> Seven Lights
>  by Fresnor
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> Prologue
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The multiverse.  One of the greatest mysteries known in all of creation and for eons has been something that has been studied and tested by those that have discovered how to traverse it.  Even immortals that have been around before time has begun have little clue about how it works or who created it.  So it comes as no surprise that there are those that watch the goings on in the various universes just to pass the time.  Sometimes they even experiment on one universe just to see what happens after observing a near identical universe just to see how one major change affects the timeline.

In one such universe six friends share many adventures and save the world on multiple occasions.  Through all the challenges, all the hardships that they faced they were always by each other’s side even when things seemed hopeless.  Yet one being in particular wondered what would have happened if their numbers were different.  If there was one less or even one more then how would the balance of their friendship be affected?  Would they things have turned out much the same or would the world have been lost because something was missing or shouldn’t have been there?

This being thought on this for many years, before deciding that it was much too difficult to destroy one of the keys of this friendship, but would be easier to add something else to this link.  It took many years but the immortal was able to influence the universe enough to add the first key to his plan.  The second part was much harder as it would require a creature with an actual soul and creating a soul from nothing was impossible.  This lead to the problem of where to find a spare soul that would work with the immortals plan while not needing much alteration.  Eventually a potential candidate was found and all that was left to do was wait for an opportunity.

<><><><><><><>

“Now once you are sure that everything is properly secured just stand by the edge, count to three, and jump.”  He carefully followed the instructor’s instructions as he once again went over the rig he was wearing to make sure it was on correctly.  Once he finished with that he looked over the edge of the cliff as he tried to keep his legs from collapsing.  The rig he was wearing did much to reassure him but his legs still felt as if they were made of rubber.  The instructor noticed him taking a few deep breaths with his eyes closed before patting him on the back lightly.

“Hey now, you don’t have to go through with this if you don’t want to, a lot of people have trouble taking that final step.”  He almost wanted to accept the offer to back out but something in him kept him from accepting it.  It might have been the fact that he always backed out of doing anything remotely risky or even the chance to try and get over his fear of large falls but whatever it was it was enough for him to stand up straight before taking the final step over the edge.

He spread his arms wide as the wind rushed by him and the ground rushed up towards him.  He flushed in the rush granted by the fall with only a single connection to keep him safe.  His stomach felt as if it was trying to escape from his throat when he reached the bottom as the chord stretched out to slow his decent before snapping back again sending him upwards into the air.

As he rose up into the air again he relished the feeling of flight that was granted to him by this experience even as his body reacted to his fear.  He had been rather bored lately and had figured that doing something outside of his comfort zone would be the perfect answer.  As he reached the top of his ascent he opened his eyes to look up towards the instructor on the cliff.  As he felt gravity start taking hold of him again an odd motion at the bottom of his vision drew his attention.

His eyes widened when the motion was revealed to be the end of the hook that was keeping him safe.  The problem with that though is that the hook had deformed out of shape enough that his rise hade allowed enough slack for the hook to slip out of the gap created leaving nothing more keeping him connected to the top.  His reaching out towards the instructor with a shout was enough to alert the person on the top to the situation but by then it was too late for anything to be done.

As he started to pick up speed he thought on his life as his body completely relaxed as he gave into the inevitable.  He didn’t have any regrets as he always tried to live in the moment as he found plans to often go awry.  As the ground rushed up towards him he closed his eyes one final time as a sense of calm deeper than anything he had ever felt before settled over him.  Because of this he missed the rainbow colored light that flashed over him as he hit the ground sending him into oblivion.

<><><><><><><>

The immortal examined the soul of the creature that it had liberated from his world as it planned out the final details.  It didn’t want to interfere too much as it would skew the results so much of it would be left up to luck.  Its power flowed around the soul removing the memory and much of the knowledge it held, but still left a good amount the general knowledge that wouldn’t cause any problems with the experiment.  It then formed a general shape that the body could use to take its form from when it arrived, leaving all of that up to chance except for the age and gender of it.

Considering the period when it was going to send the soul he had to reduce the age of it to match the others it would be meeting.  Leaving it as a male would also cause unnecessary friction in the experiment so making it female was a necessity.  Once everything was prepared he looked over the glowing soul that was much brighter than it was before as it was no longer as old as it used to be.  Nodding to itself the immortal examines the universe it was preparing and for what it had identified as the trigger event that caused the friends to be first linked together.

As a huge burst of energy rippled out from the universe the immortal gave what could almost be called a smile as it allowed the soul to enter the universe and return to life once more.  With the stage set and the actors now in play it closed off the universe from future tampering as it settled down to watch.

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A shockwave of color spread out across the sky as a speedy little filly performed an act that had long fallen into legends.  This resulted in her and five others to become overloaded with magic, pushing them on the first step to finding their destinies.  While this was occurring another young filly was waking from a dream that faded from her memory before she even realized that she had one.

“W-where am I?  What’s going on?  Why can’t I remember anything?”  The young filly started to panic but her feeble flailing was interrupted but an earth-shattering nose and a rainbow of colors passing through the sky above her.  She didn’t have much time to admire the view though as a howling sound sang out through the forest around her causing her to back up into a nearby rock.

Pressing her small form up against the rock in fright she looked around into the dark forest around her wondering what that sound was.  She was soon answered as green eyes started appearing in the woods around her along with the growling of the figures that owned them.  Soon their forms were revealed as the wooden wolves moved into the light as they advanced on the frightened filly.

She was suddenly bowled over as one she didn’t notice leaped down from the rock above her onto her back.  She squealed in fear and pain is its claws dug into her side, tearing flesh, as it bit down on her foreleg.  This threw the others into action as two more darted in, one biting into a hind-leg and the other going for her throat.  The second one didn’t get a good grip, which was fortunate is the attack could have been lethal which allowed for a miracle to happen.

The filly’s eyes suddenly opened wide as magic began to run rampant through her towards her horn, answering to her terrified state of mind.  A wave of fire burst from her horn, incinerating the three timberwolves in contact with her and driving the rest of the pack back.  Soon the wave halted a short distance around the filly forming a protective barrier of flames between her and the remains of the timberwolf pack.

The pack prowled around the edge of the barrier, the weakest of them occasionally being sent in to test it, as they waited for the flames to fade so they could reach the filly.  Their pacing was interrupted by a screech from their flank as a dark form dove through the canopy, bowling over half of the remaining pack.  When the other half turned towards this new threat they were bombarded from behind by bolts of energy, scattering them.

Having what they thought as an easy meal turn into a credible threat was enough to send them all running.  The filly was starting to come down from her surge and the flames began to fade as two ponies slowly advanced on her after making sure the timberwolves were driven away.  On the left was a male dark purple, bat-winged pony with a short burgundy colored mane.  On the right was a horned mare of an orange color and long blue mane.

“Oh dear, I told you that I heard something.  Though I wasn’t expecting a filly, especially one in this state.”  The mare cautiously moved to examine the filly closely while the stallion flew up to bring down a cloud.  She found the filly to be unconscious but still to be alive though from the wounds it may not be that way for long.  She ran a hoof over the filly’s dark orange fur until she came to her cutie mark that was still shining as it was finishing coming into view.  Trailing back the other way she brushed through the red mane until she same to the fluffy tips of her ears.

The stallion landed next to her with the cloud and nudged her side with a sigh of impatience.  “Well are you going to work your magic or are you going to just watch her bleed?”  The unicorn mare shakes her head and casts a cloud walking spell before levitating the filly onto the cloud carefully before carefully climbing up next to her.  With a nod to the stallion she gazes on the filly as they are pushed through the sky towards the nearest town and hospital.  Her eyes settle on the filly’s fresh cutie mark of a triangular kite shield atop a ring of flames.

<><><><><><><>

The immortal leaned away from the universe it was observing as it contemplated how close it came to having its plans ruined.  It had forgotten to take into account exactly where its chosen one was going to be dropped.  Luckily things had turned out for the best and something had been nearby to save her.  It almost dropped the barrier just to fix that mistake, but something had fixed the mistake without need any interference.  It would have expected that something was interfering but it found nothing had broken through so dismissed its suspicions.  Seeing as everything was in motion it settled down to watch and see where its experiment would lead.

> 1
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Doctor Urgent Care was working through her end of day reports of the Ponyville General Hospital.  The day had been relatively quiet, which wasn’t unusual for such a small town, but with how many new ponies had been moving in she knew that she would need to expand the facilities in the near future.  She had already sent out requests for another doctor or two to be sent out to help, as well as for a few nurses as well.  She brought her hooves up to rub at her eyes to try and clear some of the blurriness from them.  “I really hope that things stay calm until some help gets out here.  I’m actually surprised that I haven’t been overrun with injuries yet, especially with the Everfree being so close.”

As she started to get back to filling out more paperwork she heard a commotion from out in the hall before one of her nurses burst into the room.  “Doctor!  We need you right now; a filly was just brought in that was involved in a timberwolf attack!  We have her in OR 2 but she needs help now!”

Silently cursing the timing the doctor quickly got up and rushed to the preparation area while the nurse filled her in on what she was dealing with.  “Ma’am from what I could see she has significant tearing of her front left and rear right leg, multiple claw marks across her barrel and stomach, and significant damage to her throat.  Not only that but the two guard members that brought them in mentioned that she was also suffering from a pretty high level magical surge by the time they found her.”

The doctor’s eyes widened when this information was brought to her and she picked up the pace of her preparations.  When she arrived in the room she was surprised that the filly was still alive due to the amount of blood, but on a closer look she noticed that one of the nurses had already set up a blood transfusion.  Miraculously none of the major arteries were hit either which would explain why she was still alive.

The doctor let out a sigh of relief before she gave a serious look over at her nurses.  “Right, it is a miracle that she lasted this long, but I think we can save her.  Fortunately nothing major has been hit so let’s do this.”  Calling for the first tool she started to get to work.

<><><><><><><>

Out in the reception room the two ponies that had brought the filly in were speaking with the one nurse not involved in the emergency.  “That’s all we know about her.  We’ve already sent word through the town hall to see if anypony in the surrounding areas have reported a missing filly but so far there has been no word.”  The nurse nods to the stallion as she heads back to file the information and relay it to the doctor.

The two took a seat in the waiting room as they quietly spoke to each other about what had happened.  The mare tugged at the collar of her uniform before speaking.  “Ugh, I hate having to wear this thing.  I really hope that she is going to be all right in there, she didn’t look so good and the bites from those creatures could make things even worse.”

The stallion nods to her as he flutters his wings.  “Well it could be worse.  We could have to put on the full kit that those useless nobles in Canterlot seem to think is necessary for everything.  Still, even though she looked pretty bad I have a good feeling that she will turn out fine.  You unicorns always seem to bounce back pretty well, especially after powerful surges like that.”

The orange unicorn sighs as she lies down across multiple seats.  “You may be right about that, but there are still always consequences.  You saw what kind of surge she had; you know that no matter what happens now she is going to have to be watched carefully.  Usually a surge is more chaotic and harmless than this for somepony as young as her.  It’s only after a lot of training and maturing that a surge ends up being this violent.”

Shaking her head the mare looks towards the room the filly was taken through earlier.  “The crown is going to require that somepony keeps an eye on her for the rest of her life.  She’s never going to have a chance at a normal life now.”  She sighs as she leans her head against the bat-winged stallion while thinking about the poor filly.

<><><><><><><>

The doctor dunked her head under the faucet to cool off after finishing up with the operation.  The filly was stable now after the long hours operating on her, but even with her magic assisting with the healing it would take weeks for her to recover.  She wasn’t sure just how well she would recover though as some of the injuries, especially the one to her throat, were pretty severe.

Finishing off with her cleaning, she slowly made her way to speak with the guards that had found her.  Entering the reception area she looked around to find the guards she saw them sitting in a corner of the room.  She made her way over to them and took a seat nearby as the watched her expectantly.

“She’s over the worst of it now, though she still has a few weeks of recovery to look forward to after this.  It really was a miracle though; all that damage and nothing major was hit, but we’ll have to wait to see if there are any long term problems after she wakes up.”  The two nod to her before looking towards each other once more.

After a quick silent conversation between each other the stallion finally speaks up.  “We’ll be by to check on her again later, but for now we’ll focus on trying to find out where she is from.  There has to be somepony out there that is looking for her and they need to know what happened.”  Standing up they both nod to the doctor and head out of the hospital to find out what they could.

<><><><><><><>

Over the next few days they came in to the hospital to check up on the filly’s progress but through it all she didn’t wake.  By the end of the first week there was absolutely no information about the filly anywhere.  It was as if she had never existed at all before.  While it wasn’t unusual for a pony to disappear into the cracks, it wasn’t often that a foal was able to live this long and remain as healthy as she had.

The two were in the filly’s room talking about what the future may hold for the filly if nothing was found.  “If her family can’t be found then there really isn’t any other choice.  She can’t go to an orphanage after what happened; they won’t be able to handle her if she has another surge.  This really is the only way.”

The stallion shakes his head at the unicorn but doesn’t argue too hard.  “I’m not arguing with you about that, but why do you think that it has to be us doing it?  I’m sure that the princess could easily find somepony else to take care of her easily enough.”

The mare sighs as she lays her head over his neck.  “I’m just so tired of this life.  I want to actually give something to life instead of having to take it all the time.  We’ve been at this so long that I’ve almost forgotten what it was like just sit with you and watch the day pass quietly.  This may be our only chance to finally have something of a normal life.  Somepony needs to keep an eye on her anyways and we could deal exclusively with the Everfree instead of traveling all over the place so we would still be available if we are really needed.”

With a sigh the stallion drapes a wing over her and looks towards the filly.  “I guess we can at least check with the princess to see if she’ll agree to it.  It would be nice to have a bit of a break.  We have been at it for over twenty years now and I can’t even remember the last vacation we’ve had.”

The unicorn wrapped her forelegs around him as she kissed the back of his head in thanks.  They sit like that for a while until the end of visiting time before they leave for another day.

<><><><><><><>

It took a couple days but they got a response back from the princess approving their request.  It was all contingent on the family not being found, but as it was looking there was little chance of any being found.  They were able to acquire a home on the outer edge of town on the Everfree side and already had the essentials moved in.  They only needed one last thing before they could truly move in.

“I’m starting to worry about her.  It’s been ten days now and she still hasn’t woken up.  I know the doctor says that sometimes this happens but it still makes me worry.”  The stallion wraps his wings around her as they huddle closer together.  He leans down and is about to kiss her when a small squeak interrupts him.  It didn’t register right away but his head soon shot up to look over at the filly to find her eyes looking right at him.

He nudges the unicorn slightly to get her attention and nods towards the bed.  Looking up the unicorn caught sight of the young filly and bounced out of his grasp.  Unfortunately her sudden movement startled the filly and she reacted instinctively with her magic, throwing up a magical barrier around her.

Looking a bit apologetic at the filly the unicorn settles down a bit.  “Oh I’m so sorry about that; I didn’t mean to startle you.  You’ve been asleep for days now and I was starting to get worried.”  She looks through the yellow-flecked orange barrier at the filly and settles down outside of it calmly.

Looking at the two figures in the room with her the filly soon calms her breathing and figures out how to drop the barrier.  She watches the two cautiously as the slowly move closer, though she keeps a closer eye on the darker one.  She tries to say something but a sharp pain in her throat causes her to start coughing painfully.  The stallion passes over a glass of water with his wing which she gratefully accepts and drains down.

“Don’t try to talk; your throat was hurt pretty badly.  You can just nod or shake your head if you want to.”  The filly nods at him in reply as she leans back into her pillow while keeping a cautious eye on them.  “Well after what happened I guess the first question would be if you know who you are?”

The filly pauses for a moment before she surprises him by shaking her head at him causing the two older ponies to look at each other wide eyed before the mare turned back.  “What about your family?”  After another headshake she continues.  “Why you were out there?” Another shake.  “Anything?”

The filly starts to tear up as she shakes her head again before she squeaks after being drawn into a hug by the orange mare.  The unicorn glances over to the stallion to see him nodding at her as she comforts the filly.  “Oh, you poor thing.  Don’t worry, we’ll do everything that we can to help you and take care of you now.”

She pats the crying filly on the back as a small and sad smile crosses her face.  “My name is Bella Donna, and this is my husband Vanator.  Helping you find a name for yourself will be the first thing that we can do for you.”  She whispers to her husband for a moment before he points a wing to her covered flank causing her to nod.  “While we may not know your old name, I think we can come up with something that fits with your new cutie mark.  How would you feel about the name Aegis Flare?”

The filly doesn’t react to the name at first but they could tell she was thinking it over.  When she started sobbing even harder and nodded into her chest they knew that they made the right choice as the both hug the filly that they agreed to take care of while she let all her feelings flow.

> 2
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The doctor kept young Aegis Flare for a couple more days for observation as well as a few tests.  When the three were finally able to leave together they were warned to have her stay off her hooves as much as possible and to steadily exercise them.  The doctor also gave suggestions for a few things that would help soothe her throat as it continued to heal.  They did warn that some of the damage may be permanent and recommended they come back in a month for a check-up.

Bella carried the young filly on her back as they walked through Ponyville towards their new home.  Aegis Flare hid in her mane as they moved through town while peeking out to watch the ponies they pass as they travel along.  There were some odd looks towards the filly as the scars on her legs were clearly visible, since the fur hadn’t grown back in yet, and those that were able to see her throat threw her a look of pity.

The number of ponies they saw thinned out as they reached the edge of town since it was still in the middle of the day.  The house they bought was in pretty good shape, but the area was pretty quiet as not many ponies were willing to live on the Everfree side of town.  Moving inside the adults showed the filly around the house until the finally ended up in what would be her room.

“We haven’t had time to fill it all out yet but this room is all yours.  When you are feeling up to it we can look into getting it set up more how you like it.”  Bella levitated the filly to the ground so she could limp is and examine the room for herself.  As was mentioned it was pretty basic with a bed, dresser, and desk along with a seat for the latter two.  There was also a storage chest at the foot of the bed and a stairway by the bed to help her get into it considering her weak legs.

Aegis Flare slowly made her way around the room, running a hoof over some of the objects as she passes them, before she comes to the steps leading up to the bed.  Prodding at the bottom step for a moment she then started climbing up them, wincing slightly, before hopping up onto the bed.  After circling around the edge of the bed a couple times she settles down on the center of it and nods at the two still standing in the doorway.

Vanator walks across the room to the chest and leans into it before pulling out a small set of saddlebags with clasps shaped like her cutie mark.  “We’ve already spoken with the teacher here in town and she agreed to see you this weekend to help get you ready for school.  Of course if you want to we can still wait a bit longer if you don’t feel ready for it?”

Taking a moment to consider the idea she seems a bit uncertain at first but eventually shakes her head indicating that she doesn’t need the time.  Her golden eyes match the grey eyes of the two before the stallion reaches over and ruffles her mane.  She squeaks a little at the contact, but her magic doesn’t flair up this time in protest as her hooves flail at him trying to drive him off.  He just chuckles at her antics before moving off elsewhere in the house leaving her to glare after him.

Rolling her eyes at him as he passes, Bella moves over to sit by the filly and pulls her into a hug.  “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him act so playful so try not to let him bother you too much.  I’m not sure if he really even knows how to act around you.”  She works on fixing the filly’s mane as she speaks and works it into a braid that hangs down the side of her head.

Finishing up, she leans back to observe her work before nodding in contentment.  “Anyways, since you are finally out of the hospital let’s get you a real meal since the food in there isn’t that good.  You’ll have to put up with him doing the cooking since mine tends to cause… stomach problems.”  She blushes a bit when she admits this while letting the filly hop over onto her back before heading out to the kitchen.

<><><><><><><>

The weekend passed relatively quickly and an old yellow-coated, brown-maned mare was setting up a last few things before her class started for the day.  She had most of it prepared but she was having some trouble with the new student that would be starting today.  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen an assessment with such varied results before.  High marks in the reading, basic writing, and a majority of the mathematics.  Yet the scores in the history, geography, and unicorn runes are terrible.”

Looking out the window she notices that her students are starting to gather outside causing her to sigh.  “She’s going to have a tough time catching up, but with how far ahead in a couple subjects she is she will have some spare time to do so.  I’d like to get her a tutor but the school can’t afford that right now and I don’t think any of the other students will work for her situation.  As much as I don’t like this I may have to just give her time to work through it herself and see where she is in a couple weeks.”

With another sigh she gathers everything together before storing it away for later as she stands up.  Running a hoof through her mane she proceeds outside where she proceeds to start ringing the school bell by the front door.  She watches as her students rush by her into the school and her eyes settle on a figure lagging behind the rest.  She sees the filly she was just thinking of waving to a stallion with some kind of constellation cutie mark and a mare with one of a purple flower with black berries before she turned and limped her way towards the door.

Seeing that the filly was the last one to enter she waved her over to her.  “Come along now dearie, if you’ll just wait outside of the classroom I’ll call you in and introduce you to the rest of the class.”  The filly nods to her before rubbing at her throat with a hoof and following the teacher in.

Making sure that the filly is prepared the teacher enters the classroom and waits a few moments for the class to take their seats before beginning.  “Good morning, class.”

“Good morning, Mrs. Crabapple”

“Now class we have a new student that will be joining us today, but she has a few problems that she is dealing with right now.  Some of you may have heard about a filly being attacked by timberwolves recently and I am sad to say that they were true.  While she is still healing she has problems speaking right now.  So if you’d be a bit patient with her it will help her a lot.”  She turns towards the door and waves a hoof towards it.  “You can come in now Aegis Flare.”

The students watch as the orange unicorn filly walks and many of them gasp when they see the scars on her neck and legs.  The teacher herself watches as she limps in calmly before she looks around the classroom slowly.  “There will be time for you to meet with each other more later, but for now why don’t you take a seat in the back between Applejack and Rarity.”

The filly nodded to the teacher and limped her way back towards the indicated seat.  She tried to ignore the stares she received from the other students and hoped that her fur would regrow quickly to cover her scars.  Reaching her seat she took a moment to look over her two neighbors as they did the same.

To her left was a lighter orange earth pony with a long blonde mane and tail that both ended in a red ribbon.  Her cutie mark was a trio of apples and she was guessing that this was most likely Applejack.

On her right was a white unicorn mare with a stylized purple mane and tail.  Her cutie mark was a trio of blue diamonds that looked as if they had been buffed or something as they looked to be sparkling a little.

They both nodded to her as she sat down but no words were exchanged as the teacher was starting class.  She was a bit lost about what the teacher was talking about, so did the best she could to take notes with her somewhat messy mouthwriting skills.  She would have used her magic, but she was still practicing with it and wasn’t doing all that well for some reason despite being able to create a barrier relatively easily.

The class went on for a couple hours with a short break between subjects when time rolled around for the recess period.  The rest of the students rushed outside relatively quickly leaving Aegis Flare to limp out slowly behind them.  She made her way over to the tree that was out there before folding her legs under herself by it.  She was about to pull out one of her schoolbooks when she heard somepony call out to her.

“There you are darling; I’ve been wanting to speak with you.  Well, as much as possible after your terrible ordeal.”  Aegis Flare looked up to see Rarity walking towards her while she was digging through the bags she had with her.  “It’s nice to see another unicorn in Ponyville but it’s so terrible that you had to through what you did.  Those scars are just so horrible but I have the perfect thing to help with that.”

She finishes digging through her things and comes up with a length of brown cloth and some yellow gems.  Before she could object in any way Rarity brought it over to her and wrapped it around her neck.  She then took a step back and pulled a mirror from somewhere and held it up for the injured mare to look into.  “There, doesn’t that look so much better now?”

The orange filly raises an eyebrow as she looks at her image in the mirror to see a scarf now around her neck that was trimmed in the yellow gems.  The biggest thing that she noticed was that it made it impossible to see the scar on her neck which was the important thing.  She nodded to Rarity and tried to think of a way to thank her but the white unicorn just waved a hoof at her.  “No need to thank me, it’s the least I could do to help you after what happened.”

Aegis Flare just watched as the other unicorn filly walked away causing her to shake her head in confusion.  She was about to go back to her reading when she heard some rustling in the tree above her and an apple fell to the ground next to her.  She just looked at the red fruit until she heard a voice above her.  “Of course she would be thinking about how ya looked over everything else.  Rarity is starting ta get a tad annoying about that.”

Looking up she catches sight of the filly that she now could confirm was Applejack.  She was leaned back in a crook of the tree chewing on another apple.  She lazily waves another hoof down at the apple that she most likely dropped.  “Ya can have that one there; it didn’t look like ya had any lunch with ya.  Still, ya must be tougher than ya look if ya lived through a timberwolf attack like ya have.  Mah parents have ta chase them off the farm every once in a while.”

Applejack stretched her limbs out before she rolled to the side and leapt out of the tree.  “Well ya might want ta hurry up with that, class is about to start again soon.  Ah’d like to speak ta ya more once ya are feeling better.”  Aegis Flare shakes her head as she watches the filly walk away before reaching out to the apple.  Taking a bite out of it her eyes light up at the taste before she nods and quickly polishes it off.  Not too much later the teacher appeared at the school entrance calling everypony in for the rest of the day’s class.

The rest of the classes for the day were relatively easy for her so she had time to study more on the stuff she was having trouble with.  Soon enough the day ended and the class rushed off in various directions into the rest of the town.  Aegis Flare looks around and finds the two that had taken her in and slowly made her way over to them.

“So how was your first day of school here?  And where did you get such a pretty scarf?”  The filly nods to Bella before pointing in the direction of the white unicorn that was slowly walking away from the school.  The older mare smiles at this before patting her on the head and dropping down so she could climb onto her back.  “So you’re already making friends then?  Good for you.”  Once the filly was settled she leans back to give her a nuzzle before heading off in the direction of their home while chatting about her own day.
> 3
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As time passed Aegis Flare was able to begin speaking for herself once again with minimal pain on her part.  She kept up with both Rarity and Applejack but wasn’t quite sure if she would call them friends as the only interacted at school.  She was able to catch up with the others in her studies fairly well and even helped some of the others in the few subjects she was ahead in.

The orange filly was having one major issue which was why she was waiting after school with the teacher for her caretakers to arrive.  She fidgeted in her seat as she thought of them as there was something that she wanted to ask them but wasn’t sure if it was right to do so.  Her current problems made it even harder to ask them about it as she felt somewhat ashamed about it.

She looked up when she heard the door open to see them finally arrive and Mrs. Crabapple stood to greet them.  “Thanks for coming so quickly.  I wanted to be sure about my suspicions before calling you in and it seems that I was correct in my assumptions.”

Bella Donna and Vanator each took a seat opposite the teacher by her desk while the mare waved the filly over to sit next to her.  The filly carefully got to her hooves and walked over to sit next to her, but kept her gaze downwards.  “So what was it that you wanted to talk to us about?  We haven’t heard about any problems lately other than her having troubles with one of her classes.”

The teacher sighs as she pulls out some paperwork from her desk and sets it in front of the two.  “That class is exactly what I wanted to speak to you about.  At first I thought that she may have just not had the talent for such a thing but on further review I found that there was a much deeper problem.  While most unicorns can only fully understand a small hoofful of unicorn runes, usually pertaining to the few spells the can cast, I’ve found that she can’t read any of them, even the few that relate to her talents.”

The filly winces when the two adults look at her in shock over this information.  The teacher continues after she lets the news sink in a few moments.  “It’s rather rare to see it, especially in a filly with such a strong talent, but in my opinion she may be completely spell-blind making it nearly impossible for her to expand on her abilities to anything outside of those talents.”

Bella brought a leg up and used it to pull the filly towards her side, with her flinching away slightly at the contact before giving in to her pull.  “Are you really sure about that?  It usually takes more than a few tests to prove something like that doesn’t it?”  The stallion looks a bit skeptical about the claim, but glancing over towards the filly he sees a bit of fear in her eyes.

Shaking her head, the teacher just points a hoof at the paperwork in front of them.  “I thought that I was making a mistake myself, but I was able to get a friend in Canterlot to send me those.  Generally unicorns practice writing out the runes in normal ink where anypony can see them.  On those scrolls are ones drawn in magic in such a way that only those that can cast spells using those runes can see them.  Even earth ponies and pegasi can see a couple of them yet young Aegis Flare here says that all the sheets are blank.”

The two adults examine the sheets themselves, and after pointing out runes that they each can see that the other can’t, they are forced to agree with her assessment.  They look down at the filly who is trying to hide behind the older mare before turning back to the teacher.  “What are we supposed to do about this then?  Do you know of some way to cure this or something?”

Mrs. Crabapple just shakes her head at the two as she accepts the scrolls back again.  “Unfortunately little is known about this, condition so there hasn’t been anything found that can help.  The only thing that I could even possibly suggest would be to help her adapt to this situation.  All it really means is that she will be limited to the spells related to her talent though because of it she might have some trouble getting certain jobs in the future such as with the guard.”

The two look at each other, the stallion with a small grin, before turning back to the teacher again.  “That won’t be much of a problem really.  We’re used to unusual situations that require us to adapt so this shouldn’t be too difficult.  We were thinking that when you called us in that there was a more major problem.”

They stood up and shook hooves with the teacher before headings out with the filly in tow.  Aegis Flare slowly trailed behind them thinking on what she had learned and how it would affect things between them all from now on.  Nothing was said as they walked through Ponyville back to their home on the edge of town.

Once they were inside they all took a seat in the living room while they all look at each other.  None of them wanted to be the first to say anything as the each tried to figure out what they needed to do.  Soon the silence became too much and Aegis Flare broke the silence.  “I’m sorry.”

The two adults turn to each other in surprise before they look at the filly compassionately.  “There’s nothing to be sorry about dear, there wasn’t any reason to think that his could happen and there was nothing you could do about it.”  Bella moved over the sit with her and set a leg across her back causing the filly to lean into her.

Aegis Flare didn’t respond right away, but when she did she was starting to tear up a bit.  “It’s just you both brought me into your home after saving me and I never wanted to make anything harder for you.  Now this all happens and I’ll be taking even more of your time because of it.”

Vanator looks at her with a soft gaze before looking up and matching his wife’s gaze.  “You really don’t have to worry about that, we actually enjoy the time we spend with you even if it seems like we are losing time doing other things.  Taking care of you was the best decision that we’ve ever made.”  He moves over to the other side of the filly and hops up next to her sandwiching her between the two.

