> Ponygoyles
>  by Alphamon_Ouryuken
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: The Awakening (Part 1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Manehatten: Present Day:

Lightning flashed in the stormy night skies of Manehatten. While this was weather normal for this city, some of the flashes were red lights…coming from the tallest building in the city: Sunset Enterprises.

Then something unexpected happened, an explosion was heard from above the clouds as several chunks of debris fell towards the street below. Many civilians screamed and ran as the debris crashed onto the street, causing a few cars to crash.

Soon several police cars quickly arrived on the scene and several offices stormed out, each one helping the citizens out their crashed vehicles before more rubble them. Soon after one of them was approached by a pink unicorn wearing a dark-red jacket. “Cadence, 23rd. What’s going on here?!” She asked while showing her badge.

“You’ve got me detective!” The yellow Pegasus said as she looked at the fallen rubble. “I assume it might’ve been the lightning, but a few witnesses are saying they saw flashes of red up there...”

Just then there was another flash as more debris fell from the sky, Cadence quickly tackled the Pegasus out of the way before they crushed the police car (which was fortunately empty).

“Th-thanks...” She stuttered.

“You can thank me by doing your job! Set up a perimeter! I don’t want any civilians becoming street-pizza!” Cadence commanded, the Pegasus nodded and quickly got to work. Cadence’s attention was then drawn to the rubble that she just dodged, the stone seemed to have deep claw marks in it.

“Claw marks?” She said as she ran her hands over it, these were indeed real. ‘What could be strong enough to put claw marks in solid stone?’ Cadence thought to herself as she glared up at the building as another explosion went off.





Horseshoe bay: 994 A.D.:

As the sun slowly began set on the horizon, an army of armored Gryphons flew across the sea, each one wearing dark-colored armor, wielding either spears or swords in one talon and a large circular shield in the other. While on the oceans surface several ships manned by heavily armored Diamond Dogs sailed beneath them, each ship containing several catapults.

As the ships arrived on the beach, the doors on the side opened up and several groups of Diamond Dogs poured out of the ships while the strong ones pushed the catapults down the ramp. “Charge!! Tonight Castle Horseshoe will fall!” Shouted the lead Gryphon wearing a black cape and helmet, he raised his sword swooped down toward his target, his allies all cheering as they followed him towards Castle Horseshoe, a strong medieval castle constructed on a cliff overlooking the sea.

It wasn’t long before arrows began raining from the sky as the Knights of the castle, desperately trying to drive back the attacking forces. Several Pegasi quickly took to the air to fend off the Gryphons while the Unicorns & Earth Ponies either fired arrows from the Castle walls or attacked from the outside with spears and swords.

Despite their efforts however, several to of the Gryphons and Diamond Dogs managed to get within the castle walls by burrowing under the walls. More of their forces dwindled as they tried to fight off the invaders from outside and the inside.

Soon the Diamond Dogs got the catapults into position, a few of the smaller ones quickly burrowed underground before quickly coming back up with a large bolder they had carved out from underground. The larger ones quickly loaded them into the catapults and waited for their leaders command.

“I’d say the battle’s going well, wouldn’t you?” One Gryphons said as he landed next to his ally.

“Yeah, for now...” The rather scrawny-looking Diamond Dog scoffed.“...but attacking a castle full of those things, at nightfall no less?” He said while casting an uneasy glance at the setting sun and then the statues that were perched on top of the castle. “This is crazy, and the leader knows it!”

“No my friend, that’s not crazy...” Another voice said as a talon reached out from behind and grabbed the Diamond Dog by his neck, the owner of the voice being the lead Gryphon himself. “Questioning my sanity while I’m in earshot, THAT’S crazy!” He growled before tossing the Diamond Dog onto one of the loaded boulders. “FIRE!!” He screamed, without a moments hesitation the other Diamond Dogs quickly cut the ropes, hurling the boulders (and one screaming Diamond Dog) at the castle walls, each one smashing a part of the wall to bits.

The Commanding Gryphon scoffed before turning to the rest of his soldiers. “I say those statues are nothing but stone! And even it they're not, it’s still worth the risk for the plunder within! Now ATTACK!!” The Gryphon shouted as his whole army rushed to the castle with swords drawn. The warriors soon crashed through the wooden door that guarded the castle with ease and clashed with several pony warriors. What they expected to be an easy fight, ponies weren’t exactly well known as warriors, soon revealed to be their toughest battle to date as the ponies started to match them blow for blow. The Diamond Dogs were out muscled by the Earth Ponies and The Gryphons were slowly getting hammered by both pegasi and unicorn. All the while this happened the sun was slowly starting to fade in the back as the sky turned a nearly inky black over the horizon. The leader of the attackers seemed to notice this as he quickly scaled up a tower (his wing was injured in an earlier battle and had been rendered useless), and soon found himself face to face with a statue that looked like some kind of pony-esque creature in deep thought.

The leader lifted up his morning star but slipped and started to fall down just as the sun disappeared over the horizon. Then something remarkable happened. The statue from earlier suddenly had cracks in it and began to move as the Gryphon leader continued to fall. He suddenly stopped in mid air and looked around to see his body was caught in a magic grip. He looked up and expected to see a unicorn but what he saw was far worse than what he imagined. Standing above him, it’s body lavender like the field that surrounded him, was a legendary beast, a Ponygoyle!

“I’m sorry, but I do believe.” The creature said as she grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt. “...that you are trespassing.” She snarled before using her magic to slam him against the wall behind her. Thanks to his armor, he was spared from getting his bones crushed. However his attention was drawn to the other statues, which had the same cracks as the first one spreading across their bodies. All over the castle the same thing was happening as more and more of the beasts came to life and let the cool night air into their lungs. The Gryphons and Diamond Dogs all backed away in shock and horror as most of them were slowly surrounded by both the Royal Guards and the Ponygoyles.

The leader let out a war cry as he kicked the creature back before swinging at her with his sword, the creature easily caught the blade with her magic, only for him to pull out a second blade in an attempt to stab her in the heart. With no time to use her magic she quickly caught the blade with her left claw, it was then the Gryphon leader saw a few drops of blood dripping from the palm her her claw.

“Fight, my soldiers! They bleed just like normal ponies, they are not invincible!” He called out to his soldiers. This quickly heightened their resolve as they began to fight back. Several of the Ponygoyles quickly took to the air to combat the Gryphons, while the bulkier ones took on the Diamond Dogs.

The lavender Ponygoyle snarled as her magic aura quickly covered the Gryphon’s entire body before throwing him off the tower. Two of his soldiers quickly caught him in mid-drop, they barely had time to recover as the lavender beast spread her bat-like wings and soared after them.





As the battle for the castle raged on, a trio of Ponygoyles watched from one of the towers. One was pink with very poofy mane of equal color, the other was cyan and her mane was more rainbow-colored, and the last one was yellow with a light pink mane. Unlike the pink one however, the cyan and yellow ones had more feathery wings instead of bat-like ones.

“So girls, you ready to join the party?” The light pink one asked while watching some of the other Ponygoyles striking from the sky.

“Of course! We can’t let our brothers and sisters have all the fun, can we?” The cyan one smirked be taking off. The pink one was about to follow when she notice the third member of their group had her attention drawn elsewhere.

“Hey!” She called out, startling her out of her stupor. “Aren’t you coming?”

“Um, a-a-actually I was thinking of g-guarding the rookery...” She stuttered out. “..after all, the younglings are d-d-down there…” 

“Aw come’on! They just got here! They probably don’t even know about that place!” She said before giving her a sly smile. “You’re not afraid are ya?” She asked in a taunting tone.

This got her attention. “Of course n-not! I j-j-just think I’d be of b-b-better use guarding the...” She tried to explain, only for the pink one to interrupt her.

“I mean, think of would happen if you didn’t fight.” She said before pointing to the other side of the castle the attacking force was headed towards, despite some of the guards beast efforts. A few small groups of civilian ponies could be seen huddled around some campfires. “Think of all the poor refugees from last night! You don’t want them to get hurt do you?”

The yellow Ponygoyle shuddered at the thought of what those horrible creatures would do to them if they weren’t stopped. “Those poor mares and foals...” She murmured to herself before her eyes glowed menacingly. She let out loud roar before turning around and flying towards the battle below with the pink one following close behind.





Back near the castle gates, a light orange Ponygoyle barreled through the opposing forces, easily knocking them down a flight of stairs. Taking a moment to admire her accomplishment, she failed to notice two more Diamond Dogs sneaking up behind her, both with a spiked mace in hand. Seconds before they could hit her however the bigger ones mace was enveloped by a white aura of magic much to his confusion, the mace then swung itself into his comrades stomach, sending him flying off the edge of the stairs and into a pile of rubble.

The orange one heard the commotion and looked behind her to see the remaining Diamond Dog get tackled to the ground by another Ponygoyle, this one however was white with a purple mane.

“Thanks fer the help sugarcube!” The orange one said before turning back and punching out another approaching Diamond Dog.

“Anytime darling!” The white Ponygoyle said before grabbing the downed Diamond Dog with her magic and tossing him off the edge of the stairs like his partner, she then noticed a flash of golden magic and saw another Gryphon plummet to the ground in front of her. Looking up saw one of the unicorn guards on one of the ledges. He simply smiled at her before returning to his own battle, but before white Ponygoyle could thank him she caught a glimpse of lavender magic coming from the base of the tower and took to the skies again.

Meanwhile higher in the skies, the cyan Ponygoyle to slammed into another Gryphon with impressive speed, sending him flying into one of the towers. “Come on! Is that all you’ve got?” She taunted as she ducked to avoid the Gryphon trying tackle her. “Ha, missed!” She shouted before dodging another swipe before giving him a sharp kick to the face, then while he was still disoriented she flew down and grabbed him by his talons and swung him towards another approaching Gryphon, sending him crashing into his comrade plummeting towards the battle below.

“Who’s next?” She boasted before a flash of blue magic shined from behind her. She quickly turned to see another cyan Ponygoyle (only with bat-like wings instead of feathered ones) holding an unconscious Gryphon that had tried to attack her from behind.

“Watch your back, old friend.” She said as she tossed her foe away.

“Heh, I could’ve handled him!” The feathered Ponygoyle shrugged before darting towards another Gryphon. The bat-winged Ponygoyle sighed before following her.





Back on the ground, the Gryphon leader had just barely evaded the lavender Ponygoyle, leaving the two soldiers that caught him to deal with the beast. He made his way towards one of the bridge passages that lead towards the inside. ‘If I can find their beloved Queen and take her hostage, we can force the guard and these beasts to surrender!’  He thought to himself as he strode towards the entrance.

“And where do you think you’re going!?” A female voice called out. The Gryphon leader turned to see the white Ponygoyle land on a few feet away from him. “You have invaded our home and tried to harm our loved ones, death is too good a punishment for you!” She snarled as her eyes glowed menacingly.

“Hmpth, I don’t fear you demon!” He snarled as he pulled out his sword. As he did, two more Gryphons landed next to him drawing their weapons. “You’re outmatched and outnumbered! Give up and I may be merciful enough to keep you as a slave!” He gloated as three Diamond Dogs climbed up the bridge walls behind the Ponygoyle.

To his surprise however, she simply smiled. “Although you may lead these creatures well, you seem to have forgotten the first rule of combat...” She said before snapping her claws. “...never underestimate your opponent.”

Suddenly a loud roar echoed from the hall behind the Gryphons, they turned to see a most horrifying sight: A dragon nearly the size of a full-grown tiger. It was dark purple with lime green spikes and a light green underbelly. It growled menacingly as it approached the three Griffons, snorting smoke from it’s nostrils.

“Oh my sweet little dragon~!” The white Ponygoyle called out, getting it’s attention. “These mean ol’ Gryphons wanted to hurt me badly! They said they were going to keep me as their slave!”

Upon hearing that, the dragon’s anger reached new heights as it let out an ear-piercing roar before charging at the Gryphons. The leaders his two guards quickly flew upwards, taking their leader with them. The dragon missed his target and slashed his claw against the wall, ripping out a good chunk of it. It quickly caught sight of it’s fleeing targets and spat out several fireballs at them, the Gryphons (despite still holding their leader) managed to dodge them all. However as they did, the lavender Ponygoyle appeared behind them before encasing her claws in magic and slamming them together, creating an intense wave of magic that slammed into the Gryphons back, sending them spiraling out of control and crashing into their comrades.

With the Gryphons occupied, the white Ponygoyle and her dragon turned their attention to the remaining three Diamond Dogs who desperately tried to flee, only to find their route blocked by the cyan (feathered) Ponygoyle. “Going somewhere?” She smirked while cracking her knuckles.





Meanwhile, on the other side of the castle where the civilian ponies were. More Diamond Dogs burst through the walls. Several foals held their mothers for protection while the stallions got in front to protect their family friends. The Royal Guards stationed there quickly got into position to defend them.

The yellow and pink Ponygoyles roared as they descended upon the attacking forces, well the yellow one did, the pink one was more drawn towards the nearby food as she landed near one of the table and took a bite out of a drumstick. “Mmm, juicy!” She giggled to herself as she watched the yellow one land in front of the advancing Diamond Dogs, stopping them in their tracks.

“How dare you try to hurt these innocent ponies!” The yellow Ponygoyle snarled as her eyes glowed menacingly, although unlike her sisters, her eyes were glowing blood red. The Diamond Dogs backed away in fear as she advanced on them, forcing them into a corner.

The civilian ponies watched in wonder (and fear) as the creature of the night managed to stop most of the Diamond Dogs single-handedly. Among them was a young, orange Pegasus pony with a dark-pink mane, who watched as one of the smaller ones tried to flee, only to have misfortune of running past the pink one, who simply bashed him on the head with her unfinished drumstick, knocking him out.

“Wow...” She mutter to herself.

“It’s like I don’t even have to try...” The pink one sighed as she continued to much on her meal, however another Gryphon quickly swooped down towards her with his talons ready to strike…

“Look out!” The young Pegasus called out.

...only for her to dart out of the way at the last second, leaving him to crash into the table. She quickly spun around and kicked him into a food cart, then before he could recover she darted towards him and slammed her fist into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. She then looked into his eyes, giving him a malicious look. “I'MA PLANT ME A DUMBASS TREE!” She cried out before driving the Gryphon into the ground with tremendous force, creating a crater the size of his body.

“That was incredible!” The young Pegasus shouted in joy while her mother held her back...





The Gryphon leader slowly picked himself up from the crash site, his two guards having landed somewhere amongst the rubble. He grabbed the wall for support before looking around, realizing that he had crashed close to the Castle gates, he saw his forces being driven away by both the Royal Guard and the Ponygoyles little by little. ‘Cowards, the whole lot of them!’ He thought with low growl as he pulled out his sword, he wasn’t ready to retreat yet!

“Face me Gryphon, if you dare!” A voice shouted from behind him, he turned to see the cyan Ponygoyle land before him, her bat-like wings spread and her eyes glowing menacingly as she snarled with her teeth bared. The Gryphon leader backed away and held out his sword, trying to put some distance between himself and the creature, only to hear a roar from behind him. It was the dragon from before, snorting and growling as it approached, ready to tear it’s prey limb from limb. The Gryphon leader tensed and began to sweat, knowing he couldn't take on both opponents at once.

“I see you’ve found our “watchdog”...” The lavender Ponygoyle called out as she landed next to the cyan one. “...and my second in command as well.” She finished while placing a hand on her shoulder, the cyan one smirked with pride. “I grow tired of all this!” She snapped before levitating the Gryphon leader with her magic and bringing him face-to-beak with her. “Take what’s left your army, and BE GONE!” She shouted before tossing him over the wall and crashing into some of the retreating Diamond Dogs.

The Gryphon leader cursed as his subordinates picked him up. “This isn’t over monsters! I promise you, I’ll be back!!” He shouted in rage before his Gryphon guards carried him off and flead along with the rest of his forces, the Diamond Dogs burrowing underground to avoid the arrows being shot at them while the Ponygoyle chased rest of the Gryphons away.

With the invading forces repealed, the Royal Guard began cheering in celebration.

“Haha, we did it! We sent them running!”

“Those heathens will think twice before attacking us again!”

Up above where the Ponygoyles were, however, the creatures did not share their joy. Mostly because they were celebrating and congratulating each other, yet not once acknowledging that they had helped as well. Sadly this wasn’t the first time this had happened.

The pink and rainbow-maned one shared a disappointed look, while yellow one looked down in sorrow. Meanwhile the cyan one was healing lavender ones wounds from the fight, one of the guards approached them, it was the same one that had helped the white Ponygoyle earlier. “Twilight, we owe you our lives yet again.” He said with a humble bow before taking off his helmet to reveal a more elderly gray unicorn with a white mane and beard.

“As we owe you ours every day Starswirl.” Twilight smiled as she placed her claw on his shoulder, unaware of the scowl the cyan Ponygoyle was sending the other ponies...





Later that night in the ballroom, the guards and most of the nobles were enjoying a rather grandeur meal in which the wise Queen Celestia was attending. The royal Unicorn was dressed the most elegant gown made from only finest of silk and adorned with the most beautiful gems.

She sat at the royal table with her nephew and most loyal adviser; Prince Blueblood, a noble unicorn stallion with a light gray coat and light amber mane. He had an air of superiority around him, as if he was no less than a god amongst ponies. Meanwhile at the other table, several of the Royal Guard talked amongst themselves.

“...I have to say, I actually thought we’d met our match back there!” One of the Pegasus said with a hearty laugh before taking a bite out of his apple.

“Indeed, our captain of the guard is a fine soldier.” A Unicorn guard agreed as he took a bite out of his bread.

“Captain of the Ponygoyles  ya mean!” Said the same Pegasus sarcastically as Starswirl passed by, causing some of the others to start laughing.

“Ha! He’d fit in with them at the rookery with them! That’s a fact!” The Unicorn replied, causing his comrades to laugh even harder.

Starswirl simply snarled as he walked towards the Queen’s table. Queen Celestia smiled at the approaching Unicorn. “Ahh Starswirl. Once again you have lead our stallions to victory. You have our thanks for another battle well fought!” She said in a joyful tone. While her tone was sincere, her nephew simply regarded him as if regarding and ant before sipping down his wine.

Starswirl ignored the show of disrespect and bowed to his Queen. “The credit is not mine alone to take, your majesty. If it wasn’t for Twilight and the other Ponygoyles, our defenses would have proven useless.” He said in a proud tone.

However, upon hearing him mention the Ponygoyles, the Queen’s calm warm demeanor changed to cold and dismissive. “Please, don’t mention that...monster’s name in my presence.” She said in stern tone.

Suddenly, the door to the ballroom opened, revealing Twilight and the cyan Ponygoyle. Everypony stared in shock as the two creatures of the night made their way into the room. They were further surprised when the two stopped in front of the Queen and Twilight then bowed to her in a formal way.

“Sorry we’re late my Queen but we were just rounding up the last of the more rowdy ones of our kin.” Twilight explained.

While Prince Blueblood snorted in disgust, Queen Celestia ignored the Ponygoyle and turned her attention to Starswirl. “What is the meaning of this?!”

Starswirl bowed as well. “Your Highness, I took the liberty of asking them to appear and be recognized for their bravery.”

Celestia’s glare hardened. “Captain, we are very displeased that you would allow these beasts into our dining hall!” She said before shifting her glare towards the the two Ponygoyles, the cyan one matching her glare with one of her own.

“My Aunt speaks words of wisdom.” Blueblood added. “These...creatures are unnatural, no good can come from associating with vermin like them!”

That last word got to the cyan Ponygoyle as she snarled at the prince. “Vermin?! At least we don’t hide while our brethren do all the fighting!” She shouted in rage, her eyes glowing white as she took a step forward. Blueblood quickly backed away in fear as some of the Royal Guard got up, ready to defend their Queen.

“Stop!” Twilight commanded, spreading her wing in front of her friend and halting her advance. “I will not have you causing an uproar with your short temper!” She growled before folding in her wings. “Excuse us, your Highness.” She apologized before leaving with her friend in tow.

Starswirl could only watch as they left in disappointment, why couldn’t the Queen see? The Ponygoyles were their ally’s, yet they treated them like they were a bigger threat than the ones who attacked them.

“Captain Starswirl.” Celestia began in a calm yet threatening tone. “In the future, you will make your reports to my nephew, not directly to me! Is that understood?”

Starswirl shot a glance at Blueblood who merely smirked arrogantly. “Yes, your Highness.” The older Unicorn sighed as he turned away and left the dining hall in silence.





"I'm so sorry about what happened there." Starswirl said as he walked alongside his friend down the hall.

“It’s fine Starswirl. I can’t claim to understand why they hate us but it will pass.” Twilight said as she  turned to face her old friend.

The Cyan Ponygoyle scowled in rage. “But we were here long before they were! These cliffs were once our home!"

“But now it’s theirs and ours." Twilight retorted. "They may act like they hate us, but deep down I know these ponies truly are grateful for what we do.”

“And yet they treat us with contempt even after we defend them! Have you no pride?!” The cyan Ponygoyle snarled in irritation before storming off.

“She’s right you know...” Starswirl said before walking off. “Your kind deserve better than this…”

Twilight sighed sadly. “Maybe, but hopefully she’ll come to realize that disharmony between our two races will only drive both to ruin...” She cast a glance at the moon before climbing out the window and soaring through the night sky...





Meanwhile, deep within the secret chambers inside the castle, Prince Blueblood was going through one of his many spell books. Contrary to popular belief, he was quite experienced when it came to spell casting. He simply didn’t see a reason, or find a reason, to use his more powerful spells. 

‘With those creatures constantly prowling our castle every night, it’s only a matter of time before they rebel.’ The Prince thought to himself as turned the page.  ‘Once they're ready they’ll strike when we least expect it, taking back their home and bringing out glorious kingdom to ruin. As heir to the throne that’s something I cannot allow!’

He thought as he continued looking for a certain spell, a spell that would take care of those monsters should the worst come to be. He blinked before going back a few pages. “Yes...this will do nicely...” He mumbled as a sinister smile spread across his face…

To Be Continued...
> Chapter 2: The Awakening (Part 2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Horseshoe bay: 994 A.D.:

Twilight soared through the skies over the castle as she made her way down towards her friends to begin their own celebrations for that evening. After each battle is has become tradition among their kind to celebrate. Even the smallest victory’s have had equally small celebrations. They all did this well before the sunrise so as to avoid any late evening statues that may lay cracked upon the ground. Twilight soared for a bit longer before landing on the tallest tower which overlooked most of the castle and even some of the land.

‘This land truly is beautiful. I just wish we weren't bound by this curse so that we may be able to see it’s beauty.'

"Dearest Twilight, can we talk?" She heard a voice behind her ask. Twilight turned and saw her beloved sister standing before her.

The lavender Ponygoyle arched a brow, her sister always had that odd talent for sneaking up on others. "Sister, is something wrong?"

“Nothing but you almost scared me sister.” Twilight said sternly before smiling playfully.

The cyan Ponygoyle chuckled. "Well what can I say? I’m the most crafty member of our family." She said with a coy smile before adopting a more serious demeanor. "I still can't see why you won't stand up for our brethren? I've even heard a few of them complaining about how the Royal Guard seem to completely ignore the fact that we helped defend the castle tonight." she snarled a little as she dug her claw into the stone and leaving a few holes were her claws dug in.

Twilight sighed. “Sister, it’s not our place to defy the owners of this castle.”

"Even though we were the ones to first call these cliffs our home?" She questioned.

Before the conversation could escalate any further, a loud growl interrupted them. The two turn to see the Dragon rapidly approaching from down the hall, Twilight had little to no time to brace herself before it tackled her to the ground and started licking her face.

“Okay, okay! No more arguing, I get it! You can stop now!” Twilight said in between laughs as the Dragon just smiled and continued licking her.

The cyan Ponygoyle merely growled and stormed down the hall with a grim look on her face.

Twilight sighed as the Dragon let her go and she saw her sister leave in an angry fashion, the Dragon gave her a slight nudge and they went back down to join the celebrations...





'Why must my sister be so narrow-minded?' The cyan Ponygoyle thought as she made her way down the dark corridors. She stopped when she reach the rookery. "You can come out now, I know you've been watching me since I came down here." She called out.

A cloaked figure stepped out of the shadows.  “Well? What of your sister? Did you convince her to see reason?”

“No. As always my sister is still blinded by her mercifulness. She is too loyal to these…. cretins and just doesn’t understand.”

"I suppose it can't be helped, she always was too forgiving...much like your mother..."

"Yes, and look what good that did her..." She snarled as she gritted her teeth, she then took a deep breath to calm herself. "Never mind, have you made the preparations?" She asked.

The figure nodded. "Do not worry, I have already taken the necessary precautions, all you have to do is play your part."

"You need not worry about that." The cyan Ponygoyle said as her claw crackled with magic. "If there's one thing I'm best at, it's playing tricks..."





As the next day dawned, the Ponygoyles flew to the higher towers of the castle, resting atop their perch and awaiting the sunrise.

Twilight stood atop the highest tower, as the sun finally became visible on the horizon, she stood tall, spread her arms as well as her wings, as if she were welcoming and embracing the warmth of the sun. Within moments her body along with all the other Ponygoyles, had turned to stone.

However, as the Royal Guard slowly awoke from their slumber, a hooded figure made it's way out of the castle...





To the Southwest of Horseshoe Bay was the swamplands, just near the edge of the Badlands. The Gryphons and Diamond Dog's had set up camp near the center of the swamp after their recent defeat.

“That was by far, the most embarrassing defeat of my entire life!!” One of the Gryphons snarled as he crushed a rock between his talons.

“I still find it hard to believe that those pathetic ponies actually handed us our flanks that badly. This should’ve been easy!” Gripped a Diamond Dog as he nursed his wound.

“It would have been if not for those blasted creatures!” Another Diamond Dog stated.

Suddenly, a bright light emitted from the center of the camp, and from it emerged a figure cloaked in black robes. Every Gryphon and Diamond Dog grabbed their weapons and aimed them at the unicorn with the intent of killing him. Only for him to send a shockwave across the camp, knocking several of them off their feet.

“You made a grave mistake showing your face here, Pony! ” The lead Gryphon snarled as he drew his sword and charged forward.

“Oh, that won’t be necessary.” The robed figure replied as a golden aura surrounded the Gryphon, stopping him in his tracks. “After all, you seek the fall of Castle Horseshoe, do you not?” The figure stated as the aura vanished and the rest of the army warily surrounded the intruder.

“And what does that matter to you?” The Gryphon Leader snarled.

“Perhaps I can be of assistance?” The figure asked. “With my help, you can not only gain victory over the Royal Guard, but even take the Princess hostage as well.”

The Gryphon Leader smirked at this knowledge and ordered his troops to stand down. “Alright, I’m listening...”





Later that day, after the sun had disappeared over the horizon, Twilight stood atop the Castle gates, watching as the stars began to decorate the night sky.

"Sure is beautiful, ain't it?"

Twilight looked up to see her old friend; the orange Ponygoyle, soaring down towards her. "It is indeed my friend." She said she looked in the direction the sun had set."You know some pony see that sunsets are like entire sky catching on fire before finally diming down..."

"Now that's interesting, maybe we should wake up early and check it out ourselves?"

Twilight gave her friend a quizzical look, the orange Ponygoyle simply smile before the two burst into laughter.

"Sister, we need a moment."

The laughter died down as Twilight noticed her sister as well as Starswirl walking towards them.

Twilight turned to the orange Ponygoyle who simply nodded, before taking off. Leaving the three alone. "Starswirl, sister, what troubles you?"

"There are whispers going around the castle that those brutes may return at daybreak, Twilight." Starswirl explained. "We believe it would be the best course of action would be to take all the Ponygoyles and make sure they're gone."

"I agree." The cyan one said. "If we all go out in force we can put an end to those pigs! And send the message to anyone whoever dares to attack our castle again!" She finished, slamming her fist into her open claw for emphasis.

Twilight thought for a moment but immediately shook her head. "No, that would be too dangerous. We can't risk leaving the castle unprotected."

"True, but their leader swore he'd be back." Starswirl argued. "It's best to harry them far away now and not take that chance."

Twilight arched a brow at her old friend, for a moment she could've sworn she saw a sense of desperation in his eyes...

"Very well..." She sighed, getting a smile of approval from her sister. "But I shall be the one to do it."

"Alone?! But sister, that's too dangerous!" The cyan Ponygoyle protested. "At least let me come along!"

“Do you really have such little faith in my abilities? I will be fine sister, and besides..." Her claw glowed as the illusion of a Gryphon appeared in it. "I can scare those cowards away without any help." She smirked before crushing the illusion within her claw. "You and the others will stay at the castle, just in case they attempt to launch a sneak attack." She explained before turning to her sister. "Since you're my best warrior, I'll be leaving you in command."

"But Twilight-" Statswirl tried to interject, but was cut off.

"You worry too much Starswirl, the Vikings lost a large number of their forces during that last attack. I'll be fine on my own." She stated before turning and flying off. Never noticing the uneasy look her sister and her old friend shared...





In another part of the castle, there was a feast going on in the courtyard, some of the Ponygoyles were off in the corner area while the other "normal" Ponies were gathered near the center.

The Pink one was eating, while the rainbow-maned and orange ones were are playing a game of catch with a ham, trying to keep it away from the dragon, while the white and yellow ones simply watched in amusement.

"Here, catch!" The rainbow-maned one called out as she tossed over the dragon's head.

The dragon snorted as it attempted to catch the food, each time you got close one Ponygoyle would pass it to the other. Eventually the white one got bored of this and snapped her fingers, creating a small barrier for the hand to bounce off of and straight into the dragons waiting jaw.

"Hey, what gives?" The rainbow-maned one shouted.

"Now, now, he was getting hungry, not to mention I still wanted to repay him for defending me the other night." The white one said as she sauntered over to the Dragon, who was happily tearing into the ham, before giving him a nice scratch behind the ears. "Isn't that right my little dragon?" She smiled and giggled as the dragon snorted out a few plumes of smoke in agreement.

The yellow one giggled in amusement before noticing a young, orange Pegasus pony with a dark-pink mane approaching them. "Oh hello little one. What is your name?" She asked, getting the others attention.

"I-it's Scootaloo." She stuttered. "What are yours?"

The pink one thought for a moment before speaking up. "Well except for Twilight, we don't really have any names... (yet)" She added under her breath, getting a confused look from the orange one.

"B-But how do you tell each other apart?" The young one asked.

"It's simple squirt. We look different." The rainbow-maned one said as she grabbed another piece of ham from the food pile.

"But then what do you call each other?"

"Friend." The yellow one said after a moment of thought.

"Sister." The white one added.

"Annoying." The orange one stated, shooting a snide smirk at the rainbow-maned one, who simply glared back while eating.

"Scootaloo! Get away from those monsters immediately!" A female voice called out. An older mare ran over started to drag the young filly away from the Ponygoyles.

“Hey come on, we were just having a little fun! We weren’t gonna hurt the kid!” The pink one exclaimed as she leapt down and approached her.

"Keep away from us, you filthy beast!!" She shouted before grabbing a nearby plate and throwing it at her. The pink one, unprepared for such an action, let out yelp of pain as she was struck in the face.

The yellow one gasped as she quickly hid behind the dragon.

The rainbow-maned one growled at this and flew down near the pink one. “HEY! What’s the big idea hurting my sister like that huh?!”

“Well then tell your SISTER to stay away from my daughter you monster!” She snapped as a few of the ponies started to rally behind her.

"HOW DARE YOU!!" Everyone looked to see the white Ponygoyle advancing on them. "We protect you all and yet you treat us with contempt?! You are the true monsters, you-"

"No..." The white one stopped when she heard the pink one speak she looks to see that her scales had become a darker shade of pink and her mane had gone compleatly straight. "If they think we're beasts and monsters Then, perhaps we'd better live up to the name." She snarled as her bared her fangs and advanced on them.

"Now you're talking!" The orange one smirked as her eyes began to glow, the rainbow-mane one and the white one immediately joined in, their eyes glowing menacingly as they bared their fangs, the normal ponies to back away in fear.

"What's wrong ? You were all keen on attacking us when we were friendly! You want to see us as threats?! Well then, we will show you just how big of a threat we can be!!" The pink one snarled as she attempted to charge forward, only to be caught in the lavender aura.

"ENOUGH!" A voice bellowed from above everyone looked up to see Twilight descending upon them, the other ponies fleeing in fear as she landed. She turned to her brother ran and gave them the harshest glare, causes them to flinch back. "I'm very disappointed in you three."

"US?!" The orange one snapped. "What about them?! They're the ones who struck first!"

"Yeah!" The rainbow-maned one agreed. "They attacked us when we made it clear that we meant them no harm!"

"That does not excuse your behavior, you're supposed to be above such malicious actions!" She hissed back. "No matter who was at fault, I cannot condone fighting between their people and ours!"

"You three are to stay down to the rookery until I return. I have other business to attend to." She said before storming off.

Unknown to any of them, the cyan Ponygoyle had watched the entire exchange from above and growled menacingly. "Is there really no hope for you sister? Are you truly this blind?"





"This is unbelievable, sent down to the rookery! How embarrassing!" The rainbow-maned one fumed as she stormed into the rookery, which was fill with several green eggs, each one holding a soon to be born Ponygoyle.

"I haven't been down her since I hatched..." The white one lamented as she rested against a stalagmite next to an egg containing a Ponygoyle with scales as white as her own as well a grayish purple and light pink mane.

"What I don't understand is why you are here." The orange one stated turning to the yellow one.

"W-well I thought maybe I could help look after the hatchlings while we're down here..." She said timidly.

Orange one sighed as she looked at some of the eggs. However one in particular caught her interest, her scales were yellow and her mane was red.

"Well at least we won't go hungry!" Said the pink one with her mane now back to it's poofy state. She pulled some slime off of a stalactite, sniffed it for a second before eating it.

The rainbow-maned winced in disgust. "I just hope we're not down here too long, she might try to eat us."

