//------------------------------// // Grey // Story: Shadows of the Crystal Empire // by AdrianVesper //------------------------------// Grey Back in the bowels of the Copper Coronet, Twilight sat on her haunches in front of Paw’s cell. The manticore clutched a shattered bone in his front paws and lapped at the marrow. The iron bars between him and Twilight’s lit horn painted stripes of shadow across his body. “Twilight,” Applejack said, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “There ain’t no easy way to say this, but we’re gonna have to put him down.” Twilight shrugged off Applejack’s hoof. “He doesn’t deserve that.” “He’s a pony-killer,” Rarity said. “He’s a wild animal. It’s all we can do.” Twilight turned to glare at Rarity. “It’s not his fault!” “This ain’t about what’s fair, Twilight,” Applejack said. “It’s about what’s best.” Twilight looked at Fluttershy and pointed her hoof at the cage. “Talk to him!” Twilight shouted. Fluttershy stared back at her sadly. “I tried, Twilight. Tamer broke him. I wish I could help him, but—” “Try harder!” Twilight snapped. Fluttershy sighed. She stepped up to the cage and closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them, her irises glowed with a faint green light. Paws turned to face Fluttershy. His retinas reflected the light of Twilight’s horn. His eyes narrowed, and he shifted, coiling in the back of his cage. A low growl rumbled in his chest. Fluttershy gasped. In the blink of an eye, Paws lunged. Before Twilight could react, Rainbow Dash slammed into Fluttershy, sending them both sprawling clear of the cell door. Paws swiped a bloody paw through the gap in bars, but caught only air. His claws grated against the stone floor as he slowly drew them back. For a few heartbeats, he sat perfectly still, then he retreated back into his cell. Rainbow picked herself up off the floor. “Enough!” she shouted, turning to Twilight. “Nopony gets anywhere near him again!” She reached down to lend Fluttershy a hoof. “I’m sorry, Twilight,” Fluttershy said as Rainbow pulled her to her feet. “I wish I could fix him, but I can’t.” “Why does this matter so much to you?!” Rainbow said. Twilight stared at Paws. If I can’t help him, who can I help? Her eyes turned to the bones in Paw’s cage. They were hardly recognizable as a pony’s. A few scraps of flesh remained, but they had been snapped and licked clean by the ravenous manticore. “Because this isn’t the way he could be,” Twilight said. “The world made him this way – by pinning his back to the wall and making him kill.” Twilight paused, taking a deep breath. “Because I know what being broken is like.” Applejack sighed heavily. “He’s not you, and you’re not him.” “This isn’t about me!” Twilight yelled. “Then what is this about?” Rarity said. “You need to let this go.” There has to be a way, Twilight thought. Tamer had him under control. She shook her head. “I can’t do that.” She drew Solstice, and in the same motion, cleaved through the bolt holding the door shut. The cage slowly swung open. Paws shifted in the back of the cell. Twilight stepped forward. Paws growled, drawing himself up and arching his back until it scraped the ceiling. The manticore towered over her. Twilight stared up into his eyes. Back down, she silently pleaded. He glared down at her, unblinking. Come on! “Let me help you!” she shouted. “Yield!” Paws pounced. She reacted reflexively. Before he could close on her, she stabbed Solstice’s blade into his chest. He snarled, spitting anguish and fury, and drove himself onto the blade as he pressed toward her. Solstice’s hilt lodged against his ribs, and she shoved his bulk back with the force of her magic. Snapping and pushing, he fought. One of his claws clipped through the air in front of her face. Truthseeker slammed into Paw’s forehead, the twin spikes lodging between his eyes. His body went limp almost instantly. Twilight pulled Solstice free and let his corpse drop. “Why?!” she roared. “I was stronger than you!” She stamped her hoof. “Why?!” “You shouldn’t have done that, Twilight,” Applejack said. She sighed again. “At least it’s over.” Twilight turned. “What should I have done?! Given up?!” “Sometimes, that’s the only thing you can do,” Rarity said. “Is that what you’re going to do when we find Pinkie?!” Twilight shouted. “Give up?!” “What are you talking about?” Rainbow said. Twilight stared at her friends in disbelief. “Do you realize what she did to us? She broke us. You found me, but Pinkie—Pinkie is