A few more tears drips down the filly’s muzzle as she shifts back further between them.  Thinking over what the others in her class often talk about with their home lives and families she finds herself wanting it for herself.  Turning her gaze up to Bella a few more tears leave her eyes as she asks the question that had been bugging her for a while.  “Can… can I call you mommy and daddy?”

Bella Donna and Vanator look at each other in surprise before they look down at her with a warm-hearted look and nuzzle her.  “Of course you can, we were always thinking you as our daughter ever since we brought you in.”  The filly wrapped her legs around the older mare’s neck in gratitude as she buried her head against her as joyful tears began soaking into her fur.

<><><><><><><>

After that day the family started doing more things together, though it would have made others wonder if they knew exactly what they did together.  “Well that’s the last of the civilized races that I know of and it’s good to know about them even if you never meet them.  You wouldn’t believe what happens when one of them goes into an area that had never heard of them before.”

Aegis Flare nods to her father as he finishes going over some of the culture of zebras while she takes a few notes.  She had been learning about creatures that weren’t ponies from him over the last couple years while her mother had been teaching her about useful plants.  Vanator had started with the sentient creatures first as it was important to not offend another race as they could be the most dangerous.

“Now that we are done with those we can start in on the creatures commonly found around the Everfree.  Of course there still are many we don’t know of but those are usually very deep inside of it.  I would normally start with the Timberwolves due to how common they are but I’m sure you already know about them already.”  The filly shivers at the memories brought up by that name and nods to the elder pony, who pulls out a couple drawings.

“Right, since you know about them we’ll start with three of the most dangerous creatures you will commonly find in there.  Those are the cockatrice, the manticore, and the hydra.  Now the first and the last one are dangerous in different ways, but if you have a pair of these it makes dealing with them much easier.”  He pulls out a pair of goggles and holds them out to his adoptive daughter to look at.  While she wasn’t able to use common telekinesis, she did find a way to create a shield around objects and move that.

Looking over the goggles within her magical grasp she doesn’t see anything outside the normal and passes them back looking curious.  “While they may look normal these have actually been enchanted in a way to protect the wearer from the gaze of a cockatrice as well as to see through various conditions like smoke, fog, or darkness.  You should never enter the forest without something like these, not that you should be going in there anyways.”

They both look over towards the dark forest that was on the other side of the small field between it and Ponyville before turning back again.  “With those the cockatrice becomes a minor annoyance though you should try to avoid hydras.  The manticore is a bit of a tougher beast as they are very intelligent with a near sentient level of thought.  They will usually avoid ponies but if you have to deal with them you can usually drive them off with a show of power or with a bribe.  So do you have any questions about anything that we’ve talked about today or something relating to it?”

She finishes up jotting down a couple more things before she looks up thoughtfully when her gaze settles on her father’s wings.  “Why are you so different from the other pegasi around here?  I don’t think you’ve said anything about that before.”  Looking back and fluttering his bat-like wings he snorts a little before turning back with a smile.

“I did forget about going into the less common pony races, didn’t I?  While there are many different kinds of ponies in legends outside of the ones you normally see, the bat-winged thestrals are the only kind that have been confirmed to exist.  Most of my kind lives in the Transylmaneia area which is pretty isolated as they wait for the Night Mother’s return.”  He sighs as he remembers his family that is still back there.

“We aren’t too different from the feathered pegasi but we do tend to be stronger flyers as we slice through the air better.  Our diet also includes more meat and fruits than normal as well.  Those with our improved night vision and better hearing due to our ear structure we are much the same.”  Aegis Flare rolls her eyes up as she tries to look at her ears while they flick from side to side.

“Does that mean I could be part thestral?  My ears look a lot like yours even though nothing else is the same.”  Vanator hadn’t looked at them too closely before but on inspecting them now he found that she was right.  He had only thought that they were just overly fluffy before but this revelation caused him to think.

“I hadn’t noticed it before, but you might actually be right about that.  I had never thought if something like that would be possible, but it isn’t something that comes up that often.  Of course if it is possible then that might be something to think about considering your mother’s condition.”  The filly’s head turns to the side slightly as she tries to figure out what he is talking about.

“What is wrong with mom?  Does it have something to do with why she is looking so fat lately?”  Her father’s jaw drops open at this before he starts laughing hysterically at her naïve question.  The orange filly just looks at him in confusion as he does this and wonders what it was she said.  Eventually he manages to regain control of himself as he wipes a tear away from his eye.

“Oh that was a good one, though you might not want to say that around your mom.  But it sort of does; and we probably should have talked about it earlier, but you are going to have a little brother or sister soon.  We were meaning to tell you earlier but I guess we lost track of time and forgot.”  Aegis Flare freezes at the thought as she doesn’t know how to react or what this will mean for her.  Before she could think too deeply about this the back door of their home slams open and Bella limps out.

“Vanie?!  I think the foal is coming early?”  Complete silence covers the area as she says this before the thestral leaps from where he is sitting and rushes over to help the unicorn.

“”What, now?!  Are you sure, you should still have a couple months left?!”  He reaches her and feels her side as she winces as another contraction goes through her.

“I don’t care when it was supposed to happen but the foal wants out now!”  Realizing that this really is happening, the stallion waves the filly over as he picks up his wife in his front hooves as he hovers.

“There is a bag up in our room that I need you to go get and bring to us at the hospital.  I wish we had more time to talk about this but unfortunately this is happening now.”  With that he slowly flies off in the direction of the hospital while leaving the filly behind to follow his directions.

The filly herself is confused and a little scared as this is all happening so quickly without giving her time to come to terms with any of it.  She trudges her way through the house to collect the bag before following her adoptive parents to the hospital while thinking the entire way.  It had been over a year since she was formally adopted by the two ponies she now called her parents so she still felt a bit insecure in their relationship.  The thought of there being a foal that was actually their child really made her fearful about what would happen to her.

As she walked through Ponyville to the hospital she was stalled as various ponies stopped her to find out why I was looking so downcast.  There were mixed reactions as her parents weren’t really well-known in town but generally they tried to cheer her up.  By the time she arrived at the hospital she was still worried, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been.

Once she got inside one of the nurses directed her towards a waiting area though she wasn’t allowed into the area her parents were located.  It had been a while since she had been in the hospital but it had steadily been expanding as the town was growing.  Sighing, she took a seat in the waiting area and stared at the floor from her chair as she waited for her parents to find her.

She was waiting there for over an hour before somepony moved to check up on her though it wasn’t who she was expecting.  “Well howdy there Flare, what are ya doing around here this time of day now?”  Looking up the worried filly found that the apple family had shown up with their own recent addition to the family with them for what was likely a check-up.

She let out another sigh before she answered Applejack while pointing towards the emergency room.  “My mom is in there right now.  I was just told that I was going to get a brother or sister today and she came running out saying it was happening now.  I’m not completely sure what is happening and I’m scared.”

Applejack’s eyes widen before she turns to whisper something to her family and walks over to the darker orange filly and hopping up into a seat next to her.  The two sit in silence, one thankful for the presence of the other as she probably knows what she is going through.  “It really is a scary thing ta go through, especially when it’s the first time.  Mah brother said that when Applebloom was born it wasn’t as bad as when Ah was being born.  Ah was terrified about what would happen when she was coming but he was there reassuring me.”

She leans over and sets a hoof on the other filly’s shoulder as she continued.  “Ya might feel a mite bit differently since ya are alone, but there is one thing that helps to focus on.  Your younger sibling will always look up ta ya for years as one of the most important ponies they know.  Ya may feel neglected for the first couple years but after that they will know how important ya are to them as ya are there family and family is always there.”

Seeing her brother waving over to her Applejack shakes her head before standing and patting Aegis Flare’s shoulder once again.  “Mah family is calling me, but just remember that no matter what happens your family will always care about ya, even if it seems like they don’t.”  With that she trots across the room to where her family had gone though she gave another backwards glance before getting out of sight.

The darker orange filly watches as she goes and finds that she does feel a little better after the talk.  While other ponies in town had tried to reassure her, none of them until Applejack had touched on her fear of being abandoned.  She settles down again to wait for word from her parents while she takes the time to think about what is to come in the future.

She actually fell asleep while waiting and was startled when a nurse came to shake her awake.  As she blurrily looked at the nurse in confusion she eventually remembered where she was as the nurse started to speak.  “Come along now, there is somepony that would like to meet you.”

Following the nurse she was led through the hospital to a room near the back where she found her parents, her mother lying in bed, along with a glass case of some kind.  Her father noticed her enter and he waved her over to the case with a wing.  “There you are Flare, come on over and meet your sister.”

She hesitated for a moment as they tried to lure her towards the case.  She cautiously walked over towards the case and looked inside and was surprised at what she found.  After seeing Applebloom, the young filly looked too small to be real and she was worried, especially after seeing all the tubes and wires.

The tiny pegasus’ wings looked so fragile on her orange form and the wispy cerise mane and tail looked incomplete.  The foal looked to be struggling a bit and when her tiny eyes blinked open to reveal her purple eyes, Aegis Flare felt a shock of emotion flow through her.  When she turned teary eyed towards her parents they only had one thing to say.  “What do you think of your new sister Scootaloo?”

> 4
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Applejack’s prediction of difficulties turned out to be true though Aegis Flare stepped up to the challenge.  The filly’s fear nearly evaporated when she set her eyes on her new sister and a new sense of protectiveness replaced it on seeing her frail form.  The thought of such a tiny thing being a threat was just so ridiculous and she did everything she could to help out with raising her.

It had been a couple years and Scootaloo had grown to a more healthy size even though her wings were still a bit stunted.  Doctor’s said there was nothing wrong with them other than that they were growing at a slower rate than the rest of her body.  She still was able to buzz them rapidly as her sister tickled her belly though they provided no lift.

Bella watched the two playing with a smile on her face as she was mixing some things for sale later.  Her husband was taking a nap after having returned from his trip into the Everfree Forest to collect the ingredients for her potions in a chair in the corner.  She enjoyed times like this and hoped that they would last for the years to come.

She was about to go back to her mixing when a cloud of golden sparkling smoke started to float in through the window causing her to groan.  In moments the smoke gathered in front of her to coalesce into the form of a message scroll bearing a black ribbon marked with the royal seal.  “Oh please not now, I was hoping to never see one of these again.”

Sighing as she unrolled the scroll she prodded at her husband with magic while her daughters looked at her curiously.  Doing a quick read of the scroll she sighs in relief as it isn’t quite what she was expecting and she passes it to Vanator.  “It’s not as bad as I was expecting, but the princess still wants to meet with us about something important.  There will be a chariot here to pick us up in the morning tomorrow so we’ll be getting our outfits ready tonight.”

She looks over when she hears her daughter groaning and sees her flopping on the ground while her younger sister climbs all over her.  “Does that mean I have to wear a dress?  I hate wearing those.”

The elder mare chuckles as she watches her daughter pout on the ground while ignoring her sister.  “Yes you do, it’s not like wearing a dress is going to kill you.  Besides you look so cute in it.”

Aegis Flare just huffs in annoyance as her parents laugh at her antics as she vows to try and find a way out of it.  Unfortunately there is no chance of doing so as her parents work on getting everything ready for tomorrow.

The next day when the chariot arrives, the family is dressed in their fanciest outfits as they leave their house.  While the mare and fillies are wearing dresses, the stallion is wearing a variant of a ceremonial guard parade outfit.  The elder filly looks miserable though in her pink dress that is trimmed with yellow topaz gems.  Even the bows added to her mane and tail do nothing to hide her misery from sight.  Not even the flight from Ponyville to Canterlot is enough to distract her from her from her funk at being forced to where the outfit.

Once they landed in Canterlot they were quickly escorted to the throne room where they come face to face with the ruler of Equestria.  The two adults walk forward and bow to the monarch, while their youngest dozes in her carry pouch on the mare’s side and the elder filly looks around the throne room.  She saw that the guards were clearing out of the room for some reason leaving just them in the room.

Looking back towards the princess the filly notices that there were two others in the room next to the princess.  She noticed one of them looked really odd, and it took a few moments for her to realize that it wasn’t a pony at all but some kind of purple and green scaled creature.  Digging through her memories of what her father taught her she can’t think of anything that would fit it except for dragons though it was rather small for one.

Next to the dragon was another filly around her age, but not wearing a horrible dress, who had her nose deep in a book.  Aegis Flare thought the other filly was completely blocking out the rest of the world except for the fact that she occasionally levitated a gem over to the dragon.  She watched curiously as the dragon ran each gem under his nose before crunching down upon it.

With her interest taken up by the two she leaves the side of her parents and wanders over to the two.  Glancing at the book she has to assume that it is some kind of magic book as she can’t read it so she focuses more on the other two.  Looking over the book she sees that the filly is a unicorn like her but of a purple color much like the dragon, while her mane was a dark blue with a pink stripe in it.

She tries to wave at the filly over the book but she continues to ignore everything around her.  She starts a bit when the dragon taps on her shoulder causing her to leap a small bit away as the dragon giggles at her.  “You won’t get her attention like that when she’s reading.  Not even Celestia can pull her away from them when she is like that.  I’m Spike, and who are you?”

The orange filly looks at his extended claws for a moment before setting her hoof in it letting him shake it.  “I’m Aegis Flare.  My parents forced me to come here with them and stuck me in this horrible dress as well.  What about you?  What is a small dragon like you doing around here?”

Spike looks over the overly pink dress with a hint of discuss on his face, though his eyes hesitate when he sees the gems.  Shaking his head he tears his gaze away from them before answering as he waves to the bookish filly.  “Well Twilight there hatched my egg a few years ago and I’ve been living with her ever since.  She’s the princess’ student so I’ve been around here all the time.”

Noticing that the dragon’s gaze kept drifting back to her dress she rolls her eyes and pulls off a loose one that is out of sight and offers it to him.  “Hey thanks, I’ve never tried this kind before.”  Taking it in his claws he sniffs at it a couple times before tossing it whole into his mouth.  As it hits his tongue his eyes widen as his mouth starts to pucker up.  “Ack, sour!”

Aegis Flare starts laughing as he dances around trying to get the gem out of his mouth as the flavor is too intense for him.  Looking around she spots the pile of gems that Twilight was slowly giving him and sneaks on over to him so he can try and get the taste out of his mouth.  Once he settles down they get to talking about other things as he pulls out one of the games he had nearby while the adults talked.

While all this was happening Princess Celestia was keeping an eye on them and had to suppress a chuckle at some of the antics.  When the orange filly walked over she had hoped that she would draw her student away from her book but wasn’t surprised when it didn’t happen.  Still, Spike getting somepony to talk to was at least a decent accomplishment, as he was starved for attention lately.

Seeing as the two were getting settled in for a game she turned her attention back to the two adult ponies in the room.  “Now, on to why I asked you two to join me here today.”  The princess levitated a few stacks of papers over to the two as she continued.  “As you can see there the Black Guard has been having some trouble out east recently and I have had to do some reorganizing.  Things are not bad enough yet that I need to call you back in again but things could change if things continue like this.”

She sighs as she regrets how many of her ponies she lost in the operations.  “The area you are watching over will probably be extended though as there are not enough to ponies to take over now.  It should not affect your time with your family but you should know that things could change if things get any worse.  You have earned the right to your family and I am doing what I can so you can stay together but things are getting bad.”

The two sigh as they read through everything while listening to the princess.  “Your highness, something seems wrong with these reports.  Some of these dates and locations don’t match up right and I know that this one event is impossible as the operative has no family.  She lost them all when her magic flared up as a child.”  The princess looks up in shock as she looks through her own copies to verify the claim.

Finding that what Bella said was true she rubs her head with a hoof as she sighs.  “This makes things even worse than I thought and now I cannot send you two out until I find out what is going on.  I am glad that I called you in still or else this problem might not have been noticed.”

Looking over the reports again and making a note to examine everything closer she gave the two a sad smile.  “When you two head back to Ponyville make sure to take precautions until we find out what is wrong with our intel.  I will contact you again in the usual way if I need you and any important orders will be done directly so they can’t be intercepted.”

Seeing as she had reserved another hour for this meeting she spent the rest of the time catching up with the two and what had been going on with them in Ponyville.  She called for the chefs to bring in a small meal while they spoke and even some treats for the young ones.  Eventually the reserved time ended and they had to part ways once again with the family returning home on yet another chariot.

<><><><><><><>

Aegis Flare trotted through Ponyville as school ended for yet another day.  Things had been getting livelier in town recently, especially when a pink earth pony had moved in with the family that owned the town’s bakery.  Not much was known about where she came from, but the place was thrown into chaos as she threw party after party for the ponies around town.  There was a lot of cleanup after each one but ponies were starting to get used to her antics after a couple months.

The town needed her more than they thought as ponies had been distraught over the loss of two of its more upstanding citizens.  Applejack’s parents had been lost in a rockslide during a delivery and it had devastated the family.  Applejack herself was forced to drop out of school to help the rest of her family on the farm.

Her parents had been called away recently so she had been left to take care of her sister for the last week.  It helped that Rarity also had a sister so the two were able to keep each other company during the time when they were occupied.  Arriving to pick up her sister she felt an impact in her side and looked down to see Scootaloo latched onto her side.  “There you are sis, are you ready to head home?”

The younger filly nodded in excitement as her wings buzzed behind her.  “Are mom and dad going to be back today?  It feels like forever since I saw them.”  Aegis Flare ruffles the filly’s mane as she smiles at her.

“They should be, but don’t be disappointed if they aren’t.  They do important work for the princess so they might have to go see her first.”  Scootaloo looked a bit downcast, but a quick tickling to her side had her smiling again quickly enough.  The elder sister crouched so the younger could climb up on her back before heading off towards their home.

As they walked Aegis Flare’s mind was focused on the whereabouts of their parents as they hadn’t said where they were going when they got the message from the princess.  She never did know what they did for a job beyond being part of something called the Black Guard.  They never talked much about it but from the few rumors she heard it sounded to be a pretty dangerous occupation.

When another week had passed without any word she started to get worried and Scootaloo had troubles sleeping with her own worry.  “Why aren’t mom and dad back yet?  They should have been home a long time ago.”  The unicorn sibling sighed as she pulls her sister into a hug trying to comfort her as they lay in bed for the night.  She was scared that they might not ever be home again but kept from breaking down as she tried to be strong for her sister.

“I don’t know Scoots, but if we don’t hear from them soon then we might have a problem.  There aren’t that many bits left in the house and I don’t think the bank will let us touch what they have saved there.  I might have to leave school so I have time to make some myself.  Whatever happens though I will never leave you.”  Scootaloo teared up as she clung to her sister before eventually falling asleep.

The next morning, after dropping her sister off with Rarity’s sister Sweetie Belle, she decided to put her plans into motion as she walked to school with Rarity to notify the teacher.  “Rarity, I don’t think I’m going to be able to come to school now.  My parents should have come home a week ago yet we haven’t heard anything from them.  I’m planning to start working so that I can keep taking care of my sister.”

The white unicorn’s eyes widen at this news before she reaches over to pat her on the shoulder.  “I’m sure that everything is fine, but just know if something did happen that you can always come to me, darling.  We may not do much together but I always have thought of you as a friend, even if you won’t let me make a dress for you.”

She rolls her eyes as Rarity once again tries to get her into a horrid dress again.  Yet she can’t deny that there aren’t many in town that she would label as a friend and Rarity is one of the few that she would call that.  In fact other than her she hasn’t interacted too much with anypony else other than Applejack and the party pony Pinkie Pie, who somehow made friends with everypony.  “It’s good to hear that Rarity, but I just hope that it doesn’t come to that and I’m overreacting.”

The teacher was out sick for the day but her new assistant, Cheerilee, was happy to let her know about Aegis Flare’s predicament and hoped that everything turned out all right.  Leaving the school she pondered what to do and her mind kept going back to the lessons she had from her parents about the Everfree Forest.  “Nopony ever seems to go in there, yet there are supposed to be many plants and foods in there that are hard to get here.  I bet the hospital would love to have somepony local providing them with ingredients as well.”

Remembering the most important lessons she made her way back home to prepare what she needed.  Luckily the goggles were right where she last saw them though everything else took a bit more time to gather.  Soon she found herself at the entrance to the Everfree as she tried to gather her nerves.  “Everything is going to be fine, it’s been seven years since that happened and I’ve improved a lot since then.  The timberwolves won’t be able to touch me now that I know how to deal with them.”

Even with her saying this, her legs were still shaking in fear as she looked into the darkness of the forest.  Her nervousness was so great that when she felt something tap her on the flank she rocketed into the air and grabbed onto an overhanging branch.  “Oh dear, I’m so sorry.  Are you okay?  I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Catching her breath after being startled so badly the unicorn looked down to see a pink maned butter yellow pegasus cowering below.  Using her magic to create a barrier below as a step to jump down on she bounded down to in front of the pegasus.  “It’s all right, I’m just nervous about going into there for the first time.  I know what to expect and to avoid but I had a bad experience years ago before finding my parents.”

The pegasus’ eyes widen as she hears this and she shrinks back in fright.  “Oh dear, you’re actually going to go in there?  Are you sure that you should be doing that at your age?”  The shy pony’s words are extremely quiet, but with her enhanced hearing Aegis Flare easily understands her.

She shakes her head in reply to the pegasus’ worries as she explains.  “I really don’t have a choice.  My parents have gone missing and I have to take care of my sister.  My parents taught me a lot about the forest so I know a lot about what to expect from the place and my fire magic can drive off any problems that I expect to meet.”

The shy pegasus lets out an ‘eep’ as she shrinks away when the unicorn sends a gout of flame from her horn to illustrate the point.  “Well if you’re sure that you’ll be fine, but please be careful.”

Aegis Flare actually feels a little better at hearing the concern in her voice and nods to her.  “I plan to be and I should be back out before night falls if you want to keep an eye out for me to be sure.  I probably should have let somepony else know that I was going in as a precaution.”  Waving to the pegasus she slowly makes her way into the forest not seeing the wide eyes keeping track of her as she enters.

As she enters the forest she pulls the goggles over her eyes and is glad to see everything brighten up as the enchantment on them takes effect.  She isn’t sure where to look first, but she follows the obvious path for now until she knows the forest better.  At first nothing of use is obvious, but eventually she spots some familiar looking plants on the edge of the path.

“I don’t think I’ve seen anypony selling these in town before.  Even if I can’t sell them they would still make a decent meal.”  She harvests the small patch of wild carrots and puts them in her saddlebags.  She even finds some ripe ground cherries which she knows will sell well considering the prices for normal ones in town.

Eventually she reaches a river cutting through the forest and she gazes into the river before spotting some arrowhead tubers on the edge.  Deciding that this is enough for a first day of exploring she decides to head for home but finds her path blocked by a manticore.  “Oh why couldn’t this have turned out to be a simple trip in and out?”

She flinches as the beast roars at her and starts prowling towards her slowly.  Looking around she gets and idea and scoops out a large quantity of water with a shield and lifts it over her head.  The manticore watches this warily, and it starts flailing as a hole opens in the side of it and starts rapidly shrinking, spraying the beast with water.  It flails its forelimbs as it tries to ward of the spray of water as well as the objects caught up with it.

As the creature tried to catch its breath from the deluge, Aegis Flare took the chance to sneak away from it.  After she passed the manticore she noticed that she had caught a few decent sized fish which were now sitting in front of the creature.  Luckily when it had recovered it also noticed them and, with an indignant growl, started feasting on the nearest one.

Looking at the creature and spying its tail hanging limply over it the unicorn gets and idea and pulls a jar from her saddlebags and floats it over to the tail within a shield.  Carefully maneuvering it into place she then uses another barrier to manipulate the tail to milk it of the venom it held.  She froze when the beasts head spun around to look at what was going on before its gaze turned to her, but she was relieved when it just snorted in agitation before going back to its meal.

Moments later she sighed in relief as she secured the jar after sealing it and slowly made her way back towards town.  No other creatures crossed her path but she did find a couple things to check on again during her next trip.  Exiting the forest she was surprised to see the buttery pegasus still waiting for her at the entrance of the Everfree.

“There you are; I’m so glad that you are safe I was so worried.”  Aegis Flare was surprised to see her again so soon, as most ponies would have gone home by now.  She actually felt a bit ashamed at making her worry so much so didn’t struggle when the pegasus came to check her over for injuries.

“Not that I mind the attention, but I didn’t get hurt and the only problem I ran into was a manticore.  I was able to distract it with some fish so there were no troubles there.”  The pegasus tenses up when hearing about the manticore but visibly relaxes when she hears that the issue was resolved safely.

“Oh I’m so glad nopony was hurt but you should take care to be more cautious out there.  Manticores are extremely territorial and are hard to calm down if you anger them.”  The unicorn raises an eyebrow at this bit of knowledge as there aren’t many that learn about the habits of Everfree creatures.  

“My parents taught me much about the Everfree, but you’re the first pony other than them that has had any knowledge of the forest.  Where did you learn something like that from and do you know anything else about the Everfree?  Also I don’t think I mentioned it before, but I’m Aegis Flare, but you can just call me Flare.”  The pegasus cringes back again and tries to hide behind her mane when she notices how close she is to the unicorn.

“Oh, my name is Fluttershy, and my animal friends told me about the things they see in there.  I’d be too scared to go in there myself.”  Aegis Flare is glad for her more thestral-like ears as she would have trouble hearing the shy pegasus otherwise.  Even so she was starting to understand why she hadn’t heard anything about her before as she tries to avoid others.

Seeing that her presence is making the pegasus uncomfortable she decides to end the conversation.  “Well thank you for watching out for me Fluttershy, but I really have to go and check up on my sister.  She’s with a friend right now but should be expecting me soon.”

Fluttershy waves but says nothing as she walks off to collect her sister and store the things she picked up.  She didn’t know where to go or what needed to be done to sell everything, but she knew where she could get the help for it.  She just hoped that Applejack was working the stand tomorrow since she knew which ponies would deal with each item the best.

<><><><><><><>

That day was the start of her new career gathering various things from the Everfree Forest.  The manticore venom was a good start but she found that it wasn’t something to rely on as the amount she harvested was a couple years’ worth for the hospital.  She quickly learned what was worth grabbing and what wasn’t and, while not making her wealthy, was enough to at least support her and her sister relatively well.  She wasn’t prefect though as she would often come back with scrapes and bruises as well as some other embarrassing outcomes.

She was truthful with Scootaloo about everything she did and made sure that she always let her know when she would be away.  While her sister spent much of her spare time with her friend Sweetie Belle she also started watching a new weather pony that had shown up recently.  While she couldn’t fly yet she did spend a bit extra on her latest birthday present to get her a decent scooter.  She took to it extremely well, so much so that Aegis Flare had suspicions of what her future would be like and was a bit worried about how much she was taking after the mare she was coming to idolize.

She rarely stayed out for more than a full day, but she occasionally had to go out further for special requests, especially for the alchemist she met that was living out in the forest.  On those days she allowed her sister to stay overnight with Sweetie Belle, though she tried to choose days where she wasn’t staying with Rarity to let her have peace so she could do her own job.  

She was just getting back from one such trip that lasted a couple days and was just dropping off her saddlebags when she noticed a scroll waiting for her on the table.  What caught her eye about it though was the fact that it had the royal seal on it and from what she knew there was no reason for the princess to contact her.  Her curiosity got the better of her and she set only took a moment to store her saddlebags before unrolling the scroll.

She wasn’t sure what she was expecting but after being up all night in the Everfree it was something she wasn’t looking forward to.  “Why is the princess for requesting me to look after some noble as the check up on the Summer Sun celebration anyways?  I’m sure that the mayor would do a better job of it and she should be checking up on the celebration herself anyways.”  She shakes her head as she checks when the pony would be arriving and, after seeing she has an hour to go, starts up a pot of coffee while she washes up quickly.

> 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aegis Flare yawns as she finishes off another cup of coffee as she prepares to leave her home to meet up with the noble.  Pulling the message over again she reads through it for any details she missed before sighing.  “It would be nice to at least know who this noble is before I meet them.  Of course it’s not like I’ve paid attention to what nobles are around now but as long as it’s not that Blueblood family mom spoke about.”

She left her home with plenty of time to make it to the town square which was supposed to be where the chariot carrying the noble would land.  As she walked she kept an eye out for Scootaloo or Rarity as she hadn’t yet had the chance to let them know she was back yet.  Unfortunately she didn’t see either of them and she recalled Rarity mentioning that she was going to be extremely busy doing something today.

She was surprised that she didn’t many ponies doing a lot of preparations for the coming celebration.  She’d seen the town overreact often enough to minor problems before, so seeing them doing little for the arrival of a princess seemed odd.  Still, she was glad that there wasn’t a mass panic to deal with as she waited for the chariot to arrive.

She didn’t have to wait long as she soon saw the chariot flying in from the direction of Canterlot.  As she expected she noticed that there were a pair of guards flying the chariot as expected for somepony of a high ranking.  When she caught sight of the passengers though, she was thrown completely off-guard as it was probably the last pony she would have expected.

Stepping off of the chariot as it landed was a purple pair of importance and the taller one turned to the guards to thank them.  As they walked away from the chariot as it left the conversed with each other.  “Maybe the ponies in Ponyville have interesting things to talk about.”  The small dragon gestured to an approaching pink earth pony.  “Come on, Twilight, just try!”

Twilight looked nervous as she looked over the pony as she tried to figure out what to say.  “Um… hello?”  The two were startled as the pony let out a loud gasp, leaping into the air, before she zoomed off over their heads causing them to duck.  “Well, that was interesting all right.”  She looks in the direction that the direction that the pony vanished in and was startled by another voice behind her.

“Well it sure didn’t take long for her to find the new pony in town.  You’ll probably be seeing more of her later now but don’t worry, she’s relatively harmless.”  The two turned to see a dark orange unicorn with a braided red mane coming up behind them.  “I got a message about somepony coming from Canterlot that I was supposed to escort around, but I sure wasn’t expecting you two.  It sure has been a long time since I’ve seen you Spike, though from what I remember it must have taken a miracle to get her away from her books.”

The purple unicorn and dragon look at her in confusion as she approaches before Spike pulls out a scroll and reads it over.  “Well it does say that somepony named Aegis Flare was supposed to meet us here, but I sure don’t remember the name or meeting you before.  You’re right about the miracle part though.”  Twilight nods in agreement but pause to give the dragon the stink eye for his additional remark.

