To End A Life

by Diceman

Chapter II: Broken Kinship

The sky above the ocean slowly turned a bright orange as the sun slowly began to sink below the horizon. The only sounds for miles around were the crashing of waves along the shore, the occasional skittering of a crab into its den and the noise being made from a small flock of seagulls settling into their nests for the night. The blissful serenity seemed as if it could continue forever, but something massive was on its way. On the shore, sand began to be whipped up in every direction, the wind howled as a large circles began to appear in the sand along the beach, each whipping up their own small hurricanes of sand and water. Bright lights began to appear in the circles of sand, at first small, but growing in brightness and size in mere seconds.

With a brilliant flash of light hundreds of hooves began to collide with the soft sand, the once serene coast was now swarmed by a massive army of pegasi ponies. The golden gleam from their armor scattered the seagulls into the sky, crabs that were once busily eating on the beach were now running for their lives as more and more ponies began to appear, some of them trampling their burrows as they landed.

"Attention! Front and center!" Luna yelled to the pegasus ponies below as she hovered in the air above the water. "Celestia has most graciously exhausted her power to get us here faster than anticipated." Luna looked behind her at an absolutely drained and sweaty Celestia laying down on the beach, the waves crashing against her side. "I expect you to all repay the favor, spread out and find the hiding place of Twilight Sparkle."

The army of pegasi ponies all saluted Luna and took off in different directions, except one. A pegasus pony, one much smaller than his comrades, was entirely enamored by a peculiar crab he had found. It was a strange looking crab, it had glass-like eyes and a rusted metal look to it, unlike the other crabs on the beach. The soldier in question seemed entirely enamored by it, to the point that he didn't notice he was the only one of his flight still on the ground.

"Solidier, what are you doing?" Luna asked, a hiss of anger in her voice.

"Y-your majesty!" The soldier immediately sat up and saluted, his helmet falling over his eyes from the quick movement.

Luna tried not to chuckle in an effort to keep her royal composure, she did however, crack a smile. "You should be in the sky with the rest of your regiment, why have you delayed taking flight?"

"I-I noticed a crab that was a little out of place and had to investigate! I'm sorry your majesty, I'll get in the air on the double!" The pegasus took to the sky, although from the fluttering of his wings made it seem like he could barely maintain altitude as he flew off.

"Luna, why do you have to always be mean to Iron Eagle? I understand treating all the soldiers the same , but you always seem to find time to pick on my great grandson" Princess Cadence objected as she flew up and landed behind Luna.

"It is exactly because he's related to you that I push him to be better. One day another of your line may join us and that one may well be a male, for the first time." Luna noticed Cadence wasn't listening to her and instead was busy examining the out of place crab.

"Now you are enamored by sea life? Tis' just a crab, it's nothing special" Luna said in an annoyed voice.

Cadence managed to grab the crab with her magic before it managed to scuttle into a nearby hole.

Luna walked up behind Cadence. "Honestly, now you are harassing the poor thing? If you're so interested in ocean life we have thousands of books in the royal library on the sub-" Luna paused when Cadence dangled the crab in front of her face.

"Does this look like a normal member of the crustacian family to you?" Cadence asked as she held the struggling crab mere inches from Luna's face.

"It's just a crab Cadence, I don't see the...oh." The crab seemed to have glossy, reflective eyes, like a pair binoculars. Its color was red, like the rest of his kin, but not a red carapace. The red in this case seemed off color, there were parts that looked painted red while others had a rusty brown-red tinge to them. Cadence then flipped the crab over with her magic and on the bottom there seemed to be two screws on the bottom, each on the side of a rectangle piece of carapace. Upon further inspection it seemed the joints in the legs had a small aluminum spring on the backside of the joint and the shell edge was riddled with little bumps, obviously rusted screws.

"This isn't any crab I've seen before, it looks like some kind of windup toy" Luna said as she watched one of the springs on the leg pop off as the machine struggled to get loose.

Cadence rolled her eyes. "Luna, its a security robot. Havn't you been reading any of the news?"

"I kind of...skip over most of the news and go right to the comics section. Occasionally I browse the sports section, sadly the Canterlot Cardinals can't catch a cold, let alone a touchdown pass."

Cadence sighed heavily. "Celestia, can you come over here for a moment?"