alone!” Rarity glared at Twilight. “We are not giving up on Pinkie, no matter what.” Twilight fell back onto her haunches. “She’s not going to be okay,” she murmured, glancing down at the floor. “If we find her, what if she doesn’t realize we’re there to help?” She snorted. “I can’t even help a manticore. All I could do was get him killed.” “When we find Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash said. “We’ll save her. Want to know why?” Twilight blinked and looked up at Rainbow. “Why?” “Because you’ll be there.” Twilight plodded along the waterfront toward the Grey Fox’s mansion, a few paces behind Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Applejack. A chill breeze blew off the bay, sending choppy waves crashing into the wharves. She shifted her cloak to protect her from the cold and the spray and checked her watch as she walked. It was three in the morning. She sighed heavily. Another late night, she thought. She felt like a thread that had been wound too tightly around a spool. She yawned as she flicked her watch closed and stowed it. Light streamed out of some of the mansions windows. Twilight glanced over her shoulder at Rarity, saying, “Think he’s still up?” Rarity shrugged. “Maybe.” “There’s a lot I need to say to him,” Twilight said. “A slave fighting ring, really?” “What did you expect?” Rarity asked. “I don’t know.” Twilight shook her head. “I knew the Thieves Guild was low, but not that low. You were a part of it, Rarity, and I can’t imagine you just—” “There’s a lot of things I wish I hadn’t done, Twilight,” Rarity said. “But, I don’t remember anything like the Copper Coronet. The Thieves Guild has changed, and the Fancy Pants I knew never would have been able to stomach the Copper Coronet.” “Maybe Fancy Pants has changed too,” Twilight said. Rarity lowered her voice. “Regardless, I participated. In some part, I’m responsible for what the organization is today. By Applejack’s definition, I’m just as bad as the ponies watching slaves die.” Twilight glanced at Applejack. “Rarity, do you think murderers and ponies that stand by and watch are equally guilty?” “Justice is more than I can worry about,” Rarity said. “All I can do is what I think is right, and sometimes you have to get your hooves metaphorically dirty. Applejack keeps herself up on a pedestal, and sooner or later, she’s going to have to come to terms with what she’s done.” Twilight blinked. “What do you mean?” Rarity sighed. “A long time ago, the five of us had a conversation while you were sleeping after you nearly blew up in the Spa. We didn’t know what you were then, but we knew you were, well, something. We promised each other that we would stick with you. Now, don’t take this the wrong way, I don’t regret it for a second, but we knew there would be consequences.” Twilight grimaced. Her nightmare in the spa bath wasn’t a fond memory. “Consequences? You mean, like—” “Like being a part of what happened tonight,” Rarity said. “Keeping a clean conscience and traveling with you are mutually exclusive.” Ahead, Applejack reached the wide doorstep of the mansion and pounded heavily on the door with a hoof. Twilight shrank back, dipping her head. “I’m sorry.” “Don’t be,” Rarity said. “We know what you are, and we still haven’t changed our minds. We’ve done a lot of good things, Twilight, together. You can’t change what you are.” “It’s still my responsibility,” Twilight said as she came to a stop. “What’s your responsibility?” Applejack asked. “Don’t worry about it,” Rarity said. The door swung inward. Bouncer gave them a stiff nod from the doorway and beckoned them inside. Twilight strode forward, passing between her friends and into the mansion. When Twilight stepped into the Grey Fox’s office, it looked almost exactly the same as the previous morning. Oil lamps shed illumination. Fancy Pants sat at the desk, leaning forward as he conversed with a pony sitting across from him. His hair was disheveled, and a steaming mug rested on his desk. Fleur relaxed on the seat by the window, her mane perfect, and her eyes scanning the page of an open book. Fancy Pants glanced up at Twilight. “That’ll be all, Ingot,” he said to the pony sitting across from him. The pony turned and nodded to Twilight on his way out. It took her a moment to recognize him as the Thieves Guild spy she’d released from the Copper Coronet. He looked different without Truesight. “To tell you the truth,” Fancy Pants said as Ingot shut the door, “I didn’t expect you to be