Aegis Flare just shakes her head sadly and sighs.  “I guess it would be too much to expect for you to remember me after, what is it now, six years?  Especially with all the ponies you’ve seen go through the princess’ throne room while you were the only dragon I’ve ever seen.  Of course you might recall the gem I gave you that day, I don’t think you knew what to expect out of topazes before then.”

Spike shudders in remembrance over the taste of that kind of gem.  “Yeah those things are just too sour to eat alone.  That filly that gave me my first one was laughing so hard too and… wait, that filly was you?!  Heh, didn’t recognize you without that bright pink dress.”  The orange mare groans as she remembers that horrid outfit while Twilight looks on in confusion.

“Spike, how is it that you remember a pony that I can’t, especially if it was as long as she says?  I’d certainly remember seeing an orange unicorn wearing a pink dress if I saw them.”  Spike just rolls his eyes while the previously mentioned mare shakes her head in disbelief.

“Twilight, you had your head in a book the entire time, in fact you almost always have your head in a book when you aren’t panicking about something.”  Twilight glares at him for a moment but looks a bit sheepish as she tries to remember the ponies she had seen back then but only can picture books.

Shaking her head Twilight just sighs as she redirects the topic to what she is in town to do.  “Anyways if you are here to show us around then that will make things go more smoothly.  There doesn’t seem to be a map with the checklist of what we have to check on and I don’t want to have to wander around blindly to find everything.”

Aegis Flare sees that Twilight wanted to get things done with quickly, which was fine with her as it will allow her to sleep sooner.  “So where is your first stop here in Ponyville?  I hope you are ready to walk though as there aren’t any carriage services like in Canterlot.”

Twilight either ignores or doesn’t notice the little barb as she looks towards Spike as he pulls out the checklist.  “Summer Sun Celebration official overseer's checklist. Number one, banquet preparations: Sweet Apple Acres.”

Raising her eyebrow in surprise the orange unicorn points off towards the farm.  “Well it’s easy to find but it’ll take a bit to get there.  It doesn’t really surprise me though that the Apple family is handling the food; they have some of the best tasting apple dishes in town.  So how did the princess manage to get you out of the castle finally?”

While Twilight tries to get away from this topic she didn’t think to stop Spike from answering.  “Oh Twilight found some old foals tale about the return of the Mare in the Moon or something.  I think she was overreacting and I think the princess agreed since she sent her here to get away from her books.”

“Spike!”  The dragon looks sheepish as Twilight glares at him while they walk towards the farm.  “I am not overreacting about this!  Nightmare Moon really is coming back and if it wasn’t for having to check on everything I’d be reading up on the Elements of Harmony by now!”

As Spike rolled his eyes but said nothing but Twilight glances at the other unicorn to see her looking down thoughtfully.  “Aegis Flare, is there something wrong?”

Her head shot up when Twilight addressed her and looked back.  “Huh, oh you can just call me Flare.  But when you were talking about those old foals’ tales it reminded me of something my father told me about years ago.  He mentioned that many thestrals were waiting for somepony called the Night Mother to return.  He never gave me any details about it but the similar theme of the names and the fact that she is missing seems rather suspicious.  I was never told the full story though.”

Twilight looked excited over the prospect of having further proof but it turned to disappointment by the time she finished speaking.  “I was hoping you would have known more but we only have until tomorrow.  How do you know about a legend from the thestrals though?  I know a few in the guard but they are rather close-mouthed about their culture.”

Sighing, the orange unicorn explains.  “My father was a thestral while my mother was a unicorn.  They may have adopted me but that hasn’t mattered to us at all.  I haven’t seen them for a few years now and I still don’t know what happened to them.”

The two others wince at having unintentionally brought up a sensitive issue but luckily their arrival at the farm stalled any more conversation. Finding the mare in charge was relatively easy as they only had to follow the sounds of shouting followed by hooves impacting into trees.  Applejack noticed Aegis Flare first before Twilight came into view.  “Well if it isn’t Flare, didn’t expect to see ya today.  Who’s your friend there?”

Seeing all heads turn towards her Twilight sighs and steps forward.  “Let's get this over with...  Good afternoon. My name is Twilight Sparkle-“

She is interrupted as Applejack grabs her hoof and hers and begins shaking it strongly and rapidly.  “Well, howdy-doo, Miss Twilight, a pleasure making your acquaintance.  Ahm Applejack. We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like making new friends!””

With a slight smile at their antics as they deal with Twilights issue the other unicorn wanders over towards Big Macintosh who she sees a bit further into the trees.  “Hey Big Mac, I was able to find that fruit you asked for but I got roped into showing that unicorn from Canterlot around so it might be a day or two before I can get it out to you.”  Big Mac nodded but before he could say anything his sister’s call rang out across the farm along with the ringing of a triangle.  As a stampede of ponies rushed by towards the farms outdoor eating area, the unicorn rolled her eyes.  “Well I guess we can talk about it more during lunch, I don’t think your sister is going to let Twilight go anytime soon.”

With an ‘Eeyup’ from the big red stallion the two wander over to the large group to catch the end of Applejack introducing the family to Twilight.  After a quick meal, at which Twilight had one of just about everything forced upon her, the three were on the way back to Ponyville for the next item on the checklist.  “Food’s all taken care of, next is the weather.”

Twilight trails behind the other two as she tries to digest everything that she ate while complaining to herself.  Spike looks up from his list to survey the area for something.  “Hmm, there's supposed to be a Pegasus pony named Rainbow Dash clearing the clouds.”

Aegis Flare’s ears perk up on hearing that name and she hears a whistling sound that is steadily getting louder.  Twilight looks up into the sky to see a bunch of clouds in the area.  “Well, she's not doing a very good job, is she?”

When an orange wall appeared at her side just to have a cyan pegasus crash into it she leapt to the side flailing her limbs in surprise.  Twilight watched as her escort walked over and tapped the fallen pegasus’ side a couple times.  “Still lazing around on the job I see.  Should you really be doing that where you can crash into a random passerby?”

The rainbow maned pegasus opened her eyes enough to glare at the unicorn before she flapped her wings to hover in the air again.  “Well excuse me for trying to get some practice in before tomorrow.  It’s not like anypony is going to be here to check up on me any time soon and I need to be at my best.”

Aegis Flare points off to the side where Twilight is looking at the pegasus with an annoyed expression.  “I'm Twilight Sparkle, and the Princess sent me to check on the weather.  I’m guessing that you are supposed to be Rainbow Dash, and what is so important that you are practicing for something instead of clearing the skies like you should?”

Rainbow Dash does a couple loops in the air before responding.  “So I take it you’ve heard of me?  And tomorrow the Wonderbolts are going to be here and I have to be ready to show ‘em my stuff!”

Twilight arches an eyebrow at her answer.  “Really?  You think that the Wonderbolts would accept a pegasus that can’t even keep the sky clear for one measly day?”

With her usual attitude the cyan pegasus just looked at her in annoyance.  “Hey, I could clear this sky in ten seconds flat.”

Replying with a smirk, Twilight only says two words.  “Prove it.”

While Aegis Flare already knew about Rainbow Dash from her sister, this was the first time she had seen her in action.  She had thought that her sister was exaggerating a bit at the cyan mare’s skill but it seemed that she was actually understating her skills.  Turning to look at the other unicorn and dragon she almost chuckled at their look of surprise as the weather pony finished up her cloud clearing.  “Loop the loop around, and wham!  What'd I say?  Ten. Seconds. Flat. I'd never leave Ponyville hanging.  You should see the look on your face. Ha! You're a laugh, Twilight Sparkle. I can't wait to hang out some more.”

“Wow, she’s amazing!”  Twilight only scowls as she turns away from the other two.

“My sister was telling me stories about her, but I thought she was exaggerating a bit.  It didn’t even cross my mind that she could be better than how she described.”  Twilight just ignores the two as she walks off leaving them to check on the next area they need to go to.  Luckily it wasn’t that long of a walk as their destination was the town hall which they were right next to.

After racing after Twilight and informing her that she is moving away from their next stop they entered the building to check on the decorations.  They all looked around in appreciation of the decorations before one of them catches sight of something else.  “Beautiful!”

Twilight nods as she looks around the interior of the town hall.  “Yes, the decor is coming along nicely.  This ought'a be quick. I'll be at the library in no time.  Beautiful indeed.”

Spike shakes his head at her and points at the white unicorn that is in the room.  “Not the decor, her!”

The two unicorns raise an eyebrow at Spike’s reaction to seeing the unicorn decorating the place.  While the dragon tries to freshen up a bit Aegis Flare walks up to Rarity as she finishes putting a bow around a pillar.  Rarity turns to see the three figures waiting for her but her attention is quickly drawn to the unicorn nearest to her.  “Oh Flare; I was worried that something had happened to you, darling.  You were supposed to have come for your sister this morning.  She was so worried about you when there wasn’t any word from you.”

With a sigh before responding the orange unicorn explains.  “Sorry about that, but I found a letter waiting for me when I got home.  It asked me to escort Twilight here once she arrived from Canterlot to check on the preparations for tomorrow.”  Twilight nods as she steps up but before she can say anything Rarity had rushed up to her.

“Canterlot?! Oh, I am so envious! The glamor, the sophistication! I have always dreamed of living there! I can't wait to hear all about it! We are gonna be the best of friends, you and I...”  The purple unicorn started stuttering at the exuberance of the white mare while the third unicorn just shook her head.

“Rarity, it’s getting rather late and Twilight still has to check on some more of the preparations for tomorrow.  There’ll be time to talk with her more later and I bet Pinkie could use some help once you finish up here.”  She winks to her while Twilight isn’t looking and it takes her a moment to understand what she is hinting at.  They quickly say their farewells and head off to what appears to be the last item on the list.

After getting Spike to focus on the job, instead of the unicorn they just met, they proceed to their next destination.  “So what’s supposed to be next Spike?  And who is supposed to be in charge of everything?”

Looking over the scroll he points at the last item on it.  “It looks like that music is the last thing on the list.  The pony in charge appears to be named Fluttershy.”

Aegis Flare looks surprised at the name but isn’t able to say anything before Twilight walked up to her.  “What was with that pony back there anyways?  I almost thought she was going to drag me off for a moment when you mentioned Canterlot.”

“She’s just been blinded by the ideals and fame involved with anything Canterlot.  She doesn’t know much about what most of the nobles are actually like, and most of my stories are secondhoof so I never mentioned them to her.”  Twilight just rolls her eyes but doesn’t comment again on the mare they left behind but it doesn’t stop her from confronting the orange mare.

“What do you have against Canterlot nobles anyways?  You keep saying how bad they are and you’ve been rather standoffish with me ever since we met.”  She jerks back and looks offended when Aegis Flare started to yawn loudly in front of her.

“I’m sorry if I’ve seemed like that, but it has been a long forty-eight hours and I was expecting to have been sleeping when I found out not even an hour that I was supposed to escort you.”  She lets out another yawn and pauses halfway through it when she hears birdsong in the air.  “As for the nobles I’m betting that you’ve seen some of what the worst ones are like if you know some of the thestral guards.  Also I believe that we are almost to Fluttershy, you might want to hang back for a moment as she scares easily.”

The two look at each other as she trots ahead of them before Spike grins.  “I wouldn’t be surprised if she is telling the truth about being awake so long.  You should see what you are like after one of your three day study sessions, Twilight.”  The unicorn isn’t amused and shows it be lightly rapping the back of his head with a hoof.

Aegis Flare knows that sneaking up on Fluttershy is a bad idea, so she circles widely around her until she comes into her line of site and waves to her, only causing the pegasus to slightly startle.  “Oh Flare; I didn’t know that you were back from the Everfree yet.  Did everything turn out all right?”

With a nod the unicorn explains the situation.  “Mostly, I’ve been escorting the princess’ representative all day instead of catching up on my sleep.  She’s on her way here right now and I ran ahead to let you know.  I know how much you dislike surprises.”

Fluttershy shrinks down at the mention of someone coming to meet her but looks appreciative about the warning.  When she noticed her friend looking over her shoulder she turned to see the mare being discussed and she hid behind her mane.

Seeing the yellow pegasus, Twilight slowly made her way over while glancing at the birds and Aegis Flare.  “Hello there, my name is Twilight Sparkle.  I was sent to check on the music for the Summer Sun Celebration.  Would you happen to be Fluttershy?”

She tilts her head to the side when the pegasus says something too quiet to hear, but catches her nodding her head slightly.  “Well I must say that the music is sounding incredible.  You really must be talented to get your birds to sing like that, do you do this often?”

When Fluttershy speaks even quieter than before, Twilight leans in a little closer.  “I’m sorry, but what was that?”  Fluttershy just speaks in an even lower tone once again forcing the unicorn to strain her hearing.  “Didn’t quite catch that.”  When only a squeak leaves her mouth this time she glances over at Aegis Flare before shaking her head.  “Well, um, I guess everything’s in good order.  Keep up the good work!”  She waves the other unicorn over and when she gets close enough she whispers to her.  “Is she always like this?”

The other mare just nods in reply.  “Yeah, until she opens up she usually is really quiet like that.  I’ve never had a problem hearing her, but most ponies tend to avoid her because of how awkward things get around her.  Of course if you get her attention with something that interests her then it’s hard getting her to stop talking.”  She pauses as Spike comes over and observes Fluttershy reacting by dashing over to him asking questions.  “Something like baby dragons it seems.”

As the two listen to the dragon and pegasus converse Twilight suddenly groans.  “Oh great, now he’s never going to shut up.  Most ponies ignore Spike, so when somepony asks about his past he goes on about literally everything.  Can you show us where the library is?  Supposedly that is where we are going to be staying tonight.”

Glancing over at the two currently in an animated discussion she nods to Twilight and heads off towards the library leaving the others to follow.  Seeing that the other two are too caught up with each other Twilight stays near the other unicorn and thinks about what she knows of her.  She was a bit annoyed with her slight attitude, but if she really hadn’t slept for so long then it might be understandable.  Eventually she just shakes her head and tries to block out the chatter behind her and focuses on the more important Nightmare Moon issue.

When they arrive at the tree library Twilight is quick to shake the other two ponies off and dashes inside before closing the door on the two.  The unicorn glances at the pegasus and raises an eyebrow.  “So, do you think that she is prepared for Pinkie Pie who is probably already in there with much of the rest of town?”  Fluttershy just shakes her head before the two hear the call inside indicating the party has begun.

The two head on in to join the rest to see the party had begun with Twilight looking rather annoyed.  While Fluttershy went over towards Pinkie Pie, the unicorn went over towards her sister after spotting her with her friend.  Walking up behind her she reached out and patted her on the head causing her to look up in annoyance until she saw who it was.  “Sis!  Where have you been?  You were supposed to come get me this morning so we could hang out a bit.”

Aegis Flare smiles down at her sister before letting out a yawn.  “Sorry about that, I had to escort Twilight there around today.  A message from the princess was waiting on my table when I got home.  I’ll make it up to you though when I can but right now I think I’m going to find somewhere to take a nap before I collapse.  Can you be sure to wake me before everypony leaves for the celebration in the morning?”

Scootaloo smiles up at her sister and nods before dragging Sweetie Belle over towards Spike who was dancing on a table to the amusement of the ponies nearby.  Looking around the orange unicorn soon spotted an out of the way table that was covered by a cloth and made her way over towards it.  On her way she snagged a few things to snack on quickly so that Pinkie Pie wouldn’t bother her for not doing anything at the party.

Once she got to the table she looked around to be sure that nopony was watching before crawling under it and making herself somewhat comfortable.  Letting out another yawn she charged up her horn and put up a barrier around the inside of the table cloth, setting it to block out the sounds of the room.  While she couldn’t learn any new types of magic, she had found out through trial and error that she could modify the two spells she did know to have similar effects as long as they remained within the branches of barrier and pyro magic.  Once the sound of the party had been blocked out she let out one final yawn before shutting her eyes to sleep, not knowing the chaos that tomorrow would bring.
> 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was always a refreshing feeling to wake up after a good night’s sleep after being deprived of it for a couple days.  Of course that is only when you are given the chance to do so at your own pace.  Having something else do it for you tends to leave you disoriented and irritated instead of refreshed though.  This is especially true when it’s a thrown book impacting into your face much like Aegis Flare is experiencing now.  Of course her head crashing into the underside of the table shortly afterwards as she tried to leap to her hooves didn’t help much either.

As she sat there trying to figure out what just happened she remembered just where she was.  Peeking out from under the tablecloth she noticed a few ponies in the room but nowhere near the number there should have been.  “Really Scootaloo?  I asked you to wake me up when it was time for the celebration to start.”

As she muttered to herself she remembered to drop the sound barrier around the table in time to hear a familiar voice singing out.  “It was under Eeeee.”  She was wondering why Pinkie Pie was back when the party in the library was over when she heard Twilight reading from something.

“There are seven Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty and Loyalty. The sixth is not known as it is known to change over time but in all cases it is a link for the other five to open the path to the seventh.  The seventh is a complete mystery. It is said, the last known location of the six elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. It is located in what is now the Everfree Forest.”  Aegis Flare was about to say something from her position when she felt a chill flow through the building, freezing her in place.

“The Everfree Forest?!  Darling, that is no place for a lady to be going, especially when it is dark out like it is now!”  The hidden unicorn felt a bit of warmth returning as she felt herself getting agitated at Rarity, while the other feeling, which she identified as fear, ebbed.  Things weren’t over though as the others kept going.

“Whoa nelly, that really is a problem that ya have there.  Is there anything that we can do ta help?”  Aegis Flare heard a bit of a tremor in her voice which seemed odd for somepony that lived next to the forest and dealt with timberwolves from it occasionally.

Peeking out from under the table she noticed the four she had heard, along with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.  All of them looked off for some reason, as if they were moments away from bolting, which was unusual for all of them except for Fluttershy.  She then noticed Twilight shaking her head.  “I appreciate the offer, but I'd really rather do this on my own.  Besides, don’t you all have ponies that you need to check on after all that happened?”

“Well the weather team must be wondering what to do right now…”

“Mah family must be terrified right now and I just left them there…”

“Oh dear, I can’t believe I just abandoned poor Sweetie Belle Like that…”

“Everypony must be so sad right now, I have to go cheer them up…”

“*Squeak!*”

As the five were making their way to the door an orange glow sprang up around the room blocking them in.  Before they could panic any further a voice rang out behind them.  “Now I know that you aren’t going to just walk off and let a pony who has no idea what to expect from the Everfree go in there alone, are you?  All of you would stand a better chance in there than any random unicorn from Canterlot, even if she is the student of the princess.”

The six turn around to see the orange unicorn crawling out from under a table, while rubbing her head and looking at the cover of a book.  “Also somepony really needs to watch where they are throwing these books, especially the thick ones.”  She tosses the book with her magic in front of Twilight, revealing the title to be Common Treatments of Head Injuries and Ailments.

They stare at her as she walks over to the leftovers from the previous night’s party and gets a cup of the punch.  Finally one of the six unfreezes enough to actually say something.  “Wait a moment darling, what do you mean that I would be better than her in the Everfree?  A lady of my upbringing would never be found in such a terrible place.  Surely a pony trained by the princess would know what she is doing, wouldn’t she?”

When Aegis Flare shakes her head in response there are a couple chuckles as Twilight glares at her.  “First, you actually know enough about the Everfree to know to stay out of there.  I doubt Twilight has even seen a timberwolf with her own eyes, let alone a manticore, hydra, or star beast.”  She glances over at the purple unicorn for verification to have her turn away slightly in answer.  “Then there is also the fact that you have a black belt in at least one form of martial arts and just looking at her I can see that she doesn’t work out much.”

They don’t notice Twilight’s blush as all eyes turned to stare at Rarity in surprise.  She just glances around at them all looking unperturbed.  “What?  A lady has to be able to defend herself if it comes to it.  Rainbow Dash was the one who introduced me to the instructor so she already should have known about it.”

When all eyes shifted towards the rainbow maned pegasus she just shrugged.  “I didn’t expect her to actually go through with it when she asked about it before.  She’s always at the spa when she gets the tiniest bit sweaty so I figured she would have given up right away.”

After a few eye-rolls were exchanged the orange unicorn looked out the window to see that it was dark out and glancing at a clock noticed that the sun should have been up a while now.  “I’m just now noticing, but why is it still dark outside?  Shouldn’t the princess have raised the sun by now?”

Her questions were quickly answered, though maybe a bit too quickly, as Pinkie Pie explained everything that happened over a matter of seconds without pausing for a breath.  Even with her going off on random tangents multiple times it was only a matter of minutes before Aegis Flare was caught up on everything and had a hoof implanted in her face.  “So not only were you going to go into a dangerous forest alone, but you were also planning on taking on an alicorn alone as well?  You really need the help more than I thought, and that’s just to keep you out of trouble.”

Twilight looked a bit offended as she broke into a rant.  “Well somepony has to do something to stop her and I was the only one to even find out about all this.  If nopony does anything then this night will never end and we’ll never see Princess Celestia again!?”

Rolling her eyes she just sighs at the overly dramatic unicorn.  “I never said anything about not going, if what you were reading about earlier was part of your plan to stop her then that’s fine.  But there is no way you are going alone and I hope the others aren’t letting their fears get the better of them to see that doing nothing is a bad idea.”

The others looked a bit sheepish except for Rainbow Dash who takes this as a challenge.  “Hey!  I’m not scared of anything it’s just that…  Huh, why did I want to check on the weather team anyways?  There isn’t anything for them to do for a couple days anyways and most of them can’t even fly in the dark well enough to work.”

The other four that were making excuses earlier were also looking confused as well.  “That’s odd; I was thinking the same thing.  My parents are with Sweetie Belle right now so why would I need to check on her?”  The others mentioned similar things while both Twilight and Aegis Flare looked confused.

“It’s strange, after you finished reading about those Elements of Harmony I felt a chill of fear but I have no idea what it was from.”  Twilight’s horn lights up as she scans the room after hearing all this.  All eyes turn towards her when she gasps in shock.

“Somepony was casting a fear spell over the room just moments ago!  But why is it all of you were affected but Flare wasn’t?”  Once again all eyes shift to the mentioned unicorn while Rainbow Dash flies up to her and glares at her.

“Yeah, why weren’t you as scared as the rest of them?  Are you working for Nightmare Moon?”  Having heard some complaints about Rainbow Dash’s brashness before, Aegis Flare just rolls her eyes.  Before she responds she casually brushes at the fur around her throat away, revealing the old scar to the other’s view.

While Applejack and Rarity knew about her history; that didn’t stop them from gasping and wincing along with the others when they saw the damage.  “A little bit of fear is nothing compared to having a timberwolf nearly tearing your throat out as a little filly.  Even after all these years I still can feel their teeth digging into me.  Yet I’ve learned that letting my fear control me only makes things worse and prevents you from doing what needs to be done.”

The cyan mare backs down at this explanation with a bit of respect and pity in her eyes.  Even the others including Twilight look at her with a bit more respect at hearing this.  Twilight looks around at the others before turning back to the orange unicorn with a small smile and a sigh.  “Fine, if you all want to follow me in there then I won’t stop you, but I still think it’s a bad idea.”

The others look to each other before nodding and turning back to Twilight.  “Ah think that we all agree even after that scare.  We sure ain't lettin' any friend of ours go into that creepy place alone. We're stickin' to you like caramel on a candy apple.”

The others make sounds of agreement as Pinkie Pie bounces out the door.  “Especially if there's candy apples in there. What? Those things are good.”  Twilight just sighs again before following her out the door towards the forest with the others not far behind.

As they all walk through town they eventually reach the main entrance of the Everfree forest where they all pause for a moment.  As Aegis Flare passes by them all without hesitation they are forced to follow her before they have a chance to prepare themselves.  “Is she always like this?  I mean with how harsh she acts and just being so standoffish?”

Rarity looks over at Twilight before facing forward once again.  “Oh darling, you get used to that eventually.  She really has had a hard time growing up, what with her parents disappearing a few years back leaving her alone to take care of her sister.  Of course she could do with being a bit more ladylike; she’s as bad as Rainbow Dash and Applejack most of the time.”

Twilight rolls her eyes at the last bit but the rest gives her something to think about for a bit.  Eventually she looks around the forest to see how creepy everything looks while they near a cliff.  “So, none of you have been in here before?”

Rarity shakes her head in disgust.  “Ugh, Heavens no!  Just look at it - it's dreadful.”

Applejack is quick to chip in her bits.  “And it ain't natural. Folks say it don't work the same as Equestria.”

The purple unicorn glances over at the orange earth pony in confusion.  “What's that supposed to mean?”

“Nopony knows.  You know why?”  Rainbow Dash turns and smirks at the ponies behind her while Aegis Flare rolls her eyes at the antics of the ponies following her.

“Rainbow, quit it.”  Applejack tries to suppress a shiver of fear but it’s hard for her with how close her family is to the forest.

“'cause every pony who's ever come in, has never come out!”  As the cyan pegasus stalks back towards the others as she attempts to scare them, a loud cracking sound echoed across the area as the entire cliff side breaks apart sending the seven tumbling down a steep slope.

“Fluttershy!  Quick!”  As Rainbow Dash calls to the other pegasus, the two rush down and catch up Rarity and Pinkie Pie and airlifts them to safety.  This leaves Applejack and the other two unicorns to slide towards the edge of another cliff at the end of the slope.  Aegis Flare looks back and sees that Applejack managed to catch ahold of a root but Twilight is still sliding out of control.  She gestures towards the earth pony then towards Twilight and, at seeing her nod in response, turns towards the cliff with a look of determination.

Trusting that the two will be safe she focuses on saving herself and comes up with a good idea on the fly.  Moments away from the edge her horn lights up with an orange glow which is soon followed by a matching glow at the edge of the cliff.  Right as she reaches the edge and she gets a good view of the ground far below an orange platform appears and starts spiraling down towards the ground.

She left the cliff and started sliding down the platform in a spiral towards the ground below.  She looked up to see Applejack holding onto Twilight as she dangles off the edge before she passes two feathered forms heading up to help them.  She let out a sigh of relief at seeing them safe now but she was overly distracted by this that she failed to notice the ground coming up fast.  Because of her distraction her front left hoof hit the ground first at an odd angle causing her to yell out as she tumbled forward.

As she was holding her leg in pain the others finally brought Twilight in for a landing and she immediately walked over towards her.  “Are you crazy?!  What were you thinking just diving off the edge of a cliff like that?”

Aegis Flare limps over to the nearby lake and sets her leg in it to soak in the cold water as Applejack leapt down the cliff along some ledges.  “I was fine until I got distracted at the bottom, and as for being crazy?  Well my father always said that all ponies are crazy to some extent so I guess that’s a yes.”

Throwing up her hooves in frustration, Twilight stalks off towards the others, but not before pausing to give a small smile at Applejack.  As the others followed the path in the direction of the castle the orange unicorn rubbed at her leg.  “Are you doing all right there Flarie?”

She looks back to see Pinkie waiting for her while the others were walking ahead.  “I will be in a moment; I just landed badly on an old injury.  It flares up occasionally still, but usually at the worst times.”  As the pink pony begins chuckling at her she realizes what she said on accident and rolls her eyes before removing her leg from the lake.  “Yeah, yeah.  Laugh it up Pinkie; let’s just go catch up with the others.”

The others had gotten out of sight by that point so they had to go into a light trot to catch up.  When they heard a loud roar the two looked at each other before taking off at a gallop.  When they arrived they found the others facing off with a manticore that looked awfully familiar to the unicorn.  “Not him again.  Pinkie, we need to go and stop them before somepony gets hurt.  Pinkie?”

Looking over, she notices that Pinkie is gone and on searching around finds that she is running off towards the others.  She was about to yell out but she paused when her ears caught the wound of Fluttershy calling out for the others to wait as well.  Shaking her head she looked towards the others to see Applejack go flying off the manticore’s head and Rainbow Dash charge in to fly in rapid circles around it.

When she noticed the creature’s tail rear back her eyes widened and she reached out with her magic again and wrapped the tail in a bubble shaped shield.  She wasn’t a moment too soon as the tail came whipping around to strike at the pegasus out of the air.  She sighed in relief at being fast enough as the tail would have pierced into her side if she didn’t protect her.

When the others began to charge toward the manticore as a group she brought a hoof up to her face in annoyance.  She was about to shout out to get them to stop but she was surprised when Fluttershy beat her to it while flying in front of the others.  She smiled as the butter yellow pegasus began to approach the manticore while the others watched in shock and she moved to join them.  “It’s surprising that she could shout like that, but that manticore stands no chance now.  I haven’t seen an animal yet, monster or not, that has been able to stand up to Fluttershy.”

After Fluttershy removed a large thorn from the manticore’s paw the others quickly passed it while Aegis Flare paused next to it for a moment.  “Really now?  All that over a little thorn?  I would have thought you would have been a bit calmer around ponies after all the fish I caught you over the years.”

The manticore looked down at her with wide eyes before looking a bit ashamed and growled something at her.  “He apologizes for doing that, but he says that the thorn was really painful so he couldn’t think.”  Looking over she nods to Fluttershy before turning back to the manticore.

“Well it might be a few days before I come by here again, but please try not to hurt anypony again.  I’d rather not have to fight you when what we have works so well.”  At the large creatures nod she begins trotting to catch up with the others while Fluttershy flies ahead, saying something to Twilight as she passes her.  She finally catches up with the others and flank bumps Twilight as she passes by.

“So what was that about being crazy, Twilight?  Only crazy ponies recklessly try to attack a manticore on hoof like that, even if it is one as harmless as that one.”  Twilight just stares at her in shock before chuckling sheepishly at the passing unicorn.

As they continued on their journey Twilight kept an eye on the unicorn leading them through the forest.  She was surprised at the reaction Aegis Flare showed after the incident with the manticore and wanted to know more about her.  She trotted past the others until she came alongside the orange unicorn.  “I was wondering; how did you do that thing with your magic back at the cliff?  And why do you seem to be so calm while we are out here?”

Aegis Flare glanced over at Twilight before lighting her horn and grabbing something off the side of the path and floating it in front of the purple unicorn.  Looking down Twilight sees a small pile of elderberries wrapped in an orange field that she at first thought was basic levitation, but on closer examination was much different.  “What I used back at the cliff was a variation of a basic shield spell shaped in a way that it made a platform shaped like a slide.  Over the years I’ve learned just how versatile that one spell is and have found many uses for it.”

Her eyes widen as Twilight realizes what she is looking at as the shield vanishes, dropping the barriers into her telekinetic grip.  “That is high level magic, being able to shape the spell in ways like that!  How is it that I’ve never seen you at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns?  That’s the only place where you could have learned how to do something like that.”