Celestia looked up at Cadence with droppy, drained eyes and staggered to her feet. "This better be important, I'm so draiend that I can't even feel my dignity anymore." Celestia walked over to where Cadence and Luna were standing and immediately noticed the crab Cadence was holding up with her magic. Her eyes went wide as the crab struggled to away harder than ever before.

"Luna! Tracking spell two on this crab, right now!" Celestia barked.

Luna, without hesitation, fired a spell at the crab, but mere seconds before the spell touched the surface of the crab, it exploded into little metal bits; showering Luna, Celestia and Cadence with little gears and springs.

"Dammit all! That would have made finding Twilight so much easier..." Celestia kicked the sand angrily, accidentally spraying some into Cadences mouth.

"Ptah- yuck, salty" Cadence said as she spit at the ground, trying to get the sand out of her mouth.

"Sorry Cadence, I'm just a bit frustrated" Celestia apoligized. "That spell would have led us straight to where she was hiding..."

"I don't follow. How is a spell designed to track the origins of magic supposed to work on something mechanical? I mean, I didn't sense Twilight's magic on that device at all..." Luna said as she kicked one of the remaning legs on the ground.

"It's simple, when used tracking spell two can also lock onto radio frequencies. That crab was a suvelliance device, Twilight knows we are here and what's worse she knows that I'm in no position to stop her, drained as I am." Celestia laid back down on the soft sand. "I need more rest if I am to be of any use confronting Twilight. Wake me when you have found her."

"Twilight, we I have recieved feed from one of our security scouts on the beach. Shall I review the footage and report or have it sent to the overhead monitor?" Sam asked as she hovered over Twilight.

"Too busy, look over the footage, it's probably just sea ponies poking them again." Twilight added a hoof full of death wart to her couldron, stirring it vigorously as it turned an ugly black color.

"Affirmative. Scanning footage, processing, processing. Error, no sea ponies found. However, three creatures identified as Alicorns detected." Sam hovered over to the overhead monitor and turned it on.

"Wait, Alicorns? Seriously!?" Twilight stopped stirring and watched the monitor above her. Indeed, Luna, Cadence and Celestia were all gathered together on the beach, though Celestia looked worse for wear.

"This doesn't make sense, it should have taken her hours to get here unless..." Twilight looked closely at Celestia, he mane was nowhere near as vibrant as before. "She used a mass teleport spell?" The camera on screen panned over, bringing a vast army of Canterlot sky guard into frame.

"Warning, air defense systems have been activated. Multiple contacts detected in the skies above the lab" Sam announced. The over head monitor went blank for a moment and then displayed a black screen with multiple circles going from small at the center to large at the edge of the display.

"She really wants to find me doesn't she?" Twilight studied the radar display, there were almost two hundred Canterlot sky forces in the air, most of them nowhere near her home. "What's the status on the cloaking field Sam?"

"Cloaking field was activated thirty minutes ago, if power reserves hold it should stay active for another four hours or so. We can extend this by another two if we deactivate all other spy drones in the area" Sam stated. "The illusion should hold as well, assuming none of Celestia's troops get too nosey."

"Good. Also, deactivate all the other drones in the area. I can't risk a tracking spell leading them here" Twilight said, he attention mostly on her mixture.

"Affirmative, all drones shutting down. Error, beach drone has been destroyed, self detonation after tracking spell was detected" Sam announced.

"Well at least the fail-safes work, best not push our luck, that trigger only works if the drone spots the spell before hoof." Twilight went back to her work, adding in more ingredients to her couldron.

"Proximity alert, equine life form detected 30 yards from the base!" Sam yelled.

"On screen!" Twilight commanded.

The screen shifted view from the skies above her lab to some of the overgrowth on the south side of the building. In the trees one could make out a light blue pegasus inspecting the animals and insects in the area for clues. Every so often he would stop to adjust his helmet as it seemed far to big for his head. On his flank was what looked like some kind of hawk or eagle made of metal.

"He's obviously part of the Sky Guard, but why would Celestia bring along a greenhorn? He doesn't even properly fit his armor" Twilight said as she pointed out how loose his gear was. "I'll keep one eye on him while I get this potion ready." Twilight continued to stir the concoction, occasionally glancing up to check to see if the pegasus was still in the vicinity.

