Agents of F.R.I.E.N.D.

by PeppyJoe

First published 28th of December, 2014

In the wake of Tirek's return, the Equestrian nobility faces the reality that the nation's security hinges on the power of six mares. They charter a secret organization to defend Equestria from that which threatens it, by any means necessary.

One thousand years of practically uninterrupted peace under Celestia's rule... And then, in less than half a decade, half a dozen world-threatening monsters suddenly crawled out from under their rocks and tried to overthrow the kingdom. Nearly every time, the same six mares eliminated the threat.

While that makes for a great story, and newspaper editors loved the idea of super-ponies empowered by the magical bonds of friendship, the average noblepony found this idea somewhat concerning. The security of the entire nation depended on six individuals. Following Tirek's return and the widespread damage he caused, the nobles resolved to create a secret division of the government to anticipate and counter any future threats of an extraordinary nature.

From this idea, F.R.I.E.N.D. was born. It was a collection of Equestria's best and brightest, backed by considerable wealth and dedicated to the defense of ponykind against anything that imperils it.

1. Security Through Obscurity

"Enough!" Golden Stud slammed his hoof on the table, hushing the ponies present and drawing their attention to himself. He held his solemn gaze as he looked from face to face, frowning at each in turn. Stud was getting on in years, but he was respectable enough in both stature and status that most everyone had the good sense to look cowed.

"This gets us nowhere," he began after a weary sigh. "Bickering over trivialities and resorting to assaults on character... Gentleponies, you are forgetting yourselves."

The blue-coated stallion across from him scowled. "Mister Stud, I respect your position and the valuable insight that your many years of experience offer-"

"But," the mare next to him cut in, "the simple fact is that the Princesses have afforded us opportunity to do little else." The stallion nodded in affirmation, and several other ponies around the table indicated similar agreement.

"It is not for us to whine and moan about the Princesses' decisions," Golden Stud countered. He leaned forward and rested both forehooves on the table, spreading them out disarmingly. "They oversee the affairs of this nation, and as foalish-" Several ponies nickered at his use of the word. Most just nodded along or smirked lightly "-as foalish as their actions may seem, we cannot afford to blatantly ignore them."

The stallion opposite him, Sea Breeze, smiled in a manner that could almost be mistaken as amiable. "Nopony is suggesting any such thing, honorable sir. Quite the opposite, in fact. I believe..." He nodded toward the mare next to him. "I believe that Desert here simply means Princess Celestia's most recent position was one of, ah... minimalism."

Desert Breeze dipped her head. "Precisely. It has been evident for some time now that Equestria faces threats beyond common understanding. Thus far, our Princess has elected to combat these dangers with a sextet of fillies." Word choice notwithstanding, everypony looked immediately more serious. "I know that this has concerned us all, lately—concerned all of Equestria." She paused, building tension with practiced ease. "Our daily survival hinges on the whim and wellbeing of six mares barely out of schooling."

"Ah, dear," her husband began.

"Oh, that's right. Half those fillies didn't even regularly attend any form of school, and only one of those that did, did so in a respectable city," Desert finished. Her words wrought the desired effect—not a pony present could hide the doubt on their face. Not even Golden Stud.

A lengthy silence settled over the room; the Breezes had made their point, and their only true opposition had no grounds on which to oppose. Finally, Golden issued a slight nod. "What, then, do you propose?"

"You spoke truly, Sir, when you said that we mustn't ignore the Princess's ruling. She is absolute, and naturally she knows best. However..." Desert leaned forward and folded her hooves together, her grin becoming predatory. "That is not to say we cannot interpret them to better suit Equestria's needs. After all, that is our function. We must see the nation safe from all dangers, and it is ever more evident that those dangers are legion."

Sea Breeze shifted in his chair and withdrew a large rolled-up parchment from his saddlebags. He set it on the table, unfurled it, and turned it for everypony to see. Gesturing to it, he said, "As I'm sure you now recognize, we—as things currently stand—are unsafe. Our military is woefully unprepared for the unorthodox threats that constantly imperil us, and we cannot rely solely on the Elements and their bearers to defend us in times of need. What we require is a carefully trained, select group of ponies to anticipate and counter the more unusual threats we face."

"These ponies," his wife picked up, "would be the best and brightest of our era. Experts in arcane sciences and earth-pony ingenuity. Combatants, navigators, fliers, and tacticians; All working independent of Celestia's oversight, towards the common goal of defending our people."

A pony nearer the end of the table spoke up. "Lady Breeze, how can you possibly believe this a wise idea? This flies in the face of Equestria's most fundamental ideals. Celestia would never allow it, and I cannot support it."

"Please do not mistake our proposition for one rooted in deceit, but it is true that we will not be wholly open with this venture, should it go forward. Naturally, it would take a backseat to Harmony and friendship, and we would by no means interfere with Celestia's designs. Of course, if we formed this group in secret..."

Desert Breeze paused, glancing to Sea. "If this new division were chartered without public knowledge—even without Celestia's knowledge—it could accomplish infinitely more. Unhindered by the press yammering for answers about their latest indiscretion-" this earned some nods, "and free to work without our paper-pushing underlings trying to assert their initiative through constant oversight."

"It would herald a new age of national security, and one terribly overdue. We would no longer rely on country mares with archaic power to protect our families. Finally, Equestria can be safe in the knowledge that these new and incomprehensible dangers are being handled by professionals!" With the final word, she stomped her hoof down in emphasis, and nearly every noble at the table began applauding. Desert caught Sea's eye and allowed a small smile to grace her lips.

~ ~ ~

Six months later...
Wind tore at his tattered flight suit as the pegasus went into a steep dive, chancing only a brief backwards glance at his assailant. Then he turned his focus ahead, surveying the landscape. Rolling green hills approached at breakneck speeds, with a large cluster of rural buildings in one direction. A light caught his eye and he turned his head to face it.

Instantly his dive became an uncontrolled tumble as the light blinded him. He cursed himself for not being more careful as he swiped at his eyes with a hoof, trying to drive away the stars. Finally regaining his sight, he locked his wings, pulled up hard, and went screaming both literally and figuratively towards the town. He raised his hoof again and swiped at a green gem worn around his neck. "Mini! Mini!"

A mare's voice filled his head, unhampered by the wind in his ears. Soarin? Shouldn't you be back at the Triangle by now?

"Plan's shot! I got turned around and I'm headed for Ponyville! Damn shiny castle nearly got me killed!"

Soarin, you need to lead it to the Triangle or-

"Mini, I said it's not happening!" After risking another glance back, "I'm losing my lead; there's no way I'll make it that far!"

Understood. Keep it airborne as long as you can, then. We're on our way.

Soarin twisted, bringing his right wing up and veering left to draw It away from Ponyville. He hollered at the top of his lungs, doing his best to keep Its focus. Two minutes, the voice in his head promised him, and then a giant rending noise and a number of screams made him nearly turn in place.

Coming to a halt and hovering, he saw the Ponyville town hall collapsing. Not the entire thing, but rather as though the top was torn aside by an unseen force. Ponies at the foot of the building scattered. Soarin saw a lone pegasus mare flying at top speed and glancing back. Groaning with frustration and a bit of exhaustion, he sped in that direction.

"Help me!" the mare cried out as Soarin came up alongside her. A backwards glance showed nothing out of the ordinary.

"Right," he said. "I'm sorry." The terrified mare barely had a chance to look bewildered before Soarin twisted around and kicked out at her, knocking her out of the air. At the same time, he bellowed as loud as he could. After seeing the mare stabilize several dozen ponylengths below, he glanced back again.

It was there.

We're passing over Friendship now. You were right, that thing's a menace. And- Ah, is that the top of town hall that everyone's crowded around?

"Things went sideways, alright?! I'm headed your way. Tell Fancy to bring 'er about and Turner to get the flare ready!"

No response came, so Soarin took it as a sign to go ahead. He looked down and went into another steep dive, waiting only a moment before flaring his wings and stopping abruptly. It shot below him, letting out an ear-piercing shriek as it started to spin around and follow him.

Pouring on speed, Soarin kept his gaze high and his eyes squinted as he approached Friendship Castle. He began to ascend too, only slowing once to see that It was still close behind.

Turner's ready when you are, Soarin. He's gonna need you to sight it.

"If you go visible, I'll bring It under!"

A moment of silence, and then a shrill sound washed over him. It was quiet, to be sure, and very high-pitched, but his ears picked up on it. At the same moment, a vast pocket of air to his left shimmered and suddenly became an airship. It was only for a moment, and then the area returned to normal.

Still, Soarin now had what he needed. He veered left, losing precious distance from It as he did so. He raced under where he knew the craft to be, glanced back, and shouted "Now!"

A brilliant yellow light struck out from the invisible vessel, washing over Soarin and the surrounding area and striking It dead on. The vast creature screeched and twisted in the air. Then it vanished from sight entirely.

Another deafening silence began, and not even the mare in his head or the birds passing nearby seemed willing to interrupt. Soarin had come to a stop and now hung in the air, waiting. The moment ended when a terrible thud came from far below. Turning in the direction of the sound, he saw a huge swathe of ground being actively torn up and scattered, heading toward the glistening castle and not showing signs of slowing down.

Soarin winced. Whoops..., Mini added. A CRACK! tore through the air as the gash in the dirt reached the castle and knocked a chunk out of the wall. Another moment passed, and then It suddenly flickered and appeared in the focal point of the damage.

Covered in upturned dirt and scattered crystal shards, a worm-like creature the height of a house and the length of twenty lay crumpled against the side of the castle. A massive scorch mark marred its midsection. The tail twitched periodically, but it showed no other signs of life.

"We got it... I think I might go visit town before coming aboard. I'd rather skip the 'security through obscurity' lecture, and this mess'll definitely warrant one."

Oh, you know Knight isn't that fussy. This was a huge win and she knows it. Besides, there was no way to keep it from crashing once we killed it—hitting the castle was just poor luck.

Soarin grinned at that, turning around to approach the airship. "I suppose you're right, Minuette. And it's not every day I get to say I was chased by a colossal flying mythical worm-monster that can only be seen by its victim."

Soarin, you could be a bit more subtle with the exposition.

"Huh?"

Nothing. Knight says to get your feathers on deck now.

2. Exposition

The sun hung low in the sky as the day drew near its end, and it cast long shadows on the collection of tents outside Ponyville. Many of the casualties had happened near that small town, and the local hospital simply could not provide the necessary care. It was a nurse who finally broke momentum and ordered the EMT's to establish a triage center elsewhere. After a hasty stop at Tents and Turnips (and a second stop when the intern remembered he was supposed to get some tents too), the staff had a functional outpost where they could treat the victims of Tirek's attack.

While the as-yet-unexplained rainbow phenomenon had restored the innate magic in most ponies, it did little for physical injuries sustained in the interim. Some, like earth ponies caught off-guard, were relatively unharmed. However, pegasi in flight or unicorns in the midst of casting a spell were another story. Broken limbs and thaumic fatigue threatened either group, and the wake of the battle had left many injured.

This basic explanation, Soarin received from a nurse as he helped her change IV drips on a series of bedridden ponies. He was the only active Wonderbolt who hadn't been seriously hurt during their defense against Tirek. He'd taken it upon himself to help where he could, despite thirty-six hours of pleading from medical staff that he go get some rest. He was nearly ready to relent when a creme-colored mare with a candy-stripe mane ran up to him.

"Mister Soarin, sir," she panted. "Miss Spitfire, she's awake!"

Without so much as an acknowledgement, the stallion took to the air and flew west. Cutting across the camp and ruffling the canvas of several tents as he passed, he made his way to the area dedicated to guardsponies and Wonderbolts. He found her tent easily after checking in so many times, and after a brief pause, he pushed the flap back and stepped inside.

Three beds away, the captain of the Wonderbolts was in the midst of a fierce battle to fend off a collection of nurses. "They changed it ten minutes ago, I swear! The wing is fine, it doesn't need re-bandaged! Where the buck is my lieutenant?!"

Grinning and reassured, Soarin trotted up and brushed aside a nurse, resting a hoof calmingly on one of Spitfire's. She looked up and grinned back, and all the other ponies took the hint to give them some space. Spitfire shifted in bed, making eye contact with Soarin. Then she slugged him in the foreleg as hard as she could.

"Ponyfeathers, Spit! What was that for?"

"Figured you got off too easily. Now tell me, how is everypony? Doctors say Tirek's done, but I can't get a straight answer on anything more."

Soarin sighed, glancing back towards the exit. "We didn't lose anyone, but... Hay, that's where the good news ends. Fleetfoot is still in critical, and one of the stallions I spoke to says we'll be lucky if Blaze ever flies again. Most of the reserve took a beating too."

"I suppose that's it, then. End of the Wonderbolts." Spitfire turned to face upward and shut her eyes.

"We'll pull through, Spits. We always do. Maybe there won't be any air shows for a while, but-" He was cut off as the mare began convulsing and the machinery surrounding him beeped incessantly. Almost immediately, a group of doctors and nurses rushed in, shoving him aside.

"-internal bleeding in the thoracic-"

"-get a cardiothaumic expert in-"

"-can't be here while-"

Before he could understand what was happening, Soarin had been dragged outside the tent and dumped unceremoniously on his face. After a moment's temptation, he determined it best to not attempt entry again just yet. He stood up and began brushing himself off with his wings before the sound of his own name drew his attention away.

Standing before him was a pony of relatively average build, colored a golden yellow coat and a brown mane with grey streaks. He wore a simple black half-jacket over his barrel and forelegs. "Lieutenant Soarin," he repeated without any hint of question in his voice.

"That's me, mister..."

"Golden Stud. I am here on behalf of the Noble's Council with an important proposition." He paused for a moment, reaching into his jacket and withdrawing a scroll. After passing it to the pegasus, he continued. "In light of recent events, the council has seen fit to charter and fund a new subdivision of the royal guard. We would like you to be part of it."

Soarin looked momentarily taken aback. "I, ah... I'm sorry, I'm no guard. I'm just a stunt flier."

"We both know that's not quite true," Golden answered with a sad shake of his head. "Like any Wonderbolt, you have basic military training. What we need is something more than military, though. Your expertise and ability make you uniquely suited for the role, and you will be serving all of Equestria. So, lieutenant, can F.R.I.E.N.D. count on you?"

~ ~ ~

Five months later...
A charcoal-black earth-pony mare with a deep purple mane paced back and forth on the deck of the F.R.I.E.N.D. Ship, and stopped only to turn an angry glower at Soarin as he landed. "Do you have any idea the trouble you just caused me?"

Soarin still wore a manic grin from the earlier pursuit, and just shook his head in response.

"We've spent two weeks tracking this thing around the globe, and when we finally get caught up and grab its attention, you fly it practically to Canterlot's doormat! But no, that just wasn't stupid enough. You go and have Turner shoot it straight into a princess's castle!"

"In fairness," Soarin began, "we'd never actually used the Flare before-"

"Don't give me that!" The mare's voice cracked, and she paused for a moment, considering. "I'm going to go talk to Command. They probably haven't heard yet, and I'd like to get the first word in. You, just... Go practice not being an idiot." She trotted into a nearby room and slammed the door shut after her.

A long, soft whistle made Soarin jump and turn to the griffin who had just walked up behind him. "Somepony's sure got her tail in a twist."

"You know the big-manes are always pressuring her, though. They don't blame you if something goes wrong, Gilda. They don't blame me. They blame Captain Knight." Soarin gave a shrug.

"I might put more stock in your defense of her if you weren't so willing to tear your wings off in defense of a manticore." Smirking, Gilda took to the air. "Now, I'm gonna go have a lay down. Unless," she paused, her smirk becoming something a bit less antagonistic, "you'd like to come have a lay down with me?"

She laughed and flew off after seeing Soarin turn red and bristle his feathers, sparing him the indignity of a response.

.....

Below deck, Soarin made his way through several narrow passages, headed toward his bunk. The sight of a dapper, monocled unicorn backing out of another room forced him to a halt. He cleared his throat, and the stallion turned to face him.

"Ah, Soarin my lad! Jolly good work with that Itzrhydere, I must say. An unfortunate business that it should hit the castle, but a fine job nonetheless!"

Shaking his head humbly, "Oh, really, I just did my best not to get eaten. I expect anypony in my place would've tried just as hard."

