Journey To Hearth's Warming

by Lighttone GryphonStar

S2 Episode 13: The Bold Princess

On the shores of a harbor looking out to the Celestial Sea, alone airship slowly approached. Pegasi gathered at the edge to greet the ship's arrival. They were a bit surprised it could even fly with the state it was in; The sides were covered in massive claw marks. The sails were blackened as if once ablaze. And the anchor was nothing but a cut rope now.

"It must have been attacked by the griffins. Those bastards." A white pegasus got closer.

"Sand Sky, I think it is actually a griffin airship?" A grey pegasus beside him spoke up. He pointed out to the wing and beak designs over the front.

"Impossible. We are at war with those griffins?" Sand Sky scratched his chin and reached out for the rope to pull it in. "Why would they land here?"

"Do you think they want to attack this dock?"

"Not with those damages." Sand Sky tied down the rope and walked over to the other rope that hung from the door. It was also torn, but differently. While the other rope showed signs of a knife, the rope over the door looked as if it had been ripped. This was puzzling since if this was a griffin airship, then the rope wouldn't have ripped so easily. The griffins prided themselves on making the finest ropes in all the land. After all, the same rope had to not only hold an airship in place but also even their cities. Such a rope like this would be hard enough for the cut, but to flat out break was unheard of.

Hesitantly, he reached for the door's rope and gave a hard pull. The rope held strong above the tear, only adding more confusion. He looked up at the door as it creaked loudly and folded outward. "Though get a weapon ready just in case."

"Sure." The pegasus behind him pulled out a knife and stood ready as the door slowly descended.

"Welcome to Hikina Port--"

However, as they caught sight of what lay inside, their weapons dropped to the ground as body after body poured out of the doorway like a flood.

"What... What is this?" Sand Sky could barely speak. Behind him, the other pegasus had even less strength bolting into a full-on dash at the sight. "Saw Tooth--" He attempted to call upon his friend but was stopped at the sounds of crushing behind him.

Sand Sky slowly turned around to see his friend's skull getting crushed by a hippogriff's hand. From the angle this hippogriff was standing, it appeared as if he had jumped from the airship.

"Yo, stallion. You should look above." The hippogriff spat into rap.

At the sight of his friend falling dead, Sand Sky unconsciously moved backward, not even realizing he was backing into the bodies until he was stopped by crashing into the chest of someone who clearly wasn't dead.

"Yo, maybe my warning shouldn't have been for you, fool." The hippogriff spat at Sand Sky.

"Stop with your poor attempts to be cool, Sting." A voice spoke up from behind Sand Sky. The voice was rough and echoed as if speaking through a tube.

The pegasus knew there was someone behind him but he was too afraid to move, even as he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Now tell me, how far is the nearest port to the Alicorn's Floating Citadel?" The one behind him spoke again.

"I... I... I... don't know..."

"Of course he doesn't know, Fiend," Sting yelled out.

"Hmm," The hand gripped tighter to the pegasus's shoulder. "Maybe he's just too scared to speak."

With that, a strange feeling slowly filled every part of Sand Sky's body. Starting from his shoulder and slowly making its way over everything. With each inch it traveled, it became more and more clear this wasn't fear or even the darkest forms of dread, but as if something was slowly being sucked from his body.

Without warning, his body jolted, and his jaw clenched open. His flesh sank into place and finally, this strange feeling was instantly replaced by something he knew all too well, absolute agony.

He fell from the hand, but the pain wouldn't stop. It now had no source, as if his whole body was being attacked over and over and over. He struggled and twisted as his skin pulled tighter to his body. Screaming was all he could direct toward his attackers, as they simply smiled at him.

More dock workers ran toward the noise only for them to fall as well, racking with the same feeling from before, only to pursue Sand Sky in his screams.

Sting walked over to his brother and grabbed his hand. The power... the souls they were sucking out of these pegasi were slowly feeding into an orb as the center of the glove that Fiend wore.

"Oh, how delicious? These shall prove quite useful in our journey to attack the alicorns directly."

"It's all part of the plan," Sting laughed.

"What better way to call out our return."

"Then, that old teacher of ours won't dare be able to ignore us."