finished so soon.” “Then you underestimated us,” Twilight said. She stepped toward the desk. She carried the bag of holding looped around her neck. “Now, I believe we had a deal.” Fancy Pants raised a brow. “While I appreciate your zeal. I also didn’t expect to hear that the entire operation is essentially dismantled. The Copper Coronet was a valuable source of income, and—” Twilight slammed her hoof down on Fancy Pant’s desk. “Income! You know what they were doing there! For bits?!” Fancy Pants frowned and pressed his forehooves together. “Your reaction is understandable, and I know that the Copper Coronet was an unsavory enterprise, but if it weren’t the Thieves Guild, it would be somepony else. A business needs to make money, and you’ve made that more difficult for us.” “My soul aches for your lost currency,” Twilight growled. “Do you even realize what I stopped?” Fancy Pants smiled. “I was hoping you could share the details. Ingot’s report was woefully incomplete. Why don’t you have a seat?” “I’d rather stand,” Twilight said as she reached into the Bag of Holding with her magic and pulled out the Skinstealer’s corpse. She deposited it on Fancy Pant’s desk, knocking his mug onto its side. Hot tea dripped onto the floor. Fancy Pants pressed back into his chair. “Is that one of the monsters?” He poked it gingerly with a hoof. “Is it dead?” “What do you think?” Twilight said, rolling her eyes. “These creatures infiltrated the Copper Coronet. Their bite can drain a victims soul. Then, they inhabit the vacant body, using it as a disguise. I cast a spell to detect them, then killed them all.” She raised her hoof, resting it on the corpse. “You asked for a warrior, and you got one. Now give me what I asked for.” “I sense ’ostility,” Fleur said, looking up from her book. “All you see is the negative, Twilight Sparkle. Our organization gives ’ope to ponies that ’ave none. Your friend Rarity, for example.” “She’s right,” Fancy Pants said. “Rarity came to this city with nothing, and by working with the Thieves Guild, she made enough money to start her own business. The Temple of the Sun does what it can, but they can only provide for so many. It’s not our fault that the only path to prosperity lies outside the law. All of us have fought for what we have, and sometimes that means making compromises.” Twilight frowned. She shoved the corpse back into the Bag of Holding. If all of your principles are open to compromise, do you really have any? she wondered. “Just tell me that you know where Spellhold is.” “Patience, Twilight. I will uphold our agreement,” Fancy Pants said. He tidied his desk with his magic, moving some tea-soaked papers aside. “Though, I do wonder what you’re going to do when some of the ponies that witnessed what happened at the Copper Coronet go to the authorities calling for your arrest. I’m guessing you have about three days tops before somepony comes after you.” He pointed at her watch. “And I don’t think that will protect you.” Twilight narrowed her eyes. “What do you want?” “I have other problems in my organization. I suspect they might be caused by these monsters. I still require your help,” Fancy Pants said. “Favor for a favor.” Of course the Copper Coronet wasn’t an isolated incident, Twilight thought. “We have a common enemy, then,” she said. “But I need to save my friend first.” Fancy Pants smiled warmly. “Understandable. Get some sleep. There is already a plan in motion. We should have what we need in a matter of hours.” Twilight nodded and turned away from the desk. She headed for the door. She pulled it open with her magic and paused in the doorway. “If I don’t get what I was promised, the Copper Coronet won’t be the only thing I dismantle,” she said, glancing over her shoulder, then closed the door behind her. Twilight yawned as she trotted down the second-floor hallway toward her room in the mansion. Her friends waited for her by the door. They looked up as she approached. “Tomorrow,” Twilight said. “We’re going after Pinkie tomorrow.” Applejack nodded. For a few moments, everypony was silent. Twilight paused outside her door, glancing between them. None of them met her gaze. “Get some sleep,” she said. “We’re sorry about looking at your journal, Twilight,” Applejack said. “We could have communicated better,” Rarity added. Twilight glanced at her hooves and sighed. “I overreacted. I’m sorry too.” “Still, we shoulda had your back,” Rainbow said. Fluttershy shifted awkwardly. “If we had been there for you, maybe