She was answered with a huffing sound as her conversation partner rolled her eyes.  “My parents looked into that place before but with their rules they never would have accepted me.  No matter how talented a unicorn is the school would never accept one that is spell-blind.  Also as for why I’m so calm, I’ve been through this forest for years exploring much of the area surrounding Ponyville so I know much of what to expect already.”

To say that Twilight was shocked would be an understatement as her pupils shrunk at hearing of the other unicorn’s condition.  She was about to say something else but was interrupted as she was shoved aside by Rainbow Dash.  “Whoa, whoa, whoa!  What do you mean that you’ve been running around in here for years?  Nopony ever voluntarily goes into the Everfree and those that do never return.”

She was suddenly pulled back as Applejack took her tail in her mouth and pulled her back.  “Simmer down there, Rainbow.  Ya haven’t been around long enough ta know but she is the one ponies go ta when they need something special from in here.  Ah can’t begin ta count how often she has helped drive off the timberwolves when they raid the farm.”

By this time Twilight was finally able to find her voice again.  “What do you mean that you are spell-blind?!  Nopony that has that condition should be able to cast spells like what you did!”

Aegis Flare just chuckles once again as she surveys the area ahead of them to see the trees thickening a bit, blocking out the light.  “You must not have found a book on the subject then.  While it means that I can’t learn spells in the usual ways, I can still cast spells that are related to my talent if I can work out the process to do so.”  She gestures back to the mark on her flank of the shield within a ring of fire.  “Pretty much that means I’m limited to shield spells and fire magic though I try to avoid the latter variety.”

The purple unicorn goes silent as she is given much to think about, though her eyes narrow as she falls back and looks at the pony leading them.  As she comes next to Rarity the white unicorn looks over at her.  “Is there something the matter darling?”

At her words Twilight shakes her head before letting out a sigh.  “It’s nothing really.  I’m just having trouble figuring that mare out.  Even more-so after she mentioned that she is talented with fire magic.  But that should be impossible as unicorns with dangerous magic are kept track of by a special branch of the guard and there is a list of them in Canterlot.  Even if they are no longer watched their names are recorded, even mine is there, but I’ve read through it before but I don’t remember seeing her name on it.”

“Well dear, that is odd but it might be because her parents were part of the guard themselves.  I’m not sure which part but until they disappeared they were always helping out around Ponyville.  Maybe they had some special privileges that could have made an exception of her?”  Twilight frowns as she considers this but shakes her head.

“No, the only ones that could do something like that are Princess Celestia and select members of the leaders of the guard.”  She sighs as she shakes her head once again.  “There’s no point in thinking it over now though with everything that is going on.  I can talk with the princess about it once all this is finished.”

As the forest around them starts to get darker the seven ponies start grouping closer together so they don’t become separated.  Hearing the others complain about the dark; Aegis Flare was about to create a light until she was interrupted by a scream from Fluttershy.  She took a combat stance as her head darted left and right searching for a threat until her gaze settled on a glowing tree that was shaped like a monster.  She jerked back a moment when she saw it, but paused when she noticed that it wasn’t moving at all.

Looking around she spied other trees like the first and she got curious about what they were.  While the others were busy panicking over their appearance she advanced on the first tree and prodded it with a hoof.  She turned back to reassure the others but she stopped when she heard laughter and her gaze was drawn to Pinkie Pie.

Her jaw dropped when the pink pony started to sing but when she dispelled whatever had changed the trees with a laugh she almost fell over from shock.  As she continued with her song and the others joined in with the laughing she shook her head and let out a chuckle.  As she did that the tree she was standing next to returned to normal causing her to shake her head while the others rolled around laughing.

When they finally got ahold of themselves and started moving again she walked next to Pinkie Pie for a bit.  “I’d ask you how you know that would work, but I expect that you wouldn’t give me an answer I could understand.  Good work in noticing that those trees were completely harmless.”

Pinkie just glanced over before bouncing her way to the front of the group.  “Well why wouldn’t they be harmless?  They just sat there making faces at us and didn’t move.  You need to work on that laugh though, it’s like you haven’t let out a real laugh in a long time.”  Aegis Flare just rolled her eyes but she couldn’t help but smile at the pink pony’s antics.

With that obstacle out of the way they continued on but it wasn’t long before they were blocked yet again.  Aegis Flare glared at the roiling river in annoyance before looking around for a way across.  She was about to just create a bridge with her magic until she saw the others running off again.  Sighing she followed after them and wondered what the point was of being the expert on the forest if the others kept running around recklessly.

As she trailed after them she heard something crying and when she passed through some brush she found them talking with a river serpent.  She had arrived just in time to see Rarity lop off her tail and use it to fix the creature’s mustache.  She winced as she thought about the complaining that would probably happen later as she followed the others.

As she caught up to Twilight she let out another sigh.  “You really don’t seem to care about how dangerous this forest is with how often you keep running ahead.  Though I was surprised to see a sea dragon out here, they usually avoid the Everfree for calmer waters.”

The purple unicorn looked over with an odd look before shaking her head.  “You worry too much.  Other than the manticore we haven’t seen anything really dangerous and I doubt that we will.”  She looked ahead and spotted a break in the trees ahead, and through it, a stone structure.  “There it is, the ruin that holds The Elements of Harmony.  We made it!”

Aegis Flare shook her head as the excited unicorn took off yet again without any thought to consequences.  When she saw Twilight stumble and appear to be falling off the edge of something she lit up her horn but held off when Rainbow Dash reached her first to pull her back.  Seeing that the bridge was out, the cyan pegasus flew across to tie off the bridge again.

While the pegasus was making her way across, Aegis Flare spent her time looking down over the edge of the cliff.  After watching her poke around the edge for a minute Twilight finally decided to speak up.  “What are you looking for over there?”

“I’m just trying to figure out how falling off a cliff isn’t really dangerous.  You did say that we wouldn’t run into anything before you ran off after I complained about you all running off.”    This earned a face-hoof from Twilight while Pinkie was laughing behind her.  Shaking her head the purple unicorn looked over to see what was taking Rainbow Dash so long to see some other figures across the way causing her to shout out to the pegasus.

Things started to get tense as mist flowed over the gap and they waited for some sign from Rainbow Dash.  When she flew back over to land with the others they all let out a sigh of relief that nothing had happened.  With a bit of showboating on her part they all crossed the bridge and finally entered the ruins of the castle of the royal pony sisters.

Aegis Flare expected to have to search high and low in the ruins to find the Elements of Harmony, but was surprised when they found them after the first couple rooms.  She and the others soon gathered around a large display holding multiple stone orbs.  The gathered all of them into a circle where they could examine them closely but they soon came across a problem which was voiced by Rainbow Dash.  “Where’s the seventh?”

“The book said: ‘when the six are present, a spark will cause the seventh Element to be revealed.’”  Twilight examines them closely while the others watch on.

Applejack looks at the others before she feels a need to question this.  “What in the hay is that supposed to mean?”

“I'm not sure, but I have an idea.  Stand back.  I don't know what will happen.”  They all back away from the Elements to give Twilight a chance to try and figure out a way to find the seventh Element.  While the others gather just outside, Aegis Flare takes the chance to examine the surrounding rooms out of curiosity.  She hadn’t has the chance to check the place out before and wondered why she never thought to after all these years.

It wasn’t long before a yell rang out through the ruins and she charged back just in time to see Twilight vanish in a swirl of magic along with the Elements.  They all search around the area trying to find where Twilight went until Rarity pointed out a glow of magic coming from a tower visible from the window.  As most of them take off running to search for a way over there Aegis Flare tries to stop them.  “Everypony wait!  It would be faster if I just… and they are already gone.  Why do they always rush off without thinking or listening to me?  Now I know how Fluttershy feels when everypony ignores her.”

With a sigh she heads back to the window and charges up her magic before creating a pathway out of her shields.  Looking back the way the others took off she leapt out the window along her shortcut.  “I just hope Twilight is doing okay.”

Inside the tower Twilight stared in disbelief at the shards of the Elements after Nightmare Moon had destroyed them.  She felt so lost that she didn’t even see the midnight alicorn charging up another attack until it was headed right for her.  Her eyes widened for a moment before she squeezed them shut again in fear at what was about to happen.  When she heard the blast of magic connect with something, but not feel it, she cracked her eyes open.

What she saw in front of her made her gasp in surprise as she found Aegis Flare standing in front of her.  When she fell to her knees, Twilight rushed forward to help her and gasped in shock when she saw the deep crack running down her horn.  “Flare, what happened?!  How did you…?!”

Nightmare Moon watched with a look of interest at seeing a pony able to block her attack and actually survive it.  She had seen the unicorn rush in at the last moment and throw up a barrier in front of the other unicorn but she hadn’t expected it to work.  “Well, well.  It seems that there really are some ponies of some skill with you.  Too bad all she did was delay the inevitable.”

Twilight looked up in fear at the alicorns voice but when she heard more voices from the stairway behind her she looked back in realization.  Turning back towards the alicorn she had a smirk on her face as she finally figured out the key to defeating her.  “You think you can destroy The Elements of Harmony just like that? Well, you're wrong, because the spirits of The Elements of Harmony are right here!”

The other five ponies entered the room and spread out behind the other two as Twilight looked at the alicorn in defiance.  “Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of... honesty!  Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of... kindness!  Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of... laughter!  Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift represents the spirit of... generosity!  Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart's desire represents the spirit of... loyalty!”

As she named out each of them, the shards of stone started to float around them to the horror of Nightmare Moon.  Twilight stepped forward to help the orange unicorn to get back onto her hooves before continuing.  “While each is powerful alone it takes a certain something to bring them all together.  It may be different over the years but today it was all about taking that first step despite what could happen.  Aegis Flare, who kept us from breaking apart before we could even begin by standing against fear, and who risked her own life to protect another without thought represents the spirit of… courage!  The spirits of these six ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us.”

Nightmare Moon was in full panic-mode as she yelled out a protest.  “You still don't have the seventh Element!  The spark didn't work!”

Her gaze softened as Twilight looked back at the other six ponies behind her.  “But it did!  A different kind of spark. I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, how much I cared about you.  The spark ignited inside me when I realized that you all... are my friends!  You see, Nightmare Moon, when those Elements are ignited by the... the spark, that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the seventh element: the element of... magic!”

Nightmare Moon began screaming in terror as the shards gathered around the necks of the six ponies and a seventh glow appeared atop Twilight’s head.  Beams of energy were emitted from the five into the one at Aegis Flare’s neck before it fired at the one on Twilight’s head before it scattered into a rainbow that rose up into the air before coming down and engulfing the alicorn.

Once the rainbow had cleared the room was silent for an indeterminate amount of time as ponies lay around the room unconscious.  Eventually they started stirring as the recovered from what had happened.  It didn’t take them long to notice the new jewelry they were wearing, or the fact that the wear and tear of their recent trials were no longer present as Rarity's tail and Aegis Flare's horn were mended, though Aegis Flare looked at hers slightly annoyed.  It was a large yellow gem in the shape of the shield of her cutie mark.

When Princess Celestia flew in through a window with the rising sun they all looked on in relief.  It was a surprise to them all when she went up to where Nightmare Moon was and drew their attention to her sister Luna.  Aegis Flare was curious if she could also be the one the thestrals were waiting for or if she at least knew of her but knew that now wasn’t the time to ask.

With the princesses returned and the sun in the sky once again they made their way back to Ponyville.  Somehow Pinkie Pie had managed to run ahead of everypony else and get a party set up in celebration of the end of Nightmare Moon and the return of Princess Luna.  Reactions were varied when the townsfolk found out who had saved them though, other than Twilight, most of the reactions were full of pride over them being ponies from their own town.

Eventually things wound down and the princesses had to leave for Canterlot, but before going a proclamation was made allowing Twilight to stay in town for her studies.  While the others celebrated, Aegis Flare took this chance to speak with the princesses in private before they left.  “Princess Celestia?  May I speak with something before you go?”

At her nod and under her gentle gaze she took a deep breath to steady herself.  “First is about more of a curiosity with your sister that I learned from my father.  He said that the thestrals were still waiting for the return of the Night Mother and I’m hoping that Princess Luna knows what that means.”  The princess inhaled sharply as she looked towards her darker sister who stared back in shock before nodding slowly as a tear trailed from an eye.

Seeing as the easy part was over, she took another breath and hoped for some news after so long.  “The second thing I wanted to ask was if you know what happened to my parents, Bella Donna and Vanator.  It’s been years now since they have disappeared and I was wondering if you had heard anything since they worked for you.”

Princess Celestia looked at Aegis Flare in confusion a moment before her eyes widened as she finally recognized the mare as on she had seen years ago with the two mentioned.  She looked at her sadly as she tried to decide how to words her thoughts as well as how much to reveal.  Eventually she sighed.  “I am sorry to say that I cannot tell you much of what you want to know as even I don’t know what happened to them.  They were on a diplomatic mission when they disappeared without any warning.  There is much more that I cannot tell you, but if they still live then I know that there is an important reason for them to have disappeared.”

While this didn’t do anything to reassure the young mare, it was still more hope than she had for years.  She wasn’t sure how much to tell her sister yet, but at least she finally had something.  Thanking the princesses for their time she made her way back to her friends, and only now did she realize that she actually was using the word for them and meant it.

> 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Morning broke over Ponyville after yet another day and night of celebrations for overcoming the threat of eternal night.  As the sun rose over the town, its rays of light shone through a window of a home on the edge of town into the closed eyes of and orange unicorn mare.  Nothing happened at first but after a couple minutes the figure started to slowly stretch as she woke up.  Raising her head from her pillow, Aegis Flare glared out the window at the bright object that interrupted her sleep.  “All right, all right, I’m up.  Bleh, I really hope that things calm down a bit now.  It was hard enough dealing with getting those deliveries out after that whole Nightmare Moon incident, but those three days of celebrating made it unnecessarily harder than it should have been.”

She sighs as she climbs out of her bed and gets a good stretch in before wincing as she puts pressure on her scarred legs.  “Good thing I finished the last of them yesterday; that means I have some time to stop by the spa to get my legs treated.  I’m surprised they didn’t start acting up sooner after this last week.”

Her musings were interrupted by the sound of something crashing outside of her home and on glancing out the window noticed a familiar grey form.  “Huh, I wonder who would bother sending mail to me.  I’m pretty sure that there’s no reason for anypony to contact me for anything anytime soon.”

Walking out of her room she made her way towards the front door with a short stop by her sister’s room.  When she noticed that Scootaloo was still asleep, and her alarm had already gone off, she sighed before shaking her head.  “She never learns, does she?”

Using her magic she formed a shield under her sister that molded to her body, so as not to wake her, and lifted her up to carry her along behind her.  Stopping by the bathroom she set the pegasus filly down in the tub before closing the curtain and turning the shower on to her sister’s usual setting as she closed the door.  She grinned at the small shriek that came out of the room as the water poured out of the faucet before it could start to warm up.  “One of these days she’ll stop sleeping through her alarm like that; of course I thought the same thing the first time I did this.”

Aegis Flare limped her way down the stairs, with complaints from her sister following after her, as she made her was to their home’s entrance.  Once there she went outside to see the mailmare Derpy fixing the mailbox which was the source of the crashing she heard earlier.  “Good Morning, Derpy.  You’re out her rather early; I wasn’t expecting to see you for a few more days.”

The pegasus mare just smiled as one of her golden eyes drifted away while the other stared at the unicorn.  “Oh hey Flare.  It’s not the usual letters for you but an express delivery order straight from Canterlot.”  Looking into the mailbox she found that this was true as the letter was marked with the seal of the Royal Guard, though it looked a bit off.  As she pulled it out she looked a bit deeper into the box and noticed one of Pinkie Pie’s eyepatches that she kept around town.  Pulling it out she tossed it towards Derpy and made a note to let Pinkie know about this later.

“Well thanks for the delivery; and since you forgot about yours again here’s one of Pinkie’s spare eyepatches.  Better a reduced depth perception than having your eye distract you causing you to crash unpredictably.”  Derpy stuck her tongue out at the eyepatch but she still put it on before waving and flying off in a steadier manner.  The orange unicorn just shakes her head before smiling after the mare and heading back inside.

Setting the letter on the table she began preparing breakfast for the household before her sister finished up in the shower.  The school was scheduled to reopen today so getting Scootaloo going was a priority so the letter could wait for now.  On a whim she cooked up a couple plates of prench toast and had them set out just as her sister grumpily stomped down the stairs.  “Do you have to keep doing that every time I oversleep, sis?”

The elder sister just smiles at her as she pours a couple glasses of apple juice for the two and sets out the syrup on the table.  “Well if you’d stop sleeping through your alarm clock then I wouldn’t be forced to do it.  If you want then I could probably do something different such as get Pinkie Pie to help wake you.”

Scootaloo choked a bit on a bite of her food at this suggestion before she recovers.  “No no no, you don’t need to do that.  Maybe you could just get me another alarm clock or two?”  Aegis Flare chuckles at her sister’s reaction and just nods and adds that to her mental list of things to get today.  As the two ate she looked over at the letter and pulled it over to read over while the orange pegasus looked at it curiously.  “Who is writing to you now, sis?”

Taking a moment to glance through it her eyebrow rose as she came on the name at the end.  “Well this is interesting; it’s from our Aunt Noapte Aripa.  It appears that she is a part of the recently restarted Lunar Guards as one of Princess Luna’s personal maids.”

Scootaloo wrinkled her nose at this before she shook her head.  “You mean dad’s sister?  Why do their names always sound so odd anyways?  And why would a maid be a part of the Lunar Guard?”

Glancing up for a moment, the unicorn answered before looking down again.  “Well the thestrals of Transylmaneia have their own language that they speak and their names are written in it.  This letter is written in it as well so it’s taking me a moment to translate since it’s been a while since I’ve spoken it with dad.  Also I would assume that most of the servants around the castle are a part of the guard wince I’ve only ever seen stallions standing guard in Canterlot.”

Leaving her sister to poke at her food thoughtfully she went back to translating the letter before she started to frown a bit.  “’Dear Vanator’…  I guess they hadn’t heard that he disappeared all those years ago.”  The sisters looked a bit saddened at being reminded that they still hadn’t heard anything yet and even the princesses didn’t know.

Clearing her throat, the unicorn continued reading the letter.  “’We finally got news that the Night Mother has finally returned to us and many of us flocked to protect her as we did in the past.  It is odd that they would put me in charge of her maids and their training, but I am honored to be allowed to be this close to protect her.  We’ve heard the story of how seven ponies from the town you live in rescued her from the darkness but the princesses wouldn’t give any details except that they were knights of the realm now and were not to be disturbed.’”

The unicorn pauses as she reads this and looks at the letter oddly for a moment before she shakes her head.  “I really hope I misread that but that’s clearly what it says.  I’ll have to ask about that if I ever have the chance later on.”  Clearing her throat after muttering that to herself she continued in her reading.  “’We wanted you to pass on our thanks to them if you knew who they are as without them we would still be waiting for the Night Mother’s return.  They deserve much more than they have already been awarded for returning to us what we had waited for for so long.’”

Setting the letter down the two sisters looked at each other across the table before the younger smirked at the elder.  “So doesn’t that make you a noble now?  Should I be bowing to you now m’lady?”  The unicorn planted her face into the table as her sister teased her as she knew of her dislike of the Canterlot nobles.

“Oh just get ready for school you.  I need to head over to the spa today to see Aloe and Lotus again.”  The pegasus ceased her laughing as she looked over at her sister with a hint of worry on her face.

“They’re hurting again aren’t they?”  At the unicorn’s nod the filly walked around the table to hug her sister before running up the stairs to get ready for school.  She didn’t like seeing her sister in pain no matter how annoying she was since she knew how much she had done for her.

Soon the two were waving to each other as they walked their separate ways as they left their home.  Aegis Flare smiled as her sister’s wings buzzed, propelling her through the town on her scooter at a good speed.  “She’s really going to be impossible to catch once her wings grow in if they are this strong now.  I’ll have to ask Rainbow Dash to try and keep an eye on here since she’d be able to keep up.”

Nothing interesting happened as she walked through Ponyville towards the spa until she diverted her path towards the market as she spotted the shop that sold clocks.  Picking up a pair of alarm clocks for her sister she soon became distracted as she went through a few other shops until lunch time rolled around.  Seeing that there was a short shower scheduled she grabbed something simple from a nearby still and ate it as she made her way towards the spa.

As she limped her way into the spa she found the pink twin, Aloe, at the front desk working on some paperwork.  At the unicorn’s entrance the earth pony looked up to see her limping in and her face got a look of concern.  “Oh dear, is it that time again?”

Aegis Flare nodded as she walked up to the desk.  “It is, and the last few days didn’t help them much though my legs only this morning started acting up.  At least it takes nearly a month now before I’m forced to see you unlike when you first arrived in town when it was almost daily.  I hope that they finally stop aching so I can just focus on relaxing whenever I come here.”

Aloe directs the unicorn towards the changing room for a robe as she heads back to get things ready in the back.  As she left the room while wearing a robe she was directed towards the massage tables where she splayed out in a relaxed pose.  A few minutes later, Aloe came through the door along with her sister, Lotus, and moved to either side of the unicorn, each at one of her injured legs.

“All right now, just relax and let us work the aches out once again.”  The twins placed their front hooves on the scarred limbs and started to massage them slowly while they concentrated on them.  Aegis Flare moaned as she felt a warmth pass from their hooves into her limbs and her aches began to dull as time passed.  It took about half an hour for them to finish up the treatment and by the time it ended the twins were sweating profusely.

The two directed her to one of the sauna rooms as they left to freshen up, leaving her to relax in the steam room.  Yawning, she kind of wished that there was someone to talk to and almost fell asleep when she heard a commotion come from outside of the room.  She was about to check out what was going on when the door suddenly opened.  “Quick Spike, in here!”

Looking up she was surprised to see both Twilight and Spike dive into the room as if they were chased.  After closing the door the two snuck peeks through the window in the door as they watched for something outside before they eventually sighed.  Curious about what is going on, Aegis Flare decided to speak up.  “Is there a reason you two are acting like somepony is after you?”

They both let out a yelp at hearing her voice and the both whirled around in shock.  At seeing her they both relaxed a bit, though Twilight was still a bit tense over something while Spike gave a reply.  “Oh it’s just you; everypony is after Twilight because of that extra ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala she received today.”

“Spike!”  Twilight lightly swatted at the dragon, who just looked at her in confusion until he realized what he said.  “You saw what happened with my other friends after they heard about it so why did you tell her?”

The young dragon looked apologetic at her while the orange unicorn just looked at them in confusion.  “Why would I care about a ticket to that event?”  The two turned to her in shock as this wasn’t what they were expecting to hear.  “Twilight, this is the same Gala that is put together by the nobles of Canterlot, isn’t it?”

Twilight nods warily until her eyes widen in realization as she brought a hoof up to her muzzle.  “I forgot about your dislike of the nobles in Canterlot so why would you care about something like this.  Well at least one of my friends isn’t going to be constantly doing favors to try and get that extra ticket.”

Seeing her raised eyebrow, Twilight started to explain just what had happened throughout the day and the problems that she was dealing with.  Aegis Flare listened intently as she told her tale and shook her head once it was all over.  “I really don’t know what to say but I don’t really care about the ticket myself.  I wouldn’t even know what I would do there except maybe visit my aunt who just joined Princess Luna’s guard but I could do that anytime.”

The two purple beings tensed up when the door suddenly opened, interrupting their conversation and looked a bit sheepish when Lotus looked at them in confusion.  Looking between the two parties, the orange unicorn just sighed and shook her head.  “Just add them to my tab please, Lotus.  Half the town is chasing them over something silly and they hid in here with me so they might as well stay for now.”

At her nod the two relaxed as they were all escorted towards the hot tub to soak for the last bit of the orange unicorn’s treatment.  As the three were sitting there, Twilight finally asked a question that was bothering her.  “What are you doing here anyways?  I would never have expected to find you in a place like this.”

Opening her eyes to glance over at the bookish mare; Aegis Flare yawns before starting to explain.  “Why wouldn’t I see some of the town’s best injury recovery specialists?  You saw how bad my legs were and occasionally they will still act up.  Aloe and Lotus are trained medical professionals which, combined with their earth pony magic, makes them the best options to fully heal them.”

Twilight perks up a bit at hearing this though she still looks confused.  “Why would earth pony magic make them better at what they do?  I thought that kind of magic was used passively and was mostly internal.”

It took a bit of willpower to prevent her eyes from rolling, but the orange unicorn somehow managed it.  “The princess really needs to fix that school so it’s not so unicorn–focused.  Earth ponies may mostly seem like you described, but some can actually force the magic out through their hooves to accelerate healing and growth.  Don’t even get me started on some of the things I’ve seen Pinkie Pie do either.”

Twilight was silent for a while and was lost in her thoughts as they finished up and prepared to leave the spa.  After thanking the twins for their help the three walked outside when Aegis Flare remembered why the other two were hiding.  Looking around she noticed a few groups of mares running around but they hadn’t spotted Twilight yet.  “You might want to watch out Twilight, I don’t think they are done chasing you.”

Her words proved prophetic as a shout rang out as the purple mare was seen and a rumble started up as mares started to converge on her.  Seeing this Twilight let out a yelp as she levitated Spike onto her back before they took off running yet again.  Shaking her head the other unicorn started to walk away before she was halted as she almost ran into a pink pony that had appeared out of nowhere.

She just stared at Pinkie Pie as the pink mare glared at her until she just sighed.  “No Pinkie, I don’t care about that ticket and was just giving Twilight a rest from those crazy mares chasing her.”

Pinkie just continued to glare at her for a few moments longer before she perked up.  “Okie Dokie Loki!”  As the pink mare bounced away the orange unicorn just shook her head at the randomness of her friend before making her way back home with her purchases.  Once she was there and had it all put away she sat thinking about what was going on with Twilight.  Thinking over the troubles she was having she sighed as she left the house once again in search of her other five friends.

Having not seen the other four yet today she started her search in the most likely place to find Twilight which was the library.  She was surprised to actually find all five of them already there in a fierce conversation and she caught bits as she was walking up.  “We really should stop pressing her about this y’all.  She’s looking awfully uncomfortable about all of this enough as it is.”

“Well I guess I really didn’t even need to say anything about it.  From how it sounds she hasn’t had the chance to rest yet today until she found me.”  She five looked at the door as the orange mare entered the library and took a seat on one of the chairs in the room.

Rainbow Dash flies over to look her in the eye but didn’t get a reaction.  “What, are you sneaking around now too so you can get that ticket?”

She raised an eyebrow at the rainbow-maned mare before answering.  “And have to deal with the nobles of Canterlot?  No thank you.”  The pegasus backed down at that and looked a bit sheepish as the others looked at her.  Nothing else could be said as a flash of light lit up the room, revealing the forms of Twilight and Spike.

As the others calmed her down from her small panic attack and settled their problems, Aegis sighed in relief as the tickets were sent away.  To her horror a letter was soon sent back with enough tickets for all of them causing her to let out a groan. When the others looked at her in confusion she just shook her head.  “This means that I’m going to be expected to be there as well now, well, unless Spike wants my ticket?”

Before anything else could be said the dragon belched up another letter with a ticket for him causing her to frown.  She glanced at the letter that came with it and just gave in at that point figuring that there was nothing else to do.  “Okay, fine.  I’ll go, but don’t expect me to enjoy the Gala; I’ll probably just visit my relatives there after an hour.”

The others just giggled as they all headed out to get Twilight some food while Spike tried to act like he wasn’t excited himself to have a ticket himself.

> 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aegis Flare was in a good mood as she returned from another trip into the Everfree Forest.  It wasn’t often that she could get in and out without running into trouble and she couldn’t even remember the last time she had done so while returning with full saddlebags.  Not only that it only took half the time that it normally did that she was could make another quick run out if she wanted to before deliveries needed to be made.

As she was thinking through this all she heard a rumbling sound from the direction of Ponyville forcing her to break out into a gallop.  The sound eventually stopped but she didn’t slow until she came to the back of a crowd of ponies and found that the cause was a stampeded that was stopped by Applejack.  Seeing that everything was under control she made her way back home to put things away, but she was prevented from going out again as a celebration was planned for the next day.

She showed up for the event but was rather worried when she saw the state that Applejack was in.  As the earth pony made her way back to the farm she made her way over to Twilight before she could leave.  “Is something going on over at Sweet Apple Acres that I don’t know about?”

The librarian kept watching after the farmer for a few moments before she turned back to the other mare.  “I really have no idea, but I’m going to find out.”

Looking thoughtful for a moment, Aegis Flare nods as she watches after the Apple mare.  “Well, be sure to let me know once you find out.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen her in this state before and I’ve known her for over ten years now.”

She went around finishing a few tasks around town before she spied Twilight returning from the apple farm.  She quickly moved in her direction to learn what she had found out.  “So what’s going on with Applejack?”

Twilight sighs before shaking her head.  “It seems that Big Macintosh was injured bad enough that Applejack is trying to deal with applebuck season alone.  I offered to help out but she just got all stubborn and refused even the thought of it.”

The orange unicorn just groaned at this before she shook her head.  “Great, somepony must have said something that she took as a challenge.  Even with Big Mac they have trouble getting everything in so she must be working with almost no sleep at all.  If she’s like this now then I fear things are only going to get worse.”

Over the next few days she kept an eye out on the farm when she had a spare moment.  She grew more worried when she caught sight of Rainbow Dash being launched over the town, but it was hard to say if it was because of Applejack’s issues or just a failed stunt.  Everything changed though the day after when she walked through town and found the hospital ponies, and any other ponies with medical training, setting up an emergency medical tent outside of Sugarcube Corner.  “Nurse Redheart, what happened here?”

The pale pony was busy helping Pinkie Pie at this time so didn’t turn away when she answered.  “There was a problem with the baked goods that were prepared by her and Applejack earlier today.  I’ve already sent for Twilight to help out as well but we don’t know what all happened yet.”

Looking over Pinkie Pie who looked to be struggling enough that she wasn’t able to speak yet no matter how she tried.  There was only one possible answer to what happened if Applejack was involved in her state so she quickly made her way towards the farm.  She knew that the family was protective of their trees so since Applejack seemed to be unreasonable she went to the next best target.