******

In Gelum Voce Pia, loud noises continued to echo from the tent that surrounded the mighty crystal hand at the center of town. Inside, Celestia was hard at work with several experiments.

"Test number forty-five," she magically wrote on a notepad beside her. She floated over a bag of sand to the barrier. Opening it along the edge, she drifted it around the barrier. The sand didn't fall, rather it leak out in a trail along the barrier following the bag, leaving a ring around the area. "It's like I thought space is being bent, and yet in no discernable direction. But why?" She placed down the notepad and placed a finger on her chin. Possibilities raced through her at incredible speeds before she finally came to the only conclusion. "Hmm, maybe the spell wasn't refined."

"Well, she made it in a burst of the moment."

"Yeah, maybe--" she stopped as she noticed the other voice. Celestia quickly turned around, only to see a dark blue pegasus with a cup of cider in his hand.

"I see you noticed me finally."

"I'm sorry." Celestia took a step back and properly faced him. "I get too much into my work.”

"You know, you remind me a lot of the one who created that." He took a drink of his cider.

"Wait, you know who made this?" Celestia's eyes lit up.

"Of course," He waved his hand to the exit. "Just follow me and we will talk about her over some drinks."

"I'm sorry... but I don't drink."

"You," The pegasus's eyes went wide. "A fine lass like yourself must have drunk plenty of times." He tilted his head to her.

Celestia brushed off the comment and laughed. "Well, it's not that I haven't drunk. I just prefer not to."

"Well," he stopped halfway to get another drink. "I guess you don't want to learn about the one who made that."

"What?" Celestia placed her hand to her chest and leaned back in insult. "I want to know--"

"Thenfollowusandfindout!" A green blur ran into the tent around Celestia.

"Hermes?!" The pegasus facepalmed in confusion.

The green blur ran toward the pegasus and around him several times before being stopped by a large steel color arm that had reached into the tent. A buffalo followed the hand.

"Thank you, Red Steel." The pegasus dropped his hand and looked to Celestia, who was not only confused now but on her guard because of the multiple intrusions. "I'm sorry, let's start over."

"Oh... okay. My name is Celestia, Princess of the Day."

"Oh, another alicorn, huh? I've already introduced Hermes and Red Steel." The pegasus pointed at each of them before pointing to himself. "And my name is Rainbow Dartz."

"Another alicorn? You mean to tell me an alicorn made this?" Celestia took their names with kindness and walked forward. She was now extremely interested in finding this important detail. She held her hand out to them as an offer of trust.

"Yes, her name is Twilight Sparkle." Rainbow Dartz took the hand and shook tightly. The four walked out of the tent and to the nearest bar.

******

Back under the unicorn capital, Starlight and Silver Pear were quite in a predicament. They had escaped the naga's stomach through his puking and now darkness covered their eyes as the bile moved around.

Neither one opening their eyes out of fear. Neither one realized what position they were in until Starlight felt a large bump hit against her gut. She opened her eyes only to see her chest was still stuffed in Silver Pear's face and her legs were laid wide over his loins. She deadpanned once her mind answered quickly what was bumping against her gut.

With a swift kick to the legs, she pushed herself upward and took a few steps back before attempting to remove the slime from her body. She looked to Silver Pear and his appearance rather large bump for about two seconds before pulling back in disgust. "No, no, no, that would have been too dis--"

"Disturbing!" Starswirl appeared behind her.

"Yes..." She turned around and stopped at the sight of the dictionary in his hand. A frown flooded her face, and she placed her hand over the book. Without warning, it burst into flames before freezing solid and shattering to dust.

"I'll take that as a no for my future name?" Starswirl gave a small frown. "Either..." Within a second, though, this sadness was gone as he flew around them with towels to clean them off as he hopped in the air with joy. "You did it, you did it, you did it!"

"What?" Silver Pear could barely compute what happened, as he was still reacting to the kick.

"You opened the package!!" Starswirl cheered louder. "You succeed in your mission!!" He flew up to the naga and bowed, "Thank you, Diamondback Gust, for your work."

The naga twisted back and forth in revilement. "... Of course, old friend."

"Wait, mission?!" Starlight's eyes flared red. "So you attempted to kill us?!"

"No," Starswirl waved his hands at them. "This was a test, a test of duty, honor, even friendship."