you would have been more... together.” “And then I wouldn’t have snapped?” Twilight shook her head. “That’s not your fault. At the end of the day, no matter how many shoulders I have to cry on, this is me. You can’t fix me.” She looked up at her friends. “And I’m tired of hiding.” She fished Star Swirl’s journal out of her saddlebag, she’d kept it there since Applejack and Rarity had looked at the entries she’d added, and returned it to the Bag of Holding before passing the bag to Rarity. “Read it, if you want to.” Applejack said, “You don’t need to—” “Did you know why I killed Tamer?” Twilight said, interrupting. She didn’t wait for an answer. “He wasn’t a Skinstealer; he was a Shadowspawn, and I found out – and once I knew, I couldn’t stop myself. It wasn’t wrong. He was a monster. He deserved to die. But, it wasn’t right either.” Once Twilight started, she couldn’t stop. She felt like she was writing in the journal. “I fed him to Paws because Paws was hungry. In a way, it was poetic, at least Paws got one good meal before he died.” Twilight ignored the looks her friends were giving her, and kept talking. “It was satisfying, hearing his neck break and his bones crunch, like when the blood drips off my swords – to have that power – that complete, unopposed, control over life and death. How many times have I passed judgement? I’m not bad – at least I don’t think I am. I showed mercy when I could, but what did I do to deserve that control besides possess the power to take it?” Rarity sucked in a breath, as if she were about to say something, but before she could, Twilight continued. “When it’s a choice between any life, or my life and what I care about, I always choose me and mine. How many individuals have tried to kill me? And what did I do? I laid waste to them. Did they deserve to die, for the crime of attempting to kill Twilight Sparkle? What makes me so much more deserving of life than them? And what about the times when they died because I snapped and lost control?” Twilight glanced down at her hooves. She deflated, her confidence ebbing away until her ears drooped and she had nothing left. “And I’m too tired, strained, and worn to dare consider what I deserve.” She paused, her breath catching. “You’ve seen what I really am, and I need to know: are you afraid of me? What do you see in me? The best, or the worst? Because I don’t want to ever have to see what I would become if I were alone.” “We’re not afraid of you, Twilight,” Applejack said immediately. Twilight looked up at her friends hopefully. “Sometimes, we’re afraid of what you might do,” Rarity said, reaching out to touch her shoulder with a hoof. “We see the best in you, but we worry.” “We’re afraid for you,” Fluttershy said. “I didn’t want to watch you kill slaves because I knew it would mean watching you letting yourself be your worst.” Rainbow peered at Twilight. “I don’t understand. You don’t have anything to be guilty about. If somepony tries to kill you, you kill them. I guess they don’t deserve to die, but neither do you. The ponies that you killed came after you.” Rainbow grimaced. “Usually, anyway.” Twilight focused on Rainbow Dash. “You’re in a box with a window. You can see another pony in an identical box. You both have a magic button. If you press your button first, the other pony will instantly die and you are set free. If the other pony presses her button first, you die. The other pony has her hoof over the button. Do you push your button first?” Rainbow shrugged. “I don’t push my button. I tell her we can work together, then I break out of the box and kill whoever put us in there.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “You can’t escape.” Rainbow frowned. “Why?” Twilight stamped her hoof. “Because I’m trying to make a point, Rainbow! Do you push your button?” “I don’t push it,” Rainbow said. “Her hoof is getting closer,” Twilight said. “Picture it: you dead, us crying over your corpse.” “Fine,” Rainbow muttered. “I push my button. Happy?” “And you kill a pony who was just trying to survive, and somepony is crying for her,” Twilight said. “Do you understand?” Rainbow glared at her. “No, some sadist made me kill a pony to survive. Nopony can blame me for that.” “What gave you the right to choose who lives and dies?” Twilight said. “All I’m doing is choosing to live!” Rainbow said. “It’s not wrong! Even if I have to kill some stranger!” “How many?” Twilight asked. Rainbow blinked. “What happens when you're put in the box again, and