“Big Macintosh, have you seen AJ lately?  Better yet have you tried talking her out of this crazy idea she has?”  The giant stallion looks out the window of his homes kitchen to see the orange unicorn trying to catch her breath after having galloped from town.

“Eeyup.”

Aegis Flare winces as she was expecting this answer.  “Then have you heard that she accidentally poisoned a couple dozen ponies in town when she was helping Pinkie Pie, Pinkie included?”

He opened his mouth to answer but paused and brought one of his hooves up to his temple.  “Eenope.”

Letting out a sigh, the unicorn tries to think about how to deal with this but the only thing she can think of will probably involve lots of yelling later.  “I really hate to ask this, but if I manage to get AJ to fall asleep would it be all right if I do some of the work for her?  The usual rules, no magic for harvesting but I can use it to carry the buckets around.  I’ll take full responsibility when she finds out and decides to start yelling.”

Big Macintosh takes a thinking pose for a moment before he warily nods.  “Eeyup, just be careful.”

The orange mare shudders at hearing the giant stallion using more than his usual one-word answer.  She didn’t know much about him but she had learned that when he speaks it is best to listen well.

Before searching for Applejack she scavenged up a pillow and blanket from one of Rainbow Dash’s usual sleeping locations and followed the sound of hooves on wood.  She eventually found the overworked farmer and waited for her opportunity which soon arrived as AJ started wavering on her hooves and started tilting sideways.  Acting quickly, Aegis Flare caught the mare with her shield and slowly set her down on a nearby patch of grass with the pillow and blanket.

After setting up a sound-proof barrier around her she let out a sigh of relief.  “There, now to get to work until she wakes up.  I just hope she is in a better mood after finally getting enough rest.”

Looking around at the surrounding apple trees she located where her friend had left off and made her way to the next tree.  Looking at the buckets to make sure that they are properly placed; she backed up to the tree and reared back to give it a good buck.  After four more impacts of her hooves she finally cleared the first tree of its apples and she walked towards the next one.  “Nice to see that I’m improving.  It used to take me seven bucks to clear a tree though it’s still nothing compared to AJ’s one or Big Mac’s half a buck.”

She started working down the line and got a good rhythm going as she worked down the line.  After she got back to where she started on the next line she heard hoofsteps approaching.  “Applejack, we need to- Wait, you aren’t Applejack!  When did she ask for help?”

Swabbing a leg across her brow, Aegis Flare turned to see Twilight walking up after following the sound of her working.  “Hey Twilight.  AJ fell asleep a bit ago and I made her comfortable over there so she hopefully stays asleep as long as she needs to.  After what happened with Pinkie Pie I wasn’t going to sit by any longer since her stubbornness is hurting others now.”

Twilight looks over to where she now noticed the orange farmer sleeping and looks a bit nervous.  “Is that really a good idea?  She looked liable to get angry if anypony tried to help her earlier.”

The orange unicorn finished clearing up another tree before answering.  “Twilight, what would have happened if the school wasn’t running at the time and a foal ate some of those baked goods?  They were bad enough to put even Pinkie Pie and her iron stomach in the hospital.  After imagining my sister being in one of those beds I just had to put my hoof down.”

Twilight’s eyes widen in horror as the possibility of what could have happened enters her mind.  She visibly swallows as she looks back over at the sleeping mare.  “Couldn’t you have told her that instead of sneaking around like this?  She’s not going to be happy when she wakes up.”

“She probably will be mad, but better that than her hurting somepony.  I don’t even want to know what she’d do if she somehow hurt her sister while she’s like this.  Besides, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened and it’s only because Granny Smith is out of town that it’s gotten this far.”  She turns to strike at another tree while Twilight watches on.

“Well if you are sure about this, but let me know if you need any help.  Especially after AJ wakes up since I wouldn’t want you to get in too much trouble wanting to help her out.”  Aegis Flare nods to Twilight as she continues harvesting apples while the purple unicorn heads back to town.  Luckily, Applejack stayed asleep the entire time that the unicorn worked and was still out but the time the sun set and she notified Big Macintosh.

The next morning things started off well enough but as it was closing in on noon she spotted the form of Applejack heading towards her from the direction of Fluttershy’s place.  “Flare, ah’d like ta have a word with ya if ya don’t mind.”

The unicorn had expected this to happen but she was expecting the earth pony to look much angrier than she did.  The fact that she only looked annoyed made her curious as they went into Sugarcube Corner and took a seat in a secluded corner.  She actually waited for Ms. Cake to deliver the order she asked for as they passed the front before she started speaking.  “So I heard that ya were the one to help out as the farm yesterday.”

Applejack looked across the table with a serious look until Aegis Flare nodded.  Seeing that, the farm pony sighs as she shakes her head.  “Ah’d like ta thank ya as well as apologize for putting ya through that then.  Ah heard from Twilight what happened with Pinkie as well as why ya did it.  Ah can’t believe that ah let mahself get so caught up in doing everything alone that I hurt so many others.  Ah don’t know what ah’d do if ah had hurt Applebloom while ah was exhausted like that.”

Aegis Flare shakes her head as she takes a bite out of her ordered treat.  “It’s fine AJ; I know how you are when you sense a challenge.  I’d expect you to do the same thing if you saw me acting the same way.  Just please try and remember to ask for help next time since you and your brother already do the work of ten ponies on the farm.”

With a nod the farm pony agrees to that before she gets to her main point.  “That’s why ah’m here.  Ah thought ah was almost done but ah somehow missed half the farm while ah was out of it.  Ah was hoping ta get ya and the other girls to help finish up.”

With a small smile the unicorn answers with a nod.  “All you have to do is ask.”

> 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The overlook above Ponyville is a popular place for those that want time to themselves to think while not distancing themselves too much if needed.  Not many did go there though due to the long winding path to get up there for those that didn’t have wings; and those that did have them could easily find a cloud for personal use.  This made it the perfect place for a certain orange unicorn to practice her magic without any casual interruption but still left her available for emergencies.

Aegis Flare took another deep breath as she started to channel her magic to form a bubble of energy around herself.  She made sure to encompass her entire form so that no part of her was unprotected from any direction.  “It’s been a while since I’ve practiced doing anything different with my magic, but after what happened during the Summer Sun Celebration…”

She trails off as she closes her eyes and thinks back to the final battle with Nightmare Moon and how she completely shattered her shield with a single spell.  “I think that’s the first time I’ve ever truly needed to stop anything that strong before, but I need to figure something out in case it ever happens again.  I hope I don’t need to stop something like that again, but it can’t hurt to be prepared.”

She spent some time trying out different things with her shield, from firming it up more to softening, in an effort to figure out the best way to improve things.  She was so lost in her practice that she failed to notice two ponies sneaking up on her position.  Rainbow Dash snickered as she pointed towards one side, directing Pinkie Pie to sneak up that side as she crept up the other.

As they both came up on either side of the unicorn they quietly snickered as they each reached out to a side of the bubble and tilted it backwards.  Aegis Flare was oblivious to all this at first as the shield rotated under her, but as it started picking up speed she was jolted out of her thoughts as she felt herself tilting backwards.  Unfortunately it was too late to stop her momentum as she started rolling down the path backwards and steadily picked up speed.

Soon enough she lost her footing and began to spin around the inside of the shield as it tumbled out of control.  She began yelling in shock as she careened downwards while she watched the sky and earth rapidly switch places in her vision.  Eventually she reached the bottom of the path where she collided with a tree, stopping her forward momentum, though she still spun around the inside of the shield a few more times.

As she came to a stop, she finally lost control of her magic which dispelled the shield around her leaving her feeling sick and dizzy from her trip.  She soon heard laughter from a pair of figures as they approached her, but with the world spinning around her she couldn’t identify them.  As the two got close enough to stand over her she got a bit of revenge on them by emptying the contents of her stomach on the hooves of one of them.  “Ewww, I think we might have gone a tad overboard Rainbow Dash.”

The cyan pegasus looks over at her pink partner with a glare as she tries to scrape the vomit off of her hooves.  “Yes Pinkie, I noticed.”  After she finishes cleaning off her hooves the best she can she focuses her attention on the fallen unicorn.  “Are you all right there, Flare?”

The orange unicorn slowly climbs to her hooves and wobbles around for a moment before she gets her balance back.  She has to raise a hoof up to cover her mouth as her stomach attempts to rebel again but manages to hold it in.  When she turns to look at the two pranksters the back off as they see the look of anger in her eyes before it vanishes behind her usual calm demeanor.  “I’m fine; just please don’t do that again or else I might have to rethink my stance of not bringing things out of the Everfree for the purpose of revenge pranks.  I believe you two remember what happened when I found that skunkgrass.”

The two wince as they remember the week that Aegis Flare couldn’t use her magic without it giving off a terrible stench.  While the grass sounded really tasty they didn’t want to have to deal with the aftereffects of eating it.  “Um yeah, how about we go and see what Twilight is up to Pinkie.  See you later Flare.”

The unicorn watched as the two ran off towards their next pranking target until she eventually sighed and started her climb back up the trail again.  She spent the rest of the day practicing even though her efforts were a bit hampered by her emotions.

The next morning Aegis Flare made her way towards the Everfree as the sun started peeking over the horizon.  She only had one thing she was planning to retrieve today, but it was such a hassle that it would probably take most of the day.  She waved to Fluttershy as she passed her home and began stretching out at the entrance to the forest.  “I hope I can find that place again quickly, I really hate having to go too deep into this place with how messed up things can get.”

As she finished her stretches she took off at a light trot along the path towards her acquaintance’s home while taking care to skirt the poison joke on the path.  As she passed her hut she couldn’t tell if she was in or not, but her destination wasn’t there but somewhere past it.  After that point things weren’t quite as safe as the previous sections so she paid closer attention to her surroundings while not reducing her pace.

After about an hour she paused as she came into a clearing as a spike of fear shot through her spine.  After passing stranglevines, arrowthorn bushes, and even a swarm of exploding frogs she looked around to try and find the source of this feeling.  She soon found the source as glowing green and yellow eyes started fading in from the darkness around her revealing a pack of timberwolves.

She started to cringe away in fear before she clamped down on that emotion and a manic grin appeared on her face as the wooden creatures surrounded her.  “Is it that time again?  I would have thought you would have given up after the last beating I gave you.  Well if you want to go through that all over again…”  She trailed off as they started growling at her and a beat started running through her head before she started singing to a beat that only she could hear.



The timberwolves circled around her slowly as she got going with her song, none of them wanting to be the first to charge in.  A few lines into the song the leader let out a bark and one of the wolves to the mare’s right charged in just to be met with a globe of energy across the face as Aegis Flare lit up her horn and swung her head to the side.

As the timberwolf was sent flying into a couple of its companions, the rest took this as a signal and they started charging in as well just to be struck by the same attack as two more spheres appeared and began to float around the unicorn as she danced to the beat of her song.  After knocking the first wave away the mare noticed an opening that she quickly dashed through starting a chase through the forest.

Even on the move she kept up her song as she dove through a tangle of roots to put some distance between her and her followers.  They still attempted to follow her but half of them fell further behind as one got trapped as it tried to squeeze its too large body through the gap.  As the unicorn reached another clearing she flipped around and launched a small barrage of flames at the timberwolves, forcing them to scatter.

As they tried to enter the clearing from other directions, they ran afoul of the other plant-life as the arrowthorn bushes around the clearing started bombarding them with their toxic spines as they were disturbed.  While it wasn’t enough to stop them, the timberwolves did let out yelps of pain as their forms were peppered under the assault.

While they were distracted by the attack the mare faced down the first wolf to enter the clearing and slammed another spherical barrier down atop its head.  As it tried to recover she planted her front hooves down before spinning around on her good leg until she was facing away from the timberwolf before releasing a powerful buck to its chin, sending it flipping over onto its back.

Aegis Flare waited for the timberwolves to gather around her once again as her song started in on the final verses.  Pointing her horn upwards she fired three pulses of flame straight up before grinning at the timberwolves and lighting her horn one last time as they all leaped at her.

vvvvvvv

Rainbow Dash was talking with her friend Gilda when she noticed the gryphon looking over her shoulder at something.  Looking in that direction she noticed three flashes of light rising in the distance before they shattered apart and the resulting pieces plummeted back into the forest.  “What in Equestria was that Dash?”

The cyan pegasus watched as the light hit the forest and passed out of sight before she turned back shaking her head.  “It happens every couple months but nopony really knows what it is.  It’s always some form of fire though but nopony is crazy enough to go out there.”  She pauses for a moment before amending her comment.  “Well, nopony except for a unicorn friend of mine, Aegis Flare, but with her magic she…”

Her eyes shrink for a moment in shock as she realizes something and brings a hoof up into her face.  “And that would probably be her out there as she uses fire magic and is often out there alone for her job.”  She looks back over the forest again before she continues.  “Looks like I need to have a word with her when she returns.”

Gilda lets out a whistle as she looks back out over the Everfree Forest before whispering to herself.  “A pony that can survive out in that place alone?  And here I thought that there weren’t any other ponies that could be as cool as Rainbow.”

^^^^^^^

Aegis Flare’s voice trails off from her song as she surveys the area around her as a couple small fires slowly burn out as they use up the available fuel.  Getting her bearings again she walked out of the clearing but not before pausing by a wooden wolf head and patting it with her hoof.  “Don’t worry; maybe you’ll do better next time.”  She walks off as the head tries to snap at her while the eyes watch her with fury.

Once she had gotten a good distance away from the clearing she looked back to make sure that the timberwolves were out of sight before taking a deep breath and letting it out again.  As she did this her knees fell out from under her as she collapsed to the ground as the terror she was feeling came rushing back again.  “Dear Celestia, why do those things keep coming after me?  They haven’t even come close ever since that first time but still they keep on trying.”

After a few minutes of shaking in fear she managed to calm herself once again and continue on her way through the Everfree.  Nothing else blocked her way from that point on as she trotted through the place in search of her goal.  Eventually she came upon an area where the temperature dropped significantly; far enough that snow was falling in the area.  About ten minutes into this area she found what she was looking for.

“I wonder how much longer this lake is going to be here.  The worst thing about the Everfree is that I can never tell how long an area will stay the same as well as what will even be there from day to day.”  There in front of her was a wide expanse of water that was large enough that the other side wasn’t visible.  It had only been there the past few months that she had checked and the time before that it was a solid wall of trees.

After observing the area for a while to be sure that the area was clear she walked to the edge of the lake and started getting to work.

vvvvvvv

“Stupid lame ponies and their stupid lame pranks.”  The gryphon known as Gilda flew away from Sugarcube Corner in a rage over what had happened recently.  She tried to ignore the town, but a flash of reflected light drew her attention back to the ground again.  She blinked a couple times at what she saw, and had to land on a nearby cloud to get a better look to confirm it.

Below her she saw an orange unicorn walking along but that isn’t what caught her eye.  What drew her attention was the giant fresh halibut draped across her back even though there shouldn’t have been any locations nearby to fish it out of.  Gilda watched with her jaw wide open and she considered flying down, but the music from the bakery made her decide otherwise.  “Forget it, I’m out of here.”

> 10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The front door of the house slammed shut causing the orange unicorn that was home to let out a sigh.  “Scootaloo, how many times have I asked you not to slam the door?!”  She waited for an answer so when one didn’t come and instead she heard a trail of stomping hooves leading upstairs she quirked an eyebrow.  Shaking her head she turned the heat down on the chili she was making and slowly made her way upstairs.

As she climbed the stairs she heard the sound of sniffling coming from her sister’s room and she let out another sigh before rubbing her temples with a hoof.  She slowly walked over to her sister’s room and pushed the door open quietly to find the orange pegasus with her head buried in a pillow.  Moving over next to the bed she sat down and set a hoof next to the crying filly.  “It was her again, wasn’t it?”

Aegis Flare sighed again as she ran a hoof through her sister’s mane to try and calm her down some.  Eventually the filly’s tears stopped and the two sat in silence until the elder spoke up.  “What was she saying this time?”

At first she didn’t say anything but eventually the pegasus started to speak.  “It started out like she usually did, but I ignored her like you always told me to.  But then she started going on about how mom and dad didn’t want a broken pegasus like me which is why they abandoned us.”

The unicorn frowned at this and from the look on her face it was a good thing that a certain pink filly was on the other side of town.  She quickly returned her full attention to her sister again but she realized that she didn’t know their full motives as even she didn’t know what happened.  Eventually she decided to just go with her gut instinct about what happened.

“Sis, you know that isn’t true.  I don’t know what happened to them and even the princess doesn’t know.  What I do know is that they never would have abandoned us over something like that.  Hay, they took in a broken unicorn like me so why would something being wrong with you make them want to leave?  Besides, you still have a few years of growing and I’m sure that your wings will grow in in another couple years.”  The elder sister drew the younger in for a hug and they just sat there holding each other for a few minutes.

Eventually the two separated and went downstairs where the unicorn finished the preparations for dinner and left it simmering until then and the filly did her schoolwork.  Looking over at her sister as she left the kitchen; Aegis Flare noticed that she still looked a bit down and decided to act on something she noticed earlier that day.  “Come on Scoots, let’s go and check out that magic show that supposed to be in the town square today.  You can finish that up afterwards.”

The filly seemed to perk up a bit at this and quickly set her things aside and rushed over to her sister.  As they got outside they could hear the sound of fireworks towards the center of town which caused the younger of the two to move a bit faster.  “Come on sis, hurry up!  It sounds like it’s already starting!”

Smiling as her sister ran ahead, the unicorn sped up a bit as well to satisfy her impatient sister.  She did pause for a moment as she caught a glimpse of Rarity darting between a few alleyways with the weirdest green mane style, but at another call from her sister she shook it off.  Eventually they found where the magic show was being performed and took a spot at the back of the crowd, with Scootaloo perched on the unicorn’s head for a better view.

She was kind of surprised not to see any of her friends watching, though the area was pretty crowded so she may have missed seeing them.  Shrugging she focused on watching the show which was pretty decent from what she could tell.  While many of the tricks looked pretty simple, it was the variety and flawlessness of the performance that drew her eyes the most.  She did frown a bit though when a pony challenged the performer who then proceeded to humiliate them in some way.  She felt that that part was a bit cruel and overdone, but she refrained from saying anything.

By the end of the show Scootaloo was bouncing in excitement at the show with barely contained energy.  Once the curtain for the show dropped that opened up the floodgates.  “That was so cool!  Not as much as Rainbow Dash but nothing is as cool as her.”

“I know right!  Especially when she did the spell with the bang pow zoom!”  The two sisters jump at the voice and turn to see Pinkie Pie bouncing right next to them, neither of them noticing when she had appeared.

Aegis Flare calmed down first and started to shake her head at Pinkie’s antics, as well as stopping herself from asking the obvious question, before responding.  “I was wondering when you would show up since I didn’t see you in the crowd and you’d never miss something like this.  I saw Rarity earlier but none of the other girls, have you seen any of them around here?”

This question causes the pink party pony to pause in her bouncing as she takes a thinking pose to ponder the question.  “Well I was a bit late getting here, but Rainbow Dash came into Sugarcube Corner before I left and she looked really annoyed about something.  I haven’t seen the others though.”

The unicorn just shrugged it off and figured that the others were probably busy with something else.  Saying farewell to Pinkie, the two made their way back home for the rest of the day.  As they were walking back, Aegis Flare caught snippets of conversations from the ponies they passed as they talked about the magic show that just ended.  She caught snippets of what little she had missed by being late and what little she heard made her curious about the entire story.

As Aegis Flare was tucking her sister into bed for the night she felt their home start trembling.  When it didn’t turn out to be a temporary thing but instead seemed to be getting worse she turned towards the window with a frown.  “What in Equestria is that?”

When looking out Scootaloo’s window didn’t give an answer her horn lit up and she climbed out onto a trellis shaped shield before using it to rise to the top of the house for a better view.  Once there she caught a glimpse of what was approaching which caused her to rub her eyes before taking another look.  “Why would one of those be awake now?”  She glances up to the starlit sky to confirm her suspicions.  “None of the ones of that size are prevalent in the sky right now so they shouldn’t be awake.”

Dropping down again until she is level with the window again she popped her head in to see her sister’s worried look.  “Stay here Scoots, but be ready to take cover in the cellar.  I’m going to get a closer look on what is happening.”  As soon as she saw her sister’s nod the unicorn dropped all the way to the ground and took off running in the direction that the figure seemed to be moving.

As she ran, she kept an ear out and was glad that she didn’t hear the sound of anything being destroyed.  She did hear screaming from some ponies as she came closer to the creature, but considering the fact that the creature is awake when it shouldn’t be then they were probably at least partly responsible.  Weaving through the buildings of Ponyville she eventually found herself in the town square and finally able to identify the celestial beast, an ursa minor, as it started to rear back to attack three ponies in front of it.

When Aegis Flare sees this, she immediately lights up her horn to throw up a barrier almost directly in front of the ursa.  Remembering her experience with Nightmare Moon, she made this barrier more flexible than stiff so that it wouldn’t shatter right away.  That, combined with the placement, was enough to prevent most of the impact as the ursa couldn’t pick up its full momentum and it was thrown onto its back as the shield rebounded that attack back.

As the beast began to topple backwards, Aegis Flare ran over to the three figures while wincing at the pain from her horn.  On nearing them, she recognized two of the colts from her sister’s class as well as the stage mare who owned the wagon she just saved.  “I’d ask who had the bright idea to wake up an ursa minor during its sleeping period, but right now I need to think of a way to stall it until the guard can rally to drive it off.”

“Wait, you mean that isn’t an ursa major?  I guess we got the wrong one Snails, but this should be a piece of cake for the Great and Powerful Trixie.”  The two colts look at the azure mare to see her staring at the orange unicorn with her jaw wide open.  Aegis Flare was ignoring them as her thoughts raced while the ursa minor shook its head to clear it and began to right itself.  When the ursa was about halfway up her hoof shot out and pointed at the showmare; causing her mouth to shut as she reared back in surprise.

“You!  I need you to do whatever you can to stall it while I prepare something that will hopefully scare it enough to get it to retreat for now.  Do you think you can do that?”  The two colts were about to say something but the azure mare’s reaction shut them down though.

“”Are you crazy?!  Trixie may be the most talented unicorn ever but Trixie has never actually faced something like that.  Trixie only made up the story about the ursa major just so she would look good and draw in a bigger crowd.  And you say this is only an ursa minor?!”  The two colts cry out in disbelief at Trixie’s admission while the orange mare just shrugs it off.

“You don’t need to face it, just distract it for a few seconds while I charge up for a big spell.  It shouldn’t be that hard to do and since it’s usually only out at night then it’s probably sensitive to light so just blind it or something.”  Trixie just stares at the mare in disbelief before she shakes her head and looks over at the ursa with a look of fear in her eyes.

“Trixie isn’t sure about this, but okay.”  Taking a wide-legged stance, the showmare faces down the giant creature as it finally climbs to its feet again.  Taking a deep breath she lights up her horn and fires off one of her most used spells.  When the celestial bear reared back and grasped at its eyes when a multitude of fireworks exploded right in front of them the mar’s confidence grew.

Before the beast could recover she cast another spell to shroud its head in clouds before throwing out a pose.  “Take that you.  No mere ursa minor is a match for The Great and Powerful Trixie!”  Unfortunately for her, the ursa’s ears were not affected by her spells so it clearly heard her causing it to swipe a paw in her direction, forcing her to let out a yelp and duck for cover along with the two colts.  She was about to cast another spell to recover, but a bright light and wave of heat behind her made her turn around and she gasped at the sight.

While Trixie was distracting the creature; Aegis Flare was steadily drawing as much of her magic as she could into her horn causing multiple coronas to form around it.  The air around her also began to shimmer a bit as the temperature around her started to rise drastically as she channeled the spell.  Before releasing the spell she had time to say one last thing before things got out of control.  “I really hope this works as well at scaring this away as it does hydras.”

With a loud grunt of effort she released the spell into the air above her causing streams of fire to pour out of her horn into the sky above her.  Maintaining her concentration over the fire; she gathered it all into a ball before forming it into the shape she was picturing.  Soon enough a giant bird of fire, roughly the same size as the ursa, was flying in the air above her as she sweated heavily from the concentration it took to keep the spell going.

When the ursa minor’s vision cleared it caught sight of the flaming visage now in front of it and it retreated rapidly in fear.  The flaming bird made as if to attack is it steadily advanced through the air, forcing the beast to retreat step by step.  Unfortunately there were certain things that the unicorn could not imitate, such as the sounds the bird should make, which made the ursa suspicious.  After retreating a couple dozen steps, and not hearing a single sound from the creature, the ursa minor lashed out with one of its paws, shattering the image and sending the orange unicorn to the ground clutching her head from the backlash that blackened her horn.

With the apparent threat removed from its sight, the ursa turned its attention to the ponies that it was chasing earlier.  Before it could start to advance again its attention was grasped by a melody floating through the air.  The four unicorns watched as the celestial beast tottered a bit before collapsing into slumber as a purple field supported it.  When a water tower floating into its grasp before it flew off in the direction it came from they looked around to see Twilight nearby with her horn shining brightly.

Some of the townsponies came up and starting speaking about something, but Aegis Flare was distracted from all this by the splitting headache she had going on.  Eventually one of the ponies that had arrived noticed her hanging back with her look of pain and moved over towards her.  “Flare, are you ok there?  Why are you hanging bac- Darling!  What ever happened to your horn?!”

Aegis Flare looked up to see Rarity standing over her and she waved a hoof her way before slowly standing again.  “It’s just a little magic burnout, Rarity.  After a couple days of rest then I’ll be all better then.”

Unfortunately for her this wasn’t enough to reassure the alabaster mare.  “But your horn is blackened with soot!  That needs to be cleaned up before it permanently stains!  Nopony should have to deal with that especially after having to deal with that foul braggart, Trixie.”

The orange unicorn just sighs before deciding not to try and argue overly much with her friend.  “Rarity, I already had plans to take care of it over the next couple days at the spa since I can’t go into the Everfree like this.  Also what was that about Trixie?  Sure it was obvious that some of what she said was fake; but she is just that type of entertainer.  Besides she did do a pretty good job of distracting that ursa minor while I cast my spell to try and delay it.  Granted, I was more expecting the guard to show up than for Twilight to deal with it by herself.”

By this time the others had come over as the rest of the townsponies had already started to disperse.  “What are you talking about?  How could that loudmouth have done anything even remotely useful especially after what she did to us?”  Aegis Flare raised an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash as she floated above the others with a light pout on her face.

“I missed what happened, except for Rarity running off with her green mane, but I caught bits of it when I walked home afterwards.  Did any of you even bother watching her show before you started heckling her?”  Three of the ponies looked at each other while Twilight was busy muttering to herself about something.  Aegis Flare looked at Applejack since she never could lie that well and her darting eyes told her what she wished to know before she let out a sigh.

“You really should talk with her tomorrow and clear things up I think.  Frankly I would have expected Rainbow Dash to understand her a bit since Fluttershy once told me a bit about what happened in flight school.”  The cyan pegasus actually looked as if she was thinking back on those events judging from her blush while the other two looked a bit put off.  Before they could say anything else they were all interrupted by a growl of frustration from Twilight as she marched up to the orange unicorn.

“Gah, I just can’t figure this out!  How is it that you are out here without the guard having any information on you?!  Every single pony of a sufficient level of power or that uses dangerous branches of magic are registered in the Canterlot Archives yet you aren’t on the lists!  After seeing what you just did there is no way that you wouldn’t be on them!”  All four of them watched the purple unicorn warily before Applejack spoke up.

“Um, you mean that there are ponies up in Canterlot keeping an eye on us down here without us knowing?  Ah don’t think ah like the sound of that.”  Twilight shakes her head slightly before pausing a moment.

“Well there might be something now on you after we acquired the Elements of Harmony, but I don’t think the princess will make that information public.  Before that I don’t think any of you would have been listed, but I never did pay attention to the pegasus or earth pony lists.  But Flare should definitely have been on them for being a pyromancer even if she is spell blind.”  Seeing that Twilight wasn’t going to give up on this, the orange unicorn just sighs.

“Can we deal with this tomorrow Twilight?  I promise that I’ll come over to the library and you can ask whatever you want.  Right now I just want to go home and brew up some restoration tea before going to sleep.”  The purple unicorn looks uncertain about all of this, but after a moment’s thought, eventually nods in agreement.  Seeing as it is late they all head to their respective homes to prepare for the coming insanity of the next day.

> 11
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aegis Flare groaned as she crawled her way out of bed and reached for the pitcher of tea that she placed nearby the night before.  As she downed the first glass she sighed as her headache started to dull and after the second it was easy to ignore.  Looking out her bedroom window she sighed before preparing for her little chat with her friend Twilight.  Expecting a larger headache later on, she filled up a larger thermos with the restorative tea so that it would stay cool.

Knowing that Twilight often was up late and slept well into the morning she took her time getting her sister ready for school and worked at cleaning up the house a little.  As she was prepared to leave for the library a sound from the attic drew her attention.  She looked up in confusion for a moment before her eyes widened and she let out a rare smile as she realized what the sound meant.

Passing through the kitchen to snag a couple bananas she made her way up to the attic and smiled at what she found.  “Well look who finally returned after being gone for the last few months.  I was starting to worry that something had happened to you.  Here, I brought you a treat.”

The creature hidden in the shadows squeaked in thanks before letting out a yawning noise.  Smiling once more the unicorn ran a hoof through its fur before leaving it to sleep.  With the situation boosting her mood she made her way out of the house and trotted in the direction of the library.

Once there she found Spike awake and in the kitchen cooking something up, but no sign of Twilight so she moved over to talk with him.  “Hey Spike, have you seen Twilight?”

The young dragon glanced over from his work and rolled his eyes.  “Hey Flare.  She’s still asleep right now since she was up all night researching something.  I give her an hour at the most before she wakes up though if you want to wait.”

Nodding to the dragon the orange unicorn makes her way out into the main part of the library and browses through the books for something to read.  One catches her eye and she brings it over to a nearby table and pours a cup of tea from the thermos she brought before settling down.  She snorted at the first page which drew Spike’s attention when he came out of the kitchen with a plate of food.

“What?  Is something wrong over there?”  The orange unicorn looks up to at him before shaking her head and looking back to the book.

