Stories in Stone, Memories of Twilight

by TDR

"Only the weak are not lonely"

Stories in Stone
Memories of Twilight
By TDR

“Only the weak are not lonely...”

Twilight sighed, looking up at her mother and Cadence as they stared down at her. The pouty face didn't work, nor did logic; it was time for old-fashion stubbornness. She was feeling better and had decided to try to scry on the patch; the keyword here was “try”, as she was going to have to fight to be allowed to do anything. Even after a week of lying on her back, Cadence and her parents were refusing to let her so much as lift a cup with her magic.

“You are barely recovered enough as it is; you do not need to be casting anything yet,” her mother scolded.

“I do have to agree; with the magnitude of that spell, even the doctors say you should refrain from casting anything for a while,” Cadence added.

Spike sat on the bed across from the trio, munching happily on a few small gems her mother had brought him, most likely to keep him distracted enough to not take her side in this.

Twilight sighed. Her magic gripped the small box, yanking away from Cadence. The pink princess glared down at Twilight with the same glare she used when she was her foal sitter. That coupled with her mother’s parental stare was on the verge of freaking her out.

“Shining, they are both doing it now... help,” Twilight whimpered.

A soft chuckle greeted her from the other bed. “I may have said I would be the one to rescue you next time li’l sis, but I’m not crazy enough to try to beat those two,” Shining said softly.

Her brother had finally woken up two days prior. He was not too happy to learn of what she had done, nor how many they had lost. Of course, it had taken all of them to stop him from getting up to go see the Guard still in the hospital. The doctors had finally needed to sedate him. When he woke after that, he at least decided to listen to reason. The reduction of the pain killers probably helped with that as well. While he was still weak, as he healed, he did not seem to mind that Cadence was fawning over him like she was. She had requested ear plugs after only a few moments of those two talking.

She and Shining had spoken as well about what happened, with Twilight filling him in on bits and pieces of what she knew. She was still unsure how many ponies the princesses would want knowing what happened in the past, but by the same token, her brother was nearly killed by the past, so he deserved to know something, at least.

“This is important, though; it's not like it's even a big spell. Princess Luna gave me the patch to find out what happened to allow Claymore and the others to escape,” Twilight pleaded.

“Including the dragon?” Shining muttered.

“Yes!” Twilight yelped as she struggled to keep hold of the box, as both her mother and Cadence had grabbed it and were trying to pull it away from her.

Twilight's father had been staying out of this, simply looking between the mares fussing over his daughter and the damage done to his son. His horn glowed, yanking the box away from all of them and floating it over to himself to look inside at the cloth patch within.

“So this patch will somehow help you?” he asked.

“Princess Luna seems to think so. It should show me what happened in the garden that lead to the escape of the ones who did all this. Maybe some sort of hint as to what they were doing,” Twilight explained.

“And you are sure it is not going to strain you further?” her father questioned again, ignoring the protests of both Cadence and his wife.

“No, it won’t,” Twilight responded.

“Spike, you know about this spell, I assume. Is she correct?” her father asked.

“More or less; there are other issues that have come up from this stupid spell, but nothing that should hurt her,” Spike mumbled around a mouthful of gems. “Besides, like any good assistant, I anticipated something like this and came prepared.”

The purple dragon slipped off the bed and dug around in a bag before pulling out a quill and blank book, as well as the gem she had enchanted to break her free of the spell if something went wrong.

“You try and stop her, and she's just gonna get more stubborn,” he noted sagely.

“While you are the best assistant ever, Spike, your tone still needs a little work,” Twilight chuckled.

“Fine; Twilight, you will be stopped if it looks like something is going wrong. I did not start teaching you magic for you to hurt yourself with it. I am quite familiar with burnout, and even if the princess thinks you one of the strongest unicorn spell casters of our age, you still have limits,” her father explained.

“You were the one who told me to always try to break my limits,” Twilight pointed out.

“Your limits, yes. Yourself along with them, no. Limits can change based on the situation. Remember that, too... Don't give me that look, dear; you know quite well I developed an immunity to it,” Twilight's father spoke, looking at his wife.

He floated the box over to Twilight and set it down next to her.

“Did you need anything else for this?” he asked.

“No, looks like Spike brought everything,” Twilight replied.

“Of course,” Spike beamed.

“Well, everything but humility. I may be out of it for a little while. I am not sure how long this is going to take, really. I just hope I can find something useful,” Twilight sighed.

She adjusted herself in the bed to where she would be most comfortable, altered the spell for the new setup, and took the patch out of the box as the others looked on.

“Spike, make sure that if you use that gem, it’s because something happened. I don't want to sneeze and be yanked away from something important,” Twilight cautioned.

“I only did that once...” Spike grumbles, “Don't worry, I got this.”

“Thanks, Spike,” Twilight said. Her horn glowed lightly as she let the all too familiar feeling of the spell envelop her.

========================================================

Twilight opened her eyes and her lifted head to look around the starry void. There was only one window this time, but she had something else she wanted to check first. Her attention turned to the black space in the darkness where the stars that bothered her had been. The darkness that had hidden them was gone, but only one star remained. Even as she watched, that star moved and was lost in the speckled sky.

She sighed, cursing to herself. If she had asked Celestia about them or even looked into it herself, perhaps this could have all been stopped before anypony got hurt. She was certain now those stars were the ones who had escaped. That there were only six was a relief, but at the same time, which six? She only knew about two at the moment.

She sighed, looking back to the window as she floated closer to it. There was little time to dwell on the past, as she would never get anything accomplished if she focused on what she had failed to do. There was another past to focus on right now, one that might aid in the present.

Gah, this time stuff was annoying.

She paused before the window, looking at it a moment before turning her attention to the stars again.

“Is this what the challenge is, Imbrium? Was this the great pain and trial?” Twilight wondered with a sigh. “I suppose you won't answer that, or you can't. I doubt you stayed around long after you accomplished your goal. Let's get this over with.”

She moved forward, slipping into a window of the past once more.

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Five statues stood atop a dais in the garden’s center: a zebra in medical garb and light armor, an earth pony in even lighter leather armor robes, a pony-sized dragon, a pegasus in an armored flight suit, and a heavily-armored unicorn. All five have their gazes turned skyward as if following the path of something in the sky each night.
A peal of mocking laughter filled the air as a strange creature poofed into existence on top of the dais in a flash of white light.

The creature had a pony-like head topped with a twisted gazelle horn on the left and an elk antler on the right. A goat-like beard dangled scraggly from its chin, with one long fang jutting from its mouth. A snakelike tongue flicked across the fang as it surveyed the garden with red and yellow eyes.

The creature clapped its two mismatched hands- a lion paw and an eagle’s claw, and danced about on a minotaur leg and a dragon’s leg, fanning the bat and pegasus wings that emerged from its back. Its serpentine body lifted up as it tossed its mane and grinned.

“Well, well, well; oil, water, and brine, in that order, I suppose. it seems the pair of them have been doing some redecorating around the ol' castle while I was locked up. Hmm, so much here I could use. Where to start? Ooooh, is that old Forge Scale? Last I knew, that wench had locked him in Tartarus... Hmmm. Sorry, Forgey, you get to stay put, I really don't want to try to explain what I am doing to one such as yourself. It would take far too long and you always hated my games anyway,” Discord sighed. “Odd, I don't see Ruin here, though. I wonder if he finally got what he wanted? Ah well; Lots of new faces too... hmmm.”

The draconequus looked over the garden, tapping a finger against his chin. “No. No. No... Yes. And No.” Discord muttered, his tail pointing at a few select statues. “I want a bit of fun, not untold death and carnage. I suppose the rest will do nicely to keep those two busy, don't you agree?”

He glanced back at the statues behind him, a second version of himself appearing suddenly behind the lightly armored earth pony, ducking down to barely hide behind the large pony.

“Oh yes, Mr. Discord, a wonderful idea, you are so clever to have thought of it. I cannot wait to be free again,” the second
Discord rattled off in a high-pitched scratchy voice.

“Thank you for the compliment, though you forgot to say I was handsome, too. Ehh, I suppose I don't need a stallion saying that to me anyway. Well, that settles it. Time to go see if Twilight Sparkle can give me what I want, or if I need to wait longer,”

Discord chuckled, raising his fingers to snap.

“DISCORD!!!”

The draconequus tilted his head, looking with mild annoyance at the pair of alicorns flying across the sky towards him.

“Ahh, Celestia, and Princess Moon Butt as well; so nice of you to join me. I am terribly afraid I am unable to stay and chat, as I have some business with the Element Bearers, but don't think I have forgotten your earlier meddling into my affairs. Years of work wasted because of you two and your friends,” Discord snarled briefly before smiling. “Still, the result turned out better than I expected in the end. We just need to repeat it one more time and everything should be perfect.”

He tapped his chin as the two got closer.

“You didn't pay attention to any of that, did you?” Discord sighed. “No matter; I will not allow you to interfere again, so let me introduce you to some old friends.”

The draconequus snapped his fingers. A wave of white energy flooded over the garden, knocking the two alicorns back. As the light cleared the pair saw that Discord was gone. Screams and cries filled the air below them as the statues of the garden began to chip and flake, the living flesh underneath becoming free. For many of the garden’s inhabitants, this was the first freedom they experienced since the first alicorns joined the pony races at the founding of Equestria.
The two alicorns watched in horror.

“Luna, gather the Guard. I will do what I can to contain the worst of them here.”

The princess of the night nodded, tearing off across the sky towards the castle as Celestia dropped down into the maze, her horn glowing brightly.

========================================

The crack of stone sounded out from atop the dais, drowned out among the screams and cries of rage that filled the garden. Stone chips flaked off the five figures standing there, falling to the marble surface at their hooves.

The pegasus screamed loudly, shooting straight up into the air, a small bundle of twigs and straw falling to the ground where she had been. A little blob of pink fur and cuteness poked its head out of the nest in protest.

The earth pony rubbed the rock dust out of his eyes, looking up at the flailing pegasus as she shot skyward before looking back down at the nest and the creature inside.

The dragon and the zebra stared after the mare as well until a blood curdling scream turned all their attention to the unicorn in the middle of the group. The figure burst free of the stone and staggered forward a few steps, his eyes rolled back into his head and a froth rapidly forming from his mouth as he managed a few steps more and collapsed to the ground to lay unmoving on the marble.

“JER!”

“BOSS!”

[“JER'RAHD!”]

Velkorn rushed over to the fallen pony, pressing her nose to his neck to feel for a pulse, her eyes widening at her failure to find one.

[“Bleu, get the armor off him now. Rhede, get Starfall; we might need the Princess,”] Velkorn shouted, digging into her bag.

“How the buck am I supposed to do that? I don't even know where she went thanks to this little guy,” Rhede pointed a hoof at the parasprite, which cooed softly.

