//------------------------------// // The Afternoon Before it Happened // Story: The Legend of Spike: Dragon Quest // by DiabloGuapo //------------------------------// “Grizelda! Time for lunch!” “Okay, Mommy!” Gilda the griffon smirked as she watched her young daughter running back towards their home from playing outside with her little friends. She just couldn’t get used to it. She, who was once the toughest, coolest, most hardcore griffon around was now “Mommy.” Looking back at it, it amazed her how life can be unpredictable. One day you can be living in the slums of the ruined Kingdom of Griffonstone and then, out of the blue, two ponies that you had previously deemed as lame could show up and turn things around. By following their example, Gilda led the way to restoring the kingdom back to its former glory through the magic of friendship. More importantly, Gilda was able to reconcile with her first friend, Rainbow Dash. However, there was still a long way to go to completely rebuild the kingdom. After all, Canterlot wasn’t built in a day. Despite the long road still ahead of the griffons, great progress had been made. The little town that Gilda now resided in was proof enough of that. The town of Hawk’s Nest was located in the mountains of Northeast Equestria, on the border of the Griffon Kingdom. Towns like Hawk’s Nest were built to improve trade between the two nations. Before, the city of Trottingham was the only city of note that had both a substantial pony and griffon population, but now there was a number of new settlements popping up along the northern coast. Due to the mountainous terrain and the steep cliffs, Hawk’s Nest was more accommodating for flyers. Therefore, the pony half of the population was exclusively Pegasi. The houses were of griffon architecture, complete with perches. Despite being a newer settlement, it had a blossoming population. Over the past twenty-odd years, many foals and fledglings have been born. Even Gilda had been blessed with one of her own. “Mommy, can my friends stay for lunch?” Grizelda asked, looking up at her mother with her best begging face, opening her yellow eyes as much as she could and sticking out her little beak in a pout complete with a slight quiver. Gilda smirked as she looked down at the adorable faces of the manipulative fledglings and foals. “Oh, alright. Just be sure to wash your talons and hooves first.” Gilda laughed to herself as the children cheered and ran inside the house. As Grizelda ran to wash up, the hooves on her hind legs clip clopped on the wooden floor. The child was a hippogriff, a cross between a pony and a griffon. Her front half had the brown and white feathers and wings of an eagle, her front legs equipped talons. Her hindquarters was equine, her brown coat matching her feathers and her white tail matching the feathers on her head. Grizelda lacked a cutie mark, not due to inability, but rather her young age. There were a few older hippogriff children and they had received their cutie marks. There was also a local chapter of the Cutie Mark Crusaders in Hawk’s Nest, and Grizelda was a proud member. With her daughter being a hippogriff, it meant Gilda’s husband was a pony. He was an archeologist by the name of Tenny Field. Tenny had a blond mane and an orange coat, and his cutie mark was of a shovel. Originally, he was from Ponyville and he had a sister who was also an archaeologist, but she had been missing for many years. Gilda had met Tenny during an excavation in the Abysmal Abyss in hopes of recovering the lost treasures of Griffonstone. He was paired up with Gilda during the dig, and they found that they worked great together. They both had a snarky sense of humor and enjoyed heckling each other as they worked. They made a game of it by taking turns as they insulted each other alphabetically. If one of them repeated a name for a letter twice in a row, the other would win and they would start over. “Hey, kids! Scones are ready!” Gilda called out as she placed a plate of her famous pastries on the dining room table. “Oh, boy!” one of the children cheered. “Thanks, Mrs. G!” another said. “Thanks, Mommy!” Grizelda cheerfully mumbled with her mouth full of food, crumbs sprinkling out onto her feathers. “Enjoy.” Gilda left the kids to their meal and went into her husband’s workroom. There she found Tenny amidst all the relics and artifacts he had collected and restored. Currently, he was