"Oh, I'd never eat you girls!" She  said as she ate some more slime. "Raw meat tastes horrible anyway!" She giggled.

Everyone stared at her for a few seconds before taking a few steps back.





Meanwhile in another part of the castle, a robed figure made it's way into the armory, filled to the brim with swords, arrows, and many other weapons.

"Soon it will all end..." It said as its hands slowly began to glow, casting a spell every weapon within the armory...





'I don't understand, I've been searching for hours and yet there's still no sign of them could they have gotten this far in the span of the day? And worse,sunrise approaches soon, maybe I should head back...' Twilight thought to herself as she flew across the night sky and down towards the forest. However her eyes widened when she noticed a trail of claw and talon-prints.

She quickly flew in the same direction and immediately spotted a small group Gryphons and Diamond Dogs hauling a small amount of catapults. 'Even for the remains of an army after crushing defeat, this is a pretty small group...' She thought to herself.  'Maybe we took out more of their army than we thought... nevermind, I must put an end to these heathens once and for all.' She grinned maliciously as she prepared to fly down towards them with magic glowing around her claws.

She quickly fired several blasts of magic, destroying the wheels of several catapults. Several of the Gryphons took out their swords and got ready to attack while the Diamond Dogs quickly took out the battle axes and/or maces.

Twilight simply scoffed. "Pathetic." She muttered and with a simple wave of her hand, sent a shockwave across the ground, knocking her enemies off their feet. "Last time I faced you I couldn't use the full extent of my power due to my ally's being in the crossfire, here however..." She pause before firing another beam of magic at the remaining catapult, obliterating it with one shot. "...I hold no such restrictions."

One of Diamond Dogs trembled for a few seconds before dropping his acts and running off. "I'm out of here!"

"GET BACK HERE YOU COWARD!" One of the Gryphons shouted, despite the fact that he himself was sweating bullets.

"I'm with him, I'd rather be a coward then dead!" Another Gryphon called out before flying off. "Besides, we fulfilled our part of the plan, let's get out of here!" He screamed as more of the Gryphons and Diamond Dogs flew/ran after him.

'Their part of the plan? What did they mean by...' Before Twilight could question it any further, she saw a small glimpse of light out of the corner of her eye and immediately froze in fear. "OH NO, THE SUN!" She screamed before darting through the woods as fast as she could. "I have to get back to the castle before it's too late!"

She flew through the trees as fast as she could, narrowly avoiding a few streaks of sunlight that managed to shine through the trees by staying in the shade. She eventually saw an opening in the trees and lead towards it eventually coming to a cliff she quickly darted towards the edge, hoping to fly through the shadows in order to get back...

Sadly, she was a split-second too late as the sun rose over the horizon and she was bathed in its light.

"NO!! NOT N-" Was all she managed to say before she was turned to stone once more...





Back at the castle, the rest of the Gryphons and Diamond Dogs had returned, Any of the remaining catapults and drawing their swords, maces, and battle axes. "Today we finish what we started!!" The leader shouted. "ATTACK!!"

The Gryphons charged forth as the Diamond Dogs launched the catapults, easily destroying several parts of the castle walls. 

The guard readied their bows… only to have them snap when trying to pull back on them, as the Gryphons swarmed them the Pegasi took to the air... only to feel their armor pulling them down, as if a tremendous weight had just been placed upon them. Several magic symbols appeared on the Royal Guards armor, either stunning them or slowing them down enough for the Gryphons to cut them down.

The Earth Ponies and Unicorns vainly fought back, either by attempting to cast their spells or simply fight them off with their swords. However the same magic symbols appeared on their armor too, disrupting their magic and sapping their strength.

“Today, Castle Horseshoe will fall!!” A Diamond Dog shouted as they burst out of the ground and began capturing any civilians and beating down the weakened Royal Guards.

As the battle continued, the dragon burst from it’s sleeping chambers and charged towards the Diamond Dogs, ready to rip them apart. He barreled through any of the diamond dogs foolish enough to charge him, either by slashing them with his claws or burning them with his flames. However his progress was stopped when he found himself enveloped in a magic aura, despite his struggles he couldn't break free and was brought face-to-face with a silhouetted figure.

"Forgive me..." The figure said before the Dragon could react, and with one mighty burst of the power, flug him through several walls, sending him tumbling out of the castle and over the cliff it stood upon.

The Dragon roared in rage as it fell off the cliff and into the sea...





Inside the castle, Queen Celestia and Prince Blueblood were quickly be escorted to the shelters by five Royal Guards.

However suddenly out of the shadows, several black chains appeared, easily ensnaring and incapacitating them.

"What is the meaning of this?!" The Queen shouted as she struggled against her bonds

“I think you know EXACTLY what is going on my Queen.” A familiar voice full of malice and anger spat out. Celestia turned her head slowly and dared not believe what her eyes were showing her. Out from the shadows emerged a cloaked figure but the hood was finally thrown back. Revealing the face of their betrayer. “I told you. I TOLD you that those Ponygoyles were MORE than enough to stop these barbarians. But now you will pay the price for your prejudice.” Starswirl said with absolute anger in his eyes.

"You TRATOR!!" Blueblood screamed in rage. "You dare betray your own kingdom, your Queen, your own kind... for this for those beasts?!" Before the Prince could speak further, Starswirl immediately lifted him with his magic and slammed him into a wall, knocking him out cold.

The traitorous Unicorn then glared at the Queen. "You are not my kind."





As the Gryphons and Diamond Dog lead the their prisoners from the flaming remains of the castle. The Pegasi had special wing clamps to keep them from from flying away, the Unicorns had magic inhibitor collars fastened on their horns, and the Earth Ponies had special handcuffs them surpassed their strength.

As Starswirl watched his former comrades being led away, he took one last look at the castle before teleporting away...

Unknown to him however, back inside the castle, a few of the Gryphons had stayed behind with their leader. "Alright boys, let's get to work." He commanded as he raised his mace while casting a wary glance at the sun, which had began to set. "There's little time before sundown."

“Um sir do you think this… wise?” One of the Gryphons asked. “What if some of them are still alive and come after us?”

“Then we’ll simply kill them like the rest, NOW GET TO SMASHING!” The leader roared as he hefted the iron mace over his head. With a mighty swing the mace came down and destroyed one of statues.

The first of many...





As the sun finally set, Twilight roared as she broke free of her stony prison. Without a moment to waste she hurried back to the castle as fast as she could. 'Those cowards! That group was a decoy to lead me from the castle! I have to get back before-' She froze in shock when she made it to the hill that overlooked the castle.

The sight that awaited Twilight was more horrifying and shocking than anything she ever saw in her whole life. The sight of her fallen brethren.

"It... it can't be..." She whispered, tears threatening to fall from her eyes as she soared above the ruins of the castle, her home. Everything was in flames, nothing had been left untouched, The towers that once stood proud and tall were now nothing but piles of rubble.

"Please no... Oh please no!!" She screamed as she dug through the rubble... only to find disembodied claws...

"No..."

She dug deeper, revealing half a wing...

"No!"

A tail...

"NO!"

And finally a face.

"Why...?" She whispered in a broken voice and she slumped to the ground. "My friends... my sisters... my family..." She whispered tears flowing from her eye as rage built up inside her... She silently stood up over the crumbled remains, and then...

"NOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Her roar of anguish echoed though the night sky...

To Be Continued...
> Chapter 3: The Awakening (Part 3)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Horseshoe bay: 994 A.D.:

The castle was in flames, the only signs of ponies having once lived there being ruined little huts and the tattered remains of tents that had been set up for the refugees. Everything of value had been taken, even the smallest scraps of food. All that remained was rubble and fire.

Twilight picked up the broken remains of a discarded bow. She could sense an enchantment on it that caused the string to snap when pulled back. There were swords, axes, and even some armor that had similar spells cast upon them to makethem next to useless in a fight. Somepony had to have done this from within the keep. She clenched her claws into a balled fist tightly, to the point where her palms bled.

‘I will tear out this traitor’s throat!’ she screamed mentally.

“Twilight?”

The lavender Ponygoyle turned sharply on her heels, expecting to find the betrayer. Instead, she found the Ponygoyles she had sent to the rookery, plus the yellow one with the feathered wings, who had been the one who had spoken.

“What happened out here!?” The cyan, rainbow-maned one asked with a look of absolute rage.

“The castle was attacked...” Twilight explained. “The ponies were betrayed from within, and were most likely taken prisoner.” The Ponygoyles gasped in shock, the yellow fell to her knees and started to weep.

“What about the dragon?” The white one hesitantly asked.

“I couldn’t find him, for all we know they could have...” Twilight turned away from the rubble that had once been her brethren, refusing to finish. “W-were there any others in the rookery?” She asked, clinging to a small hope that more had survived.

“No… only us.” The pink one said as her mane deflated into a near-flat state.

“Th-the eggs are s-s-safe, though.” The yellow one said timidly between sobs while the rainbow-maned one hugged her.

The orange Ponygoyle stepped forward. “What’re we gonna do, Twilight?”

The leader of the Ponygoyles closed her eyes in thought, then growled angrily. When her eyes opened, they were glowing almost evilly. “We are going to find them.” She snarled as she slowly stood up. “We are going to rescue those ponies, and we will have our revenge!!” She roared. 

The others nodded in agreement, and they climbed to the highest point in the castle, taking off to follow the trail left behind by their quarry. Their vengeance would soon be swift, but it will be anything but painless.





Back at the swamplands, the Gryphons and Diamond Dogs were holding a celebration over their latest victory.

Spirits were not so bright among the prisoners, however. Inside one of the cages, a Pegasus mare held onto her daughter tightly, tears trailing down her face.

“Don’t worry, Mother.” Scootaloo said. “The Ponygoyles will come to save us!”

“Nay, foal.” One of the imprisoned Royal Guards stated. “The Ponygoyles wouldn’t want to help us… not after the way we treated them...” Some of the prisoners shared a look, knowing he was right. After all, what reason did they have to come save them?

In a nearby cave, Starswirl sat by a by fire, Queen Celestia and Prince Blueblood glaring daggers at him from the other side of the cave, their hands cuffed and magic suppressors upon their horns. The Gryphon leade; Hakon, sat across from the old unicorn, munching on a large drumstick and occasionally laughing to himself as he inspected his plunder.

“Look at this crap!” Hakon said with a derisive laugh, holding up an old-looking book. He flipped through the pages with a talon. “I’m glad I can’t read so that I don’t waste my time with this nonsense.”

“You put that down, you barbarian!” Blueblood demanded. “That volume is very old and powerful! You have no idea-!”

“Bah!” Hakon growled. He tore out a random page and tossed it into the fire. Blueblood screamed bloody murder at the Gryphon, who only laughed contemptuously.

Celestia glared spitefully at Starswirl. That would’ve been enough alone to make the stallion feel ashamed, but he argued to himself that it was worth it. The Ponygoyles were safe at the castle. No harm could have befallen them. Everything had gone as smoothly as it could have.

An unholy roar pierced the air suddenly, startling the three ponies and the gryphon, the last of whom grabbed the nearest mace. Hakon and Starswirl made their way to the cave entrance, where Gryphons and Diamond Dogs alike were panicking and pointing to the sky.

“They’re coming!” A Diamond Dog cried out, pointing to the six figures who were shadowed by the moon’s light. It was clear from the sounds they made and the shapes of their wings; they were Ponygoyles.

Hakon sneered and glared at Starswirl. “I thought you said that they wouldn’t follow us!?”

“They shouldn’t have!” Starswirl said, baffled. “Unless… Hakon, what did you do!?”

The Gryphon leader ignored the unicorn and headed back into the cave, roughly grabbing Celestia by the ropes binding her. “Looks like your precious Ponygoyles are coming for you, pony!” He said with a scowl.

Celestia’s eyes widened at that revelation. “The Ponygoyles…” She glared at the Gryphon. “You’re a dead bird, Hakon.”

Hakon only smirked. “Perhaps.” He drew out a dagger. “But I won’t die before you!”

Blueblood gasped loudly and threw himself into Hakon’s stomach with renewed vigor, slamming him against the cave wall. This little triumph was short-lived however as Starswirl lifted him up and threw him across the cave, slamming him against the wall and knocking him out once more.

"Blueblood!" Celestia shouted, struggling against her bindings as Starswirl trapped her in his magic chains once more. “Release me at once!” Celestia screamed as she struggled against Starswirl’s grasp.

“We have to go, now!” He stated as Hakon got up.

"And what about him?" He snarled as he turned to Blueblood, a murderous gleam in his eyes.

Starswirl simply scoffed. "He'll only slow us down. Besides, the Queen is more valuable than him." Hakon scoffed as he and Starswirl quickly fled the cave with the Queen in tow.

As Blueblood slowly regained consciousness he noticed his reflection in a discarded shield right next to him, upon looking closely at the magic inhibitor collar around his horn he noticed that it had a small crack down the side. Smirking, he wormed his way around until he found a sharp blade and began scraping his horn against it...





The Ponygoyles wasted no time in swooping down upon the Gryphons and Diamond Dogs. The Gryphons didn’t even have time to take flight as Twilight blasted several of them away with a pulse of arcane power. The lavender Ponygoyle soon spotted what was clearly Queen Celestia being carried away by a Gryphon and a cloaked figure. She then noticed that the Queen was being carried by a magic aura, she snarled at the sight, knowing immediately that he was the traitor. She took off toward them as they headed for a cliff that overlooked what she knew to be a dangerous, monster-infested bog.

Meanwhile, the orange Ponygoyle landed and grabbed the wrist of a Diamond Dog trying to swing at her with a sword. Her grip was so strong, it shattered the bone in his wrist, and she brutally threw him to the ground before grabbing a Gryphon by the neck and twirling around to throw him into another Dog. The pony refugees watched in a mix of awe and fear as the Ponygoyles fought off the barbarians. The rainbow-maned one grabbed a boar that had been roasting over a fire before dodging a swipe from a Gryphon. She sidestepped a stab from the same opponent, then swung the boar at him, knocking him away with shocking strength.

The white Ponygoyle tossed her opponents away with her magic into the crowd of foes, adding a brutal magic blast to the attack. While she was busy the yellow one immediately flew to the cage where the rest of the ponies were being held and quickly unlocked them, The moment they got out they wasted no time helping her free the rest of the prisoners as well as removing their wing clamps and magic inhibitor rings. The Royal Guards wasted no time grabbing any axe, sword, or mace they could find before joining the fight, immediately turning the tide against their enemies.

Two Diamond Dogs attempted to flee into the woods, but stopped dead in their tracks as the pink Ponygoyle emerged from the shadows, her eyes glowing intensly like a terrifying demon out of Tartarus itself. 

"ZUUL, MOTHERBUKERS, ZUUUUL!!" She screamed, the Diamond Dogs turned tail and ran as fast as they could as she chased after them, anger and rage clear in her eyes.

As the Ponygoyles and Royal Guards devastated the Gryphons and Diamond Dogs, many of the barbarians fled screaming for their lives. The orange filly pumped a fist into the air and hugged her mother. “I knew it! I told you they’d save us!” She shouted as the other refugees cheered.

As this happened however, Blueblood finally stumbled out of the cave, his spellbook in hand, just as the Ponygoyles, minus Twilight, all gathered in a group. A feeling of hatred and fury rose up in his stomach, and he growled in outrage. “You monsters, you fools! She’d still be alive if you hadn’t come!”

The Ponygoyles all looked up at the Prince, each with baffled looks. “Wh-what is he talking about?” The yellow one asked timidly.

“They would’ve simply ransomed us both!” Blueblood hollered as he held out his spellbook. “But then you invaded their camp, and now-!” He couldn't finish the sentence, but instead his horn glowed intensely as a large dome appeared around the Ponygoyles.

“What’s going on?!” The white Ponygoyle asked as the orange and rainbow-maned one relentlessly tried to break through the shield. “Where’s the Queen?!”

“Dead...” Blueblood growled, shocking the group. “And I will send you all to Tartarus for that!” He screamed and rage as the shield glowed and several bolts of lightning struck it's captives inside. The Ponygoyles could only scream in pain as the they were forced to the ground. The Prince opened his book to the spell he had found before. “...and this will end it!” He began chanting, speaking in some language that the nopony had never heard before. A fell wind began to blow as a dark mist rolled over the trapped Ponygoyles, who screamed as a light enveloped them.

“No!” Scootaloo shouted, struggling against her mother’s grasp. The light blinded everypony present...





Meanwhile, Queen Celestia struggled against Starswirl's magic grip as he and Hakon neared the cliffs, trying to free herself from her bindings. Suddenly, a shadow fell over them, and the three stopped as Twilight descended, an unrivaled glare piercing they're very souls. She landed and spread her wings, letting loose a powerful gust of wind, blowing Starswirl's hood over and revealing his face. The lavender Ponygoyle's eyes widened in shock. “Starswirl?” She exclaimed in surprise. “Y-You’re the traitor!?” She asked as tears threatened to leave her eyes, her voice doing nothing to hide how shocked and betrayed she felt. "Why... just... why would you do this?!"

The unicorn hung his head in shame and nodded. “Yes, Twilight. I’m sorry, but it was the best way to keep the Ponygoyles safe.”

"Safe? SAFE?!" Twilight shouted, her anger almost immediately overtaking her sorrow. “YOU LIAR!” Twilight roared, making Starswirl take a step back in shock. “I found them at the castle! They were all DEAD! Shattered as they slept! All but five others were killed!”

“Wh-what?” Starswirl was at a loss for words at Twilight’s revelation. “B-but I…” He glared at the Gryphon beside him. “Hakon! You promised to spare them!”

Hakon scoffed. “I haven’t survived this long by taking fool chances, Unicorn!” He held his dagger at the floating Celestia’s throat. “Now, you’ll both step aside and let me pass, lest the Queen’s blood be on your hands!”

“You won’t get away!” The Ponygoyle snarled. “Neither of you! You will join my brethren in death!” She stepped forward, and Hakon responded by pointing his dagger at her.

“Stay back, monster!” He cried. Starswirl suddenly grabbed the Gryphon’s arm, struggling with him to take the dagger away since he needed his magic to the Queen from falling off the cliff. He quickly used his other hand to grab Hakon’s wing.

Seeing an opening, Twilight immediately encased her own claws with magic before performing a wave-like motion with her left claw, creating a horizontal knife-like wave, and then launched it at the two with a swing of her right claw.

In one swift motion, the magic blade sliced through both Hakon’s wing and Starswirl's horn. Both of them screamed in agony as they fell to the ground clutching the area where their wings/horn was. However with no magic to hold her up, Celestia almost immediately dropped off the cliff.

"NO!" Twilight screamed as she quickly darted past the two and jumped over to the edge and reached down grabbing Celestia by the ropes that bound her arms to her sides.

The ground beneath them couldn’t take much more punishment, however, and it crumbled away, toppling them and Celestia.

"You traitorous bastard!" Hakon screamed as he fought through the pain of losing his wing and charged at the Unicorn. "I've lost a win because of you!" He screamed as he punched Starswirl in the face.

"We had deal to leave the Ponygoyles be! You're the one who broke it!!" The Unicorn growled as he recovered and slammed his foot into the Hakon's rib cage. "Everything that happened here is because of YOU!!" He screamed as he tackled Hakon, sadly he did not notice that they were too close to the cliffs edge and ended up sending them both flying off the cliff. Hakon was unable to fly with only one wing, and the unicorn was unable to save himself without his magic as they both fell into the darkness below.

Twilight lifted Celestia back onto sure footing, snapping the ropes on her arms and wrists, then looked down at the abyss where her enemy and former friend had fallen. “I’ve been denied everything…” She growled in anger. “Even my REVENGE!” She roared in fury to the heavens, falling to her knees and fighting off tears that were making themselves known.

Celestia knelt down next to Twilight, placing a hand on her shoulder. She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped herself. What could she possibly say? She had no idea what it was like to lose what Twilight had lost. She couldn’t imagine what the violet Ponygoyle was going through.

“Twilight!” came a young filly’s voice. The orange filly with the purple mane came running up to them. “You have to help your friends!”

Celestia and Twilight looked to the filly, then to each other before following the child back to the camp. There, Twilight found something that made her blood run cold. Her friends, all five of them, stood in a circle, frozen in… 

“Stone?” Twilight said with wide eyes. “At night? What sorcery is this!?”

It was then that Blueblood stepped forward, A smug and arrogant grin on his face. “Sorcery indeed.” He said as his horn began to glow. “And now, you will join them!” Twilight growled and readied herself for a fight, only Celestia to jump infront of her, hoping to shield her from any spell her nephew was about to attempt. Blueblood’s eyes went wide at the sight of his aunt. “Aunt Celestia?”

Celestia placed a hand on one of the frozen Ponygoyles next to her. “Oh Blueblood, what have you done?”

His book fell to the ground, opened where Hakon had torn out a page, and Blueblood fell to his knees, the weight of his deeds falling on him. “I… I thought you were dead… I went mad with grief!”

Twilight pushed past the Queen and unceremoniously grabbed the Unicorn by the color of his shirt, pulling him close and holding her free claws to his neck. “Reverse the spell!” She demanded. “Bring them back NOW!!”

“I-I-I c-c-can’t! The Gryphon tore out the page with the counterspell and burned it!” The Prince stuttered, pointing to his spellbook.

Twilight looked at Blueblood’s spellbook, seeing the torn page. She scowled and dropped the prince on the ground, turning to her friends and approaching them. She placed a hand upon the shoulder of the one she remembered being orange with a yellow mane. She dropped her hand and hung her head. “Now... I am truly alone...” She said somberly. 

Celestia fought back a sob. These creatures -these Ponygoyles- had fought to defend her ponies. And she repaid them with spite and intolerance. Now this…

“You turned them to stone forever?” she asked Blueblood, who shook his head.

“The terms of the spell were that they would sleep… until the castle rises above the clouds.” The prince explained, guilt and remorse evident in his voice.

The both looked to Twilight, who didn’t look back. She only kept looking at her lost friends...





Later on, they all returned to the castle, and, with the help of the surviving guards and a few of the refugee ponies, they took the frozen Ponygoyles and placed them atop the tallest tower in the castle. Twilight was silent the entirety of the task, and was the one who placed her friends upon the tower as they were brought up. Celestia and Blueblood stood with her the entire time, offering their endless apologies and condolences.

“We’ve done you a great wrong, Twilight,” said Celestia, remorse in her voice.

Blueblood nodded solemnly. “I know no apology can be enough to atone for what I’ve done.” He said. “I just… I wish there was something I could do.”

Twilight silently nodded before turning to Celestia. “What will you do now, Your Highness?”

Celestia thought on it for a few moments. “I suppose I could take my people to my sister’s lands. It’s no longer safe for us here. She should be more than happy to take us in.”

Again, Twilight nodded. “I… I have two final request's to make.”

“You only have to name it.” The Queen said.

“The eggs in the rookery,” the last Ponygoyles said. “They’re going to hatch soon. Those children will need guidance.”

Celestia smiled. This was undoubtedly an opportunity to atone for the wrongs she and her people had committed against Twilight’s people. “Never fear, my friend. We will watch over them as though they were our own.” 
Twilight gave a grateful nod before facing Blueblood. “There is something… something you can do, as well.”

“Anything.” Blueblood answered.

“Your spell. Cast it one more time.” Both Celestia and Blueblood stared at the Ponygoyle, mouths agape in shock at the statement. "If my brethren are to sleep forever, then I shall join them."





Later, as the ponies left the castle, Scootaloo looked up at the tower where the last of the Ponygoyles rested. At the highest point stood Twilight, frozen in stone, her claws and wings spread apart she gazed upon the horizon, as if waiting for the day that she and her brethren would be free...

Scootaloo sighed as she turned her attention to the eggs in the wagon beside her, specifically the two that were closest to her. One containing a female with white scales along with a grayish purple and light pink mane, and another with yellow scales and red mane.

"Don't worry Twilight." Scootaloo said she hugged one of the eggs. "I promise I'll help keep them safe...





Horseshoe Bay: 1000 Years Later:

In the old ruins of Horseshoe Bay, the old castle had fallen from grace over the years. Moss and cobwebs covered almost every inch of its many crumbling walls. Some of the towers had defied the tests time had given them, standing tall and proud.

“At last, Castle Horseshoe... Magnificent.” The figure said as he walked through the ruins, making his way towards the tallest tower. He was a Unicorn stallion with a light gray coat, a light azure mane & moustache, and he wore a black suit with a symbol of three golden crowns with purple jewels on left side of his chest. “Make the offer now, John.” He ordered.

Another stallion walked besides him. He had a dark brown coat and gray mane  with a few while streaks & a matching goatee, and he wore a black suit like his boss. “May I say one last time Mr. Fancy, the costs of this venture will be beyond astronomical.” He stated as they made their way upstairs. Eventually the two they arrived at the top, where several statues awaited them. “Ah… here they are.” He said as he approached the largest one. “You’d better start hiring the crews.” Fancy ordered. “l want to begin as soon as possible.” 

“You do know it will prove difficult to find the necessary manpower.” John stated. “This castle has a bad reputation. In fact, some of the locals believe that it’s haunted.”

“You know the answer to that, pay somepony enough, and they'll walk barefoot into Tartarus.” He said with a smirk as he turned to leave.

However before exiting the tower, he turned to his assistant. “Make sure that they know that, as professionals, they should handle these statues with care. There’d better not be a single scratch on them, understand?”

John nodded in affirmation, and pulled out his iphone to make the call. Soon the great movement began, several work crews converged on the castle and begin to disassemble it. Many barges and helicopters ferried and flew off with large pieces of the castle in tow. Among them, six helicopters each carried a large wooden box. Inside, six statues rested within a sea of foam balls for damage-proof purposes, silently… yet unknowingly, awaiting their freedom and salvation…

To Be Continued...

> Chapter 4: The Awakening (Part 4)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Manehatten:

High above the skyline of Manehatten. A helicopter flew above the clouds towards a massive skyscraper. Fancy’s corporation: Sunset Enterprises, a corporation that had constructed countless designs for as many destinations, ranging from pharmaceuticals to weapons to everyday appliances. There was almost nothing that Sunset Enterprises didn’t make, and Fancy Pants felt nothing but pride looking upon his personal tower, where the most of the fruit of his genius was born.

This night, however, was, without a doubt, going to be his greatest accomplishment. That is, if the legends from that book and the words of his current business partners were to be trusted. Months of labor and millions of bits (almost nearing a billion, even) went into this project. After months of work and careful coordination, the entirety of Castle Horseshoe had finally been reconstructed atop his skyscraper, rebuilt to fit modern technology, while still keeping its ancient and historic air.

As soon as the helicopter landed, Fancy made his way out and headed up the stairs of the tallest tower, and when he reached the top he stared over the horizon, watching the sun as it slowly set. "Don't disappoint me..." he said to the statue as the sun began to set and a storm started to brew...

Finally, the moment the sun disappeared over the horizon the moment of truth took place. The stone statues began to shift and shake as cracks spread across their hard surfaces of their bodies. The first one to awaken was Twilight herself, Fancy backed away in awe and shock as the lavender Ponygoyle stretched her wings for the first time in centuries and let out a mighty roar that echoed throughout the halls of the castle in the very skies themselves. On their perches below, the other Ponygoyles awakened as well, each one of them roaring as they awakened from their slumber.

Twilight gasped in shock she looked at her claws. She couldn't believe it; she was flesh and blood again! She could feel the cool breeze of the night against her scales, the wind blowing through her hair. 'But how, how is this possible? Could the castle really have been...' she thought to herself. Looking around, she could see that below the castle was practically a sea of clouds. 'Incredible! To be able to place the castle above the clouds as if it stood atop heavens itself! What kind of sorcery could be so powerful as to do this?’

'Wait, if I'm free, then that means...' She immediately looked down to see none other than her friends on the perches below, still somewhat groggy from their slumber. The Rainbow-maned one was flexing her wings, the orange one seemed to be cracking her neck, the yellow one simply looked around timidly, the white one was examining her scales to make sure no dirt or grime had been caught in them, and the pink one was simply zipping around while looking over the edge.

They were all just as she remembered them.

She stared down at them wide-eyed before her face broke out into a massive, ear-to-ear grin and she descended to join her brethren.

"Twilight, there you are!" the white one exclaimed, getting the rest of the group's attention. "Could you please tell us what's going on-HEY!" She yelp in surprise as she was cut off mid-sentence by Twilight embracing her in a tight hug. "Er… Twilight? Are you alright?"

“You’re… you’re alive! You’re all alive!” she exclaimed excitedly as she embraced each of them in a big hug, trying to hold back her tears.

“Yay! We’re alive! Woohoo!” the pink Ponygoyle shouted as she happily bounced around her friends, cheering like giddy child. She then zoomed over to Twilight and whispered. “What happened?”

“Prince Blueblood cast a spell on you all that turned you to stone, permanently,” Twilight explained as they all gathered around her. “When he couldn’t break it, I asked that he cast the same spell on me.”

Everyone went silent for a moment until the rainbow-maned one spoke up. "WHAT?! WHY?!" she snapped, her wings flaring out in anger. "After all we did for his ungrateful hide and those ponies, THAT’S how he repays us?!" She snarled, her eyes glowing menacingly.

“For the first time I'll have to agree with our rainbow-maned friend. But…” the white Ponygoyle spoke reluctantly. “...why would he even do such a thing? I was never a fan him myself, but I never once thought he'd resort to such cruel methods…”

“He thought the Queen was dead,” their purple leader elaborated. “He acted in a fit of grief and anger.” The others all looked to Twilight and to each other, unsure of how to feel about that revelation.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! What?!” The orange Ponygoyle exclaimed as she backed up a bit. “He thought we…. but we’d never harm the Queen! Even if she was a rotten, spoiled, little bi-!”

“Ahem.” A new voice interjected. The Ponygoyles all turned to a white unicorn stallion, whose mane and tail shared a vibrant, bright shade of blue, an equally cerulean mustache over his lips. He wore a suit of what was clearly expertly designed, complimenting features that a certain Ponygoyle found extremely handsome.

“Well hello~ there, handsome!” the white Ponygoyle cooed as she darted in front of the others, her wings spread out wide and infatuation instantly evident in her eyes. “And who do I have the pleasure of addressing?” she asked with an alluring smile, causing the rest of the group to roll their eyes.

“Oh, boy, here we go...” The orange one muttered to the rainbow-maned one, who nodded and snickered to herself.

The stallion smiled, rather amused by the white creature’s actions. “Rather energetic for having just woken up, aren’t we?” he quipped with a light chuckle. “My name is Fancy Pants, and I do believe that I owe you all some explanations.” When the Ponygoyles gave him confused, expectant looks, he simply gestured to the edge of the castle wall.

Twilight, giving the unicorn a suspicious look, peered over the edge. At first, as she could see was the clouds below, moving like an ocean of fluff. Then, through a break in the clouds, she and her sisters saw what Fancy must have been alluding to. Below the clouds, countless structures stood tall, reaching for the sky, surrounded by lights of every possible shade and hue, some of which were moving quickly along the ground.

“W-W-Where are we?” the yellow one asked, timidly looking over the edge before letting out a small “Eeep!” upon realizing how high up they were.

“As I said,” Fancy spoke up again, regaining their attention. “I owe you some explanations.”

“How long has it been since the spell was cast?” Twilight asked as she turned back to the unicorn.

With a small, almost pitying, smile, Fancy said, “Come inside. I feel you may want to sit down for this.”





The inside of the castle was much the same as the last time Twilight had seen it. The only significant differences were the tapestries, rugs, and some furniture. There were also a few paintings hung in places that originally held armor or flags bearing the royal symbol. As the group continued fourth, they were lead to a new room (new to everyone excluding Twilight herself, who recognised it as Prince Blueblood’s private study). It was paved with odd metal that they had never seen before, there were windows adorning almost every wall, yet strangely enough, almost every one of them were black, save for the one behind a large desk in the middle of the room where Fancy Pants sat.

“Whoa… Ah’ve never been in this part o’ the castle…” the orange one whispered, the rest of the group (sans Twilight) nodding in agreement.

“It used to belong to the Prince who cursed you.” Fancy Pants elaborated, getting everyone’s attention. “Now, I'm sure you all have many questions...”

“Well, DUH! Of course we have questions!” The pink one interjected. “How long were we asleep? What happened to the castle? Are there any snacks in this new world? What kind of snacks are there? Do they still call you Fancy Pants even when you don’t wear pants? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a-MMPH!” That was as far she got before Twilight covered her mouth.

“I apologize for her outburst,” The lavender Ponygoyle said, sounding slightly annoyed. “She’s one of the more… ‘optimistic’ members of our family.” Everyone else snickered at that.

Fancy Pants only chuckled in amusement. “It’s quite all right. I’m no stranger to mile-a-minute questioning.” He then donned a serious expression. “To answer your first question… well, there’s no easy way to say it, so I’ll say it plain: one thousand years. You’ve been asleep for centuries.”

Everyone went silent, letting the weight of this revelation sink in. The tension was so thick, one could cut it with a knife. Then, finally, the white one fell to her knees and broke down crying.

“It-It can’t be!” she sobbed as the yellow Ponygoyle bent down to hold her. “One thousand years! We’ve been asleep for one thousand years! Do you all know what this means?!” She choked through her sobs, everyone shared an uneasy look.

“I know it’s hard to grasp,” the rainbow-maned one said solemnly, sadness apparent in even her voice. “But… I guess we just have to-”

“IT MEANS I’M SO OLD THAT I’M PRACTICALLY ANCIENT!” the white Ponygoyle interrupted. “THINK OF ALL THE WRINKLES I’M GOING TO GET!” she wailed as tears streamed down her cheeks. Everyone else could only stare at her in disbelief, the orange one in particular palmed her face in irritation.