The dragonling yanked on the straps and peeled the chest plate from the fallen unicorn. Velkorn shooed her away, smashing a vial on the ground at his nose. The vapors made both Rhede and Bleu cough, but the unicorn had no reaction. She placed her ear to his chest, her eyes going wide before she rolled him onto his back, striking a spot on his chest with a fore hoof repeatedly. She pressed both hooves together shoving on the spot hard as she lets loose a string of swear words that caused Rhede's ears to flatten.

“Velkorn, what the buck happened?!” Rhede asked.

[“His heart has stopped. Bleu, I need you to shock him with your breath weapon. Aim for his chest.”] Velkorn ordered.

The zebra hopped away as Bleu bit her lip. She reared up and let a blast of electricity loose from her maw, trusting the zebra medic knew what she was asking. The bolt of power slammed into the chest of the unicorn, scorching his fur and making his mane and tail stand on end.

Velkorn darted back over, pressing her ear to his chest before striking against the same spot she a few more beats before hopping back and ordering Bleu to do it again.

The blast once more struck the gray unicorn, sending his body into a spasm, the mark on his chest from the blast becoming larger. Velkorn rushed back over, her ear pressing to Jer'rahd's chest again. A small smirk crossed her face and she sat down with woosh of breath.

“Velky, what the heck happened?” Bleu asked

[“I have no idea. Perhaps if we can figure out why Starfall flew off, it will be the same as him,”] the zebra suggested.

“We know why Starfall left in a huff. She had a parasprite nest under her wing.” Rhede muttered. “Does anyone know why we are awake? I don't see Luna or Celestia anywhere.”

“I saw Celestia, though there's a rather large problem here,” Starfall said in a huff, landing lightly back on the surface of the dais. “What happened to Jer'rahd?”

“Boss died again,” Bleu grumbled, “Velky says he’s getting better, though.”

“What? Why?” Starfall questioned.

“We don't know and we would likely have to ask Celestia. Now what's going on, Starfall?” Rhede asked.
The pegasus ignored him a moment as she trotted towards the nest with the little ball of cooing fluff in it. She trembled visibly, staring down at it a moment before rearing up and slamming her hoof down on the nest ,crushing the creature within, a violent shudder running though her form.

“You done now?” Bleu snapped. “Or should I go look myself?”

“From what I saw from the air, the entire garden has woken up. There's total chaos right now in this place. There's a large pack of some kind of wolf creatures attacking a section of guards at the main exit to the garden, and quite a few ponies in the gardens are getting killed by other things in there. There's a bunch of guards surrounding the garden, and the princess has gathered a small number to herself as she tries to deal with this,” Starfall explained. “I am not sure what happened or why, let alone what we should do.”

“What we should do is easy,” a voice groaned, “We go help the guards and try to get this place under control. There are far too many things here that do not need to make it out.”

“Boss!” Bleu shouted as the unicorn struggled to get his hooves under him.

“Jer, what the buck happened?” Rhede asked.

“I fed it,” Jer replied, pushing himself to his hooves.

“You need to lie back down; you are in no shape to be up and around,” Velkorn lectured.

The pony ignored her, trotting to the edge of the dais and looking over the scrambling chaos below. Ponies, griffons, diamond dogs, and other unimaginable creatures rampaged about below, killing each other, trying to escape, or just trying to hide.

“Starfall, go let Celestia and the guards know we are here to help them. Velkorn, I need you to take down as many as you can without killing them. We don't know if any of them are innocents trapped here with the escapees. Go with Bleu. Bleu, I want you to find the ones that do not seem much of a threat and move them up here. Rhede, I need you to watch my back and make sure they are as little of a threat as they seem when Bleu brings them back here,” Jer ordered.

“And what are you going to be doing? Resting I hope,” Velkorn said.

“Your heart stopped.” Rhede added.

“Better if I didn't recover from that. Maybe it will give me a second chance to die this time,” mutters Jer.

“What?”

“Never mind, just go,” Jer commanded, his horn glowing brightly.

Starfall nodded, taking off into the air as Bleu changed sizes, allowing Velkorn to hop onto her back before she takes off into the air. Jer'rahd's horn glowed brighter as he started to cast, but it went out suddenly as a red globe of energy covered the sky, surrounding the garden as far as he could see.

“I am impressed, Jer,” Rhede whistled. “Used tah be you couldn't do half this much.”

“That was not me,” Jer replied, “Someone else cast that.”

“Well, I suppose so long as it works. I guess they managed to get a competent guard or two in the Royal Guard,” Rhede's eyes narrowed as he looks to his friend. “So what did you feed?”

Jer'rahd sighed, looking up at the sky before trotting over to put his armor back on. Rhede was about to say something when he saw the scar from Bleu's lightning was all but gone. It was little more than a dark scar added to the ones already covering the unicorn, one that looked like it happened years ago.

“How did you spend your time, Rhede?” Jer asked, “Do you remember any of it?”

“No; slept like a foal, I figure. I don't really remember anything. I know I was being turned to stone, then nothing that I can clearly recall ‘til the spell started wearing off a little bit ago,” Rhede rambled. “Why?”

“I slept as well, but I recall everything from the entire time,” Jer muttered as he pulled a strap of his armor tighter.

“I don't see how that explains why your heart stopped when you woke up,” Rhede said.

Jer'rahd lifted his head, looking at his friend before sighing. “Rhede, what happens when I sleep?” Jer asked. “More importantly, what happens when I sleep after we went to Neighlantis?”

“You get nightmares...” Rhede's eyes widened. “By Celestia...”

“She only had a little bit to do with it Rhede. I just spent a long time in absolute terror with something inside me that feeds on fear,” Jer stated without a hint of emotion. “Better Velkorn had not revived me than let something like that loose.”

“Buck... there's got to be something we can do, isn't there? You seem alright now,” Rhede questioned pleadingly.

“I am keeping it in check, but I have no idea if I can keep doing that.” Jer replied, “It used to be I just heard it whispering, but now it’s screaming.”

Rhede looked as if he wanted to keep asking things when the sound of leathery wings drew their attention upward.
Bleu flapped her wings as she came in for a landing. Her forearms crossed her chest, holding three forms cradled in them as she touched down on her rear legs.

Velkorn did not even wait for Bleu to land fully before leaping off her back and darting over to Jer'rahd, shoving Rhede out of the way as she glared at the now re-armored unicorn. Rhede staggers to the side a bit, blinking at Velkorn before moving to the bodies Bleu was setting on the stone dais.

“What's with these three?” he asked as Velkorn started shouting at Jer'rahd.

Two earth pony mares lay on the ground in what looked like short skirts and partially torn open white button-up shirts. The two mares were a pale peach coloration, though one’s mane and tail was bright green and the other’s was an almost neon blue.

The male pony looked somewhat feral. He was a dark sickly green with patches of scales and leathery skin that showed he was not quite fully earth pony. Granted, the dozen or so strange tentacles sprouting from his back helped cement that fact.

“Strangest thing I have seen in a while. I think the stallion was trying to rape the pair of them with those tendril things. Velkorn kinda jumped off my back and landed on him. She belted the other two when they turned to attack her once they were let go. Insert an 'I’ve seen enough hentai' joke here,” Bleu muttered.

“Enough what?” questioned a confused Rhede.

“Never you mind. Velky, let’s go. We have a great deal of ground to cover, and you know Boss ain't gonna listen, even if you were talking in pony,” Bleu shouted.

The zebra cursed again, rushing towards the dragon, but stopping to stare at Rhede. Her ears flattened and she snorted angrily and smacked him rather forcefully on the nose.

[“Hooves off them, Pelt,”] Velkorn snapped before bouncing back onto Bleu's back as Rhede rubbed his nose. He looked at the unconscious ponies before trotting back over the Jer'rahd.

“Did I miss something between you two while I was out, Rhede?” Jer asked.

“If so, I must have slept through it, too. So how long do you think we were asleep?” Rhede asked. “Do you think Luna is free?”

“I think she is. I think she has been here as well. Sometimes the nightmares stopped, always with a silvery full moon that kept them at bay. Same as it was before,” Jer explained.

Rhede nodded, though he was not quite sure what his friend was talking about.

“Well, as soon as Starfall gets here with Celestia, we will know for sure,” he smirked. “I kinda want to go have a look at the Guards at the gate, see how some of the mares look nowadays.”

“Rhede, depending on how far in the future we are, most of those mares likely have a little bit of you in them with how you got around,” Jer grumbled.

“If they look good enough, and it's been long enough, I am more than willing to put a lot more of me into them,” Rhede stated with a smirk.

=====================================================

Starfall glided under the red shield, rather curious as to who raised it. Below her, all manner of chaos was going on. Things were fighting below her that she had never considered existing. Some were creatures that she recognized from fables as a child: a smiling purple feline and a creature that seemed similar to something called a Jaberwocky from an old foals poem, a old pony that seemed like a zombie screamed about her horse shoe, and a headless pony galloped through the maze, chasing a host of diamond dogs with metallic skin. In the distance, a number of shadowy flying creatures beat themselves against the shield seeking escape. Screams and roars filled the air, echoing loudly against the red dome.

It felt good to get into the air again; she was not sure how long she had been in stone, but she had been aware of bits and pieces of it. It had been odd when she was first changed to stone. She had woken up at the first snowfall, unable to move, though she could see and hear everything around her, though she did not feel the cold and could not move or react to anything.

It was boring, though; she had dozed off again before she could panic about being stuck like that. She woke at various times across the seasons and spent a long number of years freaking out as a parasprite found a small gap between her wing and her body and built a nest there.

She had always been terrified of the things, ever since she was a little foal and she found one in the woods. She had thought it cute and brought it home. Once there, it proceeded to eat nearly all her toys and the contents of her room. She had been sure it would come for her next, though her screaming had brought her father into the room and he had killed it.
She was unsure how long she had been in that state with the creature under her wing. The moment she was free, her reaction was the same as it always was: fly far, fly fast. She had not gone far when the fear left her and she could take stock.
There was no reason for her to be afraid of the things; she was no longer the same little girl she was before. Not for who knew how many years. She had scouted where she was and seen Celestia and then returned to the group to report her findings and kill the creature that haunted her foalhood. She was still terrified facing it, but she managed to kill it nonetheless. Now if she could only get rid of her hatred for griffons as well.

--------------------------------------------------------

Twilight pulled back, shaking her head. How had she suddenly focused on Starfall? The patch was Jer'rahd's wasn't it? Had she gotten good enough that she could focus on anyone, or was the spell still keyed to the former Element Bearers? Perhaps she had been using and tweaking the spell so often that all she needed was a focus for the time and not the pony. This could open a whole new world of possibilities. It was something that she needed to look into later, as it could be useful.
She slipped back into the window.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Starfall tilted her head at a noise like thunder. Looking down into the hedge maze, she spotted the source.

A bolt of lightning slammed into the side of a large pale red scaled form. A multitude of heads thrashed around, taking bites at its attackers or firing blasts of fire at several ponies in Royal Guard armor. Princes Celestia was among them, trying to cast a spell, but the creature was not giving her a chance to focus with its constant attacks.