“Oh, nothing much.  It’s just amusing how inaccurate this book is and it claims to be the best resource on the Everfree Forest.  Yet I can already say much of this is wrong just based on my first week in the forest.  This thing belongs in the fiction section and not where I found it.”  Spike came over to look over her shoulder for a moment before moving on to set the food he was carrying on a nearby table before heading back to the kitchen.

Moments later the door at the top of the stairs opened and Twilight came marching down the stairs wearing a robe.  Aegis Flare watched as the other unicorn made her way to the table and planted her face into it as she sat down.  “Good Morning, Twilight.”  The only answer she earned from her greeting was a bunch of nonsensical syllables.

Soon Spike came out of the kitchen with a pot of coffee and a mug which he filled and set in front of the half-awake unicorn.  On seeing the orange unicorn looking at the two with a raised eyebrow he explained.  “She doesn’t do well in the morning until she gets her coffee.  The last time she tried to do anything without it she nearly ended up burning down the kitchen.”

Twilight let out a small moan of pleasure when she smelled the coffee and took her first sip of it.  The fluid did much to wake her up and she leveled a light glare at her assistant.  “Do you have to mention that every time somepony seems interested?”

As she continued with her breakfast Aegis Flare flipped through the book looking for anything to redeem it before she set it aside as useless.  “I really hope there is something better in here about the Everfree and creatures of the Everfree.  This one is worse than worthless since much of it is just rumor and the rest is inaccurate.”

At the confused look of the two she reopened the book to a random page and started reading from it.  “’Once you go deep enough it becomes impossible to escape from the Everfree Forest as even more dangerous creatures are guaranteed to find you.’  That is wrong and in fact it is sometimes safer as you go deeper since something keeps the worst monsters out of parts of it.  If you don’t know about what is going on you can get caught in one of the areas as it changes sending you who knows where across the world.”

Not seeing any understanding she sighed and explained further.  “Something is wrong with the Everfree and circular areas of different sizes appear and reappear over time.  I’ve seen the common creatures of the forest stop at the edge of those places even if they are chasing after something else.  That gazelle really was rather lucky, but it took a month for its town to be sent back to where they belong.  It explains pretty well why there is such a variety of plant-life in there since multiple places end up there.”

Twilight looked rather conflicted as she pondered over this before she shook her head.  “As interesting as that is, and I will be asking about it again later, we have something else planned for today don’t we?  We have a lot of things to go over today since you agreed to answer all my questions.”

Spike looked at the orange unicorn in pity as she was ushered down towards the basement by Twilight.  She soon found herself hooked up to a machine that she knew nothing about while Twilight looked at the readouts with ink and parchment floating in front of her.  Aegis Flare wasn’t sure how long she was down there but she eventually decided to speak up.  “So what does all this have to do with those question you wanted to ask me anyways?”

Twilight let out a little noise as she looked up from her machine before blushing a bit and looking down again.  “Oh, um, well...”  She sighs before turning towards the other unicorn fully.  “I guess I went a little overboard again but after seeing what you did I was curious just how strong you were in magic.  But for some reason my machines are barely registering anything so I tried another and another but the results don’t look right, they are too low.”

She stops for a moment and takes a closer look at Aegis Flare as her gaze slowly climbs to settle on the slightly blackened horn.  A hoof slowly rises to her face as she realizes something.  “Of course you still haven’t recovered yet from what you did that day so you would register low for now.  Right, enough of this then and on to the questions.”

As Twilight started digging through the stacks of scrolls on one of her desks, Aegis Flare rolled her eyes as she divested herself of the wires strapped to her and taking another sip of her tea.  Soon Twilight found what she was looking for and she sat across from her friend.

“Well the first thing I have to ask is when you first showed that you could use large amounts of fire-based magic.  That should have been when you were to be registered on the list in Canterlot.”  Aegis Flare closed her eyes a moment as her thoughts turned back to that moment and she held back a shudder of fear.

“That’s rather easy since it was one of my earliest memories though it was a bit hazy.  My parents found me out in the Everfree being attacked by timberwolves and I was holding them back with a shield made of fire.  I still don’t remember much from before that but the next thing I remembered after that was waking up in a hospital covered with bandages.”  Twilight glanced at the scars on her friend’s throat and legs as she absently rubbed at them and winced when she remembered what she was told before continuing on to the next question.

“That’s… something… What are your parent’s names anyways?  Normally that would have been listed with everything else but since you weren’t on the list then they aren’t there either.”

“Well I can’t say about my birth parents since they were never found, but I was adopted soon after that event by Vanator and Bella Donna.  They vanished a few years back and not even the princess knows what happened to them.”  Twilight looks at her with an odd look for a moment.

”Now why would the princess know anything about…”  She was cut off when the door separating the library and basement slammed open revealing Spike.  Twilight jumped a bit at the interruption which caused her to jostle one of her desks she used for her various experiments.

“Spike!  What did I say about just barging in here like that?  You could have interrupted something important and…”  Her attention was pulled away by a rattling sound and the scent of smoke forcing her to look at the desk she hit to see one of the beakers shaking erratically with an empty one on its side above it.  Seeing this, her eyes widened as she grabbed Aegis Flare in her magic and started running for the stairs.  “SPIKE!  CODE E!  CODE E!”

Spike’s eyes widened when he heard this and he dove back through the door as the other two charged up the stairs.  Before they could get through an explosion wracked the basement sending the two flying into the library and into the bookshelves opposite the room.  Aegis Flare dug her way out from under the books and glared at Twilight as she glared at Spike.  The dragon looked back at the two sheepishly as he held up a scroll in his claws.  “Uh, letter from the princess?”

Twilight vanished from where she was and appeared next to Spike where she grabbed the scroll up in her magic.  She quickly ripped it open and read through it before she squinted and shook her head.  “I’ll talk to you later about this Spike.  Come on Flare, we have a dragon to get rid of?”

As the purple unicorn ran out of the library, the orange one just looked after her in shock for a moment before she shook it off.  “Wait, a dragon?  What are you talking about?  Twilight?!”  Seeing as she wasn’t paying attention, Aegis Flare took off after her in hope to get more information.

<><><><><><><>

Seven friends trudged their way back into town after their little trip up and down a mountain.  They were all rather weary and wanted to find somewhere to rest, but it still didn’t stop them from keeping up a conversation as shown by Aegis Flare’s complaints.  “I still can’t believe that the princess would send us against a dragon that old without any sort of real backup.”

The others rolled their eyes at her while Rarity tried to calm her down.  “Come on darling, we managed to take care of the problem so she obviously knew what she was doing.  Now why don’t we stop by the spa so that we can all get cleaned up and relax?”

The orange unicorn sighed but she still nodded though not all the ponies seemed enthusiastic about going.  It took a little convincing but Rainbow Dash grudgingly agreed to go as well but would only do the bare minimum of things there.  Soon after a bit of pampering and cleaning the seven were all seated in one of the larger tubs in the spa to relax for the rest of their stay.  

Six of them were calmly chatting away while the orange unicorn of the group was still deep in thought before she finally spoke.  “I still want to know why the princess sent us instead of sending in the Black Guard or another group that is trained to deal with dragons.”

Her words caused varied reaction from her friends, but the most prevalent involved them rolling their eyes.  “Darling, you do know that the Black Guard isn’t real right?  It’s just something some silly ponies came up with to try and make the princess look bad by blaming problems on a secret organization.”

Aegis Flare brought a hoof up to her face while Twilight stared at her thoughtfully as something was bothering her about the situation.  Most of the others just shook their heads in amusement, but Fluttershy looked over at the orange unicorn in shock at her next words.  “~Oh, right.  My parents did say that their job was a bit secretive and its existence wasn’t common knowledge.~”

As she didn’t speak in Equestrian Common the other five stared at her in confusion for a moment.  “What was that again?  It sounded strangely familiar but I can’t quite place why.”  Aegis Flare was about to respond to Rarity but was beaten to it by Fluttershy which surprised her.

“Um, that was in Thestrali, Rarity.  And she said something about her parents and their job being very secretive.”  When she noticed her friends staring at her she hid behind her mane again and was relieved when Twilight spoke up and drew the attention away from her.

“That’s it!  That’s why Flare wasn’t listed anywhere like she should have been!  Her parents were part of the Black Guard!  All written records of them are removed and only the princess’ personal library has any records of them.  That’s why their names were so familiar to me earlier; they are the Joint Commanders of the Black Guard!”  The others were a bit shocked at her words, even Aegis Flare who didn’t expect any of them to know much of anything of the group though she didn’t know her parent’s rank.

“What?  Princess Celestia had me sit on a few meetings with various branches of the guard and I have a few connections that knew about them.”  The others didn’t know quite what to say at first but Rainbow Dash was the first to recover.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!  You mean that the princess really does have a group of secret agents and Flare’s parents were the leaders of it?”  At Twilight’s nod the cyan pegasus stares at Aegis Flare for a moment before breaking out into a grin.  “That.  Is so.  AWESOME!”

This broke the tension in the room as her reaction earned a few chuckles.  As one of the spa ponies walked by, Applejack thought of something that she had to voice.  “If that group is supposed ta be so secretive then should we really be talking about them in a place like this?”

The others looked around with a worried look until they turned to look at the unfamiliar sound of Aegis Flare’s light laughter.  It took her a moment to contain herself but she eventually was able to explain.  “Remember how Twilight said before that there are those keeping an eye on those on that list?  Well there are also a couple groups that the princess employs to keep an eye out for those same ponies while they work their normal jobs.  Aloe and Lotus happen to be part of one of those groups that work out of Ponyville.”

All the ponies except her and Twilight look in shock at the two who just smile and bow as they continue with their work around the spa.  When they all could recover from their shock and settled down again they started to speak again.  “Well that certainly was a surprise.  I never would have guess that your parents were part of that group.  I always thought that if they were real it would be full of brutes and criminals.”

Aegis Flare gave her a look as she considered her words before surprising her with a nod.  “That’s actually pretty accurate now that I think about it.  It kind of makes sense that my parents were leaders of it as they told me they were often sent out as diplomats before anything else.  Much of the Black Guard originally started out as criminals or violent ponies of some sort.  Instead of being sent to a prison or something they were given a chance to use their talents to serve Equestria and most often they are happy being a part of it and never break the law again.”

At the looks the others were giving her she rolled her eyes.  “What?  I learned a lot from my father about it, though mom always gave him these looks when he caught him.  Why else would I know more about dragons than Twilight did, even if it wasn’t that much?”  They all think back to earlier that day.

vvvvvvv

“That is a big dragon, why are we being sent after an adult dragon unprepared?  We can’t really impress it with a show of strength with what we have and I’m not sure what this one specifically respects.”  Her friends look at her in confusion before they turn back to Twilight who just shrugs and goes back to laying out her plan.  She has Aegis Flare come in with her for an attempt at negotiations as it is the safer option and she was still lacking her magic.

^^^^^^^

“Anyways the Black Guard would normally be sent in to deal with something like this.  So why were we sent there instead of one of them?”  She climbed out of the pool to dry off and took her place on a nearby bench so that the twins could have another go at clearing off the scorching from her horn.  Her friends watched her as they assimilated her words and started to wonder the same thing as well.

> 12
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Here’s your soup sis.  I had to get some help and no it wasn’t Sweetie Belle.”  Aegis Flare started to chuckle at her sister’s joke but it soon dissolved into a hacking cough.  She partially regretted going off into the Everfree before being fully recovered from her magical burnout and then immediately being caught out in a storm.  She was glad that she had taught her sister how to cook a bit for herself though her it was nice having friends that could help.

Granted she was a bit wary when Pinkie Pie showed up earlier but she was relieved when she didn’t cause issues and just helped and cleaned up a bit.  It was unusual to see the pink pony not bouncing around in excitement but seeing her like this made her feel special somehow.  She hadn’t shown up recently though so she was guessing that she had left after she finished helping Scootaloo cook the soup.

As her she helped her sister eat her soup, Scootaloo was thinking of how she else she could help her.  Looking around the room she took note of the various things she kept around it for when she went out into the Everfree forest.  Looking at the various dried flowers and fruit her eyes finally settled on a mask that stood out from the rest of the objects.  “Hey Sis, you said that your friend Zecora makes all kind of potions right?  Do you think that she would have something that could help you?”

Aegis Flare savored the taste of the soup as it soothed her dried throat as she pondered the question.  Since it hurt a bit to talk she just nodded to her sister until she noticed what she did and brought a hoof up to her face.  When she removed it she saw her sister bouncing around and she interrupted her by rapping the side of the bowl with her spoon.

After getting her sister’s attention the two stared at each other and eventually she just sighed and pointed towards a set of saddlebags on the side of the room.  Scootaloo looked confused for a moment before she realized what her sister meant causing her to roll her eyes.  “Right, right, be prepared for anything.  You don’t have to keep reminding me you know, I always remember that.”  At her sister’s smirk and raised eyebrow she sighed and corrected herself.  “All right so I forget about it sometimes.”

Under her sister’s watchful eye she gathered up various things from around the room.  As she was about to leave her sister made another sound and she sighed before turning back once more.  Scootaloo saw her sister pointing across the room at one more object and she followed the direction of the hoof to a pair of goggles.  Moving over to them she reverently picked them up and hung them around her neck before turning back to see her sister nod.  With that she heads out the door and on her way to the Everfree Forest.

<><><><><><><>

“If I may be so bold, you have nothing more than a simple cold.  With a potion made outside of the light, you will be able to put up such a fight.”  The zebra, Zecora, stood at the side of the sick unicorn’s bed as she offered her a bottle of the strange substance she had mixed up.  Scootaloo watched from just outside of the room in curiosity as she hadn’t met the striped equine before and only had what her sister told her to go on, as well as the false rumors from the rest of town.

Looking at the zebra from behind the young filly couldn’t really see what all the talk was about as she seemed rather normal other than her propensity for talking in rhymes.  She was a bit conflicted though as what she saw and her sister said conflicted with some of the things she had heard from her idol.  She kept an eye on her the entire time she was there just to be on the safe side but everything seemed to be going well.

Soon enough her sister was asleep and she escorted the zebra to the door where she watched her head off towards the center of town.  Heading back upstairs she looked at the now sleeping form of her sister before pulling up the blanket to fully cover her form with it.  Heading over to the door, Scootaloo gave a final look at her sister before going downstairs to make a meal for herself since she hadn’t eaten much that day.

vvvvvvv

Pinkie Pie watched as the cloaked figure left the home of her friend and started towards the center of town.  Seeing no sign of movement within she let out a gasp and ran off towards Sugarcube Corner to warn the rest of her friends before the zebra could arrive.

^^^^^^^

The next morning Aegis Flare was feeling better than ever as she nearly bounced around her home with excess energy.  While she couldn’t say much about the taste of the potions, the things that Zecora made definitely worked extremely well and often better than anything in the Ponyville hospital.  She stepped outside of her home to take in the warmth of the sun when she saw one of the oddest sights ever.

Running down the street she caught the sight of Fluttershy and another pony running in the direction of the library.  She was pretty sure that the other pony was Rarity from the colors, but for some reason she looked like a walking carpet.  “What did I miss while I was down with that cold?”

After letting Scootaloo know where she was going, as well as why, she took off after the two at a more sedate pace.  She didn’t see anything else that was strange as she moved through the town which made her even curious about what was going on.  As she reached the library she bumped into Applebloom as she was leaving in a way that looked as if she was sneaking out for some reason.  “Hey, Applebloom.  Where are you off to?”

She was immediately suspicious when the filly wouldn’t meet her eyes as she had learned her poor lying skills from her sister.  “I’m not going anywhere.  Why would I be following after Zecora alone?”  The unicorn wondered what she was talking about but a voice from the filly’s butt answered her.

“Ah knew it!  Ah told you ta stay away from her, Apple Bloom!  How dare you disobey me on this again!?”  The two turned to look in that direction to see a tiny Applejack crawl out of her tail and stand on her rear looking a tad angry.  Aegis Flare had to cover her mouth with a hoof to contain a laugh before she shook her head.

“Come on you two; let’s get inside so you can tell me what happened though I think I might have an idea.  Besides a filly really shouldn’t be running around in the Everfree alone, especially if they don’t know the way there.”  Apple Bloom tried to protest as she was pushed back inside the library and tried to argue how she had seen others go in there alone but it all fell on deaf ears.  When the unicorn closed the door and looked up to see the rest of the room she froze in place.

The five ponies in there just stared at her as she took everything in and looked a bit confused when the corner of her mouth starting twitching.  She tried to avert her eyes but happened to look at the tiny pony again before taking in the obvious problems but when Fluttershy let out a manly sounding “Eep!” she couldn’t hold it any longer and broke down laughing.

The six changed ponies all look at her with a mixture of surprise and a deadpanned look as they never expected to see her like this and weren’t amused by her laughing.  Their gazes shifted as Spike joined in on the laughter and walked up to her.  “I know right?  I mean look!  Flutterguy, Spittie Pie, Rainbow Crash, Hairity, and Appleteenie!  I’m still working on Twilight though, not much to work with there but I’m leaning towards Twilight Flopple.”

With each successive name Aegis Flare’s laughter got even stronger until she had to lie on the floor pounding her hoof as she tried to regain control of herself.  “I don’t see what is so amusing about all of this.  While I’m not sure why Zecora didn’t get you with this curse since Pinkie saw her at your place but could you please stop laughing and help us?”

Aegis Flare tried to glare at Rarity for her words, but each time she looked at her it caused her laughter to restart.  She closed her eyes and tried to avoid looking at them all as she took a few deep breaths trying to get under control again while.  When she heard Twilight complain about “there not being such things as curses” she pointed a hoof at her and tried to make sounds of agreement.

Eventually she was able to stop laughing as Apple Bloom brought her a glass of water which she drank before settling back into her usual controlled look.  “Oh, I can’t believe that you still don’t believe me when I say that there is nothing wrong with Zecora.  What all happened while I was sick to cause all of this?”

She sat there listening as they retold what had happened through all of yesterday and how they had all gathered together today.  She traded looks with Apple Bloom and rolled her eyes during Pinkie Pie’s song, sung by Fluttershy which stole another chuckle from the unicorn, then sighed when they finished.  “I’m guessing that Apple Bloom never touched those flowers that Zecora warned you about.  It’s a good thing that Spike already found the book explaining things.”

She pointed at the book that she had noticed Spike had in his arms which drew some odd looks, especially from Twilight.  “But that’s a book on creatures like ghosts and the like, isn’t it?”  Aegis Flare looked at the cover of the book again and groaned as she realized what Twilight was talking about.

“Oh how I really want to give a talking to with the editor of this book for allowing that title through.  Twilight, the N is capitalized making it Super Naturals, not Supernaturals.  Spike, which section did you find this in?”  He pointed towards where he found the book and Twilight looked to see that it was from the botany section causing her to facehoof.

Flipping open the book, the orange unicorn showed them the page on poison joke which told them exactly how the plant worked.  They all calmed a bit when they read it though only Twilight seemed to understand what it all meant.  “Where are we supposed to get all of these ingredients at a time like this?  Some of these could take weeks or even months to get sent here.”

They all looked wary when Aegis Flare smirked at them all.  “Well it just so happens that I know an alchemist who has most of these already.  In fact she helped me with my illness yesterday and probably deserves an apology from somepony for being a very poor neighbor.”

The five that had lived in Ponyville the longest looked a bit ashamed when she tossed a small glare at them but they still filed their way outside.  As Twilight walked next to her she paused for a moment.  “How did you know about what had happened to us anyways?  These plants can’t be all that common, can they?”

She considered not saying anything as she lifted Apple Bloom onto her back but decided it wouldn’t be fair after her laughing.  “The day before I first met Zecora I ran into a patch of poison joke myself.  She helped cure me of the problems as well but before then every time I tried to use magic my horn would spray a small torrent of water all over me.”  She glances over at Spike and tosses a slight grin.  “I believe the nickname Aegis Flush would be appropriate, don’t you?”

Twilight rolled her eyes at her as they left Spike behind with him laughing hysterically at them.

> 13
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Well everything is clear out here as far as I can tell now, so unless something decides to come directly through the forest towards town then Twilight doesn’t have anything to fear.  I still don’t get why she is panicking so much though since Spike said this is only going to be a casual visit from the princess.”  Aegis Flare dusted a bit of ash off of herself as she surveyed the remains of a pack of timberwolves that she had finished clearing out.  Seeing that the Everfree should be clear for the rest of the day she made her way back towards town but was brought up short as a large ball of fluffy creatures went rolling by causing her to raise an eyebrow.

“Now what in the world was all that about?  I don’t think I’ve seen those things before but I can’t help but think that I remember hearing about a small fluffy creature with wings before.  Also did those just roll in from town?”  Looking back the way that the ball had rolled, she slowly walked along back towards Ponyville.  She wasn’t sure why, but the sight of the creatures unnerved her for some reason though she couldn’t say why.

She left the shadows of the Everfree at her usual point near Fluttershy’s house and she basked in the light of the sun.  She paused when she noticed how silent things were and she looked around to see what was going on.  In the distance she saw most of her friends running off towards town while Pinkie was making odd motions at them.

Quirking an eyebrow at her antics she made her way over towards the pink pony to see check on her.  As she set a hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder her friend’s head jerked around to look at her in surprise.  Seeing who it was Pinkie looked a bit relieved and was about to say something until she changed her mind and instead settled on something else.  “Sorry, can’t talk now Flarie.  Have to find more instruments for the parasprites, bye bye!”

With that she took off towards town leaving the orange unicorn behind to process what she said.  When it finally registered her eyes shrunk to pinpricks as she realized what she had already seen.  “No.  Not parasprites.”

vvvvvvv

Bella Donna smiled at her daughter as she finished another exercise with her magic as she managed to thread a needle using only her shield spells.  She had been working on this for a couple weeks now and was starting to get frustrated until now where she was bouncing around in glee.  “That’s very good now, Flare.  If you can do that then you can do just about anything another unicorn does with levitation.  Since you finished that we can move along to improving your mouthwriting skills.”

The filly stopped with her bouncing around as she turned to pout up at the older unicorn.  “But moooom!  If I can do anything that can be done like a normal unicorn then why do I still have to write with my mouth?”

The older mare looked down at her adoptive daughter as she considered how best to tell her.  She decided to tell her about one of the more memorable events she knew of to impress on her the reason why she shouldn’t rely only on her magic.  “There once was a town on the borders of Equestria that had a major pest problem that it wasn’t prepared for.”

The filly looked up at her mother in confusion before settling down to listen to her story even though she had no idea what it had to do with what she had asked.  “That day the town was filled with small fuzzy creatures that we later on learned were called parasprites.  It started with only one and the pony that found it thought it was so cute and would make a decent pet.  It all started when she first fed the creature and it started to multiply out of control.  It only took a single day before they were out of control and were swarming the town for all the food that they had.”

She sighed as she remembered that day.  “We sent in what was supposed to be one of our best unicorns in to deal with the problem but we didn’t know what we were dealing with.  The first thing he did was try to stop the creatures from eating all the food with his magic.  That was the last mistake he ever made.”

Hearing the tone of her voice change and turn down a darker road made the filly shrink back a bit and widen her eyes.  “With the parasprites no longer after the food their appetites turned towards other sources to feed on.  By the time we brought in others to help relieve the town there was nothing left except for the food.  They ate everything in the town except for the food and a solitary survivor.  There were so many things that could have been done to stop them, but because he relied so heavily on his magic that was the first thing he used which ended up dooming the town.  Too many unicorns use their magic for everything and end up causing more problems than they started with.  That’s why I’m teaching you ways to do things without magic since you can’t always rely on it.”

Aegis Flare didn’t get any sleep that night as every time she closed her eyes all she could see was the image of a mouth of sharp teeth with wings.  From that point she did as little with her magic as she could and saved it only for important occasions or when she was in a rush.

^^^^^^^

The orange mare shook her head as she tried to refocus on the here and now instead of the past.  “If those things are here now then we are in danger.  I only know what my parents told me but maybe Twilight knows more about them and…”  Her eyes shrunk to pinpricks once again as a shock of realization runs through her.  “…and Twilight relies on her magic for nearly everything as well and knows hundreds of spells!  Not good!”

She took off running as she realized this and hoped that she could find her friend before it was too late.  It didn’t take long for her to find signs of the parasprites as she passed groups of the as she entered the town.  Her eyes widened as she spotted Twilight and her horn starting to lighten up.  Her eyes darted around until the settled on an untouched apple barely sticking out from under a bucket.

With no time to spare she snatched it up in her magic before pivoting around and taking aim with her back hoof.  Hoping that her aim was true she lashed out with the hoof and sent the apple flying towards Twilight at high speeds.  She let out a sigh of relief when the apple impaled itself perfectly on her horn and she let out a cry of pain as her spell fizzled out.

She sighed with relief before she rushed forward to help her friend up.  “Oh thank Celestia I was able to stop you before you could make the biggest mistake of your life.”  She looked at Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy to see them all staring at her in shock as Twilight rubbed her head.

Before any of them could say anything a familiar pink for came dashing up.  “Look, tambourines! If you could all just...”  Pinkie Pie noticed that none of her friends were paying attention to her and she let out a scream of frustration before taking off again.

By that time the purple unicorn had recovered and was glaring at Aegis Flare.  “What was that for?  I was trying to stop those creatures from eating all the food in town!”

Ignoring the glares from the others she leveled a sad look at Twilight.  “And if you succeeded you would have caused another Mustang Prairie right in the middle of Equestria.  These things are creatures soaked in chaos magic so your magic would have made things worse.”

Twilight looked confused at her words.  “Mustang Prairie?  What does a lost colony have to do with why you decided to impale a piece of fruit on my horn?”  She points a hoof at the object that now had a parasprite slowly chewing away at it and licking the juice off as it dripped down.

“It wasn’t so much lost as it was devoured completely.  A black guard member was sent to that town when these things infested it and tried to do exactly what you did.  They ended up eating everything EXCEPT for the food, including all the ponies.”  Twilight paled so badly at this that she looked almost like Princess Celestia and the others weren’t faring much better.

Aegis Flare swatted a few of the creatures out of the air with her magic while they recovered and when she did Twilight’s voice was trembling.  “W-well how are we supposed to stop these things?  If they aren’t stopped they’ll eat all the food in town and might just do what you said anyways.”

Glaring at one of the overly cute monstrosities the orange mare eventually sighed in defeat.  “I have no idea.  All I know is that little bit and that they react to touch and smell.  The only reason they haven’t taken over everything is because many animals prey on them but I don’t think you want to replace them with a large number of manticores or a hydra.”

Twilight frowned before looking around in panic once more before she grabbed one of the creatures in her mouth and ran off towards the Everfree.  The others took a moment to watch as she left before doing whatever they could to stop the parasprites from eating anything, all to varying levels of success.  It wasn’t until Twilight returned and looked as if she was about to snap that help arrived in the form of Pinkie Pie.

After following her through town at the head of a parade of parasprites to the edge of the Everfree and meeting with the princess they all gave a sigh of relief as everything started getting back to normal.  As they walked the short distance back to town Aegis Flare moved to walk by Pinkie Pie.

“You know if you told me about what you were doing I would have helped you.  I had no idea there was a way to stop them but I did know what parasprites were and could do.  Of course I’m curious about how you knew as well.”  Pinkie looked over at her before looking down.

“I wanted to but after the others just ignored me even though I knew what to do I was just scared that you would do the same thing.  I should have said something when I saw how scared you were when I mentioned the parasprites.  My granny told me about how she survived an attack of them once by listening to a music record years ago.  Since then she’s always kept that record near her and she told me why when I asked.”  Aegis Flare just nodded at Pinkie and didn’t say anything about how odd she serious she sounded as the town had a really close call.

Of course a sudden gasp from the pink pony showed that her seriousness wasn’t to last.  “I know what everypony needs now!  A party is the perfect thing to cheer everypony up from almost being eaten alive and losing all that food!”  With that she vanished somewhere into town to set up for the party that they were bound to run into eventually.

After she left Twilight sidled up to Aegis Flare to get her own comments in.  “I don’t know how you do it.  From Nightmare Moon, to the ursa minor, and now parasprites; you just never seem to be scared of anything.  Of course I can’t tell what you’re thinking most of the time anyways.”

Aegis Flare sighs as she tries to remember if she told them about her sensitive hearing before or not as she catches that last bit.  “Twilight, it’s not that I’m not scared, in fact I was terrified during all those times.  I’ve just learned over the years to not show that I’m scared and to not let fear control my actions.”

Twilight paused for a moment and watched her friend walk ahead as she thought about this.  Her friend always seemed aloof and approachable but she was starting to suspect that it was mostly an act and under her hard surface there was something else.

> 14
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So tell me again why I’m here?  I’m pretty sure I misheard you the first time.”  Rarity rolled her eyes as Aegis Flare asked this for the tenth time in the last ten minutes.  She continued to levitate a measuring tape around the orange unicorns form as she took notes on it all.

“As I said dear, I had the most brilliant idea to make all of us a fabulous new dress for when we go to the Gala.  We can’t be embarrassing ourselves in front of the princess now, can we?”  The orange mare just sighs as the torture continues around her causing Rarity to lightly jab at her side.  “Oh come on now darling, I know you don’t like dresses but neither do Applejack and Rainbow Dash but they didn’t complain as much as you are.”

Rarity paused a moment after poking her friend and got a thoughtful look as she prodded he shoulder a couple more time.  “Well they weren’t standing around for as long as I am and I think they both have more dresses than I do as well.  And why are you still poking me?”

Rarity gets one more prod in before she shakes her head and turns away from the other unicorn.  “Well they were easier since I had their measurements on file and just needed a slight update for them.  You on the other hoof haven’t been around in years so I needed to do a complete measuring.  As for the poking, well…”

The alabaster unicorn blushed a bit before clearing her throat a bit.  “I noticed when I had Twilight up here that, while she was a bit plush, underneath all her softness she still had a bit of muscle tone.  Even Fluttershy and Pinkie were much the same as well.  You are more like Applejack and Rainbow Dash though in that you are more muscle than anything else.”

Looking down at her legs Aegis Flare watches how her muscles shift as she tenses her legs a bit and considers what her friend was saying.  “Well it’s not all that big of a surprise if you think about it really.  While three of us are more athletic overall, there is still the fact that all of us are pretty active in some way.  She paused as she thought over what she knew of Twilight’s habits and drew a blank over most of it.  “I’m not really sure with Twilight but with how many books I see her carrying around then she gets her exercise from that.  Of course I’m not sure what she did before she came here or mastered teleporting so she may have worked out more, especially with how many stairs are in Canterlot.  