"How did any of this deal with friendship?" Silver Pear finally picked himself up.

"Now, I can see why your only friend in the future is the bum that lives outside the city and talks to her animal friends." Starlight accidentally slipped into words.

"Oh, really?" Starswirl pulled out a notebook and took down every word before Starlight could stop herself. "Is this friend nice and kind?"

"--" Starlight forced her mouth shut upon realizing what she just said.

"Hmm," Starswirl twirled in the air until he was upside down and floated right up to Starlight. He looked deeply into her eyes before putting down more notes. "You truly are a strange mare. You also think this bum outside of town is hot?"

"No! I didn't say that?!" Starlight screamed aloud.

"No, you thought it." He pointed his quill at her.

"Well..." Starlight's eyes waved back and forth before she finally answered. "As far as my spying went, everyone in that town has the hots for Flutter--” She grabbed her mouth shut again.

"Okay, okay, Lovely." Silver Pear walked over and pushed Starlight aside before Starswirl could prop more into her mind.

"Either way, I think I have enough data to finally start trusting you two." Starswirl snapped his fingers. The notepad and the ashes of the dictionary floated together before vanishing.

"Wait, this is also a test of trust!" Starlight's rage was now at a burning point.

"Of course, I need to trust my newest student."

"New..." Starlight's rage faded at that word and she repeated herself, "Newest students."

"Newest student," Starswirl pointed to her alone in his correction. He then puffed over to Silver Pear and shook his hand. "Sorry, I put you through so much pain for her sake."

"No problem at all..." He spoke with uncertainty. "But I'm the one who opened the bag."

Starswirl stopped shaking the hand as his eyes went wide. "Wait, you did it?" He was completely in shock. He put this whole thing into action to test Starlight, and Silver Pear was the one who completed the deed. "Impossible."

"As much as I don't want to admit it now. He actually saved us both." Starlight placed her hand over her eyes to wipe away the images from inside, where he reached all around her to save the day. In the back of her mind, she screamed, "That is the last time I tie something around my hips while around that pervert!"

"Well, this is unexpected." Starswirl puffed over to the naga and sat on his head. Puzzling poured through the old wizard's brain until, finally, an idea came to form. "Tell me, Diamondback Gust, did you notice any strange taste during your meal?"

"Well, outside of the sweet taste of heat sweat--"

"I was not in heat!" Starlight shouted in the background.

"There was also the taste of..." The naga stopped for a moment and flicked his tongue twice. He peered over to Silver Pear. He licked his tongue over Silver Pear softly before pulling back. "Hmm, he tastes just like an inugami."

"An inu— what now?"

"An inugami is a type of wolf spirit." Starswirl puffed up a new book. "Much like the wolf that kidnapped your mother."

"What?" Silver Pear's eyes went wide.

"Yes, when Rex told me that an inugami was seen during the battle, I did a bit of research just in case." Starswirl flipped through the book incredibly fast. "I found that the bar your family own, the Wolf's Apple, was once connected to a series of sighting and rapes committed by an inugami nearly two hundred years ago."

"Rapes..." Silver Pear's voice went shallow.

Starswirl slammed the book to bring the earth pony's attention back to him. "You don't need to take that last part too seriously as I believe the inugami from two hundred years ago and the one who took your mother were separate beings, but connected." He puffed in front of Silver Pear and handed him the book. "I didn't know what I should do with this information since in the end, it led to no answers about Indigo Frost or why he has an inugami under his command. So I closed the literal book on it and thought nothing more of it." He walked right up to Silver spear's ear and spoke softer, so Starlight couldn't hear the last part. "But considering you have the same taste as an inugami and at least two inugami are directly connected to you really brings things into perspective."

Silver Pear attempted to question, but Starswirl floated away and turned to the naga. The old wizard gave the enormous snake a bow. He floated his popcorn back over to his hands and opened a portal. "Enough of curiousness, we must meet up with the others."

"Right..." Starlight turned her head away from him.

"Also, it would be helpful for you to know that Princess Platinum has a young naga under her employ." Starswirl brought some popcorn to his mouth and munched away.

"Great..." Starlight deadpanned as the three of them entered the portal.

