Techorse Short Stories

by Spirals95

#17 - Rise of The Domain: Part II

Rise of The Domain: Part II

Techorse #17

By Spirals95

---

A whole day went by since Techorse has gone, and his robot servant was beginning to get extremely worried about him. He had been told by his master that he'd return in the afternoon, and yet he had been gone for more than 24 hours. Eventually, the machine became so concerned about his master's disappearance that he calculated that it was time to take some action. PAL could no longer contain his worry for his inventor, and made a run out of the castle for the only pony he knew could help him in his quest. After all, trying to rescue his master alone would be a bold, but very stupid idea. With an obvious air of urgency, he rushed out the double doors of the castle, which shut behind him as soon as he ran out. The machine dashed down the streets of Ponyville, and his metal legs kicked up loose cobblestones with each step.

---

"All right Spike, one last book, and this shelf will finally be organized!" said Twilight cheerfully to her assistant.

The unicorn pony carefully positioned the last book to slide it into the shelf in its exact spot. Without any warning, the front door of the library was unhinged dramatically, and the red chunk of wood flew across the room and smashed into the center of the library. The books all fell off of the shelf that Twilight was working on, and she stared angrily at her ruined work.

She span around and quickly shouted, "Hey, what do you think you're…"

Twilight's expression quickly switched to shock. She thought someone had simply slammed the door open. But there it was, the front door, severed from its hinges and lying on the floor. PAL stood in the doorway, with a look of desperation plastered on his titanium-alloy face. The robot's soft orange glowing eyes looked up at Twilight, and he appeared to be panting despite his lack of need for oxygen.

"Mistress Sparkle!" he shouted, "The master has been missing for a whole day now! We must go to the abandoned castle and go rescue him at once!"

All of this new information stunned Spike, who gave the robot a confused look.

All he could manage to spit out was, "You… you blew the door off!"

Twilight successfully attempted to digest the information the frenzied machine had shouted, and asked calmly, "Tech went out behind the Castle of the Two Sisters? Why?"

The robot entered the library and attempted to explain in a calmer manner, "Master left last morning to follow a Pegasus named Limpwing. She had plans to go out beyond the castle perimeter this weekend, and he wanted to figure out what she was up to. But now that he's gone missing for so long, I can't help but think something terrible has happened to him!"

Spike immediately turned and grabbed a piece of parchment from off the nearby writing desk. Dipping a quill quickly, he started writing down a message. Once he was finished, he flipped the crude letter into the air and destroyed it with a quick shot from his fire breath.

"Spike, what was that for?" asked PAL.

"If Techorse is in trouble, princess Celestia has got to know about it!" explained Spike, "She'll know what to do about this."

Twilight turned back to face the dragon and said, "Wait a minute! Just because Techorse suspected something of Limpwing doesn't mean she did anything bad to him. Maybe she just invited him to spend some time in her second house!"

"How does a waitress afford a second house?" questioned PAL, putting his arms to his sides in disbelief.

"Maybe her parents bought it for her?" reasoned Twilight, hoping to see the best in the mysterious Limpwing.

Spike began to feel a heartburn-like sensation in his chest, and pounded a fist to his scaly front before belching out a brand new scroll. It was written on a red piece of scrap paper, and sealed hastily with an obviously recycled piece of blue wax.

Opening it up, the dragon read the reply, "Spike, have Twilight assemble the other element holders and report to Canterlot immediately. I will explain when you get here."

Twilight heard the order and said without letting a single second pass, "Let's get everypony together then. PAL, go with Spike and get some gear from Tech's castle. We're going to solve this, but I want to be on the safe side."

---

Techorse opened his eyes slowly after having been unconscious for several hours. He was on a simple bed of hay bales in a large windowless jail cell. The room was well lit by a series of torches, however, on the opposite side of the room outside of the steel bars. It was obvious that he had been unconscious for so long, partly because his saddle was missing, but also because he really had to use the bathroom desperately. Techorse found the commode in the corner of the jail cell, and was surprised at how clean it actually was. In fact, the old jail cell seemed to be kept neat as if it were for holding royalty, much less common prisoners. The colt got ready to use the freshly cleaned facility when he heard a rather loud voice behind him,

"Hey, don't use that, it's filthy!"

Turning to look at who had said that, he saw a mare outside of the metal bars. She was magenta in color, with light blue eyes, a tied-back yellow mane, and a cutie mark consisting of a triangle of spray bottles.

Techorse said calmly to her, "It looks clean to me, just... could you step out for a few minutes?"

"Nonsense!" she said, reaching with a hoof for the key ring next to the cell door, "That toilet's only been cleaned once this week! You're going to use the one I clean every single morning."

The odd mare opened the jail cell door and led her prisoner out into the hallway.

Techorse thanked her for letting him out of the cell, but before he could say anything else, he was quickly whisked away to a nearby restroom, which was completely free of any dust, dirt, or mess whatsoever. After finishing, he left the clean bathroom and decided to find out more about his gracious host.

He asked her, "So, what's your name anyways?"

"I'm Neat Freak!" she replied happily, "I keep the castle here as clean as I possibly can. Dirt just makes me want to cringe."

"I can tell." Said the inventor, a little disturbed by just how often the mare had to clean to settle her nerves.

He remembered that this country he was in was populated by very different ponies, and so was easily able to understand why she had the condition she was in.

"So I'm in the castle I saw at the edge of your city?" he asked, trying to remove the awkwardness of the conversation.

"Yep." Answered Neat, "Right now, I'm going to take you to see Prince Darkmatter. He's the one who wanted you captured for some reason. Can't tell why though, you seem like a perfectly nice colt to me!"

"Well, I was following around his spy, Limpwing." admitted the green coated earth pony as he scraped a hoof on the ground, "He's probably jailing me for counter-espionage."

"I don't have any clue." Said the custodian mare, "All I know is that he wanted to see you as soon as you woke up! Just follow me to his throne room, ok?"

