> From The Depths
>  by vazak
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Awaken
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


1 


In the dark blue waters of the Northern Sea there rested a small collection of island chains, too small to ever be colonized or even to make their way onto many maps and too deep into the otherwise empty waters for anyone to ever bother with them. Sailors had often reported the area as seemingly absent of any marine life, and the chill that hung over the waters was haunting. Because of this few had any reason to come here and to look upon the island home of the mystical Pannas. 

Celestia stood upon the beach, her golden armor glinting in the sunlight, her hoof cups resting in the yellow sand as magically saturated palm trees wafted in the breeze. Beautiful, rare plants and animals dotted the landscape calling this place home. She could see a small creek lining the particular island she was standing upon. Behind her were rocky outcroppings where the grass grew and that framed a small island forest. Bushes and large tropical trees covered in juicy multi-colored fruits and resting atop these trees were large, delicately crafted nests that were home to the legendary Panna bird. 

The Pannas were a mostly forgotten species, but Celestia still recalled tales told by sailors of beautiful birds that would take the forms of something alluring and enchanting, usually a beautiful pegasi or griffons that would lead the unwitting sailors to their deaths

'Of course, even with their magical defenses, Pannas could never take on such forms; little more than fairy tales to explain sailors going too long without enough food.' Celestia noted. 

The Queen of the Sun heard a mighty cry emit from Philomena as the phoenix made yet another spirited attempt to tag one of the long legged, swan like birds. But just as her beloved pet made for another dive bomb into the giggling flock, the Pannas broke apart, and the one Philomena had singled out twisted and bent at impossible angles. The blue crowned and white winged Panna twisted her form and swooped around the frustrated phoenix, going back to joining her flock as Philomena gave chase, crowing in equal parts irritation and amusement. Celestia let out a small smile at the sight; finding and freeing her pet had been a trial but more than worth it. 

Celestia’s mind drifted back to her last visit. She and Luna had been there, side by side; it had not been a time of stress or war. They had ensured the prisons security and had simply… rested; a notion that had become alien to her while her sister buried herself in decadence. 

' 'Our enemies never truly sleep, so neither can I,'  Celestia thought with conviction. She wondered how her would be niece would respond to such pressures. Celestia had been forged in a crucible of war and fear, while Cadenza had grown up under Luna's pitiful reign. 'A true princess must survive trials by fire.' 

Celestia's eyes focused upon the ocean. The northern sea was always dark--some would say unnaturally so, but she was one of the few who had ever known why that was. She could still remember Zecora querying her on this 'admittedly' risky venture. 





"My Queen, are you sure this is wise, I know you do not wish to compromise" the prophet had whispered reverently, her head bowed in deference.  

"Do not question our mistress's wisdom! Of course this plan shall succeed!" Kindle replied enthusiastically.  

Before the two could start bickering, Celestia raised a hoof for silence and spoke, "In my life, I have seen the wisest of scholars and generals alike, broken and beaten with the ease of a child. I have watched as the most sage advice and most ancient well-tested wisdom has been proven false." Celestia gave a small smirk as she continued, "The question you should be asking me Zecora, is not 'is this wise?' but instead, “will this work?" 

The zebra leaned forward, nervousness clear on her features, "Will it, your majesty?





Celestia was pulled out of her thoughts as Philomena landed upon her back and began affectionately rubbing her beak along the mare’s elegant primaries. 

"Thank you my pet, but I did not come here to question myself, or to think of days long since lost. Rest now, and watch," she intoned gravely. 

Taking her warning, Philomena's wings fanned out. Flames danced around her as she took to the sky and watched as her mistress began walking towards the ocean, stopping just as the water graced her hooves. 

Celestia's own wings flared and began beating against the air. She reared up and slammed her hooves against the ground as golden light flowed from her horn. The skies darkened with her magic as black clouds swarmed around the islands, lightning arced between them as they crashed together and thunder echoed across the islands as the winds began cutting into the ocean. 

"I have had everything taken from me!” Celestia cried. “My home, my title, my rightful crown and all by my very own family!" Celestia’s voice echoed across the skies loud enough to shatter stone. 

She took to the skies as the water beneath her bubbled and writhed before the mighty winds she had called to her, the gale-force winds focused only upon the once calm waters leaving the islands untouched. 

"But I have learned that sometimes. Providence. Must. Be. Forced!" Celestia roared. 

And with that proclamation, the waters were torn asunder by a raging maelstrom, lighting and thunder roaring around Celestia as a mighty vortex of water opened beneath her. As the ocean's maw spread wide, Celestia could see her prize at the bottom of the ocean floor. Hundreds of fathoms below, waiting for its release.

The solar queen’s horn lit up and a golden aura subsumed her form, and soon her entire body was encased in golden light as she hovered above the spinning vortex. Slowly, she began to change, her muzzle stretching and widening along with her neck as new growths sprouted from her sides, the long, beautiful feathers of her wings shifting into fins as she dove into the raging whirlpool.

The alicorn princess grimaced ever so slightly as the water struck her newly minted skin, it only served to hide her identity from her enemies and was a tool like any other, but self transformative magic had always been her sisters favored school. Not that there was a magical art that she could not use with a level of mastery that would put the greatest minds to shame, but it had never been a favored school for her. 'Perhaps it reminds me too much of Discord,' she thought distastefully, as the raging dark waters embraced her and she was pulled down into the ocean. Above her, the seas calmed and Philomena let out a mournful cry. 





The seawaters raged around Celestia with enough force that any normal pony would have been torn to shreds, or at least blinded by the constant surging currents, but the tempest barely phased her as she forced her way deeper and deeper into the ocean's depths. The whirlpool sealed itself behind her, blocking out the light from her sun, and a shiver ran up the alicorn's spine's as she remembered who, or what, she was about to release upon the unsuspecting world. 

To this day Celestia still remembered what he had whispered upon his imprisonment, 'At the bottom of the ocean even light must die, even night will die.'

Dismissing those memories from her mind Celestia inspected her shifted form, searching for any imperfections. She only vaguely resembled a merpony, in fact she was far closer to a shark than a maiden of the sea, but that was exactly what she had wanted, something monstrous and alien to her real self so that she might deceive those who would see her. 

After what felt like hours of travel down the raging maelstrom, Celestia reached a giant blackened stone riddled with holes that jutted out from the ocean floor. The area around it was completely absent of any signs of life, and the only thing that marked it as the meeting place was a magical impression left upon its surface. 

Celestia burst from the vortex, the whirlpool collapsing around her, and she quickly found herself subsumed in water and darkness. To anypony else, the blackness would be complete, the seafloor far too deep for her sun's glorious light to enter and fill the void. 

'The perfect place to keep monsters,' she reflected. 

But Celestia was not a normal pony. She was an alicorn. Sol Invicta. And even the deepest darkness could not hide anything from her sight. She allowed her gaze to wander through the nearly featureless waters and wrinkled her nose as something dark and vile brushed across her muzzle.She tried to ignore the debris, but as it fell over her lips she was reminded of the taste of copper and blood that stung her tongue like acid. She quickly let her magical aura fling it off her as she floated in the high pressure waters, waiting for her escort to arrive. 

Then there was a mad scuttling from the darkness, the sound of far too many legs, disorganized and poorly matched. She felt some sort of weight coming towards her,  ‘But from where?’.But then, suddenly, a mammoth monstrosity burst forth from the rock precipice, with lidless black eyes on stalks, a hard, crimson red shell and countless legs and claws jutting from its malformed carapace. The abomination roared as it sent one of its mighty pincers down to crush her.

Celestia caught the clawed strike with her transfigured forelegs and held the clamps wide open as she stared at the hulking creature that towered over her, its mouth splitting open sideways to reveal several layers of jagged teeth. Celestia saw a writhing mass of tentacles shoot out at her from the abominations mouth, they had sharp barbs on the ends of them as they struck at the alicorn, she forced the claws aside and dived through the dozens of violent, cutting daggers and landed a strike against its mutant underbelly, eliciting a maddened screech from the creature as it was flung into the waters, away from its rocky hold. 