******

Back in the center of Geländehorn, within the magnificent castle, in the garden, they had searched so long that Twilight was nearly out of breath. She heard Rex's words, but it took a few moments for it all to soak in. Standing just a few meters from her, staring back at her with determination and an icy glare was the princess that had or at least would soon lead the unicorns through the events of Hearth's Warming. Twilight knew she might get to meet some figures from this event in history, but meeting this one up close was far more than she bargained for.

"Unicorn, answer me!" Princess Platinum pointed right at Twilight. Twilight looked in confusion, almost forgetting she was in disguise to hide her alicornship so the princess wouldn't realize the obvious.

"I'm sorry," Twilight picked herself off the ground. "Right, you want to know why we are here. We are here to stop the--"

Rex waved his hand in front of Twilight. "You need not ask her. Our true purpose doesn't align with hers."

"Interesting." Princess Platinum turned her hand away from Twilight and to the referee. "Dim, towel."

On that, the referee walked forward from the shadows. Much to Rex's surprise, the referee was a naga at a young age... well, young age for a naga. The naga was black, with green frills and a broadsword at his side. He was built differently than most naga he has seen before as this one still had both his arms and legs. If he didn't know better, he was have mistaken the beast for a dragon, but it's much longer tail and lack of wings proved that to be wrong.

The naga handed the princess the towel and smiled, "You did well, but we can't fight with dead soldiers."

"A weak soldier is no more useful than a dead one." She grabbed the towel and cleaned it off.

"As my ally was saying, we are here on an important mission." Clover took this moment to walk forward. "We are searching for an important artifact."

Twilight was caught completely off guard by Clover's words. She originally assumed that Rex interrupted her earlier because she had overstepped beforehand.

"An artifact. What sort of artifact?"

"An alathar." Rex followed slowly behind Clover. "Nine special objects that hold incredible power. According to our notes, the crystal ponies left one with your family."

"Hmm, that could help me in the coming war." Princess Platinum gave a bold grin. "However, if you are searching for something like that, I'm afraid it's out of both our reaches."

"What do you mean?" Clover was surprised.

"Though my family never spoke of an object known as an alathar, they spoke of sealing something away in the Four Towers of Faith."

"And that problem how?"

"It's currently under the control of the alicorn, Blood Diamond."

Hearing that name sent a chill through Rex's whole body, so much so that he actually backed up a few steps. "Why would Topaz Silk send him?"

Twilight looked at Rex and then at Clover. She was so confused. She thought the mission was to stop the war. She knew Indigo Frost was after these alathar, but she saw the greater threat as being the war, especially if it brought forth problems for the events that would soon approach.

"I see you heard of him." Princess Platinum exited the arena and walked to them slowly. "I heard he slaughtered an entire army of zebras a few weeks ago. That he is considered the most to be a most loyal and most vicious of the alicorns. So sternly strong in his work, he won't falter once in his mission until it is complete." Finally, she arrived in front of the three of them and looked at each of them over. "I see great strength in all of you, yet it's clear neither of you would dare face him. Even if it is for this item, that of which I doubt he even knows is there."

"I will!" Twilight spoke up without a single hesitation.

This cold and strong statement brought curiosity to the Princess as she raced straight to Twilight and looked deep into her face. At this range, Twilight could finally get a good look at the unicorn princess.

Princess Platinum wore a silver short dress and cloth untwisted armor over her b cup. Her cape was just as bold of a royal purple as the history books always said. However, her mane was red, not blue, and tied tightly behind her head. In her hand, a rapier with a hilt covered in scales. She was both elegant and fearsome all at the same time.

Being this close, she stood just barely shorter than Twilight. It was far more clear she was younger than the books always said. In fact, the princess was younger than Twilight. Easily just barely reaching adult age, yet her face was filled with so much rage. Her eyes filled with an age that far exceeds her appearance.

It was like looking it a mirror for Twilight. Both of them, despite their young ages, had clearly seen far more bloodshed than one ever should. Both had lived such harsher lives far too early. Yet there was a separation where Twilight hadn't given up hope. There was no hope in this princess’s glare.

Princess Platinum smirked as if she was seeing the same thing Twilight seeing, but maybe seeing even more than even Twilight was catching onto. She jumped back and pulled up her rapier. She placed the tip right against Twilight, moving it right up to the eyepatch. Despite how close it got, Twilight didn't flinch once. She didn't want to insult herself or her allies.