again? How many times would you push the button? How many ponies would you kill?” Twilight said as she opened the door to her room. “Because I’d kill as many strangers as I had to, and I’d find it satisfying; I’d probably want to push the button. It wouldn’t bother me until I had the time to look back and imagine what they were like and who cared about them. It wouldn’t bother me until I stopped to think about what wanting to kill them made me. It wouldn’t bother me until I realized standing on a pile of corpses felt like sitting on a throne.” With that, she stepped into her room and shut the door. “Ponies care about you too, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash shouted, her voice muffled by the wood. Twilight collapsed onto her bed. She could hear soft voices through the door, but she couldn’t muster the energy to strain and try and make out what her friends were saying. She buried her head beneath her pillow, and their voices faded away entirely. She closed her eyes without even bothering to remove her swords. As she drifted away, she wondered if she’d made a terrible mistake. Twilight Sparkle poised on a ledge. An endless, placid sea spread before her, black as the night sky. The perfectly smooth surface of the water shimmered with countless stars. The Specter sat beside her, staring down into the sea. “Why do their deaths concern you so?” it asked. As Twilight watched, stars winked out of existence, and new ones flared to take their place. Each was fleeting, a mere blink in an ocean of time. “A mortal life is like a candle in a stiff breeze – sputtering, weak, and fragile,” the Specter continued. “If it isn’t snuffed out, it ends when the wax burns down. Death is the ultimate answer to life. For them, the quest for survival is meaningless.” As Twilight looked closer, she saw an intangible thread connecting each of the stars. “Life can be full and beautiful,” Twilight said. “Life is valuable and interconnected. A single act can ripple through the ages.” She reached out to touch the water, and from her hoof, a ring expanded. The Specter laughed blackly. “What does a ripple matter, when it is so fleeting? What is a heartbeat of life to an eternity of death? Your choices cannot change their destiny. Death is destiny. If ending their life serves you, then end it. Why question yourself?” Twilight shrugged. “What do you care? Why not leave me to my brief, futile life?” “Because we are not them,” the Specter said. “We are far more.” Twilight shook her head. “I am a pony.” “And we are divine.” Twilight glanced over at the Specter. “I beat you, didn’t I? You were in chains, until she set you free.” The Specter stared at her with its glowing red eyes. “She didn’t let me out, you did. Chains held me at bay from the day you spared Shining Armor, but as she strained your mortality to its limits, you set me free. You chose not to admit defeat and slip quietly into a dark embrace.” “You didn’t like the chains, did you? You don’t understand them.” The Specter glared, its eyes flaring. “It doesn’t matter. I will always be here, and you will always require me.” Twilight grinned. It did matter. She had her friends. Light flared across the placid sea as chains burst from its surface, blue, white, orange, and yellow. They descended toward the Specter. “I have no need of you now!” Twilight shouted. The chains fell around the Specter. For a moment, it crumpled beneath them. “You’re missing one,” it said. It started to rise, billowing shadows. The chains of light shattered. The tail of a scorpion poked free from the cloud of blackness. As the shroud fell away, Twilight felt fear grip at her heart. Pinkie was gone, distant and lost. A demonic scorpion towered over her: the visage of the Sand Ravager she’d faced beneath the dam beside Appleloosa. “You will not reject me!” the Specter’s voice rumbled across the waves. “You are a pony, and I am divinity!” The Sand Ravager lurched toward Twilight. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a single pink star, blazing away in the sea of night. She dove off the precipice and into the water. The blackness sucked at her, but she swam – she reached – for that fire of brilliant joy. Twilight burst out of a pool in the gardens of Candlekeep. Tangles of black thorns grew where flowers should have been. She scrambled free from the water and drug herself across the grey dirt. The Sand Ravager ripped from the earth beneath the fountain, consuming it in a plume of destruction. Ahead, Twilight glimpsed a pink tail disappearing through the front doors of the library-keep. She hauled herself to her hooves and galloped for the door. As she reached the steps leading up to the heavy double-doors, the Sand Ravager’s claws launched toward her, snapping. She dove clear, and they smashed into the stone beneath her, sending her flying through the doors. She tumbled across the floor of the library. When Twilight came to a stop on her back, Pinkie Pie stood over her, beaming down at her with bright blue eyes. “Giggle at the ghostie,” she said. Twilight blinked. In a flash, Pinkie was gone. The stone beneath Twilight’s back shuddered, and she looked at the door. The Sand Ravager was pushing its way through. The stone crumbled before its might. Twilight rolled onto her belly and rose to her feet. A deep joy burned inside of her. “I’m not alone!” Twilight shouted. “I will always remember her. I will always remember them, no matter what separates us, be it space, time, or death itself! You cannot control me!” She felt her joy rise to the surface. She laughed, chiming and bright, at the shadow before her. Purple light flared from the walls around her. Chains rose from behind Twilight. This time, five of them snaked toward the Specter’s visage, pink, orange, blue, white, and yellow. They lashed around the Sand Ravager, and it writhed. The visage collapsed back into the the Specter’s usual form. It hunched beneath its bonds. The Specter glared up at Twilight with its burning red eyes. “You will never be free.” “Ey, Twilight,” a voice said. Twilight shifted slightly. She languished, jarred from sleep, but not fully awake. She ignored the voice and fell back into the warm embrace of the bed beneath her. Somepony sighed, followed by heavy hoofsteps. Twilight’s ears twitched back in annoyance. Suddenly, she heard the swish of curtains. Bright light lanced through her eyelids. She groaned and curled her hooves in front of her face, shielding herself from the light. “Why?” “Consider that payback for the stunt you pulled with the sword,” Applejack said. “We weren’t ready for that.” Twilight cracked open her eyes and held up a hoof between her and the window. Applejack was an orange blur just to the side of her hoof. “Ungh,” Twilight grunted. “I’m awake.” “Come on, let’s get you some breakfast,” Applejack said. “The Grey Fox said he wanted to see you.” “Pinkie,” Twilight said, shooting fully awake. She rolled out of bed and looked around the room. She expected to see Spike at the foot of her bed, but he was nowhere to be seen. Is he still upset? she wondered. “Slept in your kit, huh?” Applejack said. “Guess you were pretty tuckered out. Well, we all were.” Twilight nodded. “At least I’m ready.” She headed for the door. “Mostly, anyway. I still need to prepare some spells.” As she stepped out into the hallway, she went over the magic she had left from the previous day. While she’d taken a bite out of her spell resources, the Copper Coronet hadn’t overly strained her supply. “We’ll also need some skulls,” Applejack said, following her out. Twilight glanced over at Applejack, quirking a brow. “Skulls?” “For a skullthrone,” Applejack deadpanned. “Every evil overmare needs a skullthrone.” Twilight stopped in her tracks, staring at Applejack. “You’re joking,” she said. Applejack grinned. “Yup.” “How can you joke about that?” Twilight asked, glaring. Applejack clapped her on the back. “You’ve got to ease up, Twilight,” she said. “You’re not a bad pony; the fact that you’re concerned enough to ask the questions you do shows that, but if all you dwell on is your failures, it’ll break you. You’ve got a good heart. Follow your conscience, and stop beating yourself up for doing what anypony would have done.” Twilight shook her head. “That’s the thing, Applejack. I don’t have a good heart.” Applejack’s smile fell slightly. “Don’t.” “Don’t what?” Twilight asked. “Don’t tell yourself you're a bad pony,” Applejack said. “When I first met you, all I knew is that Granny told me to protect you, and you had some serious bounty hunters trying to kill you. You appeared naive, but determined, and as I watched, you stood up and you saved Appleloosa, then you saved Ponyville. Yesterday, when we walked into the Copper Coronet, it was full of those Skinstealers, and now it’s not. When ponies talk about you, they talk about a heroine. You are the kind of pony that others should aspire to be.” “My inner voice tells me to kill things,” Twilight said flatly. Applejack