opening crates from an excavation in Old Trottingham a month ago. “Hey, Zit Butt. Lunch is ready.” “Thanks, Air for Brains,” the Pegasus replied. “Aha! My point!” Gilda gloated. “What? It is not!” he protested. “Yes it is. You used that one for ‘A’ last time.” “I did? Oh well, you win this one.” “So watcha got there?” Gilda asked, nodding to the crate Tenny was currently opening. Tenny showed her by pulling a shining sword from the crate, the reflected light dazzling Gilda with its immaculate beauty. “Oh, wow! Tenny, that’s awesome! Did you restore it back in Trottingham?” “No, and that’s the amazing thing. I found it like this!” he explained, holding the blade flat in his front hooves. “It was buried under rubble in the old castle along with other old stuff. Judging by the age of the surrounding artifacts and by how much dirt and dust was layered on top of it, it must be centuries old. And judging by the style of the sword, it may even be older. I mean pre-Equestria old; a relic of the Unicorn Kingdom.” “But that would make it thousands of years old!” Gilda marveled as she studied the blade. The silvery metal was unblemished by rust nor was it tarnished in the slightest. The gold that was set in the fuller and the Alicorn-shaped crossguard looked as though it was polished just that morning. When the light shone on the two rubies set in the center of the crossguard and in the pommel, they glowed as though they were on fire. “There’s no way it could be that old looking like this.” “And yet it is,” Tenny replied. “But that’s not the strange part. I’ve tried to identify the metal it’s made of, but it isn’t made of any known metal to pony or griffonkind. But here’s the kicker.” He placed the sword on the table and reached back into the crate. “We were testing out the hardness of the blade…” There was a heavy thud as Tenny placed a rugged brick on the table. “...and this happened.” Gilda inspected the brick and saw that its rough surface was worn from weathering over many years exposed to the elements. However, the brick had been cleaved cleanly in two. Gilda picked up the two pieces, looking back and forth between them and the sword. “It did this?” “It cut through it like a hot knife through butter, and there is not even a scratch on the blade.” “An unbreakable sword with gold and rubies. It must be worth a fortune!” Gilda exclaimed at the prospect. “No kidding. The day we found it, these two Unicorns showed up and started snooping around. They saw the sword and started acting very weird. They offered to trade for it with all sorts of stuff, most of it worthless fakes. When I told them to buzz off, they offered a ton of bits for it, saying that they needed it for their boss, but I knew they were full of it and told them again to beat it. I had a feeling that they were up to no good, so I kept an eye out for them that night. Good thing too, because we caught them sneaking around our camp that night trying to steal the sword. We kicked their butts and chase them off. I didn’t think we’ll be seeing them again anytime soon.” Placing the two halves of brick back on the table, Gilda thought about the treasure her husband had brought into her home and about the possibilities it could bring. ***** After saying goodbye to Applejack and her children, Amethyst found herself in the middle of the Fillydelphia train station. She had been told that a dragoness by the name of Mina would be there to greet her, so she looked about the crowded station, but didn’t see any dragons anywhere. If Mina was anything like her father, she shouldn’t have any problem spotting her. An adult dragon should tower over a crowd of ponies. As her luggage was wheeled out to her on a cart, Amethyst began to think that no one was coming to meet her. Then she heard a feminine voice call out from the crowd, “Princess Amethyst?” The Kirin squinted her eyes and peered once more into the sea of faces. She then saw bipedal figure emerge from the crowd. Amethyst was surprised to see that the voice belonged to a dragon that was no bigger than anypony else. According to her parents, Mina was about their age, but the dragon running up to her looked as though she was still a teenager. Amethyst had also been informed that the civilized dragons were very different from their wild counterparts, but she had never expected this. “You must be Princess Amethyst. I’m Mina. It’s honor to meet you, Your Highness,” the dragoness