But her efforts were for naught as the abomination charged at her again, completely unaffected by its current position in the water; but even from her vantage point Celestia could make out blood leaking from the creatures underbelly. 

'I've no time for this wretch!' Celestia reared back as her enemy approached, bubbles and blood spilling from its maw as it roared and gurgled senselessly. 

Celestia exploded forward and let out a roar, from her mouth burst a cry strong enough to shatter stone and with it a focused bubble of sound grand enough to fling the creature backwards with a mighty crack, scattering some of it's legs and shattering it's outer shell. 

"Cease this! I am the one who called to you, I have come to free the ancient one, he who sleeps and dreams of the end!" she lied.

The creature looked at her, it's glazed eyes now taking in her shape as if for the first time; there was some alien intelligence behind those eyes, guiding them, it suddenly lurched forwards, it’s tentacles retracted and claws hanging low at its sides. 

"Krang," Corona muttered, barely capable of hiding her disgust at the bulbous mutation standing before her. 

"You came! just as the dreams said you would. The whispers in the dark, he will awaken, awaken," the red creature burbled madly, slavish devotion tainting it's every word. 

Turning, Krang began floating deeper into the icy waters and Celestia followed. The alicorn could not stop herself, she asked a question of the hideous slave, "What did you expect to gain in attacking me, what do you do to serve him?" she asked.

Krang did not turn or even slow as words escaped it's malformed mouth, garbled and vicious as it spoke, "Death, he seeks death of what comes here, so few do, fear, they know to fear this place so nothing can live, not where he lies. I find things sometimes, feed them to him so that their souls may fuel and please him in his sleep." 

Celestia leaned away from the monstrous thing before her, images of lost sailors and tiny Pannas being dragged into the icy depths and fed to a sleeping abomination filling her mind. She clutched her head as her eyes flared gold, 'I can practically hear them screaming!' 

Krang had come to a halt, and Celestia realized he was waiting for her, it looked up at her uncomprehendingly and motioned for her to follow. As they continued downwards Celestia almost made to ask why he had attacked her, when the fact occurred to her, 'He did just answer my questions,' with emphasis on ‘did’ she thought with contempt. 

She almost wondered why it was not suspicious of her, but the answer was obvious: Krang was not truly a living and thinking entity, but instead an extension of Squirk’s will. Some simple animal that was in his presence too long, and had mutated from clinging to Sea King. Becoming a living vessel to fulfill the beasts needs, even now, while it slept. She remembered fighting off such creatures in the past, including Krang, who'd been nothing but a runt when they first crossed paths. 

It had most likely avoided being destroyed in the final conflict and had bound itself to its master since his imprisonment. Luckily, even as a tool, Krang could still be talked to, could still understand the offer of a powerful 'mutant merpony' to free the sea demon. Enough to not impede her... much... on her trip, and to inform his master of her once he was awoken. 

In the distance she could make out what sounded to be breathing, 'not the distance, everywhere, all around me,' she realized as the waters shook and rippled.

Krang moved quickly, the creature’s numerous, skittering, tangled legs not impeding it as it led her towards its master. Celestia could see growths and flesh hanging in strips from Krang’s body as it guided her down to the sleeping tyrant, and Celestia suppressed a gasp at the sight that met her. 

Beneath them lay Squirk, just as she remembered him; gargantuan and hideous, he lay imprinted upon miles of stone, twisted and deformed barnacles protruded from his body. The ridge she and Luna had chained him to had clearly risen higher and warped in shape since she had last been here. Almost as if to grip the creature now entombed there. 

The mesa’s surfaces were flat and smooth, not at all like any natural cliff formation Celestia had ever seen, but she couldn't think about that now. Displayed before her was the forever open wound; a javelin as tall as a castle tower pierced through what amounted to Squirk’s chest and into the stone ridge, chains reached out from the base and cut their way into the behemoths flesh holding it in place, 'And to this day, he remains sleeping, if only it could be used on something other than him,' she thought, vexed by their own spell. The lance imprisoned Squirk, and could only imprison Squirk.  

The mighty sea demon looked in every way an abomination; his amorphous body like a sea dragon melded with some eldritch squid, bladed tentacles, fins and jagged armored growths covered his body as the creature lay sleeping, stretching over the undersea bluff.  

Celestia swam down and, avoiding touching him, grasped the giant lance between her forelegs. Magic flowed from her as she forcefully reignited her faded connection with the ancient spells, and with one violent pull she tore it from the stone with a resounding crack. Celestia immediately pulled herself away, leaving the lance lodged in the creature; as Squirk’s bulk began to quake, shaking the mountains and the ocean floor as he began to awaken from his long imposed sleep. 

"Time and prison have not been kind to you Squirk, but now it is time to awaken!" she cried.

Golden magic illuminated the black ocean and lanced out from her magically malformed horn and struck the sleeping behemoth. Celestia immediately disappeared back into the shadows, magic blending around her as she moved. 

"Who... Dares... disturb Our tomb...?" his deep echoing voice questioned, it was more than a sound, it pierced right into her mind; the surrounding stone quaked at his ragged proclamation. 

"You will find... only death here," with that, a single red appendage reached out and cleaved through a great mesa, shattering it into a thousand pieces as though it were a pile of dust. 

'After all that has happened to you, all this time and you still haven't changed. Did your defeat teach you nothing?' she pondered silently, as the behemoth continued to wriggle and writhe. Squirk’s movements were causing quakes with his every twist against the lance, and breaking chains that bound him as he thrashed. The once silent sea was filled with noise as the prison’s metal whined and screeched at the monster’s every move. 

Celestia watched from her hiding place as the lance was slowly, agonizingly, forced out from the Squirk’s body, Black blood filling the ocean. Even with her eyes it was hard to perceive what was taking place. She finally came to focus on Krang, as the creature simpered around its master. Its bulbous crustacean head spitting words incomprehensible to normal pony folk, but Celestia could understand him. 

"Oh hallowed one! You have returned to us! Come again to drown this world! We beseech you, how may we sacrifice ourselves in your name?" it pleaded excitedly. Floating in the deep blackness of the ocean and hopefully awaiting its, master’s, reply and Krang’s black stalked eyes filled with a mad fervor. 

Celestia lurched backwards as the blood floated closer to her, the waters surged as Squirk's maw appeared from the shadow of blood and consumed his servant in one bite, Krang's once massive frame barely even matching his master’s teeth in size. 

Celestia leaned back, disgust and horror warred on her face as she watched the ancient weapon fall out of his body. black blood oozed from his open wound as the lance drifted deeper into the recesses of the ocean floor, "You devoured him?" she asked aloud. 

Squirk's gazed came upon her, piercing the shallow illusion she had hidden herself with. An alien intelligence measured Celestia's disguise, as the beast still tried to recover from it's long imprisonment. His eyes were layered, white, then gold and finally a black slit in the middle. She had always hated sharing her favored color with this abomination.

"It's life, my life," His voice whispered. 

Celestia barely had time to finish her thought as one of Squirk’s massive barbed appendages glided through the ocean parting the water with their speed as he almost struck her. 

"What are you doing? I aided you!" Celestia roared as she righted herself while summoning up a sickly dark-green shield, still hiding her magical signature. 'This ruse will do no good if the beast discovers me!' 

She glared at the giant from behind her shield and watched as his blood melted through the surrounding stone. The ocean water sizzled and burst from the contact as Squirk simply floated in place, watching her. 

"You are a pawn in this domain... controlled by unseen whims and desires," he whispered in her ear, Squirk’s voice reverberated and crashed against her shield; as ever he wasn't even moving his mouth. 