This prompted a hearty laugh from Fancy Pants, who gave Soarin a good-natured nudge on the shoulder. "I am sure of it, old bean. Regardless, I expect the rest of our little band will be offering commendation and congratulation for some time yet, so you had best brace for it now." The unicorn then tilted his head slightly to peer past Soarin. "Ah, well now, I do believe another fan approaches. If you'll pardon my passing, The dear lady Knight has asked for me on the bridge." He gave a slight smile, adjusting his monocle. "I dare not keep her waiting."

Soarin pressed his form against the wall to facilitate Fancy's squeezing past, and after several long seconds of mutual excusing and pardoning, he was once again free to proceed. "Hey there!"

Without so much as a sigh, Soarin turned to see the mare addressing her. "Hey, Minuette. Thanks, as always, for coordinating everything."

"Well, I could hardly not coordinate everything! Besides, the hear-me gems did most of the work; I just did a bit of message-ferrying on the ship. It was Pants's fancy flying and Time's timing that saved the day!" Soarin (like most ponies) needed an extra moment to process her rapid-fire style of speaking, but the bright blue mare didn't seem to mind as she beamed back at him.

"Still, thank you, Mini. And if you hadn't gotten the Flare working, I don't know what we would've done."

"It sure did work great, huh? At first, I thought it wouldn't do much, but then you were like, 'line it up,' and I was like 'copy that, Victor-Five-Nine,' and then you said 'now,' and I was all, 'take the shot, Turney!' and it went zowee and then it hit the castle, and then Knighty-Knight was all, 'ooh, I'm gonna mumble grumble mumble mutter'!"

Soarin blinked back at her.

"Anyways, I'll just let you be squeezing-ing on past so you can talk to Knight! Should be fun!"

"Mini, I'm not even heading in that dir-" A brass tube trailing along the ceiling rattled, prompting Soarin to fall silent, and a voice came from a connected horn at the end of the hall, mounted at eye-level.

"Soarin, get back up here. Turner too; we've got a new project."

Minuette grinned. Soarin shuffled in place to turn his full body facing her, and raised an eyebrow. The mare tapped her horn, still grinning, and answered, "Magic." Fearing further inquiry, Soarin just shook his head and moved past, confident in the knowledge that whatever this meeting held and whatever new project followed, it would surely be no stranger than this.

Author's Notes:

This was my first serious attempt at a not-so-serious story, and I like the way it's turning out. If you haven't already figured it out, this was inspired by Marvel's Agents of Shield, but this is not a crossover and does not involve anything more than the basic premise and the fun-loving tone. As always, feedback would be lovely, and see you next time around!

3. Magic

Five months ago...
Golden Stud pulled his jacket tighter as pushed the cab door shut behind him. He moved to the driver and handed over his fare—and a respectable tip—before giving a courteous nod and stepping back. As the transport moved away to find another customer, the aged unicorn looked around with a slight frown.

Manehatten had been a kind host to him on many occasions, but Golden could never consider it home. The buildings which now dwarfed him rose in every direction, and the intersection where he currently stood seemed more dilapidated than the ones he frequented in his visits. Several of the shops were boarded up, and most of the rest had iron bars over their windows. The whole area seemed rather seedy to him, and the brisk wind that disheveled his mane only bothered him further.

However ill at ease he may have felt, he had a job to do. The other nobles had said a messenger would do just fine, but Golden Stud did not believe in half measures. The committee had committed—he paused for a moment to shake his head at that—to the idea of an elite team of operatives and geniuses, and Golden intended to see it succeed. Recruitment was perhaps the singularly most vital part of that task, and no messenger could be trusted to perform it effectively. With that in mind, he scanned the nearby buildings for the correct address.

He didn't know quite what to expect, but it certainly did not begin with an unmarked plywood door so battered that one could hardly be convinced it had ever seen better days. Still, the numbering on the surrounding doors suggested that it was where he needed to go. After a quick glance in either direction of the road, Golden trotted across the cracked pavement and up to the door. It swung inward when he tried to knock, revealing a staircase leading downwards.

As he descended, the stallion began to hear a curious sound. It seemed almost like a faint thrum, but he could guess at neither direction nor source. At the base of the staircase, he met with another door. This one, however, clearly cared more about its appearance than the one above. It was a heavy-set metal frame with a solid paneling in the center, and a thick grate covering those panels. Golden knocked on the door and waited.

When no response proved forthcoming, Golden tried the doorknob and found it turned readily. He pushed in with his magic, but it did not open. He pulled, and still nothing. Finally, gripping it in his hooves and pressing his full weight against it, the door swung open. Immediately, the faint thrumming became a nigh-deafening bassline. Grimacing, Golden Stud paused in the doorframe to adjust his mane and jacket, steady himself, and then stepped inside.

The gold unicorn now stood in a large, open brick-walled room full of other ponies. Many stood in small groups, talking and laughing. A number had made their way to the center—a depression in the floor, which Golden could see from the vantage provided by the elevated area nearest the door—and 'danced' to the 'music,' both of which he considered to be highly relative terms. Seated at another raised area to his left, a red-and-blue-maned pegasus bobbed her head to the rhythm as she worked a DJ booth.

Approaching a grey-coated mare standing nearby, Golden cleared his throat. Then he realized he couldn't even feel himself doing so over the bass, and so he shouted, "Excuse me!" Nothing. He stood there politely for a moment, hoping to catch her eye, before he simply reached out and nudged her with a hoof. The mare did not even blink at him.

He moved on, and experienced similar results from several other ponies. He was about to give up and leave—and, he considered, he should have already, given that the pony he sought would never be here anyway—when a pony finally acknowledged him. The green stallion now facing him said "Eh?"

Relieved, Golden Stud shouted back, "I'm looking for a mare!"

"No bears in here, pal!"

"What?"

"None in here!"

Golden paused, frowning, before he stepped closer than he'd have preferred and shouted, "Minuette!"

The other pony's eyes widened in understanding, and he pointed to a blue mare seated behind the bar on the other side of the room. Golden shouted his gratitude before navigating through the crowd and taking a seat on one of the barstools.

The mare trotted over to him and leaned forward to be heard. "What's your pleasure?"

"I'm looking for a mare named Minuette! Know where I might find her?"

With a mischievous grin, she answered, "Just might. She in trouble?"

"I need to discuss an important matter with her! She is not in trouble. Am I correct in understanding that I've now found her?"

Still grinning, Minuette nodded. Shouting back, "Right, just let me close up shop! Most of these folks won't mind if they miss happy hour!" With that, she pulled a large purple gemstone from beneath the counter and set it on the surface for the stallion to see. She tilted her head forward and tapped her horn to it, directing a pulse of magic into the gem.

A soft light flashed out from the stone and filled the room. As it faded, so did nearly everything it illuminated. The ponies, the DJ booth, even the music all began to grow faint. After several seconds had passed and the light was gone, Minuette and Golden Stud stood in a silent, near-empty room. All that remained were a few confused ponies and the bar. Stunned, Golden leveled Minuette with a look that only made her grin widen and prompted a giggle.

"Don't worry, silly-billy! They weren't real!"

"Uh..."

"Princess C' taught me all about illusion magic, but I've been studying enchantment lately, and I figured, 'what better way to practice than by going back to basics and having some fun along the way! Plus, like they say, you want to make a good first impression for these sorts of things, and I'd say this one was great! So, what do you say; F.R.I.E.N.D.?"

"Ah. Ehm, that is-"

"Ooh, right, subtlety! I meant, 'What do you say, friend?'"

~ ~ ~

Soarin stepped onto the deck and into the fresh air just in time to see Fancy Pants finishing an adjustment to the helm. The two exchanged nods in greeting before the pegasus proceeded into the ready room. Inside, Knight and Turner were already stood around the table, speaking.

"-can try, captain, but... Well, even I've never worked with something that advanced. Nopony-" Turner went silent as the mare gave him a curt nod and turned to Soarin.

"I do hope you found time to practice what we discussed, but fortunately, Command has something bigger to worry about than a cracked castle." She paused for a moment. "The Baltimare Historical Museum has been robbed."

"How-"

"As I just told Time Turner, that's what we need to find out. The local authorities could find nothing incriminating. And, before you ask, there is a very good reason we're getting involved. The thief only took one item—the Celestial Stone."

Soarin blinked at her. Knight just groaned and pressed her face into her forehooves. "Honestly?"

Defensively, "I'm a stunt flier, not a history major!"

"Yes, and I'm a guard- Oh, for pony sakes, forget it. The Celestial Stone is the central component of the arcane mechanism used by Prequestrian unicorns to control the sun and moon."

Soarin glanced at Turner imploringly. "Look," the brown earth-pony sighed. "It's a powerful rock that let's unicorns focus huge amounts of magic. They could use it to cast powerful spells."

"Oh... Right, okay. So we're going to find the thieves before somepony uses this rock to do bad stuff?"

Knight just shook her head slightly. "That is the storybook summary, yes."

Soarin clapped his hooves together and gave his best attempt at a foalish squeal. Turner grinned broadly and leaned over to hoofbump the pegasus.

The mare stomped her hoof down and Turner froze before withdrawing his. Soarin silenced his gurgling and sat at attention. "We..." Knight paused, glancing suspiciously at the pegasus, as though expecting some new antics from him. She glanced away and he stuck his tongue out. "We are going to Baltimare now. Fancy Pants has set the course and we're at full speed, so we should arrive within two hours. I've instructed Turner already on what he needs to do. Soarin-" She stopped as she glanced at him and his fully-extended tongue.

Soarin just smiled lightly and looked up as she stood over him. "Mmpth-thm?"

"Soarin... Ah- That is, Soarin, you will be canvassing the area when we arrive. Somepony may have... might've seen something, and... we need- Soarin, stick that back in your head or, Celestia help me, I will tear it out!"

The pegasus complied, albeit slowly and with an exaggerated slurping sound.

"Right. Soarin, talk to ponies in the area and find out if anyone saw anything useful. Turner will be working with Minuette to identify anything of value on the scene. Simple enough?"

Giving a one-winged salute, Soarin answered, "Aye, cap'n!"

"Good. Then get out of here."

.....

Little under two hours later, the airship slowed to a halt over downtown Baltimare. It was a coastal city and much of its wealth came through its major port, but the locale still featured a number of high-rise office buildings and condos. Fancy Pants returned to the helm and took manual control, cautiously guiding the craft onto the roof of one such tower.

Soarin and Gilda both were gone before the ship landed; the former off to complete his mission, and the latter to find a particular restaurant known for catering to the carnivorous—she had heard great things about their blue crab.

Time Turner and Minuette were similarly eager to disembark, and their hooves were on the gravelly surface of the roof within a minute of landing. They raced to the access door, flung it open, and began their descent. Knight followed several minutes later, maintaining a much more sedate pace.

Still aboard the craft, Fancy Pants ensured the cloaking talisman was working and the anchor was down. He went through all the standard engine checks and made sure the air pressure was steady. Finally, he cast a quick spell to tether the top of the craft to the rooftop in an effort to ensure there was no danger of tipping.

Now confident that his airship was safe, he too disembarked. Blue crab does sound interesting, he admitted as he considered what to do with his time in the city.

.....

"I'm telling you, if you really want to get somepony out here to help, I could send the Aeros back there and conduct a sweep."

"Yeah, but then we're running down their charge for no reason. Why not just let me cast a simple categorical come-to-life spell and order all clothing articles in the building to come here?"

"Think of how many exhibits that would destroy!"

"Look, I'm still able to contact the princess. Just hang on, and I'll write her. I'm sure she'll have an idea of how-"

Ding. Knight lifted her hoof from the brass bell on the counter, and looked long-sufferingly at Minuette and Time Turner. The unicorn mouthed 'Oh,' and put away the parchment and quill. The brown earth pony just stood next to a sleek silver briefcase and grinned abashedly. After several brief seconds, a matte grey unicorn stallion in a simple blue jacket opened a door behind the help-desk where they stood, and approached.

"I'm sorry, but the museum is closed right now for an extensive cleaning. We expect to be open next week."

Knight withdrew a badge from her mane and held it up. "We know about the robbery, sir. We're here to follow up the investigation."

The stallion leaned forward and squinted at the badge for a moment, and then turned his gaze on Minuette and Turner who were bickering in hushed tones. With a sigh, he nodded. "Right. Yes, well, in that case, follow me. I am Knowledge Touching, the chief curator of this establishment." He tapped the name tag worn on his lapel—'Know. Touching'—and turned to lead the group down one of the adjoining hallways.

"On your left here, you'll see a collection of cave-pony fossils. These are replicas of actual remains found in the caves beneath Hayshire, but what's so curious about them is that thaumic-dating estimates these ponies were here a thousand years before the Migration.

"Ah, and these are some of the griffin armaments which we believe were recovered after the two-forty-one skirmish. They were donated anonymously to the museum nearly eighty years ago, but their authenticity is not in question. And naturally, we offered to return the weapons to Griffindor, but their government was kind enough to let us keep them.

"And over here, one of the first unified tribal flags flown over Equestria. This particular version was only used for a few months before a great windstorm relocated the pegasi settlement. The other ponies assumed them gone for good, and made a new flag to reflect that. It was something of an embarrassment when the pegasi returned a week later."

This continued for several minutes as the curator guided the team through the museum at as fast a pace as he could manage. Finally, they reached a room—'Relics from before Recorded History'—blocked by police tape. He ducked under it and the others did the same. Along the walls and in display cases were an assortment of old helmets, lances, gems, and sets of armor. In the center of the room stood a small smashed-in hexagonal display case mounted on a pedestal, and above it, an open skylight.

Knight stared up at the hole in the roof. "Your most valuable display is protected from the outside world by two layers of glass?"

"That skylight is reinforced, I'll have you-"

"It's open."

"Hm?"

"The skylight is open, not broken. It doesn't need to be reinforced if you leave it unlocked."

"Yes, well... Regardless, we typically have a guard posted on the roof." Knight raised an eyebrow, and Know lowered his head slightly. "He's on paid vacation for his exemplary performance. We hadn't bothered to find a part-timer to fill in."

As their captain recounted the finer points of management to the curator, Minuette and Turner surveyed the crime scene.

"There really isn't much to look for," the latter noted. "It's obvious what happened—just a quick smash-and-grab."

"Granted. But that doesn't mean they didn't leave something incriminating. Get the aeros going. I need to think." Minuette began pacing around the room.

Turner, meanwhile, cracked open his briefcase. Inside, six small bronze devices sat dormant. He pulled one out and held it up to check for faults. The device was an intricate clockwork flying machine, comprised of dozens of tiny gears and moving pieces. It had three different rotors facing outward from the center, but all angled upwards. He withdrew a milky white gemstone from a fold in the briefcase and inserted it into a slot on the device.

Immediately, the half-hoof-sized craft took to the air and began buzzing around the room. It cast a focused light (the same color as it's gemstone) on different areas.

The curator looked on in awe. "What is that thing?"

Turner glanced up at him briefly before returning his attention to the briefcase, where he proceeded to put white gems into two more craft and let them fly. "They're arcane-enhanced rotary-operated flying machines. Aeros. They do all sorts of simple tasks, but right now I've got them working on CSI."

Minuette paced over to the central display and frowned at it. Etched into a marble plaque outside the glass, a short inscription described the contents of the exhibit.

The Celestial Stone
A powerful gemstone of unknown origins, the Celestial Stone has been an object of study and wonderment for a millennium. The gem is capable of focusing and amplifying the magic directed into it, allowing for more complicated and more powerful spells to be cast. Its most famous known use was with the pre-Migration unicorns, who channeled their combined power to move the sun and moon. The gem, which remained a possession of the Platinum bloodline after the Migration, was lost when Celestia and Luna arrived and demonstrated their power over the celestial bodies.

Some scholars speculate that the gem was hidden away by one of Platinum's descendants. Others suggest that the princesses ordered it buried so that neither their ability nor necessity was questioned. Whatever the case, archaeologists discovered the gem in 904 C.E., sealed beneath the basement of a collapsed manor near Canterlot Mountain. It has been a prized possession of the Baltimare Historical Museum since that year.

Minuette stared at the writing for a minute before rearing up and proclaiming "I've got it!" Everypony turned to stare at her, but she didn't much care. Instead, she turned to Time Turner and said, "I need one of the blanks, right now!"

As the earth pony complied, Minuette began focusing on exactly what she needed to do. Illusion was one of her strengths, undoubtedly, but she needed to build an illusion spell into... well, she didn't exactly know what field she was getting into. She planted her feet firmly—one of Celestia's first rules; 'you never know when that spell is going to send you flying'—and her horn began to glow as she weaved a simple Gello's Ghost spell into a more complex one of her own design. She focused on the magical field surrounding her and mentally isolated each one. Me, of course. Turney, Knight, Knowledge... None of them. That leaves...