greeted the white Kirin with a low bow, nearly prostrating herself on the ground. Mina had mahogany red scales with blue, curved horns and underbelly. Curiously, she had flowing pink locks of hair on top of her head. “Thank you, but you don’t have to bow. And please, just call me Amethyst,” the Kirin blushed, a little embarrassed by the display. She could see that they were already gaining stares from bystanders, some of them whispering to each other. As both a princess and a Kirin, Amethyst was used to being stared at, but she would rather not cause a scene in the middle of a train station. The last thing she wanted was to be swamped by ponies clambering for a photo op or an autograph. “Sorry,” Mina apologized, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. “It’s just that you’re a princess and all. Come on, I have a carriage waiting for us.” Despite Amethyst's protests, Mina insisted on wheeling the cart of bags to the carriage and loading them herself. The driver then pulled the carriage down the road towards Dragon Town. Along the way, Amethyst gazed up at the skyscrapers towering above the busy streets. She had been to Manehattan with her mother for fashion shows, so she had seen skyscrapers before, but they were always impressive to look at. Fillydelphia may not have been as big as Manehattan, but it was still one of the largest cities in Equestria. After rounding a few turns, Amethyst noticed that the architecture of the buildings had noticeably changed. Instead of metal and concrete high-rises, the buildings in this district were a combination of primitive, rugged, stone buildings and arches and pagodas of Neighponese design. What caught Amethyst's interest was that, instead of ponies, there were dragons walking the streets. Some wore a few articles of clothing, others were shopping in the open market, and mother dragons were wheeling their tiny hatchlings around in strollers. Despite their reptilian appearances, these dragons were just like anypony else, and like Mina, these dragons were far smaller than she expected. “Um… Mina? Can I ask you something?” “Of course.” “Are all the dragons here so… small?” Amethyst asked carefully, as so not to offend her host. Instead of being of being offend, Mina laughed. “Well, it would be kinda hard to live in the big city if we all were the size of houses.” “I guess you’re right,” Amethyst chuckled in turn. “But how is every...dragon so small?” “Magic,” Mina explained with a casual shrug. “Since we didn’t want to live like those barbaric animals, our inherent magic made us smaller.” The only response from Amethyst was a raised brow. Seeing the confusion on her face, Mina elaborated. “A dragon’s magic allows them to change their size depending on their desires. Normally, us dragons only grows larger with age, allowing us to guard our hoards. Immature dragons can grow prematurely into mindless, rampaging beast if they are exposed to greed too soon.” “That’s happened before to my dad,” Amethyst said. “Luckily, my mom was able to snap him out of it.” “But all dragons, either through normal growth or greed growth, become large, selfish, hoarding monsters,” Mina snorted with disdain. “It’s them that give us hardworking dragons a bad name. That’s why we’re here; to give up greed and live in peace with the ponies.” “But my father grows like a normal dragon, but he isn’t wild.” “Your father is a special case. He managed to harness his inner power without being consumed by it.” A blush formed on Mina’s face, making her burgundy scales even redder. “I really admire him. He’s a hero and prince. He’s helped save Equestria many times, allthewhile being a dragon! He’s dragonkind’s biggest celebrity. Oh, I only wished that I asked for his autograph earlier. Now it would be too weird.” Amethyst giggled at the older female’s hero worship of her father. Seeing the Kirin laugh made Mina blush harder and then laughed at herself. "And what about Lady Ember?" Amethyst asked. "She's the leader of the wild dragons that live within Equestria, and from what my dad says she's actually quite nice." "I hope so. If she is anything like Spike says she is, then this festival will surely improve relations between ponies, civilized dragons, and wild dragons," Mina said excitedly. "And if one of the Dragon Lords becomes friends with Equestria, then maybe the other Dragon Lords around the world will too!" Amethyst added, sharing Mina's optimism. As they