As she watched, a guard with a large ax cleaved off one of the beast’s heads. Rather than pressing the attack, he bounds away as a pair of heads sprouted from the stump. Both of them fired a blast of flame at the guard, setting his tail on fire.
Starfall regarded it curiously; she had never seen a hydra that spit fire. That was normally what was used to stop their heads from regrowing. The beast was large, but not nearly as massive as some of the ones she had seen. Besides, there was an easier way to take these things out if you could get past the heads. Hopefully, that still worked with this creature.

The purple-maned pegasus flew up to the top of the dome, hoping she had enough room to do it. She kicked off the shield and rocketed towards the creature, a grin crossing her face as the air started to cone around her outstretched hooves.
It had been far too long since she cut loose.

==========================================

Celestia cursed, dodging another blast from the pyro hydra. These things were exceptionally rare in the wild and never lived anywhere near ponies. This one had been different. Just over five hundred years ago, it had rampaged across the countryside making meals out of ponies and anything else it could shove into its gullet. Hydras tended to be tough beasts by nature, but they were normally vulnerable to fire. This type of hydra healed from flames, this one in particular also had a strong magical resistance that allowed it to shrug off all but the strongest spells.

If she recalled correctly, it had finally been captured after losing a staring contest with a cockatrice that somepony had herded towards it. She had been trying to reseal it in stone, but a spell that would get past its resistance was taking longer to cast than the creature would allow.

“Princess, what’s that sound?” a guard shouted as he deflected an attack from one of the heads with his spear.

Her ears perked, making out a high pitched whine that was drawing closer. The Goddess of the Sun looked up just as a pegasus broke the cone of air around her. A corona of light burst from her form moments before the purple-maned mare slammed into the main body of the beast.

Celestia raised a shield around herself and her guards as the hydra screamed out from all its heads, exploding into flaming chunks of charred meat as the impact forced its insides out though its multiple heads and the few wounds the guards had managed to inflict.

As the dust and smoke started to settle, the black-armored pegasus climbed out of the small crater, cursing about the mess as she shook herself off. Celestia lowered her shields as the guards move to surround this new threat.

Starfall paused, looking at the weapons pointed at her with mild disinterest before looking up at the Princess of the Sun and bowing lightly.

“It has been a while, Princess. I expect longer for you than me, however,” she quipped.

It only took Celestia a moment to piece together who she was. She had only ever seen two pegasi perform the sonic rainboom and rainnuke, and only one would speak in Old Canterlot. The name came easily once that connection was made.

“Starfall Silvertail...” Celestia chuckled. “It has been a while. Over a thousand years, to be exact. Would you mind not doing that again? The young lieutenant Shining Armor's shield is quite strong, but I am not sure how many rainbooms it could take.”

Starfall's slight smirk faded as Celestia told her how long she had been in stone. Her daughter would be centuries dead by now. There was no hope at all of ever reconciling with her.

“If you say so, Princess. General Kaisur wanted me to find you and get an assessment of the situation,” Starfall reported, then nodded towards the guards around her. “You mind getting them to stand down?”

Celestia noticed the pegasus’s tone darken and nodded to the guards, who stepped back. Of course this one would be thinking about her daughter.

“The situation is this, Starfall: Discord has escaped and woken nearly every creature in the garden. The Royal Guard is outside the shield trying to contain the ones that escaped, along with Luna. A compliment of Guards and I are in here trying to recapture the more dangerous ones before they have a chance to make it to the barrier,” Celestia explained.

“I see. He has Velkorn and Bleu moving about stunning and rescuing some of the ones that seem to be in trouble. They are bringing them back to where we were in stone,” Starfall explained. “The General made the offer to help if you needed it before; I suppose that still stands. It does look as though you might need some assistance.”

Celestia noded though her attention was turned to one of her guards who had been struck by the Hydra. He was alive, but badly injured. Her horn glowed, the aura surrounding the armored pony before he blinked out of existence. Celestia sighed, hoping that the medics outside the garden were prepared to receive the number of injured she was sending them.

“I would prefer if you try to keep them alive; not everything in the garden is a dire threat. Some were sealed because they have a chance at redemption,” Celestia sighed, “The same as you five were.”

“I am sure the hydra did not care for redemption, Princess,” Starfall muttered as she scooped up the injured guard's blade. “I will inform him, though I would ask you go find him; something is wrong with him.”

“Something is wrong?” Celestia questioned.

“Yes; Velkorn says he died again,” Starfall replied as she took off into the air.

Celestia looked up after the pegasus curiously before turning her attention to her guards.

“Alright, we need to head for that pillar.”

“Princess, are you sure you can trust her?” a guard asked.

“Something wrong, Sergeant... Peach Blossom, was it?” Celestia questioned.

The white pegasus nodded.

“Yes, Princess. It's just... she killed the hydra and didn't even seem to break a sweat or be bother by the blood and mess it made. Just the sight of what’s left of that creature is making me ill and she barely gave it any more thought than some pony would swatting a fly,” the orange-maned stallion complained.

“She is from a different time, Sergeant,” Celestia sighed, “If this bothers you, one of the more hardened ponies of this era, then my thousand years have not been wasted.”

“Princess?

“Never mind, Sergeant; are you up to continue? If she bothers you, then her commander will likely make you wet yourself.”

====================================================

When they first flew over the dead-end section of the maze, the ponies were facing off against a white maticore that had them cornered. A dozen or so bodies exactly like each other lay strewn at the beast’s claws. A wall of the same ponies stood between the beast and what Bleu figured was the source at the back of the group.

Sweat ran down the blue and white spotted pony’s body. The stallion had no mane or tail and he seemed to turn to some kind of goop before splitting, though each split seemed to wear it out further. As Bleu circled, the pony in the back collapsed and the others slowly followed suit like dominoes.

The maticore roared and leaped for the source pony, only to smash into the ground as the full weight of a blue dragon impacted its back, crushing the beast’s spine and ribcage under her weight.

[“I said gently, Bleu!”] Velkorn snapped.

“That was gently. If I did it hard, the thing wouldn’t need to have a grave dug for it,” Bleu replied “What’s with you? You’re all snappish today.”

Velkorn checked over the strange ponies, nodding for Bleu to gather them up as she climbed onto the dragon’s back.

[“Do you recall any of your time as a statue?”] Velkorn asked.

“A little; it’s like I was asleep sometimes and woke up other times,” Bleu replied, “It was kinda weird.”

[“I spent the whole time awake. It is small wonder I have not gone mad. I spent the entire time in either meditation or reciting my books and studies from memory,”] Velkorn grumbled.

“Religious fecal matter, that sucks! Are you sure you're okay, Velky?” the dragon asked. “How long were you staring at nothing? I have no idea how long we were out.”

[“Nor do I. It is rather hard to keep track of days when they number in the thousands of thousands and you have no way to mark the time aside from your thoughts. It has, however, been a full season since Princess Luna returned.”] Velkorn stated.

“Oh cool, Lulu's back? It is her, right, not Nightmare Moon?”

[“Near as I could tell. She has come to look at us with Celestia on more than one occasion. The last few months, she has been on the dais every night to raise the moon and lower it.”]

The conversation paused as Bleu dropped off the first load of clone ponies and flew off for more. Rhede had found some rope somewhere and tied up the first group. Jer'rahd had not moved from the edge of the dais.

“Well, I guess that means she's not forgiven us yet,” Bleu muttered.

[“I do not consider that much of an issue now. I would much prefer to be freed; the rest of you can wait for her forgiveness if you wish.”] Velkorn snapped.

“What? You agreed to wait before.”

[“I did so for the wrong reasons.”]

“Rhede?”

[“Pelt... yes... were it not for him, I would not even be here. I would likely have been back in my homeland as a Queen still. All that is bad that has happened to me has come from my pursuit of that stallion.”]

Bleu landed, collecting the remaining clone ponies.

“Well, I think you would have been dead by this point in time. But if you stayed home, you never would have met any of us.”

[“I could have dealt well with that.”]

Bleu turned her head, looking at Velkorn with as cute a face as she could muster as a massive blue dragon. The zebra leaned back, trying not to meet the dragon’s gaze.

“But, but, I thought we were friends...” Bleu whimpered, still offering puppy dog eyes.

Velkorn rubbed her face with a hoof.

[“We are friends Bleu... I am... I am just taking it out on you when I should not. I am sorry.”]

“S'okay,” Bleu perked back up as if not upset at all. “That long just staring at things would get me pretty pissed, too.”

[“It has given me a long time to think about my situation with Rhede as well. Despite what was done, he has always been correct.”]

“Correct about what?” Bleu launched herself into the air, carrying the rest of the clones.

[“That I should have found someone else to love. But I let myself succumb to the curse because I thought him worthy.”]

“The what?”

================================================

Jer'rahd looked up at the white alicorn and to the Guard surrounding her.

“So what did you want us to do then, Celestia?” Jer'rahd asked. “I gather you want as many as possible taken alive.”

“Yes. The pyro hydra and the maticore could not be helped, it seems, and there are likely other creatures that will be the same way. If they cannot be safely taken alive then do what you must,” Celestia commanded. “There are three of these large pillars in the garden. They will make good places to put those that you capture or send those who are cooperative. I will also post a pegasus at each for contact. There are a number of guard units doing the same as you are; I will inform them that you are going to help.”

Jer'rahd nodded as Celestia's horn glowed, forming a map.

“I want you five to focus on this section of the garden here,” Celestia said, pointing to a large spot deep in the hedge maze with a hoof, causing the area on the map to turn red. “Some of the more dangerous creatures are housed there, as well as many things I am not sure of from the previous garden. I have made one pass through that point already and sealed some of them, but there are more than I can safely deal with by myself. I would send Luna with you, but she is still busy outside the shield with the things that escaped before it went up.”

“I doubt she wants to work with us again anyway, Celestia,” Jer muttered, “though once this is done, I would like to know how she was cured.”

“The ones currently combating Discord freed her with the Elements of Harmony. The very thing we were unable to do so long ago, they accomplished last year,” Celestia explained.

“Does she know we are here?” Rhede asked.

Velkorn winced a little at Rhede's comment. Bleu looks at the zebra and sighed, knowing the answer already.

Celestia sighd, “We need to get moving before this gets worse. Pausing to explain the situation even this long may have been too much. I will be on this side of the same area. There are not many of the Royal Guard who would be able to deal with this as well as you five can.”

“Fine; there will be plenty of time to talk about this later,” Jer'rahd said.

[“Celestia, if I might pose a question,”] Velkorn asked.

“Hmm? Yes, what is it? Please make it brief, Velkorn.”

[“When Jer'rahd was first freed of stone, his heart stopped, yet now he seems as if it did not even happen. I have never known one to recover from death that quickly. Even someone such as him should not be back on his hooves less than a hour afterward.” ]

Celestia looked from the zebra to the gray unicorn as he climbed up onto Bleus's back, yelling at the others to hurry.

