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The Beginning of a New Quest!4,239 words
What happens in Los Pegasus stays in Los Pegasus7,239 words
Seeing a City and Distrusting Eyes4,581 words
Nightmares Alight and a Small Scuffle4,360 words
Preparations and Dark Skies2,104 words
The Battle! Part One!2,139 words
The Battle! Part Two!4,520 words
Finale and the Beginning of the Dark Era3,387 words
Inharmonious Shift1,835 words
A New Act To Start2,129 words

Inharmonious Shift

~In the Everfree~

A purple pony galloped through the underbrush with a mission embedded within her mind. Though, she was being watched the entire time. Fog surrounded her sight, but her body felt it was the right path as she moved forward.

Eyes from within the blackest patches of the forest seemed to moving alongside her within her mind. She felt desperate and scared beyond her wits as sweat cascaded down her face. She’d watched her friends get taken away one by one while trying to fight off shadows of a darker creature she’d not seen before.

Only one place carried such shadows within this evil forest, ‘The Everfree Castle! It’s just got to be where they are!’

She found that the fog was slowly leaving the area around her and that a clearing was coming up fast. She recognized it immediately and stopped her hooves from moving just in the nick of time as Twilight saw a large bridge.

‘The same bridge that Rainbow fixed, I wonder...’ She touched her hoof against the ancient wood and it creaked beneath her touch.

She heard many crunches from behind herself as several Timberwolves stepped out of the undergrowth. Twilight turned to face them as she power up her horn ready to inflict as much damage upon them as possible.

“Where do you think you’re going, Twilight?” A much larger wolf asked the Unicorn who had taken a small step back towards the barely stable bridge.

“To the castle to save my friends!” She stated boldly to the red eyed wolf before her.

“We’ll see how you fare then… GET HER!”

The wolves jumped forward as Twilight horn flashed brightly causing the area to be covered in white.

~Canterlot Castle~

Eight ran through random corridors with no clue where he was going. It seemed as if the castle was against him every step of the way.

'Where are they?! It's like this place never ends!' Eight thought while taking a sharp left turn and continuing on his path.

Ponies watched the crazy human run through the area with great interest. It wasn't everyday that they would see something like this.

Eight saw one familiar colorful pony and immediately stopped before her, "I've found... Cadence..." He huffed out as Cadence giggled a bit.

"You sure that you were really looking for me? Or were you looking for Shining?" Cadance asked him to which he nodded.

"Well, technically I am looking for Shining. Could you by any chance point me in his direction?" Eight asked the pink alicorn.

She shook her head, “I’m afraid that he’s in an important meeting. The actions taken in the battle not too far back bring us to the edge of war. Typhon was a hero in the Dragon’s Kingdom and he is dead. Not to mention that we have captured Lance and are interrogating him currently.”

“So, this is because of me, right?” Eight asked her.

Cadance frowned, “Umm… Well, we didn’t want to put you out… But yes, this is about to get rough because of your sudden appearance.”

“I thought so… You shouldn’t worry, I can handle myself as long as I start training up again….” Eight trailed off as a chill shook him to his core.

Cadance seemed to feel the change in atmosphere and so did all the other ponies. Confusion and fear were evident upon their faces.

Eight immediately ran towards the disturbance, “Sorry Cadance, I’ve gotta find out what’s happening!”

Cadance immediately activated her horn which stopped Eight in his tracks. He struggled in her magical grip, but she was intent making him stay.

“Hey, let me go! You had to have felt that!” Eight yelled as she continued to hold him.

“I’m stopping you from hurting yourself, now stay down!” Cadance finished calmly while putting onto the floor and keeping her hold over him.

~Inside the Main Room of the Castle~

Celesta leaned forward to sip upon her tea which was held in her magic, but stopped when she felt the cup wobble in her magic. She opened her eyes to look toward the main hall’s doors.

‘He came here faster than I had thought he would.’ The guards inside the room hit the floor after the strange power began to fade away.

“Sister, we seem to have felt a new strength. Can thou explain what just occurred?” Luna asked while sitting on her throne observing the guards being unconscious.

“It’s Kicor, no use explaining him. We need to get out there and stop him before we have any casualties.” Celestia finished while standing up and preparing a teleportation spell.

Luna arched an eye, “Art thou sure that’s all he’s here to do?”

Before her sister could say anything, she disappeared in a flash of white light while Luna sighed, “Thee hath always been faster than I…” Luna charged up her horn and followed the magic trail left by her sister.

~Outside the Gates~

Kicor walked up calmly to see that most of the guards were indeed unconscious, but some were still standing despite his power.

‘Simple guards are getting stronger as time goes by, it’s been a while…’ He thought while reach the very gate.

