Predictably first thing I had left, a certain pair of sisters arrived ten minutes too late for what had happened. The ork had warned against the use of Nox and his time magic but at the time there would of been little other choice in dealing with the snake, retreat wasn't an option back then, not when countless victims have been murdered as a result of Lumiere. It made me wonder, however, if Celestia actually learned of the truth regarding petrification. I had, however, deserved a break after the tense battle. So I did not intervene, at least not yet. Instead I worked on fixing up Aku's mask, removing the damaged materials and working on replacing them as I watched the two sisters look around, failing to spot the cameras I had posted in the deeper alcoves of the giant room.
It took some doing but I managed to hear them as they spoke, the first was Luna, looking unsettled at the army of statues as well as the giant snake itself, "Are you sure this is where the source was detected, sister?"
Celestia nodded, her own gaze sweeping across the room, "Yes sister, it was a disturbance that should cause us both great alarm. Time magic that hasn't come from either of us on a larger scale than the typical unicorn."
"But as you can see sister," Luna spoke, "There is no one here but our army that awaits locked in time for its freedom."
More like a graveyard, but I declined to comment, Celestia spoke quietly, "Soon, dear sister, after all, Discord has just managed to release himself so recently, I am sure your own friends will make their own escape, as shown by Starswirls research those many years ago."
So they didn't know, interesting. Either that or Celestia was hiding the fact that the snake had caused countless murders. Neither was entirely sure, it did call for confrontation, however, if handled right it could lead to a divide between the two sisters. But that sort of plan would have to come later, when Luna was alone and out of the castle... My mind returned to the thoughts of Nightmare Night, and I grinned.
Of course in my planning, I had also forgot that I had left one detail forgotten, the dozens of small insects from Nox's deployment were still sitting all along the snakes back, and as the princesses and their guards circled around the giant snake of Lumiere, they noticed. My mind went blank as the princesses halted and stared at the mechanical glowing insects that were still glowing with the remains of the basilisks own energy.
"Uh... Sister..." Luna asked, cautiously, "What are those?"
"I'm not sure...." Celestia responded in turn, and slowly her horn started to light up.-
All of the drones working in sync with each other was like driving a large amorphous mass of insects, they all took off from the petrified basilisk and into the air as Celestia formed a magical shield around herself, her sister, and their respective guards. Luna herself took a battle stance along side the rest of the guards, but instead of a hostile action I had the swarm flee and once out of the room, portal back to base.
"Strange..." Luna commented, "Was this the source we detected, sister?"
Celestia shook her head, "I do not know, Luna, but something is at work, that we can be sure of." They slowly turned themselves around and began to left, leaving Starswirls distant study undisturbed in its plundered state. Wow, just wow.
Luna, however, cast a glance at the immense amount of statues that were in here, "We still do not agree with leaving our subjects down here unsupervised, they will doubtless be confused when they come to..."
Celestia nodded, looking softly to her sister, "This place has been warded against wild animals of the Everfree, though I take it you would like us to assign a post here so that you will find out about their progress when the first of your friends come free?"
"It would be much appreciated." Luna smiled softly in return, and I sighed from my seat, only if she knew.
I returned my cameras, banishing them from existence, as no doubt eventually they would be found if someone was in here for long enough, and instead refocused my efforts primarily into more productive avenues of pursuit. I had cut off the petrified portions of Aku's mask, and replaced it. Now it was time for what Starswirl had left in his hidden vault; and the only way to tell for sure what he had left, and their purposes were to either figure out a way to use it or to read the journal he had left inside with the items. Now that I was given a chance to properly open the book the first page read:
S.M.P.A.D.
Starswirl's Magical Prototype Arcane Devices.
-WARNING-
Do not use unless it's an emergency!
-WARNING-
Huh, I flipped the page and saw the index, a good thirty things were listed on it, but a majority of them had been stamped with the words 'failure' or 'too risky'. I turned to the first page that wasn't crossed out on the list and my mind went blank. On it was the image of one of the objects that had found itself in my possession, but around it was enough math and equations to drive anyone insane. A bit of searching and the only thing I could come up with was that these equations were part of some magical theory. Great, so I needed a unicorn in order to translate this stuff to english. I shut the book, shoving the stuff into a vault that was made in my room just seconds prior and locking it away for now. If a unicorn ever decided to join me, I'd ask them to translate it to something I understood.
There was a number of other things to do, a number of which resulted in the creation of more masks that would fill the next few days of my time, a week passed, and a not so subtle knock on the door drove me from my latest creations, "Hey Boss, you alive in there?" came the voice of Amber, "You really need to get out more."
"Wha-?" I looked up from deep concentration on my latest project, my hand almost slipping as I slowly smoothed out a rough edge of a piece of shoulder armor, Five masks lay completed in the chest beside the table, a sixth lay drying on the top of it. The suit I was working on took some doing, and a pair of aperture science robot arms to fold correctly, but it seemed that my toolkit worked just as well on metal like it did on anything else in my kit.
The door slid open and the griffin was standing there, a newspaper in one claw, and her other on her hip. She whistled, "Someone's a mess."
My brilliant response was, "I'll clean when I'm done, what do you want?"