"Do not speak to me so imperiously. I freed you Squirk, and I know that even now you cannot hope to challenge the princesses, not without your Flashstone Amulet!" the beast offered no reaction. Instead, it remained floating, the swishes of it's many tails forming whirlpools around them. 

Celestia persisting, laying her trap. 

"The amulet you desire, one half is kept by an alicorn who lives in the southern seas. Should, you call her she will come, destroy her home and she will flee with your prize in her clutches!" Celestia explained, her eyes watching carefully for the slightest movement, not an easy feat in the deep darkness. 

"Is that information not worth my life- a reward?" she asked, hoping he had not seen through her disguise, let alone her faux subservience.  

She felt the attack before she could see it, a cracked and red appendage wrapped itself around her shield and crushed the spell. Celestia found her disguised body held in Squirk’s grasp, the creature’s giant empty eyes glazing over at the sight of her, then it tightened. She struggled and struck against it but her disguised strength soon failed her and there was a mighty crack that echoed throughout the ocean floor. 

With that, Squirk let her broken carcass drop, and the creature tore through the ocea. It's movements dragging the acidic blood over Celestia's defeated form as he disappeared into the distance. 

'He is fast and vicious as ever,' Celestia reflected bitterly.

Her eyes snapped open and exploded with golden light illuminating the darkened sea bed. The princess ground her teeth as the ocean around her began to steam and writhe in response to her roiling emotions. Celestia forced magic through her broken body, resetting shape shifted bones. Golden light encompassed Celestia's altered form, slowly bringing her back to her normal alicorn body. 

“Do not think for even a moment I shall not repay this a thousandfold, Squirk!” The sea bed shook with her proclamation as she forced herself back under control; there was still much she had to do.  

The blood surrounding her stung, but it did not burn through her, 'Without the amulet, he has no way to externalize his magic. Without it being complete he could not challenge Luna or I; but our niece, well that remains to be seen.'

With the course set and the trial by fire to soon begin, Celestia's horn lit up and, in a golden flash, she disappeared.





Across the seas, deep in the darkness he moved; the life forms of the ocean fled in terror. raging undercurrents followed in his wake as he approached a sunken city pressed against a curved underwater bluff. It's make was Minotaur, but almost all evidence of that fact had faded into nothing. Carvings and statues had been worn away to dust, homes had vanished under the sea, and with a gesture the remaining palaces and stone structures exploded into a flurry of pebbles.

Deep within the shattered palace remains, there was a deep crimson glow that glinted against absent lights, 'So small...'

With a thought the amulet glided towards him and fastened itself to his body, a wreath of broken flesh holding it in place. 

The amulet glowed as Squirk moved through the ocean, all things crumbling in his wake as the waters of the Southern Oceans pooled towards him, "She will come, she will drown!"
> Battle
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2


When a pony grew up living near the sea most of their lives it was often said that they developed something of an extra sense to tell them when something was wrong. Cadenza had lived next to an ocean for over nine hundred years and as she stood upon her Summer Palace’s walls and gazed down at the violent and choppy ocean waters, she was certain that something was very, very wrong. 

Next to Cadenza was a single member of her honor guard, the yellow coated and red maned mare wore the traditional purple and golden armor as befitting her station; to Cadenza's right stood a dark brown pegasus with a thinning black mane and thin silver spectacles.

"All the pegasi are stumped princess, controlling sea breezes is always tricky, but this-" he stuttered nervously, waving his hoof towards the crashing white waves, "is completely beyond anything we've ever dealt with before. I'm sorry princess, I just don't know what to tell you. We can't get the wind or the waves to calm down at all," the weather manager explained mournfully, looking down at the ground. 

Cadenza pulled her gaze away from the growing storm clouds in the distance and leaned down to look upon the young pegasus, smiling encouragingly as she stretched one of her wings out and lifted up his chin, "I do not fault you for this Meteo Direttore, whatever has caused this is beyond the scope of even the best trained pegasi and could not have been predicted,” she assured him gently. 

'There's a reason I had to remove the position of Court Soothsayer after all.' she thought, even if she had been rather fond of the mare doing the job at the time. 

"What would you have us do, princess?" Captain Ipomea asked seriously, the pegasus not taking her eyes off the roiling oceans. 

Cadenza hummed for a moment, her lips thinned as she looked out into the distance, far farther than any normal pony could naturally see. She tried to extend her magical senses into the ocean and skies. Cadenza searched the oceans for life, but the fish were fleeing: As though something too horrible to face was coming, 'Something is coming. Something terrible and ancient,' she reflected grimly. 

Princess Cadenza turned to face her guard and spoke with authority a thousand years older than she appeared, "I need you to fetch every fast pegasi guard and emergency worker you can find; I want every ship close to shore brought into dock. I want monitors out there to warn of incoming dangers and for the lower level homes to be ready to evacuate should it be necessary." 

Ipomea’s ears shot back against her skull at such an instruction, she sent Cadenza a quizzical look and received a grim nod from the princess. The mare immediately saluted and said, "Yes Princess, we won't let you down," the guard saw Cadenza look down at the suddenly much more nervous weather manager and spoke again, "I will need your help with this Meteo Direttore, are you ready and able?" 

Starting the brown pegasus spoke, "yes, certainly, I will get the necessary weather ponies working on this straight away." 

"I want guards and emergency workers accompanying them," she said before turning to Cadenza, "By your leave princess," Cadenza nodded and the two ponies took off into the sky.

Cadenza felt a strong breeze cut across her side, blowing her multicolored locks across her face. She turned, not even acknowledging the winds, 'We will be ready for whatever comes our way,' she thought with grim pride. 

As Cadenza turned and made her way from the walls and back into the castle gardens, she continued to plan, 'Whatever this is, it would be best to tell my mother, just in case we need the help,' she determined. 

"Princess!" a stallion’s voice cried, almost being lost against the crashing of the waves so far beneath them. Cadenza turn and spotted another one of her honor guards running towards her, his grey face stricken. 

She galloped over to him and both came to a sudden halt. The unicorn looked up at her, nervousness clear on his features, as he offered a quick and succinct bow.

"What troubles you, Faccia Seria?" she asked seriously. 

"It's the vault princess, one of the enchanted alarms is going off!” He reported breathlessly. 

Cadenza shuddered at the thought, "Approach," she instructed. The guard immediately came to her side, and Cadenza draped a wing over the stallion’s back as her horn's crystal blue magic engulfed them and they vanished. 





The alicorn and the unicorn appeared in a corner of Cadenza's throne room with a flash. They stood before a large, thick wooden door that had sturdy metallic bars sliding across it and deadbolts on the sides. Outside it, stood a stern-faced earth pony who eyed the small glowing circlet in the centre of the door suspiciously, before bowing at his princess's approach. 

"We only just noticed it, your majesty," he explained. 

Cadenza barely even heard his words. She was completely transfixed upon the spinning red circlet, dozens of nearly incomprehensible arcane sigils spun wildly. Cadenza reached out with her own magic and touched the vault before jumping back, almost feeling singed as a splitting pain arced through her head.

"Wait here," she commanded, and in a flash. She was gone. 

Cadenza reappeared inside the vault, all that surrounded her were marked grey boxes inserted into walls. While a select few rested on pedestals that were rooted to the marble floor, dark chains stretched out from the marble floor and ceilings, binding the boxes in place. A heavy coating of dust marred everything Cadenza could see, this was 'The Vault' where she kept dangerous magical artifacts, spells, charms and trinkets: The sort of thing made by demon spawn, or vengeful Moose suitors.

She knew her mother had a similar collection, likely even larger than Cadenza's own. She would have rathered destroy such creations, but knowledge of one's enemies was too valuable to waste. She kept them close to her throne room because that was the most well guarded room in the castle. Whether she was there or not, nopony would question the presence of so many guards in the throne room, of all places. 