Clearing his throat, Fancy regained the attention of the six Ponygoyles. “I highly doubt that that’s much of a worry. You were stone for those ten centuries. You still look youthful.” He shook his head, trying to get back on topic. “Anyway, as for your second question, your castle now sits atop my tower, the headquarters of Sunset Enterprises in the city of Manehattan. I had your castle moved here brick by brick and rebuilt based on the same foundation and specifications.”

“Um, e-excuse m-m-me…” the yellow Ponygoyle timidly chimed in. “W-W-What about the eggs in the rookery? Are they safe?”

Fancy raised an eyebrow. “Eggs? I’m sorry, but neither I, nor any of the workers I hired, found any eggs.” He then perked up slightly. “Oh… your species reproduces with eggs. I’m sorry again, but no such thing was found. If they ever were there, they either hatched long ago, or were stolen.” There was another pregnant silence after this new reveal, this time with the yellow Ponygoyle falling to her knees and having to be supported by her white sister.

Twilight however, knew what had happened, since she was the one who was frozen last. However, given the amount of time that had passed since the spell was cast, it was likely that they had hatched, grown up under the Queen’s guidance, and eventually passed on.

‘I can’t bring their hopes up just to crush them later on...’ she told herself, giving the yellow one, who was silently weeping, an apologetic look before turning back to Fancy Pants. “Fancy Pants… I don’t mean to sound ungrateful - my sisters and I owe our lives to you - but I have to ask: why? Why bring this castle, bring us, here? For what purpose?”

With a smile, he stood from his seat and walked over to a display case that held an old-looking book, one that Twilight recognized as Blueblood’s spellbook. It was weathered had seen many years, but she still knew the sigil upon the tome’s cover anywhere. “Prince Blueblood wrote the whole story of how and why he imprisoned you in here. When I acquired this book and read those entries, I became curious. I wanted to see if these legends were true. It cost millions of bits and took several months of labor and patience, but it all worked out in the end, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Yeah,” the rainbow-maned one said, sounding uncharacteristically dejected, “but… still… no young ones running about…”

Fancy Pants nodded his agreement. It was a tragedy that those little ones had likely never even had a chance, but that was the past. Right now, he had the future to worry about. Just as he was going to tell them some good news, however, the sound of a helicopter’s whirring blades caught his ears. He wasn’t the only one, as Twilight and the other Ponygoyles looked around, trying to find the source of the noise. The stallion narrowed his eyes.

“Odd. I’m not expecting anyone.” He headed for the doorway that exited to the castle courtyard, turning to the Ponygoyles before leaving them. “It would probably be for the best if you stay out of sight for a while. Ponies today aren’t used to seeing creatures such as yourselves.”

"All these years and still nothin's changed." the orange one said with a role of her eyes, with the rainbow-maned one nodding in agreement...





Outside, hovering over the castle courtyard, Fancy could see a helicopter approaching. It had no logos or symbols he could see or recognize as it descended. Stranger still, it it stayed in the air, hovering as several ropes were sent down from the vehicle. Then, a number of unicorns and earth ponies wearing paramilitary gear slid down the ropes, high-powered rifles in hand, while several pegasi flew out with guns ready, each one was wearing an azure blue uniform with golden yellow lightning patterns and goggles with black frames and sky blue lenses that obscured their eyes.

“What is going on here!?” Fancy demanded, only to be answered by the clicks of rifles. He leaped out of the way just in time to avoid the shots, bullets zipping by his head by mere inches.

“Don’t get in the way and there won’t be any trouble,” one pegasus with blazing orange hair said, her grin shining beneath her goggles.

Unknown to any of them, however, the castles reawakened protectors were watching from the shadows. Twilight and her friends noted the aggressiveness of the attacking ponies.

“W-Who are they? They don’t look friendly at all...” the yellow one stuttered, hiding behind the rainbow-maned one as she spread her wings protectively.

“I don’t care who they are!” the rainbow-maned Ponygoyle hissed. “They’re attacking our castle and that’s all I need to know!” She nodded to the orange Ponygoyle. “You with me?”

The orange one smirked, cracking her knuckles in preparation for the battle. “Aw, yeah, let’s get ‘em good.” 

 The yellow one gave her sisters a hesitant look. “B-but Mr. Fancy told us t-t-to stay out of sight…”

“Sister, dear, do you truly believe he would not appreciate our assistance in preserving the castle?” the white one inquired, although she had other reasons for wanting to fight, mainly getting the into the handsome stallion's ‘good graces’.

“Yeah! Besides, we haven’t fought anything in…uh...um...” The pink Ponygoyle thought for a moment. “A thousand years, was it?” she asked while counting on her claws.

“We’ll discuss hasty decisions and remembering the time of our slumber later,” Twilight insisted. “Now, we will live up to our names as protectors once more. Come, my sisters. Let us fight for our home!”

“RAAARGH!” The Ponygoyles roared as one and jumped out of their hiding place. The blonde one bolted out of the shadows, ahead of the rest, towards the nearest invader, taking him by surprise.

“What the hell are those things?!” one of the pegasi cried out as the Ponygoyle knocked her companion aside.

“It doesn’t matter,” said the orange-maned pegasus. “We know what we’re here for. Let’s get it!”

The invaders dispersed. Two of them found themselves cornered by Twilight and the pink Ponygoyle. They fired their weapons, but the Ponygoyles leapt out of the way. As the ponies turned to attack again, Twilight charged up her horn and fired of beam of purple energy, forcing the attackers to defend..

“It can use magic?” one of the ponies yelped in disbelief.

His companion grunted in fear and loaded her weapon. “Things just got even more complicated.”

The rainbow-maned Ponygoyle quickly took to the skies with two of the pegasi following close behind; the orange-maned mare from earlier and a stallion with a short dark gray mane. “Come on! Is that really as fast as you can go?!” I knew hatchlings that could move quicker than that!” she taunted as she soared past her opponents. ‘Although, their outfits… I kinda like them…’ She was instantly brought out of her thoughts upon being yanked from behind by her tail.

"OW-HEY!" she screamed before looking behind herself to see that the orange-maned mare had caught up with her. 'What the-?! How can they move so fast?!' she thought as she tried to yank her tail free, only for her to start spinning in mid-air, throwing off her focus.

"STOP-THAT-I'M-GONNA-HURL!!!" the rainbow-maned Ponygoyle screamed as she started to get dizzy. But the pegasus held on tight, even as the Ponygoyle spun around the tower.

"Oooh! That looks like fun!" the pink Ponygoyle giggled, dodging another shot as she playfully danced around the soldiers, either playing leapfrog on their heads or simply tripping them up whenever they got too close.

Suddenly, the orange pegasus let go, sending the cyan Ponygoyle flying straight towards her partner, who slammed his fist into her stomach before kicking her into a tower top.

The rainbow-maned Ponygoyle slipped down onto the roof of the tower. "Ow..."

"HEY! That's not fair!" the pink one screamed before ending her piggyback ride on a unicorn soldier, jumping onto the wall of the tower and climbing up to where her friend had crashed. However before she could get halfway there, the blue maned pegasus zipped above of her, cutting her off.

“You stop right there!” he commanded.

The pink Ponygoyle made an amused face and looked straight at the screen. “Did he just say that?” she asked. “Did that pony just tell me what to do?”

“Erm, yes?” the pegasus replied hesitantly.

“Who asked you!?” the Ponygoyle shouted. The stallion was so shocked his wings snapped to his sides and he plummeted, but he caught himself just before he became the first pancake on the castle floor in one thousand years.

The cyan Ponygoyle got up and groaned. "Ok, she’s tougher that she looks..." she mused to herself as she spread her wings, getting ready to take off… only to be tackled to the ground by the orange pegasus. 

"Oh, come on!" she screamed as she thrashed and struggled against her grip. Sadly, the pegasus wasn't letting up.

"I don't know what you are freak,” the pegasus growled fiercely, “but you’re not getting in our way! We’ve got a job to do!”

“Yeah? Well so do I. It’s keeping you out of this castle!” She sneered as she continued to struggle.

The pegasus snarled. “Struggle all you want, but you and your boss’ll be sorry for crossing the Wonderbolts!”

'Wonderbolts? Aw jeez, they've even got a cool name!' the Ponygoyle speculated momentarily before focusing on her surroundings. At that moment, however, a loud scream echoed through the castle halls.

"Da da da da da dah! PINKIE POWER!!"

The orange Wonderbolt looked up just time to see a pink blur charge into her, knocking the wind out of her and sending her flying off the tower.

"Ugh, that last line felt dirty..." she mumbled to herself as she helped her cyan brethren up. "I'm never saying that again."





Meanwhile, the orange Ponygoyle was fighting another group of soldiers. They fired again and again, but she just evaded their shots with inequine speed.

“You bumpkins are pathetic,” she jeered. Seeing some rocks roughly the size of her head before her, she quickly threw them into the air and gave each stone a swift kick, sending them flying towards her opponents.
        
“Well shot, sister!” the white Ponygoyle proclaimed as she avoided another shot from one of the soldiers. “Let’s see how much they like their own medicine.” She started up her own magic and plucked a cloud of spent bullets from their holes. With a wave of her arm, she launched the round of ammunition back at their owners.





Unknown to either of them, two figures were watching their battle from the highest tower.

“She’s just as graceful as she was so many years ago...” the shorter figure sighed in a gruff male voice.

“She could stand to put more effort into her attacks.” the taller figure scoffed, observing how they fought with a smirk. However, she noticed an earth pony sneaking up behind the white Ponygoyle while she was distracted by the other soldiers. The short figure growled and was about to jump down, only for the taller one to stop him via a magical barrier.

“No, we cannot show ourselves,” she chided before turning her attention back to the right below. “Not yet...”

The short figure grunted. “This is ridiculous! How much longer will it be this way, where we can only watch them from a distance?”

“We need to make sure they’re committed to our cause!” his companion snapped, her violet eyes narrowing as she glared into his own. “We need to sure, or do you a repeat of last time?”

The short one snarled, expelling smoke from his nostrils before turning away and crossing his arms. “Fine, but I don’t like it...”

The taller one placed a claw on his shoulder. “Don’t worry. We will be reunited...” she stated before turning her attention to the battlers, specifically the lavender Ponygoyle.





“Just what in Tartarus are these things?!”

“Don’t ask questions. Just keep firing!”

Twilight growled as she conjured a shield around herself, deflecting every blast. However, she noticed a few small cracks beginning to spread across it. ‘My force field couldn’t be broken by the strongest metal. What kind of magic could they be using to crack it?’

She quickly dispelled her barrier, sending it outwards in a wave of power that threw her foes onto the floor. "I don't know who you are, but I cannot—no, will not let you desecrate my home..." She roared as her magic began to swirl around her and her magic aura slowly became a deep red. "Our home..." she whispered as her eyes began to glow ominously, the swirling vortex of energy growing stronger and more dangerous by the second. "The only home we have left in this world!"

With a mighty heave, she released the vortex and sent it spinning towards her assailants. The pegasi had only a moment to gasp in awe at the approaching accumulation before it barreled them down and blasted them across the flagstones of the castle, prompting several of their aerial comrades to abandon the fight in favor of saving them.

Seeing her chance, the rainbow-maned Ponygoyle abandoned her fight with the orange pegasus and quickly dove towards the occupied pegasi as they lowered their comrades onto the floor. The soldiers, unprepared for the attack, barely had time to dodge, causing her to slash the stone instead. "Looks like I'm a little out of practice,” the Ponygoyle grumbled to herself. “I shouldn't have missed that one…”

"LOOK OUT!!"

She was immediately brought out of her thoughts when she heard the pink Ponygoyle’s scream. She looked up just in time to avoid another swirling red vortex. The vortex immediately collided with the stone she'd slashed, causing an explosion that sent several chunks of debris falling towards the street below.

'Well, that's going to come back to bite me...' Fancy Pants thought to himself as he watched the battle from above.

"Hey, watch it, Twilight! You could've hit me!" the rainbow-maned one shouted at her friend… only to notice the insane look in her eyes. The realization then dawned upon her: Twilight had aimed at her! "Oh, no... not again... GIRLS! SHE'S USING THAT MAGIC!!"

Almost instantaneously, the tone of the fight shifted. Every one of the Ponygoyles completely ignored whoever they were fighting and made a mad dash towards their leader and friend.

The first one to get close enough was the cyan Ponygoyle, quickly wrapping her arms around Twilight’s waist from behind. "Snap out of it, Twilight! Don’t you remember what happened the last time you did this?!" she screamed, hoping to get through to her friend. Sadly, her attempts proved fruitless as Twilight easily levitated her off and tossed her into a brick wall.

"Owww..."

The yellow Ponygoyle, who'd opted to stay hidden the moment the fight had started, peeked out from her hiding place in one of the towers, her eyes wide in horror at the sight of her friend’s actions. "Oh, no... not again..." she whimpered, tears erupting from her eyes.

Fancy Pants wasn't exactly happy about the turn of events either, but all he could do was stare in slack-jawed awe and terror as Twilight’s power began to overwhelm his magical senses, his horn tingling in response to the sheer ferocity she bore. “Incredible,” he whispered to himself, completely unaware of how badly his hands were trembling.

With the rainbow-maned Ponygoyle out of the way, Twilight turned her attention to the soldiers, all of whom had their weapons aimed at her. Despite having all their guns trained on this one creature, her immense presence was enough to make the hardened soldiers shake in their boots, the barrels of their weapons rattling in their hands.

“I can taste your fear…” Twilight said with a malicious smile, her eyes glowing unnervingly. “And it tastes… so… good…”

The soldiers immediately fired upon the lavender Ponygoyle, some screaming as the hail of bullets stormed at her, only to stop barely an inch from her skin.

"Your weapons are impressive..." Twilight mused as she levitated the bullets in midair before aiming them back at her opponents. "...but your skills are… less so." She snapped, and with but a flick of her wrist, the bullets went flying back at the ones who’d fired them. Their armor deflected many of the projectiles, but that didn’t save an unfortunate few who took a number to their faces, killing them instantly.





Up above, the two figures watched intently. “This feels... vaguely familiar…” The shorter one commented uneasily, taking a hesitant step back.

The taller figure however, seemed more interested than afraid. “Such destructive power... even after a thousand years, you haven't lost your edge…”





"Twilight, STOP!" the white Ponygoyle cried out as she darted in front of her with a diamond-shaped shield surrounding her, "You need to calm down!" she screamed as some of the bullets deflected harmlessly of her shield. "If you don't—"

"SILENCE!!" Twilight screamed, releasing bolts of red lighting from her claws, the white Ponygoyle just barely holding them off. "They are invading our castle, our very home, the only thing we have left in this world!" With one final roar, her lightning burst through the shield.

The orange Ponygoyle rushed forward to move her white sister out of harm's way and towards their cyan sibling. The yellow Ponygoyle bounced back and forth behind Twilight, muttering. “Oh, no, oh, no, oh, no!” over and over again with her claws in her mouth. Twilight ignored them all, focused entirely upon her beaten foes. The ponies who had survived her last attack were either checking their unmoving allies or picking up their firearms for another round.

“Stop, Twilight!!” the rainbow-maned Ponygoyle screamed as she tackled her from behind, but Twilight remained standing. ‘Crud, this won’t work’ she realized. Then the cyan Ponygoyle looked up and found herself gazing into Twilight’s eyes.

“Twilight, please. You’re gonna-”

The lavender Ponygoyle held her gaze on her sister. “Don’t interfere!” she roared, her rage barely contained in her tone. With a casual flick of her leg and tail, Twilight launched the cyan Ponygoyle into the wall beside her yellow sister.

“Oh, my goodness!” she squeaked as she leaned down to tend to her sister. “Are you all right?”

“I feel like I got used as a dragon’s chew-toy!” she groaned in pain as she tried to stand up. “...not as bad as last time, though...”

Twilight ignored them and turned her glowing eyes on the invaders, for that is what they were to her: invaders. “You come here, in your artificial dragon, blowing apart our home,” she growled in anger, as more blood-red magic swirled around her body.

“You attack my sisters…” she continued, two orbs of crackling energy.appearing in her claws. 

“And now… you will all suffer!!” she screamed as she raised both claws, ready to obliterate everyone that stood in her way—

“HEY TWILIGHT!”

Twilight’s attention was drawn from her targets and to the pink Ponygoyle, who’d somehow gotten within arm’s length of her while munching on... something.

“Hey, Twilight! I was just playing around with that blue pegasus guy, but then I got thrown into this really cold part of the castle and it had so much raw meat and—WOAH!” she yelped as she beheld the storm of magic above their heads. Her expression became serious, which still looked silly with the piece of meat sticking out of her mouth. “Oh, you silly, you’re all angry again!”

“Stay out my way!” Twilight roared, feeling her magic heating the air around them.

“You need to let it out!” the pink Ponygoyle insisted, slurping up the last of the meat. “I know! How about a game of PPP? That always loosens you up whenever you get stressed!” She giggled and bounced out of the way just as Twilight lunged at her, the purple Ponygoyle using one claw to hold up her magic funnel.

“Stop it!” Twilight yelled, her voice less angry and more irritated. “I will not be made a mockery of—”

*SMACK!*

Whatever she was about to say was silenced when the pink one threw a slab of meat her, hitting right in the face. “C’mon, Twilight!” she squealed, skipping off in the direction of the ponies, who were watching the unique sight unfold with unbelievable confusion.

“What in Equestria is she doing?” Fancy Pants asked, appearing beside the other Ponygoyles and startling the yellow one.

“I really wish I knew...” the white Ponygoyle admitted. “Our sister has been like this since she first hatched; buoyant and excitable, not unlike a hyperactive foal.”

They weren’t the only ones baffled by this spectacle. The remaining soldiers and Wonderbolts could only gawk as the pink Ponygoyle backflipped away from her lavender sibling. Then confusion turned to panic as the pink Ponygoyle bounded in front of them. ”Okie dokie lokie, Twilight. Let’s play Pink Ponygoyle Pursuit!”

“Augh! PINKIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” Twilight slashed through the air and ribbons of red magic leapt from her accumulation and sped after the pink Ponygoyle, only for her to dodge out of the way. The magic blades shot towards the pony invaders, and they all dove aside, letting the dangerous blades explode against the castle walls.





The orange pegasus climbed to her feet and was about the fire her weapon when she heard her partner groan as he pulled himself out of a hole in the ground. “Ow… man that girl can punch...” he mumbled as he nursed his jaw. “What’d I miss, Spitfire?”

“What you missed is the purple monster almost blasting us all to kingdom come!” the pegasus ranted as she grabbed her partner and took to the air. “I think our enemies are having a falling out amongst themselves, Soarin. It’s time we got the goods and got the hell out of here.”

“Those things have kept us busy,” Soarin muttered apologetically. “We haven’t had much time to search the place.”

“Well then, use this nonsense as a distraction and get searching!” Spitfire commanded before flying off towards one of the turrets.

Soarin saluted smartly and ran towards one of the doorways. “Yes, ma’am!”

“Try and catch me!” the pink Ponygoyle taunted as she dodged another blast of crimson magic, which narrowly missed her. As before, the attack continued towards the castles, this time just barely missing Soarin, and crashed against the wall, sending bricks and rubble flying everywhere.

“Okay, that was way too close!” Soarin panted as he turned his attention back to the door, only to notice a glimmer of light emitting from where the Ponygoyle’s magic had impacted against the wall. The Wonderbolt soared through the crack to inspect the strange light… and found himself inside a metal room.

“What do we have here?”

Closer inspection revealed the walls to be rather thick. As Soarin continued through the room, he noticed several glass cases, each one holding either ancient-looking artifacts or high-tech devices.

“Well, well, seems like this’ll be easier than I thought,” he mused as he passed a few cases, one holding an odd-looking staff that resembled a tuning fork and another holding a golden triangle-shaped necklace. However, after a few minutes of searching, he found the very object that they had sought to retrieve.

"Bingo!"





Back outside the battle (if it could even be called that at this point; it was more like a game of tag) continued as the pink Ponygoyle dodged every blast that Twilight threw at her, either by ducking, bouncing off the walls, or simply throwing off her aim by chucking a slab of meat at her face (where she was hiding so many slabs was anyone's guess).

"JUST HOLD STILL ALREADY!" Twilight screamed as continued her onslaught of energy blasts, her attention having shifted from the invaders themselves to her sister.

"Aww, come on!" the pink Ponygoyle giggled as she munched on another slab of meat. "What's the point of this game if I just let you catch me?" She quickly took to the air to avoid another blast. "Honestly, Twily, I thought you were smarter than that!"

"SHUT UP!" Twilight snapped before clasping her claws together, Pinkie barely had time react as she was enveloped by Twilight's magic and yanked out of the air.

“That’s our cue!” the orange Ponygoyle shouted as she flew towards her lavender sister. “Grab her, QUICK!” She put her arms under Twilight’s armpits before moving them up over her shoulder, restraining her arms and wings from behind.

“How dare you!?” Twilight yelled as she struggled to break free. “Unhand me at once!” Her claws began to glow with a sinister red aura… only for them to be encased in diamond-shaped shields, just barely hindering her own magic.

“I’ve got her!” the white one shouted as she focused hard, trying her best to surpasse Twilight’s magic, “But it won’t hold her back for long!”

She turned to the yellow Ponygoyle. “We need you to use your special talent, sister!” she explained as she winced in pain, beads of sweat rolling down her face as Twilight’s struggled to break free, becoming more violent by the second. “Hurry, while we can still hold her back!”

Fancy Pants raised a brow as he watched the shivering Ponygoyle, wondering if he’d heard right, that this girl, the most timid of the bunch, had a special talent that surpassed the rampaging purple Ponygoyle.

The yellow Ponygoyle’s eyes widened upon realising what her white sister was implying. “B-b-but I… I only use that when—”

“It‘s ‘when’ right now!” the cyan Ponygoyle shouted as she grabbed her and flew towards Twilight, who was on the verge of breaking the white one’s shields. “We have to stop her now before she blows up the whole castle!” They landed in front of Twilight, who vainly tried to kick them away as they approached, only for the cyan one to grab her legs.

“Traitors! I’m protecting the castle, the one thing we have left from our time! I am the only thing standing between these invaders and our home!” Twilight screamed as she continued to thrash in the orange one’s grip.

“No, Twilight...”

The yellow Ponygoyle gently placed her claws on the purple one’s shoulders. “You’re angry and confused. We’re your sisters. We can help you,  just as we did before. But first you must let us...” She gazed right into Twilight’s burning eyes. “Please, forgive me. I never wanted to use this on you, my sister….” she whispered as her eyes glowed blood red, causing Twilight to stop moving almost immediately, her eyes locked onto the yellow one’s, unable to look away.

“N-no! Not again! I won’t fall to your gaze again!” Twilight screamed as she tried to close her eyes… only for the pink Ponygoyle to pop up behind her blonde sister and grab Twilight’s head, using her claws to hold her eyes open.

“Ah-ah-ahhh! No closing your eyes, Twily!” the pink Ponygoyle teased as the yellow one’s gaze took hold of her mind. Twilight groaned as her thrashing became weaker, her crimson magic slowly returning to it natural purple color, and her eyes finally going back to normal. Soon, all of Twilight’s movement’s ceased, and her eyes closed as she fell unconscious.

“Whew! Finally.” the orange one said as she and her sisters let Twilight go, letting the purple Ponygoyle fall into the yellow one’s embrace. “Never thought we’d have to go through that again.”

‘“Again”? This has happened before?!’ Fancy Pants thought as he approached the group. ‘What possibly could have triggered such a rampage like this in the past…?’

The cyan Ponygoyle breathed a sigh of relief as she wiped the sweat from her forehead, but she quickly spread her feathery wings with a serious look on her face. “Don’t start celebrating too soon. We still have these guys to take care of!” she stated, pointing at the soldiers, some of which aimed their weapons at the group while the others were carrying their wounded or deceased comrades back to the helicopter.

“They’re getting away!” Fancy Pants exclaimed.

“Get to da choppa!” the pink one called out as climbed up the wall and leapt up towards them, ready for round two.

The invaders saw the Ponygoyle approaching. “Oh, no you don’t!” Spitfire shouted as she darted right in her path, throwing a punch at the pink creature, only for the elusive Ponygoyle to counter it.

“Nice try, but you’re gonna have to be faster than that to catch—”

“REVENGE SHOT!”

Before the pink Ponygoyle could continue to taunt her, Soarin flew up from behind her and drop-kicked her into the rubble. Seeing their chance, the soldiers quickly threw several smoke grenades at the other Ponygoyles and boarded the helicopter.

“AGH!” The pink one pulled herself out of the rubble. “That was a cheap shot!” she complained as she shook her head, sending several rocks and pieces of junk flying out of her mane.

Fancy Pants glared at the retreating chopper, then turned his attention to the giant hole in the castle wall. The very one leading to his vault. “Well, that’s not good...”





“So how’d that feel?” the orange-maned pegasus smirked as the helicopter took off into the sky.

“It felt awesome!!” he shouted.

“Glad to hear it,” Spitfire deadpanned as they flew off. “You got what we came for, right?”

“Oh, yeah! It was pretty easy to find.” Soarin held up a small suitcase. “You sure this thing is as powerful as our client says it is?”

“Considering how much they’re paying us,” she said as the skyscraper became smaller and smaller behind them, “let’s hope it is.”





Up above, the shorter figure breathed a sigh of relief. “Finally, it’s over.”

The taller figure simply smirked. “Indeed. Now then…” She turned around as blue light swirled around their bodies. “It’s time for us to fulfill our role…” And with those words, the two vanished, but not before the short one shot a longing glance at the white Ponygoyle...



> Chapter 5: The Awakening (Part 5)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Manehatten:

Back on the streets below, Cadence watched as several more bolts of crimson lightning flashed in the clouds above, the police having already set up a perimeter and cordoned off the area around the building. However, just as quickly as it had begun, the red lightning almost immediately stopped.

“What do you figure that was all about, Detective?” the yellow pegasus by her side asked as they waited with baited breath.

“I haven’t the slightest clue...” the detective said as she observed the rubble, more specifically the piece with claw marks in it. “All I know is that something strange is happening at Sunset Enterprises.” Cadance straightened up and stormed towards the building. “...and I intend to find out what…”





Back at the castle, the group was slowly recovering from their first battle in over a thousand years. Twilight was still unconscious in the yellow Ponygoyle’s arms, who was slowly stroking her leader’s mane. The cyan one was stretching her wings, grumbling about ‘feeling sore in all the wrong places.’ The white Ponygoyle was resting after suppressing so much dark magic, though she seemed to be more concerned about how filthy her scales had gotten during the battle. Their orange sister was looking over the damage done to the castle with disappointment.

“Those filthy varmints are gonna pay for this, ” she muttered under her breath as picked up some of the rubble, before crushing it with her claws. “Nopony wrecks mah home an’ gets away with it!”

“Things sure have changed in a thousand years,” the pink one stated as she brushed more dust and rocks out of her mane. “I’ve never seen weapons like the ones they were using.”

“A new type of magic, obviously,” the white one responded as she carefully picked at the dirt on her scales. “And that creature that carried them off… a dragon, maybe?”

“Ah doubt it,” the orange one put in as she approached the two. “Ah don’t know much about dragons, but Ah’m pretty sure they ain’t hollow on the inside...” she stated, having got a good look at the contraption that carried their enemies away. “It was more like a carriage made for the sky...”

“We can find out whatever that thing was later.” the rainbow-maned one said as she looked down at the yellow one, who was still holding the unconscious Twilight. “How’s she doing?”

“Still asleep, but she’s okay” she whispered as she she continued to stroke her hair. “She used up a lot of her energy with that magic burst.”

“So, even Ponygoyles can undergo magic bursts?” Fancy Pants asked as he approached the group, warily avoiding the rubble. ‘Such raw power… fascinating.’ If he could find a way to convince Twilight to ‘share’ that power, it could be a tremendous boon to his business. Of course, that was a plan for a later date. For now, he would let the Ponygoyles recover. 'They’ll have to be at full strength for what I have planned for them.'





Downstairs, Detective Cadence was currently questioning John about the events that had transpired on the top floor, which was the fault of one of the newly installed generator exploding. At least, that’s what John was telling her. Not that she believed him.

“As I said before, an exploding generator was the cause of—” John tried to explain, but was cut off.
“And I’m telling you that I, along with several other cops, heard weapons firing up there!” Cadence snapped, her patience wearing thin. “So either you let me look this place over, or I can come back with a warrant and a lot more cops. Your call.”

John sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. ‘I’d say I don’t get paid enough for this, but my pay is more than most politicians can hope for.’ “Very well. One moment please.” He quickly pulled out his communicator.





Back on the top floor, Twilight groaned as she tried to steady herself, despite the yellow one’s insistence that she stay off her feet and get more rest. “I… I didn’t hurt anyone this time… did I?” she asked hesitantly, fearing the answer.

“No, but you did come close to ruffling my feathers,” the cyan one joked, flexing her wings. “And you somehow managed to do more damage to the castle than the intruders—OW!” she groaned as she was elbowed in the stomach by the orange one, who was giving her a look telling her to shut up.

“I-I’m so sorry!” Twilight shouted as she enveloped her rainbow-maned sibling in a hug, tears streaming down her cheeks. “All of you, I would never willingly—”

“It’s all right, Twilight,” the cyan one interrupted, gently pulling herself out of the embrace. “We know you wouldn’t. Besides, it’s not like you could’ve hit me with your aim anyway!” She grinned, giving Twilight a playful nudge.

Twilight smirked distractedly. She was about to retort, only to be interrupted by an odd beeping noise. “What is that obnoxious sound?” she called before levitating some rocks and getting into a fighting stance. “Are we under attack again?!”

“Relax, it’s for me,” Fancy stated reassuringly as he pulled out his communicator. “Yes, John, what is it? Uh-huh… I see. Well then, bring her to the top floor. I’ll take it from there.”

“Uh… who is he talking to?” the white Ponygoyle asked in confusion as she watched the Unicorn talk into the strange device.

“Maybe it’s another new type o’ magic?” the orange one speculated.

Twilight looked toward one of the archways leading into their renovated castle. “Hmm….”





“So, Mr. Fancy Pants. What have you got to say for yourself?”

“Whatever do you mean, Detective?”

Cadance sighed and brushed her mane out of her eye. “Please, no more tricks. Your hired hoof here gave me the story he has, but what do you have to say about the ruckus we all heard in the streets?”

Fancy Pants turned and gestured for Cadance to follow. As they walked through the hallways of the castle, Fancy explain. “John knows his job. It keeps him safe as much as it does me. The truth of the matter is that an armed force was sent to steal some of our newest technology. Fortunately, my ponies were able to repel the invaders.”

“‘Repel the invaders?’” Cadance repeated like it was a joke. “You’re a private citizen, Fancy Pants, not Equestria itself.”

Two doors slid open as Fancy activated them. “Detective, I’m in charge of what is likely the most successful corporation in the world, which is bigger than the Badlands, Yakyakistan, and any other international land you care to name combined, save, of course, for Equestria itself.” Cadance followed Fancy Pants through the door and into the ruined courtyard. Smoke rose from pieces of the rubble, but the detective wasn’t interested in the destruction.

“I’m guessing you have permits for the weapons that were fired up here,” the detective said skeptically, hoping to get something out of him.

“Of course.”

Above them, Twilight crouched behind a tower, listening in to what her host was telling the pink pony. ‘What does Fancy Pants have planned?’





In a dark room, a team of ten Wonderbolts kneeled before Spitfire and Soarin, who were standing at attention before their employer. Despite being little more than a silhouetted figure, their body structure was unmistakably that of a female’s. In front of her was none other than the suitcase she’d tasked them to retrieve.

“Mission accomplished,” Spitfire stated as their employer picked up the suitcase, examining it cautiously before opening it slightly. A faint red glow briefly emitted from inside before she closed it immediately.

“So, this is it, hmm?” she inquired

“Y-yes, ma’am,” Spitfire gulped, trying to keep a level head, which was pretty hard to do with two piercing, rose-colored eyes glaring at her. She had a dark, foreboding aura about her, it was as if she was calculating her next move in this situation… five steps in advance. She’d seen this type of pony on the battlefield before, but this woman… she was something completely different.

“I assume there were no complications?” she asked, though she phrased it as more of a statement, as if to say she’d expect nothing less.

“W-well, not exactly...” Soarin answered hesitantly.

She arched a brow. “What do you mean?”

“Well you see… how do I put this?” Soarin began, trying to think of a way to explain the situation without coming off as completely insane. Thankfully, Spitfire did the job for him.

"When we arrived, we were attacked by Fancy Pants’ own hired force, six in total." She explained.

The employer’s gaze didn’t waver. "They must not have been much of a threat if you managed to complete your mission."

"Well, that's the thing. These aren't any ordinary ponies, ma’am," she continued. "They were stronger, and they even managed to take on several of my troops at once. Not only that but…" Spitfire hesitated, not a hundred percent sure how to explain.

The figure leaned forward. "Go on..."

The Wonderbolt Commander sighed. "One of them apparently let loose a magic burst during the fight. The weird thing is, she seems to have complete control over herself—"

"Wait, back up a moment," the figure interrupted. "Let me see if I've got this straight: she had complete control over her magic burst?" She asked in disbelief. Magic bursts were, in fact, common among unicorns who were just getting the hang of their power. However, for someone to have complete control of such a thing was completely unheard of. In fact, it was deemed physically impossible.

"For a certain amount of time, anyway," Spitfire continued. "Shortly after she attacked my men she almost immediately turned her attention toward her own allies as well. I can only assume that her mentality became more unstable the longer her magic burst went on."

The figure stared at the Wonderbolt Commander for a moment, contemplating what she’d just heard. Fancy had been known to be sneaky in their past conflicts, and it was no secret that he always had something to hide. But this was a completely different scenario: someone who could control their magic burst for an extended period of time… To think Fancy had someone like that under his command…

She took a deep breath and regained her composure. "I'll look into this, but in the meantime..." She pressed a button, causing the floor next to her to open up as a circular platform rose up with two briefcases sitting atop it. "Inside you will find your payment for completing your mission."