She finished the spell and a bright blue flash pulsed from her horn, momentarily illuminating three distinct forms. Being the focal point, Minuette had the best view, and looked again at Turner. "That did it—do you have the blank gems?"

The brown stallion held them out—a collection of three clear crystals—and Minuette nodded before tilting her horn forward and tapping each one in turn. As she did so, she channeled the spell she had just cast into each of them, along with the basic navigational matrix she had long since memorized. The gems' clarity faded, replaced with a soft pink color.

Turner put the gems into the remaining three aeros and let them fly. The ponies watched in anticipation as the devices buzzed around the room, sweeping different surfaces with their light. After a minute, one of them illuminated a large form near the pedestal—Minuette recognized it immediately as what she had seen before. Within another minute, the remaining two aeros had flown over to the pedestal and illuminated two other forms. All three were blurry and indistinct, but the machines swept their light across them repeatedly and a clearer image gradually took shape.

"Griffins..." Knight muttered, stepping around one of the images. In fact, three ghostly griffins now stood around the pedestal. One had its talon inside the glass case and seemingly gripping an object, but nothing was visible there. The other two griffins faced outwards, looking down the hallways.

Turner looked to the unicorn mare, sharing a smile at their success. "What is this? What did you do?"

"This gem we're after focuses magical energy, right? Just about every sentient being has an innate magical field. When the thieves touched the gem, it activated. What you're seeing is their 'afterimage' at the instant that happened."

Knight clopped a hoof on the tile floor. "Good work, Minuette. I'll contact the Baltimare travel office and tell them to hold any griffins traveling in groups of three. We'll also need a photographer in here so we can get images to their office and posters in every port and station in Equestria. They can't hide from us now."

Author's Notes:

And with that, it seems the game is afoot. Or ahoof. Whichever you prefer.

Also, I wanted to note that chapters will probably be paced out more evenly after this. I'm looking at a once-a-week timeline, but if I specify a day, I'll never ever be on time. Of course, if I were inclined towards shameless self-promotion, I'd remind you that favoriting is an excellent means of finding out when there's more. Liking and commenting doesn't help with that, but it helps with your soul. Do the right thing.

Fortunately for you all, I'm not inclined towards shameless self promotion.

4. Fancy Flying

Five months ago...
Far below the glistening ivory towers and interlocking streets of Canterlot, on what seemed a small dirt service-street branching off of the cobble road which wound its way up the mountain, was a house. It was an unassuming house, built of wood paneling and red brick, and pressed against the mountain face such that it could extend within the rock. Golden Stud frowned as he stood outside of it. He held a particular distaste for the unexpected, and this house was wholly unexpected. Opulent manors, ten-carriage garages, pristine lawns... These, he had expected.

As much as he had anticipated extravagance, he was still pleased not to see it, and he went ahead and knocked on the door. After a moment's wait, a unicorn mare pulled it open. Golden took note of her appearance; a Celestia-white coat, long pink mane, and build that seemed more typical of an alicorn. The two had met once before; she was still striking.

"Lord Golden Stud, isn't it?" she asked with a gracious smile.

"Lady Fleur," he replied with a slight bow. Naturally, he knew she was not a 'Lady' in the sense of titled nobility, but it was a courtesy he did not mind extending to her. Although he had only met her husband on one prior occasion, Golden found him respectable and more deserving of a title than some stallions who actually possessed one.

"Please, follow me. I fear my Fancy's forgotten the time again, but I'll show you to his workshop if that will suffice."

Fleur de Lis led the noblepony through the house, and he looked politely at its decor as he followed. Much like the outside, the interior was decidedly minimal. Not un-lived-in, but merely unobtrusive. He saw no gold cutlery or diamond-studded picture frames, but from his knowledge of Fancy Pants, the absence of such things was preferential, not financial. Golden found the style reminded himself of his summer home away from Canterlot.

After passing the sitting room, dining hall, and a guest room, the pair reached a heavyset iron door at the back of the house. Fleur pulled it open and revealed beyond it a tunnel carved into the mountain. She felt along the tunnel wall for a moment before pressing a switch, and a series of gemstone lights illuminated the passage.

The walk took longer and proved more winding than Golden thought necessary, and prompted a curiosity about whether the house or tunnel had come first, and moreover, why a workshop would need to be so deep within the mountain. And, unless he was mistaken, they seemed to be gradually working their way downwards as well.

The passage leveled out—yes, he was quite certain now, they had been doing down—and another iron door came into sight. Fleur pushed it open and stepped through, Golden following several steps behind. She smiled softly, observing his expression as he took in his surroundings. He now stood on a wooden platform, halfway up a massive hollowed-out cavern beneath Canterlot. This was not part of the 'Canterlot Caverns,' a series of interconnected gem-studded tunnels running beneath the city. Those caverns did not extend this deep into the mountain, and were typically relatively narrow. The chamber he now overlooked must have been at least fifty pony-lengths tall and wide, and twice as long.

Wooden platforms like the one on which he stood seemed to run the entire length of the chamber, connected by winding staircases and mounted in place by metal brackets and rope. Golden could see at least a dozen ponies moving around these platforms, carrying tools, speaking with one another, or examining large sheets of parchment. It proved easy enough to see all this with the aid of torches mounted sporadically over these walkways and hung from above. At the center of both the cavern and everypony's attention, held aloft by ropes suspended from the intricate iron lattice mounted to the ceiling and walls, was an airship the likes of which Golden had never seen before.

Every foal knew what airships were. A marvel of modern ingenuity, they allowed anyone to touch the clouds and see the land from above. Of course, few were ever privileged enough to do so, as these vessels were usually toys for the wealthy. Golden Stud could have owned a fleet of them if he so desired, but never developed interest beyond a brief ride. He did not see the appeal of standing aboard a sailboat dangling from a hot air balloon, which really was all he could see them as.

The craft now fixed in the center of the cavern forced Golden to re-evaluate his opinions. Instead of being dangled from a gas-filled balloon as he was used to, or even the novelty design of dangling between two attached balloons, this craft seemed to have none at all. He could still see the 'sailboat' if he got creative, but in truth, that had no place either. This vessel seemed more akin to an Asinial Ironclad than any Equestrian seafaring vessel Golden could remember. The center of the craft was a long metal frame with wood filler, clearly unfinished but with distinct rooms and an upper deck already marked out and being built. This habitable section was flanked on either side by metal supports form-fitted to the central construction, each no taller than the upper deck and curving slightly downwards at the base but reaching barely below the lowest part of the main craft. These supports already had a patchwork of metal sheets covering them at points and creating the beginning of a hollow chamber inside.

"He calls it the Courser." Fleur de Lis stood at the edge of the platform, looking back at Golden with unconcealed pride for her husband's work.

"I've never seen anything like it."

"Fancy's always been enthusiastic about skyfaring, and he's improved on others' designs a few times, but this is his. He's had help putting it together, of course, but this is his airship."

"How will it fly, though? I thought you had to have a balloon and be able to heat the gas inside."

Fleur frowned slightly. "I'm afraid I still don't quite understand it myself, but- Ah! Excuse me, sir," she broke off, addressing a brown earth pony passing by with several slats of wood draped over his back. "I'm terribly sorry to interrupt, but could you show this gentlestallion to Fancy for me, and answer any questions he has?"

"Sure thing, ma'am! I was headed that way myself."

Turning back to the noble, she added, "I hope you don't mind if we part ways now, Golden Stud. It has been a pleasure."

"Likewise, Miss Fleur," he replied with a dip of his head before addressing the brown pony. "Now, lead the way. And tell me if you know, just how will this 'Courser' fly?"

The stallion nodded and continued walking along the scaffolding. "Oh, that's easy. The boss came up with a special enchantment to heat and cool the air inside those metal tanks—well, they will be tanks when we're done. Anyway, he's got it all worked out so that he can send the talismans power and commands through gemstones mounted by the steering wheel."

"Impressive..."

"Yeah, Fancy Pants is real clever. I'm just happy he included me on this project."

"You've worked with him before?"

"I like to dabble with machinery; he sponsors me so that I can work and share my designs."

"I see... I shall, perhaps, wish to speak with you on another day. What's your name, then?"

"Time Turner, sir."

~ ~ ~

Knight? The black-coated mare straightened up, looking away from the collection of maps she had been hunched over, and turning towards the gem resting on her bunk. Hurriedly, she moved to it and pressed on it with a hoof.

"Soarin, I'm here. News?"

Yeah, I'm headed back from the travel office now. One of the watchponies recognized the picture of those three immediately; I checked with their records office, and sure enough, three griffins paid to board a cargo flight to Crown Roc about an hour after the break-in.

"Great! Did you make sure they're the same three, though? There must a dozen griffins through that skyport every day."

Yeah, there have been eleven since the robbery, but the stallion I talked to specifically remembers three of 'em together, and he thinks that it's the three in the picture.

"Understood. Hurry back." With that, Knight slipped the gem's string over her head and settled it around her neck. She shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and gave a slight nod before trotting out of her quarters and up to the deck. Fancy Pants and Gilda had both arrived—at the same time, Knight noted—almost a half-hour ago, and she had told them to be ready to take off at a moment's notice.

Sure enough, the two of them were waiting when she opened the door onto the main platform. The stallion leaned over the railing at the edge of the walkway extending over the starboard air tank, overlooking the city with a faint smile. Gilda, meanwhile, had taken up a perch on the roof of the ready room and looked down at the captain with her ever-present smirk.

"Fancy," Knight began. "I need you to get the ship ready to take off. As soon as Soarin's back, we're anchors-up."

"Marvelous! Where are our intrepid fiends leading us now? A pirate's cove, perhaps? A secluded cloud fortress? I say, an underground laboratory?"

"Crown Roc, for now."

This drew a look from their resident griffin. "The thieves are going there?"

"According to our best and only present lead, yes."

With a soft thud, Gilda dropped from the roof and landed on deck, frowning at Knight. "Are we... Do you intend to enter officially?"

"Ideally, we can intercept them before they reach land. Failing that, we will declare ourselves to Griffin Border Protection." After a pause, "That won't be a problem, I trust?"

"N- Ah, no, of course not. No problem." The griffin coughed into her foreleg before forcing a grin. "Let's just hurry this along."

"Right. And, Fancy, what are the odds we can catch up if they left eight hours ago?"

"Doable," he replied with a glance over his shoulder from his position at the helm. "I'm making a few adjustments, but it's certainly doable."

The thud of four hooves on the deck—and a shouted "Waaaa-hoo!"—signaled Soarin's return. "Let's get this boat in the air!"

...

An hour later, Baltimare was far below the horizon and a vast expanse of blue extended in every direction. The roar of the propellers could hardly be heard over that of the wind, but at the speed they needed to maintain, both were naturally very loud. In order to go as fast as they were, Fancy Pants had brought the ship to a higher altitude than normal and altered the pressure in the tanks to bring the nose of the ship down slightly, as well as bringing the engine to full power. Gilda sat at the head of the ship, already on watch for any sign of the vessel they meant to intercept.

Below deck, Minuette was working diligently. She stood in her study and continually cast different spells, jotting down notes after each. Eight hours was a long time for an airship, after all, and more than enough for their target to stray from its course. For this purpose—as well as for science!—she had decided to refine her new spell and divine a way to actively track the gemstone with it.

Minuette reared back and slammed her hooves on the deck. "Horseapples!" She hadn't met with much success and was beginning to feel the thaumic fatigue; she wouldn't be able to continue for much longer.

A knock sounded at her door and she called out permission to enter. Time Turner stepped into the doorframe, looked from the mare to her notation, and sighed. "Is this about that same spell?"

"Yes! I cast it just fine in the museum, and if I do it exactly the same, I can replicate it. I don't need to replicate it, though. I need to improve it! I want to be able to search the skies for an amplified ambient magical field, but the spell degrades before it can travel far enough to be effective."

"It sounds like you need a construct, then, or something to channel the energy," Turner mused. After a brief pause, he smirked. "It's too bad we don't have an ancient magical gemstone capable of doing just that."

"Granted, but that doesn't much help right now..." They lapsed into silence once more, staring down at the floor in mutual exhaustion from two nigh-uninterrupted consecutive jobs. Finally, Minuette started a bit and turned back to her friend. "What about the Flare?"

"The- wait, you mean to modify it? You haven't even studied it properly—nopony has!" The stallion looked at her incredulously.

"No," Minuette acknowledged with a sigh, "but we've used it. We know how it works in theory, and if we can rig it to cast something other than a combustion spell, just think of how much we could do! And right now, we need to do this. Following this airship was a hunch to begin with, and we might not even be following them now. If we pull this off, it won't matter where they are." She gave her best reassuring grin. "Are you in?"

.....

Half an hour later, the two of them were still staring at the device they'd dismounted from its pivot on the stern of the ship and had laid out on the deck.. It was silvery-blue in color, relatively cylindrical, and the length of two ponies. Odd etchings wrapped around the width of it—two hoof-lengths, maybe—and the shape came almost to a point at one end. Here, a small notch marked the focal point of what Minuette assumed to be the spell-matrix. In any case, it was the end that fired the disintegration beam. On the opposite side, where the mechanism grew wider and jagged towards the end, a glimpse of the interior could be seen—just a faint unnatural glow.

"How, exactly, do we open it?" Time Turner ventured.

"Well, you remember what happened when I tried to pry it apart telekinetically..."

Deadpanning, "I still taste the ozone, yes."

"So, that told us the device responds to energy pulses, so using magic to get it open is out of the question. For obvious reasons, so is taking a crowbar to it."

"Hm..."

.....

Two hours later...
Cloud... Cloud... Cloud... It was a struggle staying awake for so long while sitting idle, but Gilda couldn't slip up now. Cloud... Cloud...

Balloon?

Her eagle-vision focused in on a small patch of orange amid the clouds far below. She waited a moment and saw it moving independently. With a start, she pushed off from her resting position and rushed to the nearest brass pipe. "Sighted them!" she shouted into it. "At least two dozen shiplengths below us, and moving a whole lot slower!"

Fancy Pants scrambled—in a dignified manner—more of a dash, really—onto the deck and nearly tripped over the Flare and the two ponies still examining it. Reaching the helm, he immediately began making adjustments to match the motion Gilda had described. The engines' roar cooled to a low hum and the noise of the wind gradually died. A soft hissing filled the air as Fancy vented some of the excess heated gas from the tanks and the craft began to fall, and a faint, shrill sound denoted the cloaking talisman overloading from the sudden drop in altitude.

Knight grabbed stepped up to the railing, carrying a voice amplifier, and watched as she ship came into view. "Attention, cargo vessel Swiftwing. You are ordered to shut down your engines immediately." It showed no indication of a change in speed, so Knight lowered the amplifier and turned to Soarin and Gilda who stood ready and equipped on deck. "Right. This is a civilian craft, so opening fire is not presently an option. Get over there and subdue anyone aboard."

"You got it, cap'!" Soarin proclaimed. The griffin just grunted affirmatively, and then the two of them were in the air.

The Courser had slowed down considerably to match the freighter's speed, so it was not particularly difficult to fly from one vessel to the other. Soarin and Gilda both came to a hover over its deck, watching for any sign of movement and ensuring that their gear was ready. Plated vests, the better to deflect griffin talons; check. Lightning gems and accompanying hoof-mounted launcher; check. And for Gilda, a pair of Lion-Tamers—one of the older models of griffin gem-based sidearms—secured inside holsters on each foreleg.

Suitably prepared, the two landed on the deck and walked over to the door leading below. Taking up positions on either side, Soarin readied a gem in his sling and Gilda drew one of her guns before pulling the door open. A hail of energy beams shot out immediately. The pegasus glanced for a moment when they ceased, and sighted a griffin taking cover behind some boxes blocking the corridor below. He nodded to Gilda, who shifted around to fire blindly into the room. Soarin drew back his sling, leaned over, and released it.

After the bright flash, Gilda dove down the stairs, pounced, and landed squarely on the convulsing griffin while keeping her gun trained on the hallway ahead. Soarin advanced behind her, another gem already prepared to fire. The two advanced slowly through the hallway, stopping periodically to check side-doors leading into crew quarters. Reaching the end, they encountered another staircase leading downward.