Techorse walked behind her, and followed Neat Freak up a large set of wooden stairs out of the dungeon. The inside of the black-stone castle was decorated with magical lights that hung from the ceiling, as well as many, many pieces of framed artwork. Some canvases were at least 10 feet by 12 feet, and displayed huge landscapes. The floor of the neo-gothic styled hallway had a thin blue carpet, and an individual unfortunate enough to trip was likely to suffer from a head injury. After walking down the long corridor, the two ponies came across a pair of solid yellow wooden doors studded with copper bolts. Each door had a very large gold ring on it to make the heavy slabs easy to open. The entrance was being guarded by two heavily armored earth pony guards, who each had visible laser burn marks on their coats. They eyed Techorse angrily before opening the solid doors and pushing him in, leaving Neat Freak out. She waved goodbye to the captive colt before the doors were closed in front of her. Techorse waved back, without saying a word.

"So, you're the one they call Techorse." said a surprisingly calm stallion.

---

Techorse approached the throne in the back of the room, which was almost hidden in the shadows of the darkened castle. Unlike Celestia's palace in Canterlot, there were very few windows in this throne room, despite its elegant decorations. A few water fountains created a bubbling atmosphere that calmed the mind, but they were a stark contrast to how eerily dark the large central room was. The throne itself was more of a couch constructed from red velvet, several gemstones of various sizes, and the finest cherry wood money could buy.

The alicorn on the throne was at least three times as large as Techorse, but had to have been smaller than Celestia. His coat was jet-black, and his long, uncut mane hair was brass in color, and as it moved by its own power, a shimmer of silver would streak through it, giving the illusion that energy constantly coursed through the mane. His tail was of equal color and quality, being long, thick, and uncut. On the top of his left ear, a small gold earring hung, probably to match the amber tone of his eyes. The stallion's horn bore an ornate and complex silver crown, which was dotted with equidistant amethyst jewels. His cutie mark was the awesome black hole, a vortex that consumed his entire flank, with several small white dots of light being drawn towards the center, unable to escape the gravity. An aura of fear and anger radiated from this stallion, but yet, it was not directed at the green pony before him. Techorse could pick up on this, but he couldn't tell why the prince was angry. He did, however, notice that Limpwing was laying down on one of three large red throw pillows on the ground in front of the throne. She was giving him a smug look, still happy she had beaten him in battle.

"Who are you?" asked Techorse as he looked up at the leader, "Why did you send Limpwing to spy on me and my friends?"

“I am Prince Darkmatter,” he answered with a smug look and a hint of smile, “Welcome to my home town, Darkmatter Domain. Or, as we've all come to call it, just 'The Domain'. Seems less egotistical that way, don't you think?”

Techorse ignored the rhetorical question and wasted no time getting to the point of the matter, “Prince Darkmatter, I want to know why you're doing this. Why did you send Limpwing to spy on me and my friends?”

"All in good time." Replied the stallion as he got up from his throne and approached his prisoner, "But until I tell you why, I need you to do me a favor."

"What?"

Darkmatter smiled and answered truthfully, "My top scientists can't seem to figure out how your magic saddle works. I want you to show them how to mass produce them."

Techorse's mane immediately began to straighten a little bit upon hearing that. The battle saddle was a high tech piece of gadgets and weaponry. It couldn't be trusted in the hooves of ponies like Limpwing and Darkmatter! But the inventor knew that the leader had plans for him if he didn't build battle saddles for him.

So he asked rather nonchalantly, "And what monster do you plan on feeding me to if I say no?"

The Alicorn prince lightly ruffled the feathers on his wings and coughed before answering, "I have no intent on getting rid of you if you choose not to copy your gadget for my troops. However, I have always wanted a gelding servant, and I'd be happy to make you that servant with the rustiest tools I can find!"

Techorse noticed that Darkmatter's guards were squirming at the thought of that happening to any colt. He knew he had no choice but to comply with the prince's demands and make him copies of his favorite invention. The alternative was simply too much to bear.

"I'll make you battle saddles." he said, swallowing his fear, "But I'm going to need parts, and plenty of time."

"You'll be staying in my castle's workshop from now on then." Said Darkmatter, "My scientists will bring you all the parts you need. As for time, I'll give you a month to make a working copy. If you don't have it by then…"

The leader took his front hoof and made a diagonal slashing movement,

"slice!"

Limpwing laughed at Techorse's nervous expression from the threat.

He shot her a nasty look and said, "I can't believe you set me up like this, Limpwing. I thought you were my friend."

The blue pegasus rolled her eyes and said, "I don't hate you Techorse, but honestly, the ponies in this country are so disadvantaged that it's worth trapping you here to give them a better chance at life. Plus, you can be a little bit preachy."

"Regardless of how annoying our guest can be." interrupted Darkmatter, "I intend to use the saddles for the good of The Domain. I'm sure Techorse can easily think of what we're going to do. "

He answered with certainty, "You're going to invade the rest of Equestria."

"Well, not all of it." admitted the prince, "I don't want to simply replace Equestria's residents with The Domain's. I want my ponies to integrate with Celestia's, right after I'm finished with her for what she did all those years ago."

"But remember, this is about the ponies of The Domain. You can confront princess Celestia after we've re-introduced ourselves into Equestria." reminded Limpwing.

Darkmatter looked at Limpwing and said softly, "Of course, Lieutenant Limpwing. I owe it to my citizens that my plan has come along this far. My top priority will be getting them situated in Equestria."

Techorse asked with anger in his voice, "What did Celestia ever do to you?"

Darkmatter's expression turned wrathful as he said, "I'm sure you're just itching to know. When you finish the saddles, then I'll be more inclined to explain. But for now, it's none of your business. Get to work!"

The guards surrounded Techorse and marched him off to the laboratory. Limpwing gave him a teasing wink as she turned to talk to her boss. Techorse simply shook his head in contempt as he was led out of the throne room.

---

Princess Celestia walked down the hallways of her castle with a saddened expression on her face. Her guards Jools and Jops tried to comfort her with looks of confidence, but their efforts went unrewarded as the princess continued to mope. The knowledge that the letter Spike had sent to her had caused her to remember a piece of her past which she had tried her hardest to forget over hundreds of years. The little, hastily written scroll floated in front of her via her magic. This one small piece of paper had reopened an emotional wound. Eventually, Celestia reached her sister's bedchamber, and gently pushed open the door. Luna was fast asleep on the pink bed in the center of the room, not even needing a blindfold to remain unconscious. The princess of the night often went through phases of sleeping normally at night, and taking several naps during the day. Her skills in observing dreams and aiding her subjects through them could be performed more thoroughly when she was asleep as opposed to being awake, and her slumber meant she was hard at work. But her favorite job as princess would have to be put on hold for this moment.