“I will look into it later, Velkorn. Perhaps he is simply being stubborn again. I do not know why he would have died, though. Please keep an eye on him, stop him if something like that looks to happen again.”

Velkorn nodded, darting over to join the others on Bleu's back. The dragon nodded and she and Starfall took off into the air headed for the section of the garden Celestia pointed them to.

“Will they be alright, princess?” a Guard asked. “They only took a dozen daggers and a pair of swords from what we offered.”

“I suspect that they will probably do better than us, Sergeant. Let us go.”

==================================================

Bleu landed at the edge of the zone and they decided to move in and sweep the area between the shield and the pillar.
There was already a hole in the barrier that was growing wider as they approached. Bleu landed among a collection of skeletons and scraps of cloth. Most of the skeletons seemed to be of unicorns, though alicorns’ and some other creatures’ bones covered the ground as well, picked clean with little bite marks on them. It was not clear that the skeletons were unicorns at first until the holes in the skulls were noticed, the horns either pulled out or devoured.

A blur of winged movement was swirling around the edges of the hole in the shield with what looked like metallic parasprites gnawing at the magic barrier.

Starfall froze and Bleu fired off her breath weapon, vaporizing a large mass of them. While thinning the numbers, it also drew the swarm’s attention to them. Jer'rahd formed his own shield around the group to keep the swarm at bay, only to have them start gnawing on his shield.

The unicorn winced feeling the first bites on his barrier.

“HURRY UP BLEU, THEIR EATING MY SHIELD,” he shouted, raising another green glowing barrier between the group and the swarm.

“I can only do that every other round, Boss; gotta give me a moment to recharge.” Bleu snapped.

“Shit, they are getting through Jer,” Rhede yelped as he impaled one with a dagger. “Weapons work fine on them, though. What the hell are they made of?”

Sweat formed on Jer'rahd face as he raised more barriers. “Star metal. They are damn parasprites made of star metal,” He growled. “I think they might really want to eat me, judging by the bodies here. Starfall, a little help!”

The pegasus whimpered at the mass of the bugs around her as Bleu fired another blast of lightning though a hole eaten in the shield. Velkorn and Rhede both dashed around, stomping the things. Jer'rahd cursed, yanking his head to the side as one of them made it through to snap at his horn.

Starfall fanned out her wings suddenly, pulling her goggles over her eyes. “General, drop the shields when I say so. Bleu, get ready to zap them,” she snarled.

Jer'rahd whipped his head to the side again, avoiding another bite, before lunging at the parasprite. His own jaws snapped down on the little beast, crunching it to paste. The unicorn suddenly looked as green as his shields as he spat out the bits of parasprite, nearly retching. He managed a nod.

“NOW!” The pegasus was moving before the green glow of Jer'rahd's shields vanished completely, her form a blur as she whirled and spun about the clouds of parasprites. The little creatures flailed wildly as they were drawn along in the speedy pegasus's wake and quickly sucked up into a vortex as Starfall flew in a tight circle in the air, a small funnel cloud forming of dust, debris and parasprites.

Bleu grinned, launching into the air over the spinning dervish. Breathing in deeply, her fangs crackled with lightning as Starfall yanked herself away from the whirlwind just as Bleu cuts loose with the bolt of lightning, frying all the metallic parasprites that had been sucked up within.

Starfall's hooves hit the ground, her body still spinning, leaving corkscrew-like grooves in the ground before she managed to stop. She stood there a moment before turning green herself and rushing off to a bush to review what she ate a thousand years previous. Evidently, the spinning was a bit much for her.

Jer'rahd was not doing much better, and was currently chewing on grass trying to get the horrid taste from his mouth.
The others kept watch, but no other parasprites seemed to be present in the area.

“It seems there's some rather nasty things kept in here,” Rhede chuckled, “And here I thought we were the worst things in this garden.”

“We are still alive; they are not, fluffy flank. I say that opinion is still unchanged,” Bleu countered.

“Don't get cocky; we just started this mission. Gah!” Jer'rahd gagged. “Please tell me someone has some wine or something to get this taste out of my mouth.”

================================================

“Oh, not these things again. Bleu, tell them to wait by the pillar over there,” Starfall groaned.

Bleu sighed, looking down at the tribal teddy bear-like things that were bowing and scraping before her. There were only six, but they were decidedly the same things that the group had encountered in the Darklands.

“I don't speak... whatever these things are,” she grumbled.

“Just point and yell; seems to be how dragons got them to listen before,” Rhede suggested.

Bleu sighed, roaring and gesturing wildly pointing to one of the nearby pillars and then the bear creatures. After a moment, they seemed to get the gist of it and raised their spears up screaming and hollering as they charged the pillar like it was a castle they needed to conquer for their overlord.

Jer'rahd slapped his face with a hoof as Velkorn simply chuckled.

“If those turn out to be some sort of invincible teddy bear things and take over Canterlot, I am blaming Rhede.” Bleu grumbled.

===================================================

“What even were those things?” Rhede shudderd.

The group departed another section of the hedge maze, waiting for Bleu and Starfall to return from dropping the strange creatures off.

“I don't know, but they seemed as confused as we were at first. They knew Bleu was a dragon, but they did not seem to grasp that we were ponies,” Jer considered. “The large one called itself a Reeka and the tall one called itself a Draggle. “

“I think those where their names,” Rhede suggested. “They didn't seem dangerous though; rather incompetent with all their arguing.”

[“I wonder what a phlume is....”] Velkorn muttered.

======================================

“Okay, going by what we have seen before, I expect this to be some sort of monster that will try to eat us, just like that blasted rabbit,” Jer growled.

“I told you to look at the bones, Boss, but no one believes the dragon,” Bleu whined. “Everyone just says 'Oh it was just a harmless bunny'; you're lucky to still have your head.”

“Bleu, stuff it. We get it, so what are we going to do with this... puppy?” Jer wondered.

“Maybe we can confuse it by running away further?” Rhede said.

“It's a white, blue-eyed puppy in an unbuttoned teal shirt sitting alone in a grass field,” Starfall shrugged.”Can anyone see what the collar says from here?”

[“I think it says ‘Peter’. I also believe he is chewing on an earthworm.”]

“Let's just let Princess Celestia know where this thing is and move on. It doesn't seem to be going anywhere,” Rhede grumbled.

“Fine. After that rabbit, I don't trust anything innocent around here,” Jer'rahd replied.

The group slowly slunk away, leaving the puppy with its strange chew toy.

==============================================

Bleu peeked around the corner of a hedge, looking at an object on a hill, before ducking back around the corner. Jer'rahd poked his head out to see what she was looking at and sighed.

“What is it, Jer?” Rhede asked from behind the dragonling.

“It's a gazebo,” Jer replied.

“What color?”

“White or off-white, I think. Hard to tell from here.”

“How far away?

“About fifty yards or so.”

“How big?”

“I dunno, about four ponies long and three high, with a pointed top. What does it matter, Rhede?”

“Is it doing anything?”

“What? No, it’s just sitting there. It’s a gazebo.”

“Think it will be a problem?”

“Rhede, honestly, are you messing with me, or is your brain still part stone? It's a gazebo. Look!”

Jer'rahd dragged the earth pony around to show him as Bleu chuckled. Rhede stared at the thing a moment and then glared at Jer'rahd.

“You could have just told me it was a pavilion,” he snapped.

“I did.”

“No, you said it's a gazebo. What the heck kind of made up word is gazebo any way?”

Starfall and Velkorn both smirked as the pair started to argue as they continued on, the small taste of normalcy rather comforting.

======================================

“Bleu, stay back; this thing doesn't seem to like you,” Jer ordered.

Bleu nodded, slipping back behind the bush and looking over the top of it at the massive green dragonfly seemingly made of crystal. The creature rested on an overturned pedestal, one of its wings crushed and several cracks led the length of its side.

“Velkorn, you know anything about this?” Starfall asked.

“I can see the damage to its side, but with what it is made of, I could not help it if I tried.”

“Everybody shush... it's saying something. I know this language...” Rhede said before quickly trotting closer, his ears perked as the creature seemed to hum something, sounding all the world like a crystalline chime.

“Careful Rhede,” Starfall snapped.

Rhede listened to it intently before the creature gave a last shudder and turned into dust, collapsing to the ground like a shower of green crystal sand. The others slowly moved up, looking at the remains of the creature.

“What did it say, Rhede?” Jer asked.

“I didn't get all of it. The thing was using a dead language that I only partially studied. I think it said, ‘tainted generosity returns, the love-cursed king, the empire will rise.' That's it,” Rhede recited.

“Great, another ominous warning. Remind me to pass that on to Celestia when we see her again,” Jer sighed. “Like we do not have enough problems.”

======================================================

Rhede twitched at the monstrosity before them. Both Jer and Starfall looked ill as well. Bleu was simply staring at it and Velkorn was tilting her head to one side, then the other, as if unable to comprehend its anatomy properly.

The 'pony', as it called itself, was on some sort of tangent about her hat, seemingly to herself though she occasionally would ask their opinions about it then completely ignore the response.

The creature appeared to be a pale blue earth pony with multicolored mane, tail, and eyes. It did sport a cutie mark that was a rainbow stretched between two clouds, it also had a pink heart tattooed on its left forehoof.

From there, the similarities to any pony any of them had ever seen ended. Its eyes were tiny and stared vacantly into ones soul; the creature’s body was plump and its legs looked unsuited to carrying its bulk. The head looked like a foal’s attempt to sculpt a pony out of clay. Its snout was long, square, and flat; Velkorn briefly described it as looking similar to a massive beast from the zebra lands called a hippo.

And then there was the hat. It seemed to have started life as a simple sun bonnet of thatch with a purple band around it. The hat band, however was so full of feathers, it looked like it an entire continent’s worth of birds died to supply them. At first, they had thought it was part of her head, until she took it off.

“Yes, well, anyway... Miss... umm, Rainbow Dash, was it? The party, I suppose, is over there at the large pillar, so if you leave now you can, err I guess, be fashionably late?” Rhede suggested.

“Of course dahling; so kind of you to let me know,” Rainbow Dash declared, “I must admit, you all look quite dashing in those uniforms. Ah do hope to see you if you are at the party, dahlings.”

As the strange 'pony' trundled, off Starfall chuckled. “So, did we just meet Rhede's newest conquest?”

Bleu nearly choked trying to hold back a laugh, and Velkorn simply smirked.

“Not a chance,” Rhede stated. “I wouldn't touch that thing with someone else's dick.”

===============================================

Celestia looked down from the top of the pillar, wincing a little at the report Jer'rahd was giving. All of the creatures they had sent back to the dais were stone statues in varying poses atop the structure now.

“I am sorry about the parasprites, Kaisur. I knew there was a statue of a single one, but I did not know why one would be turned to stone,” Celestia explained.