"Sam, I want to be notified if he gets within twenty or so feet of the cloaking device, I need to focus on getting this potion done before they find us." Twilight said as she turned her full attention to her work.

"Agreed. Proximity Alarm set." Sam confirmed.

Iron Eagle took his Helmet off and set it on the ground, he then took a deep breath and sat down on a nearby rock. He glanced around him, nothing but trees, vines, the smell of partially dried out marsh. "I dunno why the rest of my regiment is searching from the sky, Twilight Sparkle is one of the most cunning ponies ever known. It's obvious she would try to cover her home with brush to avoid being spotted from the sky."

Iron Eagle looked into the sky, remembering his studies. Not of his studies in the military flight academy, but of when he snuck off to the history library to read about the elements of harmony and the last remaining element;Twilight Sparkle. Grandma always told me the history books didn't do her genius justice. He remembered how Cadence would talk for hours about her sister in law, how Twilight would get herself into some of the worst situations Equestria had ever seen and somehow come out on top. He closed his eyes his mind wandering back to when Cadence first started telling him about Twilight.

"She's strong, but's she's quick to panic and lose focus in exteme situations. Her friends were always there to snap her out of it though."

"Then why did she disappear Grandma Cadence?" The younger Iron Eagle asked.

"A broken heart, little Iron...a broken heart" Cadence said somberly.

A loud whoosh from far above him snapped Iron Eagle out of his flashback. The other troops above seemed to be getting desperate in thier search for Twilight's hideaway. "Idiots. You have to think like Twilight in order to find Twilight. The signal we recieved is somewhere in this area, which means she probably has her home hidden somewhere." Iron Eagle stood up, put his helmet back on and began walking around, examining his surroundings.

Things looked much different at ground level than in the sky. The small batch of forrest he was in from the air had fully grown mature tree canopy, but something was seriously off. The ground was littered with grass and bushes, something you typically do not get in mature forrest unless there is a clearing for sunshine to reach them. What was also strange was the fact that many of the trees around him looked rather young, but from above looked like they were hundreds of years old. There was also a very distinct lack of mushrooms, birds or even insects. Even the smell of leafy rot was missing, despite the ground being littered with them.

"This is definately an illusion, but how to dispell it without magic? Actually now that I think about it, this seems really sloppy for a pony with more than a centurys worth of top level magic training." Iron Eagle looked around and noticed that there was a line of ants heading towards a rock, but they suddenly stopped and made a sharp left turn.

That's odd Iron Eagle thought to himself as he inspected the small colony of ants. Iron Eagle took a few steps forward, trying to get a better view of what was deflecting the ants away from thier course when he felt his snout bump into something hard. Iron stumbled back, reflexively rubbing his nose, when he noticed that what used to be a small bush was now a solid stone wall.

"Checkmate, Twilight Sparkle" Iron Eagle said triumpantly.

Iron Eagle reached for his spatha and swinged wildly at the foliage around the stone wall. Bit by bit the illusion began to fade revealing a wall made of some kind of polished stone. Iron Eagle put his sword back in its sheath and examined the wall. It has some kind of coating on it that gave it a light glow, even stranger is the wall showed not the slightest hint of weathering, as it it was built just days before.

"Oh, right. The rest of my unit might want to know about this." Iron Eagle reached into his saddle bag and pulled out a flare gun. He quickly removed the safety cap on the trigger, pointed it into the air and fired. A stream of red and blue flares shot through the tree cover above him and into the sky. He pulled the trigger a few more times to fire off more flares, just in case his companions missed them.

"Now to just wait for reinforcements" Iron Eagle said as he let out a sigh. He had a sudden urge to break down the wall in front of him, but he knew better of it. As much as it would help his career to bring in Twilight himself, he knew that deep down he was no match for Twilight alone; her magic was even more than a match for entire Unicorn regiments, let alone a low ranking Sky Guard.

"I hope this ends peacefully. I don't want to have to fight my great aunt if I can avoid it."

"Warning, Warning! Proximity breached, building sections detected! Illusions dispelled!" Sam yelled, making Twilight shoot her attention from the potion to the screen.

"You got to be kidding me! How? When? I told you to keep him monitored!" Twilight growled.