"Fine, you will go if you can beat me in Todeskampf."

Twilight was completely taken aback by the princess's words. She did not know at all what Todeskampf even was. But it was clear there was a danger as shown when the naga stamped them.

"Dim, what are you doing?"

"Princess Mira Platinum, I cannot allow such a battle!"

The princess's eyes went wide at his words and, in particular, the use of certain words. "Well, Dimitri Dawn Dusk," she took a stepped forward and leaned right into his face, speaking forth his full name back as he did hers. "She thinks she can face Blood Diamond herself. Let see her prove it."

"I accept. Twilight's words brought a shock to them all. "Only if..." Though her actions up till now were strong, she didn't know how to place these next words to make them have the most impact and hopefully sway the princess to the idea.

"Well, what?" Princess Platinum's words tore through Twilight's attempts to buy time.

"I accept if you surrender this war and attempt to talk to the alicorns about bringing peace."

Silence fell overall. Rex stood in the back with disappointment. He believed peace was a pointless endeavor simply trying would put themselves behind Indigo Frost in the search of the alathar. The alathars took far higher importance and he couldn't let this upstart get in the way any longer. Exhaling heavily, he walked forward to mend this and get back to the genuine danger at hand.

However, Princess Platinum pulled back in utter laughter. This action sent confusion everywhere, including through the naga. It actually took a few moments before she could finally answer. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It just I've never heard of such an absurd demand."

"It's... not that bad, Rarit--" Twilight quickly stopped herself.

"No, it's bad, terrible. But an offer I can't really ignore." Princess Platinum put her rapier up and held out her hand. "We will battle."

Twilight took the hand and shook it, before quickly pulling back. "Wait, as in battle now."

"No, tomorrow morning. It's getting late and I'm getting hungry." Princess Platinum pulled her arms back and stretched into a pop. "Plus, I tore string in dress during my last bout."

"Nothing changes," Twilight laughed. Her wording confused all of them, to which she waved the wording away with a burst of shyness laughter. "Nevermind, we will fight in this Todeskampf tomorrow."

"You're fighting in a death battle!" The sound of a popcorn bag falling to the ground brought their attention to Starswirl, who was standing a few feet away with Starlight and Silver Pear, surrounded by a slowly vanishing portal.

Twilight's eyes went wide. "Wait, what?!"

"Indeed, and the kind that can't be undone once accepted." Princess Platinum gave her the biggest smile yet before clapping her hands. Out of nowhere, guards appeared and surrounded all of them. "Now, my guards will take you three to some quarters. We will all have dinner in an hour. As for the rest, they will quickly leave, or be executed."

Twilight's shoulders fell and her sigh followed with it. A frown made things more obvious. "What did I just do?"

"Sounds like you just fucked history harder than Silver Pear does a tree," Starlight deadpanned.

"Hey, I only did that once," He barked back. "And I was really--" He was stopped, and the guards pushed him, Starlight and Starswirl, to the nearest exit.

******

Deep within the north tower of the Four Towers of Faith, Blood Diamond sat on a throne he forged with crystal. He watched as several mini gem figures floated through the room dancing to his entertainment. They weren't sentient like the sculptures that Indigo Frost could create, rather these moved as if on strings, following his eyes over the room.

The room itself was slowly cleaned of all dust by each twist and turn the gems made. It was darkened by the dust, but clearing things up showed a white marble floor with sapphire pillars and sturdy wooden tables. In the center was a ball of pure crystal hanging from the ceiling. Small crystal shards hanged from it. Though some pieces were missing, Blood Diamond's spell quickly made sure each piece was replaced.

"This is truly an insult to our father." He raised his hands finally and gestured to the two towers closest to his sight. He turned his head over to his right and smiled. "You can show yourself, Stygian."

Out of the darkness beside him, a tall white unicorn with a shortcut blue mane draped in shadows like a cloak walked forward. "You called upon me."

"Yes, what do you think of this insult?"

Stygian looked over it all with confusion. "I assumed you called me to deal with Rex."

"Answer the question." Blood Diamond glared at him. "You, yourself, are a unicorn. Only you could understand such reasons."