“Something before your time, I suppose. Likely something else of Aviana's,” Jer grumbled. “It doesn't matter. As far as I know, we killed them all, but they seemed to have eaten a few unicorns, at least two alicorns, and some other things, judging by the bones.”

Celestia nodded, ignoring the comment about her old friend. The Princess of the Sun turned to Rhede.

“Please tell me again what the dragonfly said, Pelt”

“Like I said, the first time, all I understood was, 'tainted generosity returns, the love-cursed king, the empire will rise.' Not exactly much to go on,” he muttered.

“I know what it means, and that is a bad sign. I am sorry to hear that Greenwitch passed. He was another who chose to be turned into a statue by choice. He had hoped to see his land returned from the curse it was under. I will need to send some ponies north to watch for its return,” Celestia reflected.

“Yes, that's nice. What is it?” Jer snapped.

Celestia seemed about to respond when a green flash of flame spiraled into existance above her horn, dropping a scroll before her. Celestia's magic caught and unfurled the note, her expression darkening as she read it.

“Oh no... She has lost her way. This is terrible.” Celestia lamented, starting to pace, her ears flat against her head. She suddenly stopped dead and brightened considerably. “The letters... Kaisur, take the others and return to your pillar. I will meet you there again once I have dealt with this.” She commanded. “Sergeant, I need you to inform my sister of what has gone on in here, and tell lieutenant Shining I will wish to see him once this crisis is averted. I will return soon enough.”

Before anyone else could say anything, Celestia's horn flashed and she vanishes.

“Busy mare,” Rhede muttered.

Sergeant Peach Blossom nodded. “She has been quite rushed in the year since her sister returned to her. The events of today have been especially trying with Discord's return,” he explained. “I am not exactly sure who you five are, but your help has been invaluable. Thank you. You may have helped save Equestria a great deal of grief.”

“Wouldn't be the first time,” Bleu quipped. “We flying back, Boss?”

Jer'rahd shook his head, saluting the Sergeant as he headed down the ramp of the west pillar. The others followed suit, leaving the Royal Guard to finish up.

“What's up, Jer?” Rhede asked as he caught up with him. “Something else on your mind?”

“We forgot to check on some statues that we should have gone after first,” Jer replied.

“Really? Who?” Bleu asked.

“Razor Wing,” Starfall snarled, catching on to what Jer'rahd was suggesting.

“Silver Claw and Scarlet as well,” Jer grumbled.

“Claymore,” Bleu hissed.

[“Bloodtail,”] Velkorn shivered.

“Shit... what the hell are we walking for?” Rhede growled, starting to gallop.

Bleu shrank down, hopping onto Jer'rahd's back as the group rushed to the last place they had seen the statues of those they would have rather seen dead.

================================================

“HAAAAALP!!! SOME PONY HAAAALP!!”

The group skidded to a halt at the yell. The sound of foals screaming and the occasional thwack of something striking an unyielding surface was easily heard in the row of hedges along with a host of slavering growls.

“Now what?” Jer growled.

“Sounds like foals. Could be a trap,” Rhede uttered.

“If it's real, we can't leave them. You all go check it out. I'll go on to the statues,” Jer ordered.

”I'll go with you,” Starfall snapped.

“You will go with them in case it’s a trap; they will need you as well. I don't need anyone to help me look,” Jer replied.

“I have a score to settle, General,” Starfall snarled.

“Abandoning another foal for revenge, Starfall?” Jer growled.

There was a loud crack as Starfall's hoof connects to Jer'rahd's face, actually staggering him back a bit. The rage on her face made it clear she was refraining from doing more than just slapping him for that comment.

“Damn, Jer. That was cold,” Rhede uttered.” I'd smack yah myself for it, but I don't think Starfall wants to share kicking yer ass.”

Jer'rahd ignored him, staring at Starfall until another scream echoed through the hedges. Bleu belted Jer'rahd in the back of his head with her tail as she hopped off his back.

“Let's go. He needs some time to cool down.” Bleu grumbled. “Don't you, Jer'rahd...?”

Jer'rahd turned, ignoring their glares, and galloped off as the others took off to find the source of the screams. He knew what was inside of him, and he knew what would happen if it got out. Luna had been back as herself for a year now and had not awoken them.

If he found them awake and they killed him, he would no longer need to worry about the beast getting free. Not that he didn't plan to take a few with him when he went.

==================================================

Three fillies huddled together atop an ornamental tree like strange panicked fruit. A pale yellow earth pony with red hair and a large pink bow clung to the top. Just under her a white unicorn filly with a disheveled mess of purple-striped pink mane and tail clung to another branch. On the lowest branch, an orange pegasus filly with purple hair gripped a broken tree branch in her teeth, swinging wildly at a pack of creatures clawing and jumping at them from the ground below. Occasionally, she connected with the branch and sent a creature who was trying to climb the tree tumbling to the ground.

Starfall's eyes narrowed. “Trolls.... good, I need to work off some frustration now. Rhede, back me up. Velkorn, Bleu, get the fillies,” she ordered, ”Take them back to the dias with the guards, then get back here.”

“Finally remembered you’re second in command, huh? Alright, you got it: brave kid there with the stick,” Rhede remarked.

The others nodded as Starfall tore across the ground towards the pack of trolls. Rhede stood up on his rear hooves, spinning a pair of daggers on his forehooves, his teeth clamped on the grips of six more blades as he picked his targets. He tossed the two he was spinning in the air, whirling to land on his fore hooves, and kickd out hard with his back hooves. The pair of daggers connected with his rear hooves ,shooting though the air like cannon shot. They slammed into a pair of the trolls leaping into the air after the lowest filly, sending the bodies tumbling across the field away from the tree, daggers buried deep in the twitching creatures’ necks.

The others after the fillies turned just in time for Starfall to be among them, her borrowed blade ripping into the creatures as more daggers zipped through the air. The fillies watch in shock at the two coming to their rescue, though the screaming started again as a massive shadow descended on them from above. It gripped the tree with them on it and ripped it out of the ground, carrying it into the air.

Scootaloo smacked the branch against the blue scaled claw holding the tree as it rose higher in the air. Velkorn dropped down from Bleu's back and landed on the tree trunk, smiling at the surprised fillies.

“Zecora?” Apple Bloom asked.

Velkorn shook her head. “Hello there. You fillies are quite brave. Please relax, though; we are here to help, not send you to your early grave.”

===================================================

Bushes were destroyed by his one-pony stampede as he charged through the maze, cursing his luck for getting lost like he was Rhede. After smashing through another hedge row, he finally recognized a path and darted towards it, trotting into a clearing with a multitude of empty pedestals.

“Buck it...” Jer snarled.

The sound of a deep breath was the only warning he got before the bush to his left ignited in white fire, a line of it searing the air as it raced towards him. A green shield was raised between himself and the white line of fire, the blaze striking the panel and fanning off of it like water poured onto a plate, setting the grass and surrounding bushes on fire.

“Well, well, there is a face I was never expecting to have to see again. I should have known, however, with all the blind charging through the bushes. Hello, Kaisur. It has been some time,” Silver Claw hissed, stepping through the flaming shrubs, advancing on Jer'rahd. “No toy or princess to save your ass this time.”

“Where are the others who were here?” Jer demanded.

“We are exactly where we are supposed to be, father. Well, some of us are. You should be dead like your friends,” Nocturne chuckled, fading in from the shadows.

A strange zebra dressed in ragged robes with a skull of some creature resting on his head slowly trotted after her, giving the gray unicorn a brief look that turned into a hard stare. Jer'rahd did not recognize him, but figured it must be the one that Rhede and Velkorn had put here.

[“There is something wrong with this one, Nocturne. There is a power within him that is the same as that which you utilize, but it is far stronger in him. We do not have time to be trapped in a battle,”] Bloodtail grumbled.

“This shall not take long, and I would think he had some power like mine. Stronger, however, is incorrect,” Nocturne chuckled. A blast of energy left her horn and arced towards the gray unicorn, striking another shield he raised. “No magic armor or weapon this time, father. I saw the blade mother gave you. Very nice. Pity you do not have it.”

[“You misunderstand, pony,”] Bloodtail sighed. [“His power is stronger than yours as he has made a contract with the books.
If you actually looked at him rather than let your ego get the best of you like the lizard has, you might just see that.”]

Silver Claw growled, though Nocturne seemed to consider, looking back at Jer'rahd. The unicorn seemed to be weighing his options here, though running did not cross his mind.

“He has used the books. What have you done with them, father? Is that why you are here?” Nocturne demanded.

Jer'rahd's only answer was to send the borrowed blade whipping at the black alicorn. The mare chuckled, stepping to the side and bumping into a shield Jer'rahd had flung up to prevent her from dodging. Her eyes widen though a blast of white fire melts the blade before it touches the mare.

“She doesn't die ‘til I get what I want, Kaisur,” Silver Claw snarled.

“Like I am going to allow that. I suppose I will have to just kill you all with my bare hooves. You are fargakkkkGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” Jer screamed, his shields dropping as he collapsed to the ground.

[“Impressive spell, Nocturne. Though I can see the power, I did not see you cast. What did you do?”] Bloodtail asked.

“I did not do anything... We need to finish this and find the gate to Tartarus. That is most likely where Celestia hid the books... what is happening!?!?” Nocturne regarded.

Jer'rahd pushed himself back to his hooves, the flesh of his legs rapidly turning to stone as he growled, his red eye flaring bright enough to make the trio squint before stone covered his head, leaving an expression of rage on his face.
Bloodtail lifted his head, looking away from the scene as the red shield faded, a bright light flareing brightly from down the mountain filling the horizon with a soft white glow.

[“I no longer feel Discord's energy,”] Bloodtail considered. [“I believe he has been defeated. Is this the power of the Elements? Impressive.”]

Both the zebra and dragon flinched looking to their legs as the stone prison started climbing up them. Nocturne’s horn flashed brightly and the climbing rock turned to dust, leaving the trio untouched by the stone spell.

“Hmm, just as you predicted. Everything is returning to stone now that that draconequus is gone. I am glad you removed that spell, pony,” Silver Claw hissed.

“I did not do it for my health, dragon. I have need of your abilities to fulfill my own goals,” Nocturne replied. “We need to gather Mustang, Razor Wing, and Scarlet before we leave this place. We do not need to encounter one of the Princesses at this... what the buck is that?”

A writhing mass of darkness surrounded the statue of Jer'rahd. The stone cracked and more shadow bled from the stone’s 'wounds'. A large chunk of stone fell away from the pony’s chest and a large red eye that could not possibly fit inside such a small body stared out at the group. A low rumbling growl like thunder sounded from all around them as more shadows gathered, racing across the ground towards the broken statue.

Silver Claw and Bloodtail both took a step away from the creature. Nocturne shivered under the things gaze.