"Sister." Said Celestia softly, "I need you to wake up."

Luna opened her eyes gently, in complete control of her sleep cycle, and gently raised her head from the pillow. Her sparkly dark blue mane started to flow as she sat up from the bed. She was dressed in a black nightgown, and her crown was gently resting on the nightstand next to her huge bed.

"What problem has arisen?" she asked, trying not to yell from being woken up all of a sudden.

"It's probably a better idea for me to explain once Twilight Sparkle and her friends have arrived." Stated Celestia plainly, "There's no sense in giving the same speech twice."

"Agreed." muttered Luna, walking over to her linen closet, "I shall change and be ready for them shortly!"

After taking off her nightgown and swapping it for her crown and silver hoofguards, Luna left her bedroom and followed her older sister. As the two walked down the hall, the guards from around the castle began to form around them, ready to take action. To them, the two sisters seemed angry and determined to do something. They knew that they had a duty to protect them through whatever it was they thought was ahead. Eventually, Arbiter filed in between his stallions, his one good eye looking at the blue hilt tied around his waist.

"So what's the situation?" he asked Princess Celestia, "You have the entire castle up in arms about something!"

"What we are about to talk about is probably a reason to go on the defensive." She answered sternly, "I want you, Jools, and Jops to begin preparing for an attack. Raise the shield runes!"

Arbiter immediately turned around and halted roughly half of the guards behind him, "You heard the princess, shields up!"

The white and gray stallions scattered, their armor making loud noises as they rushed around the castle. Each of them found one of the various shield runes scattered around the castle and pushed the magic stone with a front hoof. A blue line of energy shot out from the marked rock, and connected to the other flat stones nearby. Soon, all of the runes in the castle had been linked up by the lines of magic, and were now glowing an intense cyan color. Captain Arbiter entered the command room of the castle, and found the master rune in the middle. The largest of the stones, and the most ornately carved, it controlled whether or not the shield was to be fully raised or not. Arbiter stuck out his left leg, and pressed as hard as he could on the magic panel. A column of white energy shot up from the rock, and disappeared through a hole in the ceiling of the shield room's domed roof.

---

Outside, a series of hexagons made from glowing magic energy began building up around the cliff-side castle. The blue energy eventually made a complete honeycomb structure, ready to absorb millions of joules if necessary. In addition to the defensive shield it provided, it also had a nasty secret; it would electrocute any living creature that touched it at any other speed than a normal walk. One could carefully step through the field without coming to harm, but any violent action against it would result in a rather unpleasant electrical surge being applied to the victim. This feature of the shield was obviously to counter one type of previous attack against the castle, and Arbiter was quite proud of the unicorns in his family for coming up with the idea.

Back inside the shield room, Arbiter swished his cape and made a gallop for the door. He had to join back up with the princesses as soon as possible. Even though he had no clue what he and the other guards were up against, he knew that he'd be in for some kind of a battle. The white stallion had a smirk upon his face because of this. His job was going to be a whole lot more exciting today.

The princesses had gone with their guards out to the courtyard, where they knew Twilight Sparkle and her friends would teleport at any moment. They waited patiently out in the daylight, the breeze flowing through their manes as they stared continuously at the cobblestone. Sure enough, a purple beacon began to form on the pavement, and with a burst of sound and energy, Twilight and company had materialized in front.

The six ponies, accompanied by one robot and one dragon, looked in confusion at the magical energy guarding the castle.

"What's with the new shield?" asked Rainbow Dash, immediately concerned about the extra defense.

"I know who captured Techorse, and he may attack us at any time." Explained Celestia, looking angrily off into the distance, where she could see some storm clouds coming in.

"Now before we all get too dramatic," urged Applejack, "we need to know exactly who took Techie, and what we can do to get him back!"

Princess Celestia took a deep breath, then returned her look to the team, "Since Techorse went missing behind our old home, only one pony I know could be the one behind his capture."

"Who?" asked Spike, trying to look tough by cracking his knuckles.

"My brother, Prince Darkmatter." said Celestia.

Luna's eyes got a bit bigger as she asked, "He's… still living?"

Celestia confirmed it with a nod, "It would seem so."

"I knew about your younger brother Sundial, he's Cadence's father," said Twilight, "but I didn't know you had another brother out there!"

"Yeah!" said Pinkie Pie, hopping up and down as if it was a nervous habit, "Tell us about him! Why did he capture Techie?"

Celestia told them the story, "A long time ago, when Luna became Nightmare Moon, she had a younger brother named Darkmatter who loved her to pieces. Although my sister and I gave a home to the Elements of Harmony and ruled from Canterlot, our brothers ran the court systems to ensure justice for every pony. They preferred to do this over any duty of the throne. But of course, as we all know, I was forced to banish Luna to save the planet."

"And this made Darkmatter furious!" continued Luna, "I was informed that he and his brother were outraged by my sister's actions. Sundial hasn't spoken to Celestia since!"

"He even missed out on his own daughter's wedding just to avoid you…" mumbled Fluttershy.

"Of course," continued Celestia as she tried to bring the topic back, "He simply refuses to speak to me. Darkmatter swore that he would one day return and take revenge on me for what I did."

Rarity asked, "But why would he capture poor Tech? I understand him sending Limpwing to spy on us, but poor Tech doesn't deserve to sit in a prison!"

"I know exactly why Darkmatter kidnapped the master, Rarity," said PAL.

He immediately dropped the laser minigun he was carrying on the ground purposefully, making a huge crashing sound on the stone, which startled Fluttershy and caused the guards to look at the weapon in awe.

"Master Techorse builds advanced tools and weapons. If he's coming for you, your majesty, he would need these to stop your guards."

"So, if they're after Tech's brains to build weapons, we have to save him before they force him to hoof over all his designs!" said Rainbow Dash, lifting into the air and smashing one hoof into the other like a punch.

"Then let's get started." said Twilight, "We'll go back and find Techorse, then stop Darkmatter from taking over Equestria!"

"Let's get you the Elements of Harmony first," cautioned Celestia. "Darkmatter is very, very powerful as a spell-caster. His gravity-based magic can easily deal with you if you underestimate him."

"Sounds like a plan," chuckled Applejack, straightening her hat. "Should we take Techie's element to him as well?"