Spitfire nodded as two of the Wonderbolts grabbed the cases and brought them before her. Upon opening them however...

"Uh, I..."

"Before you ask, no there have not been any mistakes. In those cases is double the amount we agreed on." The figure stated. "You see, we would like to hire you for future missions. Should you choose to work for us you can consider the extra bonus as payment in advance..." She said with a gleam in her eyes.

Spitfire tensed as her subordinates turned to her, waiting for her response. She wasn't exactly sure about this; her employer made her uneasy whenever she was in the same room as her... 

As she thought it over, she briefly heard her employer humming to herself… and she could've sworn she saw a shade of green flash across her eyes...

She shook her head for a moment before closing the suitcases. "Very well. We accept."

"Good," the figure smirked. "We'll keep in touch."





Twilight relayed what she had overheard Fancy Pants telling the pink pony to her orange and yellow sisters. “Ah doubt that, whatever he says to her, Fancy Pants won’t spill our secret,” the orange Ponygoyle guessed.

“Oh, I hope not,” the yellow one murmured. “They didn’t seem to like us so much all those years ago. I’m not sure what they’ll think of us now.”

“We mustn’t let such trivial things worry us, sister,” Twilight asserted, laying a calming hand on her shoulder. “Instead, we must concentrate on staying safe and hidden.”

The feather-winged Ponygoyle went on. “I remember that little orange pony, Scootaloo. She was nice. All she wanted to do was get to know us. Maybe,” she added hopefully, “maybe there are curious ponies like her, even today.”

“Ah got nothin’ to say to that, sis,” the orange one replied, claws on her hips. “We’d best lie low for some time, just to get all that excitement off our chests.”

“I-I guess. But maybe... ooh!”

A butterfly flew in through an open window and hovered between the three Ponygoyles. “It’s a Veined Rainboom!” the yellow Ponygoyle squeed delightedly. “Just like the ones from around Horseshoe Bay!”

Twilight squinted at the tiny creature. “I remember the colors being brighter than this. It’s as though dust has magically tainted the butterfly's sheen.”

“Oh!” The yellow Ponygoyle held out a single claw and the Veiend Rainboom settled upon it. “Hello, little guy,” she whispered to it. “How have things been these past thousand years?”

The Rainboom fluttered its wings and coiled its proboscis. Then it flew up and down the hall. “Oh, wait up!” the yellow Ponygoyle called as she flew after it with her sisters following behind her, upon reaching the end of the hall the Rainboom entered a room on the left with the yellow Ponygoyle fluttering after it, only to find herself in a massive library.  The room itself seemed to go on forever, thousands of books upon shelves with various letters to reach the higher points as well.

“Wow…”

"Sister, I know the Rainboom is amazing but you can't just-oh my goodness!" Twilight exclaimed as they entered the library. "So many books!" She sounded as her eyes lit up with excitement. Without wasting a second she bolted inside, using her magic to pull various books out of every shelf.

"I think we just found where Twilight's gonna be sleeping..." the orange one whispered as she entered, the yellow one giggled a little a the mental image of Twilight sleeping on a pile of books.

"Don't just stand there, my sisters!" Twilight called out, the two of them looked to see that their sister was already two piles of books in her magic aura, both of them almost twice her size. "We have so much catching up to do! Think of all the history we've missed, the various stories that have been written in all these years!" She stated as she shoved the books into their claws before flying deeper into the library.

"...I think we've made a mistake."





The cyan, white and pink Ponygoyles were getting bored of the rooms, some of which they knew so well already. The white one in particular was extremely put off by the poorly decorated chambers.

“Oh, really now!” she complained. “That’s the fifth room with the exact same carpeting. It’s disgraceful.”

The rainbow-maned Ponygoyle sighed exasperatedly. “You are so picky, sis. Is there anything you can stand in the furnishing?”

“Oh, wouldn’t it be wonderful if the world outside the castle was as beautifully as the treasury?” the white Ponygoyle exclaimed, ignoring the question. “Why, such a sight would certainly be a….. a…. um...”

“A rarity?” the pink Ponygoyle offered, picking the lock on another door.

“A rarity, YES!: Thank you, dear sister, that was just the word I was looking for.”

“No probs. Hey, look!” The pink one shouted as  she opened the door to the kitchen. Having never been in the castle kitchen themselves, they could only look around and marvel at the shiny pots, pans and utensils that lay about.

“Wow,” the rainbow-maned Ponygoyle exclaimed, picking up a frying pan and spinning it on a claw. “These are really shiny. What do you think they are?”

The white Ponygoyle bent over to examine the newly-installed stove. “I don’t know. Though I must say the theme is quite tacky.”

“You and your pickiness!”

The two sisters were so busy arguing they didn’t notice their pink sibling slip away to the cold room. She opened the door and felt the freezy chill wash over her, but ignored it when she saw the piles of dairy products and the rows of meat hanging from the ceiling.

“Nailed it!” she hissed with delight. The pink Ponygoyle walked into the cold room and started bundling food into her arms. "Oh the girls are going to be SOOO jealous! Now all their food are belong to me!" The pink Ponygoyle said with excitement as she started eating.

Back in the kitchen, the white Ponygoyle shivered. "Brrr... why does it feel so cold all of a sudden?" She shuddered as she looked around before seeing an open door leading to what appeared to be a frozen cave. "Well that explains it…" She said before using her magic to slam the door shut.

"Hey, you should try these delicious treats!" The blue Ponygoyle shouted as she continued to munch on a pastry that she pulled out of one of the cabinets. "They taste amazing!"

"Oh they can't taste THAT good." The white Ponygoyle said knowing her sister's rather.... strange tastes. She took a pastry and popped it into her mouth.... and instantly her mouth started watering. "More."

"Pardon?" The blue one asked.

"I SAID MORE!"

"OK, OK, geez!" The blue one said as she tossed her a small box full of them. "Pretty tasty though, right? Hey sis, you wanna try-" She called out before looking around and noticing that she was missing. "Where'd our pink sister go?"

"That's odd, she was with us seconds ago… and I don't recall her leaving the room." The white Ponygoyle said as she took a break from eating her new favorite snack. "Sister? Where did you run off to?" She called out.

"I AM WHERE NONE MAY HURT ME!" The pink one shouted from the freezer as she laughed maniacally. "My own... my prrrrrrrecious..... cake." The pink one said greedily as she carefully held a cake in her claws.

"Come on sis, remember what happened with the roast!" The blue one stated that she tried yanking the door open, with no results.

"Also, I'm pretty sure it's as cold as the frozen north in there..." The white Ponygoyle added. "So unless you want to become frozen with your food, I suggest you come out…"

"NEVER! I AM INVINCIBLE NOW! INDESTRUCTIBLE! IMMOR-okay it's getting cold as the ancestor's grave can someone get me out?" The pink one asked now off her power high.

The white Ponygoyle smirked. "That's what I thought…" She chuckled as her blue sister snickered. She waved her hands in an attempt to pull the door open… only for it to remain shut tight. "Oh dear… We may have a little problem…"

"Ya think?" The blue Ponygoyle said as she continued to try and yank the door open.

"Uh... okay guys.... you can let me out now." The pink Ponygoyle said with a hint of fear.

"We're trying!" The blue Ponygoyle stated that she continue to pull while her white sister poured all of her focus into encasing the entire door with her magic and pulling as hard as she could.

"I think it might be stuck!" She shouted, starting to lose focus. "Sister! Try pushing from your end!"

"OKAY!" The Pink one said as she tried... but then something horrible happened... she dropped her cake. "NOOOO! IT WAS TOO SOON!"

"Do you want to become an iceberg or something?!" The blue one shouted as she pulled. "Hurry up and plush!"

"Okay... I will do it... to avenge my fallen food!" She shouted as she pushed... just a bit too hard and sent her sisters flying into a wall.

"OK… Ouch" the blue one groaned as she picked herself up off the floor.

"I think I broke something..." The white one groaned as she pulled herself out of a body-sized imprint on the wall.

“Ehehe... sorry." The pink one blushed.

"I'll assume you three are hungry?" A new voice called out, the trio turned to see John entering the room with the mildly irritated look on his face. "I am here to inform you that Mr. Fancy has prepared a special feast for you and your brethren..." He explained that he looked around the kitchen, observing some of the damage that had been done. "Thankfully he thought ahead before you trashed the kitchen..."

"Yay!" The pink one said exactly as she bolted out of the room, quickly followed by her white and blue sisters.

“ sorry about the mess!" The white one called out. John simply sighed.





In the castle's corridors, a lone figure made its way through the dark halls, silent like a mouse it stuck to the shadows, being wary enough not to be spotted by the cameras.

However at that moment, the elevator doors opened, revealing another intruder.

"Alright Fancy Pants…what are you hiding?" Cadence asked herself with a light chuckle as she carefully walked through the hallway. Just being cautious in case of cameras finding her and getting her in trouble.

The figure arched a brow. ‘Interesting...yet not worth my time…’ It thought as it leaped up onto a stone dragon above the entrance, placing a small orb on its back. ‘But then again, I could always use somepony to scan this place for traps…’

Cadence continued walking and noticed something strange... a camera that was already damaged. Clearly somepony shot it.... and whoever did it was probably still in the castle. She may not like Fancy but she was still a cop and whoever is breaking in was going down.

‘Silly mare thinks she can find me…’ The spy smirked before tossing a small knife down the hall opposite of where Cadence was standing. ‘But I'll be the one leading her where I want her to go…’
"The hell?" Cadence turned down the hallway that she heard something clanking. Slowly she walked down towards it unaware that she was being shadowed by something from above.





“Now, I’ll bet you’re all wondering why I’ve called you here tonight…” the pink one stated as she paced back and forth in front of the long table the clan was feasting at.

“Um, sister… you didn’t call us here...” the yellow one stammered.

“Well, I’ll tell you!” she shouted, cutting the yellow one off as she chewed on her drumstick. “It’s about time we had a meeting about our place in this new world!”

Twilight blinked, registering what she’d just heard. “Wow, sister… that’s actually what I was thinking about earlier—”

“First order of business,” the pink one interrupted, pointing the salami she was munching on at the ceiling. “We need names!”

“Um… why?” the cyan one asked through a mouthful of meat. “We’ve never needed names before...”

“Well, Twilight has one. And besides, how else are ponies going to know what to call us? Just pick us out by our personalities?” she asked before leaping onto the table. “Hey look, it’s the shy one!” She randomly pointed at the yellow Ponygoyle, causing her to hide herself behind her wings. “How ya doin’ over there, tall giant one?” she continued, pointing at the orange one, getting a confused look from her and a snicker from their cyan sister. “Hey, the flat short one is in rare form tonight!” The cyan Ponygoyle stopped snickering and glared. “Hey, how ya doin’, prissy big-boobied one?” she finished, causing their white sibling to spit out her wine with a huge blush adorning her face. Both the orange and cyan Ponygoyles fell over laughing.

Twilight rolled her eyes before clearing her throat. “All right sisters, I suppose we could use names so that the ponies can at least communicate with us normally.”

“Who says we’d want to communicate with them?” the orange one whispered to her cyan sister, who nodded in response.

“Great! And I have just the names for each of us!” the pink one proclaimed as she scarfed down the salami and moved onto the cherry pie she’d kept her tail wrapped around. “From this day forth, I shall be known as… ‘Pinkie’!” she smiled before digging into her pie, splattering mashed cherries all over her face. “Mmmm.... on second thought, make that ‘Pinkie Pie’!”

“Why ‘Pinkie Pie’? ” Twilight asked in curiosity.

“Well, ‘Pinkie’ is what you called me during your magic hissy-fit. And pies are delicious!” she giggle before stuffing the rest of the pie into her mouth. The moment she finished, she brought her attention to the orange one, who was too busy munching on an apple to notice.

"OH! You're Applejack!" Pinkie exclaimed as she slapped the orange one on the back.

This caused her to spit out her apple and give her sister an angry look. "The hayseeds did that name come from?!"

"Well… You really love apples." Pinkie stated like it was the most obvious reason in the world.

"And where exactly did the "Jack" part come from?" She asked in irritation.

"Simple, you tend to jack things up a notch when you're around! duh!" Pinkie quickly said, causing the newly dubbed Applejack to merely snort.

"Are you seriously going to just start randomly naming us like that?" The cyan one asked.

"Oh! Yellow sister is Fluttershy!" Pinkie exclaimed excitedly causing said ponygoyle to emit a small 'eep'. "See? She just did it! She's extremely shy and when she flies it's like she flutters off the ground!"

The cyan one rolled her eyes. "I'm gonna take that as a yes…" She glanced at her white sister before getting a devious smirk on her face. "So, you got one for her?"

The white one paused before she could take a bite out of her salad. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Oh that's simple. She's a rare Ponygoyle! I mean who heard of a pure WHITE Ponygoyle? So she's a ‘Rarity’!"

The newly-dubbed Rarity stared at her for a few seconds. "I'm not sure whether I should feel flattered or offended in someway…"

"Try flattered, please?"

Rarity could only sigh upon hearing her pink sister's pleading tone. "Very well… I shall be the "Rarity" our family..." She said before turning her attention to their rainbow-maned sister. "So what shall we name her?"

The cyan Ponygoyle glared at her. "Hey! Who says I can't come up with the name on my own-mph!" She started to complain, only for Applejack to cover her mouth.

"Now, now, sugarcube. We let her give us all names, it's only fair that you do the same." She said with coy smirk.

"Okay fine...” Groaned the rainbow maned Ponygoyle as she removed her sisters claw. “...what's my name then Pinkie?"

"Hm....” Pinkie mused as she tapped her chin. “…you like speed.... you have a rainbow mane.... OH! How about Rainbow Dash?!"

"Rainbow... Dash…” The cyan Ponygoyle repeated. “It’s just as amazing as I am... I love it!"

Applejack looked stunned at her. "Wait y-you actually LIKE it!?"

Rainbow Dash smirked as she puffed out her chest with pride. "Of course I do! It's fast, it rolls off the tongue easily, and it basically tells others just how amazing I am, it's perfect!" Before an argument could spark all on the Ponygoyles present heard some hoof steps

“Did anypony else hear that?” Fluttershy asked, looking around as if something was about to jump out at her.

"Sounds like we have an uninvited guest..." Twilight growled as she got up. "Maybe one of the intruders from earlier decided to stick around…"

Pinkie jumped off the table. "Oh! I love visitors! Can I scare them off this time? Please?!"

Twilight shook her head. "I think it would be safer if we both went, for all we know there could be more than one…"

"Aw, you're no fun Sparky." Pinkie pouted.

"...let's just go..." Twilight groaned, ignoring the rest of the group snickering at her new nickname.





“Don't tell me this is where the sparkly vampires show up and Nightmare Moon comes to eat me...” Cadence mused to herself as she searched the dark corridor. “Faust knows I could use a good laugh right about now.”

“Y’know for a spy, you sure do talk to yourself a lot,” came a voice from beside her. Cadence quickly turned to see an upside-down pink face smiling at her. “Hi!”

“Gaaah!” the Unicorn gasped in horror as she drew her gun, only to have it snatched away by a lavender aura.

“I’d advise you not to aim that at my sister.” Twilight growled as she crushed the gun in her magic grip.

“W-W-What the hell?!” Cadence shouted as she backed away in fear, only to find her back against the wall.

“Sooo,” Pinkie began as she dropped down from the ceiling before strolling up to the pink Unicorn with a wide smile. “What are you doing in our ho-”

*ZZZZAP!*

“GIGIGIZUUUK!” She squealed as she felt several volts of electricity coursing through her body, her wings sprang out as her hair became ever more poofy than usual.

Enraged, Twilight glared at the unicorn, who was holding an odd device that had wires coming out of it and leading  to Pinkie's chest area, and immediately pinned her to the wall. "You will PAY for that!!" She snarled as her eyes glowed menacingly.

"Wow! That tickled!" Pinkie giggled as she pulled the wires off her and... handed it back to her? "Do it again!"

'What in Equestria are these things?!' The unicorn thought to herself as she struggled to break free. Her horn glowed, immediately releasing a blinding light that took up the entire room.

"AAGH! MY EYES!!!" Twilight screamed, letting go of Cadence to cover them. The unicorn quickly darted out of the corridor and into the courtyard.

"IT'S LIKE WALKING IN ON BLUEBLOOD NAKED! MINUS THE MENTAL SCARS!!" She heard Pinkie screaming behind her. Smirking the unicorn quickly tried leaving the way she came in but instead was surprised to see the lavender Ponygoyle from earlier actually teleport in front of her

“And just where do you think you’re going?”

"Away from you freakshows!" Cadence snapped as she quickly whipped out her backup pistol. Growling Twilight’s hand glowed and a moment later blasted a magic bolt from her hand and straight at Cadence, blasting the pistol right out of her hands. However the bolt was also more powerful than Twilight intended as it also blasted Cadence… and sent her over the edge of the castle.

"Uh... Sparky, I thought we were gonna catch her, not kill her..." Pinkie stated over the sound of the Unicorn screaming as she fell.

Thinking fast, Twilight dived over the edge and shoot down towards the falling unicorn. This wasn’t supposed to happen. She was sure she dialed down the power of the blast but perhaps the bolt was too powerful for this age’s unicorns. “Hold on! I’m coming!” She shouted to Cadence, stretching her arm out towards her. ‘I just need to get a little closer to grab her with my magic...’

Cadence could only scream as fell to her inevitable doom, it was times like this where she wished she’d been born a Pegasus. ‘I can’t die like this! I CAN’T DIE LIKE THIS!’ She mentally screamed as watched the city pavement racing towards her, closing her eyes as she braced herself for the end...

“WOAH!” She yelped as she felt herself being yanked out of the air, upon opening her eyes and looking up she saw that her savior was none other than the creature that pursued her, carrying her via her magic aura. ‘Oh great. Instead of falling to my death I get to be eaten instead.’ She thought as she glared at Ponygoyle.

Twilight merely scoffed and said “Hold still.” before flying back up to the castle. Upon landing back in front of Pinkie she dispelled her aura, letting her down gently. “OK, just take it easy. We have some questions.”

Cadence backed away slowly, wearily eyeing the two in case they tried to attack her again. “...and why in Equestria should I answer to you?”

“Well… considering the fact that Twilight here just saved your life, I think you kind of owe her...” Pinkie stated, nonchalantly munching on a drumstick that she pulled from… somewhere.

“Yes she did save me… after blasting me over the edge!” Cadence snapped as her horn began to glow once more.

“Ungrateful foal!” Twilight roared, her own eyes glowing as she bared her fangs and spread her wings, expressing her intimidating air. “Perhaps you’d prefer it if I let you fall to your doom!”

“Hey, hey, hey!” Pinkie shouted, getting between the two. “Let’s not start something that’ll end with someone getting thrown off the castle again!” She said before turning to face Twilight. “Sparky, aren’t you the one who wants normal ponies to coexist with our kind? Since we’re in a different era altogether shouldn’t we make a good first impression?”

Twilight stared at Pinkie in surprise, what she said… was pretty much spot on. “Pinkie...thats has to be the most profound thing I’ve heard you say...”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Cadence called out, getting their attention.” What do you mean ''Your kind''? You mean there's more of you?”

“Barely…” Twilight stated as she approached the Unicorn, causing her to take a few steps back. “Now, I’ll ask once more, what are you doing here?”

“And don’t worry, I’ll make she doesn’t blast you off the building this time!” Pinkie added cheerfully, ignoring her lavender sister’s glare.

Cadence gulped, glancing over her shoulder. It was either answer her or fall over the edge again, and she doubted the creatures would be willing to save a second time. “A-Alright...I’ll talk...”





Not too far off, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy emerged from the hallway… with Applejack and Rainbow Dash covered in food.

“You two just couldn’t resist, could you?” Rarity groaned as she stretched her wings. “Honestly, you both made a fine mess of that kitchen...” She said while glaring to the two.

Fluttershy couldn’t help but giggle at Rainbow, who groaned as she picked the fruits and meat out of her mane. “AJ started it!”

As the two started to argue, Fluttershy noticed something and turned to her sister “Um girls?” Fluttershy mumbled, but was ignored.

“Oh please! You were the one who smacked me with a steak!” AJ snapped.

RD got dangerously close to her face. “Hey, maybe next time you’ll watch your mouth before calling me a-”

“Sisters look!” Rarity called out, getting their attention. “Twilight and Pinkie are talking to that pony!” She exclaimed as she spread her wings and soared towards them with her sisters following.

“And what exactly does a ''de-tec-tive'' do?” Twilight asked

“W-Well it’s quite simple. When somepony does something wrong, I find out who and arrest them.” She explained, still somewhat shocked by the these creatures existence.

"Ooooh! That sounds so cool!" Pinkie said with excitement in her voice. "Can I be one when I grow up Twilight?"

"Pinkie you've already grown up." Twilight deadpanned.

“Trust me, it takes a lot to get the position I have…” Cadence stated before turning her attention to the lavender Ponygoyle. “Now for my question…who-no-what are you?”

"Well obviously we're just your average Ponygoyles!" Pinkie said with a giant smile on her face. Twilight just face palmed.

Cadence took a moment to register what she just head, and then another to make sure she hadn't misheard, and then another to make sure the two weren't messing with her. “I-but-you-how...You two are Ponygoyles? Those… that’s… impossible! Those are just myths!”

"Really? I'm right here in front of you and you call me fiction?" Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Not mention this ‘myth’ just saved your life.” Pinkie coyly added as she popped up behind her, startling the Unicorn.

“Ok, s-so you mentioned “your kind” earlier…” Cadence recounted. “...does that mean there are more of you?”

“Heck yeah there are!” A voice from above called out, looking up Cadence saw a cyan Ponygoyle descending m upon her.

"GAH!" The Detective shouted as the cyan Ponygoyle landed.

"HA! Got a screamer here girls!" Rainbow chuckled.

"Now Rainbow, be nice..." Fluttershy said as she landed next to her. "Twilight, who is this? I mean, she's obviously not a threat if you're not bothering to fight her..."

"One of Fancy's associates perhaps?" Rarity added as she hovered around the Unicorn.

"Oh please. You won't catch me DEAD working with Fancy." Cadence said with disgust in her voice. "He acts like he owns the world but he doesn't own the police force yet."

"Police force?" Rainbow asked.

"It's their Royal Guard Rainbow." Twilight told her.

“However, that still doesn't explain what you're doing here…” She added, narrowing her eyes a bit.

“She's right…” Applejack chimed in. “You say you don't work with Fancy Pants, yet yer in our castle. Care to explain that?”

“Yeah!” Rainbow snapped, getting up close and in her face. “Are you a SPY?!”

"What?! No, I'm a detective. I... oh come on I explained this to one of you already!" Cadence groaned as she pulled out some pepper spray and sprayed her right in the face.

“AHHH! MY EYES!!” Rainbow screamed, covering her eyes. “DEAR FUASTICORN THAT STINGS!!”

“That wasn't necessary!” Twilight snarled as she immediately snatched the object out of her grasp and crushed it.

“Teach your friend to respect personal space then!” Cadence snapped.

“ENOUGH!” Pinkie shouted, popping up between them.

"Wait where did you-" Cadence started before Pinkie turned to Twilight.

“Don't ask, she just does that…”

“Twilight, calm down.” She started, gesturing to her leader and friend. “Cadence, explain what you're doing here. Fluttershy, get Rainbow some water for her eyes…”

“MY EYES FEEL LIKE THEY’RE ON FIRE!”

"Oh dear..." Fluttershy mumbled as she quickly grabbed Rainbow and flew off.

“Now then...where were we?” Twilight snarled, glaring at the Detective. “Why are you in our castle if you don't work for Fancy Pants?”

“I'm making sure nothing life-threatening is up here.” She explained, trying to give a legitimate answer without outright lying to them. “A lot of debris fell on the street below and nearly killed a lot of ponies.”

"Oh... yeah that uh.... might have been us." Twilight said with a nervous chuckle.

"Wait some ponies nearly died cause of us?" Applejack asked with a bit of concern. "Oh... oh Ah need a moment."

Cadence’s eyes widened. “What do you mean "that was you"?!” She asked in disbelief. "Just what the heck were you doing up here to begin with!? That matter, where did you even come from?!”

“It's a very, VERY Long and complicated story…” Rarity said as she comforted Applejack.

“One that we're going to have to explain tomorrow…” Pinkie added, gesturing toward the horizon. The entire looked and sure enough, the sun was beginning to rise.

"Right." Twilight said as she leaped up to her spot.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Cadence asked in confusion as Fluttershy and Rainbow returned(with Rainbow glaring daggers at her).

"We'll continue our conversation tomorrow night." Twilight stated firmly as her fellow sisters leaped onto their own pedestals. "Until then I suggest you leave... but do not return here..." She said before looking down over the edge and pointing at one of the buildings. "Meet us at the top of that tower.”

Cadence looked in the direction she'd specified and saw a standard building with a blank billboard at the top.

"Okay but why-" Before Cadence could finish the sun came up and saw an astounding sight. The Ponygoyles slowly became covered in stone and became no different from the statues she saw on Cathedrals. Each one posed in a different pose. "Huh.... well that's something you don't see everyday."

‘No… you certainly don't…’ The lone figure smirked as it watched the Unicorn leave before glancing back at the statues that were once flesh and blood. ‘My superiors will want to hear about this…’ Without wasting a second she quickly darted into the dark hallway opposite from where Cadence entered. ‘Things are about  to get very interesting around here..’

> Chapter 6: A Night on the Town: Hunt or be Hunted
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Manehatten (Unknown Location):

“That’s everything.” The spy lowered her head, giving her superior time to mull over the information. This, added with the success of the Wonderbolts’ mission and the discovery of the magic burst-controlling trooper of Fancy Pants, was putting the boss in one of the best moods the spy had ever seen her in.

But she was still wary, for even in a good mood, the boss was known to smash ponies heads in.

“These creatures, these Ponygoyles; they say they’re from a different era, hm?”

“Yes, mistress,” the spy clarified.

“That one Ponygoyle… the Wonderbolts said she had control over her magic bursts, though she just barely avoided hitting the other monsters.”

“Yes, mistress.”

“Hm.” She spun around in her chair and looked out the window at the city skyline. “We can’t let this opportunity slip away. I think the Ponygoyles need some extra eyes on them at all times. What say you, my dear?”

“That’s a grand idea, mistress.”

“Send word to agent Shield. Give him the coordinates. We'll have him observe these creatures, find their strengths and weaknesses.”

“At once, mistress.”





Sunset Enterprises:

The sun set behind the Manehatten skyline and, with the disappearance of its rays, the power of the Ponygoyles was reawakened. As cracks spread across their diurnal stone casing, the six ancient siblings woke with unified roars, casting off their stone skins and revealing the flesh beneath.

Twilight yawned as she finished roaring. She turned to the others and as they stretched their limbs, Fancy Pants walked up. "I must say, that’s quite a way to wake up."

"PA-TOOY!! Gross!" Pinkie shouted as she angrily spit several feathers out of her mouth and a pigeon hastily flew away. She groaned, ignoring her sisters giggling at her misfortune."Ugh, stupid birds, I'll be spitting feathers for weeks!"

“Well that's what you get for sleeping with your mouth open again.” Rarity stated with a coy smirk.

“Oh go scare a nun!” Pinkie snapped.

"Enchanting. Anyways, you six are to come with me," Fancy said, leading them back into the Castle. The Ponygoyle sisters followed him downstairs to his personal office once more. Unlike last time however, the screens were on, displaying several pictures of their fight from yesterday.

"Now I'm sure you are all wondering why I called you here," Fancy said as he sat down at his desk.

"We're figuring it has something to do with those vikings from yesterday?" Twilight asked, while a few of her sisters—particularly Pinkie—observed the screens. "It's the only thing that makes sense to us."

“Indeed, though they weren't exactly ‘vikings’,” Fancy explained, unlike yesterday there was a bit of an edge in his tone. “They were soldiers from a rival company that have been trying to take me out for a while now.”

Fancy pressed a button on his desk, causing the biggest screen to change, revealing one of the pegasi carrying a suitcase back to the helicopter. “You see, it turns out the assault on the Castle was a simple ruse to keep cover their true intent; stealing a much more valuable item.”

"Which is what, exactly?" Twilight asked.

Fancy pressed another button and the screen changed to show three objects; stone orbs with gem-like symbols on the front. “These are three of five rare artifacts that are very difficult to find.” He explained.

The group stared at the orbs on the screen. Though Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow seemed the most interested in them. “These artifacts can be sold for a very high price, and I’d rather not let them fall into the wrong hands—”

"Alright, and where are they now?" Rainbow asked as she slowly turned her attention away from the screen. "We could use some information like that."

Fancy sighed in disappointment. “Sadly, my sources have yet to find out; the thieves were a lot more crafty than I imagined. And if I send my own forces to investigate it’ll look very suspicious for me. Which is why I need your help.”

"Say what again?" Pinkie asked, for she had been scratching a wall aimlessly during the briefing.

“I need your help to re-acquire three artifacts that were stolen during you fight yesterday,” Fancy stated bluntly.

"Well, why didn't you just say so?" Pinkie asked, throwing up her arms.. "That could've saved us a lot of trouble."

“Ugh...go back to sleep Pinkie,” Rarity groaned before turning back to Fancy with a sweet smile. “We’d be more than happy to help you out, right girls?”

Twilight simply shook her head. “I’m sorry, but we can’t help. Not without knowing more about this new world.” She turned to her sisters. “We can’t simply jump into a situation without know what we’re up against.”

"Oh, come on, Twilight!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Those thieves broke into our castle and violated it." She grabbed Twilight and looked her dead in the eyes. "VIOLATED. IT."

“I know Rainbow,” Twilight responded,placing a hand on her shoulder. “But you need to remember; we’ve been asleep for one thousand years, and as far as we know, we’re the last of our kind. If we’re going to make any big decisions from here, we need to learn more about this new time period we live in, and jumping into this situation without that knowledge could get us killed, understand?”

"Okay, and we can do that... WHILE LOOKING FOR THE JERKS WHO ATTACKED OUR HOME!" Rainbow suddenly barked out, pushing Twilight out of her way and marched out.

“She’s really gung-ho about is, isn’t she?” Fancy asked with a mild chuckle.

The rest of the group stared at him for a moment.”Gung-who?” Fluttershy asked.

“Nevermind.”

Twilight rolled her eyes before turning to her sisters. “Applejack, Pinkie, go after Rainbow and make sure she doesn’t get hurt….or hurt anyone.”

AJ nodded and grabbed Pinkie as she headed out to the door where Rainbow left. Twilight turned her attention to Fancy. “I’m sorry, Mr. Fancy, but we still need to know more about this time before we do anything rash.”

Fancy held up his hand and nodded. “It’s alright, I understand.” he said as he turned off the screens. “I’ll see if I can find out anything about our uninvited guests before calling you back, hopefully there’s something I missed that could prove useful.”

The Ponygoyle sisters nodded and left the room, but before she left Twilight glanced back at Fancy. “Maybe you should get a… De-tec-tive, to help you.”

"Hm.... this isn't the kind of thing a detective can just solve," Fancy replied.

"It wouldn't hurt to try..." Twilight said as she walked out of the room.

However, just as she left, another door opened up next to the desk revealing the silhouetted figure.  "Give her some more time...she'll see things our way soon," the figure said as it melted back into the shadows.





Outside, Pinkie and Applejack caught up to Rainbow, who was just about to take off from the Castle balcony.

"Rainbow, wait!" Pinkie called out.

"Wait? I did 1000 years of waiting. I'm DONE waiting," Rainbow said as she flared her wings. "Someone attacked our castle. I would've thought Twilight would understand, but noooo, she wants to waste her time just casually flying through this stupid city.”

"Look, we get where yer comin' from,” Applejack stated. "Don't forget that we were frozen along with you, but how do you intend to find the ponies in a city we know nothin' about?"

"Yeah!" Pinkie added as she flew in front of her. "It's like looking for a needle in a haystack, or a grain of salt in a lake, or a…. mmmm, can't think of anything else at the moment, but bottom line: we're going with you."

Applejack blinked. "Wait, what?"

"Well yeah, we're going with her, AJ,” Pinkie whispered to her. “We gotta keep an eye on her.”

“Fine,” Applejack sighed before leaping onto the edge of the balcony. “Just don't go swooping down and grabbing anypony that looks suspicious to you. Ah’d rather not draw too much attention to us.”

"They were pegasus ponies." Rainbow said as she flew beside AJ. "They won't stay on the ground."

As they flew off, Twilight and Rarity watched them from inside. “Do you think they'll be all right on their own?” Rarity asked, unsure of how well they would fare in this new world.

“I trust them enough not to get into… too much trouble,” Twilight replied as she turned her attention to the rooftop with the blank billboard. “And besides, we need to meet up with Cadence.”

“Are you... attracted to Cadence by any chance, Twilight?" Rarity asked with a sly grin on her face.

Twilight's blushed and her left eye twitched. "NO! Why would you even… NO!"

"Come now, you KNOW I like to help with romance," Rarity said with a giggle.

"Um, excuse me,” Fluttershy meekly called out, getting their attention. "I think I can see her waiting for us." She pointed at the building, where a pink Unicorn was indeed waiting for them on the roof.

"Thank you, Fluttershy." Twilight sighed, opened her wings and flew towards the building with her sisters.





"About time they noticed," Cadence said with a smile as they landed. "I've been trying to get your attention for the past few minutes."

“Terribly sorry to keep you waiting,” Rarity apologized as she approached the Unicorn. “Our sisters had some… disagreements on whether or not we should come.”

"I understand. I mean, we just met. But I promise, I'm not going to hurt any of you."

“Rainbow Dash isn't exactly convinced,” Twilight stated. “But thankfully, not all of us are as… short-tempered as her.”

Rarity scoffed, rolling her eyes. “That's putting it mildly, darling.”

"She's coming around, girls," Fluttershy added timidly. "She's just having difficulty adapting to our new environment."