"I am sorry, Twilight. I was so focused on watching you work that I entirely forgot the simpleton poking around our abode. Shell I dispense the defenses to claim him?" Sam asked.

"No, the Sky Guard may be many things, but inefficient is not one of them, see?" Twlight pointed to one of the other monitors in the room, one displaying large flares detonating in the air followed by more Skyguard approaching from all directions.

"Then what do we do?" Sam asked.

"Divert all power from illusions systems and activate the shield. We need to buy time until this potion is complete."

"And the spare Sky Guard? He's well within the shields proximity" Sam said, noticeing that indeed the Sky Guard was right up against the building.

"It's just a lone pegasus greenhorn. I wouldn't be surprised if he couldn't figure out the password at the front door, let alone cause us any problems." Twilight looked down at her potion then back up at the screen. "No, he doesn't seem like a threat, though theres something about him that I can't shake. That I know him from somewhere."

"Shall I dispatch defense bots? I could set them to stun any intruders" Sam asked.

"No, those drain power that we need to keep the shield up. I want any auxillary systems keeping the shield up, I cannot be interuppted before the potion is finished." Twilight focused her attention back on her work, stirring the concoction clockwise, then counterclockwise.

Still, something about that skyguard is incredibly familiar...I just can't seem to put my hoof on it. Twilight thought.

"Huh, usually they are here in an instant. I wonder what is-" suddenly, all the foiliage around him aside from the grass and a few shrubbery's disappeared entirely, revealing a polished brown and white building riddled with metal plates, wires and electronics of all kinds protruding from the sides and roof.

"Well, then. Hopfully this means she decided that surrender was-" Before Iron eagle could blurt out another sound a faint humming noise caught his attention and the source seemed to be coming from behind him. He turned around to find a glowing wall of semi transparent red light. He followed the wall from the ground up into the sky and noticed that it curved into a dome over the entire building.

"And now I'm stuck." Iron Eagle approached the shield and touched the red light, a jolt of energy shot into his hoof, making a hissing sound and making him immediately pull back. He shook his hoof in the air a moment, blowing on it occasionally to soften the sting. "Yeah, class S shield spell. I wouldn't expect any less from Twilight."

On the other side of the shield he watched as multiple flights of Sky guard landed just a few dozen yards from the front of the side of the building. One of the larger pegasi approached the shield, but unlike the other Sky Guard around him, this one had armor that was dark black and grey. Dotted with bits of red and flecks of gold from what looked like a line of medals on his right breastplate.

As he got closer, Iron Eagle broke out in a sweat. The pony Approaching him had deeps scars all over his face and even scars all over his leathery wings. His medals were not just any medals, he has seen ponies with lines of medals before, but all of these were given out by Luna and Celestia themselves; a line of ten platinum medals of honor. General Flaccid Snake of the bat ponies!

Iron Eagle stood at attention, saluting his superior officer as he approached, his helmet falling over his eyes from the quick movement.

"Sir, r-ready to report sir!" Iron Eagle said, his voice trembling.

Flaccid Snake smiled and shook his head. "At ease soldier, getting nervous now doesn't impress your peers." Flaccid Snake sat down in front of the shield, looking it over with a stare that could probably break through it if he so wanted to. "Looks like a class S shield and judging how you are behind it means you must be the one that fired those flares."

Flaccid Snake turned to one of the many Sky Guard behind him. "Do I really need to order one uof you to fetch the top brass? Can none of you think for yourselves?"

The Sky Guard stared at one another before a few of them flew off on thier own, breaking formation with the rest of their comrades.

"I swear, so strict on the training that they lose common sense." Flaccid Snake sighed then turned his attention abck to Iron Eagle. "Report son, and keep it calm. I get enough jitters from other commanders as is."

Iron Eagle adjusted his helmet and sat down, breathing deep before he started his report. "General, I noticed that searching for Twilight Sparkle from the sky was folly and that she would most likely disguise her home in a manner that would make spotting it from the air nearly impossible. So I broke formation and started searching at ground level."

Flaccid Snake nodded his head. "Go on."

"From my studies in Canterlot I realized that the plant combination here was a bit off as well as there being no animals, birds and very few insects. I followed a path of ants and noticed they suddendly turned away from some of the plants on the ground near them, as if a wall was there. Sure enough after further investigation, there was indeed a wall." Iron Eagle gasped, forgetting to breathe during his entire report.