Silence fell over Celestia as she tried to decide whether or not to say yes. Including Techorse's element of Justice carried the risk of causing the end of her brother. But saying no would also mean that Darkmatter might never be defeated for sure.

After a long period of time to think, she finally answered, "No. I want to be able to deal with my sibling myself."

The guards, and even Arbiter, seemed to turn a little pale from the cold statement.

The only pony that seemed to be completely unaffected by the implication was Pinkie Pie, who cheerfully cried out, "Then let's get the Elements and get moving! The sooner we get Techie back, the sooner we can celebrate!"

The team headed inside the nearest doorway of the castle. They were prepared to fight to save their friend, and had high hopes for finishing the challenge ahead.

---

On the other side of the country, Techorse had finally finished making an exact copy of his battle saddle. The device sat on the laboratory table in front of him next to his original device. It had been painted with a blue streak to differentiate it from the parent copy. The scientists watching Techorse carefully began to applaud him for his amazing machine skills, and how rapidly he had managed to build another out of the lower-technology parts that they had.

But the leader of the research team silenced them and said, "Don't cheer too much. He's having to betray his friends to bring us this modern marvel."

Techorse said to him with contempt, "You don't have to listen to Darkmatter you know. You can probably come and go into Equestria as you please. Why bother invading?"

The head scientist pushed his glasses up his muzzle and said with a slight sigh, "Well, unfortunately, we chose to live here because of how different we are. We just want to get back at all the ponies who made fun of us before we came here in self-exile."

"Is revenge really the answer?" asked Techorse, turning around to lecture them, "You shouldn't meet injustice with violence unless it's absolutely necessary!"

"Revenge might not be the first choice, but right now, it's the most satisfying one!" laughed the scientist unicorn, "Limpwing was right, you are kind of preachy."

The other scientists looked at their boss, and rolled their eyes in disgust at his rude speech. But the horrid manager continued, "In fact, I'd say that if it weren't for your brains and money, you'd have no friends whatsoever. You're just no fun to be around with all this justice crud you toss out!"

As if karma had decided to grace the room in that moment, the new battle saddle went haywire and spontaneously extended a robot fist right through the scientist's face, breaking his glasses and knocking him to the floor.

The other scientists stared at their unconscious friend. Techorse immediately felt responsible, and knew that any second now the other workers would be upon him.

However, one of them finally spoke up with a mocking tone, "Oops! It looks like the battle saddle malfunctioned!"

"Malfunction..." muttered the other employees in agreement.

Apparently they excused the hiccup from the machine on the grounds that their boss was being a complete jerk. Techorse knew though, that one malfunction in a machine could easily lead to another, and hoped to solve all the problems with the prototype before delievering it.

"Don't worry, I'll fix the problem right away." said Techorse with a chuckle, playing along.

"Once you do, you'll need to present this to prince Darkmatter immediately," said one of the employees. "He wants proof you've been working on it."

"I'll show him as soon as I can." promised Techorse, "I just have to tighten a few more screws, and then it'll be ready to go."

Once he had finally finished putting together the saddle, one of the scientists picked it up and carried it by its straps in his teeth. They traveled together back to the throne room, where Limpwing and Darkmatter were waiting for them. Darkmatter smiled with anticipation as he saw the two come in with the prototype saddle.

"Ah, so you decided to make the saddle in a timely manner!" he said. "Excellent choice. I was afraid I was going to have to perform my 'surgery' on you."

Limpwing got up from the cushion she was on, and snapped her flight goggles down over her crimson eyes, "Let me try it out first. We need to make sure Techorse actually produced a working saddle."

"Good point, Limpwing. Strap on that saddle, and see if it works."

Limpwing took the device from the scientist and wrapped it around her own back, carefully making sure not to trap her wings under the black straps. The blue-striped saddle fit perfectly on her body.

"So how do I use this, Tech?" she asked, looking back a bit at the metal object.

"First you have to calibrate the battle saddle to read your brainwave pattern" he explained, "Then, just start thinking about what you want to do, and the saddle will automatically comply."

Limpwing concentrated on getting the device to register to her thought pattern, and soon, it responded with a small whir.

She thought to herself, "I think I'll test out the…"

Due to her lack of experience with the machine, the laser cannons emerged from the saddle and subsequently fired off a pair of yellow bolts. They flew across the room and struck a vase, destroying it and sending pieces of porcelain flying everywhere. The guards in the room jumped to attention at the sudden event. Limpwing simply stood there in awe of her accidental attack.

"Whoops. Did not mean to do that," she said sheepishly.

Darkmatter looked at the burned spot where the vase once was and said, "Brilliant! Now that you've shown my scientists how to build saddles like this, I can easily take back Canterlot for myself! Limpwing, try the missiles out on the marble column that vase was on!"

"You got it!" she responded, thinking about the missiles.

The laser cannons disappeared back into the device, and with a grinding sound, the missile racks, each armed with a single projectile, took their place. Limpwing prepared to fire the rockets, and sparks suddenly flew out of the racks. She screamed as the faulty launchers exploded on themselves, destroying most of the saddle and pushing her down to the floor.

"What the hay was that?!" she gasped, standing up and taking the device off her.

She tossed the machine down to the floor, and stared at its burned remains.

Darkmatter's horn glowed black as he became angry at Techorse, and the poor colt was lifted off of the ground by his neck.

The dark alicorn choked him and shouted, "You sabotaged the saddle to try and hurt Limpwing!"

Techorse protested weakly, "It wasn't me! It's the inferior parts you're making me work with!"

But the prince wouldn't listen, instead tightening his magical grasp against Techorse's neck. The strangling pony was beginning to see colors before his eyes as his brain rapidly ran out of air.

Limpwing said to her leader, "Sir, let him go! If he was honestly trying to hurt me, I wouldn't be standing here in one piece."

The idea made perfect sense to Darkmatter, and he replied, "As you wish."

He let go of Techorse, causing him to fall to the ground. Limpwing shook her head at him as he coughed and gasped for oxygen.

"Well, one thing's for sure, the missile launcher is out. Do you think we can still go through with the invasion with just the laser cannons?" asked Limpwing.

Darkmatter answered, "Most likely. We'll just tell the scientists to remove the missile racks from the design. Chances are everything else works and won't explode spectacularly."

Limpwing turned to Techorse and said, "I'm going to go drop you off outside of the castle ruins now. You've given the prince what he needs, Tech."