Only her Honor Guards and some high ranking officials were aware of that particular door’s significance though. Even if somepony could manage to get through her guards, they would need to get past Cadenza as well. Getting her to leave the castle would not help either: She would always cast an enchantment upon herself when she left. Ensuring that if the alarm was tripped, she would know.

None of that stopped Cadenza from suffering a moment of complete and utter blind panic at the sight of the largest and most secure vault in her collection glowing crimson red. The enchanted steel was warping and twisting, rust was appearing at random places, and the chains that held it to the pedestal were melting.

"The Flashstone Amulet," she uttered under her breath. 

Springing into action, Cadenza's eyes glowed and a stream of magic exploded from her horn as she encompassed the safe. 'I need to lock it down before anything else!' Cadenza determined as she slowly began weaving holding spells and concealment charms upon the angry crystal. Never before had it felt like that, every-time her magic touched the container it felt like she was was holding onto something vicious and malicious, a beast with a hundred teeth and a thousand claws just waiting to tear into her. But more than that was the hatred, it was so deep, so all consuming, 'I've never felt anything like this before, its horrible!' 

As her spells encircled the Amulet’s prison, Cadenza couldn't help but remember when her mother had told her of the dangerous trinket’s origins. 





Two alicorns reclined in Princess Luna’s Royal Chamber. Luna glanced over at Cadence before returning her attention to the the trinket held in her telekinetic grasp. The Night Princess sat on her dark blue comforter and simply stared at the broken, gold trimmed amulet with a jagged red gem lodged in the center and a plain string tied around the top. Luna refused to let her magic actually touch the ancient artifact, instead holding it by the string at a wary distance, her eyes squinting with a mixture of calculation and barely hidden revulsion. 

Cadenza sat to Luna’s side, a small bandage wrapped around her right foreleg as she eyed the mare she thought to be her mother. While Luna refused to move her eyes from the gem, the Night Princess's face was a stern mask of determination. 

"It is one half of the Flashstone Amulet," Luna finally said in a tone that wasn't quite rushed. Despite her controlled and measured voice, Luna spoke as if she were letting out a long held breath as quickly as possible 

"I've never heard of that," Cadenza prodded.

Grimacing, Luna replied, "Nor should you... it was a tool of an ancient enemy of... my sister and I." An involuntary shudder ran through the lunar alicorn and Cadenza prodded her with a purple tipped wing, Luna shot her a guilty look and moved away ever so slightly. 

"Who was it?' the younger alicorn finally asked. 

"Squirk, and do not laugh at that name!" she bit out, her tone causing Cadenza to flinch backwards. 

"I am sorry, but he is no laughing matter. That 'abomination' was an ancient Eldrich ’thing’ from so long ago that time itself seemed young. He slept in the depths of the ocean, entombed in shattered palaces and cities, dreaming wicked thoughts and twisted ideas. I would never enter that creature’s mind," she hissed.

"Whole cities were washed away by his mere movement, he was a cruel and twisted tyrant who pillaged entire nations. Islands and mighty empires would be flooded and sunk into the depths of the sea, thousands upon thousands of lives extinguished at a whim." Luna muttered, her eyes trailing over a damaged mask hanging from her private chamber’s walls. 

"What was he?" Cadenza asked. 

"A monster, an abomination… and an incredibly powerful one at that. He had one- not weakness, but he lacked an ability we share, that my sister and I shared: He could not cast spells as we did. With his touch, castles and cities could be crushed; with a shift of his lucid  form, typhoons and hurricanes could consume nations and navies alike. However, magical melding such as spells were beyond his ability... for a time," Luna intoned grimly. 

"The amulet?" Cadenza asked. 

Luna nodded, her mouth set in a frown, the princess’s magic flared and a glowing rune covered box appeared before them, then she levitated the amulet it into the box, sealing it shut; Cadenza could see the metal weld itself shut as Luna shoved it to the other side of the room, but not out of eyeshot. 

"You said it was an earth pony using this, did you not?" Luna asked, her tone more casual now that she no longer held her long defeated enemy's broken weapon. 

Cadenza nodded and replied, "Yes, but she didn't display any powers like you've described." 

"She was likely not using the amulet to its full potential, I doubt anyone but Squirk could do such a thing. This isn't some mere trinket we discuss Cadenza, not a simple magical focus. He reached into his own body and tore that crystal from his very soul. It was filled with the sum total of his malice and rage." She ground out. "From the depths of Tartarus he gathered adamantine and forged its setting. It was such a small thing we didn't even notice it; but with that amulet Squirk could mold his internal magic with as much skill as even the greatest unicorn mage." 

"But you defeated him, didn't you?" Cadenza reasoned simply. 

"We did. I do not wish to discuss that battle, but I shall tell you its conclusion. We followed the trail of destruction Squirk left in his wake and found him in the northern seas; it was there that we fought. For days we dueled: magic, strength and guile rose against madness, twisted spells and the power of a demon. Storms and hurricanes tore everything around us to pieces, many of them our own creation… anything to pierce that thing’s hide."

Luna sighed deeply and levitated a bottle of wine into her grasp. Then she looked over at Cadenza and the pink princess had to resist the urge to embrace the older alicorn at the sudden wave of grief and guilt that encompassed her, it all too plain for Cadenza to see. Cadenza lowered her head in shame at her fear. Luna's horn flashed and the wine was gone, instead she leaned down, her barrel pressed against the floor as she continued her story.

"Finally, after what felt like an eternity, we forced him into the depth of the ocean. Deeper than anypony could possibly survive, so deep that no light could escape its depths," Luna shuddered. "Together we struck him with an adamantine lance the size of a castle tower. It was enchanted with both my sister’s and my own power, forged in the greatest of flames, blessed by the stars and it still glowed red hot with the golden flames that had forged it. We forced it into the beast’s body and shackled him against the ocean floor, cursed to sleep for the rest of eternity." 

Luna looked over at the box containing the, now much more sinister, Flashstone Amulet and spoke, "before he fell to sleep, he shattered the amulet so that we might not posses it and uttered a spell, 'should these two halves ever be one, should their power ever be broken: I shall be awaken from my dark dreams and bring the peace of death to all the world.' and so one half of the amulet disappeared. I can only assume it was hidden by one of his few servants, the other was held by my sister and I, hidden until..." 

Cadenza pressed her hoof against Luna's side, "I understand," she whispered and that brought the smallest of guilty smiles to the blue alicorns face. 

"Should they ever be formed into one, Squirk will awaken; should they be broken, their power would return to him and awaken him. The amulet must be hidden,” she affirmed striking her hoof against the floor before turning to Cadenza. “But I hold many secrets here Cadenza, and I do not wish for more of these things to fill my home," Luna confessed, her eyes drifting over the numerous odd items she had scattered throughout the room, Cadenza knew these were only the cusp of the iceberg of what the ancient alicorn had collected and been burdened with in her long life. 

Cadenza reached out with her magic and ensnared the box, bringing it close to her and rapping it firmly with a single hoof strike, "Don't fear, I will keep it safe, I already have a vault for this sort of thing." She smiled confidently. 

Luna chuckled ever so slightly, before her gaze fell upon the box once more. She turned to Cadenza and said, "I will give you more protective charms and warning spells for when you leave," Luna's tone, however, was slightly hopeful, and Cadenza nudged the box aside to lay down next to the other alicorn.

"Do you mind if I stay the night?"

The smile that spread across Luna's face was ecstatic, and Cadenza could feel the joy emanating from her as they turned themselves to less harrowing topics. 





But the day she left, Luna had offered her one final warning. "Should he ever awaken, should something posses the strength to free that abomination from its eternal prison the gem will glow. It will want to return to its maker, we cannot let that happen Cadenza," Luna foretold. 