"By further investigation you mean you bumped into it, right?" Flaccid Snake asked.

"Y-yes, sir. That and swinging my sword at it." Iron Eagle replied.

"Well, whatever works I suppose. Don't worry about your commander hassling you about formation breaking. I takes more than protocol to make a good soldier and I'll make sure to tell him that." Flaccid Snake heard the combined sound of multiple sets of headgear rustle. "The Princesses are flying in from behind me, aren't they?"

"Y-yes sir!" Iron Eagle replied.

Flaccid Snake turned around slowly and put his right hoof over his chest. If Iron Eagle didn't know any better he could have sworn that the General was half heartedly saluting.

"Ummm, sir?" Iron Eagle whispered.

"Oh, you don't know. I'm a highlands bat pony. We all salute this way. The hoof across the chest means strength of heart above all else." Flaccid Snake turned his attention back toward the sky, his eyes following Luna, Cadence and Celestia as they landed. He held his hoof over his chest even as the others around him bowed down so far that they were practically kissing the ground around the Princesses.

"I expected as much. Sister,Cadence, it appears my top General has found the hideout of Twilight Sparkle." Luna pointed triumpantly at Flaccid Snake.

"Not me your highness, the nervous wreck of a greenhorn behind me." Flaccid Snake stood up and took a few steps to the side, revealing a quivering Iron Eagle, his helmet down over his eyes as he saluted the approaching royalty.

"You must be pulling my wing general. Surely the worst flyer in the Sky guard didn't-"

"Ha!" Cadence yelled, interrupting Luna.

"You owe me pie and a hoof rub , Luna, as per our bet. I told you he was the one most likely to find Twilight's hideout." Cadence walked up and nudged Luna in the side with her front leg.

Luna rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fine, fine. However, I can almost bet the farm that my next wager will result in absolute victory."

Before Luna could address the quivering Iron Eagle Celestia stepped forward, lowering her head to eye level with the terrified greenhorn. "I want you to listen to me very carefully Iron Eagle."

Iron Eagle took off his helmet and set it on the ground beside him, he then looked directly into Celestia's deep purple eyes, sweating and shaking perfusely. She's never adressed me directly like this before, don't screw up, don't screw up!

"I can feel the power of the barrier between us and even with our combiend might and the aid of the entire Unicorn Artilliery brigade it would take hours to bring this shield down. No doubt she learned the basis for it from her older brother. What I'm about to ask you come from the bottom of my heart. You must make it into the facility and bring down this barrier."

"Y-your highness! I-i'm not entirely sure I am even remotely a match for Twilight and she must know that her home is surrounded by now." Iron Eagle looked behind him, he knew that he wasn't even a match for other ponies in his own rank, let alone an Alicorn on par with Celestia herself, if not greater.

"I'm not asking you to fight her. I know full well that even the most talented unicorn would be no match for her, let alone a pegasus. No, I want you to sneak into her home and do whatever you can to bring down this barrier. I know Twilight may be a bit unhinged, but she has never killed the defenseless, restrain, yes, but not kill." Celestia lifted her head and stared at a camera on the side of the building.

"I know you can hear me Twilight, bring down this barrier. What you are doing is foolhardy and will not give you the result you desire. It will only end in your suffering and the heartbreak of an entire kingdom." Celestias eyes lowered and set on Iron Eagle.

"The second that camera up there centers on me, I want you to sneak in. Keep an eye out for anything that can let us in" Celestia whispered out of the side of her mouth.

The camera on the building pivoted up and centered on Celestia.

"Now!" Celestia whsipered.

Iron eagle rolled backwards until he slammed up against the building, leaving his helmet near the barrier. He looked directly above him and noticed the hinge on the camera could not get the camera into a position where it could spot him. He picked himself off the ground and pressed up against the building, doing his best to stay silent as she moved sideways along the outside.

"You know you can't get in here in time right?" Twilight's voice blared over a speaker on top of the building just above the camera.

"Twilight, listen to me. That concoction you are making will doom you to your own personal hell if the concentration is wrong. Please, if you want ...a way" Celestia wiped a tear from her eyes. "A ...release from living, then let me help you."

"Sister!" Luna yelled in astonishment.

"Celestia, you can't be serious!" Cadence added.