"I haven't been a true unicorn for a long time." His hand reached out from the cloak and showed weak and wrinkled flesh. "But I remember my kind to be a prideful race."

"Good answer." Blood Diamond pulled back his hand and stood up.

"Is this why am I truly here? To answer questions about my kind?"

"You were once a unicorn, therefore you can help us better understand these mortals and why they would seek war with us."

"Yes, they would seek war?" Stygian raised an eyebrow at that. "But, your father was the one who made the declaration." He turned back around, "Am I right?"

"Actually, we do not believe that King Emerald Teal would make such a weak claim."

"True, he would rather wipe out the entire species without a single warning."

"Indeed, hence the reason you are here." Blood Diamond walked over to the window. "I want you to spy on them without Rex noticing you."

"Why not send Cold Blue. You trust him more than you trust me."

Blood Diamond turned away from the window and frowned. "Actually, he seems distracted lately."

"Cold Blue distracted, that is a first."

"He doesn't want me to notice, but there are times as if he's not here."

"Fine, I will go explore." On that, Stygian faded back into the shadows and out of sight.

******

Hidden deep inside the castle in a room chosen for her, Twilight could do nothing but hyperventilate and shake back and forth on the bed. Her mind raced at every possibility that could happen tomorrow.

Clover and Rex stood outside her room, waiting for an answer. They both knew she screwed up, but how badly depended solely on her next actions.

"She has been at this for an hour." Rex huffed in annoyance.

"Fine, I'll go in." Clover tired of waiting. She turned to the door and entered the room.

Twilight refused to move from her spot, and barely even noticed Clover as she stepped over to the bed. Taking a seat on the far end, Clover reached over slowly until Twilight finally noticed her.

Twilight's eye traced over Clover's actions before slowing her breath. "What are you doing in here?"

"Checking on you." Clover retracted her hand. "Rex isn't the best for these types of talks." She looked downward at her reasons. "Truthfully, he's never been good with children."

"Child?" Twilight pulled back, "I'm nearly twenty-one."

"Huh, just sis years younger than me and yet to him." Clover's legs crossed and her hands came together. "Either way, you need to stop pouting like a child."

"I'm not, I'm... calculating!" Twilight threw her arms about.

"Wow, you and he are too similar," Clover whispered under her breath. "Damn Starswirl..."

"What?" Twilight questioned the lowering of her voice.

"I mean, what is there to worry about?" Clover turned to her with a smile. "So what? If you lose, we will just have Rex teleport you out of there. It's not the first time he disobeyed the laws of a kingdom."

"Losing to her is not my fear." Twilight fell back into the wall. "I mean, what if I kill her?"

"Wow, vain much..." Clover whispered. "I guess Starswirl was wrong."

"He was wrong about what?" Twilight questioned, revealing that she could hear all her words.

"Wait, how much did you hear?" Clover's eyes went wide.

"Clover, you realize I watched you do a sound spell-like twice." Twilight gave a sheepish smile.

"Why would you need that spell on now?" Clover raised a hand to her, inadvertently waving her finger back and forth.

Twilight let go of her sheepishness and laughed at the sight Clover was giving.

"Wait, why are you laughing at me?" Clover practically roared.

"It's nothing, you just reminded me of someone." Twilight sat up and gave another much small laugh before reaching over and hugging Clover tightly. "I knew I was right about you."

"Right about what?" Clover was even more confused than ever now, but returned the hug anyway. "Look, just try your best and if things go terribly wrong, we will pull you out of there."

"Thank you..." Twilight worded that last word with her mouth but luckily caught herself from saying it aloud. Though this little meeting amplified the possibility, there was always the chance she could be wrong. Either way, she was happy enough to know more about her favorite idol in history, and more if her assumptions were completely right.

******

The dining room was warm with the light of candles and the steam of finely cook kelp dressed around rice, cucumbers and avocado slices. In the center were both sides of sushi and thinly slice fried chicken with some worcester sauce for dipping.

Twilight strolled around it and took in all the smells. It was truly the most please plate of food she had seen in years.

Everything was placed on a small table with five chairs around it. She certainly noticed how small the table was and that another table would have been far more suited. In the back, a much larger table caught her eye. It laid on its side, completely covered in dust from lack of use. She walked to it, but was stopped by Clover.