She walked in, and passed me the newspaper, "You are planning on being a villain right? Well I just figured out something that could draw some ranks of recognition and infamy from the princesses..." She paused, and looked at the newest drying mask, a remade version of what I had once made on the train, now properly carved out of a tougher material than cotton and cloth, "If you and your heads are up to the task."
"Masks." I stated, and at Amber's questioning glance, I elaborated, "They're masks not heads; and as for your question, that depends on what the crime is."
I looked to the newspaper, on the page she had turned it to was an article that displayed a rather ornate museum, I read allowed, "The Legendary Blue Diamond of Windigos was donated by a confidential source to the museum of antiquity in Canterlot, and is due to make an appearance during the next grand galloping gala come winter. Until then Captain Shining Armor has been assigned to oversee the security of the rare gemstone due to its high value both economically and historically."
Interesting, high historical value target, eh? "You up for it Boss?"
"Yeah," I said, starting to put my tools away while I left my recent work in progress unfinished, "Might be, any idea of what sort of security we should expect?"
She smirked, "Already looked into it when I was last there, Boss. Apparently the gem itself has to be put under heavy magical guard, but most of the security has been altered around the gem itself around fire, in order to prevent any of its 'magical qualities' from trying to escape."
"Magical Qualities?" I questioned, and she looked to me, a look of mild disbelief on her face.
"you mean, you haven't heard what a windigo diamond is?" she sighed, "Of course not, listen. Long ago in the lands north of equestria there was a creature called the windigos, who were horses of immense stature who towered over pony kind and fed off of hatred and malice as a source of power.Their powers were so great it nearly brought the three pony tribes to extinction. But when the pony tribes united in friendship and harmony during their final moments, something sparked within them and drove the opposite of what they fed upon, friendship, and compassion, down their gullet. This wave of friendship nearly wiped out the species as the rest of the windigo population, without their food source that had migrated into what is now Equestria, died out of hunger."
I nodded, "What does that have to do with this diamond though?"
Amber, disgruntled at being interrupted, remarked, "I was getting to that; the diamonds of windigos are in a way, the magical essence and core of what a windigo was. In otherwords their powers. When a windigo 'dies' it compresses into a super hard state, similar to that of a diamond, where they get their names. Most of these diamonds are clear in color, and hold a great deal of magical energy within themselves as they draw upon the surrounding enviroment for miles, slowly trying to taint it with negative energy while collecting it to try and recharge itself and rebirth the being it once was."
"Ah, so these diamonds are like a pheonix being reborn for them then, no?"
"Exactly." Amber nodded, "Though the blue variant however, is something else."
"Oh?"
"Legend has it, that once upon a time, there was a mighty king of windigos who's might and power could freeze even the dragons of old in their tracks, he was said to of tried to invade Equestria during his final days as a last ditch attempt, but was unable to stand against the current ruler of Equestria at the time."
"The elements of harmony?"
Surprisingly, Amber shook her head, "Nay, It was Discord himself who brought low the mighty hurricane that was the windigo, a grand battle between two enemies of the public that lasted a surprisingly short period of five seconds as ice turned into slushies, and storms turned into cotton candy. The creature himself was forced to crystallize and Discord threw his blue diamond into a temple that became lost to pony kind."
"And now it's been found, no?"
"It would seem so, a lot of artifacts have been getting found as of late," Amber chuckled sarcastically, "And every time one is found, a new Daring Do book appears with a story on the artifact not a month after." she sighed, and I perked up, something was off here.
"Something wrong?" I asked, and the griffon flinched.
Amber replied after a few seconds, "No, no. Just keep in mind, Equestria has many surprises, not all books labeled fiction are actually fiction, and some seem to have the power to make you relive the books story for the right price."
"Relive the book?" I asked, and she gestured at the door.
"There's a comic shop in Manehatten that sells enchanted comic books for quite the pretty bit that allows you to take the role of a main character. Though some have been outlawed in Equestria due to suggestive or even down right malicious content."
"Ah." I said, and I let the subject drop.
"So..." Amber smirked, calming back down as she changed the subject, "Lets talk about this heist..."
A.O.K. Quest System:
Congratulations Puppet Master, you have acquired (3) new Achievements! Keep the good work up! Be sure to check your A.O.K. Computer regularly for regular updates as your journey progresses!
Quest completed: Big Game Hunter: You just petrified one of the largest natural threats in the world, and it had the mind of a pony to boot!
Reward: Your laptop has gained a detailed dictionary of every single type of creature that dwells in Equestrian soil. Well almost every creature, those rare ones like Alicorns and Draconequus or mutations of a species like Chimeras are exempted from this dictionary.Quest completed: You're not the boss of me, I am!: You've commanded several final boss puppets in one battle against a significant threat.
Reward: Masks that have a common minion under them now have the ability to spawn those minions as a power. Warning this drains upon your puppet effectiveness, as the minions are effectively more puppets.Quest completed: Mask Parade: You have had at least five types of masks in your arsenal at one time.
Reward: Your puppets perform in synchronization with you if they are within a distance of 100 meters. At further distances puppets that work together work more effectively.