“This is why he was sealed. The books have corrupted him as they did mother. Celestia trapped him in stone and the power does not wish to go back to sleep. We must flee,” Nocturne shouted. Her horn glowed brightly, enveloping the dragon, zebra, and herself before her power flashed, teleporting the trio away.

Another roar filled the air as the statue started to crumble. A massive clawed paw smashed free, pushing a huge shadowy form upright and free of its tiny prison.

====================================================

[A short time earlier]

Starfall glided over the pedestal, dropping Rhede down onto the marble surface and landing next to him, panting.

“I do not remember you being this fat, Pelt,” Starfall snapped.

“I am not fat. That's all tone muscle there, girly,” Rhede grumbled, “And don't you forget it.”

“HEY, THERE'S THE OTHER ONES!” a filly shouted.

Rhede and Starfall looked over to Bleu and Velkorn. The former was buried under a pile of young ponies while the guards and a purple pony with pink striped mane and tail with three smiling flowers as her cutie mark tried to get the group of them to calm down.

Three fillies darted over to the trio, shouting as they bounced around the pair, firing off a million questions along with various thanks and compliments for saving them. They finally stopped as the purple mare with the smiling flowers approached.

“Calm down girls. Hello, my name is Cheerilee. I heard from the others you two took care of the creatures that were after these three. Thank you. I don't know when they got separated from the group. Everything just went crazy after we stopped for lunch during the tour.” She sighed, “What do you say to them, girls?”

“THAAANK YOU!” the three sang out before firing off a host of questions again.

“Girls, you are in enough trouble as is for wandering off on your own. Go join the others and we will discuss this later,” Cherilee commanded.

The three lowered their heads and headed off with the others, being escorted with the other foals down from the dais and out of the garden.

Bleu and Velkorn moved over to the teacher, along with Sergeant Peach Blossom.

“Thank you all again. I am not sure what would have happened if you had not been there to help them,” Cherilee said.

“Oh, not a problem miss, though if I would have known they had such a pretty teacher, I would have made sure to have them embellish my exploits a bit more,” Rhede chuckled.

Cheerilee stared a moment as if putting the words together in her head before she blushed a bit and bowed lightly to them. The four returned the bow, though Rhede dipped rather low with his bow as if she was royalty, though his gaze was still on her. Velkorn looked like she was about ready to belt him when the shield dropped.

Neither Rhede nor Velkorn had time to react before the stone encompassed their forms again. Starfall managed to rise and look at the others with worried expression before she turned back to stone. Bleu turned snatching a bit of drawing charcoal one of the foals had left and writes something quickly on Velkorn's armor, starting to laugh at the joke before the stone encompasses her.

Cheerilee backpedaled, bumping into Peach Blossom in a bit of panic.

“Wha, what happened to them?!?!” Cheerilee gasped.

“They were prisoners in the garden as well, ma'am. I gather Discord has been defeated and everything that was let loose will be turned back to stone,” the sergeant replied. “I would ask that you not pass on anything you learned here, Miss. It may cause issues. The words of a foal may be ignored, but not when backed by somepony such as yourself."

"That explains why they were speaking Old Canterlot," the mare sighed. “Don't worry, sergeant, I won't tell anyone. I can see the problems ponies knowing the truth about this place would cause."

A deafening roar filled the garden, nearly causing both the school teacher and the guard to take off running. Both barely managed to avoid panicking, though they were both shaking at the sound.

“Annnd and what was that?” Cheerilee quiverd.

The light beat of wings was heard behind them before the soft thud of hooves on the marble surface.

“That is a creature that doth not belong in the world of this time,” Luna stated. “Sergeant, take the teacher to her students and get them to the castle proper. It may end up being the only safe place if I cannot contain this. Inform my sister that I require her aid as well.”

The two ponies jumped, turning as the princess strode past them .

“Go now,” Luna commanded, “before it is too late.”

They both barely managed a bow before running off. At the sound of the roar, the red shield had formed around the garden again. Luna sighed, knowing that regardless of the young lieutenant’s skill, the shield would not last long against the creature within it.

Her gaze turned to the two ponies, the dragon, and the zebra frozen in stone again. Her ears flattened as the roar sounded a third time.

“Jer'rahd.” She muttered, launching into the air.

========================================

The shadowy form grew, reptilian jaws snapping at the air as the creature breathed in deeply, catching scent of its prey. The last command the one who shared its body had given was to destroy the dragon, the zebra, and the alicorn.
The command was pathetically short-minded. It only wished to do what it wanted, but it was enslaved to at least obey a command and what its master... wait...

The creature lifted its head, standing up on its back legs and balancing on its thick tail to lift itself higher as it sniffed the air. Its face smashed a hole in the red shield as if it were little more than the surface of the water as it inhaled great breaths of air.

It did not feel her. It did not smell her. The one that held its leash was gone. It dropped back to all fours, its maw spreading wide, rows of teeth exposed as the grin slid back almost to where its neck joined its head. Its master was gone. Once this last command was fulfilled, it could do as it liked and never obey or listen to any others ever again, a slave to no one and nothing but itself.

The creature laughed, the sound like bones being ground to dust, with the living flesh of their owners still attached and screaming in anguish. It would never be enslaved again as it would destroy any who could and any others who lived until it was sure that it would be the only thing left to control its fate.

It took a first step, quivering at the first taste of freedom it would feel as soon as three creatures died... It sniffed the air again. They had gone north; a strong scent of fresh water and mist filled its nostrils as it traced the teleport spell. There was great water where they went; great falling water, judging by the roar it heard on the other side of that spell.

“BY MY ORDER AS THE GODDESS OF NIGHT, CREATURE, WE BID YOU STAND DOWN AND REVERT BACK TO THE ONE KNOWN AS JER'RAHD KAISUR.”

The beast froze, feeling the inkling of its master’s power suddenly. It whirled about, the multitude of red eyes across its face snapping open wide, more reminiscent of a spider than the dragon it seemed to be shaped after.
Where was she? ...There she was. No, this was not right.

The beast turned, glaring down at the dark alicorn before it curiously. She smelled both like one that was being hunted as well as the former master. There was no power in her voice, though, and that confused the creature a moment. It considered the ways to respond to this order. Crush her? Eat her? Ahh, that would be a proper way, the first time it could utter the word since it had memory.

~”NO”~

The bellow knocked the princess out of the air, sending her to land heavily on the ground. She righted herself quickly, staring up at the creature towering over her.

~”YOU DO NOT COMMAND ME. ONLY MASTER DOES, AND SHE IS NO LONGER HERE. I AM FREE, AND I WILL NOT BE TOLD WHAT TO DO EVER AGAIN.”~

The creature turned as Luna staggered to her hooves. It had not listened to her? Was she not the one that was its master?
She had stopped it twice before... No, Nightmare Moon had stopped it twice before. First Discord and now this?
Luna shivered as the creature stomped across the garden, crushing everything underfoot, seeming to take great joy in destroying statues as it headed towards Canterlot Castle on its path north. Luna's eyes widened, realizing she sent the foals there herself, right into this danger.

“No... I will not let something happen to young ones again… even if... so be it.” Luna muttered, “It needs to be stopped.”

Shadows began to move around the Princess of the Moon, the dark energy swirling about her form covering her in shadow as she brought forth the power that had only been suppressed by the Elements of Harmony. Her body grew larger, her fur turning black as her mane and tail darkened to match the midnight sky, becoming ethereal. Her eyes snapped open, glowing green as the raw power that had been repressed flowed through her.

The beast stopped dead, whirling around quickly, obliterating a large pedestal as it turned all of its eyes wide at the mass of swirling darkness and the creature at its center.

~”NO!”~

Nightmare Moon screamed out, her eyes locking with the monster’s as it tried to back away.

“YOU WILL STAND DOWN AND RETURN TO WHENCE THOU CAME, BEAST. THIS WE COMMAND!” Nightmare Moon screamed, her voice echoing over the entire garden.

The creature trembled, the leathery skin making up its form slowly starting to peel away and dissolve into dust. The creature roared as the process sped up, the entire thing puffing away to shadowy ash, leaving a small form of a gray armored unicorn to fall from the air where the creature’s head had been.

Nightmare Moon's magic caught the figure, yanking it roughly through the air to drop heavily atop of the marble dais where she had been banished from. She launched into the air, gliding over as Jer'rahd tried to get up.

A hard thrust of magic shoved the pony back down against the marble. She landed lightly on the dais before him, glaring down at the barely conscious pony as he struggled to get up, muttering something. She lowered her head a little, ears perking to hear.

“I... I’m sorry princess. I couldn't save you... I’m sorry I couldn't stop it from coming...” Jer’rahd muttered.

Her eyes narrowed as her magic slammed him hard enough against the marble top that his body bounced off the stone surface. Her lips drew back, baring her fangs at the pony before her.

“Sorry? You are sorry? YOU BETRAYED ME! After all I did for you... I gave you my friendship, I trusted you, I... give you my love and you turn on me!?!? You are sorry; a sorry bit of shit that I never should have trusted. How you even managed to bear the element of Loyalty is beyond me. I should have left you to die in the desert without your leg to bleed to death with the dog corpses,” Nightmare Moon snarled.

The unicorn visibly winced at the words, managing to make it to his hooves, though his head remained lowered as the alicorn continued. Her mane lashed out, striking him across the face every so often to punctuate her insults. Her own green eyes were filling with tears as she ranted.

“You are not worthy of anything I have given you. Not the weapon, not the rank,” she screamed, her magic ripping free the medals and patches from the unicorn’s armor, throwing them to the ground at his forehooves. “And certainly not worthy of being my consort...”

“LUNA!” Celestia shouted, landing lightly behind her sister, the white alicorn glaring at the dark form her sister had taken.

The dark alicorn's eyes widened. Her magic still gripping a patch, the shadows began to fade away from her, returning her form to normal. As they cleared, a shamed and crying Luna remained. She turned back, looking down at Jer'rahd, who had not lifted his head from the ground since she started laying into him.

“You made me turn back into that Nightmare as well...” Luna stuttered. “Better if you had died long ago instead of seeking forgiveness. You will not receive it from me, Kaisur.”

“Then I will wait in stone, forever,” Jer whispered, “It is all I have left.”

Luna glared at him. Her horn glowed, turning him to a statue again before her. She stood there a moment more before falling to the marble top herself, curling up and crying as Celestia rubbed her back with a hoof.

The Goddess of the Sun picked up a single patch of cloth that had not turned to stone with the others- the one Luna's magic still gripped: the patch of the 42nd, torn from Jer'rahd's shoulder.

“I cannot do that again sister... I wanted to go back. I felt it… I needed to use it again... I don't want to be that ever again,” Luna whimpered. “It was there, calling me. Every fight, every time I called my powers to attack; I couldn't stand it...”

Celestia looked down at her sister and sighed, her gaze turning to the unicorn in stone.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight opened her eyes. Spike, Cadence, and her parents were staring at her wide eyed.