dreamed of the future, the carriage came to a stop in front of a comic store. “Looks like we’re here,” Mina announced as she hopped out onto the sidewalk. After helping Amethyst unload her bags, she paid the stallion pulling the carriage and guided the princess towards the store. “You run a comic book store?” Amethyst asked, looking at the comic books in the display windows. “Yeah. I know it’s not much, but…” “Do you have ‘Flashfire?’” Amethyst asked hopefully. “Do I? That’s my favorite!” “And how about ‘Watchponies’ or ‘the Trotting Dead?’” Mina grinned, and placed an arm around Amethyst’s shoulders. “Kid, I have a feeling that we’re gonna get along just fine.” ***** Applejack walked down the sidewalk of a less savory neighborhood in the city of Manehattan with her children following closely behind. The orange mare pulled out the letter once more and reread the address. After looking at a street sign, she pressed onward to the dreaded destination. The thought of seeing him didn’t sit well with her, but she knew she had to get it over with. The sooner, the better. Like pullin’ off a bandage. “The end is nigh!” Applejack let out a startled yelp as a face appeared before her and started ranting. As Applejack backpedaled away, Sour Apple pulled Apple Seed protectively to his side. The family had been stopped by a stallion wearing a white robe along with a contingent of other ponies wearing matching robes. On the front of their vestments was the insignia of a smiling bat. “Equestria will end in flames! Lord Hargon has spoken! The dragons have already unleashed their wrath upon the changelings and Equestria is next! It is a sign from our god, Malroth, who will cleanse the world of the unworthy and his mouthpiece, the High Priest Hargon, shall lead us to a new golden age!” “Uh… okay,” Applejack said cautiously as she and her children walked around the robed ponies. “We’ll keep that in mind, but we have somewhere to be. Come along, youngins.” “Sister, won’t you and your children join us?” one of the mares pleadingly asked, blocking Applejack’s path. “The world is going to end and the only way to be saved is by following our Lord Hargon’s teachings. We’re needed to repopulate the land after the cleansing has happened. Please, join us for your children’s sake!” As the mare leaned closer to Applejack, the farmer held out a firm hoof to hold the impassioned mare back. “Ah appreciate your concern, but Ah can take care of mahself and mah own. Sour Apple. Apple Seed. Hurry along now.” Waiting until her children had cleared the swarming zealots, Applejack removed her hoof from the mare’s chest and walked backwards away from the cultists to make sure they wouldn’t try to follow them. The robed ponies stood in a row on the sidewalk, staring at the Apples as they hurried away, but didn’t follow. Convinced that they wouldn’t pursue them, Applejack turned and quickly trotted to catch up with her children. “Who were they, Ma?” a shaken Apple Seed asked as Applejack came to her side. “Don’t y’all worry none,” Applejack dismissed as she tussled her daughter’s brown mane. “There’s a bunch of ponies in the big city that are nuttier than a squirrel’s supper. Best steer clear of them.” “Oh, okay Ma.” Apple Seed stuck close to her big brother for the rest of the walk. Since the other day, she had been both excited and terrified to go on this trip. On one hoof, she would get to see the big city. On the other, she might have to see him. She had always been curious to know what he was like or what he even looked like. Her mother had removed most of the pictures of him from the family photo album, but there were a few of him in a group photo that Applejack couldn’t throw away. She had seen these pictures before, but seeing a picture of somepony was different from seeing them in person. Apple Seed saw that her mother had come to a stop in from of a dingy apartment building. Looking up at the near crumbling building, the filly’s lingering curiosity to meet him were instantly quelled. What kind of a pony would want to live in a place like this? As they entered the lobby, she saw a pair of gruff, older looking stallions sitting in creaky chairs listening to music on an out of tune radio. A pile of dark bottles rested beside them and she could see cockroaches scurrying about on the floor. Applejack looked at the names penciled in on the mailboxes to confirm that this was the right place before turning