Descending cautiously, they entered the large chamber forming the belly of the craft. It was filled with boxes of various shapes, piled and tied into careful stacks on pallets or strapped to the curved walls at certain points. Taking cover behind a nearby crate, Soarin called out, "You are outnumbered and unable to escape! Discard your weapons and surrender now!"

A momentary silence elapsed before the room was filled with the roar of wind. At the head of the ship, opposite Soarin and Gilda's positions, a large cargo ramp dropped open and exposed the room to the open sky. From somewhere behind cover on that end of the ship, the bright red light of a signal flare suddenly illuminated the area. The griffin hiding over there threw it over the edge of the ramp and it promptly exploded.

Approaching the position slowly and maintaining a line of sight, Soarin called back to Gilda questioningly. "What do you figure that was?"

"Obviously a call for backup."

"But if they had backup in sight, why wouldn't they have just hoofed the gem off?"

The griffin's beak drew back into a grimace and she shook her head. "Maybe they did, and that was a warning? 'The ponies are coming—fly like mad'?"

"If that's so, we need to hurry up and-" Soarin never got to finish that sentence, seeing Gilda swoop over his head with both Lion-Tamers drawn and opening fire on the hiding-place near the ramp. Trotting up, he saw both of the remaining thieves curled up and motionless.

Gilda poked one with a talon and smirked. "Bet they would've run faster if they'd known it wasn't just the ponies that were coming."

.....

It sounded to Knight, listening in from one of the enchanted 'hear-me' gems—and, she resolved in that moment, Minuette needed a better name for them—it seemed as though Soarin and Gilda were doing well. If they failed, of course, she'd have to blow the ship out of the sky, which she would very much rather avoid.

She was concerned, then, when the cargo bay door flopped open and neither operative seemed to know why. When she saw the signal burst in the air, she reached the same conclusion as Soarin. Hearing that all hostiles aboard the ship were subdued and none had the gem, she ordered her team back to the ship and told Fancy Pants to take it below cloud level.

Sure enough, their line of sight cleared up and another airship was below them, rapidly trying to accelerate away This one was no cargo vessel, but instead an unmistakable griffin combat design bearing no insignia or markings. Its double-balloons were each painted a combination of red and black. Laying in a pursuit course, the Courser's engines roared to life once more and caught up in minutes. Knight grabbed her voice-amplifier and began to speak, "Stand down-", when she felt the craft rock from the impact of a cannonball. "Fancy!" she called out instead. "Line us up and light them up! Soarin, Gilda, get down there! Mini, Turner, get off the deck before you're pulped!"

Fancy began manipulating the helm once more, pushing the throttle forward and modifying both the engine output and tank pressure to force the ship into a strafing motion instead of a turn. As they came alongside the aggressor's vessel, who had continued to ineffectually fire cannonballs into the Courser, the unicorn mashed a button and a series of ports along the starboard side opened above the top of the gas tanks, revealing a small chamber concealing cannons within. Another button, and they let out a volley that tore into the side of the larger ship, who immediately began trying to lose altitude and escape the range of fire.

"Stay with them!" Knight shouted again. Fancy started to vent more of the air in the tanks, but they were low enough now that he had to do so very carefully. Meanwhile, the hostile cannon- and sidearms-fire persisted despite Soarin and Gilda' best efforts. They'd taken to sweeping around and between the two balloons, thereby preventing anypony from shooting near them, but there were simply too many griffins. When ten had taken flight at once and moved to engage the pair, they chose to make a hasty retreat to the Courser—the griffins did not pursue.

After around a minute of gradual descent—and the water was fairly near by the point—someone on the griffin ship finally gave the order to load the cannons with explosive rounds. The first shot to hit placed a sizable dent in the starboard tank and shook the Courser terribly.

The Flare, still resting on the deck of the ship, teetered slightly.

The second shot put a bruise in the hull of the undercarriage.

The Flare began to roll towards the starboard tank.

Gilda and Soarin had swooped back into combat under Knight's orders, who stood at the fore end of the starboard handrail monitoring the situation.

The third shot punched a hole through the dent in the starboard tank and the Courser immediately began to plummet, its right side dipping severely.

The Flare slammed into the starboard railing and smashed it apart, dropping towards the griffin ship below.

Soarin and Gilda began to pull back to the ship again, under heavy attack.

The Flare intercepted much of the magical small arms fire aimed at Gilda and Soarin as it fell.

The Flare embedded itself in the hull of the griffin ship, shattering the deck as it hit and lodging itself in a lower floor, already beginning to glow a luminous golden-yellow.

Author's Notes:

Hopefully I've struck a good balance between the dialogue and action this chapter, because I debated several times that I needed less of one or the other. I also tried a few different things stylistically, as with the repetition in that final scene, so I'm curious whether that was beneficial, bothersome, or neither.

Also, for anyone curious, a courser is (among other things) a swift and strong breed of horse used in the Middle Ages for combat.

5. Splash

Fifteen seconds ago...
"Eight more griffins taking-" Knight was cut off as the ship was rocked by a third impact and thrown off her hooves as the deck began to drop out from under her. Acting quickly, she wrapped her forelegs around the railing where she stood. This did her little good when the heavy arcane weapon on deck with her came rolling to the edge of the ship and smashed through the metal bars, tearing the mare free from the ship and sending her flying below.

As she fell, she observed several critical points. First, she reflected on the fact that she was very likely about to die. Second, she noted that her swing off the metal rail had given her enough forward velocity to manipulate her direction of travel. Third, she realized she was still higher than the griffin ship's balloons. Motivated by all three of these, she spread her hooves as wide as she could and leaned to the side, using the increased wind resistance to guide herself toward salvation.

Moments later, she smacked into the forward end of the left balloon and grabbed at it as best she could. Battered and stunned, she still found a small seam to grip, and hung on tightly. From her vantage point, she could see the deck of the ship below her, where griffins were running and flying in panic around a large metal cylinder embedded in their vessel. Knight took a moment to identify it in her concussed state.

The Flare. And it was glowing and sparking with energy. And... Knight blinked and rubbed her face against a foreleg, trying to clear away the blurriness. She looked back, but still couldn't tell which way the weapon was pointed.

A blinding ray of golden light burst through the air and through the balloon holding Knight. And then, as she watched, the upward-facing Flare shifted in place as it seared away the surrounding wood, and the beam followed its path. It cut through nearly the entire length of the left balloon and then through much of the craft below, finally settling out at a horizontal angle along the bottom hull and powering down.

In essentially the reverse of her experience aboard the Courser, the griffin ship lurched to the left and the destroyed cloth onto which she held plummeted as it swung outwards along its rope, leaving her dangling above the water with the lopsided vessel above her. Looking beyond that, she could see their own ship still dropping, and now nearly directly over the griffin's. It also appeared that most of their aggressors had fled in the aftermath of the Flare's firing, and she could see a large number of them on the horizon evidently headed to shore.

Seconds now from the water, Knight pushed off from her hoofhold and angled herself into a dive, devoting as much energy as she could to swimming down and away. She heard the griffin ship splashing down, and knowing that she was no longer likely to be crushed, surfaced to get a look. She tread water and turned to see that the vessel, despite huge gashes through its side and a missing balloon, remained afloat in the water. Breathing a sigh of relief, the black-coated mare began paddling towards it.

Then her own airship finished its rapid unplanned descent and smashed into it.

As the two vessels collided, the shattered starboard air tank from the Courser pushed into the left side of the Griffin at a vertical angle, while the rest it gradually leveled out and the port air tank settled on the water. Between the air tank, the balloon, and the relative buoyancy of both crafts, the mass of rent metal and shattered wood managed not to immediately sink to the bottom of the ocean. Knight resumed her swim toward the ships, and noticed several shapes stepping and flying into view as she did so.

.....

After a long series of explosions rocking the ship, the wall briefly becoming the ground, every loose object going flying around the room, hearing the Flare firing, and feeling a sudden impact with something curiously solid in the middle of an ocean, Minuette and Time Turner were hesitant to move or say anything whatsoever.

"Haha!" the earth pony proclaimed. "I knew we'd be fine!"

An undetonated cannonball in the fragmented air tank suddenly blew, rocking the ship and evoking a wince. Minuette just glared at him.

"Yes, well... Anyway, we should see what's going on up there," he concluded meekly. He stood, and helped her to her hooves. Together, they carefully stepped over the shattered glass and assorted personal effects that littered the floor of Minuette's room. The mare noted that they were actually moving uphill as they did so, indicating that the airship was slightly raised on its right side.

After clearing the rest of the hallway and climbing the stairs to the main deck, Time Turner pushed the door open and stepped out, blinking in the sunlight. "Clouds have cleared," he noted as he shielded his eyes with a foreleg and looked up. Then he spotted the figure of a pegasus and griffin approaching, and waved. "Soarin, Gilda!"

The pair landed on the deck simultaneously, standing across from the earth pony and unicorn. "Got a pretty good look around," Soarin began, "and I think all the griffins turned tail and ran."

Gilda snorted. "Cowards." Then she paused, tilting her head, and then turned to look behind her at the bridge just as Fancy Pants pushed the door open and stepped outside. His suit was visibly scuffed, his coat marked by blood in several places, and his mane disheveled, but he still wore his monocle and limped proudly onto the bridge.

"I hope my piloting skills were sufficient to compensate for the inadequate armor plating on those air tanks. Fortune favored us—had we not the second vessel to support our own, I fear it would have sunk."

For the first time, Minuette realized the starboard end of their ship was resting on the deck of tilted griffin galley. She trotted to the broken edge of the tank and looked down at the scorched and destroyed remains of the warship's upper deck. Through a hole several decks deep and running almost the length of the ship, she could see the inert Flare. "We should go down there and make sure it's stable."

Turner looked at her skeptically. "Do you actually need to go down there in order to check?"

"No, but... Look at it, Turney! It's a blown-up griffin battleship! How could we not go exploring!" She grinned as he fought a smile of his own, but turned away as she heard a thudding sound practically below her.

Hearing it as well, Soarin took to the air and flew around the front of the ship. "Hey!" he called back. "I found Knight! She's alright!" He dropped out of sight, helping lift her onto the ship. Minuette saw her opportunity fading and quickly hopped over the jagged lip of the air tank and into the griffin ship below, landing on a lower deck with a graceful roll.

"Come on, you guys!" she shouted. With no response forthcoming, the unicorn turned her attention to the nearby Flare and approached it. Surprisingly, she saw nothing so much as a scratch on the device. Pausing for a moment, she ran through several possible spells to determine the magical output of the device before settling on one. Her horn lit up...

And she immediately staggered, fell forward, and collapsed.

To his credit, Time Turner dropped every sense of apprehension the moment he saw Minuette falling, and he had jumped into the ship before her muzzle hit the deck. "Mini!" he cried out as he dropped, Fancy Pants close behind. The earth pony stepped up and nudged her in the ribs, and she blinked groggily. "Mini, are you alright?"

She stared up at him for a moment before Fancy Pants said, "Perhaps a simple head-trauma spell will resolve this?" Immediately her eyes went wide and she waved her forehooves.

"No! The..." she paused, looking vaguely nauseous. "The magical field is too strong. It will overpower any magic you attempt to channel."

"Wait, so the Flare is still charged?"

"It's not that. This was everywhere. I think... The gemstone must still be here. The Celestial Stone. It must be." Unsteadily, Minuette rose to her hooves and looked around. She glanced upward, where Soarin, Gilda, and Knight now stood at the edge of their ship looking down. "The Celestial Stone is still here! Check the upper decks!"

Everypony began to rummage through the vessel's remaining compartments. While the energy beam had cut clear through the wooden framing that comprised most of the ship, it had not penetrated the outer hull entirely, and still left plenty of area to search. Knight and Fancy Pants began with the few rooms built on the level of the main deck, as the stairs leading below were only nominally intact. Soarin swooped through the hole in the deck and into the first floor, which seemed to be dedicated mostly to crew quarters. Gilda began with the level below that, knowing perfectly well that that was where armories typically belonged on this model of airship. Minuette—who had already recovered from the magical energy surge—and Time Turner continued to poke around the storage room at the base of the craft.

After a few minutes, Soarin called out. Remembering that Gilda was the only one actually able to get to him, he went to the lower compartment and helped Minuette while the griffin did the same for Knight. Once all four of them reached the desired location inside a hollowed-out bunk, Soarin gestured to some of the exposed, charred portion of the outer hull that the Flare had hit. The pointing proved largely unnecessary, as obviously enough, a plain crystal-clear orb half the size of a hoof was embedded in the scorched metal. It periodically shimmered with rainbow energy, and the surface surrounding it glowed red-hot.

Neither ponies nor griffin were able to break the awestruck silence for a while. Finally, Minuette managed in a whisper, "This is it."

Knight shook her head and addressed Minuette. "Is it safe? Should it be radiating this much heat?"

The unicorn paused for a moment, frowning. "No. The Celestial Stone takes magical input and generates an increased magical output, but I don't think it's ever been used to store energy before. But what this looks like, and what I felt earlier when I tried to cast a spell... This thing is saturated in raw thaumic power. It's flushing huge amounts into the environment and that transfer must be producing the heat." Another pause, and then she took a step back. "Oh... no. This isn't right."

"What is it?"

Minuette continued, "It's just, if this stone took a direct hit from the Flare—and it clearly has—it would have absorbed a massive amount of power. The energy we're seeing this thing output... It's nowhere near what it should be."

"Theories?"

"It took in too much power too quickly and that's why it's storing it instead of transforming it into more."

"Wait," Soarin cut in. "You mean that all the magic pourin' off that thing is just the leftovers from what the Flare gave it?"

"Yes. And if that's the case, and it still does manage the conversion later... all that energy exponentially increased and released at once... The results could be devastating."

Everyone processed this for a moment before Soarin ventured again, "So... I suppose throwing it really far won't work?"

"It's melting the metal around it, 'N. We couldn't even grab it," Gilda countered.

"Minuette, give us a timeline."

"I can't! I can't so much as cast a spell right now, cap'! It's all guesswork!"

"Then guess."

"Ten minutes, maybe? Could be two, could be two-hundred. There is no precedent for this."

Knight sighed, looking around at the three others. "We can't move it, we can't get clear of it, we can't stop it... Folks, I'm listening. Find some straw and grasp."

The unicorn stared at the ground for a moment, grimacing, and then closed her eyes. "There is a way."

"Alright! Let's hear it!"

Minuette shook her head. "Not here. Gilda, help Knight back to the deck of our ship. Soarin, I need to see Turney."

Knight consented to the help and the griffin flew her off. Soarin arrived with Time Turner moments later. He'd begun to ask something when Minuette stepped forward and embraced him in a hug. The pegasus saw her whisper something in his ear, and then the ship rocked as the gemstone let out another small tremor of rainbow light. Then she pushed him back and stepped away.

"Time's running out," she said. "Help him back to our ship first. I need to check one last thing." Soarin and Time Turner both looked ready to say something when she shouted, "Go, now! Explosions and rainbows! Hurry!"

Soarin latched onto Turner and started fly back to their ship, when the earth pony immediately began trying to escape. "No! Stop, let me go back! Put me down!"

"Turner, the hay's wrong with you? We don't have time for this!"

"She said 'goodbye,' Soarin! Now take me back-" That was as much as the stallion managed to say before Soarin had glanced back and seen Minuette's horn light up with the beginning of a spell. With a heave, he dropped Turner the rest of the distance to their ship and turned, pouring on speed as he dove towards the unicorn struggling to stay upright.

He slammed into her just as her horn flared, and suddenly they were both falling and splashing into the empty ocean.

Interlude One

Untold millennia ago...
Ponies throughout the kingdoms revered Lavoisier as a beacon of light in an otherwise inhospitable mountain range. Few earth ponies and pegasi ever had the opportunity to see it, but any resident of the city would assure you that everypony wished they could live there. Nestled in a valley formed by the peaks of four mountains, Lavoisier was a natural fortress. Its ornate walls connected four towers built atop each peak, with the highest one forming the castle itself and reaching nearly to the clouds.

The valley, while housing less wealthy residents, was no less opulent itself. A series of winding paths carved through the rock and connected all the shimmering gem-studded and metal-framed houses. The nobility may have been content with recreational pursuits, but the common unicorn still needed to work. For most, this meant research. Some worked as bakers and craftsponies and other such things, but most were dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. "The Tungsten Age of science and reason," the prince once boasted in the hopes of sparking a new metaphor. His son, the young Lord Gold, notably said it would never catch.