"Which brings up my question from yesterday," Cadence said, getting everyone's attention. “Exactly where did you all come from?"

"That is... a very difficult answer," Rarity admitted. "I mean, we would say we came from modern times, but... that might prove counterproductive."

"Well then..." Cadance smiled and pointed to the large park several blocks away. "Let's head to that park and you can tell me all about yourselves."

"Alright. That's rather.... ominous," Rarity commented with a nervous tone.

"Still not very trusting, are you?" Cadence sighed. "Look, nopony's ever seen someone of your species. You're all basically considered myths and if anyone spotted the three of you out in the open, it would bring attention that I'm sure you don't want to deal with. That park, however, provides great cover for us since not many ponies go through here at night, unless there's some sort of celebration."

"W-well, that makes sense," Fluttershy said nervously.

Twilight nodded. "I'll follow you there, De-Tec-Tive." She enveloped Cadence in her aura and flew off towards the park with her sisters flying behind her.

'This is going to be an... interesting conversation.'





"Find anything?" Rainbow asked Pinkie, who had jsut finished searching through a cart.

"Well, I found out there's a neat little food called 'candy' now and it looks DELICIOUS!" Pinkie said happily.

"Ah seriously doubt the merchant we scared off was workin' fer them,” Applejack sighed as she looked around. Seeing houses that practically touched the sky was quite a sight to behold.

"You done sightseeing, sis?" Rainbow asked her, to which AJ responded with a glare. “Uh… so, um... where did those jerks go, Pinks?!"

"Mmmphh!?" Pinkie said through a mouthful of candy. "Mmm, ifffsh mmphnn grrph iphersh!"

Applejack arched a brow. "Whut?"

Pinkie held up a claw as she swallowed all of the candy in her mouth.... and suddenly her eyes widened.

“OH, BY THE ANCESTOR'S, SHE'S DRUNK! RUN!" Rainbow screamed as she and AJ flew away.

Pinkie's pupils enlarged to the point where they took up most of her eyes as a deranged smile spread across her face. "SSSSSUUUUGAAAAAR!!!" She screamed as she flew after her sisters with drool pouring out of her jaw.

"Move, move, MOVE!" Rainbow shouted, but it was futile as Pinkie was already on her tail. literally.

"MUST. TASTE. SKITTLE-SISTER!!" Pinkie screamed as she started chewing on Rainbow's tail. "SKITTLE-SISTER FEED PINKIE!!"

Applejack shot down from above and tackled her to the ground. "Dammit, sis, stand down!!" she roared as Pinkie kept fighting against her in her hyper state.

All at once, Pinkie went still for a moment, before slowly turning her head towards Applejack. "You smell like apples."

"Aw, HAY no!" Applejack leapt into the air, struggling to get some distance. "Fer Pete’s sake, Pinkie, just calm down!"

"NO! I need MORE sweets! I need more—"

Suddenly Pinkie's entire body seized up, and a goofy grin spread across her face as she fell to her knees. "Ooooohhhh.... pretty staaaaarssss,” she slurred before she slumped over, revealing what appeared to be a tranquilizer dart lodged in her rear.

"What the... DASH, GET TO LOW GROUND!" Applejack shouted as she dragged Pinkie out of the open area.





"Nice shot," the stallion smirked as he watched from above. "Looks like that tip wasn't total BS after all..."

"Well I was always the better shot." the mare of the pair said with a bit of pride in her voice. She pulled out a set of wicked-sharp knives."I'll get the blue one's attention first. You just be ready."





Back in the park, Twilight landed and set Cadence down as her magic aura dissipated. "Ok now, we've met with you and brought you where you wanted to go," Twilight said. "Before we go any further, we need you to explain a few about this world to us."

"Sure thing," Cadence said as she shivered a bit. "That was rather unnerving, though. Anyway, what do you want to know then?"

Twilight took a moment to think before glancing at her sisters. "Let's start with why you were in our castle."

"Like I said before, I'm a detective. Part of my job is to investigate a place just in case something is going on that shouldn't be happening or is done against the law," Cadence stated plainly. "That help any bit?"

Rarity immediately stepped in. "I don't know exactly what you've heard about Mr. Fancy, but I can assure you he has no malicious intent. Why, he's the reason we're even here in the first place," she said confidently.

"Yes, and while you see that as a good sign, it could also mean he's planning something. Trust me, when it comes to Fancy Pants, you can't be too sure."

Rarity scowled. "Now see here—" she began, only to be cut off by Twilight.

"Remember, sister, we are still new to this world. And while Mr. Fancy may be responsible for freeing us, that doesn't mean he has nothing to hide." Twilight frowned. "You would do well to remember what happened the last time we trusted someone so blindly..."

"You were betrayed before?" Cadence asked. She suddenly felt sad for the situation yet also shocked that someone had the balls to actually try and back-stab these creatures.

"Well, it started when..."





“She gonna be okay?” Rainbow asked Applejack as they hid in an abandoned building with the unconscious Pinkie. “I mean, she’s breathing, but…”

“Ah think so. Landsakes, that’s some powerful drug they usin’ on her to knock her out that quick,” Applejack said, in an attempt to try and lighten the situation.

“Yeah well… I think somebody’s hunting us and deliberately knocked her out, not to mention I’m pretty sure they’ve been following us since then.” Rainbow looked out the side entrance to make sure the coast was clear.

“Now yer just bein paranoid,” Applejack insisted. “Ah mean, who would even know we existed other thanFancy Pants?” Just as she said that, several knives rained down from above, forcing RD and AJ to leap back
"OK, now I'm 95% sure we're being hunted,” Rainbow panted as she caught her breath.

"Yeah, Ah got that feelin' to." They turned and AJ narrowly avoided a laser blast to the face. "The hayseeds?! Who’s there?!"

“Your doom,” a male voice called out from the shadows. Before they could react several more knives were thrown at them from three separate areas.





Back at the park, Twilight had just finished re-telling the tale of how exactly they ended up in the future, or rather the present for Cadence. Needless to say, the Detective was shocked by this revelation. "Well.... I-I can't say I've ever heard of anything like that before," she said. "But um.... I am sorry for your loss."

"Even the eggs in the rookery were gone,” Fluttershy sighed as she wrapped her wings around herself, wiping a few tears away. "As far as we know, we're the last of our kind..."

"I'm.... I'm sorry to hear that," Cadence said. "I can understand losing family."

"Oh, can you?" Rarity said coldly. "And how, beg my pardon, can you compare to our pain?"

"Rarity...” Twilight began, only for Cadence to interrupt her.

"My parents were on their way to pick me up from school," she began as she stood up. "It was late and I had to stay in the Principal's office because I decided to pull a stupid stunt that got me in trouble." Cadence slowly walked towards Rarity. "My mother and I yelled at each other over the phone and I told her that I wished I wasn't even her daughter..." The Detective stopped inches away from the white Ponygoyle. "Minutes after I hung up, they crashed into a drunk driver. They died before I could reach the hospital."

As she continued, Twilight noticed that she was desperately trying to hold back tears. "Every day, I can't help but think that if I hadn't been such an immature spoiled brat, they would've lived, and I can never forgive myself for not being able to tell them how sorry I was before they died. So yes, I do know what it's like to lose someone precious to you, and I also know what it's like to lose them after saying something you'll regret for the rest of your life!"

"O-oh…." Rarity mumbled, rather surprised at how venomous Cadence sounded towards her.

"I know you've experienced a great deal of emotional pain, but don't think for a second that other ponies haven't," she finished.

I.... I'm sorry," Rarity apologized, with an embarrassed expression on her face. "I just.... Fancy saved our lives and you're saying these... things and just expect us to believe them.... I'm sorry."

Cadence calmed down and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "I know it's hard to believe. There are a lot of ponies out there who use their status to remain good in the public eye while covering up their true intentions. You come across a lot of ponies like that in my line of work."

Rarity sniffed as she wiped an eye and smiled. "I understand, darling."

"Now that we've gotten that uncomfortable subject out of the way," Twilight said, trying to shift the tone of the conversation, "I think it's best that you start telling us everything you know about this world.”

"Sure thing," Cadence took a deep breath to calm herself. "Now what would you like to know first?"

"New animal species!" Fluttershy chimed in.

"The newest fashion!" Rarity immediately added.

Twilight rolled her eyes and snapped her claws, causing to soundproof bubbles to appear around their heads. "Let's start with how far technology has gotten."





Back in the city, Rainbow Dash and Applejack continued their battle against their unknown assailants.

"Alright, assholes, show yourselves!" Rainbow yelled as the two quickly took to the air, narrowly avoiding the knives. "You want a fight?! Fight in the open!"

"Nice try," Another voice chuckled. Immediately, a laser shot towards RD's back.

"LOOK OUT!" AJ screamed as she pushed the cyan Ponygoyle out of the way. The laser struck AJ in the gut but thanks to her tougher scales she was able to withstand it, although she still felt the intense heat and touched her hand to the stinging spot on her chest. If she got hit with that again, it'd make that particular spot easier to pierce.

"So that's how yer gonna play, huh?!" Applejack yelled. "Playin' the coward while ya take potshots at me and mah rookery sis?!"

RD snarled before turning around, just in time, to dodge another shower of knives. “Ok, enough of this!” she snapped, immediately snatching one of the knives out of the ground. She dodged one of the lasers before throwing her knife in the direction it came from. She heard a grunt to the left of her and smirked; she’d found one of the attackers and flew towards him. She grabbed something, flew up and dropped her prey on the roof… and was baffled by what she saw.

Her opponent had the build of a stallion, the horn on his head glowing as several knives hovered above him. He wore black body armor with dark blue utility belt, shoulder pads and gauntlets. His face was covered by a black mask with three claw marks.

AJ took the opportunity to keep a lookout for their second opponent. Luckily, she didn’t have to wait long as it immediately darted out of the shadows and attempted to strike RD from behind. AJ dive-bombed towards her and would've crushed her under her claws had the assailant not dodged at the last moment. Her attire was almost the same as her comrade, but the red was swapped for grey..

"Alright.... Ah gotta ask.... what's up with the claw marks?" Applejack asked, panting slightly. The mare only chuckled, her mask revealing her mouth.

"That's a story for another time. One you and your wretched kind won't live to see." The mare pulled out two laser pistols and aimed at them. "Funny thing is, you two are just prey for the real target."

"What the hay do ya want us for?!" Applejack shouted as she dodged another laser before taking off. The masked mare used a grappling claw to hoist herself up to the top of the warehouse.

"Isn't it obvious?!" She smirked and blasted Applejack’s left wing, sending her spiraling towards the ground below. "We're using you to lure out the bigger fish: your leader!" As Applejack fell, she saw the cyan Ponygoyle swoop in to grab her and gently lay her down.

"Applejack…” Rainbow whispered, her entire body shaking with rage. “ OKAY, THAT TEARS IT!"She climbed up the building to the mare with blinding speed and tackled her once she made it to the roof.

"YOU ARE SO DEAD!" she shouted, but was then blasted by the stallion from her side, sending her flying into a wall and knocking her out.

"Ya need to be more careful, sis." the stallion said, which earned him punch to the shoulder.

"Thanks, but I can handle myself," the mare retorted. They turned their attention towards the two Ponygoyles, only to see Rainbow already heading towards the downed Applejack. Before they could catch up to her however, they were intercepted by a blast of magic and a torrent of green flames, followed by a smoke bomb obscuring their vision. By the time the smoke cleared, Rainbow had ducked into the shadows and fled.

“Damn it! We lost them!” the mare snapped in rage while the stallion sighed.

"Well... this is gonna be somethin' to explain to big brother."





Back at the park, Cadence was explaining to the trio how far the world had come since they'd been sealed away, which the girls had a little trouble following.

"So wait.... there's a device that tells you when someone's trying to reach you?" Twilight asked as she held the Detective’s cellphone.

"And a torch that can be used in any environment that doesn't burn anything?" Fluttershy asked her, gripping the flashlight.

"That's not even the half of it! Wait 'till I tell you about the internet!" Cadence smiled as she took back her phone.

Rarity arched a brow. "The inter-what-now?"

"Think of it as one giant source of information, that you can access via this baby," she explained, holding up her phone.

"Okay, THAT I'm finding very hard to believe," Rarity scoffed. "I'm still wrapping my head around the chariots moving on their own."

"They're called cars and trucks Rarity. They're actually FASTER than chariots," Cadence said with a good amount of pride in her voice. "I think you girls could be.... motorcycle girls though."

"Motorcycle?"

"Well, think of it as—" Before she could continue, her phone started beeping. "Aw Jeez... we're gonna have to cut this meeting short."

"Oh. Why's that?" Rarity asked as she looked at the vibrating device. "I mean, what does that beacon tell you?"

"Well, my partner's waiting for me at the station, and if I end up late he might start asking questions." She stopped when she realized Rarity was giving her an odd look.

"Partner?" she asked her with a smirk. “What kind of partner?”

"J-just someone I work together with to solve crimes and stop criminals from harming innocent bystanders." Cadence quickly explained, trying to hide her blush. "Now I have to go. I'll see you all later?"

“I suppose. We'll meet you back here at this park,” Twilight said as she spread her wings. “Sound reasonable?”

"It sounds very reasonable," Cadence agreed with a smile. Twilight and her sisters flew away, leaving Cadence to return to her car a moment later.

"Well, MY life just really complicated," she mumbled as she drove off, glancing back at the Ponygoyles as they flew towards Sunset Industries. 'Fancy... what are you up to? And how do these creatures play a part in it?'





"Jeez...who the hay were those weirdos?!" Rainbow groaned as she flew across the rooftops with Applejack in her arms. "And where the hay is Pinkie?!"

"HIYA!" Pinkie cheered as she appeared seemingly out of nowhere with some cotton candy in her claws.

"What..... WHERE WERE YOU?!" Rainbow exclaimed.

“Well,” Pinkie began as she munched on her cotton candy, “after I woke up, I thought I saw somepony I knew, but then they disappeared. But then I saw a place full of more of the sweet treats that Fancy had and I had to have some, but then it turned out it was blocked by some weird magic shield, so I smashed it and-”

"PINKIE!" Rainbow exclaimed. While she was glad she was alive she was also rather irritated. "ME AND AJ NEARLY GOT KILLED BY SOME PONIES IN MASKS AND YOU WERE EATING CANDY?!!"

Pinkie blinked, slowly registering this information.“Wh-what…? But why?”

“Ugh… what hit me... ?” Applejack mumbled as she slowly came too. Tt took her a moment to realize Rainbow was carrying her. “Wuh? What happened? Where’d the masked ponies go?!”

"I-uh-I sent them packing. And Pinkie was off eating damn food!" Rainbow yelled, quickly changing the subject.

“But...why would they attack us and then flee?”

"Doesn't matter, AJ. Fact is, they're not here now," Rainbow said with a tinge of fear in her voice. "They're gone and not attacking us."

“Indeed, they’re not, but I think you owe me a thank-you for covering for you while you flew off,” a new, familiar voice called out from behind them, prompting them to stop and turn around, disbelief written all over their faces. “After all, if it weren’t for me distracting them, you’d all be in cages right now.”

“Uh, girls?” Pinkie said as she dropped her candy. “Is the sugar getting to me again or is that who I think it is?”





“Looks like that anonymous tip was right after all,” the stallion said as the two of them entered the room. 

"And I told you, brother, that we could've had those two easily had we tried to pursue them!" the mare said with a growl. The stallion just rolled his eyes under his mask as they approached the other stallion in the room.

“I can assume that the mission was a success?" He said without turning around, the tone of his voice making it clear that it was more of a statement then a question.

"Well.... actually brother.... we didn't manage to finish the job. They got away from us." The mare said as she prepared herself for the worst knowing how their bigger brother tend to act when it came to Ponygoyles getting away.

“...care to explain to me how he two of you managed to lose what could be the only chance we have at ending her life?” He asked in a stern tone, just barely containing his rage.

"The two Ponygoyles surprised us. We're more used to her tactics of deceit and hiding in the shadows." The brother said. "These two. They preferred to fight upfront and ensured we couldn't use the shadows."

"That doesn't excuse your failure!" He snapped, causing the two to flinch. "Our ancestors have been tracking down these monsters for decades, I will not have you sully their name by underestimating our opponents!"

"Brother what he meant was that they were more battle hardened. Like they were fresh off another fight. They weren't like the Demon, these two were warriors." The mare said in an attempt to defend her brother. "If it were the demon we wouldn't have had as much trouble."

"I don't know sister.... that friend of hers was rather troublesome."

“Not to mention one of their allies aides them from the shadows.” The mare added as their eldest sibling turned to face them.

"....they have allies.... perhaps the one that helped them was.... HER." The eldest sibling said with contempt in his voice. "However. If this is true..... perhaps we could... convince them."

"WHAT?! Brother they are Ponygoyles! Demons! They are-"

"The ones you fought? I recognized them from a castle.... apparently they've been trapped in stone for a very long time..... maybe they don't realize how dangerous of a threat the demon is.... and that could provide an advantage."

“You can’t seriously be considering that we work with them, are you?!” She snapped as she turned to the middle brother. “We can’t trust them!”

"I agree sister but maybe after we use them we could kill them then?" The brother said. "See? It benefits everyone involved!"

"....that is true." The eldest said. "But we won't be able to figure it out now. They're gone for now and we have no way to track them since you two failed to place a tracker on them just in case."

The sister scoffed. "It's not like they can hide forever, all we have to do is wait for them to reveal themselves... and then we make our move... and this time we'll be prepared for anything they throw at us!" She stated confidently.

"That confidence you have is admirable sister.... it is also what costed us a father... do not let it go to your head." The eldest said. The two shut up at that. The matter of their parents was indeed a very sore point for them still. "Anyways I have to be somewhere soon. You two need to maintain your covers as well."

"Just make sure you're not found out either." The middle brother retorted. "From what I've heard the police forces have been investigating rumors behind some strange organization..."

"I will brother." The eldest said as he left. The other two soon left as well. Vanishing to do whatever their normal jobs could be.... planning their revenge.





"Well I found that.... rather engaging and interesting." Rarity said as she landed on the edge of the castle. "Cadence was rather fun."

“I can’t disagree...” Fluttershy smiled as she landed. “Though I feel like the city is a little...exciting for me...so much noise, even at night....”

"At least it can keep us awake if we ever feel tired." Twilight joked, her thoughts drifting to Pinkie Pie and the rest of her sisters.. ".... I wonder how Rainbow and the others are doing?"

“Sisters!” Pinkie shouted with an excited look on her face, “You’re not going to believe who we found!” She started gleefully skipping around the trio while Applejack and Rainbow stood by the entrance to the Castle, both of them had equally excited smiles.

“Who-?" Twilight froze when she felt a claw on her shoulder, and heard a very familiar voice.

"Twilight, it's been far too long my sister..."

Turning around, Twilight found herself face to face with a cyan Ponygoyle, her violet eyes, her light blue hair, that air of utmost confidence she held...it was her, she was alive.

The cyan Ponygoyle giggled. "What's wrong? Speechless after seeing my beau-OOF!" Her words died in her mouth as Twilight tackled to the ground, more tears of joy streaming from her eyes.

"You're alive... I can't believe it! You're alive..." Twilight sobbed into her chest.

"It's..... it's okay Twilight." The cyan Ponygoyle said as she patted her back. "I'm here now."

“It's just… I thought I had lost you… I thought…”

“GROUP HUG!!” Pinkie screamed as she jumped onto the two.

"P-Pinkie....... crushing us." Twilight groaned before she levitated Pinkie off them as they got up. “Sorry about her, but seeing an old friend again is bound to get that reaction out of her…”

“I see even after a thousand years she hasn't changed.” Her cyan sister smirked and she dusted herself off. “Also, Pinkie? What's that about?”

"Oh it's my name!" Pinkie said with a smile on her face. "Or... at least it's the one that makes sense!"

She arched a brow. “And all of you have names now?”

"Well..... yeah." Twilight said, gesturing to her sisters one at a time. "That's Rainbow-"

"Yo!"

"AJ-"

"Howdy."

“Fluttershy-”

“...hi…”

“And Rarity.”

The white Ponygoyle cleared her throat. “While I am overjoyed to see that one of our kin survived, as well as our old friend…I can't help but wonder… how exactly did you survive?”

The cyan sister sighed. "Well... see it was like this-"





The cyan Ponygoyle flew over the treetops, desperately searching for her siblings. While Twilight had ordered her to stay at the Castle, she could not bring herself to stand idly by while her leader risked being ambushed and captured by the enemy.

As she landed on one of the cliffs overlooking the sea, however when she took a glance back at the Castle… and was horrified by what she saw: The Vikings were approaching the Castle!

She immediately spread her wings and prepared to take off only for the sun to rise… forcing her into a stone sleep.





"By the time I awoke… it was all over." She continued, tears beginning to form. "I...I was so ashamed, if I'd just listened... maybe I could've..."

"There was nothing you could've done sister." Twilight said as she hugged her again.

“A-after that, I found the dragon washed up on a nearby beach…” She continued, wiping away her tears. “I took some time to nurse him back to health… but when we returned…”





“Stone… by night?!” She exclaimed in shock as she flew towards her slumbering sisters. “But how?! This is-” She placed a claw on Twilight’s shoulder and felt a spark of magic “No…”

The dragon then nuzzled up against Rarity's statue with sorrow in his eyes and he kept trying to scratch her statue to wake her up, tears welling up in his eyes.

“This spell… it cannot be broken…” She mumbled to herself as she sank down to her knees, grief overcoming her once more… however, a small spark of magic appeared in her claws… giving her an idea. “If I cannot free you, then I will join you…” She said as she stood up and began engulfing all of the statues with her magic.

The Dragon turn to her and growled in confusion, she simply gave him a sad smile and tears flowing freely. “Dragon… I thank you for staying loyal to us for so long… but you are free now. Go, see the world, you are no longer tethered to us…” With those words she flew to a small tower not too far from the one of her sisters were perched upon and assumed her own position. As the magic aura from the statues flowed towards her, it began replicating the effects of the spell that was cast, encasing her in stone until the day the castle rose above the clouds…





"Oh that's..... that's so touching." Pinkie said as she blew her nose on Rainbow's wing.

"EW! PINKIE!"

"Unfortunately…" She sighed. "I couldn't even awaken and at the same time as you... thanks to a greedy equine..."

"That's horrible sister." Fluttershy said as she silently gasped.

"Yeah.... because of him I awoke almost a whole month earlier than you girls."

"Wait, a whole month?!" Applejack asked in shock. "How didja wake up so early?!"

"The weirdest thing happened... when I awoke I found myself in some sort of box..." Trixie explained as they approached the top of the tower. 

"Apparently someone less rich as your friend Fancy Pants took my immobile form along with part of the Castle I rested upon in order to display me in a museum..."

"What the heck is a museum?" Rainbow asked. "And why did he take only you and the rest of us?"

"Like I said, he was less rich than your friend... anyway, his flying device and the box that contained me was brought above the clouds… and considering the terms with the spell were for such a thing to happen, I guess it counted for part of the Castle as well..."

"I guess it did, dear." Rarity said with a smile. "Oh sister it's so good to see you again!"

"Indeed it is, but as much as I'd love to catch up with you all, we have a much more important matter to address." The cyan sister began. "Specifically the two ponies that.... Applejack, it's Applejack right?"

"Y-yeah?"

"The ponies Applejack and Rainbow encountered." She finished.


"What about them?" Rainbow said. "We kicked their asses and sent them packing. No big deal sis."

“Waddaya mean “we”?” Applejack asked skeptically. “Ah was knocked out-”

“Wait, what does she mean by that?” Twilight interrupted as she turned to the two with a less than pleased look. “What kind of trouble did you two get into?”

"Hey it wasn't even our fault! They attacked us for no real reason at all! Can't even really say what they looked like because they had on some weird masks on!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"Well those ponies.... they're a big threat to our existence." The cyan sister explained. "I need you girls to believe me. They're nothing more than monsters themselves."

"How big a threat are we talking?" Twilight asked curiously, wondering who would dare attack her sisters unprovoked.

"They seem to know how we act. Our patterns when we're in groups and where best to attack our joints." Trixie said. "I've encountered them a few time. I don't know what they want with us but that's the best I can tell you."

"My master can tell you much more." John said as he approached the group, immediately putting the cyan one on edge.

"Who is he?!" She snapped, baring her fangs menacingly.

"Relax sister. He's the butler of the one who saved us." Twilight said gently as she put a claw on her shoulder. "You don't need to act hostile towards him."

Slowly she calmed herself, giving him a sharp glare that clearly said “try anything and I end you.”.

John however, was unfazed and turned his attention to Twilight. “My master has discovered some interesting facts about to ones that attacked the castle, as well as the ones who assaulted your sisters.”

"We'll be there shortly I promise." She said. "But can you give us a moment? We just got reunited with some old friends."

"Understood, he'll be waiting for you in his office." John stated as he walked away.

The cyan Ponygoyle glared in his direction. "He has an... odd aura... is he really an equine?"

"Honestly we don't know." Rainbow said as she yawned.

"Yes well his master still saved us." Rarity said. "I think courtesy is the least that we owe him."

"...and he hasn't done anything... questionable, had he?" She asked with suspicious tone. "I don't think he brought you all back just to be nice..."

"What do you mean sister? You... you think he might be using us?" Fluttershy asked nervously.

"Well I hope not! That'd just be mean!" Pinkie said with a pouting face.

"Everyone has a motive." She sighed. "There's a special saying in this world, "if it's too good to be true, then it probably is.". He wants us for something… we just don't know what."

"Ah you're too paranoid sis." Rainbow said yet she couldn't help but feel the same way.

"Maybe... but then again-" She immediately stopped and turned to her brethren. "I'm sorry, it's just after reuniting after so long... I don't want to lose you all again..."

"It's okay sister.... I promise. You won't lose us." Twilight promised as she hugged her. "Now, let's go see what Mr. Fancy has found out..."





"I'm glad to see you've reunited with another of your brethren." Fancy smiled as the Ponygoyles gathered in his office. "I guess this means there is hope for your species."

"Thank you Fancy." Twilight said with a bow. "But if we may ask... what is it that you found out about the invaders?" She asked him. He smirked a bit as he leaned back in his chair.

“The ones who broke into our home were apparently in league with a Clan known as the Hunters.” Fancy explained, The screen next to the group changed to show a stallion wearing a mask with three red slash marks.

“Of course it'd be them…” The cyan sister growled in contempt.

"So what do you know about them then Fancy?" Twilight asked. "I'm sure you didn't just drag us all the way out here just to say you knew who they were and just leave it at that."

"Well it took me some time to find out their history but apparently they've been around much longer than the Wonderbolts." He explained. "They surfaced around 1000 years ago.... with the sole purpose of eliminating the entire Ponygoyle species."

"WAIT WHAT?!" They all shouted causing the two to nearly get a headache from the combined voices.

"Can we try and NOT shatter the windows with your voices please?" John said as he recovered.

"But-but... why?" Fluttershy asked, tears threatening to fall. "I know our species wasn't well-liked in the past… but to create an entire clan just to kill us all?!"

"Something must have happened. A rogue Ponygoyle or something." Rainbow said, but even that didn't alleviate the disgust in her heart.

"This is-just-URGH!" Applejack roared as she punched a wall. "Damn bastards!"

"No doubt the ones who attacked you two are members of the clan." The cyan sister stated. "I had a few run-ins with them not too long after I awoke myself, and their methods are exactly the same."

"Then we need to act quick and strike back!" Pinkie said with a grin on her face. "I say we hunt THEM down and rip them a new one!"
“Now you're talking!” Rainbow smirked.

"That'd be a good plan... is we still lived in your time." Fancy replied sternly. "But trust me, if you try a strategy like that now they'll see you coming a mile away, if we are going to take them head on it has to be discreetly.

Both RD and Pinkie groan but waited for Fancy to say his part.

"Okay then... so what do you have planned then Fancy?" Twilight asked.

"It's somewhat complex but if pulled off correctly it will severely crippled their forces." Fancy explained as he pressed another bottle, the screen immediately shifted to a three stone orbs, one of which looked familiar.

"They seem to be collecting these orbs for their own purposes, I've managed to track down the one that stole along with two more." He stated as the screens changed. "Each one is being kept in a separate storage facility."

".... is this what we're forced to be now? Lowly thieves?" Rarity asked with a sigh. "It's so sad to be turned from a proud warrior into.... this."

"Many warriors have been forced to use crafty means to win over the years." Fancy replied. "Sometimes you need to try a different method to get results, and simply attacking them directly right off the bat would yield unfavorable consequences in the long run."

"Okay then.... who's going with who then?" Rainbow asked as she clapped her hands together.

"I think it's easy who's going with who." Twilight said as she turned to her sisters. "Rarity, you and Fluttershy are working together,"

"Rainbow, you're with Applejack, The two of you have encountered them before and have worked well together in the past." Twilight explained, the two nodded and shared a look, making it clear that they'd enjoy paying back the ones who tried to hunt them down.

"Hey! What about ME!" Pinkie said with a pouty face. "I don't have anyone to partner with!"

"You're coming with us this time." Twilight stated while gesturing to herself and her sister.

"YAY!" Pinkie shouted as she hugged Twilight and her sister. "I'M GOING TO BE HELPING!"

"Well, now that it's decided, I believe we should discuss exactly where which team should be sent." He explained as the screen changed to reveal three locations, what appeared to be an island, and underground cave, and a large aircraft miles above the city.

"These are where we should hit?" Twilight asked as she looked at the pictures. "Alright me, Pinkie, and my sister will hit the flying fortress above the city first."

"Then we'll take the one on the island!" Applejack stated, slamming her first into her claw for emphasis.

"And that leaves the underground base for us." Rarity mused.

"Right, so let's get started!" Rainbow shouted as she turned to rush out the door, only for Twilight to hold her back with her magic.

"I think it would be best if we wait until tomorrow." She stated. "Least we turn to stone in the middle of the mission and leave ourselves vulnerable.

"Oh.... hehe..... r-right." Rainbow said, scratching her head in embarrassment. "I mean.... wow, that would've been bad."

The rest of the clan rolled their eyes and exited the room... though their cyan sister glanced back at Fancy for a few seconds before leaving…





Cadence sighed as she watched the sun rise over the horizon from the office. "Truly can't say I expected to arrive before you, usually I'm the one who's late." She smiled as her partner approached her carrying a coffee mug in one hand and a folder in the other.

The Stallion was about as tall as her, white fur, blue mane, a denim jacket with a black shirt underneath, blue jeans, brown shoes, and a police badge on his chest. "Sorry. I got held up by some traffic. You know how Manehattan cabbies are Cadence." Shining said with a chuckle.

"And that's why I have my own car." She replied with a smirk. "So Shining, how'd your part of the investigation go?"

"I looked into his financial records but I can't really seem to find anything incriminating on Fancy. Sorry Caddy." Shining said, disappointment evident in his voice.

"I should've guessed, someone like him would cover up his tracks there as well." She mumbled as she gazed at the castle atop the tower. "Looks like we're gonna have to take a different approach."

"What are you thinkin' then partner? Not much we can do on our end." Shining stated. "Oh by the way, the commissioner says we're getting a new partner, today.”

"A rookie huh?" Cadence scoffed. "Why are they assigning us a new partner, we've done fine up until now."

"Eh it might be so he can learn what it's like on the streets. I mean really compared to some of the others here? We're about the only clean ones in the city." Shining explained as he handed her his coffee.

"That's putting it mildly." She mused, yawning before she took a nice long sip. "I mean, we just busted another crooked cop last week, didn't we?"

"Yeah that sounds about right." He chuckled. "You had an all nighter? Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it... let's just get this over with." She sighed as she walked back inside. “By the way, what's the rookies name?”

Shining paused and opened the folder. “Flash Sentry.”
> Chapter 7: Shadows and Secrets (Part 1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the sun finally set over the horizon, the moon illuminated the skies over Manehatten. And as such, the Clan of Ponygoyles​ awakened from their stone slumber once more. Twilight was the first to awaken as her stone skin cracked open, the moment her body was free she roared into the night sky before calming down. As the rest of her sisters woke up Twilight began to stretch her wings, preparing for the night ahead.

"BLEEGH! AGAIN!? SERIOUSLY!? " She heard Pinkie scream and turned​ to see her spitting out another pigeon, along with several sticks, twigs, and feathers. "RGH... I. HATE. BIRDS." Pinkie grumbled as she stormed past Rainbow and Applejack, both of whom were snickering while Fluttershy let the pigeon land on her finger, gently petting it.

"I think they're adorable." Fluttershy said with a small giggle. "Fly away, little one." She said softly, letting the bird fly away without a care in the world.

"....I'm going to eat a chicken later. Just to completely spite the avian family…" Pinkie mumbled to herself as she picked the feathers out of her teeth.

“I trust you all rested well?” A familiar voice asked, getting their attention. The group turned to see Fancy Pants himself arrive on the balcony.

"Yeah..... feel violated by that winged rat but yeah, rested well." Pinkie said as she stretched. "Ugh, I can't wait to fly around again....”

"Pinkie remember, we have a mission tonight..." Their azure sister stated firmly, getting everyone's attention. "Speaking of which, I'm going to assume you have a plan of some sort to help us liberate what our enemy stole?

"Indeed I do.." Fancy smiled as he handed Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack of them a small device that resembled a metallic red and white sphere with a thin black line separating the colors. "Our enemies will have high-tech security, and I didn't get where I am today without taking precautions. 

Rarity inspected the device with a skeptical look on her face. "So, what exactly do these objects do?"

"These devices are programmed to lock onto the artifacts magic signature." He explained to the group. "I didn't have enough time to make more of these but they should do the trick. When you find the artifacts, activate these immediately by twisting he top and bottom in opposite directions, it'll release a special pulse of energy that'll temporarily disable the security systems."

"....that's really.... strange magic." Futtershy said as she poked the one Rarity was holding. "They look adorable though."