"Silence, if the only option is eternal suffering and her...killing herself, then I will gladly aid her in doing so " Celestia growled.

"I think you're full of it. I begged you decades ago for a way out and you denied me. I was at your hooves begging for a way out, for a way to see my loved ones again and you put your own sense of duty and corrupt logic ahead of my own well being. No, I will not lower the shield and by the time you reach me I will finally have the result I have waited for for so long." The speaker crackled and went silent.

Celestia stood there, silent, her head lowered. "Luna, Cadence, the second this shield is down, expect a fight. If she won't listen to reason then we must capture he and force it down her throat."

"I hope it doesn't come to that. Maybe seeing her great nephew might jar some sense into her." Cadence said as she watched Iron Eagle climb through a small basement window.

"Assuming she even knows who he is. You forget that she has isolated herself from everypony for so long that she has no idea who Iron Eagle actually is." Luna sighed. "Not one to be all sour grapes, but if you entrust this mission to him, he will fail it."

"I wouldn't make that bet, Luna. Iron Eagle may be many things, but he's swift witted, just like his great aunt" Cadence said with a smile on her face.

"What do you mean? He did terribly in all of his physical tests, combat tests and even his flight rating. He barely got away with a D plus. The only reason he got into the Sky Guard was most likely his relation to you and little else." Luna stomped on the ground. "it infuriates me to no end how you can trust such an important mission to a class clown like him. If i had my way he wouldn't even be fit to scrub the latrines in the palace."

Cadence giggled, putting her hoof over her mouth to stifle the sound.

"What is so funny?" Luna asked.

"The reason he's in the Sky Guard isn't because of me. He scored a 1799 out of 1800 on his entrance exam, only missing the last question because of his over nervousness. He's literally the sharpest mind of his generation and if he were a unicorn would be on par with some of the most powerful magic users ever to live." Cadence turned to Luna. "He will suceed, you can bet on it."

"I somehow doubt that" Luna replied.

"She's right Cadence, we need a backup plan just in case he fails. Luna...we have to somehow talk HIM into helping us." Celestia shook her head, shuddering at asking that creature for a favor.

"I'll send a message to him. Hopefully he will reply and the cost won't be too great." Luna motioned for a scribe and unicorn to come to her.

"I hope not sister. I hope not."

"Ow! Sonava!" Iron Eagle rubbed his head, sorely wishing he had kept his helmet with him; even if it fit him poorly. What he initially thought was a basement window was little more than an old ventalation shaft built into the foundation of the building. The shaft was poorly lit, with only what looked like a few sparse magical lights every ten or so yards, most likely used for maintenence. Thankfully it wasn't excessively cramped. He still had to crawl through it, but it was at least wide enough that he wouldn't get stuck or could turn back if needed.

"See, it's a good thing I'm smaller than all of my comrades, if I was any larger then we would have had to call this whole thing off" Iron Eagle said to himself.

As he crawled through the space he remembered his other comrades insults. Shrimp, pipsqueak, mouse, midget, small fry; a constant stream of insults playing in his mind. "Aww c'mon brain, none of that. Bad enough I get reminded of it daily, you don't have to do it while I'm alone too."

I swear, I'm going to end up with a Napolean complex Iron Eagle thought to himself.

"Hello? Is somepony there?" A loud voice echoed down the shaft.

"Wow, that was loud. I need to be quieter" Iron Eagle whispered. A few short minutes later he could see the end of the shaft and oddly enough a faint golden glow was illuminating the room beyond.

Oh right, she has been really busy over the last century. That must be her stockpiled treasury.

Iron Eagle reached the end of the shaft and peeked out. What he initially though just might be a small basement was anything but; it was a massive cavern with gold piles everywhere. It was easily a hundred feet or more to the bottom of the cavern. "I could glide down, but I don't want to be spotted by any security."

"I hear you! Who goes there?" The loud bellowing voice said.

Iron Eagle looked up and could feel his legs go numb. Dead across from him was a massive purple dragon, roughly at eye level with him and quickly moving toward his position. Quick, think of something Iron Eagle could feel his heart thundering in his chest, his mouth was dry and his legs refused to do anything but quake in fear.

I can't fight that, an entire regiment wouldn't fight that!"

