The flight from Hoofington to Cloudsdale took several hours so it didn't surprise Luna that Twilight fell asleep. She had been up for many hours and had not rested much during their hunt of the shadow organization. Luna pondered on what they would do next. They needed to find the next target but they didn't have much information to go on. On top of that she began to wonder, how big was this organization she was hunting. The previous ponies gave up information without much resistance but the last one was tougher than the rest.
She also though about what he said, you don't know how deep it goes or how big we really are. What did he mean by that? How wide spread and entangled into Equestrian society was the Order of Purity. How could it have gone on for so long without anypony learning a thing about it. How powerful could they actually be? The last thing he said really sent it home with her worrying.
They can take your sister out if they wanted to. Could they really do that? She needed to be on the trail hunting for Spikes assassin but she also needed to protect Celestia. She couldn't be in two places at once and this presented her with a big dilemma. She glanced over at Twilight and then a thought occurred to her. If Twilight and the rest of her friends were to stay at the castle, they could protect her sister from harm. They would have the power of the elements at their disposal and Twilight was the most powerful unicorn she knew. If anypony could keep Celestia safe, they could. Luna leaned over and shook said pony which cause her to stir and wake from a pleasant dream.
"wha, what going on," Twilight asked as she rubbed the sleepiness from her eyes?
"Twilight, you have been a major help and I cant thank you enough for all that you have contributed to the investigation so far. However I may need you to go back to Canterlot," Luna said as she locked eye contact with Twilight.
"Why, aren't you going to need help finding the targets on the list? I don't understand," Twilight said with a confused expression present.
"I will take your help for now but there are other matters far more important that need to be addressed too. Once we find the next target, I'm going to send you back to the castle. I need you to gather your friends there and protect my sister for the remainder of the investigation. The Order of Purity said that if we don't stop investigating right now, they might just severely injure or even kill her to get me to stop. I cant be doing both and I cant stop the investigation. I need you to do this for me twilight. Promise me you will keep her safe," Luna asked with pleading eyes.
Twilight could feel the lunar princesses worry and fear and knew all to well how it felt.
"Okay Luna, I will do my best to keep her safe. You need to be careful as well," Twilight said displaying concern. She tried to relax back into her seat as Luna opted to continue looking out the window. After another hour they finally arrived in Cloudsdale airspace and were making their way to the Carriage landing zone. When they landed the two quickly stepped out and Luna told them to secure the vehicle and wait by it by until they returned. The bat ponies saluted and Luna caught up to Twilight at the exiting station to the landing area.
They quickly made their way to the main district of Cloudsdale.
"Alright, there are two districts that we need to search. We have the Sky District where most of the upper echelon take residence. Then there's the Cloud District which is where the main residence and market district are. I don't know how much time we have before they find their defector so we have to be quick about this. You take the Cloud District and search for that defector, maybe she can help us. I'll go look in the Sky District and try to find Pawntop.
If you find the defector, bring her to the carriage and I'll meet you there once I have obtained what the second in command knows. Good luck," Princess Luna said to twilight as she turned around to go toward the sky district.
"Good luck," Luna heard Twilight shout as the princess made her way to the Sky District. She quickly transformed into a Pegasus and started searching everywhere. She began by looking in the less populated sections and slowly made her way to the main area of the district. After searching for an hour and a half she had so far seen nothing out of the ordinary, minus a few illicit activities that she wished she hadn't seen. After another ten minutes, she ended up in the hotel and restaurant area. As she scanned the immediate vicinity she spotted only a few ponies walking about.
Most were in the various buildings strewn about and were either sleeping or chatting away as they ate dinner. She passed by a particular building when she saw something out of place. In an alleyway next to the building, she saw a hooded pony heading into it. The pony was following a mostly faded painted arrow down the space between. She watched the pony as it made its way down the narrow area and all of a sudden disappear into a wall. The princess was shocked at first but then headed down the same way.
As she made it to where she last saw the pony she could feel magic radiating nearby. She felt around with her own magic and soon found an invisible spell screen right next to a wall. She pushed against it and came through to the other side finding herself in what looked like an abandon cellar. The place had dust and cobwebs from not being used in some time by the looks of it. She saw an old door at the other end and put her ear up against it to listen for movement on the other side. When she did she started hearing low voices like they were trying to stay quiet.
She couldn't make out what they were saying and she couldn't slip in to find out because there was no shadows for her to merge into. She decided to open the door a crack to see if she could hear better. It helped somewhat as she could now at least make out words.