"And now it's glowing! It's really glowing! Damn it all," Cadenza cursed. Hooves dug into the floor, wings flared, and eyes glowed as magic poured out of her, while she layered another sealing spell onto the steel container. 

Finally, the containers stopped humming. Replacing the crimson red was a light clear-blue, wafting around and through the container like water, sparkling and twisting as it struggled  against the spell calling the gem away. 

Cadenza clutched her head and breathed deeply, "Call Luna. Get help. Worry later," she determined. With a wave of her horn, she sent a message to the guards outside, including her new location before teleporting out of the vault and into her private chambers. 

Resting on her bedside table was a crystal ball that was barely as large as a foal's head.It was nearly pitch black, but Cadenza could often make out colors and shapes rippling throughout the small orb. Cadenza marched forward and pressed her hoof against the communication orb, her horn glowing and activated the magic contained within. 

"Mother," she started firmly, there was no hint of a response. "Mother, I need to speak with you, the Flashstone Amulet is glowing. I believe he's free and there are storms all across the coast!" she called, again there was no hint of a response. There was no magical signature, no echoing voice, no feeling at all...

"No, not now," she bit out quietly. 

"Mother, can you hear me?!" she cried, pressing her hoof against the crystal surface and forcing more of her magic into the device. But again, she received only silence. Cadenza couldn't even tell if her words were getting through let alone if somepony was on the other side. 

There was a rapid knock at her doors, which were then flung open. Cadenza turned and flared her wings, her horn blazed to life as an honor guard burst into her room, the mare’s eyes were wide in horror.

"Princess, a tidal wave!" she yelled. 

Cadenza turned to the orb and saw that it still remained silent, 'I guess I'm on my own,' she determined, before galloping out of her room and into the foyer. The princess looked out the nearest window and saw the waters of the beach retreating into the ocean, storm clouds crashed and roared in the distance as the waters receded, leaving boats stuck in the sand, steadily gathering itself into a single wave that could wipe Roam off the face of the world.

"Begin the evacuation of the lower districts and any ships that haven't docked. I'll deal with this. I want mages ready with shield spells, emergency walls built and pegasi ready to act. Now!" Cadenza commanded, the guard charged down the hallway shouting commands as she went.

Cadenza spread her wings and flung herself from the window, her horn glowing as she made for the raging ocean. 





High above Roam, hidden behind a magical shield sat Celestia. She lay upon a white cloud high in the sky, to the point where the ponies below barely even looked like ants. However, Celestia could still see them and her niece, as Cadenza left the orb and flew towards the oncoming storm.

Cadenza's voice echoed all around the solar alicorn, "'Mother can you hear me?' 'No, not now.' 'Mother!'" the words were gathered and just like that, Celestia scattered them against the winds never to reach their desired recipient. 

"So, my dear niece, we have seen you can deduce, you can plan, you can give orders, and even act on your own without my sister’s guiding hoof,” she said seriously. “But can you defend your subjects… or will I be forced to end this threat myself?" Celestia wondered quietly. She watched the young alicorn beat her wings against the ocean, creating a tempest wind that scattered the water and interrupting the rising flow.

"Let us see what you can do, Princess Cadenza." 





The heavy winds beat against Cadenza's body as she flew. Her wings flapped to keep her aloft, and she could see the emptying ocean pull away from the coast to coalesce into a wave that dwarfed even the cliff her castle rested upon.

'And it's still growing! If that thing hits Roam, no evacuation will be enough!' At least at this distance it would be hard for her subjects to make out the wave against the clouds and the gathering mist formed by the sea spray.

Cadenza leaned to her side and tipped her right wing against the rushing waters, it was cold... and there was something pulling it, 'Just as I had feared, he's coming for the amulet!' 

That was when she heard it, like a roar over the raging storm and roiling waters, but so quiet like it was whispered in her ear, 'Death is closing in... you will fail and die.' 

Cadenza wavered and crashed against the water with a crack, before regaining her equilibrium and forcing herself back into the skies. The tidal wave was still growing, still approaching her home. She hissed under her breath, turned from the mounting wave and instead charged into the sky. 

'Yes... run,' it whispered again, echoing in her mind and scratching at her ears. 

"I'm. Not. Running!" she roared, Cadenza buried her hooves in the red tinted clouds as she felt a surge of rage and hatred so deep it could have consumed her. She scrunched her eyes together. Images of her mother, her adoptive family, her thousands of subjects, friends and lovers filled her mind. 

'Hate, is weak!' With that thought Cadenza sprung from the cloud, lighting followed in her wake encompassing her body as she dived towards the ocean. When, moments before reaching the water, the air exploded. Cadenza angled her flight and watched as a shockwave of pure sound cut the head of the tidal wave away, spraying thousands of gallons of water harmlessly into the sky. The other half of her Sonic Rainboom pierced the gathering waters beneath her and she watched as the wave faltered, but it did not fall. 

'It could never have been that easy,' Cadenza admonished herself. 

Suddenly a great red tentacle exploded from the mounting tidal wave, rather than weakening it the wave only seemed firmer for its presence. As the horrific appendage came towards her, Cadenza barely made it out of the way, and she watched as the water it struck exploded outwards in all directions until she could make out the sand at the bottom of the sea. 

'So fast, yet so large. That thing could crush a barracks!' she thought, as her heart raced in terror. 

Cadenza ducked and weaved as a ray of red light blazed past her, she watched as it tore through the water and careened off into the sky, leaving a perfect circular hole in the cloud it passed through. As Cadenza saw the damage, her heart stilled, 'That's not just a blast, it's like it just wiped the water and clouds out of existence.' 

"Aaah!" Cadenza shrieked as another beam came towards her. She let loose a small bolt of magic and flew around it, crashing into the growing wave as she went. The powerful winds of her sound breaking stunt still followed her as she tore through the raging waters, narrowly avoiding the blast. 

'I have to break it up!' Cadenza thought, with her enhanced speed the young alicorn dived back into the middle of the tidal wave. Flaring her wings, she let loose a mighty burst of magic, piercing a hole right through it. The arcane surge repelled the waters surrounding Cadenza, allowing her to resume her flight, only to reveal a sharpened blade-like appendage whipping towards her. The monstrous tentacle scraped her flowing mane, and she watched as the lock writhed and disintegrated before her very eyes

Grinding her teeth, the alicorn looked deep within the tidal wave's recesses, she could just barely make out what she could only assume was Squirk’s true body. As the wave continued on its destructive path, Cadenza watched as more appendages reached out from the depths of the ocean, filling the waters and skies.

She dived again, strafing her way along and through the tidal wave she pierced it a dozen times over. Zig zagging through the raging waters, her wings beat against the wave’s side, cutting the waters down and scattering them into the sky. Icicles and mist followed in her wake as she cut the growing wave down.

But even now, she could feel her speed waning. It was growing hard to dodge Squirk’s strikes and while much of the wave had been cut down, the center remained strong. Roam might survive, but it would be completely unrecognizable. 

Cadenza dodged out of the way as a bolt of red lightning struck against the ocean water. The light almost blinded her as another of Squirk's tentacles grazed her. There was an audible crack as Cadenza repressed a scream at her newly bruised barrel. 

"Do you hear it? Your heart races... it will burst!" The monster’s voice carried over the wind again and Cadenza felt a chill run down her spine. The only noise she could make out was the pounding of her heart, the blood flowing through her every vein. She screamed and dived towards the icy water, exploding out the back of the wave with a savage roar. 

"I don't fear you, come out and face me!" she cried into the storm, her voice echoing across the falling ocean.

Another explosion of light came towards her, bursting from the depths of the ocean as hundreds of Squirk’s extremities surrounded her. Cadenza summoned up a clear shield and prepared for the impact. Only for the shock to shatter her shield like glass, flinging her back into the monster’s grasp. 