“What?” Twilight asked, blinking.

Spike points to the pillow behind her head. She sat up, turning around to look, her jaw dropping at the scorch marks burnt into the white pillow case.

“We got a bucket of water to put you out. Everything was fine ‘til a couple of minutes ago, then you started growling and your mane caught fire. What happened?” Spike asked.

“I found out what I need to do,” Twilight answers.

================================================

It was two days before the doctors cleared Twilight to leave. She sent Spike back to Ponyville to let the others know she was coming home after she spoke with Celestia and Luna.

She did not even bother to go through the proper channels and simply stormed into the throne room. The guards initially moved to stop her, though once they recognized her as the pony who saved the captain and the others, they let her pass, much to the complaints of those lined up to see the princesses.

Both the princesses were there on their thrones, looking rather bored by the rambling of Prince Blue Blood who stood before them.

“I need to talk to you two now,” Twilight shouted.

“You need to wait your turn. I have been waiting to go over these documents with my aunts for the last month,” Blueblood scoffed. “Even for a lesser house, you would think the Sparkles would teach some manners. Now begone; I still have fifty six pages left to go over about the zoning laws.”

Blue Blood yelped leaping back as his paper work caught fire in his hooves. He flailed about with his magic before being yanked off his hooves and floated in the air upside down to face Twilight.

“Leave now of your own power.,.” she growled, “or you will leave through a window!”

The prince flailed as he was dropped. He dashed out the door with a cry for the guards about being attacked.
Celestia smirked a little at her nephew’s departure, but the smile faded at the expression on her students face. Luna looks a little puzzled until Twilight pulled the little wooden box from her saddle bag, floating it over to drop at Luna's forehooves.

“They tried to help you, and this is how you treat your friends?” Twilight growled. “I don't care how much you think they wronged you; that was uncalled for. And don't you dare tell me that Nightmare Moon was in control. That was all you, Luna!”

The Goddess of the Moon's eyes widen. She turns her head, not able to meet the angry unicorn’s gaze. Celestia winces, looking to her sister.

“Silver Claw, head of the Flame Party and the one who nearly killed you both; Scarlet, assassin for The Order, a group that did its best to screw you over as much as it could; Bloodtail, the one who started the zebra war and tried to take over the whole country; Razor Wing, the mercenary griffon with a higher pony kill count than any other living creature of her time; Colonel Claymore, the pony that tried to betray Equestria to the dragon nation; and Nocturne, the Discord-created child of Luna and Jer'rahd who wants to kill them both and rule. All of them are free and they are looking for the books, if they have not already found them,” Twilight listed. “She knew to look in Tartarus two years ago, and that's where you put them.”

Celestia bit her lip and sighs, her ears flattening.

“We knew about Nocturne...” Celestia began.

“Great, so you are sitting here listening to Blue Blood and you know!?” Twilight snapped.

“We know because Luna was attacked by her two nights ago in the garden,” Celestia replied. “Jer'rahd saved her there as well, so your words are all the more harsh due to that.”

“How did he even… in stone?” Twilight wondered. “You know what? Never mind; every time someone mentions that pony’s name, it’s along with something impossible. I am not even going to be surprised anymore. So you know; what are you going to do? Why didn't you scry on this before now?”

“We did not scry because it has taken us this long to even get the garden back in some semblance of order. Then there is the fact that Discord's statue is missing and we are still hunting for it. Then there was the wedding on top of the day to day of running a kingdom. We barely have a moment to ourselves, much less look into something we did not even know was a problem until your friends were attacked. Right now, there is nothing we can do,” Celestia said. “We do not know their next move, and it has been proven that they can attack us even here. We must be careful and wait to see what their next move will be so we can deal with it.”

Twilight was listening, but her glower was growing more and more with each word.

“So in other words, you plan to sit here and do nothing,” she snapped. “Ponies have already died and there's no telling how many more might, too, before they do anything you will even notice.”

“I could not beat Nocturne when she attacked me by surprise, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna replied. “Seeking her out without a plan would make it worse. It is not as if we have been doing nothing. More guards are being trained and old contacts are being found.”

“You likely only lost because you are still too scared to fight because of what you did in the past,” Twilight fires back. “I saw that much from the patch.”

“Twilight Sparklem stop this now. If all you came here to do was taunt my sister, you may leave NOW,” Celestia commanded.

Twilight flinches a little, but she quickly steels herself against Celestia's gaze.

“As much as I care for you, princess, we will not survive if we follow the tactic of wait ‘until something happens before we do anything’.” she replied, looking up at her teacher andbiting her lip. “That never worked in the past. Why would it start now?”

Celestia blinked looking down at her student.

“And what would you have us do, then, Twilight?” Celestia asked, still glaring at her.

“I am not even going to begin to think I could tell either of you what to do, but I am going to do what always seems to happen anyway,” Twilight snapped in reply, “I am going to get my friends, and we are going to handle it ourselves. I cannot just wait like you are doing. Unlike you, I do not have the time to be that patient.” The purple unicorn turned, heading towards the door before pausing and looking back at the two alicorns staring after her.

“If you are not going to help, then please stay out of my way,” she added before storming out the door.

==========================================================

A cold wind blew across her back, sending a shiver along her spine. She lifted her head, looking up at Canterlot Castle with a sigh. That was the dumbest thing she had ever done. She managed to probably piss off and alienate herself from both Luna and Celestia. She truly hoped her teacher would not hold it against her, but she could not wait. There was too much at stake now.

It was infuriating; neither of them seemed to be able to see the obvious solution. Well, maybe not a solution, but a start. Celestia would not do anything overt and Luna was too scared of turning into Nightmare Moon again to do anything. The guards nowadays could not handle this situation. Centuries of peace had dulled ponies’ fighting skills. Just from what she had seen, she felt more experienced in war than even her brother.

There were, however, those who did know how to fight- those who knew the enemies that they would be facing. Those whose skills had not dulled with time.

She shifted as a cold breeze blew over her again. She had visited the treasury first and found the Brilliant Dawn. She was tempted to gather the Elements as well, but she was not sure she could get them from the Celestia-locked safe.

She had found the Waning Moon embedded in the stone on the path to the dais. Two guards placed by it had told her that not even Luna had been able to pull it free.

Twilight glanced at the blade and yanked it free of the stone, panicking the two guards. She ignored their looks of shock as she climbed the path to the top of the dais with only a brief glance to the damage that had been done to it.

There were those she had seen that could be trusted to do right in the long run. Those who would help Equestria as they had done before in the past.

She had two spells prepared for this, and cast the first over the statues themselves: a variant of the language spell she had used with the scry. They would be able to speak and somewhat understand modern pony even if they did not understand the slang. It was potent enough as-is without trying to add zebra into the languages as well. It should help them adapt a little better.

She set the Waning Moon before the unicorn in the middle, her horn glowing as she cast the same stone curse removal spell that had started her on this path.

The gray stone faded, chips of rock falling from their forms as they shifted, breaking free of the prisons they were in. They stood up straight and looked around before focusing on the purple unicorn before them.

“Queen Velkorn the First, Starfall Silvertail, Rhederic Pelt, Bleu Scale, Jer'rahd Kaisur,” Twilight announced as the figures looked at her curiously. “Equestia is in peril; we need your help.”

Author's Note:

Editing by Jphyper

Comments

[TwiceMarked]

3:15 a.m.

"Sigh, I really should get to sleep now." Checks recent updates.

"Stories in Stones updated."

Over 15,000 words

...

...
"BUCK SLEEP!!"

[TDR]

1926140 sorry

[DaveTheBrony]

AAAAARrrRggGG!!! Why does the chapter have to end. So good, I don't think I can even wait until the next chapter. Every chapter of this overall story draws me in further, I am usually a patient person, but I wants it NAO!

[Misplaced Modifier]

Things are starting to pick up and the five are now released, time for things to get crazy.

-Ghost Minty

[Obsidian]

And of course... nobody knows that the EoH have been stolen. *SIGH* Keep track of your damn relics ponies!

Good to see a proactive Twilight. She's going to get shit done regardless of how infuriating the two Princesses are. One so wracked with guilt, the other paralyzed by a promise to a pony who more and more doesn't seem worth it.

Obviously a memory charm of some sort was placed on the Ponyvillians that were in the Gardens at the time. Else the mane 6, or at least Twilight would probably have known of the prison break months ago. I swear, again... bump off the two princesses, take their power for yourself and get this shit done Twilight.

[silvadel]

Wow, Kick Flanks Twilight is in attendance. She fits right in with the old bearers after that display.

[Psycho Kid]

All of my yes!
EDIT: I absolutely effing love this story, and this chapter shows me why. I can already see things being foreshadowed, and I totally called who was going to have been free! (I said a zebra but oh well) Two things I found that stood out to me was that a coma was needed here:

Sergeant take the teacher to her students and get them to the castle proper, it may wind up being the only safe.....

The final thing was that while Twilight is using the spell with the language translator for this chapter, the guards are not, you may want to have the seargent and Cherilee comment about the way they talk to maintain continuity. Other than that I loved it!

[BarrenBaron]

So, was that one paragraph that mentioned Phlumes a reference to pendragon? It's been forever since I've read them but It sounded familiar!

Also, Luna needs to get her shit together and stop being fraid of her shadow, and Celestia needs to pull out the fucking yggdrasil tree someone shoved up her ass, cu'z either that, or nothing will be done

[silvadel]

1927077

Badflank Twilight and friends will make sure things get done, Pony gods or no pony gods. I mean they have the enemy outnumbered 11 to 6.

I want to see Bleu and Pinkie Pie together.

[FredFredNineNine]

Awesome

[KMCA]

I could have saved this story for work... but I'd rather spend the only hour of the day available to me for enjoyment actually enjoying this.

Critic time... where's my beret?
You really need to fix your open quotation marks, this is an ongoing thing for you.

eg.

“ That never worked in the past, why would it start now?”

spaces between the quote and the word.

and

snaps Twilight.” Ponies have already died and there's no telling how many more might before they do anything you will even notice.

well same issue just worse. The ones like this keep throwing me for a loop

[Sgt. Brony]

Great, so how long will it be before Luna finds out that Twilight let them loose. How will she be able to sneak them out of Canterlote, her friends reaction to seeing them, and their reaction to their descendants?

[Obsidian]

1928460 - I think Twilight's beyond caring what Celestia/Luna want. Both have proven themselves incapable of protecting Equestria properly. For different reasons, but still. One is too caught up in herself and her misplaced grief, and well-placed shame, the other is simply impotent to make proactive decisions.

Twilight's in a 'get shit done' sorta mood and I don't think either princess is going to be willing to get in the way of that.

[TDR]

1926870 i have been thinking about setting one up.

1927077 hehe no the one about the plume was a much more pathetic refrence to the mlp movie......

