little unicorn who managed to get them out of that circle they were landed in. “Okay, okay, enough of that Sweetie, but thanks,” said Scootaloo in a chuckle of her own.

        Apple Bloom on the other end just blinked a couple of times with her eyes before she very quickly returned the nuzzle upon the nose of the unicorn. “Thanks Sweets,” she then spoke up herself with a smile from ear to ears.

        The hug between the three fillies was broken and they all looked upon one another with that same smile clearly visible. They had managed to conquer the fears they had been walking with a set of days and they had to thank one of their friends for it with everything they had. However, for the unicorn filly herself could still hear that heartbeat deep inside of her head. Hidden away in perhaps the deepest and darkest part of it there was, it laid in wait. That rheumatic throbbing of the beat in sync with her own.

        It was a little something that she couldn't be explaining to the other two fillies. Mostly just because of the fact that she didn't wanted to give them confusion that wasn't even necessary. “Hey girls,” Sweetie then brought forth before she turned into a bit more of a serious looking filly, “let’s drop anything we still had planned into those woods and never return to them, okay? Just to be sure that, things like these are never going to be happening again?”

        Apple Bloom and Scootaloo listened to the words spoken and they couldn't be doing much else than to give a nod in response to it. For none of them –even if they didn't wanted to admit it– wanted to return to that cursed woods. No verbal response was given by either of the other two fillies, but the eyes spoke more than enough to justify just that.

        Without a warning of any kind had the hoof of Sweetie Belle booped the nose of Apple Bloom before she spoke her words. “Tag, you’re it!” And after it she galloped like the wind to the door and down the wooden ramps to the field below.

        The little cowgirl turned herself over to the pegasus with a grin upon her face. “Ya know what this means, right?” she spoke up as her hoof raised itself.

        Yet just before she could actually tag Scootaloo, she had darted aside and chuckle to herself. “Too slow! Come and catch me if you can!” Not a single further word needed to be told towards the earth pony had set in the chase. The three of them ended up playing in the fields that laid around their clubhouse.


~~~~

                     
“Emerald Masquerade, it isn't exactly a name I’m familiar with to say the least,” said Twilight to them all. She had given her mind the chance to actually think about the matter for once. Every single line that spoken by Luna, whether it came out of the diary or the letter and even after having read through them herself, caused the hammers to be smashing on the red hot metals inside of her head. She was working on a plan of some kind but it would be needing time in order to complete it.

        Time they very well couldn't be having upon their side.

        “Uhm, Twilight, if, if I may here?” Fluttershy squeaked a bit and was given the word to speak her thoughts. Whatever they could have been. “Thank you, all right then.” Her eyes looked over every pony that was present and the stage fright actually knocked louder than ever upon the door of the pegasus. But she knew that she couldn't back down whatsoever. All of the eyes were looking at her and she took a deep inhale to make certain that she wouldn't faint.

        “Well, go on Fluttershy we’re waiting for you, again,” Rainbow Dash almost sarcastically spoke to her. She wanted the pegasus to just hurry up for once. Though in the case of Fluttershy, it probably wouldn't have been the most wise thing to be doing. “Today, if possible, thanks.”

        The only response she got out of any of them, was a loud shushing from the others. “Okay, okay, geez,” the cyan pegasus added to her words. She sat down on her bum and crossed both of her forelegs around one another.

        “Uhm, what I was about to say, was that I never had Rarity even once mention the name of the pony in the letter. And, she almost tells me everything of her life. Even when she needed to be finding a sport to interact with other ponies. Any of you knew, that she was, or actually still is, a master at fencing?”

        “Wow, wow, wow, what did you say there Fluttershy?” Twilight said in a baffled voice. Even the confusion was clear in her eyes. “Did you just say that Rarity, fenced?”

        The yellow coated pegasus gave a nod in return to the words before her eyes turned suddenly into a set with a worried expression. “Is, is that… bad?”

        “Not at all! That, that is actually a good thing. Before all of you interrupt me, allow me to paint you all the picture here. Rarity doesn't tell us everything as we tell her for a reason. We see her as our most trusted pony as she can keep a secret or two. But Rarity, also needed a trusting pony and I think, she found it in you, Fluttershy,” explained Twilight. That had come out of her thoughts.

        “A very likely theory indeed, Twilight, but that still doesn't explain just why the stallion contacted her on that random day,” replied Celestia to her most prized student. Those words had gathered the eyes of all the ponies present.

        “Because, sister dear, the letter wasn't send by the real stallion. It was a fake but a very well written one. It was enough to lure the unicorn right into their trap. When I arrived at the castle of old, I looked into the past and something took control over her. I couldn't see what it was or how she looked. But something took over her entire body and spirit, explained Luna to not only Celestia, but to the rest of them as well.

        “And why didn't ya tell this to us like, a few minutes ago?” Applejack muttered up. She was literally standing on the verge of throwing her hat to the ground. After that could she have stomped it just to release the frustration that had been building.

        “I happen to be having my reasons as you happen to be having your own, Applejack. But that’s beside the point, I have told the lot of you everything that I knew about all of the matters going on. Even for me, from here on outward is new information. Information I like to have shared before anypony is ending up doing something stupid. Am I understood?” said Luna.

        All of the mares present in the room nodded to the words that were spoken by Luna before she made a nod in return to them all. “Good.”

        “Maybe...” Fluttershy then spoke up, breaking the silence. The words that she would be telling next could be the changing course of the entire events that were still going to be played out. “If we can find this stallion, and find the right one that is. Maybe we can lure Rarity out of, wherever she happened to be, and he can convince her to leave whatever it is that changed her, and thus having our friend back. It, it’s just an idea here.”

        “And a brilliant one at that Fluttershy!” Twilight exclaimed in happiness. All of the sudden did she saw everything just so clear before her eyes. “Listen up everypony, I know exactly what it is that we need to be doing in order to save Rarity.”