“Fluttershy does a lot for her animals, including chiropractic work for a bear and I sometimes wonder about how weak of a flier she truly is.  I’m not sure how pegasus magic works exactly, but her flying ability seems more erratic than weak like during the Summer Sun Celebration she could lift a pony one moment then has trouble when helping lift another.  As for Pinkie Pie well…”  The two look at each other as they speak at the same time.  “...She’s just Pinkie Pie”

The two chuckle as they call out the default explanation for anything relating to anything odd that happens around Pinkie Pie.  As they settle down Rarity starts pulling out various bolts of cloth and holding them up against Aegis Flare’s coat.  “I have to say, Flare, it’s wonderful to be able to spend time with you again.  It was hard being one of the few unicorns in town so when you were forced to quit school to take care of your sister it was a bit lonely.  Not to say that earth ponies and pegasi weren’t worth talking to but there are some things only another unicorn could understand.”

She paused a moment but before the other could respond she spoke up again.  “Of course it wasn’t just that.  I could have made more of an effort as well when you were in town but you became so distant.  I’m ashamed to say that I was a bit scared of how cold you seemed after the first couple months.  It’s actually relieving to see you being able to laugh after all those years in that horrid forest.”

Aegis Flare glanced over at Rarity and felt a small stab of regret at her words.  While she didn’t regret doing what she could for her sister; the fact that she had lost touch with her old friendships during that period was something she wished that she could have changed.  Sure the two had exchanged words over the years when she dropped off or picked up Scootaloo, but there was so much more they could have done.

“Those really were some difficult years for me since I had to not only learn where to find everything out there but also find ponies to sell it all to.  Since Twilight showed up I’ve been rethinking many of my past decisions and I’m spending less time out there.  It’s not like I really need to go through the Everfree as much as I had been since I’ve learned many of its secrets.”  She looked up to see Rarity smiling at her so she let out a resigned sigh.  “Just don’t expect me to start wearing dresses anytime soon.  If I have to wear something I’d rather it be a suit if anything, but since you are being generous and doing this for free then I’ll go along with it.”

Rarity looked surprised for a moment before she frowned and muttered something to herself.  “Really now, even Rainbow Dash doesn’t go that far, although…”  Shaking her head the alabaster unicorn turns her attention back to her friend.  “We should really get together more often even if it’s just for a cup of tea.  Maybe you could join Fluttershy and me at the spa sometime?”

Looking over to see a hopeful grin on her friend’s face, Aegis Flare rolls her eyes before letting a small smile appear on her face.  “I guess I can show up there a bit more often to spend some time with you both.  To be honest I’ve come to enjoy relaxing there even if I only started going there to help with my old injuries.  It probably won’t be as often as you two go but I can set aside some time.”

The two settle into a calm silence as Rarity continues with her examination of Aegis Flare for her Gala dress.  While most designers would have been finished by now; she preferred to get every last detail so that her dresses were not only stylish, but also extremely comfortable as well no matter what the wearer was doing.  While she worked, her ear flicked occasionally as an odd sound floated through the air.  It was only when she paused and paid attention to it that she realized that it was the sound of humming which originated from the other mare in the room.  Rarity paused in her work to listen to the unfamiliar tune as she wondered where it was her friend had learned it.

When Aegis Flare finished the song Rarity chuckled a bit before continuing with her work.  “That was a rather lovely tune, my dear.  I’d love to hear it sung out load sometime but after your accident, well…”

The orange mare looked at her strangely for a moment before her eyes widened and she brought a hoof up to her face.  “Ugh, I was doing it again, wasn’t I?”  On seeing her friends questioning look she sighed before explaining.  “It may sound strange, but sometimes when I lose track of what I’m doing I start humming strange tunes.  I never notice when I’m doing it but my family has never heard anything like them before.  They even called in a doctor once and they had no explanation for it.”

Rarity looks thoughtful for a moment before she smiles and waves a hoof.  “Well darling it was a lovely way to end our little get-together in any event.  I should have everything ready in a couple days in time for our little fashion show.”

Seeing the hopeful look on her friends face really stung Aegis Flare as she had to deny her this simple pleasure.  “Unfortunately I won’t be able to make it, Rarity.  That last big storm that rolled in from the Everfree signaled that the forest has moved around again.  I’ll be gone a week or two checking it all out as well as taking samples for my buyers.  I’ll be sure to stop by as soon as I return though.”

Rarity pouted for a moment before she sighted and waved her friend off.  “It’s fine dear.  If you have to be gone for that long then there’s no point in complaining is there?  Really I was expecting you to fight a bit harder against the whole dress idea in the first place.  I assume that you’ll be having your sister stay with Sweetie Belle again?”

At the orange mares nod she shook her head.  “As much as I enjoy seeing her, I wish that she and Sweetie Belle would make a few more friends.  At least Scootaloo has been able to keep down the number of cooking accidents over the years.”  With that the two part ways with one off into a dangerous environment and the other to provide fashionable wear for her friends.

<><><><><><><>

Aegis Flare plodded her way through town after finally returning from her two week expedition through the Everfree.  Everything had been going fine as she explored the new areas brought into the forest until the last area where she had encountered a nest of giant fire ants in a volcanic region.  That alone had been fine, but throw in a couple rookie guard-stallions that had been following her around and that led to a recipe for disaster.  Having to carry the two of them back after they knocked themselves out made her a bit irritable especially as she had gotten scorched a bit trying to save the two and exterminate the pests before they could spread to the Everfree.

On a hunch she had checked with Pinkie Pie when she got back into town and found out the location of the head guard.  The pink pony's directions led her to an out of the way house on the edge of town that was surrounded by a few others that she hadn't known were inhabited yet.  Knocking on the door of the home that she was directed to she only had to wait a moment before it was answered by a decently muscled gray unicorn stallion.

“I believe these two are yours.”  She turns to the side to reveal the two guards on her back which causes the stallion to smack a hoof over his face.

“Not again.  That's the sixth time one of you mares brought in the guards that were supposed to be keeping an eye on you.”  With a sigh he levitated the two off of Aegis Flare's back and turned back into the house before slamming the door shut again.  This left the mare to stare at the door with a bit of amusement before she shook her head and walked off while wondering who else brought guards to this place.

While making a note to talk with the others sometime later about this she made her way towards Carousel Boutique to meet with Rarity as she promised.  When she arrived she found the alabaster unicorn working on setting up a few ponyquins with some fancy looking dresses.  The orange mare looked them over for a moment before she just shrugged in indifference though she couldn't deny the work that was probably put into them.  “I take it those are the dresses that you made for the others, Rarity?  They don't look too bad.”

Rarity, on hearing the voice, turned around to see that her friend had entered without her noticing and was looking over the dresses.  She did a double-take when she saw the state of her friend's mane causing her to let out a gasp of shock.  “Darling!  Whatever happened to your mane?!”

Aegis Flare reached a hoof up to the end of her braid as she lifted it up to took at the slightly blackened end.  “I had to save a couple idiot guards that were following me around in the Everfree so I was distracted and not paying as close attention as I should have been.  On the plus side I've learned that while I can ignore most flames; lava is something that still burns.”

The alabaster unicorn just stares at her for a moment before she shakes her head and ignores the attempt at humor.  Looking over the dresses once more she moves over to a curtained off area.  “Well since you are here now I can finally show you your dress.  The others have already seen theirs so...”  With a flourish she pulled back the curtain to reveal what was behind it.  “...behold!  Your dress!”

Looking over the dress, Aegis Flare tried to keep an open mind as she didn't want to offend her friend.  On the front of the ponyform  was a piece around the chest with a large topaz in the shape of the shield on her cutie mark that traveled around her front legs to the rest of the dress.  At that point it went around the barrel of the form and from it trailed a shimmer of reds and oranges which looked like flames trailing behind it.  The trim of the dress looked like it was a fur of some type of a deeper red than the rest of the dress.  With the golden shoes she couldn't really complain about how it looked even if it was something she didn't wish to wear.  “It looks good, I guess.”

She knew she said something wrong when Rarity's face fell at her words.  “Is there something wrong with it?  Is it the color?  The shape?  What?  Please don't tell me you're going to do this as well.”

Seeing her frantic look the orange mare brought a hoof up to her head before sighing.  “Rarity?  Compared to you I know nothing about fashion especially since dresses are the last thing I'd choose to wear normally.  I don't see anything wrong with it but if you think it's good then it's good.  Asking me to decide on how a dress should look is like asking your sister to cook a banquet.”

Pausing for a moment she looks around the store for sign of the filly before looking back at Rarity.  “Actually I wouldn't even know what would even be acceptable for the Gala either.  You'd know more about it since you pay attention to the nobles in Canterlot, though Twilight might have some idea as well.”

Rarity winces at those last few words before she mutters something that was just loud enough for the orange mare to catch.  “I wouldn't say that.  Her taste in dress design is terrible.  The others were not much better.”

Aegis Flare looked over at Rarity and gave her a deadpanned look.  “What?”

The fashionista looked a bit embarrassed at being heard like that and she sighs before moving over to another curtained off area and opening it.  Behind it was another set of dresses 
that even Aegis Flare could tell were completely horrible.  “I am ashamed to say these were my second attempt at our friends' dresses using their ideas on what was perfect.  I really would rather not talk about it if you don't mind.”

Looking over the five horrible dresses, Aegis Flare wasn't sure if she should laugh or cry at the disaster they each were.  Looking over at the others she could see why Rarity was worried about what she was thinking and decided to reassure her.  “Rarity , the dress you made for me is fine.  Anything I would decide would just make things worse and I'm pretty sure I mentioned something about a suit last time we talked.”

Rarity thought back to the last time they talked and she remembered that being said and turned down.  She felt relieved that she didn't have to go through what happened with her other five friends another time.  Looking at the orange mare as she looked over her own dress again her gaze kept going to the singed mane and fur as she got an idea.  “Say, since you are here how about you join me at the spa like you said that day?  You obviously need some work done and I can even ask Fluttershy to join us as well instead of when we usually had planned.”

Aegis Flare looks between her mane, the dress, and Rarity before shaking her head with a slight grin.  “I did say that, didn't I.  You know what, that sounds like a good idea.  I could use a bit of pampering after this last week.”
> 15
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Everfree Forest was home to some of the most dangerous things in the world but what few know about it are that there are many wonders as well.  Aegis Flare was one who did know about this from her trips into it and it was from these wonders that she made her living off of.  Though with how often the forest changes it was hard to focus on one thing to sell so she made it her business to keep in touch with a variety of ponies for when she finds things.

She was heading towards one of those contacts with a large load of berries that she had found a new temporary source of.  Walking through Ponyville during the early morning she made her way to a house that was near the park that was marked with a bunch of grapes next to a strawberry.  Knocking on the door she waited until it was answered by a mulberry colored pony with a cutie mark like the on marking the house.  Holding up one of the berries she brought with her she greeted the earth pony.  “Hello again Berry, those berries are back again but this time I hope you could be a bit more careful with them?  It is hard enough cleaning up after Pinkie's party without having to deal with drunken ponies as well.”

Berry Punch grabbed one of the white gooseberry-like objects closely before turning a glare to the orange mare.  “It was only one time!  You make one mistake and nopony ever lets you forget about it.  Of course if you told me that these things were already full of alcohol then that wouldn't have have happened in the first place.”

The unicorn couldn't meet her eyes at this accusation since she did fail to warn her of the potency and in fact wasn't sure what it was in the first place.  “Right, I did forget to do that back then.  Did you ever figure out how much alcohol was actually in these things?  I remember trying one of them after that mess happened and I woke up the next morning trapped under my sink.  It didn't even taste like there was any alcohol in them.”

The earth pony waves her inside and walks back to her pantry area to store the berries while gathering up the bits for payment.  “That is actually the reason why it all happened and if you didn't tell me that you got them from the Everfree I wouldn't have believed what I found.  Whatever is in those berries it's not quite alcohol, but something even stronger.  If I had to guess, whatever is in these is about a thousand proof at the least.”

Letting out a short whistle, Aegis Flare looks at the load of berries with a tad more respect now knowing what they really were.  Looking over the number of berries she had brought she estimated there to be at least fifteen bottles worth of juice which, when adjusted for the content, came out to seventy-five bottles of pure alcohol.  Just in what she had brought was probably enough to get the entire town drunk at the same time.

The mulberry mare brought over a bag of bits as payment as well as another bag with a few berries in it.  “I have a few ideas to try with these now that I know more, but could you please bring these over to Bon Bon at her sweet shop for me?  When I talked with her about them she asked if she could get a couple to see they would work well in some of her candies for adults.”

Aegis Flare took a second to consider the request before nodding in agreement.  She soon found herself on the path towards the center of town while she thought about the mare she was going to meet.  She actually found herself drawing a blank as she couldn't think of anything about the mare other than a few mentions of her from her sister.  She didn't find it especially odd as there were many ponies around town she hadn't met, but she probably knew less about her than anypony else in town.

She found Bon Bon's Sweet Shop easily enough as she had walked by it often enough.  Outside of the building she saw a mint green unicorn mare she recognized as Lyra as she played her lyre, which was drawing some customers into the shop.  Nodding to her as she walked by she made her way into the candy store, taking in the sugary scents as she passed through the doorway.

“Welcome to Bon Bon's Sweet Shop!  I'm Bon Bon and if you need help with anything just let me know.”  Aegis Flare paused as she got a good view of her as something tried to rise out of the back of her mind.  Giving a nod to the mare she looked around to see the variety of candies that were there for sale and made a note to keep a better eye on Scootaloo when she asked to come here or at least schedule more trips to the dentist.

Walking up to the counter she set the bag of berries on the counter while taking a closer look at the mare.  “Berry Punch mentioned that you were wanting to have a few of these to experiment with for some of your candies.”  Bon Bon looked at her for a second before taking a glance inside the bag and gasping at the contents.

“Oh these are going to be perfect!  At least as long as I'm careful to not use an entire berry for a single candy like Berry used the pure juice in a single bottle of her wines.”  This brought an eyeroll from the unicorn as she finally realized why the earth pony looked so familiar, though it was a much younger version of her.

“I already made that joke with her when I dropped off the rest of the berries with her.”  Taking another moment of thought she decided to breach the topic since the mare might know something.  “I'm not sure if you know me but I remember seeing you in a photo with my mother.  It's strange that we haven't crossed paths much but if what I think is true then you might have been working with her.  You do remember Bella Donna, right?”

At the mention of the name of the unicorn's mother, Bon Bon dropped a small jar of candy-coated peanuts causing it to shatter and scatter across the floor.  Hearing the sound the mint unicorn came dashing through the front door to see what happened.  “Bonny are you okay!  What happened, are you hurt?!”

As the mint unicorn was looking over her friend, Bon Bon was looking over at the orange mare with a look of worry as she tried making some gestures with a free hoof.  Seeing the fear in her eyes as she looked  at her friend, though Aegis Flare suspected they might be more, she got the idea that Lyra didn't know.  She glanced down at the spilled candy and glass before motioning to it behind Lyra's back until Bon Bon got the message.  

“Lyra, can you go upstairs and get the broom and dustpan for me?”  Lyra nodded and carefully made her way upstairs while the other two watched her.  As soon as she was out of sight Bon Bon turned towards Aegis Flare with a panicked look.  “Please don't tell her about me and the Captain.  Lyra doesn't know anything about my past job and I want it to stay that way.  I didn't even know that the Captain was in this town until you mentioned her...”  She paused for a moment before glancing to see if her friend was returning yet.  “...How Is she anyways?  I haven't seen her since before the Princess disbanded the Black Guard and scattered its members to protect us.”

Aegis Flare was confused about this as she hadn't heard about the Black Guard being gone, though it did explain a bit of why they weren't sent after that dragon.  “She's been missing for a few years now along with my father.  They were supposed to be on a simple trip to another kingdom but were never heard from again.”

Bon Bon looked surprised about this but she couldn't say anything else as Lyra came down the stairs at that moment.  The two watched as the mare cleaned up the mess but when she finished she looked up to see the two watching her.  “While I don't mind Bon Bon eyeing me, I don't think I've seen you around much for you to be doing that.”  She looked over at the earth pony and smiled at her blush.  “Is she a friend of yours or something that you wanted to invite over for something?”

While Aegis Flare just rolled her eyes at this comment while Bon Bon's face looked as if it was in a furnace.  The orange mare watched as the candy-maker started sputtering at her friend for a moment before she stepped in to diffuse the situation.  “It's nothing like that, I just recognized her from some photos of some of my mother's friends.  It's a bit personal but I was wondering if she had heard from her since she vanished a few years ago.”

The cream colored earth pony shook her head to clear her thoughts before taking up the conversation using that as an opening.  “Well she was more of a teacher than anything back when I lived in Canterlot.  I learned a lot about plants from Mrs Donna and it helped me create some of my better candies.  I didn't even know she was missing or her daughter was even in Ponyville until now.”

Lyra let out an 'oh' of understanding before looking back at the orange mare who was looking over the various candies in the shop.  She took a moment to look over the mare seriously when she recognized where she had seen her before.  “Oh hey, I recognize her now.  She's one of Twilight's new friends here in town, the one that goes into the Everfree all the time.”

Lyra absently used her magic to reach out for something nearby and popped it in her mouth.  The other two mares caught a glimpse of it but neither were fast enough to stop her before she bit down and swallowed the berry.  In horror the two watched as she went from a perfectly sober mare to completely smashed in a matter of moments.  “Oh Lyra, how many times do I have to tell you not to eat the things behind the counter?”

The mint unicorn didn't respond as she was too busy draping herself over her friends as she tried to nibble on Bon Bon.  Aegis Flare wasn't sure whether to be amused or embarrassed about the current outcome, but on glancing around she noticed that the rest of the store was empty and she flipped the store sign to closed.  “Right, I think you might want some time to deal with her so I think I'll head out for now.  You'll probably need some extra time to finish preparing for Nightmare Night as well as well so I guess we'll talk again later?”  Bon Bon couldn't do much more than wave a hoof at her as she tried to fend her friend off with the other which the orange unicorn took as agreement as she left the store.

<><><><><><><>

“Come on sis, hurry up!  We're going to be late!”  Aegis Flare rolled her eyes as Scootaloo tried to hurry her up with assembling her costume.  Looking over she still wondered where her sister had found a rainbow colored wig that looked like Rainbow Dash's mane.  She was glad that she was able to talk her out of using blue paint for her coat and instead got Twilight to do a simple illusion.

Looking into the mirror she examined her own costume of a thestrali noble that she had made from an outfit in her parents closet.  It was almost perfect, though there was something off about it still and if she could just figure it out it would be perfect.  Looking at the holes in the side she was distracted by a sound above her causing her to smile.  “Hey Scoots, how about we bring Scarlett along with us?  It's been a while since we brought her along for a walk and she should be awake for this one, plus she'll be leaving for the winter soon.”

Scootaloo stopped bouncing around for a moment as her ears perked up before turning back towards her elder sister.  “Really?!  Can I actually play with her for a bit?  She's always asleep and I never get to spend time with her since you send me to bed so early all the time.”

With a smile she nods to her younger sister as she makes her way up to the attic.  “Of course, but it will have to wait until after meeting up with my friends.  I think I might be able to get back at Rainbow Dash for some of her pranks finally.”

Her sister got even more excited at the prospect of seeing her idol though she also had a bit of a smirk.  “Great, she's such a cool pet and I bet the other fillies and colts will be jealous.  Also Rainbow Dash is too awesome to fall for a prank like that, she'll see right through it easily.”

Rolling her eyes she glanced over at her sister as she pulled down the stairs to the attic and began climbing them.  Once there she found the one they were talking about hanging from her perch while chewing on a juicy apple.  Seeing her owner, she perked up a bit as the unicorn whispered into one of her ears before nodding with a chittering laugh and climbing under her outfit.

Heading back down the stairs she found her sister waiting for her but she looked confused when her elder sister came down alone.  Before she could voice that confusion her sister waved a hoof.  ”Don't worry Scoots; Scarlett will be meeting us out there once we find my friends.”

With a final check the three head out towards those that they had promised to meet for the night.  Soon they came upon Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack in the town square along with Sweetie Belle, who Scootaloo went over to join.  Looking around the orange unicorn failed to see the other ponies she was expecting, though she was expecting that Fluttershy was in hiding.  “I can probably guess where Fluttershy is, but is Twilight going to be coming?”

Rainbow Dash shook her head before adjusting the helmet of her faux-guard outfit.  “Nah, the egghead is too wrapped up in her books to join us tonight.  I left before she could start lecturing me about what she was reading though.”  The others rolled their eyes at this, though it was hard to tell if it was for what Twilight was doing or Rainbow Dash.  Seeing as they were all there, Aegis Flare took a step forward to join them until she stumbled and fell to her knees.  “Hey Flare, are you all right there?”

The four mares advanced towards the fallen mare, but none of them noticed the small smile on her face though the two fillies were low enough to see it.  As soon as the mares were close enough she gave the signal to her passenger and took a deep breath.  A moment later she threw her head up and hissed at the other four, showing off the fake fangs in her mouth as a pair of wings flew out of the side of her outfit spread wide.  “VAMPONY!”

Three of the mares leaped back in horror at the visage before them before they turned to look at Pinkie Pie who just stood there laughing.  “Oh wowie, that is a great costume Flarie.  How did you get the wings to look so realistic?  Did you get some help from Twilight or something?”

The three looked between the two in confusion until Aegis Flare laughed, drawing all looks towards her.  Those looks soon changed when they saw the movement beneath her clothes as the wings drew back in and started moving down.  Pinkie, being the closest, leaned in to watch as it moved and soon came face to face with a pair of beady eyes attached to a foxish-looking face.  As soon as she got a good view of what was hiding her eyes shrunk to pinpricks as she let out a scream.  “BAT!”

The group watch as the pink mare rapidly backs away and falls headfirst into a barrel leaving her hind legs to continue to flail around.  Shaking her head the orange unicorn moved over to a nearby tree to allow the flying fox on her back an easier time as it flies up to hang from a low hanging branch.  “Well that worked better than I thought with Pinkie, but you can consider us even for that time on the hill, Rainbow Dash.”

Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack all examined the large bat that was hanging from the tree.  Her head looked much like her namesake with a look vaguely resembling a fox which went with her red colored fur.  She was a rather large specimen of her species as well, with a wingspan large enough to look like real wings on a pony when riding on their back, though they were proportioned well for her own body as well.  “Darling?  Where did you get such an interesting creature like that?”

Aegis Flare looked back over towards Rarity as she asked this while pausing in her scratching of behind Scarlett's ear with her magic.  “Huh?  Oh right, I don't think I've introduced any of you to her yet except for Fluttershy.  This is Scarlett, and I found her when she was just a baby during one of my early trips into the Everfree.  Actually it was more like she found me as she got caught in my mane during one of those times that I didn't braid it and I didn't notice until I combed her out.”

She looked at Scarlett affectionately as she remembered back to that day and the confusion she felt when she heard the squeaking sound as she tried to get what she thought was a knot out of her long mane.  “But what is she?  Ah've seen varmints like her stealing mah apples before but nothing like her.”

Glancing over at Applejack she noticed a look of suspicion but quickly reassured the farmer.  “She's a breed of bat called a flying fox.  Fluttershy says that they don't normally live in this area so I think she got caught in one of those strange Everfree storms that bring odd things into it.  While she does eat apples and other fruits I've made sure she understands not to just go stealing from the farmers around here.  She usually just takes the few that are left behind as well as the nectar from flowers.  Actually I think Fluttershy mentioned that flying foxes help pollinate plants a bit and help them grow in other ways.”

She looked up at Scarlett for a moment as she moved over to hang above Scootaloo who was dragging Sweetie Belle closer.  “Actually if she was stealing fruits you probably wouldn't notice anyways since she is only out at night and most of your pests are around during the day.  She is rarely awake during the day which is probably the why none of you didn't know that I had her.”

By this time Pinkie Pie had pulled herself out of the barrel and was hiding behind Rainbow Dash while keeping a close eye on the large bat.  The cyan mare had finally gotten over her shock of the earlier prank as well and was eyeing the creature while being held back by the party pony.  “Yeah, yeah, so you got a cool looking pet.  I can't believe that you actually got me like that though.  I'm supposed to be the one doing the pranking on Nightmare Night, not the one being pranked.”

Shaking her head, Aegis Flare gave one last pat to the bat before sending her to keep an eye on Scootaloo before returning her full attention to the other mares.  “Well shouldn't you be getting on with that since we are all here now?  The night isn't getting any shorter and I'm sure that there are things planned for tonight since Pinkie invited all of us.”  It took a while, made easier after sending the two fillies off with the bat as an escort, but eventually they were able to calm the pink mare down so that she could finally lead them off to what she had planned that night.
> 16
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Tell me again why you need me to be there?”  Aegis Flare looked over at Rainbow Dash as she dragged her through Ponyville towards Sweet Apple Acres.  The pegasus had shown up at her door all excited about something but all the unicorn mare could catch was that she was needed at the apple farm for something.

“No time to explain, just come one!  Applejack won't stand around all day.”  The orange mare just sighed as she was pulled along against her will towards their destination.  She caught sight of some of her friends as they moved through the town, but all she was able to do was wave to them before Rainbow Dash pulled her a bit harder for slowing down.

They soon reached an area on the outskirts of the farm where they found Applejack setting up a line of barrels with some help from Twilight while Spike watched on.  With her chore of fetching the unicorn over, Rainbow Dash moved to help the other two while Aegis Flare moved to stand next to Spike.  “So do you have any idea what is going on here, Spike?  Rainbow Dash just dragged me out here for some reason but wouldn't say why.”

The dragon looks over for a moment before turning back to the scroll he was writing on.  “Oh they are setting up some kind of Iron Pony competition to prove who is the top athlete.  I don't know why they wanted you here, they were whispering to each other before Rainbow Dash just took off and brought you back.”

Aegis Flare just shakes her head until she gets a glimpse of Applejack moving over towards them.  “About time that ya get here.  Are ya ready ta join us for this here Iron Pony competition?”

The unicorn looks confused for a moment before she brings a hoof up to her eyes.  “Really?  That's why Rainbow Dash grabbed me and dragged me through town without saying anything?”

Applejack threw a glare back at the cyan pegasus before turning back with an apologetic smile.  “Sorry about that, I thought that she told ya already and ya agreed already.  Figures that she would fail to mention why she wanted ya here.  She was the one that said that it would be better to have three of us, that it would be more exciting that way and ya were the only one that might be able to stand a chance.”

The two glared at their friend for a moment and the unicorn was about to try and pull out when the rest of their friends showed up.  “This is going to be so amazing!  A three-way battle to end all three-way battles!  Which of these three ponies is the best, proving once and for all who the most athletic pony is in Ponyville!”

With that bit from Pinkie Aegis Flare would have felt bad for trying to pull out and disappoint them.  It didn't mean that she had to like it but she would participate up to a point, though she didn't plan on going all out.  About that time everything was fully set up and the three ponies moved towards the first event that was planned.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash were the first to run the barrel weave course that was set up with times of  22 and 18 second respectively.  Aegis Flare had watched the two closely as they ran the course and she felt that this would be relatively easy as the Everfree had more difficult paths than this.  Taking her place at the starting line she waited for the signal to go and when it was given by Twilight she took off as fast as she reasonably could.  She easily weaved through the barrels without touching them and finished the course easily enough.

Once she had finished her run she took a breath to steady herself before looking towards the group gathered around the stopwatch.  She raised an eyebrow on seeing the shocked looks of the other two competitors as Spike turned the watch towards her.  “16 seconds!  That was amazing, Flare.  Even if Applejack didn't have the penalty you still would have won.”

Rainbow Dash was shocked at the outcome and grabbed the watch to get a closer look at it.  “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!  How did you beat us like that?”

The unicorn took a moment to stretch out her legs again to try and loosen up the kinks in them.  “What?  This is nothing compared to some of the places I've run through in the Everfree while being chased by various beasts.”

The next event with the high striker went to Applejack with no real contest since it was what she did for a living essentially.  When Aegis Flare won the bronco buck by surprising Spike with a back flip, Rainbow Dash was starting to get a bit worried as she was still scoreless and losing horribly to the other two during the lasso contest didn't make things any better for her.

The ball bounce helped her confidence as she took that one easily as she finished it bouncing both her and Applejack's ball, while Aegis Flare worked on getting hers off of her horn.  Applejack took the lead with the hay bale toss bringing the score to 3-2-1 but when they got to the hoof wrestling they ran into a problem.

“So I beat Applejack but lost to Aegis Flare, but then she also lost to Applejack.  How do we score this one when there is no clear winner or loser?”  The three competitors were gathered around Twilight as they tried to figure out how to deal with ties which they didn't plan for in the first place.

“Well there are a few ways we could handle a tie but they all would lead to the same end result.  I'll just split the points since that will probably be the easiest way to do it.”  Twilight writes up set of new signs and adds another peg to the scoreboard before adding a third of a point to each of the competing ponies.

Things continued along until the eleventh event with Applejack at four and a third, Aegis Flare at four and a third, and Rainbow Dash at one and a third.  Aegis Flare dropped out early during the push ups event as as she knew she wouldn't have been able to do well with her old injury being liable to act up.  Applejack and Rainbow Dash were doing equally well as they neared the hundred mark but the unicorn's eyes narrowed when she noticed the pegasus use her wings to beat out Applejack by one push up.

From then on Rainbow Dash used her wings to help her win multiple events, though Aegis Flare managed to turn the tables on her a couple times by going last or by her skills being well-suited for the events.  By the time the three got to the last event the score was five for Applejack, six and a half for Aegis Flare, and seven and a half for Rainbow Dash.  Aegis Flare had no chance during the final event, the tug-of-war, since her legs had worn out by that time.  That left the contest to both Rainbow Dash and Applejack but with the use of her wings it easily went to the pegasus giving her the final win with eight and a half points.

While the two overly-competitive ponies argued with each other, Aegis Flare sat down next to Twilight who was finishing up taking a few notes on the event.  “You know if it wasn't for her wings I'm pretty sure Applejack would have won.  Though I'm not sure how it would all have turned out if all things were equal.  No magic, no wings, and no enhanced earth pony abilities.”

Twilight looks thoughtful for a moment before she looks between the three competitors as if comparing something.  “Hmm, that would be an interesting question, but who knows how much of your strength would also be lost if you lost your magic or if Rainbow Dash lost hers.  But just from what you three have been doing for your jobs it would probably be between you and Applejack.  Rainbow Dash would be at a disadvantage since she uses her wings for just about everything.”