Cadenza felt the air forced from her lungs as strength enough to collapse mountains came to bear on her tiny frame. She let out a bloodcurdling scream, phlegm and spittle falling from her mouth. The beast tightened his hold on her, in her ear, floating across the wind she could swear she hear laughter, deep and hysterically wild. Cadenza reached inside herself and felt her magic flaring, she called it to her horn and vanished with a flash of light.  

Cadenza reappeared ahead of the wave, she spared a glance behind her and saw they were approaching  the now waterless beaches of Roam. She could see her little ponies waiting there, hoping for her to return victorious, 'No... they wouldn't?' Cadenza wondered in horror as, instead of fleeing, they stood. They were watching, waiting and even cheering for her. 

Tears began falling from her eyes, “No, run! Please, my little ponies, even if it's hopeless just run..." 

"They see the end... your courage has failed, their cowardice and fear feeds me!" the voice cried out over the ocean, another barrage of explosive red light flared towards Cadenza like newborn stars. 

Cadenza looked at her little ponies and felt their hearts; a mixture of love, determination, and faith in their princess, ‘I cannot fail them!’ 

She watched the oncoming spells and cried, "Never!" Her horn exploded with blue light, a great shield slammed into the beaches and the blazing spells shattered against them. She felt her magic strain to hold them back, but the shields stayed firm.

"You don't understand, you never could, it's their love that brings them here not fear! And I cannot let them down!" with that proclamation, Cadenza focused her magic into her horn and fired out a ray of ice cold energy against the oncoming tidal wave. She watched as the raging waters froze in their path and fell to the sand, she didn't stop there though. Cadenza took off through the air, her spell cutting into the waves as she weaved between Squirk’s oncoming blows and spells, before she turned and fell into a dive. 

Cadenza could feel the air shattering around her again as she beat her way past one of the barbed appendages. Her skin sizzling at its touch as she called the old pony magic into her hooves. The glow from her horn died and Cadenza slammed her hooves against the earth and watched as the sands of Roam exploded beneath her, parting beneath the tidal wave and consuming its waters.

Her eyes glowed and she kicked off from where she charging towards what remained. Her entire body was encompassed in light as she pierced the great wall of water and released an explosion of pure magic.

To anypony watching they would have seen nothing more than an explosion of pure blue light in all directions, shattering the wave and scattering the water into the air. The citizen of Roam watched as the clouds parted revealing the late afternoon sun. The tidal wave was broken and in its place came rain, pouring down from the sky and disappearing into the wind as the ponies cheered. 

Cadenza allowed herself a moment to breath. She looked upon her subjects with a proud and relieved smile as they reveled in their survival, the water barely even reaching the beach as they roared and cheered in celebration. 

Then there was a disjointed and cyclopean scream, it pierced through the air and cut into her ears. Cadenza clamped her hooves over her head and scrunched her eyes together in agony. The young alicorn turned to watch as the waters began retreating again. But this time they were spinning and swirling. The waters came together almost a mile away, rising up in a dome, its movements like a labored breath. She could see a mangled red body hidden in the water, but her vision was quickly obscured as darkness filled the thrashing waters. Hundreds of Squirk’s writhing appendages were held aloft in the sky as he called. 

"Your life is not your own... your end is sealed" it heaved, "My blood will poison all it touches, and death will come for all who inhabit this miserable little seedling!" 

"No it won't" Cadenza cried, charging towards the writhing mass of flesh before her. 

The alicorn extended her senses, trying to slip past the ever growing mass of hatred and contempt. All the power that beast contained was overwhelming, 'I've owned half the amulet for centuries, I know its magic, I can find it!' she thought determinedly. Cadenza ground her teeth together as her horn flared, then she dived into the water, towards Squirk's true body. 

Cadenza was met with pain: Acidic blood coated her body as she dived, stray blasts from the amulet cut at her, and Squirk's tentacles crashed against one another, sometimes hitting her. The entire ocean seemed to shiver as the beast breathed, bile spilling from its jaw as Cadenza forced herself lower against the pain trying to overwhelm her. 

Cadenza could see the behemoth’s tails swishing beneath her, the vortex its movements created threatened to pull her into the depths. As she moved closer to the beast’s center, the blood grew thicker, stinging her eyes and singeing the tips of her wings. 

'There!' she cried. Pressed deep against part of the monster’s shell shone the Amulet, glinting and blazing even through the darkness. Cadenza felt the beast’s appendages grip her as she approached, 'so close!' she thought. She reached out her hooves in a desperate attempt to seize the Flashstone Amulet that burned and glowed. 'He's charging a spell, if I can use that-' Cadenza let out a silent cry as the barbs dug into her flanks. 

Pressure built up at the base of Cadenza's horn as she let loose a thin beam of magic straight into the heart of Squirk’s spell, she could feel the monster writhe above her as the concentration of his spell was torn open. Its aura, now tinted blue, engulfed them and the waters in which they floated in a blinding light. 





On the shores of Roam, the citizenry watched as the growing mass of waters and writhing limbs in the distance surged upwards. Red and Blue magic careened off of it, into the winds, and lightning struck against the water's surface as it burst. 

Then the gathered waters fell back to the ocean and, slowly, small waves began beating against the shoreline. The waves were as calm and crystal-clear blue as when the sun had first risen, and nowhere to be seen was the monster, or their princess. 





Cadenza felt the explosion of clashing magics all around the two, as they exploded from the Southern Seas of Roam and into the cold Northern Waters. Deep in the dark northern waters. 

Breaking free from the creature’s grasp, Cadenza saw a still open wound on the sea demon’s body. Black blood spilled from the wound, but so close to it was the Flashstone Amulet: bound to the monster’s skin by wreaths of flesh and bone. Cadenza dived for it, she struck her hooves against her enemies wound and was rewarded with an agonized screech. 

Her wings and hooves pushed her forward, magic arced out from her horn striking at Squirk’s incoming attack. Then Cadenza crashed her hooves against the tiny amulet’s bindings and separated it from Squirk’s body. 

"No queen rules forever, no princess can save all her subjects. You will learn the price for this," the monster’s voice boomed in her head. Cadenza gripped the vile talisman in her teeth as a barbed appendage struck against her back, flinging her further into the depths of the darkened ocean. 

"Aaah!" she screamed, as the icy waters embraced her. Darkness consumed Cadenza's vision as she sank, the last of her strength was used to keep hold on the amulet and pull it close against her chest. 

A mighty surge of water struck Cadenza harder than any blade could have. She opened her blurring eyes and saw Squirk’s tail, large enough to cleave cities in two and it was thrashing in the ocean. Cadenza watched as the shadowy waters were whipped into maddened maelstroms by his movements, blades of water and ice lashed out against her as she fought to keep the amulet close to her chest. 

As the waters surged around Cadenza, battering against her frame, she sensed it: Magic that, over the centuries, had grown so familiar to her that she could feel it even as the light faded from her eyes, 'Mother!' she cried out.

Cadenza closed her eyes and extended her magic into the depths, and felt 'something' that was positively singing with raw magical power. There was her mother’s and... Cadenza gasped, she knew that other magic as well. She had felt it only once before, barely into adulthood and trapped inside the sun with her aunt. 'Corona's magic!' she thought with terror, but the 'taint', that same feeling of rage and fire did not accompany this spell. Instead, it felt warm, calm, and inviting, like an old friend waiting to embrace her

Cadenza's eyes opened and she dodged another strike from her enemy, the fin barely grazed her wing as she dived. She could hear the Lance humming, its magic, alicorn magic, called to her. Cadenza reached within herself, her eyes began to glow as she called forth the full power that her nature and a thousand years of life had given her. From the very core she shone, filling the bloodied and frozen ocean with light. 