Clover gave her a discerning nod and guided her to a chair right near the front of the small table, just in time as Princess Platinum walked in.

The princess wore a large bottom dress that drastically went against everything else that she wore before. It was so loud and proud. Seeing this almost put Twilight's still biting nervousness at ease. There was a familiarity with this and it calmed her greatly.

Following behind Princess Platinum was her loyal guard, Dimitri Dusk. He hurried to the table and pulled out two chairs. Princess Platinum took a seat next to Twilight and Dimitri took a seat next to the princess. Clover and Rex took the two remaining seats.

The table stayed quiet and still for a good three minutes once everyone was seated. However, in Twilight, this still only amplified her fear. Her sight wondered over them. Rex stayed quiet and stared off into space as if there were far more important stuff on his mind. This was no surprise to her since her little move went completely against his own plan. Clover was the complete opposite, she kept an attend look, making sure everything was completely clean around her, it was completely against everything Twilight had learned about the mare.

Clover's actions made Twilight remember back to her words and that maybe indeed Clover would be just as nervous if not more, even though her life wasn't the one on the line.

"Now, we eat..." Princess Platinum spoke up before Twilight could gauge her reasoning for being so silent at a dinner she demanded. Even though she was sitting right next to Twilight, Twilight had neglected to scan her attitude until it was too late.

All she could do now was watch the food pass by. Princess Platinum went for the sushi and dipped it into the sauce. Bringing to her mouth, she chewed softly and swallowed before Dimitri followed her action. Twilight pushed through the nervousness with the food and went in after them. She, however, didn't realize that Clover waited until last to grab her pieces.

The meal moved by rather slowly at first before speeding up. Though there was movement, there were still no words being spoken outside of Princess Platinum's first line. Instead, both the princess and her loyal guard stayed quiet and continue to eat.

Despite Twilight's fears at first, the meal was very peaceful. And did much to calm her mind about the oncoming battle tomorrow?

******

Miles away in another city altogether in a bar surrounded by cider, things couldn't be more the opposite. Loud clapping and clashing of cups and laughter echoed back and forth as Rainbow Dartz pushed down more and more drinks.

Celestia was quite surprised by this pegasus's endurance. Meanwhile, Hermes ran around serving drinks and jumping around, getting out what energy he had built up. Everything seemed so fun, but it had been over an hour and these creatures had yet to tell Celestia very much about this Twilight Sparkle. She was happy purely because they were happy, but also hiding her annoyance at their lack of foresight.

Seeing that this drinking was getting her nowhere and fearing that Golden Williams would walk up and find her in this place, she attempted to mend things. She knew if he found her in such a place, she would not hear the end.

With a quick move of magic, she vanished the cider from their cups and placed down her cup rather calmly.

Rainbow Dartz took a few sips of the empty cup before noticing. "Damn, empty already? Of course, this place is nothing compared to the Wolf's Apple."

"And that place?" Celestia poised, hoping to get more out instead of just more drinking.

"That was the place where Twilight lived."

"Really?" Celestia's eyes lit up. "Where is this Wolf's Apple?"

"It was destroyed the same day that Twilight left, a little over ten days ago." His answer caught Celestia completely off guard. She looked back to the thoughts she had when she first arrived in this town, the ruin buildings being slowly rebuilt.

Even the simplest of minds could see this town had survived a hellish event. However, she didn't think for a minute that it was connected to the one responsible for the crystal hand in the center.

"I'm assuming she made that on the same day she left?" Celestia questioned to see if there was any possibility of her assumptions.

"Yes, she made that on that day and vanished."

"So she caused the prob--"

A loud slam interrupted. She looked to her left to see the sound had come from Red Steel. Though he hadn't said a word, the anger in his eyes showed she made the wrong assumptions with her last move.

"No, she didn't." Rainbow Dartz affirmed it. "She left after a wendigo named Indigo Frost destroyed everything."

"A wendigo..." Celestia fell back in her seat. She had heard the rumors about this Indigo Frost, but she didn't believe them until now. She could see the pain in their eyes toward that name.