Darkmatter's guards blocked the door to the throne room, and the alicorn said with laughter in his voice, "Now wait just a minute, Lieutenant. Techorse here is aware of our plans to attack Canterlot, and will most certainly take away our element of surprise by warning princess Celestia of it. Perhaps we should consider keeping him permanently, or at least until we've succeeded."

The pegasus pony looked back at Techorse, who had a defeated expression on his face. She knew that Darkmatter wanted to break his deal and keep Techorse locked up for good. But she also felt as if somehow, she and Techorse were still friends. Somehow she had to make prince Darkmatter keep his word, and not bring Techorse to harm.

"All right, but he's staying with us." She said, "If it's fine with you, your majesty. I don't want him put in that jail cell again where he might escape."

Limpwing smiled on the inside when she heard Darkmatter buy her idea hook, line, and sinker, "That's a good idea. If we keep Techorse in our sights the entire time, he has no chance of getting away and ruining our plans."

---

Twilight and her team had finally reached the hole in the wall that separated Darkmatter Domain from the rest of Equestria. She turned around to face her friends and said, "All right everypony. They're probably waiting for us on the other side of this wall. I want you all to be ready for the worst!"

Giving a battle cry, the team charged in through the hole into the town. They were rather embarrassed by the fact that there were absolutely no guards waiting for them on the other side, and that now every last resident of the town was giving them funny looks. To save face, they waved to the citizens, and then continued on their way to the steam-emitting castle. Once they had reached the palace, they avoided the guards' eyes and made their way around to the side of the massive structure.

"All right Spike, PAL, as we practiced earlier!" ordered Twilight.

PAL nodded and picked up Spike by his tail and head. Spike created a tiny yet constant flame out of his mouth, and the robot used him as a living blowtorch to cut a door-shaped marking on the wall of the castle. Applejack then ran up, turned around, and bucked the black stones as hard as she possibly could. The weakened wall caved in, giving the team a breach point. The two guards standing in the hallways magically picked up some nearby iron clubs hanging on a weapons rack to beat off the friends. But Rainbow Dash was already upon them, and she gave them a thrashing until they were both out cold on the floor. Fluttershy had closed her eyes as Rainbow Dash had pounded the guards, and Rarity gently tapped her when it was over.

"Sorry, I just really didn't want to see that." She said quietly.

"It's quite all right dear." soothed Rarity, "Rainbow Dash is quite brutal."

"I am not, these guys are going to be fine!" argued Rainbow Dash.

"We're losing time!" said Twilight, "PAL and Spike, you take the first hallway, and the rest of us will try to go for the throne room. See if you can find anything about Darkmatter's plans and sabotage any weapons you come across that look like they were made by Techorse!"

"Of course, Mistress Sparkle!" shouted PAL, charging in with his gatling laser cannon in hand. Spike followed behind him, and they disappeared around a corner of the dark fortress.

"Here we go, girls," said Twilight, "let's get to that throne room. Once we're there, I'll give us the Elements from my saddlebags, and we'll stop Darkmatter!"

They took off galloping in a straight line, prepared to fight any guards they came across. But strangely enough, they did not meet very much resistance, as if Darkmatter wanted them to be there. Eventually, they came across the throne room doors, being guarded by eight guards with light armor and crossbows. The guards smirked and launched their bolts at the girls, not sparing a single thought for them. Twilight quickly jumped in front of her friends and deployed a purple-colored magical barrier, causing the arrows to beak. Without any time to reload, the mares were on top of the guards in no time, and they easily overpowered them. Fluttershy and Rarity tied up the defeated stallions with a large red ribbon, and left them in the hallway. Together the six entered the throne room, and found Techorse chained to the throne. Darkmatter sat there, and Limpwing had taken her place again on the cushion.

"Well, what brings you here?" asked Darkmatter, getting up from his seat and walking forward. His guards formed a wedge-shaped defensive formation in front of the alicorn.

"We're here to take back Techorse, mister!" said Applejack, "Of course, the sooner you give him over, the easier this is gonna be for ya!"

"You can have Techorse back after we've taken Canterlot," said Darkmatter calmly, "I want you to know that I have no intention of bringing physical harm to your close friend."

Techorse shouted, "He's lying! He threatened to turn me into a gelding, Twilight!"

Twilight Sparkle gave Darkmatter a nasty look, and her horn glowed an angry violet.

"You were going to WHAT!?" she gasped.

"Hey, it was only a joke!" claimed Darkmatter, "I wasn't really going to… you know."

"Oh I doubt that." said Rarity, stepping up next to Twilight, "You seem like just the stallion to do such a thing. What, with wanting to harm Princess Celestia and all. You're just a big brute."

"Regardless, you are all too late." said the alicorn, "I already have Techorse's battle saddles in full production. Soon my stallions will be ready to overrun Canterlot. Then, I'll personally punish Celestia for everything she did to my sweet sister Luna!"

Techorse's jaw fell open. Darkmatter's plans finally made sense to him, it was a revenge plot all along, and an unnecessary one at that!

Fluttershy saw this from across the room and tried to whisper to him, "We'll explain it to you later, Tech!"

"You won't punish Celestia, 'cause we're going to take you down!" boasted Rainbow Dash. Darkmatter shook his head and ordered his guards to attack.

The ten guards dashed forward to engage the six friends. Twilight opened up with several magic projectiles from her horn, one of the shots managed to catch a guard before he even got a few feet away from Darkmatter. Once they were within melee range, Applejack jumped high in the air, and brought her full weight down on another guard, crushing him in his armor and leaving him out cold. Rarity brought out a diamond from her bag and swung it at one of the guards several times.

"Hah, you missed." He said, laughing as he prepared to beat Rarity.

"Oh, did I?" said Rarity with teasing in her voice.

The guard's armor immediately fragmented from the diamond cuts, falling to the floor in small pieces. He hung his head in embarrassment, and slowly backed away from Rarity.

Rainbow Dash dueled another one of the guards during the fight, swinging her hooves at him while trying to dodge his returned blows. As they battled, Fluttershy attempted to get out of the fight by crawling away slowly. The guard Rainbow Dash was fighting accidentally tripped over the retreating Fluttershy, and fell hard on the ground.