frowned. She opened her mouth, but didn’t say anything. “It’s why I dwell. It’s why I ask the questions I do.” Twilight touched her chest. “This is useless.” She reached up and tapped her head. “But Star Swirl taught me to use this.” She sighed. “If all I did was what felt right, and I didn’t think about it, I would be a monster.” “But you don’t,” Applejack said. “And maybe that means even more.” A small smile lifted the corners of Twilight’s mouth. “Maybe.” After breakfast, Twilight stood across from Fancy Pants in his office, his desk separating them. An object roughly the size of a teakettle hidden in a grey silk swathing rested between them. “What’s this?” Twilight asked. “It’s all you’ll need to get access to Spellhold,” Fancy Pants said. He reached out and unfolded the fabric. As the swathing fell away, it revealed a chiseled grey stone. Allowing herself to relax, Twilight eased into the chair in front of Fancy Pant’s desk to get a closer look. The stone wasn’t grey, as she’d first thought, but blueish and transparent. The grey color came from the silk reflected through it. The gemstone’s curved, multifaceted top and smooth sides indicated it had been masterfully cut, but a ragged edge ran along the bottom, leaving the gem with a dull sheen. “It’s just a rock,” Twilight said. Fancy Pants chuckled. “Normally, I would agree with you, but this is more than a rock. It was stolen from the Grey Wizards a couple hours ago in a daring heist. It’s valuable to them, and they will give much to see it returned.” “Then why are we sitting here talking?” Twilight asked. “Exchange it.” “It’s a tad bit more delicate than that.” Fancy Pants grimaced. “Ransoms usually are. I’ve arranged a meeting with the Grey Wizards in their castle. It wasn’t my first choice in meeting spots, but when I explained that we were after access to Spellhold, they said usage of a gateway could be arranged there if the stone was returned to their possession.” Twilight raised her brows. “So, wait, you want us to go make the exchange, and then teleport to Spellhold?” “Precisely,” Fancy Pants said. Twilight glared at him. “You expect us to walk into the Grey Wizard’s castle, carrying their priceless artifact? How do I know you’re not sending us into a trap?” “How much would it take to convince you we are not enemies?” Fancy Pants said. “We should focus on working together, not unwarranted suspicion. Why would I send you into a trap?” Twilight rose out of her chair, planting her hooves on his desk. “Why wouldn’t you?” “Because I will be joining you,” Fleur said. She gracefully strode toward the desk on her long legs. “I will negotiate on be’alf of the Thieves Guild, and I am not planning on walking into a trap unprepared. As you represent a clear and demonstrable threat, we are ‘oping that your presence will prevent the Grey Wizards from attempting to reclaim the stone by force.” “So we’re muscle,” Twilight said. She furrowed her brows, glancing between them. “Don’t you risk angering the Grey Wizards by doing this? I was under the impression you had an understanding.” “If we get what we want,” Fancy Pants said, “and we will, I expect our position in the balance of power will be much improved.” He rewrapped the stone in its swathing and pushed it toward her. “And you will be able to find your friend.” Twilight lifted the stone in her magic. “This had better work.” Apprehension coursed through Twilight as she gazed up at the gates to the Grey Wizard’s castle. She was close; she could feel it. She wondered what she would find in Spellhold. Will I be strong enough to save Pinkie? Her friends stepped up beside her, joined by Fleur. “So, if this goes south, what’s the plan?” Applejack asked. “There’s bound to be dozens of spellcasters on top of us the moment they decide they don’t want to play nice.” Twilight glanced over at her friends. Applejack was right, of course, and the Grey Wizards had defeated Sunset Shimmer. Still, she was ready. She’d prepared a wide selection of spells to help her win against other mages. She stepped forward, turning to face her group. “Fluttershy, you're ready to use dispelling magic, if it comes to that?” Fluttershy nodded. I’m not alone, Twilight thought. She looked at Fluttershy. “They’ll be ready to cast defensive spells to protect themselves from magic and physical attacks. If you see shimmering shells around them, purge everything.” She turned to Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. “Follow up fast, and kill