"I did as you asked, Dumbbell wont be saying anything ever again. I shot him just in the nick of time too. Any longer and he would have exposed you to the princess and and the Element of Magic. Are you going to pay me now or what," the hooded pony demanded as he held out a hoof expecting payment? Luna could tell it was male by the voice. There was some slight illumination in the room thanks to a couple of small candles burning away on top of the desk they just lit. Another pony sat in the shadows in front of the hooded pony with most of his face not in view.
"Here, you are one greedy pony and that's going to get the better of you if you don't handle it." The pony in the shadows tossed the other one a heavy bag that jingled with bits inside.
"A pleasure doing business with you. Is there anything else that you need me to accomplish this evening," the pony asked? He was probably hoping to get more bits for work.
"As a matter of fact I do, there is a defector in this city. We had our agent break into the Canterlot hospital to grabbed some medical reports. they were on the dragon we assassinated a few days ago. We sent her out the day after and she hasn't returned. The boss needs those documents to confirm the dragons death so we can move ahead with our plans. We have determined that she is a traitor and is somewhere in the Cloud District, probably holding up in a motel somewhere.
We need you to go find her and bring her back here so that I can begin interrogating her. Go find the agent and bring her back here. When you do I will have your last payment or this evening waiting," the pony said as he hoofed the other hooded one a map. Luna saw part of it and it had marked lines she was convinced might lead her to the defectors location. Luna saw this as her opportunity and blew the door off its hinges before walking through and locking the ponies in place with her magic. The ponies struggled to get free before they turned to the princess. She pulled the map out of the hood ponies pocket and levitated it over to her.
"I'll be taking that, thank you very much and I am far from done here. I have some business with your boss so tell me where he is," Luna asked as her eye glowed white with her rage clearly evident? The pony in the shadows was the first to speak.
"You may have that map but I will not give you what you want. Go ahead and do what you want but you are not getting anywhere near the Maester. In fact, I would be running if I were you. You obviously have no idea who your dealing with," the pony said as he gave an evil grin that could be seen even from the shadow of his hood. She was about to make a retort when she felt something collide with the back of her head hard. This knock her magic fields out of focus and the two ponies dropped to the ground. She turned to see who it was but got hit again before she could even make out a face. This time she slumped to the ground, knocked out cold.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Good luck," Twilight yelled back as the princess slowly got further away. Twilight turned around and went to the Cloud District to begin her search. When she arrived she noticed that the place was winding down from its daily activities. There were still quite a few ponies in some of the clubs but mostly they were walking home to their individual houses. Twilight began searching all around the place for anything suspicious. As she went section by sections and combed through each place, she didn't have much luck finding anything.
When she finally circled back around she had found nothing and was about to give up. That was when she noticed a pony who was wearing a cloak and trying to look inconspicuous by blending in with the other pony groups. The pony looked to be moving in a pattern slowly to not draw suspicion but wasn't hanging in one spot for more than a brief moment. The only reason Twilight noticed this was that the rest of the denizens were being far more social. The pony headed down a lonely street as she pursued the target while maintaining a safe distance from sight. She followed down the street and onto a corner but she disappeared into a particularly dark residence.
There was barely any illumination of the building except for a street lamp and a candle light inside. The structure was dark and decrepit, as it was probably an old building. Twilight went up to the door and was about to open the door quietly when she touched the knob and felt the magic coming from it. Something in the back of her mind told her the door was enchanted in some way. Possibly warded to keep out trespassers like her. Twilight didn't want to set off the charged door so she began investigating for another way in.
She circled around the house, searching it for an entry ways. She found a window that was cracked open the slightest bit. Twilight went up to the window and opened it before climbing in. She found herself in a kitchen that was old and barren but looked like it seen use once a long time ago. it was practically empty apart from a table in the middle and a small fridge box that was unused. She turned around to close the window and put it in the exact same position.
Quickly making her way over to the adjacent room next to the kitchen, Twilight slowly peaked through the arch way. The next room was the living room although it could use some serious cleaning. It was dusty everywhere in the room and the floor was fairly dirty. The weirdest part was that there was barely any furniture in the room apart from an old chair that was probably left there by the previous owners. She did notice a makeshift desk with the candle she saw through the window on it partially melted. She headed up a staircase in the hallway that led to a second floor and a couple of rooms with one door partially open.
Twilight peeked inside and saw the pony from earlier packing up what could only be her belonging. She looked to be in a hurry by the way she was moving. Twilight quickly ducked behind the door as it opened and the pony ran down the flight of stairs. Twilight followed as silently as she could but couldn't help that one of the steps squeak in response to her stepping on it. The pony turned around and lunged at her, knocking her over and landing on her back. Twilight then felt a blade being held against her chest and her heart started beating faster.