She looked at the injured stallion and said meekly, "Sorry!”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and went back to try and help the others. Pinkie Pie had found herself in trouble, as one of the guards had her pinned to the floor.

"You guys wouldn't hurt me!" she said, trying not to lose her positive attitude, "I'm too silly, right?"

The guard shook his head and brought one of his hooves down. Pinkie Pie slipped out from under him, rolled between his legs, and came out from behind him. The guard brought down his hoof on the pavement, and realized in shock that Pinkie had dropped a large lit firecracker on the ground where she once was. It exploded in his face, and he fell over in shock.

Within just a minute, the battle was over. Ten guards had been reduced to a group of unconscious or embarrassed ponies.

Darkmatter looked at what had become of his "elite" stallions in disgust, and said, "How did you beat them? They were ten times as strong as you!"

"Maybe they're strong physically, but you're threatening our friend!" said Twilight, "And that gives us the will to beat them!"

Opening the bag on her side, Twilight tossed out the element artifacts to her friends.

"Are those the Elements of Harmony?" asked Darkmatter, “I don't remember them being quite like that back in the day.”

"Yes," said Twilight, "in a few seconds, you and Limpwing are going to be nothing but a pair of statues!"

Darkmatter's horn glowed black. He was obviously going to cast something on the six ponies before him. Suddenly, they felt as if they couldn't move, and Fluttershy fell to the ground almost instantly. As Darkmatter's horn glowed more intensely, the friends began to feel heavier and heavier!

"What's happening?" shrieked Pinkie Pie as she collapsed on the stone floor.

Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash were soon pinned to the floor as well. Finally, after an even more intense struggle, Applejack's legs gave, and the orange earth pony hit the floor hard.

"I'm using my magic to increase the local gravity around you six," laughed Darkmatter. "Right now you're experiencing 5 G's, five times the gravity of Equestria. Three more and you'll be as flat as a pancake, Twilight Sparkle!"

Twilight didn't expect the prince to know her name, and she asked him, "How did you know who I was?"

Limpwing explained, "I've been spying on you this whole time, Twilight, writing things down about you. Darkmatter knows everything about the modern Elements of Harmony now."

"Yes!" exclaimed the prince, "And now that you're here, I can go with my original plan for defeating Celestia! Limpwing, you're now immune to my gravity spell. Take the Elements and head down to the golem locker! Begin creation of my automated troops."

"What about the battle saddles?" she asked.

Darkmatter pointed with a hoof at his unconscious guards, "These weaklings don't deserve the honor of helping me get revenge. The golems will be a much more powerful force."

Limpwing frowned and said, "But this is about The Domain's citizens regaining Equestria! What's the point if there are no ponies?"

Darkmatter laughed, "Who cares? Honestly, you and your ponies can have whatever we want once I'm done with Celestia!"

The blue pegasus pony completely removed her flight goggles, and entered the gravity field. She removed the element artifacts, and then carried them off in a sack to take down to the golem locker. Limpwing left the room and looked at the six suffering friends. They all looked like they were in a lot of pain from being trapped under Darkmatter's spell. She actually began to feel sorry for them, and was also a little disturbed by the fact that Darkmatter was more concerned about his revenge than the desires of the citizens.

After Limpwing had left the room, Darkmatter used his magic to pick up the six helpless ponies, and dump them on the floor in front of his throne. He then pushed his unconscious guards out of the room, locked the door, and laughed menacingly.

"Now that I have your Elements, I no longer need any of you." He said, "I think I'll do to you what I plan on doing to Celestia once this is all over."

Darkmatter shouted loudly, and his eyes glowed a brilliant white along with his horn as a huge bolt of energy hit the floor. A huge wormhole appeared on the floor, sucking in several of the stones with the sheer gravity.

"This wormhole actually leads straight to Canterlot castle's main lobby." Darkmatter explained, "But it's quite the long ride, 1000 years to be exact."

"Please don't throw us in there!" begged Fluttershy.

Darkmatter shook his head, "Looks like somepony's volunteering to be first!"

Rainbow Dash wanted to do something to protect her friend, but they were all too weak from the gravity spell.

"You leave Fluttershy alone!"

"Well girls, it looks like this is the end," said Twilight with a sad expression on her face. "I'm so sorry I got all of you dragged into this!"

"We had to try," replied Applejack. "It's not your fault."

Techorse sighed and said, "Darkmatter, please. You don't have to do this."

"Why shouldn't I do it?" he asked, "You were going to stone me like that fool, Discord!"

"I know that somewhere in there, you're just angry about what happened to Luna." said Techorse, "I want you to know that Luna's back, her banishment is over. She's made up with Celestia, and I'm sure she'd be miserable if she found out we suffered because we tried to stop you from making a stupid mistake."

Darkmatter looked at Techorse in surprise, "Luna's alive?"

"Even better!" said Pinkie Pie, "She's really happy with her life right now, gets along with princess Celestia, and even likes my parties!"

"I… I want proof!" said the confused prince.

"If you turn off the vortex of doom, we'll take you to her," promised Twilight.

Darkmatter dispelled the black hole, causing it to collapse in on itself.

"Now, take me to Luna," he said.
Twilight and her friends stood up from the ground.

She said to him, "We'll make sure you get to see Luna as soon as possible. But first, you have to call off your invasion!"

---

Down below in the golem locker, PAL and Spike searched for the weapons laboratory. They walked among the large piles of rocks meant for making the constructs, searching for a hint as to where the lab might be.

"This place gives me the creeps!" said Spike, "Wonder what all these rock piles are for anyways?"

On a balcony above them, Limpwing finished placing each of the Elements of Harmony onto six different runed tables. She then walked over to a large lever, and pulled it. Magical energy surged through the Element artifacts, which absorbed extra power from them before draining down the legs of the tables, and onto carvings into the floor beneath the spy. The energy surged over the railing, and struck the piles of stone below. PAL and Spike jumped back in surprise as the small stone piles began to animate themselves. Each one took the form of a small bipedal monster, and on each ones left arm, a pink crystal spike glowed with powerful magical energy. The golems had glowing red "eyes" which tracked the robot and the dragon.

"Yikes!" shouted Spike, "Those are golems!"

"How do you know for sure?" questioned PAL.

"Twilight was reading a book about them. Apparently they're designed to guard their master and follow his orders!" explained the dragon in a panic.

He knew that the golems were going to attack him and PAL any second.