He opened his wings and flapped into the sky with vigor. He easily traversed over the wall and inside the castle’s defensive walls. What he found was that both the princesses were standing before him.

Kicor looked a bit surprised at that, but immediately took out his magical mighty double edged battle axe. The weapon itself was larger than the gryphon, but he seemed to take with practiced ease.

“So, you both stand before me…” Kicor trailed off as Luna stepped up to say something only to be stopped by Celestia.

“Kicor, I’m not sure why you’re here, but cease this action and speak alongside us. We believe that a compromise can be reached without a fight.” Celestia said with confidence.

“So, you know why I’m here then?” Kicor asked the Sun Goddess.

“I would assume that you’ve come on the Dragon Council’s behalf and have been payed to seek retribution for Typhon’s death.” Celestia finished as Kicor shook his head much to her surprise.

“I’m actually here to free Lance, so if you could hand him over before I have to do anything rash it would be nice.” Kicor said while narrowing his eyes.

Celestia was about to say something when Luna stopped her, “We must talk with our Sister for a moment.”

Kicor looked at Luna with annoyance evident upon his face, “Hurry up.”

Immediately, Celestia was taken to the side by Luna, “What is all this?!” She questioned while trying to whisper.

“He is Kicor and hes here for the dragon we captured.” Celestia answered calmly.

“Are you going to give him what he wants?!” Whispered Luna anxiously.

“Well, Lance has been useless over these last few days, so yes. Besides, we do have bigger troubles.” Celestia said through narrowed eyes.

Luna remembered the letter that Celestia had found lying on the hearth of her fireplace, “We must make haste then! GUARDS!”

Immediately two guards galloped up to Luna, “Go and fetch our prisoner, Lance! We will wait for thee.”

They quickly sped off to go get the dragon in question.

~In the Dungeons Below the Castle~

Rising Star stood in Lance’s cell with anger written all over his face. Lance looked calm and collected with a sinister shadow behind the metaphorical mask he wore.

“You know that I won’t be here forever. Without answers, you’ve gotten nowhere so far and you know this. The Dragon Council will have someone come here for me, it’s only a matter of time.” Lance said with a small smirk.

Rising Star shook his head quickly, “Celestia wouldn’t let you go so easily, nor would Luna. I’m sure the Dragon Council will fear their powers.”

“Oh, yes. I’m sure they would jeopardize their little ponies with a greater draconic army bearing down upon Equestria.” Lance retorted back at Rising Star.

“We took down Typhon easily!” Rising Star returned with a stomp of his hoof.

“Typhon was no more a pawn by this point in his life. Any major military victories won by him was a long time ago. Besides, I killed him anyway unlike the so called, “Dragon Slayer”.” Lance finished as Rising took a step back.

“Yo-” Rising was stopped as Lance continued.

“I would have killed him as well if not for some little rat…” Lance finished with a hint of disgust.

Rising prepared to say more, but felt a new presence. Lance turned his head towards the ceiling as he felt it as well.

“Well, this is surprising. Someone with had so much of powerful presence that it even reached us down here.” Lance moved his shackled arms and legs with a smirk sent at Rising.

“Time to open up the locks.” Lance finished with a laugh.

“The princesses won’t let you go with anyone, they’re too strong for that!” Rising Star retorted as yet another set of hoofs could be heard getting closer and closer to them both.

Within moments, two guards appeared from the blackness. Rising turned to them immediately while Lance watched with interest.

“What are you two doing here?! Don’t you have any other places to guard at the moment?!” Rising asked while stomping his hoof.

“No Sir! We have strict orders from Princesses to release Lance from his holding cell and bring him to Kicor!” They both stated at the same time.

“Damn…” Rising muttered as he turned to a grinning Lance.

“Times a wastin…” He rattled the locks as Rising activated his horn.

Within moments they were opened and Lance stretched his limbs outward in relief, “About time, now where are my weapons?”

Rising ground his hooves into the ground, “You won’t be getting them back.”

Lance immediately knocked away Rising in one shot towards another row of bars. He hit the ground hard as Lance attacked the other two guards and slit open their throats. He then burned them alive while Rising slowly picked himself up.

“Ohhhh…” A grunt of pain sounded off from Rising’s throat as Lance stamped over to him and picked him up by his throat.

“That answer was wrong last time, now where are they?!” Lance felt that Rising become limp from lack of oxygen and he snarled in disgust.

Throwing the halfway alive Rising Star to the side, he decided to go looking for his own weaponry. He left down the hallway as Rising activated his horn which made an alarm sound off for everypony within the vicinity of castle.

“You *cough* won’t get *cough* *cough* too far…” He trailed off as he fell unconscious.

~End of Chapter~

Author's Note:

Sorry that it isn't longer, but I will get to work on the next chapter a lot sooner than it took me to write this one. Unless complications come up.

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