"He destroyed everything..." Hermes stopped out of nowhere and sat down beside them. He had never been so calm until now. "I saw it all too, Twilight and her student, the powerful Starlight Glimmer, fought their way to the beast." He stopped as his hands shook. Red Steel gripped his hands to calm away his tears.

Celestia was now even more surprised. She had assumed these were just a bunch of drunks, and while that assumption certainly wasn't wrong; it was wrong to assume that they were only like this today because they were drunks.

Just by looking at them, the mere mentions of this Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer had brought forth much sorrow in remembrance of these friends. It made her smile at the fact such friendship could exist in the world.

Celestia's ideas on friendship from theirs, but she felt a kinship in their mourning for their lost friends. Taking a deep breath, she lit her horn and refilled their cups with cider.

"I can see they meant a lot to you. I can understand if you wish to take your time explaining things to me. For now, let's just enjoy this drink." Celestia raised her cup to them and they did the same.

"Here, here!" They all cheered as one and went back to drinking. Their drinking continued for much later on and into the night.

In the background, unbeknownst to Celestia and the others, whispers and stares followed her every movement. Eyes of rage and hatred watched her from the shadows.

******

On the docks of Hikina, Luna’s airship landed. She had just barely returned from Griffinstone. Her face was covered in annoyance, as her mission was a complete failure. The reports of the explosion were weak and the site of the reports barely had a piece of evidence to gather, as nearly everything was gone. It was clear there was an explosion, but nothing else. The griffins themselves were on the complete defensive, trying to make her leave the entire time. She didn’t know if it was because of the explosion or the war they currently had with the pegasi. Either way, she was on her last stop before heading home, so she docked long enough to get some last supplies and head home.

However, upon exiting, she found the docks incredibly quiet and extremely empty. She was surprised by the sheer lack of anypony working. Even though it was evening, this place should have been at least somewhat packed.

What was even weirder was the appearance of everything. Stuff was lying out in the open as if everypony abruptly left. There was an eerie silence, so quiet that one could hear a mouse chewing on wood. If there were any mice.

“Fan out, something is very wrong here.” She held up her hand and swung outward, and her guards exited the ship and walked over to the dock.

The soldiers checked all the boxes and all the areas. Luna moved back to the airship and leaned against it. She hoped there would be some answers soon, as she didn’t want to stay here any longer.

She remembered back to Blood Diamond’s words. No other creature could ever make her so angry. Blood Diamond always knew what buttons to press, even if he was speaking through his soldiers.

“His soldiers…” Hearing the word made her mind wandered back to his most loyal and each time her mind fell on his former and best, Rex Moba. She looked up and spoke Rex’s name softly. “I wonder how close Rex and Clover are getting now.”

“Princess Luna.” One of her soldiers ran back over and bowed.

“Damn it,” she screamed as the images faded from her mind. “You know not to bother me when I’m lost in thought.” She raised her hand to strike him down, but stopped halfway when she finally caught up with herself.

“I’m sorry, Princess of the Night.” He adjusted his words, hoping to adjust any punishment he expected from her.

“Nevermind,” she exhaled heavily. “What have you found?”

“It’s better if I show you.”

“Fine, lead the way.” She straightened herself and placed her hands on her wave swords by her side. She knew from the dread in his eyes something was truly wrong.

******

Author's Note:

Author’s notes:

So this was a hefty chapter So much was covered. Let me just go over the base details. Yes, Stygian is canon to my universe, well at least a slightly altered version of him. You will see more of him in this story and what changes I have made. I think you will like what I have done with him. As for Princess Platinum, yes I know their have been many, many, many fan versions of her being a perfect copy of Rarity and frankly I find that version kind of boring. Not to say I didn’t use some Rarity flare, it’s certainly their but I’ve tossed in my takes on Rarity as well. In particular the version of Rarity I showed off in the Endless Time of Forever End. Princess Platinum takes a lot of cues from that version. I also added a bit of japanese flare to reference the japanese style of unicorns that were shown in the show during season eight.

This chapter was a lot of fun to write. However I did run into some bumps like being without internet for a good portion of the work. I still got plenty done though and I’m very glad to get this chapter finished before the deadline.

Sorry this came out late, but hey what better time than Thanksgiving. I didn’t get finished with plenty of time to spare, but Thanksgiving turned out to be more than I expected.

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