to her children, who were gazing around the ramshackle establishment with disgust. “Sour Apple, stay here with Apple Seed. Ah’m going up to see him. Ah shouldn’t be gone for long.” She paused right before she reached the stairs and turned back. “Don’t touch anythin’.” Taking a deep breath, Applejack ascended the stairs to the second floor. She walked down the hallway, passing numbered doors on her way. The one she was looking for was at the end of the hall. The distance seemed so far, but it felt as though she was being pulled to it far too quickly. Much too soon for her taste, she found herself standing in front of the door with her hoof already in the air, poised to knock. She looked at her raised hoof, it trembling as though she was about to touch something vile. Bracing herself by taking in a breath and closing her eyes, she knocked on the door, the sound echoing throughout the empty hall. Whether it was only a few seconds or if it was a few hours, Applejack couldn’t tell, but eventually she heard the sounds of hoofsteps on the other side of the door accompanied by the sound of a lock opening. The door creaked open and Applejack came face to face with a stallion. While Sour Apple had inherited his coloring from the late Granny Smith, his younger sister obviously took after this Earth Pony. Apple Seed’s mane was the same color as his and her light orange coat was a mixture of her mother’s and this stallion’s tan coat. The only thing that was certainly Applejack’s was Apple Seed’s green eyes. “Applejack!” the stallion cheerfully greeted. The mare didn’t share his enthusiasm. “Hello, Cider Barrel,” she muttered, a deadpan expression frozen on her face. Cider Barrel looked out in the hallway, looking for somepony. “Where are the kids?” “Downstairs.” “Aren’t they coming?” “Eenope,” Applejack adamantly told him. “Not until you and Ah have a few words, then Ah’ll decide if y’all can see ‘em.” Cider Barrel scowled and opened his mouth to say something, but clamped it shut again once he realized there was no use in arguing. “Won’t you come in?” Applejack and Cider Barrel sat in silence across from each other at his small dining room table. While Cider Barrel was carefully going over what he would say in his head, his ex-wife stared directly at him with a semi-glare. Occasionally, her hard gaze would pan to the tiny apartment she found herself in. Amazingly, it was relatively clean compared to the rest of the complex that should have been condemned a long time ago. “I’m happy that you agreed to meet with me. So… How’s the farm?” Cider Barrel awkwardly tried to break the ice. “Fine,” she snorted in response. “And how’s Big Macintosh and Fluttershy?” “Fine,” Applejack repeated with more force. “Did Pinkie Pie ever have that second foal?” “She did.” “Oh, good. And what was it?” “Are y’all goin’ to just yammer on or do you plan on gettin’ to the point sometime today?” Applejack impatiently asked, the sudden rise in her voice causing him to flinch. “Alright. I’ll cut to the chase; I want to be a family again.” Applejack let out a quick, mirthless laugh and said, “If y’all dried that one out, Ah could use it as fertilizer.” “I’m telling the truth!” he pleaded his case, but then Cider Barrel shrank back as Applejack slammed her front hooves on the table as she rose to berate him. “You want to be a family again?” she repeated incredulously. “You never wanted a family in the first place! You said it yourself, or were you so drunk that night that you can’t remember tellin’ me that as you started beatin’ me! The only reason why you married me in the first place was because Ah wouldn’t let you have a ride in my saddle until you did!” Cider Barrel cringed uncomfortably underneath Applejack’s unrelenting, hateful gaze. Though she was still seething, he mustered up enough courage to speak up. “I’ve changed, I swear! Being in prison gave me time to think, and I’ve realized what was really important to me. Give me another chance, and I’ll prove it.” “Do you really expect me to take you back after what you did to me and Sour Apple? If it wasn’t for him, you coulda killed me and Apple Seed! You caused me to go into labor prematurely! Sour Apple, an eight year old colt, had to deliver his own sister all by his lonesome! He was practically mute for ten years afterwards! Because of you!” After venting her righteous anger, Applejack panted until she was no longer fuming, but she remained looming over him with her hooves firmly planted on the table. He waited for her to either say or yell something else at him, but when she didn’t, he continued. “Look, I know that I was a mess. I was an alcoholic, abusive adulterer. I admit that, but I’ve found a new lifestyle and changed my ways. While I was on the inside, these ponies opened my eyes to the way things were. I’ve found religion, AJ.” “Good for you,” Applejack sarcastically muttered, sitting back down. “And don’t call me ‘AJ.’ But I can’t take you back. Not after what you did.” “Applejack,” he corrected himself. “I really have changed. I haven’t had a drop since that night, and Lord Hargon been teaching us…” “Hargon?” Applejack interjected, raising a brow at the name. “You mean you’re with those nuts outside?” “We are not nuts!” Cider Barrel suddenly exploded with fury. When he saw that Applejack had braced herself and looked ready to fight back, he quickly tried to reel his emotions back in. He may have gotten the better of her that night eleven years ago, but she was heavily pregnant then. If he tried something now, he would learn firsthoof why she is considered one of Ponyville’s top athletes. “Lord Hargon has revealed the truth to us; the world is going to end.” Applejack rolled her eyes at this claim. She didn’t know who this Hargon guy was, but the world wasn’t going to end anytime soon. As the Bearer of the Element of Honesty, she and her friends would make sure of that. Besides, they had the ponies that controlled the sun and moon on their side. Not only that, but they also had the Spirit of Chaos. He was reliable...ish. “The rabble may laugh, but the signs are there,” Cider Barrel warned. “The dragons shall rise up against those incompetent princesses and Equestria will be burnt to ash. It’s the final sign! After that, the almighty Malroth will come and cleanse this world of the filth that inhabit it. And from the ashes, a new world arise, and Lord Hargon will lead us to the way of true harmony! And I need you and the kids to be a part of that new world. Lord Hargon says we’ll need to repopulate the world after the great Malroth purges the unworthy, so we need all the mares and foals we can get.” If Applejack’s brow rose any higher, it would go through the roof of the tiny apartment. She had heard all that she needed to hear and wasn’t in the mood for anymore ramblings about the end of the world. She rose from her seat and headed towards the door, leaving Cider Barrel at the table. “Applejack? Where are you going?” he asked as he got up and rushed after her. She ignored him and opened the door. “Wait! Applejack! The order needs you and our children!” Applejack stopped mid step and turned around to face Cider Barrel. “And that’s the problem. You just said the order needs us, not you.” “Well… uhhh… of course I meant…” he tried to cover, but she wasn’t having any of it. “This is goodbye, Cider Barrel.” “Wait! Let me see my daughter! I have a right to see my daughter!” He furiously demanded. “No, you don’t,” Applejack denied. She marched up to him and looked him in the eye, causing him to step back until she had him pinned against the hallway’s wall. “You and your group are too dangerous to let her be around, or anypony else for that matter. You go on about the end of the world and how the ‘filth’ will be cleansed. Ah assume you’re talkin’ about other ponies, am Ah right? You say that you need us, but it’s only for your doomsday cult’s cause. You don’t really care about us. You’re just pushing some loon’s agenda.” “How dare you speak of Lord Hargon like that?” Cider Barrel growled. “He knows what’s best for this kingdom, not those useless, pampered sows that currently sit upon the throne.” “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have done more for Equestria and other lands than your Lord Hargon could ever possibly hope to dream of. They have maintained harmony in Equestria and defended its ponies for thousands of years. And with them as mah witnesses, you’ll never come near me or mah children ever again. Ya hear me?” They locked eyes in a battle of wills, both of them determined to win. Cider Barrel gritted his bared teeth in a snarl, but Applejack didn’t back down. With her green eyes glaring daggers up at him, his inner fire was smothered and he surrendered. “...Yes.” With a flick of her blond tail, she march down the hall, leaving him to slump to the floor, a silent rage building up