with your first strike. Many mages also have defensive Contingencies.” “What about you?” Fluttershy asked. “If I remove their spell protections, I might also affect you. You rely on defensive magic too.” Twilight smiled. “I have a trick. I know a spell that can protect me from an entire school of magic. Most mass dispelling effects are Aburjation, including yours. It’s the first thing I’ll cast, and I’ll be dispelling too.” “Can’t they do that too?” Rainbow Dash said. “It’s a high level spell, with different versions for each school, and I never saw it in any books. I don’t think many ponies know any version, least of all the one that protects against Abjuration. Star Swirl may have been the only one,” Twilight said. She eyed her friends. “Remember, a mage can’t target you if they can’t focus on you. Keep moving, stay on the offensive, and don’t give them the time to think. As soon as they see you, they’ll be casting something, but if you hit first, you’ll win.” Twilight blinked. She thought she saw something crack Fleur's normally passive expression. Before she could focus on it, it was gone. Worry? Twilight wondered. “Something wrong?” she asked Fleur. “We don’t want a war with the Grey Wizards. We’re already fighting on one front, and that’s one front too many,” Fleur said. “You’ll be keeping your aggression in check, yes?” “We won’t do anything unless they do something first,” Twilight said. “It’s why we’re here, isn’t it?” Fleur nodded. “Of course.” Within the palace, Twilight stopped behind Fleur in front of an arched doorway. In the vaulted room beyond, eight grey-robed unicorns were sitting on one side of a long table. At the head of the table, a stained glass window portrayed two ponies shaking hooves. The servant that had led them here stepped off to the side and bowed. Fleur smiled and walked into the room. “Thank you for receiving us in good faith.” While Fleur exchanged pleasantries and small bows with each of the Grey Wizards, the plates of Applejack’s dragonscale armor pressed into Twilight’s side as she leaned close. “I’ve got a bad feeling ‘bout this one,” Applejack whispered. Twilight glanced at Rainbow Dash and flicked her muzzle. The pegasus stepped closer. “What?” Rainbow asked in a hushed tone. “If things go bad, knock the table onto its side with your wingblades,” Twilight said. Rainbow nodded, but she quirked a brow. “Just do it,” Twilight said. “Why don’t you join us, Baroness?” the unicorn seated in the center of the grey-robed side of the table said. She had hard, intelligent, violet eyes, not unlike the ones Twilight had seen in her own reflection. Twilight stiffened. “Of course,” she said. As she stepped through the archway, she felt the uncomfortable weight of the stone in a pouch at her side. She’d opted to leave it out of the Bag of Holding for the exchange. Twilight passed Fleur, noticing she sat at the end of the table near the door. She chose a seat near the middle of her side of the table. Her friends filed in behind her, each taking a seat. Twilight looked across the table at each of the Grey Wizards in turn. She tried to keep her face passive, even as scenarios flitted through her mind. Without actually lighting her horn and using her magic, she went through the mental motion of drawing her swords in a flash. The violet eyed mare locked eyes with Twilight. “Does she have it?” she said, glancing briefly at Fleur. A frown of confusion passed across Twilight’s face, despite her best efforts to control it. “I have it, and if you want it back, I need to be allowed access to Spellhold so that I can retrieve my friend.” “She does not represent the Thieves Guild,” Fleur said, slowly rising out of her chair. “Allow me to present the ponies that stole your fragment.” She flicked her muzzle toward Twilight and her friends. For a brief moment, Twilight locked gazes with Fleur, and Fleur smirked. “We told you you’d be going to Spell’old,” Fleur said. Feeling her blood go cold, Twilight slowly turned back to the Grey Wizards on the far side of the table. A suppressor floated in a violet aura of magic next the mare in the center. Twilight’s thoughts froze as she stared at the hollow shell. The memory of floating in an ocean of nothingness, cut off, flashed through her mind. “Come willingly,” the mare said. “You are surrounded and outnumbered. The weight of our magic will crush you.” Rainbow Dash spun out of her chair and flipped the heavy wooden table onto its side with a thunderous gust from her wings.