Iron Eagle looked behind him, he could just move down the shaft and hide in the darkness. No, that would leave me cornered and he can breathe fire down this way.

Wait, I got it!

Iron Eagle took off one of his gold legplates and tossed it as hard as he could. The metal clang echoed to the left of the large dragon, catching his attention. Cheese it!

Iron Eagle spread his wings as he pushed himself out of the ventalation shaft. He momentarily lost control of his trajectory as he adjusted to the colder denser air in the basement, flying just behind the dragons head. He then spotted what looked like a very large white sheet or curtain sitting fairly close to what looked like an elevator shaft.

I'll hide there he thought.

Iron Eagle swooped behind the sheet, landing on the backend. He quickly grabbed a bit of the sheet and rolled himself in it just as the dragon approached him from the side.

"I heard that. If you're another random thief, be warned that I will give you a stern talking to like the last few. No pony evades Spike for long." Spike put his snout over the back of the sheet covering the statue in the room and inhaled deeply through his nostrils.

"You know, I can see the defomation in the sheet and I can smell you. Come out of there and we can talk about this, I promise I won't hurt you."

That is Spike!? Sheesh, he's huge compared to the family photos of him Iron Eagle could feel Spikes breath on his back, he was right above him. He knows I'm here, what to do, what to do...

He then noticed a shadow of a massive claw coming down on top of him. As soon as the claw grabbed onto the deformation and lifted it up, he rolled left, falling off the curvature of whatever the sheet was hiding and glided down the opposite side, just out of line of sight of Spike.

"Huh, nothing there? I could have sworn I smelled pegasus in my room." Spike looked left, and then right, scratching his head with his other claw. He then leaned over the sheet and looked down, nothing was below him either.

"I guess I'm hearing and smelling things that are not there. Oh well, back to trying to budge the door."

Iron Eagle held his breath, making absolutely sure he didn't make so much as a sound. When the footsteps became little more than a low thud he finally exhaled, wiping his forehead. That was close, if I had known there was a statue under the sheet I would have hid here in the first place

Iron Eagled stared up at the statue. it was a statue of some kind of four legged animal, most likely a pony. His eyes trailed down the belly until he noticed a tail between the back legs, a tail that was curled all the way down to the ground. I wonder if Spike made this? Iron Eagle rolled over onto his hooves and began to slowly peek from under the sheets at the front of the statue. At the other end of the room by a pile of gold were two massive double doors and Spike, who seemed to be preoccupied with a large keypad.

"Err...where was I? Oh, right. One, one, nine , nine?" Spike punched in the numbers one by one with his massive index claw.

*Bzzt*

"Darn it Twilight! You know I don't want to lose you, why can't we talk about this?" Spike punched the double doors as hard as he could, making the entire room shake with the impact. "All these years I thought I could just keep pushing you to stop your foolish crusade and even then you still want to end your own life."

Is...he crying? Iron Eagle watched as large teardrops landed on the floor, each of them large enough to fill a pool on their own.

He seems preoccupied with that door and... Iron Eagle sighed.

"His own guilt" Iron Eagle said as he stepped out from underneath the statue. "Mr. Spike, I'm here to help." I hope I don't regret this...

Spike slowly rubbed his eyes, wiping the tears away, and turned his head toward Iron Eagle. "So, I was right when I smelled a pegasus in my room." Spike lumbered toward Iron Eagle, keeping his eyes on the pegasus.

"Wait, that armor..." Spike stared at Iron Eagle, his body was adorned with silver and gold of the royal guard, though this pegasus seemed to be missing his helmet and shin guard. He was much smaller than a guard however, much more like the size of an average pegasus like a weather patrol pegasus or a shopkeep. He had a short unkept indigo mane with two stripes of blue running the length; one light blue and the other navy blue. His coat color seemed familiar as well being a sort of off purple color, something close to a very pale violet. His most prominent feature was his eyes. One was the same color as Twilight's and the other was a sparkling blue.

"Are you a Equestrian guard by chance?" Spike asked.

"I am, ensign level one of the Sky Guard to be precise" Iron Eagle said nervously.

Spike examined Iron Eagle further. He had seen this pony before somewhere, but he couldn't quite put his claw on when or where. "This may sound silly, but you look like you're releated to someone I know, but I can't remember who."