1927291 As i said before what makes you think there are only six?

1928460 Next chapter.

1926482 no one knew they were stolen last time they went missing either. that's why they had to play Discord's game.
It was less a memory charm and more a "So much wierd shyt was going on that we don't really have much time to listen to the foals raning about statues coming alive." Cheerilee was simply asked not to say anything.

Theres more to Celestia's promise then just "i promise' Think of it like a Pinkie Pie swear for gods... I will be getting into that later though.

Luna.... The mare turned to darkness, was betrayed, imprisoned, repressed, had to learn all the progress of language and society for a thousand years, then return to ruling the night again, just as things start seeming normal for her Discord happens and she has to fight again and all the old memories of what she was and had done come back witht he more things she fights and stops. Then a perfect slap in the face happens as something that is purely her fault rears its head and she has to return to the darkness to stop it. Something she had been fighting since she returned.

Luna's pretty screwed up right now. Twilight could only see what happened not how it was affecting her. Celestia knew which is why she was getting pissed at Twilight.

Granted Twilight has just finished this epic novel that made her question her princess a little, her friends were attacked, her brother almost killed and all she sees is that the rulers of the land could have stopped this earlier.

[Obsidian]

1928590 - I don't know if you have anything else planned, but from near every scene involving Celestia, my ire at her unwillingness to do anything only increases. Maybe I can respect her promise, though it's damned stupid, but she's even unwilling to use the tools she does have to any effect. Her pacifism in the face of things that are completely unreasonable, costs pony lives, and thus she looses any credibility with me.

Even if she herself can't act, she prohibits those around her from acting too. Honestly, I can't see Twilight as accepting that anymore. Not when her friends and family have been threatened and hurt. Not when the truth behind the jailbreak was covered up for nearly two years. There are 6 major threats out there, and they need to be stopped, and the Beasts are the only ones that have much of a chance to do anything.

Some oddities regarding timeline though... the 6 have been loose for nearly two years by your reckoning, what have they been doing? None of them seem the type to keep a low profile, save Scarlet.

[TDR]

1928915 She does take the turn the other cheek approach a little to far but thats the way of it. She has lived so long she only looks at the bigger picture. A few dozen lives now for a much longer time of peace later. It worked for a thousand years with no wars being fought just the occasional marauding beast that was dealt with quickly.

Keep in mind Every one of them has their own issues and very few of thoose issues are small. the problems of the mane six are barely noticeable between the bouts of depression, suicidal tendencies and other issues with the Five. And now they are out and every pony they ever knew is dead and long gone. They are also starting to have problems among them selves that have carried for a thousand years as well.

Hell is an eternity locked in a room with your best friends.....

That is not all entirely true.....

Yep six years and they have been very very carefully bideing time. Though if you go back in the first book.... they were there occasinaly.... either as stars or disguised..... Razor Wing did start a new hunt when she thought Starfall was dead.

Make no mistake they did a few things that ate up their time quite thuroughly.

[Nagaina]

1928590

The epic stories never seem to have them. Upheaval could use one to. There are the stories where you actually need help remembering everything.

[MageTrollpatrol]

This chapter only serves to further enthrall me. Continue good sir

[MatsuriDream]

TDR you magnificent bastard. Talk about a nail biter cliffhanger ending to this chapter.

[Zanmatsuken]

Man I am getting tired
*checks clock, 3:51AM*
Ok, one last check and then time for sleep.
*SiS updated*
Challenge accepted.
-----
Alright, where to begin.
1. So meta. So terribly meta. So brilliantly meta.
2. When it comes to taking action, I can understand Luna. But Celestia? Get bent! Twilight Sparkle is coming to town and getting this shit worked on.
3. Next chapter, when Mane 6 meet Beasts.....yes.....alll my yes.
4. What will it take to make this next chapter a published thing faster? money? booze? womens? A portal to Equestria either as you see it or as the show shows it? I can make all these things a reality, given enough time.
5. That fucking cliffhanger. I honestly cannot decide if this fic is in my #1 or #2 spot of best fics I have read. This troubles me because both this and your competition are soooooo good.
6. Thank you once again for sharing this with all of us. I do not think anyone else that reads this could create such a masterpiece.
7. Thank you to all the editors of SiS, I want to explicitly give you my thanks. However the only editor I am aware of is Foxi. Therefore, thank you for your work in this too Foxi!

[iRemnants]

Twilight has gone and freed the Five herself. I've been waiting for this moment since LRG finished.

[TDR]

1930461 Intrestingly enough i get this comment a great deal. I am in Est. time but I post at strange times. Some times around noon somtimes 3 or 4 in the morning. If i get into a writeing Kick i just go with it.

1.Uummmm kay
2. Celestia has her reasons and it will be understood when it gets revealed.
3. Seems to be what most people were waiting for.
4. The Tardis.
5.i thought it was a rather weak ending myself.. I have a number of fics I really like as well. Though while writeing i try not to read them so i don't accidently steal something.. Thankfully one of my favorites is done[ FO:E]. And the other is on Hiatus [ End of Ponies.] there are quite a number of others most of which are hosted here. [A slice of Life,Binky Pie, Dusk and Dawn:Harmony,U-Harmony, Nightmares Don't last forever, to name a few.]
6. I am sure some one could have. The idea was first thought of as a comic called garden party which is linked some where in the first stories notes.
7. jphyper is the primary editor

[xonxt]

That last line. So EPIC!

For some reason I really hope that in the next chapter you will not just skip the introductions. You know, the part where Twilight informs the five Generals who she is, that she is the current bearer of Magic, that she is Celestia's student, that she was the one to release them and why. I would especially love to see their reactions, when she tells them that she has been scrying on the sword and basically knows everything about them, everything they did. That will be priceless .

Oh, and of course meeting the Mane 6. That oughta be hilarious. To see how the personalities of respective Elements clash. I'm especially expecting much from Blue/Pinkie And yeah, Rhede flirting with the Mane 6, can't forget that.

[StormyVenture]

Clearly Twilight is light years ahead of other unicorns. She just whipped a star metal blade out of the ground and undid a spell holding five creatures in stone. If that spell is so easy to undo, then Celestia and Luna need to quit trusting security through obscurity as a protection measure.

[TDR]

1935247 Twilight has also held onto that blade for over a year and has been using magic on it constantly. It was rather a slow progression of training. That she managed to teleport it and the Brilliant Dawn which is also a star metal blade and everything else right down to a tree is a bit more a display of power.

Luna could not move the Waning Moon because the blade did not want to leave its master again. More on that later.

[LastLight]

SO, odd idea that is bouncing around in my head. I feel like its going to end up Twilight alicorn element of magic with the five beasts as her friends wielding the elements again... Just a idea. You know, because her friends right now will deal poorly with combat on this scale.

Also last line. We need you help???? should that be your?

[xonxt]

1935671 Yeah, the "your"/"you're" mistake can be found VERY often in this fanfiction, as well as in the previous one. Just let it go, it's still awesome

You know, the way Twilight charged at Silver Scale with the unsheathed blade, one might think, that more than a year of observing The Five Beasts' lives through their eyes has passed some of their combat skills and experience to Twilight. That would be interesting.

A variant of the language spell she had used with the scry

Ah well, we all know why you inserted that. Just don't want to bother with the old-english speech, do you? ;)

[TDR]

1936462 That charge was the same trick she pulled on Nightmare Moon actually, the mad dash and teleport.

Got it in one. I wrote the old Canterlot speech for one paragraph and it bugged the heck out of me.

[jebstermes]

1933493 and then the general realization that 80 percent of the population of equestria is all female. Rhede would be pleased I imagine...

[StormyVenture]

1945054
Somehow I don't think that it could possibly be 80% mares. If that were really true, there would be either a lot of promiscuity (at least on the guy end), a lot of single mares, or a definite decline in the birth rate. 60-70% mares seems vaguely more plausible.

[TDR]

1946027to be honest it seems more like mares are the civil work force and most stallions are guards

[xonxt]

1946413 either that, or equestrians somehow discovered a way to reproduce without the involvement of males.

[DEL]

during the funny scenes (like the gazibo or the rabbit)

At the epic fight scenes.

Amazing and cannot wait until next chapter.

[silvadel]

Lets get one thing straight...

This is all happening some (maybe hundreds or thousands of) years after the death of the mane 6? Celestia is running the same spell twilight did to go back into the lifetime Twilight lived and reminiscing about what happened?

[xonxt]

1953528 Apparently. And judging by the way Celestia fondly remembers all of it in the first chapter, it all ended well. Nice going and ruining the suspense, TDR!

[TDR]

1954223 Honestly i did the same thing witht he first story and no one really complained.....

After all its not so much the destination with this sort of tale.

It's the ride that gets you there.

[xonxt]

1954868 True. And was one hell of a ride Keep it up. I already can't wait for the next chapter. You are writing it, aren't you?

i did the same thing with the first story

Yeah. It's like watching/reading Naruto and worrying over his safety. I mean, Hello! His name is in the title. He's gonna be OK!

[TDR]

1955570 Truth be told though All you know at the end is Celestia and Luna survived in this one.... ::grins::

[StormyVenture]

1947000

Really??? That's what you come up with?! I have to say that's ridiculous. That's just not how biological reproduction works... and there might be some downsides to that kind of thing, since there's more than just two things fusing going on there. Although I suppose MAGIC explains everything...

[jebstermes]

1946027 it was a very rough guess on my part

[Lunarassasin]

Best Ending EVER!!!! I can barely wait for the next chapter.

[xonxt]

I gotta stop trying to predict the date when the next chapter is going to be released from the gaps between previous chapters.
I thought that the fourth was going to be posted like 2 days ago and got really hyped. But it wasn't released Ah well, I hope it means that it is either going to be really awesome, or really long. Or both.

[TDR]

1986320 long......... it's in editing now what keeps holding me up is one part i keep re writeing cause i am not happy with it.

[treos]

holy moly, i think this chapter had only 2 typos overall, dude...
Twilight Sparklem stop this now. (no m please ;)) and darn, lost the others location.

wow is that garden full of horrors, and so wonderfully chaotic chaos is why i like discord and boy did he let loose a mess in there.

[Darkswirl]

OH MY GOD YOU REFERENCED THE GAZEBO

I LOVE YOU

[Tigro Spottystripes]

2027046 Chaos? Put the worse of the worse all in the same place and you get the cross between a warzone and a slaughterhouse...too predictable; seems all those years in stone made Discord loose his touch.

[xaldinlance]

2047763 what's the reference I don't get it?

[Huntersniper117]

5598054

The reference is to a DND story about a player who thinks a gazebo is a monster and repeatedly tries to attack it, and after the DM is suck of the player's stupidity makes the gazebo eat the player.

[link4]

Twilight pulling a Luna? how nostalgic. lol but she is right, Celestia is once again, doing nothing.

[Vibrant lies]

.......... pony,” Silver Claw hissed.
.............Nocturne replied. “We need to gather Mustang, Razor Wing, and...

Aren't Mustang and Silver the same?