“It's actually science… but we'll get back to that later….” Fancy corrected her, briefly getting Twilight's attention. “Now then, for your respective missions…”





Three Hours Later...

Twilight, Pinkie, and her azure sister stood atop a large skyscraper, staring at the sky. "Can't​ believe such a massive structure could be hidden above this city..." She said before pulling three sets of goggles out of her bag, handing one over to her sister and another to Pinkie. The moment she put them on she could only gasp as the massive ship became fully visible to them. "Incredible! if I didn't know any better I'd say this was a floating island!" She said as she stared in wonder.

"You would be amazed what secrets this new world has." Her sister said as she opened her wings. "But enough musing. Let's finally get down to buisness." With that she took off towards the flying fortress with earnest, Pinkie and Twilight following suit. “Remember, we're here to invade them. Not be chummy with them." She said with a sneer as the trio flew towards the ship.

Latching on to the side of it, Twilight surrounded her claws with her magic, making them sharper. Focusing hard she drove her claws into the iron wall and carved a circular hole in the side before kicking it inwards, allowing the two to fly in.

"Y'know, this kinda reminds of the time we raided the Pirate's hideout near Griffinstone!" Pinkie smiled as they crawled in.

"PLEASE don't mention Griffonstone right now." The azure Ponygoyle snarled "That place was a drag and rather boring all things considered to be honest."

Pinkie gave her sister a coy smirk. "Are you still mad about that whole belly-dancing incident?" She asked innocently, causing Twilight to start snickering. "Thought you looked really cute in that outfit...."

"... yes that's exactly what pisses me off so can we PLEASE stop bringing it up now?!" She snapped at her sister. "This is  EXTREMELY important right now so PLEASE be quiet."

Pinky was about to retort, however at that moment her ear twitched as she heard footsteps and glanced down the hallway,haring a look with her sisters the three leaped up towards the ceiling as a Pegasus security guard wearing a dark-blue uniform made her way around the corner and gasped upon seeing the hole in the wall. “What the heck happened here!? Aw jeez, I better not get blamed for this!”

The azure Ponygoyle growled at the Guard and charged with blinding speed, bashing her against a wall and knocking some wind out of her. She then grabbed her by the neck and held her over the hole. "Now then. You're going to talk. And if I don't like what I hear? I'm going let my fingers slip and drop you. Are we clear pony?"

"B-But I'm a Pegasus-"

"And wings can very easily be broken." She cut her off, baring her fangs as her eyes began to to glow. "Now SPEAK!"

"My name is Muffins but everybody calls me Derpy, this is my first night on the job, I really like baking-" She started frantically explaining in a fast-paced tone, very close to freaking out.

"Oh for the love of-I mean the treasure! I know it's on this ship, where is it!?" She demanded.

"W-what treasure?! T-this is my first day on the job! I-I was just told to help guard the joint!" Derpy said with fear in her eyes. "I-I swear that's all I was told! P-please don't hurt me!"

"Well then...." The azure sister scoffed as she used her magic to freeze her in place before levitating her over the hole they came in through. "I guess you won't be of any use to us...." She stated with less than friendly smile as she grabbed onto one of her wings, gripping it tightly.

"Sister stop!" Pinkie shouted, getting between her and the guard. "Killing in the heat of battle is one thing, but she isn't even a threat! She's unarmed!"

Her sister gave her a harsh glare. "But we have to make sure she won't alert her comrades!"

"Then just.... knock her out or something! You don't have to kill her!" Pinkie said with a glare.

The azure sister stared at Pinkie for a few seconds before turning her attention back to the guard and snapping her fingers in front of her face, the guard's eyes went blank for a moment before she slumped over, completely unconscious. Seeing no further use in her, she levitated the unconscious guard over to the opposite end of the hall. "Happy now? Let's move."

With that the sister began walking off. Twilight landed beside Pinkie with a concerned look. "The way she acted just now, it felt... different..." Twilight whispered, though her voice contained a small bit of anger.

Pinkie placed her claw on Twilight's shoulder. "'s new to this world just like us, she probably went through a lot of bad experiences before she found us again..." She reassured her as she walked down the hall beside her. "Give her time, we'll show her that things are different now."

"...." Twi merely sighed as they followed the sister. "So now that we know simply muscling them won't work sister what do you suppose the next alternative would be then exactly?"

The azure sister simply rolled her eyes. "We simply ended up getting the wrong guard. All we have to do is find someone who's been here longer and interrogate them instead."

Pinkie and Twilight shared an uncomfortable look upon hearing that.





"Of all the places we had to end up, why did it have to be here!?" Rarity groaned as she and Fluttershy made their way through the sewers. "This place is absolutely reeks of filth!"

"And the old castle didn't? I mean, let's not lie to ourselves Rarity." Fluttershy said as she cautiously stepped over what she hoped was a rat. "Besides it still smells a little better then back then.... especially the smell in the rookery."

"Sadly the difference was that we at least knew what that smell was..." Rarity retorted as the two came to a ladder leading deeper into the sewers, after carefully tucking in her wings she proceeded to climb down. "Here I don't even know what half of the stuff down here is, and I'm genuinely sure I don't WANT to..."

"Okay, okay." Fluttershy said comfortingly. "We're almost there anyways, so we won't be in the sewer much longer..."

"We can't get out soon enough." Rarity replied with a shiver up her spine.

"Wait, shhh!" Fluttershy whispered as they reached the bottom of the ladder, before Rarity could ask what was wrong they both heard the sound of whirring machinery coming from the other end of the pipeline. "I think we just found the base..."

"Alright dear. Next up is getting inside." Rarity said as she looked around. "I mean I doubt we could just walk up and ask politely about whether we can enter or not."

As they made their way to the end of the pipe, they found themselves staring at what looked like an underground river, not connected to the sewers as the water seemed much cleaner. "So they have another way to get inside..." Fluttershy mumbled as the two of them flew out of the pipe and hovered over the river. However at that moment the sound seemed to be getting louder, the two turned around only to see a speedboat tear around the corner headed right towards them!

Thinking fast, the two immediately darted upwards into another pipe just before it could hit them.

"Woah! Did you see that?!"

"Huh? No I was asleep..."

"But YOU'RE driving!!"

The two poked their heads out of the pipe as the boat continued to speed down the tunnel.

"I think I know how we can get in...." Fluttershy smiled. "Maybe we could sneak in underwater..."

"Or wait for another boat." Rarity retorted quickly, eyeing the water with utter disgust. "I will not dirty myself with that filthy disgusting water!"

Fluttershy simply rolled her eyes at her sister's over-dramatic tone. 'Hope Rainbow Dash and Applejack are doing better than us....' She thought to herself and she began thinking of a different way to get in... not noticing a set of glowing green eyes watching them from a nearby pipe...





Applejack and Rainbow Dash stopped to catch their breath as they hid in the shadows. Narrowly avoiding the turrets gunfire. "Okay, any bright ideas on how to get in there without being shredded!?"

"We could try and sneak underground." Applejack asked innocently. However Rainbow just gave her a 'are you kidding me?' look at this and then slapped her upside the head.

"What special kind of dumb are you? That kind of thing never works! We need to find a way to get in AND get out without being shredded to pieces." Rainbow sneered at her.

Applejack retorted by smacking her upside the head with her tail and giving her a sharp glare. "And whose fault was it that we got spotted by the guards in the first place?! At least I wanted to take the stealthy approach! You just wanted to rush in through the front door!" She fired back. However their argument was halted when they were forced to leap over a nearby cliff for cover as the turrets spotted them and began firing again.

"And who started shouting!?" Rainbow shot back with a glare. "I mean seriously AJ that was really not cool right there. I'm actually ashamed of you.”

".... y'all just don't wanna admit ya got us spotted the first time ya know that right?" AJ asked with a raised eyebrow.

Rainbow groaned as she took a brief glanced over the edge of the cliff. Taking a deep breath, she turned her attention back to Applejack. "Ok, I think I might have an idea... did'ja notice those blinking lights on the guns?"

"Yeah? What about...... don't. Y'all won't survive the attempt!" Applejack yelled at her. "We can find a better method! Distractin' them ain't the answer!"

"Well right now we're pinned down, and between the two of us, I'm the fastest!" She stated firmly. "We don't have many other options here. I don't know what kind of magic they used on that thing, but whatever it is it's aim seems to be based on movement. All I have to do is keep them busy while you smash them!"

"Y'all sure ya can make it cause....." Applejack started, but by then Rainbow had already sped off towards the guns. AJ just groaned as she watched speed around them.

"Over here, rust buckets!" Rainbow called out as she sped through the trees and into plain view of the turrets, each one of them immediately locked onto her and started firing. The speedy Ponygoyle wasted no time zigzagging through the area, narrowly dodging each and every blast before they could get a precise lock on her position.

Applejack growled as she darted towards the guns, an opening finally presenting itself to her. With a loud roar she ripped one of them open and proceeded to the next one. "Y'ALL WON'T HURT MAH FAMILY ANYMORE, YA HEAR?!"

One of the nearby turrets immediately turned it's attention to Applejack, preparing to fire.... only for Rainbow Dash to immediately fly into it's line of sight, causing its sensors to lock on to her instead. Unfortunately as it attempted to gun her down it left itself wide open to be dismantled by her partner.

"Never. Do that. Again." Applejack said as she threw down the parts from the gun she ripped to shreds.

"Oh come on that was fun you can't lie." Rainbow said with a smirk. "I mean I seriously never felt any thrill like that before and just.... OOOOH that felt good."

"AH'M SERIOUS!" Applejack snapped at her sister. "This ain't like the times of old where the most we have to worry about were crossbows or magic blasts with tracking spells! Y'all could have gotten seriously hurt!"

"Oh so what happened back then were just fucking tickles huh?" Rainbow snapped back at her. "I think your EYE would love to disagree with how dangerous ranged weapons are. It doesn't matter when or where. It's just danger. Sorry I tried to lighten the situation. Maybe I should just be a pouter like you and Twilight have been since we woke up!"

"Now y'all listen here-" Applejack began, however before she could tell off her sister... she felt a pulse of energy, causing her to freeze up for a moment. She looked around, as if having heard something, and then turned her attention to the steel door that the turrets were guarding…

She felt the pulse again, but this time a brief image flashed before her eyes, the image of an orange orb with some sort of symbol within it. "What the.... did y'all see that?" Applejack asked.

Rainbow gave her a blank stare. “See what?”

“... never-mind.” Applejack sighed as she approached the door, cracking her knuckles she slammed her fist into the steel door, the power behind such an impact getting a massive dent. Not wasting a second she immediately slammed her claws between the two doors and forcefully pulled them open. "Let's just get this over with..."

"Fine by me." Rainbow said as the two flew into the building. "So what exactly are we looking for here?" She asked her older sister as they looked around the place.

"Some special artifact that those thieves stole from our castle." She replied, just as the alarm started going off. "And it looks like we lost the element of surprise..."

"Well then, let's make this a quick mission!" Rainbow shouted as she flew down the hall, Applejack quickly followed, however that vision was still fresh in her mind.

'...what in tarnation WAS that?'





Back in the airship above Manehattan, Twilight sighed as she watched her sister interrogate another one of the guards, this one wearing a black uniform with yellow lines going down his legs and arms.

"W-what kind of monster are you?!" The guard yelled but it was clear they were scared beyond all reasoning by her sister. "P-please just let me go!"

"That's  not happening..." She smiled as her eyes began to glow menacingly. "You see, out of all the guards we've come across on this ship you seem to be one of the few that wears this kind of unique armor..." She mused. "Which in turn means you're a more high ranking guard, and therefore it's more  than likely you know where the more valuable items are on the ship... so start talking!"

"T-THEY'RE IN THE DOOR JUST DOWN THE HALLWAY! PLEASE JUST LET ME GO!" The guard begged. The sister just growled at her as she dropped them.

The azure Ponygoyle glared at him for a few seconds before snapping her fingers in front of his face, his eyes glazed over for a moment before he slumped over unconscious. "All right, let's go."

As they made their way down the hall, Twilight suddenly felt an odd sensation posted her body. As if something was calling to her... as her sister's called out to her, her entire field of vision was replaced by a single lavender orb with a strange yet familiar symbol on it…

"Twilight... TWILIGHT!"

That is until the sound of Pinkie's voice snapped out of her stupor. "I... but-what just happened?"

"You just froze and stared into space!" Pinkie shouted as she waved her arms. "Like holy crap it was spooky!" She said. She turned towards her sister. "I mean you saw it to right?! That was freaky!"

"Indeed, for a moment I thought one of those wretched ponies had managed to cast a spell on you..." She replied that she held Twilight's claw. "Are you sure you're alright?"

Twilight looked down for a moment before shaking her head. "A-anyways we need to get through the door. Move so I don't hurt you two." Twilight said as her claw became encased in a purple glow and she tried pulling it off.... yet when she did a sharp pain shot through her arm nearly causing it to go limp.

"TWILIGHT!"

"What the... what was that?!" The lavender Ponygoyle gasped her azure sister glared at the door.

"That door... it's laced with magic-resistant metal!" She snarled. "How are we supposed to-"

[INTRUDER ALERT, INTRUDER ALERT]

"And things just went from bad to worse..." Pinkie added as the alarm systems went off.





At the underground base, the doors leading to the underground river opened as a speedboat was driven toward the docks. "I'm telling you man, it was some sort of strange creature!” One of the guards, an Earth Pony, stated as they got out of the boat. "They had huge bat wing, glowing eyes, and I'm pretty sure they had fangs too!"

His partner, a Unicorn, simply yawned as she stretched her arms. "Personally, I think you've been watching too many horror films..." She scoffed as they made their way up the stairs and towards the main hall.

"I'm not crazy! That shit really happened! You were there and, need I remind you, DRIVING!" The earth pony shouted but the unicorn simply rolled her eyes and the two walked onward. "If they feed on blood you're the first to go, the non-believers are always first!"

However as the doors to the docks closed behind them, two figures slowly emerged from the murky water... well, Fluttershy did. Rarity burst out while gasping for air. "FINALLY! I THOUGHT THEY NEVER-MMMPH!" She began, only for Fluttershy to immediately cover her mouth.

"Shhh! We can't afford to get caught!" She whispered.

Rarity just shot her a glare but Fluttershy slowly removed her claw. Slowly the two got out, doing their best not to make too much noise that would attract attention to them.

"I still can't believe that I had to swim through that.... that filth!" Rarity whispered in distain.

"It was our only way in without alerting the guards..." Fluttershy replied in a lower tone. "And besides, it's much better for you to have gotten over your fear a being filthy for the sake of the mission..."

Rarity glared at her sister. "Pushing me in does not count as me "getting over it"!" She retorted angrily.

"But the point is you didn't let it interfere with our mission." Fluttershy said with a smile ignoring the fact that Rarity looked like she wanted to strangle her. "Besides now we-"

However before she could finish, Fluttershy immediately fell to her knees as her eyes glazed over. As she struggled to stand back up, Fluttershy found herself staring at a spherical yellow object of some sort... however what got her attention the most was the symbol within it, it was as if she'd seen this symbol before…

"Fluttershy? Fluttershy what's wrong!?" Rarity asked, kneeling down beside her sister, however she got no response. "Fluttershy you're scaring me!"

Just then a loud laser was fired at them and hit near their feet, the explosions sending the two backwards. "I heard there was some new Ponygoyles that could actually put up a fight." A deep threatening voice said as a figure began stepping out of the shadows. Rarity groaned as she tried getting up and saw the assailant.

The stallion before her wore black bulky body armor with a dark grey hood and cape, a red utility belt, shoulder pads and gauntlets. His face was covered by a black mask with three claw marks.

As she took the appearance of their opponent, she felt her blood freeze once she recognized his mask. 'Three claw marks.... just like how Rainbow described the ones who were hunting us!'

"It seems that.... I'm left yet again wanting." The stallion said coldly as he aimed his gun at her. The gun began glowing as he glared at her with cold blank white eyes.
> Chapter 8: Shadows and Secrets (Part 2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It’s time to purge your wretched kind from this world..." The Hunter stated firmly, his words practically dripping with contempt as his weapon fully charged. “Now DIE”

Not wasting a second, Rarity grabbed Fluttershy and dived behind several steel crates as their assailant began firing upon them. "Of the times for one of them to show up..." Rarity whispered in anger before turning her attention to Fluttershy, who was still in somewhat of a daze. "Darling? Darling come on. Please we do not have time for this!" Rarity said rapidly as she carefully peeked over the edge of the crate.... and saw their opponent had suddenly vanished. "What the-? Where di-"

"Pathetic." A voice whispered as the Hunter reappeared behind her, grabbing her by the neck and lifting her off the ground. "I expected much more from you, considering the trouble your brethren gave my siblings..."

"PUT. HER. DOWN!" Fluttershy shouted, having finally snapped out of her daze, she quickly grabbed a discarded crowbar and attempted to hit the Hunter from behind…

Only for him to blast her right in the face with a noxious gas. "I take it she doesn't really fight that often? If she does, then that was.... very underwhelming."  He scoffed dismissively as Fluttershy fell to her knees couching.

Rarity glared at the Hunter with pure malice.... only for that glare to become a smirk as one of the steel crates was enveloped in her magic aura and slammed into him, forcing him to drop her as he was sent flying across the docks. "It's called a distraction, genius." She taunted before helping Fluttershy to her feet. “Com’on Fluttershy, we need to get out of here-” However as they ran the two felt something wrap around their bodies, pinning them together and locking their wings in place. "Oh you have to be joking dear!" The white Ponygoyle snarled as she turned around... and saw that the Hunter had launched two long metal ropes from his gauntlets to bind the two together.

"A lucky shot. Won't happen again I assure you." He growled as he began reeling them in...

Unbeknownst to any of them however, a pair of green, menacing eyes watch from below the surface... and just as the Hunter had gotten close enough, a large figure out of the water and sliced through the wires before he could react.

“What the-?!”

Letting out a menacing roar, the figure slammed its fist into the Hunter's chest before he could react, sending him flying straight through a wall.

"Some Hunter you are..." The figure snorted as it cracked it's neck nonchalantly. Rarity and Fluttershy could only stare at the being before them in shock as he turned his attention to them.

He was about as tall as Applejack, his body was covered in purple scales, he had a lime green underbelly and emerald spikes going down from the back of his head to the very top of his long, slender tail, his body was slim yet surprisingly muscular, and he had two large lime-green wings.

The two Ponygoyles eyed their supposed savior a few times, making sure their eyes weren't deceiving them...

He was a Dragon.

"A dragon in Manehatten.... okay, I must've gotten hit harder than I thought or something..." Rarity said as she rubbed her eyes again. "This is.... this is impossible. There's no way a dragon is still alive in this day and age."

“You'd be surprised how long out kind can live…” The Dragon smirked as he approached the two… only to notice Fluttershy flinch and hide behind Rarity, who had a more…. uncertain look on her face. “...something wrong?”

“My apologies Mr. Dragon….” Rarity said as she wrapped her wings around her shoulders. “But while we're grateful that you stepped in to help us… we don't exactly know who you are…”

"’Mr. Dragon’? Well that's a first.... I was basically a youngling the last time we met." The Dragon said with a chuckle. "You two haven't aged a day though it looks like, I mean WOW."

"A youngling?" Rarity repeated in confusion. "We've never-"

"Wait!" Fluttershy interrupted, pushing past Rarity she walked right up to him, much to the white Ponygoyles' surprise. She stared at him intently, taking in the Dragon's appearance...

The scales...

The spikes...

That innocent look in his eyes...

Fluttershy's eyes lit up with joy as it all came back to her. "Oh my goodness! You're-"

"-in for a real world of hurt!" The Hunter yelled as he rushed out of the hole in the wall and tackled the Dragon. "Stay out of this, dragon!" He shouted as he tried to wrestle him to the ground. "This is MY fight!"

The Dragon roared as he kicked him off, spreading his wings and took to the air. The hunter reacted by pressing a button on his left gauntlet, resulting in a sharp arm-length blade shooting out of it. Not wasting a second he aimed his right arm at the dragon and shot the same wire that he'd used on the Ponygoyles. The Dragon however had other ideas, as the wire wrapped around his right leg he immediately exhaled a huge fireball at the water underneath him. Less than a few seconds later, the entire room was filled with thick steam. "You girls came here for something right? Get it while I hold him off!" The two Ponygoyles heard him yell out.

"But... we can't just let him fight that pony! He'll be killed!" Rarity screamed as she tried racing towards his voice. However Fluttershy grabbed her and held her back. "Let me go! He needs our help!"

"I don't like it any more than you do. But we still have to get the artifact!" Fluttershy stated in a surprisingly more assertive tone. Sadly right as she said this, the alarm system immediately went off, sirens blaring and red lights flashing. "If we don't get it now we'll be dealing with a lot more than just that Hunter!"

"But he'll die if we don't do something!" Rarity snapped as she ripped her hand out of Fluttershy's grip. "I failed to protect the last Dragon I promised to look after! I won't let this one fall as well!”

Fluttershy winced as she watched Rarity run towards the fighting duo.... and glanced back at the boxes stored in the docking bay... specifically the one where she saw her vision. 'I hope I'm right about this...' She thought as she pulled out the device Fancy Pants had given her and quickly twisted the top half. Immediately after she did so, the orb started beeping and the smallest box in the back began glowing, a yellow aura of magic shooting out of it and being absorbed into the orb. Seconds later the beeping stopped as a powerful pulse of electricity erupted from the device, resulting in all of the lights going dead and security alarm abruptly shutting off. The entire base had lost its power.

"O-oh my." Fluttershy gulped, she tried looking around for her sister, now the darkness becoming her enemy thanks to the steam for earlier, causing her night vision to become all but useless. "R-Rarity?! Where are you?!"





As the Hunter continued to face off against the Dragon, he quickly summoned a shield of magic as his opponent exhaled another fireball at him. "I don't know how you got here Dragon, but whatever you and your master are up to... the Hunters WILL stop you!" He stated as he drew his own blade.

"What we WANT is just to be reunited with our clan! Something YOU won't stop!" The Dragon roared as he readied his own claws. "You and your family have hunted us down for eons! That blood feud ends today!"

Just as the Hunter was about to make his next move, a powerful pulse of electricity spread across the entire room, killing all of the lights and causing several sparks to start erupting from his suit. "AGH!" He screamed as he suddenly fell to his knees. "What the-OOF!"

"Get away from the Dragon!" Rarity roared as she then kicked him across the dock, sending him crashing into a pile of boxes. "You're not touching him, do you hear me?!"

"Hmm.... you don't have a connection to this Dragon… yet you feel the need to protect him." The Hunter groaned as he slowly picked himself up. "You are.... definitely unlike the ones I'm used to."

"And what, pray tell, do you mean by that?!" Rarity growled as she bared her fangs. "You and your family assaulted my sisters unprovoked, then you attack us for no reason other than our species being different?!" She snarled as she stormed towards him, her eyes glowing and her claws extending. "I should finish you off right here..."

"Yes well... maybe that'll be next time then." The Hunter smirked under his mask as he grabbed some small black orbs and threw them down, detonating the smoke bombs which caused her to start coughing and lose focus on where he was.

"That was a cheap shot, you coward!" She shouted, hacking and coughing as staggered backwards and fell to her knees. However before she could regain her bearings she was unexpectedly lifted up bridal style and carried away from the smoke. By the time she could see properly again both the smoke and steam had cleared… the Hunter was gone... and it was only at that point she realized she was in the arms of the very Dragon she was trying to help.

"Hey there." The Dragon said with a smile the melted her heart "Thanks for the help."

"....it would be nicer..... if you weren't stepping on my tail." Rarity said with a strained smile on her face. "Please darling, it's REALLY hurting right now."

"GAH!" The Dragon yelped as he lifted his foot off of her tail, earning a sigh of relief from the Ponygoyle. "Sorry, sorry, I'm SO sorry!" He apologized in embarrassment.

"It's... fine dear." As Rarity took a deep breath despite the pain. "It's.... just fine.... could have been much worse."

“Rarity! I found what we came for!” Fluttershy called out as she flew towards them holding a small box. “We need to leave before the security systems come back on!” Just as she finished explaining, they started hearing the sounds of ponies banging on the locked doors. A clear sign that they had to make themselves scarce.

“Oh great...” Rarity groaned. “Back into the sewers”

"I know a quicker way out. Just.... do you trust me right now?" The dragon asked the two.

"Well darling that's hardly a choice right now so for right now? Yes we trust you." Rarity sighed, Fluttershy simply nodded, the Dragon smiled at this as he lead them towards a shortcut he made himself... which basically amounted to a hole in the ceiling.

Just as they left, the emergency power finally fired up and the door shot open as several security guards rushed into to the room…. only to find the docking area a complete mess with no intruders in sight…





“And we're out!” The Dragon proclaimed as he flew out of a hole in the wall of a large drainage pipe with Rarity still in her arms, the claw markings a clear indication that he'd dug his way in.

"My oh my,  you have quite the tenacity dear." Rarity said with a small giggle. "Your claws being strong enough to able to cut through steel and rock so easily..."

The Dragon blushed at this bit of praise as Rarity carefully got out of his arms. "W-Well, I’ve had  several years of practice..." He stammered... only to suddenly find himself being hugged from behind by Fluttershy.

"I'm so happy you're alive!" She whispered as she wrapped her wings around him. "I... I... missed you so much..."

"Darling.... what are you talking about?" Rarity asked as she looked at the two with a confused look in her eyes. "I mean it's great to see another dragon but I don't exactly remember this one."

Fluttershy simply smiled. "Rarity, remember how he said he was young when he last saw us? this is the same Dragon we lived with back at the castle!" She explained gleefully.

Rarity blinked for a moment before taking the time to get a better look at him, disbelief written all over her face as she realized the Dragon they'd adopted into their clan had grown so much. "Y-you... you're the-"

"It's me..." He said as he grabbed the two and gave them an EXTREMELY tight hug. "You have no idea how much I missed you girls!"

"Sweetie... I'm glad... to see you too... b-but, too tight..." Rarity gasped, the pressure from his grip nearly causing her to pass out.

"Ch-choking.... not breathing..." Fluttershy wheezed.





In another location, a lone figure sat in his chair with three seperate screens in a triangular formation in front of him.

The lower left screen displayed Rainbow Dash and Applejack breaking into the island base.

The lower right screen had footage of Rarity and Fluttershy’s encounter with the Hunter, right up until the EMP was set off.

And the top screen showed footage Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, and their azure sister flying towards the aerial base.

“So they managed to get their claws on one of the artifacts… but we can’t let things get too easy...” the figure mused to himself as he pressed a few buttons, the screen lower right screen changed to display a creature with glowing red eyes. “Your real targets have arrived, be sure to only incapacitate them.”

[UNDERSTOOD MASTER.]

As the screen turned off, the figure turned his attention to the top screen. “Computer, deploy unit Alpha to the aerial base, do not engage the target until the EMP is activated.” He commanded.





Back on the island base, the two Ponygoyle weren't exactly having the best luck...

"GAH WHAT KIND OF ALERT BELL IS THIS?!" Rainbow yelled as she covered her ears. "SERIOUSLY WHY AT THIS INTENSITY?!"

"LESS YELLIN'  AND MORE MOVING!" Applejack snapped at her as she whipped her upside the head.

"Hey, I'm not the one who-what the..." Rainbow stopped herself mid-retort as they turned the corner and came across a rather... confusing sight.

The hallway was littered with the unconscious bodies of several security guards, most of them were covered in cuts and bruises, alive, but badly injured.

".... holy..... do you think they're gonna be alright?" Dash asked as she looked over one of them. "I mean I would've fought them all but.... there's no sense in doing this to the death, you know?"

Applejack remained silent as she stepped around one of the guards, if there was one thing their Clan was strict about, it was killing. In their family such an action was seen as only a last resort, and even then it was only remotely considered when the situation absolutely called for it...

".... so what? Call the mission a bust?" Rainbow asked as she looked around. "Because right now? I get the DISTINCT feeling that whatever we were here for? It's long gone by now.... AJ?"

"No..." Applejack replied and she began walking down the hallway, being careful not to step on any of the fallen guards. "It's still here... Ah know it is..."

"How could you possibly-"

"Ah felt it RD...." She whispered back to her sister in a serious tone. "The moment we got close to the base I felt some sort of.... pulse of magic. Ah don't know what it was, but Ah know for a fact that it came from what we're looking for... this feeling was... just like back in Everfree all those years ago..."

"Wait, y-you're telling me that...  the artifact has Avalonian magic in it?" Rainbow asked with a gulp. "Then we have to get it NOW. That stuff is like.... end of the world type stuff."

"....well look at you, reading up on magic." AJ said with a smirk.

"Hey I can read when it suits me.... anyways seriously we have to REALLY hunt this thing down NOW."

The two heard a scream from down the hall followed by an explosion as the entire base shook. Both of them shared an uncertain glance before they took off in the direction of the noise....

"Please don't be some kind of demon, please don't be some kind of demon, PLEAAASE don't be some kind of demon." Dash whispered to herself as they arrived at the spot, seeing a guard held up by what looked like a metallic Ponygoyle. "Er..... excuse me?"

"They look like... livin' suits of armor..." Applejack whispered and she got into a defensive stance.

The two metallic creatures immediately turned their attention to the new arrivals. [PONYGOYLES: PRIORITY ONE] One of them stated, dropping the guard to the ground before charging at Rainbow Dash.

"Okay tou-OOF!!" Rainbow gasped as the strange metal being tackled her into a wall, knocking the air right out of her. "A-any help now would be fine AJ." She gasped weakly before the creature threw her aside. AJ just growled as she pulled readied her claws.

"Come on then ya ugly bastards! Let's see what ya got!!"

[BATTLE MODE: ENGAGED] The second one announced as it spread it's metal wings and extended its own claws in retaliation... only for Rainbow to recover and deliver a sharp kick to the back of its head.

"Not today you jerk!" Rainbow said with a smirk as the robot was sent flying backwards into a wall. "You're gonna need something tougher than that to keep me down, I can keep going all night long!"

Unfortunately for Rainbow, the armored Ponygoyle was a lot more durable than she anticipated, less than a second after after it hit the wall it got up, barely any damage visible on its body as it's eyes began to glow. [TARGET RECONFIRMED. SIGHTS LOCKED ON BLUE PONYGOYLE.] It stated as its claws retracted into its arms and were replaced with what looked like miniature cannons.... aimed right at her. [FIRE!]

"Oh please small cannons like that don't-" Was all she managed to say before the cannons shot electricity of some kind and zapped her. Causing her to scream in pain before trying to fight back.... only for the voltage to suddenly increase forcing her to her knees.

"RAINBOW!" AJ called out in concern, sadly her own opponent took advantage of this momentary distraction and slammed it's fist into her stomach, sending her flying into one of the nearby computers. While her durable scales protected her from any serious damage, she was still somewhat dazed from the impact. "Ok... now you've gone and made me MAD!" She growled as she picked herself up.

[TARGET HAS ENTERED COMBAT STATUS. MISSION STATEMENT REMAINS. DETAIN BUT NOT KILL.] The armored being said as a strange small cannon popped out from it's wrist but AJ was ready for this one. As it fired an arc of electricity at her she dodged it just in time.... only for it's OTHER ARM to pull out a similar cannon and blast her with a bright red light.

Applejack's scream echoed throughout the room as she fell to the floor, red sparks of electricity dancing across her twitching and convulsing body.

Unfortunately, this had a bit of an opposite effect on their other captive.

"AJ!!" Rainbow called out upon hearing her sister's screams. Her eyes glowed blood red as she forced herself to stand up, despite the immense pain she was in. Desperate, she lunged at her opponent, slamming her fist into its chest area, hoping to at least do some damage. While it did manage to send the strange being back a few steps, due to her exhaustion and the electricity still disorienting her it did as much as a pebble thrown at a dragon... annoy it. "....come on you rust bucket.... I can tear you apart… with one arm behind my back."

[Turn up the voltage... about 50% should do.] A voice commanded from within the creature.

[UNDERSTOOD. INCREASING VOLTAGE.] The armored Ponygoyle stated before shooting a more powerful pulse of electricity at Rainbow Dash, forcing her to the ground.

‘Crush them..... CRUSH THEM!’ A small voice spoke to her in her mind.... these.... hunks of metal.... dared to hurt her sister..... and threaten to take her away?! They should have chosen a different spell to subdue her for no lightning bolt on the planet will save them now!

"RRRRRRAAAAAAAAGH!" Rainbow roared as her body was engulfed in an aura of light blue electricity sparking and brimming with power.

"Wh... what the..." Applejack gasped as she struggled to pick herself up despite the immense pain she was in., sadly she was barely able to get on her knees. "R-Rainbow...?"

[CIRCUMSTANCES HAVE UNEXPECTED PARAMETERS.] The second armored Ponygoyle stated as it turned its attention away from Applejack. [ENGAGING INTERCEPT MODE.]

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Rainbow yelled as she launched herself at it at breakneck speed. And while the creature's armor was tough this new aura allowed Rainbow to tear through it like cheap cloth, causing it to explode in a fiery inferno..... however this sudden power boost didn't last long and soon Rainbow felt her consciousness fade from her, collapsing less than a second after she stopped moving.

"...how... how did... you...?" Was all Applejack could whisper out before passing out, her body no longer able to endure the punishment it had been put through.

[Hmmm, unexpected but not completely unpleasant.... now then, bring the specimens back. We have what we need.... oh, and be ready for repairs.] A voice in the remaining creature’s comm said as it picked up both of it’s targets and flew out of the building….





Back on the air-carrier, Twilight screamed in pain as she held her arm, the aura around it extending up to her shoulder as strange patterns began to spread across her skin.

'Why... why does this power... feel so familiar?' Twilight thought to herself as she gasped in pain, the vision she had seen earlier suddenly flashing across her eyes yet again... as of it were calling out to her...