Unsurprisingly, the lesser races were unwilling to barter their grain or weather-maintenance for the promise of education, so a significant number of the population also dabbled in enchanting. Few made a career of it, but the combined efforts of several thousand skilled mages in their free time proved more than enough to provide the city's trade-goods. The rest of the city's wealth came from the extensive mines and quarries running through and beneath the mountains. Unicorns did not work there, naturally, but they permitted some earth ponies to dig for a nominal rate.

And today, all of that was going to change.

Glimmer Swirl ran down the smooth stone path as quickly as she could, teleporting herself every few seconds. This was terribly uncouth, but she had left manners at the door when she overslept by two hours. She had skipped all her prep-work and bolted out the door when she caught a glimpse of the sundial, and might just make it to the South Tower in time for the ceremony.

Slowing to a trot as she approached the gates, the guards stepped up to block the door. "I do beseech thee, fair gentlestallions, permit me enter that I may away to the Arch-Mage's chamber!"

"What matters have you with he? His Lordship bade us deny all visitors this day."

"My matters are his, and my business as well. Render me to him if you will, but delay me not!"

"Proceed, then. Stars make your presence and practices pleasant and helpful to him." The armored stallions stepped aside and pulled the door open, and Glimmer Swirl darted immediately inside. She ascended the stairs hastily enough to draw some scornful looks, but reached the top of the tower in a respectable time. Pausing before she knocked on the Arch-Mage's door, she turned to an earth pony mare seated behind a desk nearby.

"Wench, where be his regal being?"

"He's already within the casting chamber, milady."

Back down three of those thirty flights of stairs, then.

Pushing open the heavy-set mahogany door and looking around, Glimmer realized she truly was the last pony to arrive. She slunk as inconspicuously as she could to her position and shut her eyes, feeling everypony else's on her. At least they hadn't started yet, and still did not seem to be ready, so she began to adjust her mane and run through the mental exercises.

A minute later, she heard footsteps and looked up to see Prince Tungsten himself stepping into the room.

"Mares, stallions," he intoned with an air of distinct authority tempered by clear excitement, "Each of you this day knows our most prodigious purpose. If successful, every creature that walks this planet and touches its skies shall know our might." He paused, a slight smile gracing his face. "Lavoisier shines brightly over our kingdom—now let us command the night."

Tungsten stepped back and another stallion approached. The Arch-Mage. He carried a small parchment-wrapped sphere in his magic, and set it on a pedestal in the center of the chamber. Removing the cover, he revealed a small, clear, perfectly spherical orb within. He nodded to a pair of earth ponies standing at the edge of the room, and then took his own place around the circle. The two earth ponies rolled back an array of blinds, revealing glass-panel walls behind. Through it, the sun could be seen reaching over the tip of the East Wall.

The Arch-Mage took a slow look around the circle, making eye contact with each member, before he gave a nod. "Begin."

At once, sixteen horns lit up. Sixteen minds focused on the task—the simplest task. Every foal could do this, and every mare and stallion in the room had done it countless thousands of times. Now, they simply needed to do it bigger. Each pony kept their minds off the orb in the center of the room, ignoring it, thinking only of the task. Their horns, one by one, burst into layers of overglow as their bodies strained against the impossible.

"And mark."

At once, sixteen horns discharged the built-up energy into gemstone in the center of the room. Not one of them ceased the spell, but now they directed it into the stone, and the Arch-Mage's horn continued to glow brighter as he manipulated the magic pouring into it.

The servants and prince watched in shared awe as the sun sunk below the horizon and the room grew dimmer despite the magical glow. When the Arch-Mage gave the order to stop moments later, sixteen pairs of eyes opened and looked around the room. Blinked. Looked at the window, and out at a night sky.

~ ~ ~

Present Day
New Maresico
Twenty minutes outside Rockwell
Toaster stepped out of the large, pink pastel-colored bunker and immediately winced as the wind blew sand into his face. He brought up a hoof to shield his eyes as he looked around. He couldn't see a single other pony in the fenced-in compound, although given that a third of the thirty people were sleeping in the room he'd just left and the others were working in his current destination, this was not terribly surprising. Apart from the housing bunker and the joint lab-and-command-center, the only other structures were the towering hanger to his left and the small guard post by the road leading out.

He spotted one of the guards walking out of the post just then, and realized it must nearly be time for lunch if the shifts were changing. He raised a hoof and waved, and the guard—Arcing Ax—paused to wave in return.

Ax resumed walking just in time to avoid being crushed by the two massive airships that had suddenly appeared over the guard shack and fallen on it.

~ ~ ~

Elsewhere...
Flying while carrying an adult pony is not an easy task. Doing so while trying to outrun a potentially catastrophic magical explosion is even less of an easy task. Still, Soarin felt compelled to keep reassuring the unconscious Minuette in his grip that they would be fine.

"We'll be fine!" he declared with a nervous laugh. "We'll be fine." He was getting close to the shoreline now. "We'll be just fine."

His flight before that point had been uneventful, and had gone on much like that for the entire time. However, it was at this moment that the Celestial Stone finally generated the necessary energy, and released it.

Soarin glanced back as a terrifyingly loud roar filled the air and a massive plume of water rose in the distance behind him and sent out towering waves. Before the products of the magical blast had a chance to drown him, the glimmering rainbow energy surge itself overtook him and nearly knocked him out of the air, but he fought the shift in pressure and remained upright.

Looking back once more, the water was... still. Soarin actually had to check twice before he stopped fleeing, but yes, the wave had evidently already dissipated and the only rainbow in sight was a trace of the initial glare burned into his vision. Giddy at his survival, he did a small vertical loop in the air and made Minuette groan. "Don't worry, Mini. We're home free."

Author's Notes:

I admittedly published this chapter earlier than planned, because my normal pre-reader has had something come up and will be unable to help with foreseeable future chapters. I wanted to go ahead and get this out there so that I'd have some lead time, and so that I could say, if anyone has experience with providing grammatical and literary feedback and wants to lend a hand/hoof, it might be welcome.

And now, a word about the story itself! Thus far, things have been fairly fast paced. I like fast paced, and there will undoubtedly be plenty of it in later chapters. However, this chapter marks the end of the first little mini-arc, which was always destined to be very action-filled by nature of introducing the characters and setting, and also setting up a lot of ideas and themes that will be coming later down the line. That's why I'm calling this an interlude, though it does not imply a lengthy break. I specified that it's interlude one because there's more than one of everything.

Also, I'm quickly learning that foreshadowing is both very fun and very difficult, because either you're too obvious, too subtle, or you just want to scream, "Ha! Look at that clever thing I just said! Wasn't that clever?"

6. Ripples

Ponies have conducted numerous experiments on the side-effects of teleportation, particularly with regard to its role with non-unicorns. It is well-known that it tends to cause nausea and disorientation in proportional amount to the distrance traveled. The effects are less severe on unicorns, and even less on the one casting the spell, but these unpleasantries are still powerful enough that teleporting beyond a few hundred yards is out of the question for the vast majority.

With this in mind, the ponies at the F.R.I.E.N.D. base outside Rockwell later reflected that it was something of a miracle the team had survived with their insides intact.

Knight lifted herself off the battered deck and climbed to an unsteady standing position. She immediately regretted doing so, as the ongoing sandstorm battered her drenched coat and began forming a layer of mud. Shaking it off as best she could, the black mare looked around and saw three of her team members; Fancy Pants, Gilda, and Time Turner. None of them had recovered yet, so she quickly trotted—shaking off the sand coating and ducking her head as she went—to the edge of the craft inside the fenced perimeter.

"Hey!" she called out to a pair of stunned ponies staring at the scene. "Get some ponies and a ladder out here!" Her call brought them to their senses and sent them running for the command post. Knight returned to the nearest unconscious pony, Fancy Pants, and confirmed that he was still breathing. After doing so for Time Turner and Gilda as well, she called out for the two missing. "Soarin! Minuette!"

Knight moved to the starboard side and looked down, where the griffin ship had formerly been lodged. After the teleport, it had pushed away and now rested on its side, with its one remaining balloon still bobbing in wind. "Soarin! Minuette!" She heard no response.

The drop into the other craft was far too great, so she scrambled down the sloped deck once more, where a ladder had just been propped up. She hopped over the railing, slid down, and landed amid a crowd of other ponies. "There's three on deck in need of medical attention," she declared. "And two more in the other ship." She pushed past the confused faces—most of them were scientists and not well-prepared for such situations—and broke into a run around the length of the Courser to search for her missing crew.

On the deck of the Courser, Time Turner awoke to find himself being levitated. Startled by that and blinded by the sand blowing everywhere, he began flailing around and managed to break free of his carrier's magical hold. Dropping heavily to the metal plating, he shielded his face defensively against both environment and assailant.

"Easy," Toaster said. "You're back at base now; looks like you had a fun day, though."

Turner just groaned and muttered, "Where's Minuette?" Knight was wondering the same thing as she and four other ponies searched the lopsided griffin ship. Admittedly, most of the ponies were spending more time staring at the charred rend through the ship than they were searching for the missing unicorn and pegasus, but there really weren't many closed-off areas to search.

After a few minutes, it became clear that neither pony were present, and after a sudden realization and another frantic search, Knight confirmed that the Celestial Stone wasn't either. Knight sat down, nauseous and still a bit concussed. She was no longer in danger, but a third of her team was missing in action.

~ ~ ~

After what felt like an hour of flying, even with the wind against his back, Soarin all but collapsed on the beach. Minuette had remained unconscious for the entire flight, but sputtered and came to with a start when he set her roughly on the sand. She sat bolt upright and looked around, wincing immediately as she did so. Seeing the ocean before her, the dry sand beneath her, and the snowy mountainous taiga behind her, she felt entirely lost.

"Soarin?" She asked, looking at the pegasus lying supine beside her. He opened his eyes, turned his head to see her, and managed a feeble grin. "Did it work?"

He nodded. "Not sure what you did, but the ship vanished when you cast your spell. Took everyone with it but us."

"I teleported them... Hopefully back to base."

The stallion's eyes widened. "That's practically the other side of the world!"

"Nearly, yeah." Minuette paused, coughing. "I used the Stone to cast the spell. Problem is, I could either teleport myself and the Stone, or neither..." Another pause. "And you shouldn't be here either."

"I had an inkling of what you were doing and I wasn't going to let you. Didn't stop you, but keeping you from drowning seems like a close second."

They remained like that for a while, mutually exhausted and looking silently over the ocean, before Minuette struggled to her hooves. "Thanks, Soarin. Now we should probably find somepony before sundown."

"Somebird," Soarin noted as he rose too, and looked at the forest. "Here be griffins."

~ ~ ~

The barracks was packed nearly to overflowing. It cozily slept ten ponies, and sustained three times that through rotating shifts. Now almost all thirty of them were inside at once, crowding to see their wounded friends and hear their story. Considerable amounts of shouting and shoving were required to vacate the non-essential personnel, finally leaving just Toaster, a doctor, and the field team.

Among those present, Fancy Pants, Knight, and Gilda were all in bed but conscious. Only Time Turner had already been checked for injury and confirmed to have none, and had thus busied himself talking with Toaster. His fellow earth-pony engineer wore over his white coat a simple khaki lab-coat with a hood to protect the face from the environment. His mane, much like the namesake appliance on his flank, was a youthful grey.

Having just heard the tale of the events leading up to their arrival, Toaster sat back and sighed. "Of course, it makes sense... She didn't want to bring the Celestial Stone here where it could kill everypony, so she-"

"She found a way to do both," Turner cut in. "She teleported us here, and herself somewhere else."

The grey stallion stared back at him, trying to force a reassurance and finding none. After a moment, he settled on acknowledging, "If anypony could come up with a way to do that, and pull it off, it's Minuette."

Knight began coughing on the other side of the room, prompting both to turn in her direction. She was trying to sit up, despite the best efforts of the doctor. "Miss Knight, please, lie still!" The maroon earth-pony mare chided in her strange accent.

"I-" Coughing. "I'm perfectly fine. You said yourself, Prosper, the damage is healed," she rasped.

"The fractured rib and the lung it punctured are both repaired, but both are fragile. You'll feel the damage to your lung for weeks to come, and if you overexert yourself into coughing fits every hour, you'll wind up back here with the same problem."

"Acknowledged, doctor. Now step aside and let me see to my ship." Knight forced herself to her hooves and past the concerned mare. Turning to Toaster, she asked, "What's the last you heard?"

"Most of the ponies on base aren't engineers; they're doing what they can, but it'll take weeks to fix."

"That's not good enough. I need to head into town for the postal service, though... Fancy," she said, shifting her focus, "Who should I contact to bring in more workers?"

"At your service, my dear," he said with a smile as he rose to his hooves and earned a scornful look from Prosper. "Most of the original team remains in my employ, and the rest would happily return for such an estimable task. I shall accompany you to Rockwell and send the appropriate letters." At the sight of Knight's hesitant expression, he continued, "And I assure you, I hold them in as high a regard as myself; I trust each one to keep their efforts and work-site discreet."

"I'm afraid I cannot allow Miss Knight to venture away from the base unattended. If you will not remain until you are recovered, then you shall have a physician with you. On this point, I shall not hear argument."

The captain looked ready for a moment to challenge that declaration, but consented. "Fine. Let's get going, then." She turned to the two members of her team remaining behind, sighed, and nodded to each in turn. "Turner. Gilda." The former gave a farewell in return. The latter remained laying on her side, facing away, and only gave a dismissive wave with one wing as acknowledgement. Since their return, the griffin had proven thoroughly upset and had offered no reason why. Knight concluded that she, like everyone else, was feeling the loss of their two friends.

Fancy said his goodbyes as well, and moved to step outside. The doctor glanced at them, then turned and inclined her head to Turner and Toaster. "Live long," Prosper said before following the other two into the desert beyond their bunker.

The two engineers sat there for a minute, neither sure where their conversation had left nor how to pick it up. Finally, Turner frowned and remarked, "So, I still don't get it... What's her deal, anyway?"

~ ~ ~

On the other side of the country, in a castle amid a glistening city on a towering mountain, Princess Celestia held day-court. She found the tedium... well, tedious, but she also felt it was a necessary function, and she did her best to hear each of her subjects fairly and fully. This was why she had ordered her staff not to interrupt the proceedings except for something truly urgent and important, or in cases where the boredom simply became too much and she spoke the code-word.

Given the entire lack of mention of cake, it came as a surprise when a guard rushed past the line to her throne and held out a letter. "Urgent communication from the griffin king, Your Highness."

Celestia accepted it, removed the seal, and began reading.

Lady Celestia, Monarch of the Heavens,

A terrible tragedy has befallen my people today. An earthquake shook our western coasts and awoke the sea. A great wave crashed against our land, and while our larger cities were safe nestled atop the mountain-peaks, many low-lying settlements were washed away. Thousands of griffins are displaced and the region's farmland is in ruins. I have too often invoked your generosity, but circumstance dictates I do it once more; if Equestria can spare food and emergency aid materials in the coming days, I shall be further indebted and unendingly grateful.

Kindest regards,

King Gillard

Knowing she could only ever do one thing, Celestia immediately called the court to an end and returned to her chambers. Pulling out a fresh quill, inkwell, and some parchment, she began to draft two documents; a response, and an emergency order for the royal guard.

Author's Notes:

Introducing some new people, establishing the setting of the Rockwell base, lining up dominoes, and getting this story back on your lists after an extra week's delay. Had too much stuff to work through, and an idea for another story that I simply had to start on.

Also! If you didn't catch it, the location is the ponification of Roswell, New Mexico, where a UFO supposedly crashed in the sixties. Not saying that has anything to do with anything, but I thought up the name years ago (and to my (dis)credit, not a single other story has used it) and it seemed the sort of place that would house a secret base.

And as always, let me know what you're thinking.

7. Forgotten

Four years ago...
Knight re-read the title of the document in her hooves for at least the tenth time. Immediate Departmental Transfer. The midnight mare had done her very best to focus on her upcoming task and how best to approach it, but she simply could not overcome the intimidation of a new posting. Her small quarters did little to help liberate her mind, crowded into a one-seat coach.

That was something else that upset her. Not only reassigned, but to a place so remote that even trains did not reach it. Four hours gallop from the nearest city of any significance, and in the middle of a scorching desert. Her service to the Equestrian Royal Guard had been commendable, but a posting in the New Maresican desert was hardly a commendation.