Cadenza could hear an alien screech from behind her as her magic singed the beast of the deeps, and she reached out, allowing her magic to mingle with that of the lance. From the ocean floor, the fallen weapon flared to life. Ancient runes and spells shone in the darkness as the weapon glided towards her, tearing through the ocean and into her waiting forelegs. 

Cadenza grasped the ancient weapon and turned. She could see the place where Squirk had first been entombed, but the abomination's jaw bore down upon her. "My mother told me of you, of the death and the destruction you wrought! She warned me of the terror you would bring and that I must never disturb you!" Cadenza screamed into the maelstrom, cutting away at one of the knife like tentacles that came to strike at her. 

She flared her wings and glared at the raging beast. Another explosion of pressure and acid tore past her as she dodged, clinging to the lance, it burned her hooves and her chest, but she was almost there! 

"She also told me of how they defeated you! How you fell against their might. And today, you threatened my home, my little ponies, this entire world, and so you will fall to me!" Cadenza's magic flared and surrounded the lance, slowly entering it and melding with the magic of her family. She felt them resist at first, but after sensing her love, her desire to protect, the two magics of night and day melded with her own.

Cadenza charged forward and struck the giant in the belly. The scream that echoed throughout the depths seemed to shake the entire ocean, as Squirk's form became a writhing mass of teeth and tentacles. 

The golden and silver lance shone blue as her own magic rebounded and strengthened the spells. Cadenza pushed forward, bearing the blows raining down upon her as they grew weaker and weaker until she struck the stone outcropping, a mighty crash echoing throughout the ocean floor. 

Chains burst from the base of the lance and encompassed Squirk’s massive frame, binding the beast against the stone once again as its movements grew sluggish and weak. Cadenza glanced up from her place collapsed against the creature’s scales, and she saw its eyes looking down upon her, shining in the dark. 

White, gold, and a slit of black in the centre. In that moment it was as though he could see into her soul even as the princess's magic bound him once again.

"Even love... will die" it heaved, consciousness slowly falling from the creature. 

"If the hearts of every creature ever become so empty, we'd have no need for demons, and there would be none left on this world for you to harm," she whispered. 

An alien sense of sympathy gripped Cadenza, and she cast a small anesthesia spell upon the sleeping behemoth. She looked over it sorrowfully and clutched the Flashstone Amulet to her chest. 

'I have to go home,' with that thought Cadenza made to leave, the amulet still clutched tight in her magical grasp. With a single flash of her horn Cadenza was miles away and over the Southern Seas once again, spluttering and panting in exhaustion. 

"Looks like I'll be flying the rest of the way," she muttered. As the last of the bloodied sea water fell from her mouth, the alicorn spread her wings and made for home. The sunset looming behind her as she went.
> Sleep: Final Epilogue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


3


Cadenza's wings strained and quivered as she forced herself through the air, gliding on the strong sea breeze as much as she was flying. The second half of the Flashtone Amulet hanging around her neck felt like a noose.

'It's as if all his malice and hatred imprinted themselves on it,' Cadenza reflected grimly. 

She let out another ragged breath as she forced herself to continue her flight, her wings beating against her coat as she moved. A tidal wave might have been averted but their battle had thrown the already temperamental Southern Seas weather into further disarray. 

'At least there weren't any ships nearby,' Cadenza thought, with some relief, as she eyed the chopping waves crashing against one another. 

The alicorn princess could feel the evening sun dipping in the sky, its orange glow coloring all she saw and warming her bruised and injured back. Cadenza strained her blurring vision ahead of her, 'surely I can't be that far away,' she thought desperately. 

That was when a brown line appeared in her vision. Pushing herself Cadenza flared her wings, straining them against their exhaustion and damage as she picked up speed. Coming into sight, was Roam: Its golden, sandy beaches sparkled in the evening light as Cadenza pushed herself harder.

Cadenza spread her wings and beat them against the air, forcing herself higher into the air, it wouldn't do for her subjects to see her in such a state: Bloodied, bruised, her regalia and mane mangled beyond all recognition. Instead, Cadenza pressed her flight close against the cliff-side where her Summer Palace rose up and looked over the ocean.

'Home at last,' Cadenza thought, a brief glance at the city calming her soul as all seemed well and peaceful in the city below, boats were docked and the streets were bustling. 

As she glided over the white stone walls, Cadenza came to a lurching halt in one of her courtyards. Her muscles screamed out in protest as she put her weight down upon them. So Cadenza simply stood, frozen for a moment, as she silently caught her breath. She took in the scene of freshly cut grass, and tried to stabilize herself against the sudden feeling of vertigo and pain that rocked through her body

Princess Cadenza sharply rose from her exhausted stance, her eyes focusing on every detail, 'Something’s wrong, where are my guards or the staff, somepony should have...'

"No," she whispered. Cadenza turned right and galloped towards the bodies of two of her guards that lay against the floor, their weapons not even drawn. Stumbling down the sun bleached steps, Cadenza took in the forms of the crumpled earth pony and pegasus guards. Gently running her muzzle across their heads, she used what little magic she had left to cast a diagnostic spell. 

"Unharmed," she let out a sigh before muttering, "A sleeping draught?" she wondered curiously. Whatever was in their systems, it was both a toxin and magical ‘and if nopony has noticed these two’, Cadenza reflected taking in the silence of her home. ‘Then, that means whoever is responsible must have taken my entire palace!

Cadenza looked down at the Flashstone Amulet. Her mother had told her, ever so rarely, never to court such dangerous powers, never to use them, 'But what sort of choice do I have?' Cadenza lamented. 'Maybe I can just use it as a threat, or to make a prison or even to con-' her thoughts were interrupted by a violent crash echoing down the hallways. 

'I can't abandon my little ponies,' she looked down at the vile trinket and grimaced, 'no matter the risk to myself,' she determined.

Wincing slightly as the pounding in her head grew stronger, Cadenza shook her head and surged down the stone hallways. Her ears twitched at every sound as she moved, her eyes peeled wide despite the gashes surrounding them. Through all her pain Cadenza knew she could not let herself be taken by surprise, no matter how weary she felt. 

Cadenza burst into her throne room only to see that the great double doors that served as the primary entrance were hanging open and unguarded. Her wings rose in fear and agitation, twitching ever so slightly because of the hairline cracks running across her bones. Vision blurring, lungs heaving, Cadenza took in her throne room: the drapes hanging from the walls, the evening sun still shining in through the high windows, even her throne remained untouched, but sprawled out across the floor were more sleeping ponies.

That was when Cadenza spotted another door, it sat at the far right end of her throne room and had once been bolted shut. Now those bolts sat in melted puddles and the door was nothing but cinders, 'They're going for the vault!' 

Cadenza focused on the presence of the amulet, 'I can call some of its power if I need to, mother protect me,' she thought with a dawning sense of horror running through her mind, this wasn't just some lackey of Squirk’s. The magic she felt hovering in the air, the only being who could and would release Squirk upon the world, it could only be Corona... her aunt. 

Shaking her head, Cadenza forced those terrifying memories from her mind. She was a grown mare and a princess in her own right, if her aunt was here, then she would defend Cavallia with her life, as was her duty. 

'Mother said she might still be weak after her last encounter with the Elements of Harmony. if I surprise her, maybe I can capture her here,' Cadenza considered, moving slowly towards the right side of the throne room. 'I'll hug the wall. And the second I see her, I’ll take the amulet and let loose a binding spell,' she decided coolly.

Cadenza forced her agonizing breaths down to silence, her beaten chest heaving silently as her tension only increased the soreness. 

As Cadenza silently pressed herself against the wall and slid across the throne room, a blinding, agonizing, light flashed in her mind, burning her senses. She didn't even have the time to do more than turn her head before a red-tinted gold beam of magic struck against her her barrel and slammed her against the wall with a violent thud. 

Everything was black in her mind, pain was shooting throughout her body as the stone wall cracked against her. She fell to the ground with a thud, dust and pebbles surrounding her as she clung to consciousness. 