"Sister?!" Her sister shouted as she rushed to her side. "No no no no! Y-you have to be okay! Come on please calm down! Y-you can't be done now! We've come so close!"

"I... I'll be fine... but this... this power..." Twilight gasped as her sister helped her to her feet, the markings on her arm slowly receding as the or began to die down. "It's... it feels the same as... as that magic from Everfree...."

Pinkie gasped upon hearing this, giving the door a cautious glance before hurrying over to her side. "You don't mean... Avalonian magic?"

"I think it is... sisters whatever is in there we HAVE to get it out. NOW." Twilight said as she tried again.... only to receive a similar, if less intense, response. "H-how do we open this thing?!"

"It must be constructed from some sort of magic-resistant steel..." Their Azure sister elaborated as she inspected the door, glancing at the small sphere Pinkie was keeping in her satchel. "Maybe if we use that device...."

"Uh are you sure?" Pinkie asked as she rolled the sphere around her satchel a bit. "I mean it's kinda risky and we've already seen what it can do to Twilight..... but I mean if it's the only way-"

"Pinkie." Her sister began, giving her a hard glare. "We don't have much of an option here, it's only a matter of time before they ponies start getting wise to their subordinates getting knocked out." She stated firmly, holding out her hand. "We need to finish this mission NOW."

"..... y-you're right." Pinkie said as she pulled out the device. "Okay so um... what do we just put it on the door or something?"

"I believe he said to twist it like so...." She replied as she grabbed it and proceeded twist the top half. Soon, just like the one Fluttershy used, the orb started beeping.... however, as it continued to do so a bright flash began emitting from behind the door... yet at the same time Twilight's aura began to flare once more...

"Wha-what's happening to m-AAAAAAHHH!" Twilight suddenly screamed as a powerful pulse of magic erupted from her body, sending Pinky and her sister flying across the hallway, the magic briefly swirled around her body before being absorbed into the device, followed by an electric pulse that spread throughout the entire ship. As a result, everything within the Airship abruptly shutting off.... including the engines keeping it airborne.

"Oookay me thinks this was SUPER dumb!" Pinkie said with a gulp as the place soon began turning red from the emergency lights. "Oh crap oh crap oh crap! What do we do?!"

[EMERGENCY ALERT! EMERGENCY ALERT!] A computerized voice announced as sirens begin blaring throughout the halls. [ALL SYSTEMS OFFLINE! ALL SYSTEMS OFFLINE! AIRSHIP LOSING ALTITUDE! CRASH COURSE IMMINENT!EMERGENCY POWER GENERATOR ACTIVATED! ALL SECURITY SYSTEMS OVERRIDDEN! ALL PERSONNEL ARE TO EVACUATE AND BOARD THE ESCAPE PODS IMMEDIATELY! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! REPEAT: THIS IS NOT A DRILL!]

As the voice continued to repeat this, several of the doors in the hall, including the one holding the artifact they were seeking, immediately swung open as the sounds of several panicking ponies echoed throughout the area.

"Okay, whatever we were sent after?! It's NOT worth our lives sister! We have  to leave!" Pinkie yelled as she went to pick up Twilight.... only to see her Azure sister still trying to look for the artifact. "... ARE YOU  KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?!"

"You  heard the announcer! The ship's going down! If we lose the artifact  here we might lose it forever!" She responded harshly as she approached  one of the machines, slamming her climb to the safe and ripping out the  artifact. "NOW we can leave."

"You took a stupid risk." Pinkie said with almost a growling tone.

"Oh  please get over it. This thing could do wonders you haven't heard of if..." The Azure sister said with an eyeroll. "Now come on or do you think THAT'S rash to?"

Pinkie gave her a irritated glance before they started carrying their weakened sister down the hallway.... only for the entire ship to shake violently, knocking them off their feet! "What's going on!?" Pinkie yelped as the entire hallway became slanted, prompting the sisters to dig their claws into the floor or the walls.

"The ship's going into a nosedive!" Their Azure sister shouted as she quickly levitated Twilight onto her back and started flying upwards. "We've got to get out of here now!"

[TARGETS SIGHTED.] A mechanical voice stated as a pair of metal claws tore open the side of the ship. Pulling through the hole was an armored Ponygoyle yet it.... seemed to be devoid of anything resembling a soul.

"What the heck is THAT thing!?" Pinkie gasped as the strange creature charged at the trio, Pinkie wasn't fast enough to dodge the newcomer while holding onto Twilight and Trixie was absolutely dumbfounded by the creature's presence to react fast enough...

And that very moment however, Twilight's eyes glowed as she quickly teleported them outside of the ship, letting the creature crash through the wall. "What... was... that thing...?" Twilight asked between gasps as they watched the ship slowly plummet towards the lake. Several escape pods already being launched from various areas as it continued its descent.

"Um sister what was that thing?" Pinkie asked her Azure sister. "Because it didn't seem very friendly."

"Oh what gave that away?!" She snapped at her. "THE PART WHERE IT TRIED TO ATTACK US?!"

"Nah, it was because he had a really grumpy expression!" Pinkie stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "I mean did you SEE his face? It was probably frozen that way!"

Her sister rolled her eyes as they descended towards one of the rooftops. Gently laying Twilight against the wall. "Are you okay sister?"

Twilight could only watch as the shift finally crashed into the lake, sending tidal waves out from it's impact, small part of her feeling guilty. "I... I'm tired, but fine..."

"Tired nothing you look like you're about to faint again! That was REALLY dangerous Twi!" Pinkie said as she looked her over. "Is anything wrong? Do you need a hug-"

"We can worry about that later! That crazy creature is coming for us!" The Azure sister snarled. True to her word, the strange Ponygoyle from earlier burst out of the crashing ship be made a beeline for the trio. "Give her the item and tell her to run!"

Pinkie nodded, quickly taking off the satchel holding the artifact and handing it over to Twilight.

"Wait! You don't have to fight without-" She began, only for Pinkie to place a finger on her lips.

"You're in worse shape than any of us, we can handle that weirdo. But you need to replenish your energy. Now go!" She stated as the creature landed on the rooftop.

[TARGETS LOCKED.] The monster said as it armed it's cannon. Twilight could only growl at herself as she took off and tried flying away from the upcoming carnage.... only for the second one to see her and fire off a heavy stun laser.

Twilight had no time to brace herself as the laser immediately struck her left wing, she screamed in agony as it went completely numb and she spiraled down towards the busy street below. Focusing with what little magic we have left, she teleported to the closest secluded area she could recall at the moment:

Manehatten Central Park.
> Chapter 9: Shadows and Secrets (Part 3)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the alleyways of Manhattan, a young Earth Pony rushed through an alleyway in a mad panic, desperately clinging to his stolen goods. He immediately took a sharp right and rushed towards a busy street, hoping to blend in with the crowds and elude his pursuers...

…only for Detective Cadence to push her way out of the crowd, cutting off his escape route. "Freeze!"

The thug growled under his breath as he hesitantly took a step back, slowly reaching for his knife….

"OH NO YOU DON'T!"

Cadence smirked as her new partner, a yellow Pegasus with a blue mane, dropped down from above, slamming their target into the wall, easley disarming him of his knife and pinning his arms behind his back. "Seriously? How desperate do you have to be to snatch purses in this neighbourhood?" She heard him ask mockingly as he pulled out his handcuffs.

"It was for my moms! Seriously, just let me go!" The purse snatcher begged as they dragged him to their car.

"Sure. And I'm the Queen of The Crystal Empire." He said as he closed the door.

"Nice timing, Flash." Cadence smirked as she got in the divers seat.

"Just glad I could help." He smiled as she started to drive. "So…. out of curiosity, you find anything weird from that commotion atop Fancy's tower?"

Cadence briefly flinched at this, however, she quickly regained her composure. "Sadly not much, the only info Fancy Pants give me in the public was that one of the generators malfunctioned..." She stated, opting for a half-truth considering the circumstances. She briefly noticed her partners sceptical look and shrugged. "Sound fishy to me too."

"And you couldn't investigate further?" Her partner said as the two got in. "Because that sounds exceptionally sketchy honestly. Like for real."

"Listen, rookie..." Cadence began as she started driving. "Fancy Pants isn't the kind of guy you can just wave your badge in front of and automatically get every answer you're looking for." She explained as she turned a corner. "Trust me, I know that he has more than a few skeletons in his closet, the problem is that he's very good at hiding said closet."

"What's the point of being a detective or a cop if we can't do a bit of light snooping?" He said with a smirk. "I mean the guy probably has his guard down right now. Thinks everything is all in the clear."

"I mean you two can do that afterwards right? After I'm dropped off? Please don't just leave me in the car." Their suspect begged.

"Zip it back there!" Cadence snapped, immediately taking a left. "You know rookie, if I didn't know any better I'd say you-"

*FWASH*

*THUMP*

Before she could finish, a bright lavender light suddenly appeared right above the car, less than a second afterwards a lone figure was sent flying out of it and landed right on top of the hood.

"HOLY SHI-" Flash hollered as Cadence immediately hits the brakes, unintentionally throwing the figure off.

"What was that?!" The suspect asked with a lot of panic.

"WHAT PART OF YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?!" Cadence shouted as she got out and hurried over to the figure. "....and of course my luck is this bad."

"Ugh... guess my spell was.... a little off..." Twilight groaned as she slowly picked herself up, only to come face-to-face with a familiar pony. "C-Cadence? What are-"

"When the name of Faust is that thing!?" Flash shouted as he got out of the car.

"Flash stay with the snatcher!" Cadence snapped as she turned her attention back to Twilight, examining her wounds and the ragged breathing. "What the Tartarus happened to you? Did you get into some kind of fight?"

"Y-you could say that..." Twilight gasped and she struggled to get to her feet, but quickly found herself being helped up by her friend. "Thank you..."

Flash in the meantime could only watch in fascination and confusion as his superior helped up the strange creature, one that she seemed to be very familiar with. However, as he attempted to properly register the situation, he caught a glimpse of something in the reflection of the car window.... a figure standing atop one of the buildings… aiming what looked like….

...a sniper rifle.

"GET DOWN!!" He shouted before ducking behind the car, the sound of glass shattering getting everyone's attention.

They all saw the purse snatcher looking a bit woozy as a dart with a red feathered tip was embedded into his chest. "Thhhhat just.... came from the skyyyyy my mare." He slurred before slumping over and passing out.

"Oh no!" Twilight gasped as she quickly summoned a dome of magic around herself and Cadence just as the assailant fired upon them. "I can't... hold this.... for long!" She grunted as the assailant started firing at her, her already fatigued body was just barely able to conjure up enough magic to protect them both, as evidenced by her slowly falling to her knees with sweat dripping down her forehead.

not wasting a second, Cadence quickly pulled out her communicator and contacted her comrade. "Flash, it seems like whoever's up there is using a Winchester!" Cadence stated as she drew her own gun and aimed at the rooftops, hoping for a clearer shot. "Flash, can you see where the shooter is?!"

"Maybe, but I need a better angle!" He stated as he immediately drew his own gun and glanced over the hood of the car. "I'm gonna need some cover!"

"Dammit... hey Twi, think you can give us some cover?" Cadence asked the lavender Ponygoyle, who was still worn out from her previous spell. "Look, I know it's asking a lot. But we need to find a way to get a clear shot on that sniper!"

"I'm... trying!" Twilight grunted as she desperately attempted to keep the shield up, however, her endurance was being pushed to its limits, as evidenced by the several cracks becoming visible on the surface of the shield every time the assailant fired.

But then, at that moment, the artifact in her bag suddenly started to pulsate yet again, engulfing her body in a warm lavender glow. Much to her surprise, she felt her magic and stamina slowly being replenished...

However, the shots were still making some dents in her shield. It almost felt like to some degree like they were draining her magic. "Hurry detective! I don't think my magic can hold up much longer!"

'Damnit!' Flash mentality cursed as he attempted to fire at their assailant again, only to miss and be forced to take cover before they fired upon him once more. 'We're sitting ducks here!' He thought as he turned his attention to his superior and the strange creature, who was shifting her some into a wall to protect both of them. 'There's gotta be something we can to-wait....'

"Hey, Cadence! Notice anything about our shooter?" Flash whispered as he tried making sure none of the darts hit him. "Like for instance how they can see clearly on a dark night like this?"

Cadence glanced at her comrade and thought for a moment, looking upwards she realized that their assailant seemed to be wearing some sort of helmet with red goggles covering their eyes.

'Night vision, of course!' the detective smirked as she glanced at Flash and winked. "On my signal, make a beeline for the building." She whispered as her horn started to glow. "Twilight, I have an idea, but you're going to have to trust me on this..."

"How much trust?" Twilight asked as another dart hit the magic shield and cracked it.

"Look do you trust me or not? I need to know right now." Cadence asked as she looked at where the shooter fired.

Twilight bit her lower lip, glaring up at the assailant as they proceeded to load another round. "Fine, I... I trust you! But whatever you're going to do you better do it now!" She stated as several more cracks spread across her shield.

"Okay. I need you to make a flashbang spell." Cadence said. Only to find Twilight with a confused look on her face. "Make a bright orb that explodes in light. Our assailant is wearing night goggles. Meaning they're seeing in the dark, if they got some light in their eyes they'll lose that advantage."

Taking her advice, Twilight slowly yet subtly lowered her left hand, making it look like she was suffering from fatigue (though in a way she was rather worn out). Placing her hand behind her back she slowly started to focus a large amount of her magic into a small glowing orb...

Cadence then began adding her own magic to the orb. The light soon began building up and up until it reached a critical point. "Okay NOW!" Cadence shouted as Twilight chucked the orb through her shield and straight towards the shooter, after which it exploded in a bright flash of light.

"What the-AARRGH!" The assailant screamed as she was blinded, dropping the rifle and covering her eyes in pain.

Seeing his chance, Flash immediately rushed towards the building she had been perched on and flew straight for the top, quickly pulling out a taser. The moment he got to the top he immediately rammed it into assailants' chest. With a smirk, he turned it on.... but noticed it did nothing as the sniper then quickly disarmed him and on instinct grabbed him by the neck (the flash causing her to not see his wings) and toss him off the building. "Nice try cop boy. You're gonna have to try a bit harder though."

"How's this for harder!?" Flash fired back as he spread his wings, flying upwards out of range before diving towards her and delivering a sharp kick to her face with enough force to knock off her helmet, sending her staggering backwards as well as revealing a mask with three red diagonal claw marks and the with a horn protruding from her forehead. Ignoring the pain in his lower right leg from such an impact, he then quickly drew his firearm again and aimed it right at her face before she could go for her rifle. "Don't. move."

She sighed as she kept her hands up. "Do you even know what kind of creature you're guarding?" She asked as he began handcuffing her. "What it is or why it's here?"

"I know that you attacked two cops and have a firearm I am going out on a limb and say you stole. Now then let's see who you are…." Flash said as he reached for the captured mare's mask.

Unfortunately for Flash, their adversary seemed to be two steps ahead of them, as the moment he touched her face, an electric jolt emitted from the mask, temporarily stunning him. "OW! Son of a-"

*POW*

Not wasting a second, the assailant immediately jumped upwards and delivered a spinning kick to his face, sending him spiralling across the roof.

"You know it's impolite to ask a girl's name before the first date." She smirked as she quickly picked the lock on her handcuffs, grabbed the night vision goggles and began running off, her prey eluding her tonight though the hunt was still on…

"Trust me, lady, you're not the kind of girl to bring home to Mom." A third voice chimed in, change just in time to dodge a concentrated blast of magic, courtesy of Detective Cadence who rushed out of the stairway leading to the roof.

"About time you showed up..." Flash groaned as he massaged his aching jaw, however upon looking around he noticed that a certain creature was missing. "Wait, where's-"

"She's not in any position to fight right now." Cadence interrupted as she drew her firearm. "I told her to seek shelter until she recovers."

"You're HELPING that demon!? Do you even know what it is or do you not care for how many their kind has slaughtered?!" The unicorn sneered under her mask. "They are a danger to us and to the rest of our kind! She has to be killed!"

Cadence narrowed her eyes. "That kind of accusation falls flat when you go out of your way to assassinate anyone associated with her!" She fired back. "This is your final warning: stand. down!"

"I only used tranq darts, your suspect is still alive just unconscious. I'm not here for civilians... even if you do side with her I'm not some cold-hearted killer!" The assailant stated firmly.

"That does NOT justify shooting at a Police Officer!" Flash interjected. "Seriously, what the hell makes you think you're less of a criminal in this situation-"

"Flash..." Cadence whispered, cutting him off. "I need you to head to the park. My friend... I don't think she'll be in any condition to defend herself in the state she's in right now... please... I know this is a lot to take in but-"

"No, I get ya. Don't worry your... dragon/pony friend is gonna be fine." Flash said as he took off. "I just had to go to work today. Could've called in sick but noooo..."

"You're making a big mistake!" Cadence heard the assassin shout. "That thing is not your ally, the moment you stop being useful to her, she'll betray you and leave you for dead!"

"Yes, I should take the advice of a psycho nag who just shoots at people without any regards to the concept of innocent crossfire!" Cadence fired back. "You claim to be a good pony but I know under that demeanour? You're just some killer who gets her kicks from having another trophy to her collection."

The assassin's eyes narrowed behind her mask. "You naive fool..." She growled before drawing a smaller firearm from a hidden compartment in her armor. "If you're going to throw down your life for that beast, then be prepared for the consequences that come with it!"





Meanwhile in the park, Twilight soared beneath some of the trees before stopping right next to a lake to catch her breath. "Finally... wasn't sure I could hold out for much longer..." She whispered, breathing a sigh of relief as she inspected the artifact she'd acquired. "....just what are you?"

The artefact glinted as she looked it over before stuffing it into her satchel… and immediately collapsed e out of pure exhaustion. "Uuuuugh..... stupid magic fatigue." She grumbled.

The sound of rustling bushes caught her attention, biting her lip, she glanced over her shoulder, mentally praying it wasn't the assassin.

Thankfully, luck seemed to be on her side has she witnessed Cadence's comrade stumble out of the bushes. "Wow..." Flash whispered, finally getting a decent look at the creature. "... look miss... whatever you are, don't panic. Cadence sent me to-"

However, he then saw how worn out she was, almost to the point of passing out completely. He hurried over to see how badly her wounds are."You look like you took one heck of a beating.... but it wasn't from your would-be killer. What happened?" He asked, kneeling next to her.

While Twilight was somewhat unsure about revealing too much info to this Pegasus, Cadence seemed to trust him enough to task him with looking after her. 'I suppose I can give him a small explanation...' She thought to herself. "I was in the middle of a fight with my clan, unfortunately, our enemy was stronger than I expected...."

"No shit... look, we need to get you to a hospital, some of these wounds could get infected..." Flash said as he examined her.

"Thank you for your concern but I only need to wait for the sun." She said with a pained groan.
"Once it shines and I am stone I will heal immediately."

"Wait, stone?" Flash asked in a sceptical tone. "....I have several questions...." He sighed as he sat down next to her.

"Trust me... when I awaken... I'll explain... everything." She whispered, only to feel a bit of warmth against her face...

The Sun had risen.





The Assassin cursed as she witnessed the Sun rising. "Consider yourself lucky..." She growled as she glared at Cadence. "Next time, the monster WILL die!" She snapped before throwing down a smoke bomb.

"Hold it!" Cadence shouted as she rushed through the smoke but saw the assassin had already vanished. "Dammit... I need to go check on Twilight t."

However as she turned her attention to the park, she realized that the sun had already begun to rise. "....something tells me I'm going to have a lot of questions to answer..." She mumbled to herself as she immediately rushed downstairs, thinking about how perplexed and confused Flash would be after all this...





Back at the Castle atop Sunset Enterprises, Fluttershy, Rarity, and their new comrade Spike landed on the tallest tower. "I still can't believe someone had enough money and power to move everything here…" Spike stated as he looked around. "It's astonishing..."

"You're telling us, darling. It's more remarkable this all didn't fall to pieces." Rarity said as she stretched.... only to notice that something felt off.

Someone was missing.

"Ah good, you managed to complete your mission." A voice called out, getting their attention. The group turned to see John walking towards them. "Fancy Pants is in a meeting right now, so he tasked me with-" The Earth Pony blinked upon seeing the purple Dragon before him. "....and this individual is...?"

"Oh! This dear is a dragon we recruited from the old days and he has grown... exceptionally well I might add." Rarity said with a small blush that went unnoticed.

John arched a brow and took a moment to observe and inspect the Dragon, somewhat sizing him up. "Intriguing." He stated bluntly before walking over to Fluttershy. "I assume you have the artifact?"

"U-um yes!" She said, searching through her satchel before she grabbed it. "Though... I think Fancy might be in for more than he can chew."

"Hm? And what does that mean exactly?"

"The artifact....." Fluttershy began. "I can't explain how, but its aura feels very... unique." She tried to explain, unfortunately, her odd experience with the artifact left her memory slightly hazy.

"I see, I'll see to it that Fancy is alerted of this immediately," John replied as he took the artifact, carefully examining it. "In the meantime, I suggest the three of you wait for your... brethren. They should be returning shortly as well..." He stated before making his way back into the castle.

"We should be seeing them again soon dear don't worry." Rarity said to an obviously nervous Fluttershy, though even she was starting to get a little worried. Shouldn't they all have been here or sent some sort of signal that they were coming back by now?

"This is great!" Spike cheered, bringing them out of their thoughts. "The whole clan will be back together again, just like old times!" He stated as he walked towards the edge of the balcony. "I especially can't wait to see the pink one, she was always the funniest-"

"Pinkie Pie." Rarity corrected. "Remember, we all have names now."

"R-right... that's gonna be really weird now." Spike said with a blush. "I-I mean not that I can't handle it! It just.... new."

"....does anyone else find it a little weird that they still haven't returned?" Fluttershy asked in a nervous tone as she glanced at the horizon, as the night sky was slowly changing to deep orange. "I mean... the Sun is almost up..."

*BIZZZAP*

A pink flash of magic cut him off as Pinkie and her azure sister appeared just between the two, tumbling to the ground in exhaustion and covered in battle scars.

"Pinkie!" Rarity screamed as she hurried to her sister, who was groaning in pain. "My word darling, what happened?! You look like you had an encounter with some barbarian horde!"

"That's... not too far... f-from the truth..." Pinkie coughed as she was helped up. "We got ambushed by an iron Ponygoyle..."

"An… Iron Ponygoyle?" Fluttershy repeated as she helped her azure sister stand up. "What are you talking about?"

"She's not joking...." The azure one spoke up as she leaned against the wall. "It was some sort of armor that resembled a Ponygoyle, able to move, think, and fight on its own..."

"Living armour... what sort of sorcery could do this?" Spike asked as he walked alongside them... and then noticed something. "Wait. Where's the purple sister? She was supposed to be with you two wasn't she?!"

"Wait, Twilight isn't here?!" Pinkie asked in a panicked tone as she looked around. "We told her to take the artifact and teleport away while we took care of the Iron-goyle! She should've gotten back before us!"

"An Iron-what?" Rarity asked as she tried helping her sister calm down. "Darling, are you saying that a literal suit of armor looked like us and attacked you?"

"Yeah! The way it moved, fought and talked, it was nothing like a normal Ponygoyle, we just barely managed to escape!" Pinkie elaborated, only to turn her attention to Spike. "Wait, who are-"

"Oh um.... hi pink one-I mean Pinkie... I'm uh... I'm your dragon guard from the old castle?" Spike said with a blush as he scratched the back of his head. "I mean it has been a while since we last met but I'm still the same… sorta."

".... Dragon?" Pinkie asked as she approached him. "Is... is that really you?"

"Y-Yeah, I go by Spike now-OOFF!" Spike began before Pinkie happily tackled him to the ground.

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe it's you! You've grown so big!" She cheered as she hugged him tightly.

"Y-yeah and you s-still have... tight hugs... a little help? Somebody? Please, my ribs… breaking." Spike begged as Pinkie refused to loosen her hug.

"Ok dear, that's enough." Rarity giggled and levitated Pinkie off of him, briefly struggling to do so due to her iron grip.

"This is so amazing!" Pinky smiled as she was pulled off. "Rainbow Dash and Applejack are going to flip when they see you... where are they anyway?"

"I thought.... shouldn't they be here by now?" Fluttershy asked nervously. "I mean this is rather pushing it and.... they.... oh dear, oh no. What if they were captured by the strange armor that attacked you three?!"

"Or worse, the Hunters!" Rarity gasped, getting everyone's attention.

"Wait, they attacked you again!?" Their azure sister asked, her tone changing from worried to serious.

"Yes, one of them came after us when we tried to retrieve the artifact." Rarity explained to the group. "If Spike hadn't shown up when he did we might not have made it...."

"Ok... is anyone else seeing a pattern here?" Pinkie asked. "I mean, we get attacked by the Hunters the first time we go exploring, and then again on a mission, and now these creepy Iron-goyles start showing up?"

"You think…. you think they might have some connection?" Rarity asked, crossing her arms as she began pondering the same thing. "I mean, coincidence is one thing but this.... there has to be more to this then what it seems. Who is giving them these weapons first of all?"

"You'd be surprised how easy it is to get that kind of weaponry in this day and age... provided you have the right connections..." Spike explained glancing over his shoulder. "Unfortunately we'll have to wait before we get any answers..."

The rest of the group turned to him, wondering what he meant... only to realize that the Sun was starting to rise over the horizon... it was time for them to rest.





"Okay, so you mean that... that the creature we just saved. She's one of those Ponygoyle creatures my grandma would always tell stories about? The kind that is supposed to be a myth?!" Flash said as he and Cadence talked near Twilight's now stone-based body. "Well... formerly a myth anyways."

"That's basically long and short of it, yeah..." Cadence sighed as she rested on a nearby bench. "Trust me, I was just as surprised as you were when I first met her... but contrary to what that psychopath says she's not a threat. Just... out of her element at the moment."

"Yeah.... but I mean. This is a LOT to take in Cadence." Flash said as he groaned. "I mean what next? Aliens from outer space?" He chuckled as he looked at the stone form of Twilight.

'Knowing my luck, they might just be...' Cadence giggled a little before turning her attention to her partner. "Flash... I know you're still new and you're right, this is a lot for someone, anyone to take in on the first day..." She began as she stood up. "...but we need to keep... all of this, under wraps..."

"Oh yeah, that's gonna be super easy." Flash groaned as he rubbed his head. "And of course this all happens to be just before my birthday of all things. Last year was that Bar Brawl and now I'm covering up the fact apparently bat demons exist."

"Play your cards right and I'll buy you a cake later..." Cadence groaned as she walked past him, making her way back to her car. "Just be glad your car didn't get turned into swiss cheese."

"OH SHIT THE PERP!" Flash helped as he rushed back to the car. "Please still be there please still be there please!" He rushed to the back door and opened it to see if he was still out cold.

"Oh thank goodness...." He sighed in relief as Cadence put on some gloves and opened the door, carefully pulling the tranq dart out.

"Well, at least we get something out of it..." She said as she placed it into a small evidence bag. "I'll inspect this later, see if I can get some info on where she got this type of tranq."

"Or at least the ingredients?" Flash said as he looked around. "And um. How are we writing this to the chief because.... like this is going to be hard to hide, some of it at least."

"You mean writing off a psycho vigilante who wanted to try and send a message?" Cadence said with a smile.

Flash stared at his superior for a moment before giving her an understanding smirk. "So that kind of stuff is more common in this neighbourhood, huh?"

"You would honestly be shocked by how often it is," Cadence said with a sigh. "Anyways let's get him to lock up."





Meanwhile, in an underground bunker, the male Hunter stormed into the room, his actions doing nothing to hide how furious he was. "So close, I was SO CLOSE!!" He screamed, slamming his fist into a nearby wall hard enough to dent the metal. "And then all of it gets undone because that damn dragon had to interfere!"

The shadows of the bunker hid his features as he removed his mask and growled like an animal. "Those damned abominations were right there. Right in my sights and then... FUCKING LIZARD!"

"So am I right to assume that your mission was a bust as well?" A distinctly female voice asked as a figure emerged from the shadows; the same Assailant that had attempted to assassinate Twilight.

"I was ambushed by the dragon is all. What is your excuse Night Hawk?" The male Hunter said as she took her own mask off, once more the darkness obscuring her features.

"Apparently, the beast managed to manipulate two civilians into assisting her..." Night Hawk grumbled before removing her armor. "Both of them were cops, needless to say, they managed to get the drop on me while she escaped."

"I'd ask why you didn't decide to kill them as well but then you mentioned they were cops.... so, for now, it's excusable." The other one said as he began taking his gear off. "But what has me curious is... why now? All these years and NOW they're active?"

Before she could respond, however, their comlinks suddenly went off. [Spellbinder, Night Hawk, I need you both in the computer room immediately, there's something you need to see...]

Both siblings hurried to where the voice came from and saw their eldest sibling in front of some computers with a red light blinking on the screen. "Alright White Knight, what's so special this time? Another sighting because I could use the relief." Spellbinder said with a dark smile.

"That's the thing...." White Knight said in an uncertain tone. "...I'm not 100% sure. Our servers were just hacked by an anonymous source.... the weird thing is they didn't steal any data or anything... all they did was send us this one image..."

The massive screen above them immediately changed images, revealing what appeared to be two slumbering Ponygoyles inside of some sort of cage.

"Ponygoyles... all wrapped up for us. Seems like we're not the only one to understand the threat they represent!" Night Hawk said with a small smile. "I say we find them and interrogate them for their clan's whereabouts and activities."

White Knight sighed at this statement. "So, someone manages to hack our systems somehow, sends us a picture of two captured Ponygoyles.... around the same time we have our own encounter with their lot...." He stated, turning his attention to his comrades. "...and absolutely none of this seems suspicious to either of you?"

"We may not want to look this gift horse in the mouth brother dear." Spellbinder said, studying the cage and the contents within it. "And besides it's two fewer monsters the world has to fear. How is this a bad thing?"

"Have you ever heard the saying; "If it's too good to be true, it usually is"?" White Knight replied with a stern tone. "For all we know this could be a trap set by those very creatures, simply laying out the bait and waiting for us to rush into an ambush."

However, as he said that... a video feed came up with static and darkness obscuring who was calling them. [Hello, fellow warriors of the sun. Do you like the gift that I have laid out for you? I understand if you feel this is too easy... so I come with another offer. Maybe instead of only killing these two abominations, you would perhaps... want to lure more to them?]

The trio could only stare at the anonymous individual with varying emotions, on one hand, they were being given the chance to end the Ponygoyle threat once and for all.... and on the other...

"While I appreciate your offer, and forgive me for sounding ungrateful... but why are you helping us?" He asked. "And how did you manage to capture them so easily...?"

[I have a benefactor who has a keen interest in these freaks. So much so he invented a unit of robotic soldiers to emulate their appearance. I simply reprogrammed one of them to attack and capture rather than only examine and study.] The voice said and Knight could feel them smile. [I assure that what you see is what you get. No strings attached.]

White Knight glanced at his comrades for a moment before going over the situation in his head. A small part of him was still unsure of this person's true motives, there was just something... off about all this...

....and yet, on the other hand, this would be one of the only chances they had to end the Ponygoyle threat once and for all, they couldn't waste such a golden opportunity.

"Very well, we accept."
> Chapter 10: Shadows And Secrets (Part 4)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I still don't trust that guy…" White Knight said as he prepped one of his guns. "If anything, I think we should be on guard in case of a trap or something-"

"Brother, few even know of those creatures…" Spellbinder interrupted while sharpening one of his knives. "...if he did and contacted us, that means they MUST know of our duties."

"...and you don't find it the least bit suspicious that they somehow knew about us?" White Knight asked in an uncertain tone. "Don't get me wrong, I understand how important this is, but something about how this has all been set up feels a little… off…"

"Be that as it may, I highly doubt that we'll ever get a shot like this again…" Night Hawk chimed in as she put on her mask. "Don't you think the risk might be worth it?"

"...I …it will… but I'm still allowed to be worried, aren't I?" He fired back, his voice while dripping with sarcasm.

Spellbinder simply snorted as he finished loading one of the last weapons before pulling his mask down. "Well, all our stuff is loaded. If you want to stop now this is your last chance, brother… and maybe our only chance at taking out two of these monsters." He stated firmly.

White Knight narrowed his eyes before turning his attention back to the screen, which still displayed the image of two captive slumbering Ponygoyles. As much as he hated to admit it, this was too valuable of an opportunity to let pass by. "...fine, but the moment this comes close to being an ambush or a trap, we're pulling out. Got it?"

"Got it." The other two responded as they got in their vehicles. White Knight soon hopped onto his and they all took off into the night sky… though Knight had a gut feeling this was going in a very different way his siblings thought it would...







At roughly the same time as the sun began to set, a Police Car pulled up just outside of Manehattan Park.

"...and then Stormbolt runs into the office screaming 'Don't drink the coffee!'." Cadence chuckled as she stepped out of the vehicle. "Let me tell you, it took us a week to clean up the break room."

"Jeez. Shame I missed it!" Her partner Flash chuckled as he got out of his side of the vehicle. "Seriously, how is Storm THAT unlucky?!"

"Oh, it's the riddle of the ages." Cadence said with a smile as they walked into the park. As they approached the lake, the duo came across Twilight's statue, right where they had left her. Still resting... still recovering.

"Good thing no one managed to find her..." Cadence mused to herself.

"I don't think there's much we could do to move her though. She looks heavier than an average statue." Flash said as he felt the statue over. "It'd have to consider the stone's own weight and then the warm body underneath-" He continued, only for Cadence to give him a quizzical look.

"Did you take masonry at some point?" She asked with an arched brow.

"My aunt was a bricklayer, picked up a few key points whenever she came over." Flash elaborated, casually glancing at the package Twilight's statue seemed to be holding close to her chest. '...what could she be holding that's so important?' He thought to himself before turning his attention back to Cadence. "Hey, do you kn-WOAH!"