When at last the coach came to a stop, the mare poked her head out the curtained side-window and saw them in the center of what one might argue was a town. The collection of sun-bleached wood structures, featuring most prominently a tavern and "Sal's Shootin' Irons," did not speak highly of the ponies who occupied the shanty homes in their vicinity. Shaking her head slightly before pulling a hood over her head to protect from the wind, Knight pushed the door open and hopped to the ground.

After paying the carriage-puller his due and inquiring after directions to her destination, she began in the indicated direction. Ahead of her was a building which, while primarily comprised of the same decaying wood that made up the rest of the town, was reinforced with brick and its windows with iron bars. There were no noticeable markings on the exterior, but Knight saw upon entering that she had found the sheriff's office.

The main room, although in truth it appeared to be a one-room building, was sparsely furnished. Three desks were aligned in a row to her left, each one in front of the next, and two jail cells were built into the wall near the back. The only other items of note included a fake potted plant, a dirt-caked welcome mat, and a water-cooler with which Knight immediately acquainted herself.

The exterior door swung open once more, and a puke-green earth pony stallion stumbled inside carrying a lidded cup. Either he or his beverage—though Knight suspected it to be a combination of the two—smelled of alcohol. He kicked the door shut heavily before too much sand blew in, and stared at the mare for a moment before blinking in comprehension. "You the new'ne?"

"I'm sorry?"

The stallion frowned, clearly making an effort to steady his speech. "The new sheriff? Captain Dark Knight?"

Knight returned his frown twofold, both at the use of her full name—far too much like something from a comic-book, she felt—and at her realization that this stallion wore a badge. "Knight will do just fine, deputy."

He gave something resembling an affirmative grunt and plopped down in the frontmost chair, leaning back and resting his back hooves on the surface of the desk.

With her concerns about the job now entirely justified, Knight took a seat at her desk with a resigned sigh and put her head down.

~ ~ ~

"Are you sure it's in this direction?"

"Yes! Crown Roc is only a few miles inland from the western coast, and because it's a mountain-and-cloud city and we're headed straight towards the biggest mountain in sight, I'm fairly sure that we're going in the right direction."

Soarin stopped walking alongside her and frowned. "I'm not sure that reasoning works."

Pausing as well, Minuette replied, "I know that, but it's all we've got. I already told you, I can't cast any spells—my horn must've burned out from that teleport. Just fly up there and get help already."

"I'm not leaving you out here alone, Mini. You'll get eaten by wild hydras and crabs."

She managed a feeble laugh. "Griffin territory really isn't so wild as everypony thinks. They might not have organized weather control and animal keepers, but it's not that dangerous. Don't believe everything you hear, Soarin."

"I could say the same about reading, you know."

"Granted, but in this case, my information comes from Celestia herself. And besides, I haven't seen a single living thing since we got here."

~ ~ ~

"And when did you get here?" Knight asked around the pencil held in her mouth.

"Only yesterday. We were just stopping for the night on our way to Las Pegasus, but he wanted to check out the guard base while we were here."

A pause. "I'm sorry?"

"The guard base, ma'am. A pony at the tavern told us about it and Chance just wanted to see their airship hanger."

"There's no guard base in the area, Mrs. Chaser, I can assure you."

"B-but the stallion said... Do you mean my Chance is just wandering the desert looking for something that doesn't exist?"

Knight spat out the pencil, taking a final glance at the incident report on her desk before making eye contact. "I promise you, we'll do everything we can to find your husband. I'm going to gather some supplies and look for him myself."

Once the mare had expressed her gratitude and left the building, Knight retrieved a large rolled-up map from the storage area and spread it across her desk. As she was studying it, marking likely areas to look based on the mare's report, Deputy Lax Law awoke from his nap and walked over.

"What's this?" he queried.

"Missing pony."

Lax snorted. "Keep forgettin' you're new. And that you're here, for that matter. Anyway, we get missin' pony reports all the time." He kicked the trashcan next to her desk. "Got a special filin' place right here."

Knight looked up from the map and stared at him in absolute shock. She stammered for a moment before demanding an explanation.

"See, ponies tend t'wander off from time to time. Last sheriff what went lookin'... he wandered off too. Don't go lookin' yourself or the problem'll just be worse."

Knight stood up suddenly, knocking her seat to the ground with a crash. She rounded on him and he took a step back. "Ignoring the situation is not any sort of answer! If your previous sheriff failed to return from the desert, then he clearly did not prepare or plan adequately! You pack water, you pack food, you pack a compass, and for pony's sake you get a unicorn to cast a cooling spell on you! Now, if you won't help me search, you will at the very least go outside and retrieve some supplies from the general store!"

The stallion paused, as though considering whether to say something, and then nodded and left.

~ ~ ~

"Do you think we should say something?" Soarin whispered to Minuette as they stared at the trio of griffins crouched in a semi-circle around them, pointing crude rock-tipped spears. They were speaking amongst themselves in a language neither pony understood, but from their gesturing and general situation, it was clearly not a pleasant chat.

"Of course, we have to say something. Most griffins are taught common Equestrian from a young age." Then, in a louder voice, "Hey there! Could you gentlebirds please show us the way to your nearest population center?" She offered her best smile, but the only response was more discussion in the foreign language.

Turning back to Soarin, she conceded, "These admittedly don't seem like normal griffins... Look at their weapons—they're certainly not guards. And another thing... they walked up. If they wanted to trap us, I can't fathom why they didn't fly up from behind."

The pegasus gave her a wry smirk. "Sort of a moot point now, don't you think?"

The griffin conversation which had gone alongside their own until then just stopped, and the largest griffin lowered his spear and stepped forward. In a single stride, he stood face to face with Minuette and reached up to touch her horn with a talon. He looked to Soarin, who had immediately tensed up to defend the mare, and raised a wing to show nonaggression. He turned back to the blue mare and questioned hesitantly, "Yuh-neigh-corn?"

~ ~ ~

Deserts sucked. Knight had been displeased about her transfer from the beginning, and the suffocating heat had only been one of several reasons why. Now, three weeks later, trekking over dunes in an endless sandstorm just thin enough for the sun to still beat down on her, she struggled to think of anything else.

Luckily, her rage towards her deputy had scarcely subsided in the few hours since he told her his policy of ignoring missing-persons reports. Ugh! She still felt furious and disgusted, and she wanted to kick something, but all she had in sight was sand and there was enough of that in the air already.

Only a couple hours into her search and the black mare was already regretting it. She had brought a white over-cloth to reflect the sun off her coat, but it was hardly enough to keep her from already exhausting half her water supply. Knight was already entertaining thoughts of turning back defeated when she heard a strange rumbling sound. Glancing around, she saw a something large and shiny approaching from ahead.

Instinctively, Knight threw herself to the ground and pulled her covering tight around her. As the object grew closer, she could gradually make out more details. It was a tall, elongated, triangular prism-shaped metal construction that sloped into a rounded front. It looked almost like a train engine, if somepony had tried to hide the entire thing inside sleek armor plating. From her vantage on the ground, she realized she could see rows of hooves thudding on the ground in the front section, evidently pulling the 'carriage'.

The unusual transport passed without incident, either unknowing or unconcerned by her presence. Once it had passed, Knight climbed to her hooves. The armored pony caravan had headed at an angle diagonal to the town. She supposed they were taking an indirect path to the main road. Where they came from, though... Knight paused, recalling the mare's story of a guard base and her map's counterargument that no such place existed.

After a moment's consideration, she decided she needed to keep searching for the missing stallion. Since she had no real direction before, it couldn't hurt to continue searching the direction where those carriages had originated.

~ ~ ~

The griffins had gestured for Soarin and Minuette to follow them, and since they no longer seemed hostile, they decided to stick with their only sign of civilization thus far. Minuette shivered as the snow crunched under her hooves, but traveling uphill helped stave off a bit of the cold. Still, she felt an entirely different sort of chill from all the curious looks the griffins were giving her. 'Unicorn' had been the only word they'd said in Equestrian, and something about it left her unsettled.

The trees around them began to thin out as they approached a level clearing occupied by several large log buildings. It appeared to be an outcropping at the foot of the mountain, and she could see several plots of farmland being worked by griffins, earth ponies, and pegasi on ridges going up the mountain itself. The lead griffin let out a screeching call of some sort, and the farmers looked down at him. Several more griffins and ponies emerged from the various buildings and looked at the new arrivals.

Initially their interest appeared idle, but gradually, all the villagers began to draw closer to Soarin and Minuette, talking amongst themselves and pointing. After a minute spent growing increasingly uncomfortable, the pair saw a yellow-coated older stallion emerge from the crowd and step forward. He looked to the lead griffin, who gave a reassuring nod, and then turned to Minuette.

"You speak old-pony?"

The mare glanced at Soarin and received a shrug in return. "Yes..."

The yellow stallion nodded, then inclined his head toward the ground. "We ponybirdkin peaceful. We help you. Please, do not bring death on us."

~ ~ ~

What? Knight couldn't believe it. Smack in the middle of a desert, and she was staring at a massive fenced-in compound. The sun had already begun its descent beneath the horizon, but that made it no more difficult to see the secret base. It was lit up by the dozen guardponies patrolling its perimeter and a number of arcane spotlights mounted to the checkpoint, bunker, and inexplicably massive hanger. Yet it didn't exist on any maps and most of Rockwell seemed oblivious to it.

She sat on her sand dune looking at it for a while before she concluded, ultimately, that she needed to go down there. She'd drawn out her search far longer than she intended, and while she could survive a freezing night in the desert, she would much rather not. Knight rose to her hooves and started walking towards the base.

She was about fifty paces away from the front gate when a spotlight swept over her briefly, paused after passing, and then refocused to illuminate her in its blinding glow. She raised a hoof to shield her eyes.

"Hello?" Knight called out. "Hi there! I'm the sheriff out in Rockwell! Do you mind if I come in and have a word with you all?"

There was a pause, so she continued. "Yeah, hey! I'm a royal guard serving as sheriff in Rockwell! I need access to your facility and information regarding-" Knight cut off suddenly as a bolt of energy shot out from the guard-post, knocking her unconscious and sending her flying several paces.

After another pause, the gate swung open and a stallion emerged. He gripped her by the neck and began dragging her into the hidden compound.

8. Mirror

Untold millenia ago...
It was a big day for Glimmer Swirl, and she'd nearly slept right through it. She had worked extremely hard in honing her magical ability, and it had paid off; she'd been accepted to join the first Circle of Solar Mages. She would be casting alongside the Arch-Mage himself. She might even meet Prince Tungsten! It was for this reason that she forgot all semblance of propriety as she ran and teleported through the streets of Lavoisier. She simply couldn't afford to be late.

Coming out of one final teleport and slowing to a trot, she called out to the guards ahead of her, "I do beseech thee, fair gentlestallions, permit me enter that I may away to the Arch-Mage's chamber!" It briefly occurred to her that their language seemed inefficient somehow, but the thought soon passed.

"What matters have you with he? His Lordship bade us deny all visitors this day."

"My matters are his, and my business as well. Render me to him if you will, but delay me not!"

"Proceed, then. Stars make your presence and practices pleasant and helpful to him." Glimmer wasted no time rushing past them after that, and after a brief confusion regarding where she needed to be, stepped quietly through the doors of the casting chamber and took her position.

After a moment of waiting and preparation, she saw Prince Tungsten enter the chamber. He looked around solemnly, with just a glint of unbridled enthusiasm hidden behind his expression. "Mares, stallions, each of you this day knows our most prodigious purpose. If successful, every creature that walks this planet and touches its skies shall know our might." He paused, a slight smile gracing his face. "Lavoisier shines brightly over our kingdom—now let us command the night."

Things moved quickly after that. The Arch-Mage entered, and deposited the Artifact—a small, clear orb—on a central pedestal. He took his position, made eye-contact with everyone, and gave an assuring nod. The blinds were pulled back, revealing the outside world.

The Arch-Mage said, "Beg-" and then coughed. The moment seemed a bit less tense after that. "Excuse me. Begin."

At once, sixteen horns lit up. Sixteen minds focused on the task—the simplest task. Every foal could do this, and every mare and stallion in the room had done it countless thousands of times. Now, they simply needed to do it bigger. Each pony kept their minds off the orb in the center of the room, ignoring it, thinking only of the task. Their horns, one by one, burst into layers of overglow as their bodies strained against the impossible.

"And mar-"

---

All of Lavoisier fell silent, as did the surrounding countryside. Villages, dozens of miles away, fell silent. As a single unit, all life throughout and surrounding the great city simply ceased. If somepony had been present, they might have noticed the spherical gem, still on its pedestal, glistening slightly.

---

It was a big day for Glimmer Swirl, and instead she'd died.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the long delay! I made a blog-post with a bit more info on that, but suffice to say that we're back on track. This is just a little appetizer of a chapter to get the story back on people's radar, but there will be a more substantial update tomorrow and on a recurring basis thereafter.

9. New and Old Friends

Two days after Fancy mailed a letter to his skydock supervisor, a fleet of carriages descended upon the sleepy town of Rockwell.

Admittedly, the town was too hot to truly be called sleepy instead of suffering from heat-exhaustion.

The newly-arrived workers quickly made their way to the F.R.I.E.N.D. base and set to work, out of eagerness towards both participating in such a grand project and simply getting indoors. While the construction progressed at a much-accelerated pace, Knight waited for new orders from the Council of Nobles. It was four days after sending her letter that those orders arrived in the form of Golden Stud. She was just stepping out of the tavern when an elongated black carriage pulled up, drawn by four ponies. The lead stallion began unfastening himself from the harness, presumably to open the door for the carriage's passenger, but Golden Stud didn't wait.

Knight trotted up as he stepped out of the vehicle. "Sir," she called out. "Welcome to Rockwell." Golden nodded, focused for the moment on retrieving his luggage. Levitating it out to float by his side, he turned back to Knight.

"Captain, I'm glad to see you're alive and well. We have much to discuss." He paused, looking around with a hint of distaste. "But not here, I think. I have to make a stop in town before going to the base. Will you join me?"

"Of course."

"Grand. It's not far."

The two ponies began walking down a side-street—to the extent that such could exist with dirt roads—and remained relatively silent. After passing a tailor and a small clinic, Golden turned to enter a small single-story building that looked even more dilapidated than its surroundings. Stepping in behind him, Knight saw that they were in a small bakery. A display of various breads and pastries was inlaid in the counter before them. They both stood there for a moment before a maroon-coated unicorn pushed open a door behind the counter and stepped through.

"Oh! Goldie, welcome back!" The mare hastily unfastened her flour-spattered apron, setting it on the counter and rushing forward to embrace Golden Stud in a warm hug. Knight, for her part, just looked on in a mix of shock and empathetic joy. After the hug had ended, the mare turned towards her and, after a moment's hesitation, hugged her as well. "Welcome to the Belle Bakery! Any friend of Goldie's is a friend of mine."

Golden looked a bit unsure about the open display of affection in front of his subordinate, but he still wore a warm smile. "It's lovely to see you again, Sour. You and Brass are still doing well for yourselves, I hope?"

Knight thought she saw Sour Belle's expression falter for a moment. "Oh, we're doing great! It's still rough, but... Well, we know that if she can be found, you'll find her." She nodded as though to reaffirm her statement, then let out a small giggle. "But look at you forgetting your manners, Mister Propriety! You haven't introduced me to your friend here!"

Golden Stud gave an embarrassed cough. "Yes, quite. Sour Belle, this is Captain Knight, a very talented mare working with me. Captain, this is Sour Belle, a dear friend."

"Nice to meet you, Miss Belle."

"Likewise, captain. I'd love to hear just what you captain, but..." she inclined her head towards Goldenblood, "I suspect he'd rather you didn't tell me." The stallion gave a small nod in confirmation, but Sour just grinned. "That's just as well. I expect somepony will be wanting his special order if he's made the trip all the way to my little bakery. I'll get right on it! You two, please, have a seat." She hurried off, past the counter and into the back room.

"Now then-" Golden paused as Sour Belle poked her head back into the room.

"I'm so sorry! Captain, can I get you anything?"

"Surprise me. Whatever you recommend will be good, I'm sure."

Sour Belle nodded, pausing a moment more to retrieve her apron from the counter before returning to the back room.

"Now then," Golden Stud resumed, "To business." He frowned as he saw Knight giving him an amused glance. "Please, Miss Knight, speak your mind."

The mare needed no further prompting, and launched immediately into asking, "What's the deal there? Are you and her together?"