"It was you!" she spat out in agony. Forcing her blurring eyes open, Cadenza looked upon Corona, the Tyrant Sun, the alicorn stood near the entrance of her throne room. One half of the Flashtone Amulet hanging around her swan like neck as her distant and stone-faced gaze fell over Cadenza's injured form. 

Before she could summon the magic to stop her, Celestia’s golden aura encircled Cadenza's half to the amulet, and wrenched it from her neck with a rough tug. The amulet floated over to the older alicorn who appraised it with a critical eye. 

Cadenza watched in mounting horror as Corona levitated the two pieces of the Flashstone amulet together. Red lighting danced between them as she struggled to pull herself to her hooves, begging the mare to stop, “Please, don't! He'll-.”

"Don't speak," she instructed harshly, her words sounded like iron in Cadenza's ringing ears. With a mighty flash, the two halves became whole. Corona wreathed a golden thread through the amulet and slipped it around her neck, the red tainting her golden eyes. 

Corona snorted distastefully, “With only half this amulet it’s no wonder he could not mold anything more complicated than such simple spells of destruction. It shall be of far greater use in my possession,” Corona intoned deeply as she looked down upon the confused mare beneath her.

"Yes, I released Squirk and removed your guards and communications from play. Do not fear, they are unharmed and shall recover soon enough,” she explained grimly, casting her gaze over the fallen ponies.

“You... the amulet-!” she started.

“Is safe,” Corona replied cooly, gazing down upon the mare dispassionately. “Squirk awakened without the aid of the amulet. The curse is broken. Not only that, but the seal around him has been changed, thanks to your own magic. The Flashstone Amulet can be whole again without awakening the abomination.” Corona said.

Cadenza could only gape at the mare before her, at the sight of ‘that thing’ being whole after all she’d done that day. 

Corona seemed unaware of her concerns as she continued to speak, “An illusion has kept your citizenry from noticing that anything is amiss, they believe you well and victories, which in a sense... You are," Corona assured her imperiously. Cadenza could just make out the golden hoof cups striking against the floor as Corona approached her. 

“You should be proud, they now revel in the streets at your success,” Corona explained. 

"The door... a trap?" she breathed out, trying to bring her legs back under her so she could at least face her aunt standing and not on the ground like an infant. 'It was all a trap... now Corona has the amulet, and she has me,' Cadenza thought. Images of her mother, her adoptive family, and her past husbands and wife flashing through her mind. Images of thousands of her beloved little ponies looking up at her for protection filled her memory, and gave her strength.

"Yes, it was a good strategy to try and surprise me like that. But I have had this stone in my possession for hours now, and you are exhausted," Corona explained simply. There was no arrogance here, she was merely stating facts. 

The Princess of Love ignored those facts and brought her knees up to her barrel, her wings flared and her horn glowed. She let out an almost rabid snort as she began forcing herself to stand, glaring at the solar alicorn, only for Corona's right hoof to press down on her back. With a single push, Cadenza was forced back to the floor, a pained gasp escaping her lips.  

Cadenza could feel Corona's body heat as the elder alicorn leaned over her, and the mare’s breath brushed against her ear as she spoke, "You performed admirably today, but a s strong as you are little one, you are too young to face me yet. That much has been made clear this day. But do not know fear for I will not end one of my own family, and in time you shall see that all of this had to come to pass." 

The warmth disappeared, and Cadenza could hear her aunt’s armored hooves striking against the stone floor as she made to leave, "Aunt Celestia!” she cried desperately, her voice hoarse. She forced herself to her hooves, panting and straining under her own weight, wings sagging against her weary form as she stumbled toward her aunt.

Corona, Celestia, stood frozen for just a moment before speaking, "...You can still rise. I am impressed, my niece." she intoned seriously. 

"Auntie, please listen to me. I'm begging you, you don't have to do this... any of it. You... you need to stop," she intoned desperately. Limping towards her aunt as she spoke, the light billowed in from the setting sun, casting her aunt in shadows as she waited for her niece’s approach. Her white coat and lightly glowing horn and eyes stood out against the darkness. 

"You are young and innocent; raised in ignorance. You have no understanding of what I must do," she snorted. 

"Auntie, I can feel it. In your mind, your soul, and your body." Celestia straightened and cast a wary glance at her approaching niece. "Deep inside you, beneath all that fire and rage and fear I can feel it. Your love," she whimpered desperately. Cadenza was only a few feet from her aunt as she strained to look the mare in the eyes, the gold was fading again, ever so slightly. 

"I can feel how much you love your sister, your subjects, even me," she whispered, "but there's something wrong! It's been tainted by something deep inside you. You have to listen to me! I know that love, that obsession, I've seen it in others and even had it directed towards me... it ruins you, and it will lead you to burning everything you love until there's nothing left! Can't you see that?" she cried desperately. 

"I shall not entertain this nonsense any longer," Celestia snapped, but her voice was quiet and she still refused to move. 

Cadenza stumbled, only to find herself steadied by Celestia's muzzle at her side. She shivered from the contact only for the elder alicorn to pull away, looking affronted at her own behaviour. 

"Please... let me help you," she begged, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes.

Scowling, Corona spoke back, "I do not need your help, I know what must be done here child. Do not think to lecture me, you understand nothing!" 

"I understand everything!" Cadenza screamed, lurching forward she pressed her head up against her aunt’s chest. She felt the warmth emanating from Celestia, even through her cold adamantine armor, 'ba-boom, ba-boom, ba-boom!' her heart thumped far too rapidly. 

Forcing her eyes skyward, Cadenza saw the look of shock upon the solar princess's face as she arched her neck to meet her niece’s gaze. "I understand everything, I can see into your heart," Cadenza crashed her hooves against her aunt’s armored chest, the metal hoof cups met the Celestial steel with an unholy clang. Leaning against the older mare’s chest, "I can feel it, everything: love enough to dwarf the sun, and so much fear… So much pain," she wept. 

"I know no pain." Celestia ground out, trying to pull away as the gold began returning to her eyes.

"You may be able to lie to your sister, your servants, and even yourself. But not to me! I can see everything. How broken you are, how tired and alone… You know you're defeated, that you can't win, but you just keep fighting!" she bit out as the darkness surrounded her vision, her voice quivering. "Can you even do anything else?" she implored fiercely.  

A metal clad hoof pressed itself firmly against her back and Cadenza felt herself slowly pushed to the floor. Her legs sliding out from under her as she met the cold tiles, rapid breaths leaving her as she fell ever closer to the darkness. 

Celestia leaned down, her horn glowing as she looked over her weary niece; magenta eyes taking in the crumpled alicorn's form. She began to hum, magic surrounding the younger mare as she strengthened the young princess’s waning reserves.   

"Rest now, child,” she implored quietly, gently nuzzling the younger mares neck, counting her breaths as she did so. Celestia closed her eyes and Cadenza's body was consumed in light and vanished, appearing in the medical ward next to the enchanted medical staff. 

Then she rose, falling back into her regal posture. Squaring her taught shoulders Celestia took in a deep breath, accentuating her barreled chest as her eyes closed. A single breath in, a single breath out, she stood there like that as seconds fell into minutes. Her spell upon the castle’s staff now breaking under her will. 

Yet, she did not move. She stood in the Throne Room where she had so easily conquered her foe and gained all that she desired. Celestia stood, her face still lowered her eyes staring at the floor, focusing on nothing at all.

"Freeze, Corona!" a guard cried pointlessly.

Celestia opened her eyes, they shone blazing gold. She spread her wings and surged through an open window and into the sky, escaping the guard’s sight within moments and disappearing amongst the clouds. 

Her mystical prize was pressed tightly against her chest, so close to where her niece had rested her head. 

'Soon, it is all going to be over soon.'