inside of him. He looked up from the floor to the staircase that she had just went down with hatred. In his heart, he vowed that they will join Lord Hargon, whether they liked it or not. “Sour Apple. Apple Seed. Come along now. We’re leavin’.” Apple Seed looked to the staircase and saw her mother make her way towards the door. Along with brother, the filly quickly followed in suit. “What happened?” Apple Seed asked. When her mother didn’t answer her, she asked her again, “Ma, what happened?” “Nothin’, sugarcube. We’re goin’ home,” Applejack replied before muttering to herself. “This was a waste of time. Ah knew he wouldn’t have changed.” ***** In the dungeons beneath the royal palace in Canterlot, a Unicorn stallion sat in his cell. The dungeons were reserved for criminals that were enemies of the state yet weren’t dangerous or evil enough to be banished to Tartarus, the moon, or inside a stone statue. His once pristine, white coat had become matted and his disheveled, royal blue mane draped over his eyes as he stared at the cold, stone floor of his cell. It had been a year since his fall from grace, yet the memory of that day was still fresh in his mind. He had once been a prince; a pony of great influence, but now, he was nopony. For his crimes against Equestria, he had been stripped of his title and had been locked away, condemned to spend the rest of his life behind bars. Though he had betrayed his own family, Princess Celestia made sure to visit him often. She had hoped that one day that he would see the error of his ways and that he could be reformed, like Princess Luna, Discord, or Sunset Shimmer. So far, her attempts of reconciliation have only been met with hostility and rejection. The prisoner’s ears perked when he heard the echoing sound of keys being jingled and a lock opening down the dungeon corridor. It wasn’t meal time and it was too soon for Celestia’s regularly scheduled visit. Curious, the incarcerated stallion walked up to the bars and craned his head in order to get a better look at whoever was coming to see him. At first, he only heard hoofsteps, but then two guards came into view. Behind them was a hooded pony. From what he could tell, the cloaked pony was a Unicorn with a cerulean blue coat. The two guards came to a stop and stood on either side of the cell as the hooded Unicorn walked up to the bars. “Greetings, Prince Narcissus,” the mysterious stallion said to the prisoner. “Who the blazes are you?” the untidy inmate asked distrustfully, looking his visitor up and down. There was a reverberating bang as one of the guards struck the bars with a spear. “Mind your tone, insolent whelp!” the guard barked. “You are in the presence of…” “It’s alright,” the hooded pony intervened with a raise of his hoof. Turning back to the disgraced prince, he replied, “I am a just friend.” “Alright, ‘friend,’” Narcissus sneered. “What do you want?” “Oh, no no no,” the pony laughed. “It’s not about me. It’s about how I can help you.” “Help me? How?” “How would you like to be free?” the pony offered. “Yeah right,” Narcissus scoffed. “And how do you suppose to get me out? Unless you haven’t heard, I’ve been sentenced to life, and I don’t think Celestia is going to let me out anytime soon. And if you plan on breaking me out, it won’t do any good. These guys are here to keep me in.” “It’s simple; you open the door and walk out,” the hooded Unicorn explained. Narcissus laughed earnestly and the cloaked stallion patiently waited for him stop. “And how do you suggest I do that? All Unicorn prisoners and visitors have their magic disabled while they’re in here.” “Tomorrow, the anti-magic field will be deactivated.” The cerulean Unicorn nodded to the guards on either side of him. “These two will then escort you out and get you to a safe location.” Narcissus looked at the two guards and then back to the stallion before him. He didn’t know how, but this strange pony managed to convince members of Princess Celestia’s unwaveringly loyal guard to betray her. “Okay, but how will we make it out of the castle? Even with these two, the other guards will surely report us to Celestia.” “Don’t worry about them,” the visitor reassured. “They’ll be preoccupied with more… urgent matters.” “Who are you?” Narcissus asked again, astounded by the conviction of this stranger. The hooded Unicorn only smiled and said before turning to leave with the two guards, “Like I said, I’m just a friend.”