Golden smiled faintly. "No, nothing like that. She's married to a very fine stallion named Brass, and even if I did regard Sour in that way, I wouldn't dare put myself between the two of them. It is as I said; she's a dear friend. When I first visited this town, I learned of a personal struggle her family was enduring. I offered to assist in resolving that struggle, and though I never succeeded, I have continued trying and we have remained in contact."

Knight knew better than to press for more information, and suspected Sour Belle's mention of trying to find somepony would be the only clue she received. "Of course. Thank you for confiding in me, then. Now then," she said, echoing Golden's words, "to business?"

"Quite." He sighed. "I hope you know that the nobles are displeased." Knight opened her mouth but he continued, "I am aware of the casualties your team has suffered. It is regrettable, but circumstances conspire to compel us ever onwards. You may mourn for them later."

"Sir, we don't even have a mage anymore. Or a good flier. Or a ship."

"I am aware of that, Miss Knight, but your team's actions have wrought some unfortunate consequences. You are by now, of course, aware of the devastating tidal wave that washed over the western griffin shore following what we presume was the detonation of the Celestial Stone.

"What you might not have heard is that Griffindor authorities are reporting heavily increased numbers of magical anomalies and monster attacks along their western coast. As their government was not privy to your team's... escapade... they have not connected these occurrences with Equestria. However, it seems blindingly obvious that the energy discharge from the Celestial Stone is responsible for the increased magical activity in their lands."

"What would you have us do, then?"

"You, specifically? Very little. You're well aware that I've taken great pains to segment the different branches of F.R.I.E.N.D. and in this instance your expertise is lacking, particularly considering the loss of your mage. We're sending you to Crown Roc still, but a team of dedicated F.R.I.E.N.D. scientists will arrive soon after you do. We'll need your team to supervise their efforts. Don't interfere, just make sure nopony else does either."

Golden paused, withdrawing an envelope from his saddlebags and sliding it across the table. "This document will provide the necessary details for your task, and I've enclosed several tickets for passage on a transport leaving Savannah in two days. We cannot afford to wait for the Courser's repairs to be completed."

Knight took the envelope and nodded. "Understood, sir." Evidently, both of them had said all that they needed to, so Golden Stud looked at her patiently.

And then he continued looking at her patiently for a while longer. After fidgeting for a moment, Knight stood up, excused herself, and left. It was only a minute later that Sour Belle returned, carrying two pastries in her levitation. "Where'd your friend go, Goldie?"

"Oh, nevermind her. She had some business to address and said it couldn't wait. But please, don't let that sweet-roll go to waste. Join me."

~ ~ ~

"We ponybirdkin peaceful. We help you. Please, do not bring death on us."

Minuette and Soarin exchanged another bewildered glance. The villagers all stood far enough away from them that Minuette felt confident risking a whisper to her companion. "What the buck is going on?!"

"I don't know, but they look terrified of you! Just start by getting them to dial that back a bit, maybe."

"Right." Raising her voice to be heard by the older yellow stallion who'd addressed them, she said, "We do not want to harm you or anyone else here. My name is Minuette and this is Soarin. We're from Equestria, but our... Our ship ran up on a sandbar and sank. We need to contact our friends."

The stallion paused for a moment, frowning, before nodding and speaking to the lead griffin in their strange language again. He turned back and replied, "We are happy to friends with you, Minuette and Soarin. I am called..." He paused, glancing at the others. "I am unsure, but 'New Growth' is close in your tongue. I fear I do not know your 'Equestria'."

Minuette skipped a beat, and ultimately decided on the most objective approach. "Where are we right now? What do you call this place?"

"Closest word is 'Home Mountain'."

Soarin facehoofed. "Do you have any maps, at least?" The yellow pony nodded and began drawing an outline of the area in the dirt with his hoof. "Just... Excuse us for a moment, will you?" Soarin wrapped a wing around Minuette and guided her a few paces away. "Mini, what the hay is going on, because I am really lost and not just in the geographical sense."

The unicorn looked visibly shaken. "I'm not sure... Nothing about this makes sense. Their language isn't Griffonic, or Equestrian Common, but it shares common traits of both. And-" She paused, glancing around. "And there aren't any unicorns here. I mean, you saw how worried they were about me, but it's like they'd never even seen one before! Plus-"

"Map done."

Minuette left her sentence hanging and trotted back to see the stallion's diagram. "This... This can't be right. This mountain here—that's us?"

"That is Home Mountain, yes."

Her face paled a bit as she glanced back at Soarin. "If this map is right, and if I'm remembering correctly—and I'm absolutely certain of the latter—we're standing at the foot of Crown Roc."

Both of them turned to gaze up the towering mountain they stood beside. It was fairly clear that there was no city at its peak.

A terrifying thought crossed Minuette's mind, but before she inquired after it, she took one final glance at the map on the ground and noticed something odd. "What's this? The area of you've marked out over here."

"That is Dead Zone," New Growth replied. "We don't go there anymore."

"Why, what's over there?"

New Growth blinked. "The dead." When his guests showed no recognition, he explained further. "Nothing grows there now. In the Old-Pony times, there were cities and ponies and plants and animals. Then the unicorns brought Death."

"Unicorns, to the east? That doesn't seem likely. Ponies haven't had any population centers on this continent since..." the blue mare faltered. "I mean, there was speculation that the Pre-Equestrian ponies originated here and crossed over to where we now call home using a land-bridge, but that's never been proven. And..."

Soarin, evidently following her line of reasoning, cut in. "Mini, you're not suggesting we've gone back in time."

"Backwards, no. None of this has happened before, I'm sure of it. But, the theory itself is not as ridiculous as it sounds. Most time-travel theory is just adapting teleportation spells to account for four dimensions instead of three. With the amount of power I harnessed in casting the spell to move the Courser... maybe... I don't know. It's conceivable we've gone into the future—that would account for these people's blended language—but that raises the question of why they wouldn't remember places like Equestria or Crown Roc, or why there wouldn't at least be ruins of the latter." She paused, thinking. "Yeah, no, time travel doesn't look very likely."

"What does that leave us?"

Minuette, having no answer to give, just released a heavy sigh and turned back to face the yellow stallion. "Is that region still dangerous?"

"We send scouts sometimes. They always return, but nothing changes."

"Do you know where the unicorns lived?"

New Growth frowned, shaking his head. "My family works to remember the Old, but we did not remember that. Although... There is a room of scrolls, from the Old-Pony times. We cannot read them, but you might. Maybe they show what you need?"

"Well, that's the first good news I've heard all day!" Minuette laughed in excitement. "Please, take us."

10. Departure

"I said, it's not happening. You, Turner, and Fancy-Flanks can handle yourselves just fine over there without me."

"Out of the question. Fancy Pants and Time Turner are not even going. I don't care if you didn't leave Griffindor on the best of terms, you'll be joining me."

Gilda let out a low growl, glaring at Knight. To her credit, the mare held her gaze, and after it was clear she wouldn't relent, Gilda grumbled something and turned away.

"What was that?"

"I said FINE!"

"Grand. Be ready to go in ten minutes." Knight concealed a grin as she left the barracks. She was ready to count it was a victory that Gilda would join her willingly, albeit grudgingly. Once outside, she saw Fancy Pants making his way from the airship hanger to the command center, and quickly trotted up next to him.

"Ah, captain! All set for your grand voyage?" he asked as she approached.

"I'd hardly call it grand—we're spending weeks on a freighter just so that we can play babysitter for some scientists covering up our mistake."

Fancy Pants scoffed a bit. "I should think it's more than that—as recent events have proven, there are dangerous elements at work in Crown Roc. The highest seat of power in the world has chosen you to protect some of our nation's brightest minds. That's no small honor, my dear."

Knight knew his words were conciliatory, but that made them no less effective. She smiled faintly and thanked him. They walked in silence for a moment before she frowned. "Wouldn't you say, though, that the princesses hold the highest seat of power?"

The stallion cleared his throat. "Yes, of course. I imagine I must have misspoken."

~ ~ ~

"This is incredible!" Minuette practically ran through the rows upon rows of scrolls and old manuscripts stored in the cellar beneath New Growth's home. It was obvious that some of the material had not stood the test of time very well, but the relatively dry air and protection from the elements had ensured that the majority of the room's contents had survived long enough to evoke the unicorn's enthusiasm. She stopped periodically, examining a particular scroll or artifact. "How did you get all of this?"

"Like I said, we send scouts to Dead Zone sometimes. I ask them to return with any writings they find. Can you understand them?"

"Yes! Well, I mean, sort of! Pre-Equestrian formal syntax was never an emphasis in my studies, but I've spent a few months on it. Their language was a very close, direct predecessor to ours, so... Yeah, I can understand enough!"

Soarin walked over to her and peered over her shoulder at the document she'd currently spread out on the floor to read. "So what's this, then?"

"A menu," she sighed. "And so was the one next to it, and the one before that..." Turning to New Growth, she added, "Your scouts really did grab everything with writing, it seems. I might need a while to sort through this all."

"Of course. You are welcome to use them as long as needed. May Soarin be permitted to assist with our farm-work until you finish?"

Minuette glanced from him to the pegasus and back again. "That... sounds like a question for Soarin."

"My apologies, lady unicorn. Soarin, would-"

"I'd be more'n happy to earn my keep. Much better out in the open air than this stuffy old place, too; there's hardly any clearance to fly." He emphasized the last point by flapping his wings and hovering a little under a foot above the ground. "Let's... go." He trailed off, noticing the other stallion staring at him in utter disbelief.

~ ~ ~

Two weeks later...
"Find anything yet, Mini?" Soarin called out, trotting tiredly down the stairs into the makeshift library. From his mud-splattered appearance and slight limp, it was clear that the pegasus was not used to the sort of hard labor to which he'd recently been subjected. His first few days had been spent performing aerial stunts and demonstrating his ability to fly, which he had learned was something nopony nor griffin had been able to do in thousands of years. Unfortunately, after just a short time doing that, he found himself exhausted and barely able to lift off the ground. In the time since, he had shown no signs of regaining the ability.

From somewhere among the stacks, he received the reply, "Yeah, come check this out!" Weaving his way between shelves for a minute, he located Minuette looking at a number of opened scrolls pinned down by tablets. "Okay, so..." she glanced up at Soarin. "Right. It seems they used a different calendar system than what we have now, so I can't exactly pinpoint how long ago these were written. However, the geography and their syntax, as well as some of the events referred to in these scrolls, definitely suggests that these were recovered from Pre-Equestrian society. Specifically, an earth-pony settlement."

"Alright, I'm with you so far."

"One thing I noticed surprisingly absent was any imagery of the sun. Once the unicorns took control of it using the Celestial Stone, it became a recurring symbol of power in writing and art by all three tribes. That would suggest that these documents were recovered before the Solar Mages first convened, but... these all look extremely old—I can't explain why there are no newer scrolls that do reference the sun." Minuette shook her head. "None of this makes sense."

Soarin stepped forward to offer a comforting hug, but thought better of it when he remembered just how much dirt he was wearing. "I'm sure you'll figure something out, Mini."

"I don't think I'm likely to get anything more out of these scrolls. It's wonderful that New Growth is trying to preserve all this lost knowledge, but as far as I can tell, everything his people have salvaged is exceedingly mundane. It would be great for archaeologists or somepony inclined to learn about ancient culture, but it's not going to help us get home. Still, I did find reference to Lavoisier, which was an early unicorn city. It seems like the unicorns are at the center of this whole mystery, so it's probably our best bet at finding answers. If we go to the place where this scroll was recovered, we should—theoretically—be able to follow these directions and navigate there."

"Awesome! I'm sure everyone here would be happy to share some supplies for the trip. I mean, it might just be because they're terrified of you, but... Well, we can always pay them back."

"I expect most of them will consider our departure to be payment enough." She paused, smiling slightly. "I just can't believe we're going to get to see Lavoisier! I asked the Princess about it once, and she said there were no records of its location in the Archive, and since it was before even her time, it seemed unlikely anypony would ever find it... But now, we get to!"

~ ~ ~

Fancy Pants felt a sense of déjà vu as he stepped into the hanger and looked at a team of trusted employees putting the final touches on his prized airship. In the few months since its launch, he had done more to help Equestria than all the philanthropic ventures he'd undertaken combined. He had directly aided in saving lives and stopping monsters, but still there were times when he questioned whether he had made the right decision. His contributions to the F.R.I.E.N.D. endeavor might have been subsidized by the Council of Nobles, but he had still suffered significant personal loss.

His relationship with Fleur had not suffered, though—he had said from the very beginning that he would sooner leave the team than let it get between them. He had just finished reading her most recent letter. It contained all of what he had come to expect—assurances of her well-being, descriptions of her activities, and queries regarding his own—but also included a postscript advising him of how his business interests were faring. It was lengthy and not terribly exciting, though it seemed that most of his investments continued to turn a profit. She had noted that construction on the newest airship had come to a complete halt, and that she could not even find a pony to question.

Fancy had already begun drafting a response in his mind. He was limited in just what he could tell her—a non-negotiable condition of Golden Stud's, which he had tried very hard to negotiate anyway. His reply would have to wait, though, as he had promised Knight that he would fly the Courser to join her as soon as it was ready.

He scanned the length of the Courser, where several ponies moved around and checked that all the panels were properly secured. He called out to one in particular and waved him over. "Turner, my lad, you're doing some fine work up there. When do you expect she'll be ready to take to the skies?"

"We're doing the final checks now. We can be as thorough or hasty as you need." He frowned.

"Grand! Let's plan on setting sail—so to speak—for Griffindor at noon tomorrow. That should afford you ample time to finish working and get packed." He paused, glancing around the hanger. "I expect it will be good for us to have a change of scenery."

Author's Notes:

All the ponies are converging on the same continent, and Soarin and Minuette prepare to leave in search for answers. Fun stuff!

Also, an important announcement from the Shameless Self-Promotion Department... I've had an idea for another story in my head long before I started this one, but I could never find a form for it that I liked. Now I have, and it's progressing nicely over here if anyone wants to check it out.

11. Lavoisier

Two weeks later...
Knight stared over the bow of the freighter, watching for the distant landmass she desperately hoped would soon appear.

It didn't.

~ ~ ~

Travel thus far had been largely uneventful. The first few days had been occupied with reaching the earth-pony settlement that New Growth had constantly assured them was "Just ahead! Just ahead!" When they finally did arrive, they had no trouble orienting themselves according to their guide to Lavoisier, but did uncover a small communication error.

Soarin trotted several paces ahead of the group, eager to enter the ruined city. He had been able to see it on the horizon for quite a while now, and though much of it had clearly begun to crumble from unknown hundreds of years of erosion, and much else of it was buried beneath dirt, he was excited to have a change of scenery--thus far, they had been traveling almost singularly through cracked, barren fields and forests of dead trees.

Reaching the first structure recognizable as a house and glancing inside, Soarin skidded to a stop and called out, "Hey! You need to see this!"

Minuette galloped up to him, while New Growth paused to say something to the few griffins and ponies accompanying the outsiders before rushing to join them himself. Minuette took one glance in the house and saw what had startled Soarin; the body of a teal earth-pony mare, limp on the floor but looking very much alive. She turned to New Growth and demanded, "Did one your scouts die out here? That body can't be more than a few days old! You said this place was safe!"

The yellow stallion frowned at her, glancing confusedly at the mare in the house, before shaking his head. "No scouts died here. This is Dead Zone, yes? That," he gestured toward the mare, "is Dead."

Minuette scowled back at him. "You're telling me that that pony was an original inhabitant of this town?" New Growth nodded. "Her body would have long since decayed. There'd be nothing but a skeleton left, if even that."

New Growth shook his head again, frustrated. "You don't understand. Dead Zone is... static. Nothing changes here but terrain. Trees stay the same, ponies stay the same. Ponies in Dead Zone do not rot."

Sure enough, their travel through the town had revealed hundreds of dead ponies who looked like they'd frozen in time and collapsed. Now over a week later, the five ponies and four griffins had nearly reached the fabled unicorn city. New Growth had suggested they set up camp at the foot of a chain of mountains that was evidently concealing Lavoisier from view. The group would need to climb it in order to continue, but it was nearly nightfall and scaling a mountain is best done with plenty of light.

The camp consisted of four tents; one for Minuette and Soarin, one for the accompanying ponies from Home Mountain, and two for the griffins. Soarin had offered to help with guard duty, which he later concluded was an odd thing altogether given that there was supposed to be nothing alive in the area, but the other ponies and griffins had refused his assistance. It was after that refusal that he returned to his designated tent and found Minuette trying to adjust her mat to be more comfortable.