The stone figures moved forward and started to charge the pair.

PAL spun up his minigun and said, "Spike, a lot of ponies mistake me for a metal golem. Now, those who know that I'm actually a robot say that I'm much better than any golem they've ever seen. If you be brave and help me, Spike, I'm sure we can prove them right."

Spike beat back his fear, and stood next to PAL. The golems were rushing them at full speed, and it seemed like the fight would end poorly for them. But suddenly, the constructs stopped their charge, and stood still, before turning around and returning to several recesses in the walls of the room where they stood for storage.

“Or... they could give up, I suppose.” said PAL, shrugging and shut off his weapon.

Limpwing dropped down from the ceiling, having pressed a command rune above that signaled the golems to return to their storage areas and power down. She stood in front of the two, who demanded an explanation as to why she changed her mind about having the golems attack them.

“What's this all about then?” asked PAL.

“Yeah!” added Spike, “We thought you were trying to stop us from saving Techorse.”

Limpwing explained herself, “Look, my boss is a little nuts right now, and I'm starting to think he tricked me into believing he was going to help the citizens of the town. I'm not going to let loose an army of golems for him without being sure he's going to help my fellow residents of The Domain.”

“So are you on our side now?” asked Spike.

“Almost,” said Limpwing, teasing them, “I need to go check on that. Don't you go anywhere!”

She left the two standing in the room with puzzled looks on her face, and flew up to the second floor, where she proceeded down a hallway to return to the throne room. Having taken the Elements of Harmony back with her, she intended to give them back once everything was over. Limpwing found Darkmatter continuing to talk to Twilight and her friends about Luna's return, and how she was actually not mad at Celestia for her banishment.

She asked of him, "What's going on?"

Darkmatter explained to her, "Lieutenant, Twilight here and her friends are telling me that Princess Luna has returned! Is that true?"

"Well yes…" she said.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" he demanded, rushing up to Limpwing, "I didn't need to go through with attacking Canterlot if Luna was ok!"

"Hey!" defended Limpwing, not cowering from the angry royal at all, "You told me to spy on the Element holders, not find out about Princess Luna! Don't blame me for this!"

Darkmatter grunted and agreed reluctantly, asking, "Well, did you build the golems or not?"

"I only made a few." She answered with frustration, "I'm starting to think you don't really care about The Domain anymore, so I'm not helping you launch an invasion until I'm sure the special ponies living here are going to get the chance you promised.”

He barked back at her, "I'll help you all out after I've seen my sister! She's the same as she always was, according to them, but I must see for myself. Then I can browbeat Celestia into giving The Domain its demands alongside her!”

"Now hold on," said Limpwing, knowing what Twilight had done, "I think Techorse and his friends have tricked you, my lord. They had to fight a very angry Luna when she first returned, and it was only the power of the Elements of Harmony that purified her. "

Darkmatter spun around and said, "So… you tricked me?"

Twilight said in embarrassment, "Well, I wouldn't say we tricked you. Luna's ok now, she was a little bit upset when she came back at first, but she's much better."

"Magically forcing her to improve doesn't count!" He shouted loudly.

“But it wasn't forced, we only removed the evil spirit from her!” complained Twilight, “Luna still had to have a change of heart to avoid being taken again, and she did!”

“Nonetheless, I'm tired of being slowed by demands and talk. I'm going to Canterlot now to confront Celestia!” he said, his horn glowing.

With a burst of energy, Darkmatter disappeared in a flash and teleported away for Canterlot.

Pinkie Pie screamed, "Darkmatter's going to get Princess Celestia!"

"Not if we can stop him first," said Techorse. "Let's go get the Elements of Harmony back and go to Canterlot!"

"But where are they?" asked Applejack. "We have to find them first!"

"No you don't," sighed Limpwing. "I'm giving them back to you, they're right here."

The friends looked at who they thought had betrayed them with surprise. Limpwing opened the bag at her side and gave each pony back their artifact.

"But why, Limpwing?" asked Fluttershy.

Limpwing said calmly, "Darkmatter said that The Domain's citizens would get a chance to go back to Equestria and rejoin society. Well, he's made it obvious that all he really wants to do is get revenge on Celestia. I might work for Darkmatter, but my loyalties are with The Domain, and if he manages to do what I know he wants to do to Celestia, The Domain's name is going to be permanently hurt, and the citizens I serve may never get to go back to Equestria."

"With any luck," said Twilight. "We'll be able to stop Darkmatter before it's too late."

---

Darkmatter teleported straight through the shield of Canterlot castle. He entered inside the throne room, where Celestia and Luna were sitting. Luna recognized her long-lost brother immediately.

"Darkmatter!" shouted Luna, standing up from the chair and rushing to embrace him.

"Oh Luna, you're finally back!" he said, happy to see his sibling again.

They hugged in front of Celestia, who smiled gently.

"Welcome back, brother." She said to him, trying to be friendly.

"All right Luna, we can catch up right after I settle this." said Darkmatter with a sinister tone. He pushed Princess Luna aside and walked right up to Celestia.

"Celestia, I come with both good and bad news. The good news is that I will not be invading your territory. You can bring your defenses down and return life to normal."

Celestia looked down at her brother and asked, "Then what is the bad news?"

Darkmatter's horn glowed as he said, "I'm still going to punish you for what you did to Luna. Prepare to be banished for a millennium."

Celestia gave him a look of horror, but shot up from her throne and attempted to defend herself. She shot a solid beam of radiant energy at Darkmatter, but the prince put up a small black hole in front of him, which vacuumed up the powerful attack. Celestia stopped and looked around for an escape vector.

"It's no use, you've trapped yourself here." He said, "Hopefully this banishment will make you think more carefully about using the Elements on your own family!"

Luna stepped in front of Darkmatter and begged him, "No brother! Don't do it, everything between me and sister is now as our subjects say 'cool'!"

"Luna, you really have been brainwashed!" he said in depression, trying not to cry from his own psychological failings, "Now I really will make you pay, Celestia!"

Seconds before Darkmatter could cast his wormhole, Techorse, Limpwing, and the others teleported in the room.

Each of the six mares were wearing their respective artifacts. The dark prince turned to look at them, and said, "Limpwing! You traitor…"

"Based on what the others have said, I'd say you're the real traitor," scoffed Limpwing. "You never cared about us, and I'm done working for you."

