“You lost them?!” Shadow Law shouted, wings flared in anger as he stared down at a pair of Black Phoenix agents. One was a Pegasus mare from Prance, Gentle Mist, the leader of the Prench Black Phoenix branch, and the other was a Minotaur, rippling with muscles, his blue coat streaked with grey from age.
“The delivery never arrived at the drop point,” the Minotaur said, trying to become as small as possible in the face of Shadow Law’s fury.
“The sky-carriage flew too close to the Cloud Fence,” Gentle Mist whimpered, unconsciously lowering herself to the ground before the Alicorn. “It was sucked in by the vortex winds.”
“And they are either dead from the crash or the zombies of Tambelon,” the Minotaur continued.
“The only reason I do not discipline you any more than I already have is because we now control Tambelon,” Shadow Law growled, starting to pace. “I will have agents comb the area for their corpses. But if there is one thing I’ve learned from my time chasing nobles, it is to expect the unexpected. And Prince Blueblood has already caused more foul-ups in our plans than he should have been able to.”
“Please, tell Vandal I did not mean to have this happen! I was only…!” Gentle Mist began, but she was cut off by the black Alicorn shutting her muzzle with his magic.
“Vandal will be informed of your incompetence in due time, Miss Mist,” Shadow Law said simply, dismissing her with a wave of his hoof. She nodded sullenly and crept out, the Minotaur following behind a moment later.
‘This is just not our day, is it?’ Shadow Law griped to himself, moving around the small room he was in the process of converting into an office. With the recent victory over the Changelings, morale was high, and Black Phoenix had been busy converting the old castle and city into a major base of operations. M’ko in the Wastelands would still be their main base, but now they had a secret location to stage more effective operations across Gaeum. Some of the renovations confused him, though. Large halls and warehouses were being turned into staging grounds and docks for an entire armadas worth of sky-ships, when Black Phoenix had a best only an eighth of the vessels that could be put away. Unless they were planning on starting a mass production of flying machines, Shadow Law wasn’t sure why Vandal had commissioned them.
And then there was the international turmoil. Just a few hours after Black Phoenix had taken the capitol of Tambelon from the Changelings an explosion of magic has torn through the world, filling the sky with an aurorae of rainbow colors. Vandal had been shocked, to put it mildly. It wasn’t often the crippled Dragon was caught unaware.
Apparently, the long lost Crystal Empire had returned, and was now fully under the control of Equestria and the damned Princesses. In fact, Mi Amore Cadenza had been made steward of the revived city-state, due to some old marriage treaty between her family and the one from the Crystal Empire ages ago. They had a brand new ally. Loyal and eager to show their thanks to their saviors. This was bad. Having been gone a thousand years, it had only the merest token of anti-nobility sentiments stirred up by Black Phoenix. Vandal had been scheming and plotting for centuries, but Sombra had ended up killing most of his agents in the Empire before it was banished.
Still, memories of subjugation beneath a tyrannical king were fresh for the Crystal Ponies, and thus a ripe breeding ground for discontent against the monarchy. And now, Shadow Law had been informed that one of their top priority targets, Prince Blueblood, had been captured, only to end up lost in the zombie infested outlands of Tambelon thanks to incompetent navigation.
“Ugh. Why can’t I have any good news?” Shadow Law grumbled, preening his wings as he sat morosely at his desk.
“Perhaps I can help you with that.” Shadow Law shot up in surprise, taking a combat stance. Before he could demand to see who had dared to intrude on him, he got his answer when the corner of his office darkened, the shadows thickening, and from them stepped a twisted mockery of the pony form.
“Bane. To what do I owe this displeasure?” Law asked, settling down but keeping a wary eye on the Grudge.
“I won’t be here long, I just need to drop off some information about the princeling,” the magical aberration said, scrapping his clawed hoof on the floor absentmindedly. “The damned magic that seals this country off from the world interferes with my own, and I can only stand to be within it for a few minutes at best.”
“To get to the heart of the matter; the Prince is still alive.”
“Blueblood lives?”
“Yes, he does. And to explain before you ask the obvious question: I am bound to hunt him down and bring him suffering. But, I can only do that if my target stays alive. The moment the Unicorn git dies, the Geas Vandal put on me will break, and I’ll be dragged back to wallow in that wretched graveyard until another mission comes through. As I am still here, it means he yet lives.”
“Then can you find him?” Shadow Law asked, eagerly.
“Yes, I can. In fact, I’m on his tail right now. Should catch up to him in a day or so. I can only travel so far with my Shadow Walking without a direct destination,” the misshapen pony-thing explained. He shuddered suddenly, and sparks of blue and yellow magic crackled across his body. “I need to go now. But, let me give you some advice; seal off the cistern’s exit. You don’t want your little minions to become the one eyed Goat's playthings.”
On that ominous note, the beast walked off into the shadows, leaving Shadow Law alone to think.
“Gah! Why can’t ancient horrors ever speak without riddles?” The Alicorn groaned, before pulling out a number of documents from his desk. Even liberating the world needed paperwork.
“This is it? This is all you have?” Celestia demanded, looking down at a pile of clothes, documents, and miscellaneous traveling items.
“Yes, your Majesty,” a stallion in a suit said nervously, avoiding looking in her direction.
“This is definitely his,” she muttered, her horn glowing, golden light rippling over the assembled objects, small flickering images appearing before her eyes, showing her nephew, as well as two other figures unknown to her. “Who were the beings he was traveling with?”
“A Minotaur named Shadow Horn, who is an apprentice member of the Entertainer’s Guild. And a Donkey named Creepy Crawly. He appears to have been a hitpony from Bitaly, but rumors claim he’s on the run after destroying the Bologna criminal family,” a mare in dark purple and blue armor stated, her appearance that of the Lunar Guard. Expert stealth and reconnaissance units, they served under Celestia until her sister’s return.
“Why would our nephew want to travel with these beings? And what was he thinking, pulling that stunt in Prance?” the Princess murmured, looking over Blueblood’s things once more. She’d heard, from her ambassador to Prance, that Blueblood had trotted into Mare-sailles one day and demanded an audience with the Lord-Governess. A few days later, a magical explosion destroyed a mansion south of Nice, and Black Phoenix agents are spotted in the area. Corpses of multiple ponies and beings were found in the wreckage, and Celestia dearly wanted to investigate the site herself. But, she had her hooves full. The return of the Crystal Empire, setting up Cadence as a leader of the newly liberated nation, and then preparing for the World Summit that had been called just yesterday.
And Luna was just as busy. Night Court was getting more callers, and the Lunar Guard’s return to her command had resulted in problems that even now required fixing. And then there was Luna’s nightly duties. There were many nightmares to sooth in the Empire, the taint and legacy of Sombra being just as much mental as it had been physical.
The Monarch of the Sun sighed, before turning to her companions.
“Have these items stored securely in an evidence locker. I will need to go over them once the World Summit is finished.” The Guardsmare saluted, while the plainclothes intelligence officer merely bowed. “And now I need to explain to Luna why wearing armor to that thrice cursed political mess is a very bad idea…”
The Alicorn sighed. She was worried about Blueblood, but knew she could do little at this point. There were no leads, no ways to trace him without more information. All she wanted to do was snatch him up out of his noble but foolish mission, and cuddle him like she used to when he’d been a colt. Yet deep down she knew that this was something her nephew had to try on his own. This was something he needed.
“Please, be safe my little Blue. I can’t stand to lose you as well,” Celestia whispered, before putting on a cheerful expression and walking through the castle, which seemed that much emptier now.