"My Grandmother is princess Cadence. I'm here to try and stop my great aunt from offing herself. I am Iron Eagle of the Equestria Sky Guard!" Iron Eagle put one hoof above his eye in salute, puffing his chest out to try and make himself seem bigger than he really was.

Spike raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Well, you certainly have the armor of a guard, but you're the scrawnyest solider I have ever seen. As for the relation to Twilight, well, I don't know about that. I guess it doesn't matter though, if Celestia is up above then that can only mean a confrontation is inevitible."

"Spike, I need your help." Iron Eagle stared up at Spike, trying best not to feel afraid of him. "I need to get the barrier outside down so Celestia, Luna and Cadence can get through and stop Twilight."

Spike looked at the small button panel behind him and then back down at iron Eagle. "I guess I'm out of options. If she turned on the barrier then opening the lock is pointless. I guess I'll have to depend on you, little soldier. Listen to me very carefully, behind you is a gated elevator that leads up to the main lab level. There are cameras on the corners of every room and you may run into Twilight's security and lab assistant AI."

"AI? wait, what's an AI?" Iron Eagle scratched his head with his hoof.

"Not surprising, Twilight never did mass produce her. Anyways, an AI is a robot that can think for itself. Theres this little orb above that floats around by itself and thinks for itself. If you trip any sensors of any sort up there you can bet your flanks she will be there to investigate. Actually I might have something to help you out..."

Spike turn around and began to dig through a pile of gold. "No, not that one, no, that one will get him killed, ahh here we are." Spike pulled a very small faded blue gem from the pile and presented it to Iron Eagle.

Iron Eagle Blushed furiously."Umm I like you Spike, but I don't think that relationship would work out. Also, you're a guy."

"Huh?" Spike noticed he was kneeling on one knee, presenting the gem as if he were proposing to Iron Eagle. "Oh, no, no, no. Sorry, I was just being overly dramatic about giving this to you. I didn't mean THAT."

"Well, now that we cleared that up. What does that gem you're holding do?" Iron Eagle asked.

"About a century ago, before Twilight invented other means to get supplies, she would wear a disguise and head into town with this around her neck. See, being an Alicorn is a lot harder to cover up than you would initially think. You can use illusion magic to make your wings disappear, but your own power would distort it before too long. If any of the townsfolks got suspicious of her or is a guard would start to follow her, she would run into a back alley and use this." Spike held up the gem and pointed to the two notches in the middle of it.

"See, the bottom notch grants you inaudible footsteps spell and the top one grants you a greater invisibility spell for about a minute or so. There is a drawback, however. The gem has lost much of its power over the years and Twilight hasn't recharged it in a very long time. It used to be a purple color, but as you can see it lost most of it's power and faded to this blue color. I think at best it may give you a small invisibility field for a dozern or so seconds at best." Spike set the gem gently beside Iron Eagle.

Iron Eagle picked the gem up and examined it. From a distance it seemed like it had a pale blue color, but as he examined it he moticed that it was only slightly pale blue, most of the gem was transparent most of the way through. "You're right. It might have enough power left in it for a single spell before it loses power and changes color permanently."

"Sorry, it's the best I can do. Dragon magic isn't exactly compatible with enchantments made by ponies. If I could recharge it, I would. If I could then maybe I could have snuck out and not be locked in." Spike turned to the keypad behind him and snorted angryly, blowing fire and smoke onto the keypad out of disgust.

"Before I head up, I have one more minor detail. How did Twilight manage to hide herself if she was going into town and such all these years?" Iron Eagle asked.

"She disgused herself as an older greying mare. She managed to fix the instability of her illusion spell by cutting it back a lot. making it only target her mane, tail, cutie mark and wings. No one ever got suspicious of an old elderly mare coming into town for supplies. She got a few odd looks from a few guards, but so long as she changed the costume every generation or two, she was safe from them." Spike leaned over and pressed the button to call the elevator down.

"I'll gladly tell you the details of her life later, but for now I need you to get up there and stop her. I already lost too many loved ones for a single lifetime and the last one I want to lose is my big sister." Spike wiped a tear from his eye, the droplet making a large clank of the pile of gold below him.

"I understand. I won't fail!" Iron Eagle saluted Spike then stepped up in front of the elevator just as it opened the gate at the bottom floor.