"What are you doing here, why are you following me? Are you working for The Order, did they send you here to kill me? Speak quickly before I slice your throat open," the pony demanded in a aggressive, angry tone. Twilight coward back a little in response but the blade only got closer to her jugular.
"I'm not who you think I am, please don't hurt me. I'm just trying to avenge my brother and your the only one who can help," Twilight stated in a scared response. She turned her face away trying not to panic in the moment but was having a hard time not doing so.
"Who is your brother, and what could I possibly do to help you," the still cloaked pony asked in almost sarcastic tone. The pony made it clear that she did not believe her.
"You can tell me where the Orders of Purity's headquarters is and the true identity of the Maester," Twilight stated in hope this would plead her case. Almost suddenly, she could feel the knife moving away from her. She looked up to see the pony stepping back as if shocked. after the pony regained composure, it removed the hood. The pony turned out to be a mare and a Pegasus from the looks of it. Her mane was a crimson red and her coat was a honey like color.
Her irises were a shining topaz color and had a necklace on but twilight could make out if she it had a pendant. The mare looked at Twilight with the slightest look of confusion and interest.
"How do you know about them, what did they do to you," the pony asked out of curiosity?
"They severely injured my brother and he died while the doctors tried to save him. I want to put a stop to the Order Of Purity and make them pay for their crimes against my family. Can you help me," Twilight responded telling her tale and asking for the mares help?
"Your the dragons sister, that explains a few things. I told them that taking out such an important target was dangerous. They didn't listen nor realize the repercussions from their actions. They sent me on an assignment afterward to retrieve the dragons medical records but I left the order the first chance I got. I've been hiding since they performed the assassination and my assignment. Look, I'm sorry for your loss but I don't know how I can help you.
I don't know who the Maester is, I only received my contracts from his second in command," the Pegasus explained.
"Can you at least come with me and tell Princess Luna where the headquarters is. If you could do even that, it would be a tremendous help," Twilight pleaded with the Pegasus to help her. The pony thought for a few seconds and then sighed.
"Fine, I'll tell your princess where their main base is but after that I'm leaving. I cant stay here and the order is relentlessly pursuing me. Where is your princess?
"She will meet us at the chariot parking station. She had to go take care of the second in command and find out what he knows. She should return soon so we should leave now if we want to meet her back there before she finishes," Twilight explained.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I don't think she will be returning anytime soon," the mare said. she gave her a worried look. Twilight soon looked worried as well.
"What do you mean by that, why wouldn't she be returning soon? Princess Luna can handle any pony thrown her way," Twilight stated now confused as well.
"Yeah, but I doubt that she ever faced an Elemental Golem," she looked at Twilight doubtingly.
"What do you mean, I've never heard of that? What is a Golem and how is it that i have never come across it in any records that exist," Twilight questioned?
"The Elemental Golem was created by a spell from a bygone age. Unicorns were experimenting with new ways to create soldiers. They did this during the time when the three pony nations were at war with each other. Pretty much all the tests failed apart from one but they never got a chance to use it. The princesses came in, quickly restored order and brokered a treaty between the three nations. The princesses would take on the duties of raising the sun and moon from now on and lead them.
In return they had to give up their weapons and to structure a new military made up of all three races. The unicorns were also told to give up any attack spells they had produced for the war to go on record. They gave up most of them, but a few spell scrolls went missing and found its way into the hands of the order after it was formed by the first Maester. After that, they used the spell to create the Golem to protect the line of Maesters. Since then it has been their guardian and that is why nopony has nor can take down the organization. They designed the creature to be impervious to any attack spells and can only be stopped by a release spell.
Only the Maesters knows what it is though. If your princess has gone to kill Pawntop than she may already be captured. They probably wont kill her because of her duty to the moon. They may however try to use her for some other means," the Pegasus explained in great detail. Twilight was shocked to hear all of this and now feared for her step sister.
"We need to save her before they can do any of that. We need to find her, where would they keep her," Twilight asked now trying to hurry as fast as possible?
"She will probably be held in the lower basement to a facility that they have here in the city. It is invisible and protected due to warding spells. Now that the princess has tried an attempt on Pawntops life, they will have doubled their security. We can get passed those but we cant possibly content with the Golem and they will most likely set him to guard the princess. We will have to be quick about it if we even hope to have a chance at rescuing her. If we are going to do it we also need to do it now.
Lets move," the Pegasus said as they made their way out of the building. They ducked through the backs of building to stay out of sight.
"By the way, my name is Twilight. whats yours," the unicorn asked curiously?
"My name is Dazzling Gem."