"Hey," he said.

She glanced up and nodded in greeting. "Hey."

The pegasus flopped down onto his mat and sighed, watching contemplatively as his friend worked. After a minute he asked, "What do you think we'll find tomorrow?"

"Answers," she said immediately. "Nothing's made sense since that explosion, and if there's nothing in this city that offers some insight, I don't know what we'll do."

Soarin nodded, not knowing what else to say. He adjusted his position a bit and laid his head down to get some sleep.

~ ~ ~

Fancy Pants was positively beaming as he guided the Courser into its mooring at Crown Roc. He had always held a special regard for foreign cultures, and few were more foreign than that of Griffindor. From his position at the controls, he could see a sprawling market district filled with stalls, airdocks, warehouses, and the deafening cacophony of birds hawking their wares at unashamedly overpriced rates. Below deck, Time Turner prepared some materials and wondered how exactly they were going to find the captain in this mess of a city.

~ ~ ~

New Growth woke Soarin and Minuette at the break of dawn, and they had broken camp within fifteen minutes. After that, it was just a matter of several relatively uneventful hours of climbing before the group had rounded the first mountain and saw several stone towers and a wall rising over the next. "Do, ah..." Soarin tilted his head, staring at it. "Do you see a way in?" No one did, so they concluded that it would probably be necessary to walk the length of the wall until they found something.

Six hours and a lunch-break later, the group had rounded the second corner of the massive walls and located the main entrance. As they approached, they saw several armored unicorn guards in a dead-but-not-decayed state similar to the earth-ponies from the smaller settlement. Minuette glanced back at New Growth and said, "Still think the unicorns killed those ponies on purpose?"

"Perhaps not," he conceded.

Together, the ponies and griffins advanced through the desolate city. Relative to the previous settlement, Lavoisier appeared to be in remarkably good condition. Parts of it had clearly collapsed under the sheer stress of wind or snow over so many years, but the vast majority had held up to the elements. As they walked through the city, passing corpse after corpse and building after building, they independently but all at once realized that nopony had the slightest clue what to do next. After that concern was raised, and following a brief discussion, Soarin surprised everyone by coming up with a plan.

"Everywhere we've been in so far has been chock full of magical stuff that I'm sure your people would love to salvage, New Growth, and you said your people can spare your help on the farms for a few months until harvest. I say you all start spreading out and seeing what you can find that you might want, but if you come across anything strange, just leave it alone and get Minuette." He paused, glancing around. "These unicorns are definitely the fancy show-off sorts, so I imagine that their most important buildings are going to be the most impressive looking."

Minuette nodded in agreement. "Yes, on all counts. We'll meet over there, by that fountain, by sundown. Now, let's see... That tower in particular is taller than the rest; we should start there." New Growth translated the basic plan and the rest of the group began to wander off and explore. Minuette and Soarin stuck together, heading for the southernmost tower.

As they approached, Minuette looked up at the engraving over the gates, which simply read "Magic." The gate was closed, and flanked by a dead guard on either side, but she had no trouble gaining entry.

The room beyond the gate was devoid of any furniture or decorations, and the only thing of note was a staircase leading upwards. Soarin unconsciously twitched his wings, looking up the long empty space in the center of the tower.

The two of them climbed about twenty flights of stairs, marked by small flat stops with narrow windows overlooking the exterior, before reaching any actual rooms. The first few appeared to be unused, but above those were a few storerooms full of carefully-packaged bottles of potions and unrecognizable artifacts of presumable arcane significance. It was not until they reached the twenty-seventh floor that they found anything worthwhile.

Pushing open the heavy-set mahogany door and looking around, Minuette faltered as she realized just what she was looking at. She stood at the edge of a circular room, lined on the east wall with glass paneling overlooking the horizon. In a circle around the center of the room sat sixteen unicorns of varying age and gender, but unified by the red robes marked with stylized suns that they wore. In the center of the room itself sat a clear, spherical gem that Minuette had assumed she would never see again.

Soarin finally caught up, breathing heavily as he climbed the last of the stairs to reach Minuette. He saw her stiff posture and followed her gaze. "Is that...?"

"Yeah. I don't know how, or... It doesn't make any sense, but these are the Solar Magi and that is absolutely the Celestial Stone."

"I mean, it could just be a replica or something. It's not necessarily-"

"This is Lavoisier, the capital of the pre-Equestrian unicorns! This is their mage tower!"

They both fell silent, staring at the surreal scene before them. Hesitantly, Minuette advanced toward the gem and reached out with a hoof. As it made contact, she jerked back, feeling the surge of energy. Glancing back at Soarin, she gave an affirming nod. "This is definitely it." When he offered no response, she continued, musing aloud. "Okay. What do we know? We had the real Celestial Stone in the middle of the ocean, and it absorbed an absurd amount of magical energy. We know that the Stone operates by generating new energy from what is put into it. We know that the Stone turned the inputted energy into a much larger output, causing the explosion you witnessed..."

She trailed off, thinking, and Soarin added, "And we know that the Stone is now sitting in a dust-filled room of dead ponies hundreds of miles away from where it fell into the ocean."

"See, this brings me back to the idea of time travel, since I can't fathom any other way the Stone could be here, but there's far too much evidence to the contrary--not the least of which is the fact that the entire population of this city didn't inexplicably drop dead thousands of years ago."

Soarin scratched at the stone floor with a hoof. "Do you think we could have caused that? Do you think we did go back in time, but somehow that caused everypony to die off?"

Minuette shook her head. "According to New Growth, the dying-off happened centuries ago--maybe more. I don't see how we could be responsible. Although..." She began to grin slightly. "I haven't been able to cast any sort of analyzing spells since we got here since my magic wasn't working, but I can draw straight from the Stone now." With that, she put a hoof to the gem, focused on a basic illumination spell, and her horn lit up as she successfully cast it. "Alright, now we're in business."

Continuing to use the Celestial Stone to draw energy, Minuette began casting a series of spells. The first was one of her favorites to learn as a child, albeit one that she had always considered useless. It was a timekeeping spell that worked by analyzing the magical radiation output of a distant star. It was accurate to an incredible degree, and using it, she confirmed that they had not traveled back in time.

Next, the unicorn used a spectroscopic analysis to confirm that the Celestial Stone was indeed what it appeared, and not just a very strange and conveniently charged replica. Then she used a variation on her magical forensic pulse to see if there were any obvious indications of what had killed the ponies in the room, and immediately froze. The spell revealed that apart from a faint signature coming from Soarin and herself, and a small amount radiating out from the Stone, the room was entirely devoid of magical energy. She explained as much to her companion, but he just frowned in confusion.

"Why would there be magic? These ponies are dead, and the Stone has been inactive."

"You don't get it. Everything has some sort of magical trace. It's faint, especially for inanimate stuff, but it's still there. Our whole world is saturated in it. But... This place has nothing. It's like it's been completely drained."

"Could that have killed these ponies?"

"Absolutely, and I'll bet that that's exactly what happened. And it wouldn't have just killed the ponies, either. It killed the trees and the grass, and it would have even killed the bacteria that would have otherwise helped these ponies decompose..."

Soarin muttered something under his breath before asking, "What the hay could have done something like this?"

"I can't imagine. It would've..." Minuette paused, her speech slowing as her eyes widened slightly. "It would've had to have been... a very, very powerful... magical artifact." Her gaze shifted away from the stallion and toward the orb in the center of the room.

In a hushed voice, she asked, "Are you familiar with the principle of the conservation of energy?" Soarin shook his head. "It's a scientific law that says that energy cannot truly be created or destroyed, but only changed in form. It also allows for the possibility of changing matter into energy, and vice versa. Some ponies have tried to add onto it, speculating about how it could be subverted using time travel or speculating about inter-dimensional travel, but that's never been a serious consideration." She continued staring at the Celestial Stone. "That central principle has proven true time and again, but I don't think anypony could figure out... Just what the buck is that thing doing?"

Soarin remained silent.

"We're standing in the room where the Solar Magi first took control of the sun, using the Celestial Stone to draw vast amounts of magical energy. Only... The room we're actually standing in was drained of magic, and the majority of this whole accursed continent was drained along with it." Minuette took a deep breath, looking nauseous. "What if this is another world, somehow, and this is a different Celestial Stone altogether? What if, when the unicorns of our world used it to cast spells, they were actually siphoning magic from this world through this version of the Stone?"

"That can't be-"

Minuette sat down hard on the cobbled floor. "We killed them all."

Author's Notes:

[insert dramatic sound here] This chapter was a bit heavier in wordcount than previous ones have been, but I just couldn't justify splitting it. I suppose it was also a bit heavy in the Marty McFly sense of the word. ...And I suppose that referring to Marty McFly in this context is, itself, a double-meaning. Aren't we having fun today!

Sorry for the two-day deviation from the ideal schedule, by the way. Complete lack of internet is to blame, but I have no regrets! This chapter is brought to you from sunny St. John island.

Also, for what it's worth, this chapter was originally going to be titled "Ancient Mysteries," but that reminded me of a line in "What Does The Fox Say" and ruined the whole thing for me.

12. More Than One of Everything

"Even if you're right, we didn't kill anyone. A bunch of unicorns a thousand years ago did. And the 'if' in that sentence is pretty significant."

Minuette shook her head, looking morosely at the Celestial Stone on its pedestal. "I'm sure of it. We might not be personally responsible, but our world is. These ponies have been blaming unicorns for generations, thinking they ruined this world... and they were right. They just didn't have all the details."

"Mini, look at this room. These unicorns were moments away from doing the same thing; it could have just as easily been our world."

The mare sighed, climbing back to her hooves and turning to face Soarin. "It wasn't, though." She trotted up to the Celestial Stone and bent her head forward, resting her horn on its surface.

They both stood there for a while in silence. Eventually, Soarin ventured to speak once more. "Now that we know, what do we do?"

Minuette scraped a hoof against the floor. "I think... maybe I can use the Stone to open a portal. I don't know how, but they're creating a bridge between the universes that's big enough to let magic through. I might be able to widen that bridge enough to let us get home."

The pegasus spread his wings in excitement. "Great! Let's go, then!"

"It'll take a while. This will use a lot of magic, and while our version of the Celestial stone is probably at the bottom of the ocean, I don't want to take any risks on the off-chance that somepony's near it. I should double-check on paper, but if I've figured it all correctly, I'll be able to safely finish the spell in a couple hours."

Soarin grinned widely. "That's nothing! What's that much more when we've already been here a month?" Minuette let a hint of a smile break her otherwise-downtrodden visiage, but said nothing as she turned back to the gem and began cautiously testing its output, making notes on a scroll levitating nearby. Deflating a bit when he saw his friend's foul mood persisting, Soarin deflated a bit and gave a serious nod. "Right. If you're all good to start on that, I'm going to go find New Growth and let him know we'll hopefully be gone soon."

Minuette glanced up. "Alright. Pass along my thanks, if you would. He was a good host."

After taking a longing glance out the windows at the sky, Soaring sighed and started the twenty-seven-story trudge back to the ground. Minuette resumed her testing.

~ ~ ~

Knight could see Griffindor on the horizon now. The ship's crew had finally fixed the engine problems that had stalled her journey so severely, and now they would arrive within a day.

More than a hundred miles away and far below the ocean, a small shard of crystal clear glass began to flicker and glow faintly. As it lit up, so did dozens of others resting on the ocean floor. The light was not even remotely bright enough to be seen by anyone on the surface, even if someone had been around. The only creature that did take note of the change was a small but particularly enterprising fish. It swam up to one of the shards, and after a moment's inspection, decided to ingest it. As it swam away, disappointed in its choice, it began to slow down and promptly died.

~ ~ ~

Soarin decided his best chance of finding their friend was to check the fountain where they had intended to meet later, and began making his way there after leaving the tower. As he walked, he considered how Minuette had reacted to their discovery. It was a terrible thing that had happened, he would concede quite readily, but he found it odd that the mare would take it so personally. He hoped she would be alright after they got home.

He hoped they would get home.

He paused his train of thought as he reached the fountain and saw nopony nearby. "Figures. Hours to go until sundown." Soarin continued past the area, towards other important-looking buildings.

It occurred to him that New Growth would need to lend the two of them their tent and some provisions, given that they would have a long walk even after reaching their world.

After checking several buildings, each of which had indications of already being searched, Soarin spotted a griffin poking through what looked like a bank. He ran up and spoke New Growth's name in their foreign language; the griffin nodded, led Soarin out of the building, and pointed to another down the street.

After finding and inviting the stallion to accompany him, Soarin explained the situation as the pair of them walked back to the southern tower.

"And you can just magic yourselves away now?"

"Pretty much, yeah. i swear, unicorns are deus ex machinas in pony form."

New Growth's pace slowed. "Dayus... Day-"

"Don't worry about it."

They reached the tower soon afterwards. After much climbing, they entered the casting chamber where Minuette remained hard at work.

"Hey, you almost done?"

Minuette sighed. "No. As you can see, I remain hard at work."

"Oh. Okay."

~ ~ ~

Thirty minutes later, Soarin and New Growth returned to the casting chamber after exploring the upper levels of the tower. They had encountered many more interesting things on the floors above than what they had on the ones below, but unfortunately they had no room in their saddlebags for arcane trinkets, ancient tomes, sentient suits of armor, or lava-lamps.

"Now I'm done," Minuette proclaimed as they entered. She stood facing the Stone, her horn still glowing. "It was a bigger pain getting this to work than I had expected. I didn't want to open the portal straight away, of course, because you might not be here. So I needed to drain the magic slowly but constantly, and without putting that magic into the actual spell."

Soarin blinked slowly, trying to keep up. "So what did you do, then?"

"I cast a hollow null-magic field around me, and I've been saturating it with the raw energy I'm siphoning from the Stone. I'm at roughly two megaswirls now." She paused, noticing his expression and explaining further. "A swirl is a measure of magical energy. One swirl is the amount of energy expended to levitate a one gram sphere for one second. But regardless, I have enough energy now and I can cast the spell. Then I'll let it build and we should be able to go through. Are you ready?"

Soarin nodded, shifting the pack on his back. "Ready and rearing; I've got all the supplies we'll need once we're on the other side."

"Good. This is very much a one-way trip unless we recover the other Celestial Stone, I'm afraid." With that said, the glow around Minuette's horn began to grow brighter. After a moment, a distortion began growing around the gem in the center of the room. The unicorn flared her horn once more, releasing the spell, and stepped back as the distortion grew. She turned to Soarin, and grinned for the first time in a while. "Now or never, scaredy-feathers!"

Minuette jumped forward, vanishing the moment she hit the portal. After a second of hesitation, Soarin followed. New Growth watched on with a blend of fascination and fear as the two outsiders returned to their world. Once both were gone, the pony looked at the distortion for a moment more. Once it begin to gradually shrink, he turned and left.

~ ~ ~

Minuette appeared in the air over an empty space, and fell approximately three meters before hitting the rough snow-dusted cobble floor. Soarin appeared in the air over an empty space, and fell approimately two and a half meters before making a landing that one of them would appreciate as being much softer.

Minuette grunted, pushing the pegasus off her and staggering to her hooves. She looked around at a barren storeroom. Glancing up, she saw the roof above her had collapsed, and the remains of the casting chamber was above them. The large glass windows that had lined the walls had long since shattered, exposing the room to the outside elements.

As Soarin stood up too, the unicorn started toward the door. "Come on. Miles to go before we sleep."

~ ~ ~

The portal continued to shrink for several minutes after New Growth was gone, until it was nothing but a small shimmering glint inside the Celestial Stone itself. That shimmer never vanished, though, as magic from the other world trickled in just fast enough to power the spell maintaining the connection. As days passed, that feedback loop grew stronger, leaching more and more magic through the Stone and into the null-magic field that was also maintained by the continued flow of energy.

Days turned to weeks, and the spell persisted. New Growth's group returned to their homes, loaded down with relics and tools. Those weeks became a month, and then one day, the null-magic field reached its breaking point. The massive concentration of magic within the barrier poured out all at once. Some of that energy was consumed as heat, light, and a deafening bang, but the vast majority simply dissipated into the magic-starved environment surrounding the Stone. Some small fraction of that flowed into the cobble floor, and into the walls and the glass and the curtains.

Most of it flowed into the sixteen dead mages, two dead servants, and one dead prince that were collapsed in the room.

And then one of them groaned.