Before he could ask, several cracks began to form across the statue's body as it started to shake in place, as if something was thrashing within it, trying to escape. After a few seconds, the outer Stone layer shattered to pieces as Twilight let a powerful roar and spread her wings.

"Aaaah… oh, that feels much better." Twilight yawned once her roar died down. She then turned her attention to the two Equines. "You made the right choice trying to resume your normal lives while I was in stone."

"Wait you could see and hear all that?" Flash asked.

"It's a gift unique to those of us who are attuned to Magic." She explained as she observed her reflection in the lake water, picking a few bits and pieces of stone out of her hair. "When we focus our magic just right, we can sense and sometimes hear events that transpire around us while in our stone slumber."

"That's... actually kinda cool." Flash said. "So before I lose my train of thought, what's in the box you got there?" He went to touch the box before Twilight's tail whapped his hand.

"It's called my personal business, so mind yours please." Twilight snapped back defensively.

The Pegasus hissed as he withdrew his hand in slight pain, his ears flattening as he flinched at her abrupt change in tone. Flash narrowed his eyes in and was about to respond… only for Cadence to step in-between them.

"There's no need to get hostile Twilight, he's just curious… especially after what happened last night." The Unicorn explained.

"It's… it's something that I'm supposed to retrieve, and even I don't really know what's within it. Your guess would be as good as mine." She replied in a nervous tone. "I-I need to get back to my clan."

Cadence shared a look with Flash before stepping forward. "Look Twilight, you remember how I said I'd help you get used to this new world? It'll be harder to do that if you don't completely trust us, and with everything that went down last night..."

"I… I understand." Twilight sighed as she put down the box and opened it up. Whatever she was expecting however… it certainly wasn't a rock with a strange six-pointed star carved into it. "What in the… it's… just a rune stone?"

"Hold the phone, do you say rune stone?" Flash of interjected, getting a good look at the orb himself. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't those incredibly rare? How in the world did you get your hands on this thing?"

"I'd like to know the exact same thing..." Cadence added as she inspected the artifact. "Twilight, what exactly did you and your sisters do last night?"







Meanwhile at the castle, the others all began to awaken as well. From the entrance to the balcony, Spike watched as they started cracking through their own stone skins with yawns so fierce that it was akin to a roar.

"OOOOH YEAH! That was a good rest!" Pinkie said with a smile.

"Agreed." Her Azure sibling sighed as she flared her wings and started stretching. "I can only hope Twilight and the others found a safe place to rest..."

Fluttershy noticed the discomfort in her sister's voice and gave her a gentle hug from behind. "I'm sure they're safe, the city is a big place after all. There's plenty of areas they could've hidden..."

"But what if they're in danger? What if they're somewhere that could-" Rarity started, getting herself wrapped up in a ton of possible scenarios before Spike places a hand on her shoulder.

"Rarity, you… you can't constantly worry like that…" He said in a reassuring tone. "We'll find them I promise."

"Actually, my boss may have a solution to your query." A familiar voice chimed in, the group turned to see John exiting the hall.

"But we don't have any queries!" Pinkie chimed in… right before whispering to Rarity. "What's a query?"

"It's a question or something you're pondering." Rarity said before turning towards John. "Well if he does, we'd like to know what it is. We've been worried about our sisters since we came back."

"Of course. This way." John motioned behind him.







A few seconds later, the group had once more gathered in Fancy's personal office. The Unicorn in question was typing on his computer, his expression much more distressed and aggravated. "This isn't right, how could they have moved so quickly?" He grumbled to himself as a few of the screens behind him turned on, earning several gasps from the group once they all saw what was on the screens…

...their sisters, caged and trapped! 

"NO NO NO NO NO!" Fluttershy gasped as she saw the videos. "Wh-when did… how did… Fancy what's going on?!"

"I'm sorry you have to see this,  but apparently the Hunters are a lot more versatile in their efforts than I gave them credit for."  Fancy explained in a solemn tone as he turned his attention to the screen. "While you were resting, I received this image from an anonymous source. However, I have no doubt that it was the Hunters trying to send us a message..."

"You mean... those vicious brutes  are behind all this?!" Rarity growled, clenching her fist as her eyes glowed.

"Indeed. However if this is the case then you need to be careful. Flying into this headfirst could get you all killed. You need to play this smart-" Fancy said before Spike slammed his fist into a nearby wall.

"They have our friends!" He snarled in fury, smoke erupting from his nostrils. "They think they can just screw with our family this and you want us to just sit this out?!"

"What he's saying Spike…" The Azure sister interjected. "...is that we can't simply let our emotions drive our decisions. Least we end up in the same position as our brethren…"

"...w-where's Twilight?" Pinkie Pie asked, her normally poofy mane now looking somewhat deflated. "She… she isn't there… but she didn't make it back last night either…"

"She should be fine. There's… no need to assume she was captured as well." The Azure sister attempted to reassure her, although her tone betrayed her own worries.

"But either way, we have to come up with a plan that doesn't just boil down to us charging in." Fancy interjected. "We have to play this smart. Starting with figuring out where they are."

"And how, pray-tell, are we supposed to do that?" Rarity asked, her eyes still locked onto the screen.

In response, Fancy pressed a few buttons on his desk, resulting in a small door on the right side of the room opening up, revealing the artifact they had retrieved stored in some sort of cylinder. "The artifacts I had you retrieve have a unique magical signature," He explained as he got up from his desk and approached the cylinder. "...and when used properly, my devices can properly scan for the similar signatures throughout the area."

The group could only watch as a smaller hatch then opened right next to the cylinder, revealing a flat green screen. Fancy placed his hand against the screen causing it to glow for a few seconds as it scanned him. The artifact within the cylinder then gave off a bright yellow glow, resulting in the screen displaying their captured friends quickly shifting to an aerial map of the city.

And soon it began to zip towards a specific spot. "There, they seem to be located by the docks." Fancy smiled.

"Then we have to get there as quickly as possible." Rarity said without even a sense of hesitation. "We'll show them that they can't intimidate us with such a cheap scare tactic."

The Azure sister was about to respond, however, just then a second signal immediately showed up on the monitor as the alarm started going off. The map on display immediately shifted its focus to a deep purple orb… that was heading straight for the tower itself…

"What the-oh no, are they taking the fight to us?!" Fluttershy shivered nervously and she took a step back while Spike exhaled more smoke from his nostrils.

However at that very moment, Pinkie Pie's wings started to twitch, and her worried expression was replaced with a bright smile. "No, I think I know exactly who that is…"







"Okay… so where are your sisters gonna show up?" Flash asked with a hint of nervousness as they waited atop a nearby building.

"Stay calm Flash," Cadence stated as she stared at the castle atop the tower. "As long as you're on good terms with me and Twilight, her sisters shouldn't give you too much trouble.

"That reminds me…" Twilight began as she turned to face the Unicorn. "We actually managed to reunite with another one of our brethren, she's a little sterner, but she-OOFF!!" The lavender Ponygoyle was immediately cut off as a pink blur tackled her to the floor.

"TWI! OH THANK THE STARS YOU'RE OKAY! WE THOUGHT WE LOST YOU AND NOW-" Pinkie gasped as she turned her attention to Flash. "YOU MADE A NEW FRIEND?! WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO?!"

"N-new friend?" A timid voice asked from behind the Pegasus, startling Flash who jumped upon hearing her. Looking over his shoulder he was greeted by the sight of a very light yellow Ponygoyle, though this one had feathered wings. "H-hi... I'm Fluttershy."

"Uh… hi?" He replied awkwardly, slowly approaching her. "The name's Fl-"

"That's close enough, Equine."

Sadly his words, and path, were cut off as the Azure sister quickly dropped down in front of him and spread her wings protectively, prompting him to take a few steps back.

"And who exactly are you two?" He heard a deeper voice ask in a more stern tone. Flash turned around to see, much to his shock, a grown Dragon land before them, his eyes narrowing as he glared at both Flash and Cadence.

'What the heck is a Dragon doing in this part of Equestria?' He thought, taking a nervous step back… only for Twilight to step between the two.

"I should be asking you the same thing!" Twilight fired back in a harsh tone, her eyes glowing menacingly.

To her surprise however, the Dragon looked… hurt? "T-Twilight?" The Dragon asked as instead of retreating from her glare... he reached forward. "Twi i-it's... it's me."

"Um… what do y-" Twilight started before her brain started putting the pieces together… the purple scales, the green spines, the docile emerald eyes, and the same kinda protective attitude of a guard dog. "Y-YOU?!"

"YEAH! This is Spike!" Pinkie cheered as she gave the Dragon an affectionate pat on the back. "The same Dragon from Castle Horseshoe!"

"I'm assuming you two have some sort of history?" Cadence casually asked, arching a brow as she watched Twilight slowly approach the Dragon.

"He… he was part of our clan years ago…" Twilight explained, her expression softening as she gently placed her hands on his shoulders. "But… how… when…?"

"I-I can tell ya later! Just…just let me have this." Spike said as he brought her in for another hug. "I've missed you so much… I wish I could've found you sooner."

"As heartwarming as this is…" The Azure sister interrupted. "What exactly are these two Equines doing here?" She snapped, gesturing to Flash and Cadence. Both of whom scowled at her dismissive attitude.

"We have names you know." Cadence fired back while crossing her arms, earning a glare from the Azure Ponygoyle.

"Sister please, this isn't what it looks like!" Twilight said as she quickly tried to diffuse the situation. "I invited them here to help us!

"You... brought them here?" The Azure sister said slowly, as if trying to process what she just heard. "You WILLINGLY brought them here and endangered our sisters without-"

"ENOUGH! For your information, these two saved my life!" Twilight fired back as she flared her wings, silencing her sister. "After that incident last night, I was too weak to get back home and… I was attacked by some masked assailant…"

"Wait, assailant?" Rarity chimed in as she approached Twilight. "Did you by any chance get a good look at them?"

"No, I was too far away. But they defended me and gave me enough time to find a place to recover." Twilight explained, giving the two of them a look of gratitude, to which they simply smiled back.

"Well, we DO thank you for defending our sister." Rarity said with a weak smile. "We needed a win today after what happened to Rainbow and Applejack."

"Wait... something happened to them? Where are they?! Are they hurt?!" Twilight asked with fear growing in her voice. "I should've tried to come back earlier, oh I'm so sorry!"

"We were heading to where they're captured right now. You can come with us... if you've got time that is." The Azure sister said with a sneer at the two officers.

"These people who abducted your sisters…" Cadence began as she stepped forward, not the least bit bothered by her piercing gaze. "...did they happen to wear a mask with three claw marks on it?"

Everyone went dead silent upon hearing this description as they started at the two.

"I'mma take that as a 'yes'..." Flash sighed. "That assailant we had the 'pleasure' of dealing with? Same mask, so I'd say we have a mutual enemy."

"The Hunter… you… saved her from them?" Spike asked, a bit shocked to hear that. "But, why? She-"

"Hey I'm not about to let some psycho with a gun hurt an innocent person for someone else's fault or for the crime of being born." Flash explained in a serious tone.

"And besides, Twilight helped me. It was only fair I helped her. And even if that wasn't the case, she's a nice girl." Cadence added, giving Twilight a coy smirk.

The rest of the group had varying expressions upon hearing the full details.

Pinkie Pie naturally had the most welcoming expression, her bright smile pretty much sending an unspoken message to Flash: "You're now my friend for life."

Fluttershy had lowered her wings ever so slightly while peering out from behind her Azure sister. While part of her face was still hidden behind her wings and mane, Cadence could see a small smile on her face.

In contrast to that however, said Azure sister was still giving them the stink eye. While her expression had softened ever-so-slightly, she still refused to stop glaring at the two… although she seemed the most focused on Flash in particular, as if she were holding an unspoken grudge against the Pegasus.

Rarity also still seemed slightly uneasy, but gave them a reassuring smile all the same, simply glad to have more than one equine on their side at the moment, yet instinctively remaining closer to Spike.

The Dragon in question seemed to have the most conflicted expression at the time, his eyes occasionally darting between Twilight and the Azure sister…

'This is going to be a long night…' Twilight mentally sighed.







"Uuugh... my aching head..." Rainbow Dash groaned as she regained consciousness. Looking around, she found herself in some sort of iron room.

"Where are w-"

*ZZZAP*

"-OW!" She winced in pain as she felt an electric shock go through her body. It was only then that she noticed that there seemed to be some sort of shield surrounding her. "What in Tartarus!?"

"K-keep it down please." She heard a familiar voice groan from another cage right next to hers, a voice that belonged to only one Ponygoyle she knew.

"APPLEJACK?! AJ ARE YOU THERE?!"

"Ah said keep it-!" Applejack began as she got up, before she saw Rainbow and her similar cage. "Rainbow?! The sam hill is goin' on?!"

"Heck if I know!" Rainbow replied, groaning in pain as she sat back down, rubbing her bruised shoulder. "All I remember is that weird living armor that attacked us, we fought it and then... I think I blacked out…"

As Applejack looked around, she noticed that there seemed to be very no windows whatever they were, which no sunlight could get in whatsoever. 'That explains why we haven't recovered from our injuries during our stone slumber…' She thought to herself. 'Whoever's captured us, they know how we work…'

"Look, we're gonna find a way out of this… we're not just gonna stay trapped in here forever." Rainbow said but that seemed to be more for herself than for Applejack. "Our sisters are coming and that law-keeping girl, they'll come and save us… they can do it!"

"I hope yer right…" Applejack sighed as she nursed her bruised right wing. "But at the same time, that's what kind of worries me."

Her sister glanced at her with confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it, they captured us, made sure we can't heal ourselves, and kept us in an enclosed space instead of killing us?" Applejack pointed out. "Something tells me this is all a trap. And we're the bait..."

"That means… crap, is there any way to get free?! We have to warn them!" Rainbow shouted as she went for her cage again, only to get shocked even harder!

"Now WHY would you do that KNOWING ya'd just get shocked again idjit?!" Applejack replied with a groan.

"I… I've… been sh-shocked before…" Rainbow grunted as she struggled to get back up, biting her lip as she staggered to her feet. "And… w-we... d-don't have... m-much time…" She gasped, refusing to let the pain stop her. They had to escape, before whoever abducted them got the upper hand on their sisters…







With the pleasantries out of the way the group became focused on their current mission; Rescue their captured sisters and fully reunite their clan. Twilight had asked for Cadence and Flash to follow since if there's any chance they could capture or expose who these "Hunters" were then it's possible that the two Detectives could bring them in accordance to modern laws and justice. After they returned to their vehicle Twi soon took off and followed her sisters and Spike, their car not that far away.

"You know, I don't fully trust those two." The Azure sister said with a glare. "They seem too… eager to be allies. Eager allies make for quickly made enemies."

"Sister, I know you have your… grievances regarding the Equines, but this is a different time than what you're used to." Twilight explained in a reassuring tone as they continued to fly. "...and given there are so few of us left, we'll need all the allies we can trust."

"Besides, Fancypants is the reason we're free and he's an Equine!" Pinkie Pie chimed in, gliding up to the right of her Azure sister.

"That is true, but I'd still try and be careful." She replied. "You never know if they're being honest or just using you to get close."

Twilight couldn't help but notice her dismissive tone when she said this. "Sister, is there something-"







"-bothering you?" Rarity asked as she flew next to Spike, the Dragon focusing on the screen on his watch which displayed an aerial view of the city… and the exact location of their brethren. "It's just, since we left you've been quiet… quieter than Fluttershy, and that's saying a lot…" The White Ponygoyle continued before glancing at her sister. "...no offense dear."

"None taken." She shrugged.

"I.... no it's fine... I'm just worried about Twi being too trusting a bit ya know?" Spike said with a light chuckle.

Rarity however, could tell that something was off about Spike… VERY off. He seemed more tense and scared, as if he knew something really bad.

"Spike, whatever is bothering you… you can tell us." Fluttershy said in a more calming tone. "I know it's been well… a while, but we're still part of a Clan remember?"

Spike felt a pang of guilt upon hearing that, but couldn't bring himself to say anything.

"...for the last time, no." They all heard the Azure sister retort as she flew past them with Twilight and Pinkie.

"But I need to call you something! 'Sister' is getting a little redundant." Pinkie explained as they caught up. "I know! How about Moondancer?"

"No."

"Starlight Glimmer?"

"Definitely not."

"Dusk Shine?"

"That sounds like a male name."

"Sunset Shimmer!"

"That doesn't even REMOTELY fit!"

"OH! OH! What about Trixie?! Cause you always loved doing those neat illusion tricks back at the castle!" Pinkie exclaimed with a ton of excitement in her voice. "C'mon! Trixie's a good name!"

The Azure sister rolled her eyes and groaned in annoyance. "Pinkie, for the love of-"

"Just let her have this sister." Twilight chimed in, trying to surpass a giggle. "Besides me and... Spike, she's named all of us so far..."

"I... fine, Trixie can work." The newly christened "Trixie" said, though her tone carried a hint of embarrassment in it. "We should be getting close anyways so please TRY and be serious for a brief bit?" She retorted to them before flying forward.

"Aw, we're growing on her!" Pinkie giggled, playfully nudging Twilight as they continued to fly.

"Y-Yeah, I'm sure we are…" The lavender Ponygoyle chuckled before turning her attention to the car far below them. 'I just hope they're ready for what's to come…'

Ahead of them, Spike couldn't help but snicker. "'Trixie', really?"

"NOT. A. WORD."







"Okay, so you agree something about this stinks right?" Flash asked Cadence as she followed the Ponygoyles and their Dragon companion. "Like hear me out, their sibling. Who didn't get frozen or whatever at the same time as them… just happens to appear?"

"That Dragon rubs me the wrong way too." Cadence agreed as she made another turn, keeping up with them as best as she could. "He seemed fairly quick to avoid actually explaining how he found them… and you caught that look he gave the blue one right?"

"Not going to lie, I thought I was just being paranoid at that point…" Flash confessed, glancing out the window. "...but now that you mention it…"

"I think we need to keep an eye on those two, they definitely know something we don't." Cadence said with a stern look. "And if that's the case then it's possible we might be looking at a set-up."

"Love the kind you can't tell until it's too late." Flash mumbled sarcastically.

"They never make it too obvious, that's why you need to look for the minor details and read between the lines…" Cadence stated as she made another turn. "...I'll keep an eye on those two, but for the time being you focus on the Hunters, got it?"

"You got it. They're not gonna get by me." Flash said with a confident smirk. "Sides I need to pay the mare back for last time."







"Alright… we've arrived at the LZ." Night Hawk said as their ship started to hover over the location. "We should start scouting the area for any traps."

"Agreed. Spellbinder? You're going to stay in the hovercraft. Night Hawk? You're with me. We're going to make sure this place isn't rigged to blow or something possibly worse." White Knight said with a firm voice that dared Spellbinder to argue with him.

The two simply nodded in agreement as Night Hawk activated the vehicle's cloaking device. The two Hunters quickly leaped down towards the upper level of the warehouse with their weapons at the ready, just in case.

"Let's see... out-of-the-way Warehouse, late night, barely any security? Yeah, this totally doesn't scream 'setup' now does it?" White Knight grumbled in a sarcastic tone as Spellbinder carefully picked the lock.

"I'm concentrating right now Knight. Could you please be quiet for a few seconds?" Spellbinder grumbled before finishing the lock. "There. Now. All we have to do now is just wait."

"After we make sure this place isn't laced with booby traps." White Knight snapped at him. "Spellbinder, at this point your hate's going to get one of us killed."

"Last I checked, that's what kept our lineage going for so many years." Spellbinder scoffed as the door slid open. "Especially when dealing with her…"

White Knight flinched at this. "She… she is a different case, and even then, we can't let our hatred eclipse rational thought." He stated as Spellbinder started scanning the area with his goggles, making sure none of the security systems were active.

"Alright, scans are clear. Outside of two life forms and their electrified cages, there's nothing else in here." Spellbinder exclaimed… though White Knight did notice the hint of uncertainty in his voice. "Ok brother, you might be right… something about this seems-"

"Too easy?" He interrupted in an all-too-familiar i-told-you-so voice.

"Yes… I get it." Spellbinder groaned. "But the thing is, I don't think this place is a trap for us-"

[Boys? We've got trouble!] Night Hawk's voice interrupted him. [I just spotted five Ponygoyles headed towards the warehouse!]

Their eyes widened under their mask as the two stallions shared a look before rushing back to the exit. "Do you think she's leading them?" Spellbinder asked.

[I don't have to 'think', I see HER as clear as day brothers.] Night Hawk replied, pure rage evident in her voice.

"So the other four and the monster is leading them, something still feels off. Keep on guard Night Hawk." White Knight replied to her.

[Understood... don't know what kinda game they're playing at… yet.]







As the clan landed atop a construction site just outside the enclosed port, Twilight wrapped her wings around herself. To say that she was feeling uneasy about the upcoming conflict would be an understatement. 'It's bad enough that we're dealing with a group dedicated to hunting us to extinction, but they even have that strange living armor as well...' She thought to herself.

"So, this is the place?" Rarity asked as she gazed down at the warehouse with a concerned look. "It… doesn't seem like the best place to hold them, I mean-"

"It's about being out of the way." Spike quickly pointed out. "I mean, it's ugly and decrepit… so naturally nobody would think to look there, would they?"

"A fair point…" Rarity nodded as Pinkie started cracking her knuckles. "However, if they're expecting us, I don't think the direct approach would be the best option…"

"Aww, but that's the fun option!" Pinkie protested with a small pout. "Besides, I'm looking to pay them back for when they blindsided me last time!"

"As much as it... irks me, Rarity has a point." Fluttershy said with a flustered look. "So does anyone have an idea how to get in?"

"Well I'm shocked that Rarity seems to have forgotten her trap sensory spell... or has the years dulled your senses as well?" Trixie said with a playful smirk.

The White Ponygoyle blinked upon hearing this remark and immediately looked away, hoping to hide reddening cheeks. "I-I didn't forget! I was… just saving my magic just in case." She quickly protested, ignoring Pinkie's snickering. Narrowing her eyes, she carefully had her claws engulfed in a light blue aura as her eyes began to glow.

"Well?" Trixie asked.

"The warehouse is safe-ish, outside what I'm sensing as an electric field around our sisters, there are no other traps in there. It's like they were-what's the phrase-'gift wrapped for us'?" She said nervously. "Why do all this just to leave them with no other protection?"

"Because they want to lure us in before utilizing their more powerful devices," Twilight stated, getting everyone else's attention as she unfurled her wings. "Think about it, why would they waste their most powerful spells and tools to keep just two of our sisters imprisoned instead of all of us at once?"

"But Twilight I'm literally sensing nothing else in the Warehouse or outside of it... it's just them. I think I would've been able to detect a trap door or something equally dangerous." Rarity said, though now she was feeling unsure of her own magic.

"Maybe they've gotten overconfident," Spike interjected, stroking his chin. "They've already captured two of our brethren, it's possible they think we'll go down just as easily..."

Pinkie narrowed her eyes at this as she extended her claws. "Well then, let's prove them wrong, shall we?" She snarled before spreading her wings and quickly flying towards the warehouse.

"For the love of-PINKIE WAIT!" Twilight yelled as they all swiftly flew after her.

Pinkie busted the doors of the warehouse open, her eyes glowing with a white-hot rage. "Where are ya, you giant meanies?! C'mon, just gimme back my sisters and I won't hurt ya too bad!"

Twilight bit her lips as she landed next to her, glancing around nervously at the massive iron crates and containers that filled up the warehouse. 'I don't get it... where are they...?'

"We can't waste any more time." Trixie whispered, getting everyone's attention. "Twilight, Rarity, and I will free our sisters. The rest of you, find the Hunters and bring them down!"

"But we came here for our sisters, that's what's more important." Fluttershy meekly interjected. "I mean, I know we might have to fight, but we should focus on just getting them freed first."

"Ugh! If we don't take care of The Hunters then they'll just haunt us day in and day out! This is our chance!" Trixie retorted sternly. "Trust me Fluttershy, ponies like these don't quit!"

"What do you mean-" Twilight was suddenly cut off as she winced, holding her hand up to her ear right before her eyes widened. "Everyone stay close to me!" She shouted, immediately summoning a dome-shaped shield before several knives engulfed in magic auras rained down upon them.

"HEY, THOSE KNIVES NEARLY GOT ME AND THE OTHERS LAST TIME!" Pinkie shouted as the knives bounced off the dome shield.

"That means the Hunters are here! Sisters, be ready to tear them apart!" The Azure sister snarled with a barely contained fury.

As Spike and the rest of her sisters prepared to fight, Twilight subtly held a finger up to her right ear, pressing it against a small communicator obscured by her hair. "Thanks for the warning Cadence." She whispered.







"No problem Twilight," Cadence smirked as she put away her night-vision goggles before getting out of her car alongside Flash. "Just keep them busy for as long as possible, we'll get to your sisters."

"So what's our role in this? Just sit idly by with nothing else to do? Jeez, I'm so glad that I can be a part of a rescue op like this." Flash jokingly said, earning an eye roll from Cadence.

"Save your jokes for when we're off-duty." She sighed as the two rushed towards the opposite end of the warehouse.

"Gotta make this quick..." She mumbled as her horn started to glow, the lock and doorknob were quickly engulfed in a light blue aura before a single *click* was heard, unlocking the door.

"Seriously? They didn't even spring for magic-proof locks?" Flash whispered as they entered the warehouse, carefully navigating the maze of iron crates and containers. "Either these guys are extremely overconfident or they wanted someone to break in..." That last part made him stop in his tracks as something slowly came into focus. "...Cadence, what if this is EXACTLY what someone wanted?"

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"Think about it. The warehouse is easily broken in? At most just ONE trap to catch them off guard? Something doesn't smell right here and I think it spells out set up." Flash said with a serious tone. "...we have to warn Twilight-"

*CLANK*

The duo froze in place.

"You heard that, right?" Cadence whispered, quietly drawing her gun.

*CLANK*

"Y-Yeah…" Flash nodded nervously as he followed suit. "Is it too much to hope that Twilight and her clan are winning?"

*CLANK*

"No such luck…" Cadence replied as they quickly got back to back,  ready to open fire on whatever was making that sound. "Whatever's making that noise… it's big…"

*CLANK, CLANK, CLANK*

The sounds got faster and heavier, until the two of them witnessed a massive iron fist tear through a nearby container…

"WHAT THE?!"

"TAKE IT DOWN NOW!" Cadence ordered as she began firing her gun at the metal hand... right until she realized that her bullets were bouncing off of it! The fist soon tore open the container completely revealing a mechanical red-painted Ponygoyle that had the coldest looking glare.

"Okay, I think it's safe to assume that is NOT friendly!" Flash yelped as he aimed at its eyes. But before they could respond its right arm aimed at them both and there's a blue flash!







From afar, Night Hawk prepared her sniper rifle as her allies proceeded to engage the Ponygoyles. "You freaks aren't getting away this time." She mumbled to herself, remembering her previous encounter with the lavender one. "You may have had those two officers fooled with your 'innocent victim' act, but not me!"

However as she was prepping up a shot, a very loud *BANG* went off, preceded by a blue flash of light! 'What in the… what was that?' She thought to herself as she holstered her rifle, soon another bang and bright blue flash... with the shape of a Ponygoyle MUCH bigger than the others silhouetted against it.

'So there's another one of them in the back… wait, that's exactly where-' She narrowed her eyes as she quickly turned on her communicator. "Guys, I just spotted another one near the back of the warehouse, it might be trying to free the others and prepare an ambush. Keep the rest of them busy, I'm going in!"

[WHAT?! Night Hawk, don't you dare-!] Spellbinder started before she headed off, leaving her brothers to contend with their prey inside.

"You're not going to get away... not this time." Night Hawk growled to herself as she headed toward the area where she saw the blast coming from. "I won't... I won't be blind to my mission again."







"Of all the-WOAH!" Spellbinder yelped, leaping out of the way just as a green fireball struck the steel bar he was perched upon. Just as he landed atop one of the crates however, he was quickly tackled by Pinkie Pie.

"Hey buddy! Remember me?! Cause I REALLY made sure I'd remember you!" She said with a fanged smile and pure anger dripping in her tone. "How about I repay you for our last little encounter?!"

The Hunter smirked before setting off a smoke bomb and quickly slipping out of her grasp. "By all means… let's finish what we started!" He shouted as he summoned another array of knives before hurling them at her… only for a shield resembling a diamond to appear in their path.

"WHAT?!" Spellbinder yelled before a roundhouse kick to the head sent him flying backwards!

"YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY SISTER YOU! YOU! YOU UNCULTURED BRUTE!" Rarity shouted as she growled at him. "WE WON'T BE SEPARATED AGAIN! NOT BY ANYONE'S HANDS!"

Spellbinder simply smirked behind his mask before pulling out two curved blades, each of them engulfed in his magic aura. "Well then, if you two truly wish to try your luck against me, I'm more than Z to send you both to the grave!" He boldly stated as the two Ponygoyles circled him menacingly.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy carefully peeked from behind one of the crates as her sisters prepared to face off against the Hunter, she then turned her attention towards the back of the warehouse and narrowed her eyes.

Rarity and Pinkie had things covered here, and Twilight, Trixie, & Spike we're handling the other Hunter…

She had to free RD & AJ…







"SPIKE WATCH OUT!" Twilight shouted as she yanked the dragon out of the way, a knife swing that almost took his head off.

"Thanks!" Spike gulped before snarling at the hunter. "You got some nerve, you know that?! Taking our sisters and using them as bait!"

"We didn't take them. They were already here by the time we arrived." White Knight shot back as he quickdrew his blaster pistol and fired it at them! Twilight's shield only coming up just in time. "You know I'll say this… at least THIS group seems to value defending each other rather than caring only about themselves." He snarled… though Twilight noticed that line was seemingly aimed at her Azure sister.

"Enough talk! Just end him!" Spike snarled, inhaling deeply and expelling another fireball before the Hunter could retort. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Twilight immediately slammed both of her hands together and fired another burst of energy at him.

The White Knight quickly summoned a dome-shaped shield around himself before the fireball made contact… only for a nasty crack to spread across its surface as Twilight's attack hit it at the same time. "Maybe I was wrong about you! I thought you weren't like the others! But if you're willing to work with that Azure murderer then so be it!" He snarled as he dropped his shield as Spike leaped forward at him and slammed him down.

"The only murderer here is you, now BURN!!" The Dragon snarled as he exhaled a torrent of flames upon him point-blank… only to find nothing in his grasp the moment his flames died down. "What the-"

'So he can teleport…' Twilight thought as she started looking around as she prepared for a sneak attack.

"Nice try, jalapeno breath." They heard the Hunter taunt them from the shadows. Just then, several red lights appeared around the group attached to various crates, containers, and even the ground… right before a powerful burst of electricity struck them from all angles, forcing them to their knees as they screamed in pain. "But you've chosen your fate by siding with her, now it's about time we bought this to an end..."







"We should be out there!" Rainbow snarled as she nearly charged at the cage again, only stopping because her instincts forced her to. "I can't stand being cooped up in this thing any longer!"

"Sugar we don't have much of a choice! They're out there fightin' what sounds like a small war!" Applejack retorted before sighing. "We don't got much else we can do unless someone-"

*KRRNG*

*KRRRNCH*

*KRRRRRIP*

The sound of the front doors of their prison being ripped open were heard as Fluttershy soon made herself known. "R-RAINBOW! APPLEJACK!"

"FLUTTERSHY!" The imprisoned Ponygoyles exclaimed with joy as their sister quickly rushed towards them.

"Well you sure are a sight for sore eyes!" Applejack smiled. "How'd yah know where tah find us?"

"Truth be told, I just tried to listen for Rainbow trying to bash herself free." Fluttershy said with a blush. "Now where's a lever to free you?"

*CHHK-CHHK*

A gun was cocked behind Fluttershy as she turned around and saw Night Hawk aiming her plasma rifle at her, now compressed into an assault rifle state. "Well, I think a trigger will do just fine as well don't you? I can't believe my luck… three of you beasts for the price of one."

"If you so much as harm a HAIR on her head, I'll make sure there's not enough left for you to bury!" Rainbow snapped. However, Fluttershy seemed remarkably calm despite their situation.

"...why?"

Night Hawk blinked. "...excuse me?"

"Why… why do you hate us…? She asked once more in a surprisingly stern tone. "...you don't seem to be truly capable of evil, we heard about the cops… you could've killed them-"

"I-I don't do that!" The Hunter interrupted, tightening her grip on her weapon and taking a step back. "I hunt and kill monsters like… shut up! You're trying to distract me!"

"Who hurt you?" Fluttershy asked, giving her a look of both sympathy… and pity.

"YOUR PEOPLE! ESPECIALLY THAT AZURE COLORED MONSTER YOU STAND BESIDE SO WILLINGLY!" Night Hawk shouted in rage, much to everyone's confusion.

"You mean Trixie…?" Fluttershy asked in confusion. "...I'm sorry, but that can't be right. She's only just woken up, like the rest of us-"

*CRASH*

Whatever she was about to say next was immediately cut off by the sound of one of the crates being torn open. Everyone present turned their attention to the direction of the noise to see none other than Cadence and Flash rushing out from the maze of cargo with panicked looks on their faces.

"YOU TWO?!" Night Hawk shouted incredulously. "WHAT ARE YOU-?!"

[NEW THREATS DETECTED.] A mechanical voice spoke with a hollow tone. [SCANNING… SCANNING… SCAN COMPLETE... TARGET IDENTIFIED AS A 'HUNTER' TYPE ENEMY.]

"What… in the name of Tartarus… is that thing?!" Night Hawk could only get out as she could almost feel the fear rising up within her.

"Y-you mean that thing... doesn't serve you?" Fluttershy stammered as she took a nervous step back. "Then who-"

[ALL INDIVIDUALS CLASSIFIED AS PRIORITY ONE TARGETS.] The iron Ponygoyle's eyes began to glow. [COMMENCING ATTACK.]