"All right girls!" said Twilight. "Formation!"

The mares assembled together to begin their elemental attack. Their eyes turned a brilliant white as energy began to accumulate between them.

"Techorse, count us off!"

"Aw crap…" muttered Darkmatter in horror.

Techorse chuckled and said, "With pleasure! Fluttershy, kindness!"

Darkmatter slowly backed away from the team and said, "Hey now, let's talk this all over!"

"Rarity, Generosity!"

The prince decided in an act of desperation to attempt to rush the wormhole spell. Sparks of energy began to form in front of him as he concentrated on creating the portal.

"Pinkie Pie, laughter!"

Luna saw her brother beginning the spell, and knew that Twilight and her friends would not be able to finish their charge fast enough to save Celestia.

"There's no time for this!" she shouted impatiently.

At that moment, the Princess of the Night decided to take things into her own hooves. To the surprise of the ponies trying to use their Elements, she jumped into the air, wings spread as far as possible, and shot a beam of dark colored energy down at her brother. In awe of the strike, the others powered down the Element artifacts and watched on.

The prince attempted to defend himself from Luna's attack by summoning yet another black hole in front of him. The huge beam was devoured by the black hole, but the energy from it was starting to make the vortex spark. Darkmatter grinned as the hole absorbed the attack, but his expression went into one of confusion as the black hole began to warp. And with a loud, sharp blast, the black hole overloaded from the energy intake and became a quasar, spilling its contents all over Darkmatter. The prince screamed, knowing it was the end for him and was wrapped in destructive energy. When the beam faded and everything settled down, Darkmatter was still standing, but something had certainly changed about him.

His mind had been cleared of all his hatred, and the anger in his eyes had disappeared.

The prince asked in a timid manner, "I'm still here?"

Luna landed back on the floor of the castle and approached him, "I have cured you of your torment, little brother. With my magic and love for you, I found your hate and sadness deep in your heart, and destroyed it."

Darkmatter stood up on his four legs, still a little shaky, “Sadness?”

Luna continued, “You were sad about my banishment this whole time, and you let it turn into rage. But now, I have set you free.”

The princess looked at her little brother, whose eyes were beginning to tear up, “Welcome back, little brother.”

“Oh Luna...” he said, “I'm sorry!”

They hugged in front of the others, and a few tears flowed as they embraced. Once they had stopped and dried their small number of well-deserved tears, Pinkie Pie's heart welled up with joy.

"Hooray!" cheered Pinkie Pie, taking a large leap in the air. "Darkmatter's not crazy anymore!"

The prince said to his sisters, "Perhaps I should take some time to recover, and then go tell brother about Luna's return. I'm sure he'd be much more willing to speak to you once he's learned about it."

"I think that sounds like a wonderful idea," agreed Celestia.

She then gave him a slightly sad look and asked, "Darkmatter, I honestly felt very guilty about what I did to Luna all those years ago, but she came to forgive me. The question is, will you forgive me?"

Darkmatter walked carefully up to her, and embraced her as well, "I forgive you, Celestia. Luna's helped me to see everything in the right light now, and I'm just happy that we're family again."

Celestia added after the hug, “Please, tell your subjects that they are welcome back into Equestria at any time.”

“I will be merging my territory into the main country,” declared the Prince, “It will be my last executive order before I leave. The Domain needs to be an Equestrian city for the good of the ponies living there. Will you accept my proposal to rejoin?”

“Of course!” answered the princesses, eager to bring the lands together.

The prince then walked over to Limpwing and said, "Lieutenant, while I go on my quest to find my brother, I want you to keep watch over The Domain for me. In fact, perhaps it's best if you rule it from now on. You were right about me, and I no longer deserve to lead them for failing to think of them first.”

“But you kept your promise just now by making The Domain an Equestrian city!” said Limpwing, “Nopony's making you quit. Once your citizens know you've done this peacefully, they'll probably love you even more.”

“I understand,” he said, happy he was still wanted, “nonetheless I wish to look for brother. Will you accept authority in my stead?”

"If it's ok, I'd actually like to keep working in Ponyville. Can I let one of your other officers take command?" she asked, hoping to still hang out with Twilight and company.

Darkmatter nodded, "If that's what you wish, then be the best resident of Ponyville you can be."

"I'll do my best!" she responded, smiling at his new attitude.

"And Twilight Sparkle, friends..." Darkmatter said as he turned to them.

"I should have believed you when you said Luna made her own conscious choice to become good. Keep believing that we all have the ability to choose to be good."

Twilight answered, "Don't worry prince Darkmatter, we will."

She turned to look back at the smiling expressions of her friends, "It's what we've always done!"

That afternoon, Darkmatter left on his mission to go find his brother's whereabouts and invite him to rejoin his family. Princess Luna had a construction team sent to The Domain, and they built a fancy silver gate that was always left open, so that the residents of The Domain could visit anytime they wanted to. Celestia also created a law that stated that there would be penalties for discriminating against the ponies for their flaws, and the Equestrian senate voted unanimously to pass it.

---

Now, two days later, Twilight and all her friends were back at Bob's diner. They were hoping they could talk about the whole mess they went through over a nice hot plate of food.

Techorse started off by saying, "Hey everypony, thanks for pulling me out of that. You're the best!"

"We did pretty well, but I have to admit, it was pretty close," said Rainbow Dash.

"Yeah!" agreed Pinkie Pie, "We almost ended up as wormhole food!"

"And golem target practice!" added Spike.

Fluttershy said softly, "But we did cure Darkmatter, and that's very important."

"Not only that, but we did it without upsetting The Domain. Some of those ponies make the most beautiful works of art!" added Rarity with a happy tone.

Twilight wrapped up the conversation, "Most importantly, I think we've all made a good friend from this."

Limpwing walked up to the table, wearing her bandanna rag and apron. She acted as if the events of two days ago never really happened.

"Hi guys, good to see you back here! What can I get for you?"

"Well, let's see here," said Applejack, "I'll go first if ya don't mind."

"Not at all Applejack," said Limpwing, taking out her pen.

After taking the orders of all her new friends, she turned around and headed back to the kitchen to give them to the chef. Once she halfway through the door, she back and watched her new friends talk and laugh.

"At first, they were just ponies I had to spy on. But now, everything's different. They're really great friends!" she thought as she closed the door shut.