Taking a moment to consider this, Aegis Flare eventually nods at her analysis of the situation.  Her attention is drawn towards Applejack and Rainbow Dash as they come to some sort of agreement.  She feels a bit apprehensive about this as the last time they made a decision they dragged her into this situation in the first place.  Rainbow Dash came flying towards her as she separated from the farmer and paused for a moment.  “Hey Flare, we'll finish this once and for all during the Running of the Leaves.”

The unicorns watched as she took off in the direction of her cloud house while they watch before they turn to each other.  Aegis Flare just sighs before a hoof moves into her face.  “Right, they did it to me again.”

<><><><><><><>

The day of the Running of the Leaves came and many of the ponies of Ponyville had gathered to run in it and even a few from elsewhere.  Aegis Flare had arrived and signed up, getting number fifty-five, and was looking around for the others that were supposed to be there for the race.  She had looked everywhere but it wasn't until she went to the starting line that she actually found them.

At that moment Rainbow Dash was laughing so hard about something that she was collapsed on the ground.  “What's so funny?”

“Pff, Ms Egghead here thinks that she can run in the race just because she read a book all about it.”  While Rainbow Dash was laughing; Aegis Flare took a moment to look over them all before saying anything.  Her eyes glazed over the ropes that Rainbow Dash was wearing to pin her wings down and focused on Twilight.  Thinking back to the talk she had with Rarity she looked over the muscles in Twilight's legs with a discerning eye.

While they were covered with a layer of fat she could see a bit of muscle beneath it all and from what she could tell she was in decent shape.  Since she knew that Twilight only recently learned to reliably teleport then that meant she had to walk everywhere in Canterlot which meant lots of stairs and hills.  Her observations were stopped when the whistle signaling the start of the race sounded out and she looked around in shock as the racers took off without her.

After recovering she took off herself but slowed up a bit when she came upon Twilight following along at the far back of the herd at a slow pace.  Seeing this she almost stopped again but it made her think again about why she was even here and she decided to just throw the whole race idea away.  “Hey Twilight, mind if I join you?”

The purple unicorn looked back to to her friend coming up from behind her and nodded in response.  “Of course, but shouldn't you be catching up with AJ and Rainbow?  You are supposed to be racing them, aren't you?”

Before she could reply she spotted a familiar figure on the ground ahead of them which she nodded towards.  “I'm thinking that it won't be that big of a problem with how overly competitive they are.  I'd rather not get caught up in it any more than I already have.”

Taking o moment to pause by Applejack and point out how silly she was being the two unicorns returned to the race while watching the earth pony run at high speeds.  Seeing that Twilight had lost the rhythm that she had set by stopping, Aegis Flare subtly increased the pace that they were moving at initially.  While taking in the scenery the orange unicorn decided to distract her even more with some small talk.  “So how have you been settling into Ponyville these last couple months?  It's been a couple weeks since I've heard about any explosions coming from the library so I'm assuming you're doing well?”

Twilight threw a glare at her but its effect was lessened by the light blush on her muzzle.  “None of those were my fault, I keep telling Spike to stop slamming the door open but he never listens.  I've had to start sealing everything down whenever I leave, and when I'm down there I'm distracted by the chance that he'd enter just so I'm ready to catch them.”

Glancing over the orange unicorn thought back to some of the things that her mother kept in the basement.  She remembered her having many vials and beakers scattered around, but she remembered that anything that was open was secured to the walls by brackets.  “Why don't you just add brackets and bolt it all down so that nothing is disturbed when he does that?  My mom always had dangerous things in her basement lab locked down like that and I thought that was the common safety procedures.”

The librarian stumbled for a moment as the idea had never occurred to her but made perfect sense.  “I can't believe I never thought of doing that.  But what why did your mother have a lab anyways?”

Aegis Flare thought for a moment but decided there was no reason to hide anything from her friend.  “Well you already knew that she was one of the Black Guard leaders, but I never did mention what they did.  From what she told me she worked mainly as a diplomatic messenger to the most dangerous areas but when diplomacy didn't work she had to rely on her talent.  She specialized in making poisons and she branched out from there over time, hence the lab.”

The two were forced to halt their conversation as they came upon the fallen figure of Rainbow Dash who wasn't taking her spill as well as Applejack was.  After she ran off to catch up the two looked at each other and shook their heads, while the pace they were running was increased yet again.  “I am so glad I decided not to try and keep up with them.  I really didn't like the look in her eyes there.”

Twilight nodded in agreement but didn't say anything else about it.  Instead she turned her attention to the forest around them as they passed by.  “It is really quite beautiful out here.  You just don't get views like this up in Canterlot, at least up close like this.  I can only imagine the type of things you've seen out in the Everfree Forest, things that nopony has ever seen before.”

Thinking over her many trips into the Everfree she could point out many things that she had never heard of before, but more often than not those things involved danger in some way.  “Well you aren't wrong about that, but there are times when seeing them were barely worth it after nearly being killed.  One such place I helped an archeologist find on accident; thinking about it she reminds me of Rainbow Dash in a way.  In the end we found some of the most unbelievable things those few days, but there are many things I would like to forget about, especially since nopony else remembers it.  The Everfree is one of the most dangerous places in the world for a reason, though the edges of it are pretty tame compared to the deeper sections and it's all most ponies know about.”

While she wasn't overly specific about what she had seen it was still enough to give Twilight something to think about.  After finding Rainbow Dash standing suspiciously at a fork in the road, along with another increase in the unicorns' pace, she finally was able to form a response.  “Just how far in do you have to go into the forest before it becomes as dangerous as you say?  After our trip to the Castle of the Two Sisters I've been wondering about why the place was so dangerous since everything we saw was because of Nightmare Moon.”

Aegis Flare frowned as the thought back to then.  “Other than the manticore you mean.  Those and timberwolves are generally the worst of the creatures on the borders of the forest with a few rarities like hydras and the celestial beasts.  You don't get to the worst of the place until you go in about as far as the castle is, though that place is an exception as everything within thirty minutes on hoof is the same for some reason.”

Looking ahead she notices that they are nearing the end of the race and nudges Twilight.  “Looks like we are almost to the end Twilight.  Are you ready for the final sprint to to the end?”  At her nod the two take off at top speed, though Aegis Flare holds back to keep pace with Twilight, and soon start passing the other racers that had started falling behind the main group already.

Soon enough the two found themselves in the front of them all and steadily pulling ahead as they still had plenty of energy to spare while the rest were tiring.  As they neared the finish line, Aegis Flare noticed something waiting just past it which appeared to be in a basket.  She also noticed a filly and a young mare standing next to it, and when she recognized just who they were her gaze immediately focused on the basket again as she now knew what it was and her eyes shrunk to pinpricks.  “Oh Celestia, no.”

Twilight looked over at her in confusion, but that didn't last long as the two were sent head over hooves as a gray blur plowed right through them and across the finish line with them just behind.  “And out of nowhere comes Derpy for the win!  In second is Aegis Flare with Twilight Sparkle just a nose behind in third.”  Spike announces the the next few racers as well but the two were busy climbing to their hooves again while looking over at the mare that had bowled them over as her daughters were hugging her.

“You know, I'd almost call that cheating but I'd rather not have Dinky pouting at me for saying something like that.  I don't know how she does it but I have never seen a filly pull off the cute face like she can.”  Twilight nods in agreement as she had a couple run-ins with her on days when she helped her mother.  Looking around the two try and find where Applejack and Rainbow Dash went off to when they heard Spike and Pinkie announcing their antics as they come into view on the race track.

Sharing a look, the two unicorns shake their heads as they go to collect their second- and third-place prizes. Once they have their silver and bronze trophies they move towards the finish line to meet with the final two racers as they finally finish with Rainbow Dash asking who won after they learned they came in last.  “It sure took you two long enough, did you get lost or something?”

The two gaped in shock as they stared at the trophies on the backs of the unicorns but Aegis Flare wasn't done yet.  “Of course Derpy managed to beat us right at the end.”  Rainbow Dash completely froze up at that but she facehoofed at the reason.  “I sometimes think that there isn't anything she can't do if there are muffins involved.”
> 17
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I really love the early months of winter.  So many of the dangerous animals are hibernating, I can get a lot of practice refining my fire magic to keep myself warm, and the air smells so crisp and clean.”  Aegis Flare inhales deeply through her nose as she takes in the scents of the environment around her before she starts hacking up a storm as a foul scent reaches her.  Once she recovers she covers her nose with a hoof as she looks around in confusion.

“Ugh, what in the world is that stench?  If it wasn't for it being winter I would have thought something had died.”  Digging through her bags she pulls out a strip of cloth to wrap around her muzzle before she adjusts her goggles and starts searching for the source of the smell.  With how clear the air is of all other scents it doesn't take long to find the source and she looks around with a bit of wonder.

“Well this is an interesting find.  I think this might be the perfect place to bring Scootaloo for our little winter trip.  I think I know a few others that would enjoy this place as well.”  She would be a poor sister if she didn't thoroughly examine the area for danger but the smell seemed to have driven off most of the wildlife that would still be active.  Looking over the area she found nothing that was overly dangerous, though she made sure to mark a couple areas as unsafe for those not prepared.

As she was about to leave she made one last walk around the place and found a depression that she had missed before.  As she started to walk down into it she was thrown back as her warming spell, which she didn't think to turn off when entering the warmer area, reacted with something in the air causing a small explosion.  Once she recovered from the shock wave she let out a little cough before looking back into the depression.  “Right, better mark that area as well so that I remember to check it out again when I return.”

<><><><><><><>

“Darling, is this surprise really worth all this trouble climbing through all the snow through this horrible place?  Not to mention those horrible monsters that came after us.”  Rarity looks back behind herself at the remains of the timberwolves that had tried to intercept their party.  Twilight was also looking at them but was doing so with a more disturbed and slightly queasy look.

“And did you really have to go that far with them?  I know that timberwolves are a menace and you don't like them but was it necessary to outright kill them like that?”  Aegis Flare just rolled her eyes as she checked over Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle after the attack before letting them climb up on her back again.

“If it was that easy to kill them then there wouldn't be any anywhere close to Ponyville by now.  I'm not even sure what it would take to do that to one of these things.  Give it a week or two and whatever is animating these things will make it's way back to their den and into a new body.  Fighting them inside the den is even worse as they are back nearly instantly so you'll have an unstoppable tide of them.  And for the surprise I'm pretty sure you'll be happy with it.”  They all look thoughtful as they consider her words when Scootaloo's ears perk up a bit.

“SO wait, those could have been the same ones that... well...”  She motioned her hoof towards her sister's scars and while she couldn't see the motion she still understood what she was referring to.

“It's possible, but if they are the same ones then I wonder about how intelligent they actually are since they keep coming after me.  It's not often that I meet anything during the early winter months so there shouldn't be anything worse than those between Ponyville and our destination.”  She moved to the head of the group once again and used her magic to form a barrier to part the worst of the snow as they moved.  While it made it extremely easy to walk through the forest it still left enough for Rarity to complain about.

A short period later they started nearing the area where the orange mare was leading them and the first signs of it was revealing itself.  “Eww, what is that smell?  It's like something died.”

Scootaloo nodded at Sweetie Belle's words and added her own comment.  “Yeah, it's even worse than Sweetie's cooking.”

“Hey!”  Two of the adults chuckled at this, leaving Twilight a bit confused, as they had experienced the filly's lack of culinary abilities.

“What is that smell anyways?  I haven't smelled anything like that since Twilight was on a week long study binge during the summer and she forgot to clean up or eat one of her earliest breakfast.”  Twilight turned her head to glare back at her dragon assistant with a faint hint of a blush as she couldn't deny it.  She then turned to look at Aegis Flare, along with all the others, waiting for an answer.

“It just means we are almost there now.  At least there is a breeze this time so that the gas doesn't build up to levels like when I found it.”  The two adults and three younglings look at her strangely as they don't understand why this makes a good surprise for them.  As they continue to walk the smell steadily gets stronger and they try to figure out where it is they are going, though something tickles at the back of the minds of the other two adults.

A few minutes later Aegis Flare pushed back a bit of brush and smiled at what she saw.  “Here we are now.  The surprise just like I told you about.”

Stepping through the enshrouding greenery she stepped aside so that the others could move through to get a good view of the place.  They all take in the view of the many pools scattered around the place, many of the m with steam coming off of them, along with the yellowish terrain that went with them.  Scootaloo leapt off of her sister's back and trotted over to get a closer look at one of the pools before turning back with a look of confusion.  “This is the surprise?  A bunch of hot muddy pools?”

While Aegis Flare rolls her eyes at her sister's comment the others take a better look around the area.  “These are hot springs, aren't they?  Sulfur hot springs to be exact judging by the smell and the color of the geography.  But how can this be out here like this and aren't there usually clouds of hydrogen sulfide in places like this?”

All heads turned towards Twilight in confusion, though a light of understanding came to the orange unicorn's eyes a few moments later.  “It's an issue with the Everfree Forest, somehow places like this appear from nowhere and stay for a few months before being sent off elsewhere again.  You did mention an interest in some of the sights out here and this is a pretty safe example.  Though if that gas you mentioned is what I think it is...”  Looking around for a moment to orient herself she lit her horn and launched a small ball of fire in the direction of where she last had an issue, much to Twilight's shock.  When a small cloud of flames erupted from the depression that had gathered up some more gas again the other looked at it with wide eyes before turning back to the unicorn.  “...It should be clear now again, though I've marked the dangerous areas that I've found that you should be careful around, especially the more dangerously hot pools.”

The others look over towards one of the marks in the distance that she indicated while looking a bit wary.  “Well this place sure is interesting darling, but why would you think that I would want to have anything to do with a place like this?”

Aegis Flare raised an eyebrow at her friend before looking around the place again.  “Well it may be lacking the usual comforts you would prefer but I'm sure that you can't deny the benefits of a natural spring like this.  I remember seeing quite a few magazines on them at the spa that I'm sure you've also read through.”

Rarity looked around a bit and noticed her sister and Scootaloo had already moved into one of the nearby pools and were already splashing each other in play.  Her main focus though was on the lack of the comforts she would have expected at a resort spring as well as how everything looked.  “Well I have been wanting to try out one sometime.  I just didn't expect for the first one I have a chance to go to to be so... filthy.”

The white unicorn moves over to the pool that the two fillies were playing in and dipped a hoof into the water before examining it closely.  While she was doing this the two fillies were whispering to each other while glancing at her.  “No you do it, it was your idea.  Besides my sister would kill me if I ruined her mane like that.”

Rolling her eyes, Scootaloo turned her back towards the prissy unicorn and slowly backed up through the water towards her.  When she was close enough she started to buzz her wings rapidly before leaning back for them to dip into the water.  Rarity's ears perked up at the sound of the buzzing and when she looked up her eyes shrunk to pinpricks as a wave of water washed over her, flattening her mane.  The laughter of the two fillies drew the attention of the rest of the group to see Rarity standing there soaked with her eye twitching to which they backed away from.

“Oh It.  Is.  ON!”  At these words the eyes of the fillies widen as Rarity takes a running start before diving in after them to get her revenge.  The other two unicorns just watch in amusement as the three splash around while Spike just shakes his head while he builds up a small fire in a safe area for cooking a meal.  Shaking their heads, Twilight moved off a distance to examine some of the rock formations while the other unicorn found another pool a distance away to relax in while the other three had it out.

Eventually they calmed down and Rarity joined the other unicorn in her pool while the fillies rested elsewhere with the lunch the dragon had prepared.  Spike himself was busy hovering over his crush as he served her personally with the various tidbits he had brought for her.  “I guess this isn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Once you get past the smell it is really quite comfortable here.  I wonder if Aloe and Lotus can somehow make something like this at the spa.”

Aegis Flare opened her eyes a bit as she glanced over at Rarity before closing them while keeping her head resting on the edge of the pool.  “Well I did bring them a few samples to look at so they might have something  soon.  I think that they use a bit of sulfur in some of their mud bath treatments already but there could be something different about the stuff here.  It wouldn't be the worst thing I've had to carry but I'd still have to be careful with the raw sulfur since it can be a bit flammable.”

Their conversation was interrupted by a shout of pain from the other unicorn in the area causing them to look over at her in shock to see her rubbing at the base of her horn.  “Twilight!  What happened?  Are you all right?”

The purple unicorn looked over at her friends and feebly waved a hoof at them in reassurance.  “I'm fine, but I'm not sure what just happened.  Everything was fine when I was scanning the area but when I tried to use a more powerful spell there was a backlash from the mana field in the area.”  She paused in her rubbing to focus her attention on the local expert of the Everfree.  “Flare, have you ever had any problems with it in the entire time that you've been out here?”

The orange mare looks thoughtful, though with a hint of confusion, as she thinks back through all her experiences.  “I don't think I've ever had any problems with my magic out here, but what exactly is this mana field?”

Twilight and Rarity stare at her in shock, before the purple mare brings her other hoof up to her face.  “Right, right, the whole spellblind thing.  I didn't think it went so far as to prevent you from drawing in the ambient magic as well.”  She pauses for a moment before her eyes narrow at the orange mare.  “Hold on, if you can't access the field, then that means everything you've done has been with your own personal energy.”

Rarity's eyes widen as the implications of that hit her and she turns to stare at the mare next to her.  Aegis Flare just shrugs her shoulders at all this and goes back to relaxing again.  “It's probably not as impressive as you think.  Seeing as I only can do the two things with my magic they have steadily gotten easier over time.  It's not any different from how other unicorns struggle with levitation at first until they can do it effortlessly, is it?”

Twilight was about to respond to the question but she stopped to think more deeply on the question for a moment.  “Well theoretically it would work like that, but I don't think anypony has taken the time to truly study the effects of constant use of the same spells.  But even so it would still take a lot of power to do some of the things that you've done.”

Still not fully understanding their reactions to this information, Aegis Flare just yawns a bit before chewing on a sandwich that Spike had made.  “It's really not that much really.  It took almost everything I had to distract that Ursa that one day, and you remember what happened when I tried to block Nightmare Moon's attack.”

Rolling her eyes and letting out a sigh of exasperation, Twilight decides to drop the issue for now but adds a note to one of her lists to look into it later.  After putting the scroll away she remembers that she had tried to check on this before but was forced to wait then as well.  Looking around she doesn't see anything else that she can check on without having more tools so she joins the others in the hot spring.  “Still, you could have at least gave me a hint that you were taking us out here so I could have brought a few more instruments with.  There is only so much I can do with just magic and the interference of the Everfree's mana field makes most of those option impossible.”

She was surprised to get a chuckle out of her friend with that comment who quickly answered her questioning look.  “Well if I did tell you then you wouldn't take the chance to relax.  You really need to get out of the library more than you do.  I think Pinkie was planning some things as well to get you out more as well.”

This information left Twilight with a look of worry but when she looked to Rarity for confirmation she didn't get any reassurance.  Sighing the purple unicorn settled down in a comfortable spot on the side of the pool and relaxed as much as she could, though the heat of the pool soaking in pushed her further than she intended.  The three mares dozed off and when they came to it was much too late to head back to town.

It wasn't too hard for them to clear away an area for them to camp out at and with the heat of the springs they didn't need more than a light covering which both Rarity and Aegis Flare had available in their saddlebags that would serve for the purpose.  After the sun went down and the others had fallen asleep, Aegis Flare laid on her back, with her sister asleep on her chest, as she stared at the stars above them.

The day had gone much better than she expected and she had never thought that she would be able to show others the things she found out here until the events of the Summer Sun Celebration had occurred.  Before she drifted off to sleep herself she decided to keep an eye out for more opportunities like that as she found enjoyment in seeing the looks on her friends' faces at seeing the place even if it was a simple place compared to some of the things she had seen.

<><><><><><><>

The winter months always went by slowly so when the end of winter came around Aegis Flare was itching for something to do.  It was always a pain trying to push through the snow even if she would just melt a path in front of her and three months of working like that was two too many for her.  She had woken up early to survey the borders of the Everfree as had been her job since the timberwolf attack two years prior.  It was only then that she had learned that her parents had always dealt with organizing an emergency response group in case of problems like that or injuries during the days of Winter Wrap-up.

After a quick look and not seeing any obvious signs of predators on the borders of the forest she headed back into town to meet with the others in her group.  This year there were five of the town's pegasus guards on lookout duty along with nurses Redheart and Tenderheart who answered to Doctor Horse as the medical crew.  Once their position were set out they all moved to their positions with her in a position around the middle of the line bordering the Everfree so she could react in any direction as needed.

It actually looked to be a boring day for her as there were no disturbances from the Everfree for the first half of the day.  Reports from the guards told her much the same which was fine with her as it meant that there was less chance of injuries if nothing showed up.  She was considering having one of them gather lunch for them all when she noticed a pair of purple Ponyvillians walking towards her.  “Hey Twilight, what brings you out this far from the town?”

Twilight looks around the area questioningly but sees nothing that she was expecting to see.  “I was about to ask you the same thing.  Shouldn't you be helping out with Winter Wrap-up Day with all the others?”

Aegis Flare cocked her head to the side a bit until she realized that Twilight must not know much about how the day worked around here.  “I'm part of the towns emergency response team, Twilight.  With the season changing like this some of the creatures of the Everfree get worked up and can make their way into town.  My parents started it up when they were here and I've taken over this side of it once I realized it was here a couple years back.  A boring day is what I hope for but if something happens I need to be somewhere that I can be reached easily so I can't run around doing other things to help out.”

The purple prodigy gains a look of understanding before she looks around and sighs in disappointment.  “So you probably don't need any help out here then, do you?

Aegis Flare just shakes her head in response.  “Not really.  It's pretty much an unofficial position and if anything does happen where I need help there are five pegasi ready to race into town for backup.”

With a disappointed sigh her friend nods and turns to head back into town leaving the orange mare to her period of boredom.  That entire day ends up like that with the only real break being a report of an accident out near the fields.  She was actually pleasantly surprised when things wrapped up on time this year allowing her team an early respite from the tedium that was building up that year.
> 18
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Come on!  Why do I have to go to Diamond Tiara's cute-ceañera when I can't even stand her?”  Scootaloo sat at the family dining table as she pouts at her sister after having heard about having to go to the other filly's party.  With all that the pink filly had teased her with over the years she wasn't very enthusiastic about the coming day.

“So you just want to leave Sweetie Belle to deal with her all alone?  I know that Rarity is going to be there since the Rich family is one of her best customers.  Besides it's a Pinkie party and her family is paying for all of it.  At least she's paying for everything so you might as well have fun with it.”  Scootaloo didn't look happy with this reasoning as she continued to pout at not being allowed to skip it.

“Are you sure that you aren't making me go just because you also work with her father as well?  I mean you do sell a lot of that stuff you find to him.”  Aegis Flare turned from what she was doing to look at her sister with a raised eyebrow before shaking her head at her.  As she turns back she thinks on how much her sister doesn't want to go and rethinks the idea of making her go.  In the end she comes up with a compromise that could go either way.

“How about this then.  That morning I'm going to stop over at Twilight's so she can finally get some of that research done she's been wanting to do with my magic.  After being around her these past few months there is no telling how long it'll take and might last through the party.  So if that does happen then you can skip out on the party, but if she somehow manages to finish in time then you'll still have to go.”  Scootaloo frowns as she considers this trying to find a problem with the offer.  She would rather have a solid decision but after hearing some of the stories about the librarian she knew it was likely that she would take up a lot of time and this was probably the best chance she would get to miss the party.

“Fine, if there isn't any other way of getting out of it.  At least I'll be able to spend a bit more time with you since you always seem to be gone.  When are you heading over to Twilight's place anyways?”  Aegis Flare pauses for a moment as her sister's words hit her and she promises herself to spend more time with her when she can since she isn't going into the Everfree as much as usual.  It was hard for her to balance out her work with being with her sister over the years but without their parents it was hard getting everything her sister needed.  When she thought about it she was really drawing a blank as to who her friends were beyond Sweetie Belle.

“I was actually getting ready to head over now.  And you're right, I haven't been around enough though it's getting better at least.  Making friends with those six really made me step back and think on what I've been doing instead of just doing the same old thing.  Speaking of, you've actually been in town this whole time yet I don't think I've heard you speak about any foals other than Sweetie Belle.  Why is that?”  She got her answer as the young pegasus started sputtering and avoiding her gaze before she darts towards the door.

“I'll race you to Twilight's, sis.  We don't want to keep her waiting now.”  The elder sister just shakes her head and looks on as the younger one takes off towards the library where everything had started with her friends.  Gathering up her things she moves to follow her when she pauses as an idea hits her involving a certain dragon that could do with a few friends his own age as well.  With the idea implanted in her mind she gathered up the few things she was taking with her into a small pouch before following after her sister towards the tree library.

Once she arrived it didn't take long for the orange mare to find herself forced into a chair in Twilight's basement attached to a machine that she had no idea how to work.  While she was expecting to go through some sort of examination she would have liked to have at least been given a greeting before being whisked away and strapped in to the chair.  Twilight was so focused on what she was doing that she didn't even notice that Scootaloo was also in the basement and was exploring the area.  That wouldn't be so bad with her sister there but with how she was strapped in she couldn't keep an eye on her when she moved behind her forcing her to use other means to keep track of her.

“Scoots, don't play with that.  I'd rather not have to deal with having to run from yet another explosion down here.”  The filly jerked her hoof away from the bubbling glass containers and rolled her eyes at her sister when she noticed that she wasn't even watching her.  As she turned to move away she wasn't paying attention to her surrounding as her tail impacted with another sealed container sending it rocking.  Before it could fall over though Aegis Flare contained it with a barrier before setting it back where it was.

“How about you go upstairs and do something with Spike instead of poking around down here?  Maybe there are some comic books or magazines for your scooter up in the library to occupy your time with since you seem so bored down here.”  The filly looked apologetic when she noticed her sister stop the object from falling before she nodded and rushed upstairs again to avoid any potential punishment.  Through all this Twilight was watching with interest as she didn't see the elder sister look back even once but seemed to know exactly what was happening.

“How did you know what she was doing behind your back like that?  You never turned your head at all and I don't see anything that you could have used like a mirror yet you knew what she was doing and precisely used your magic to stop something from falling.”  Before the orange unicorn could respond there was a crashing sound from upstairs, followed by a few rapid fire thumps.  Her ears twitched a few times before she sighed and looked towards Twilight.

“That would be the sound of my sister knocking over a smaller shelf of books, followed by Spike losing his balance on a ladder as he was putting away a stack of books.  Scootaloo is now heading over to help him up,” she paused as another loud thump sounded from above, “and there goes that unicorn bust that you keep on the table up there.”  Twilight just stares at her as she describes all this before she sneaks upstairs to peek out the door to verify what she said.  When she sees that what was described appeared to be exactly what happened she looked back towards the other mare in shock.  “What?  These ears aren't just for decoration you know.  It would actually be hard to tell that I was even adopted if you saw me with my parents.”

Twilight stares at the thestral-like ears thoughtfully as she moves back to look over her notes again.  “I did forget that you mentioned how good your hearing was before, but I didn't realize that it was that good.  There really hasn't been many studies on ponies that are a hybrid of tribes so I didn't expect your hearing to be as good as a full-blooded thestral.  Are there any other thestral traits that you have you never mentioned before?”

The other unicorn just shakes her head at this after thinking back for a moment.  “There is nothing that I know of, though I can't say if my voice would have been able to copy their echolocation since those timberwolves ruined my voice.  I probably never would have known how good my hearing was if it wasn't for my father since I always heard him coming home at night while my mother never heard him.  In fact not many hybrids with thestral traits would know what they could do considering how their society is.  I only have been able to keep in touch with one of my aunts on his side since the rest of his family looks down on him for marrying a unicorn.  They are more traditions to such an extreme that any ponies that fall outside of them get shunned.”

Twilight grimaces when she hears this information before she sighs.  “I can't believe that there are still ponies like that in the more modern times.  I mean I get Ponyville's tradition of not using magic for certain events like Winter Wrap-up but to actively ostracize ponies just for being a bit different just feels wrong.”  Silence falls over the room for a moment before the purple librarian clears her throat while disconnecting the orange mare from the machines..

“Anyways I think that's about all the information I can get with just these.  Some of the readings are almost non-existent but that is most likely due to your inability to read unicorn runes.  There are a couple that are abnormally high, one of them which looks familiar for some reason, so there are a couple practical exercises I would like you to try while wearing this.”  Twilight levitates a ring connected to wires onto Aegis Flare's horn before bringing out a few dense balls of metal of varying sizes.  She considers them for a moment before sliding the largest one forward and pulling out a new scroll.

“All right then, just start channeling your magic into this and this machine will record how much you use and estimate your personal mana reservoir.  Since you can't access the natural mana field like most unicorns I'm not sure what to expect.”  Aegis Flare eyed the metallic ball before tapping it with a hoof before looking back at Twilight.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?  You do remember what form my magic can take, right?”  Twilight just waves off her concerns with a hoof as she focuses intently on the machine.

“Oh nothing should go wrong.  They're made of a highly magic resistant material and I doubt that you can do anything to damage it.”  With a sigh Aegis Flare shakes her head before focusing on the orb and pouring her magic into it.  She held back a bit at first but when she had to struggle to maintain her focus she closed her eyes and started trying harder.  As she increased the amount of power she was forcing into the orb it started to get easier as if the resistance was fading.

With Aegis Flare's eyes being closed and Twilight being totally focused on the machine, neither of them saw that the ball of metal was starting to turn a brighter color than the dull gray that it originally was.  It steadily moved from the dull gray to a rosy color and eventually a bright golden color, causing the ground below it to start to smolder.  Both of the mares realized that something was wrong at around the same time as Twilight caught the scent of something burning and the pressure holding Aegis Flare back suddenly ceased as the ball started to melt.

“Ack!  Flare, stop!  Too much power, too much power!  Where's the water at!”  As the orange mare stopped channeling her magic into the object Twilight started darting around looking for something to douse the sphere with before it could cause too much damage as small fires began to spring up around it.  Aegis Flare just sighed and shook her head as she focused on a spell that she didn't like using as it was overly draining for some reason.  Twilight froze in place when her gaze passed over her friend to see her suddenly shoot a stream of water from her horn, putting out the fires and rapidly cooling the metal causing a cloud of steam to form.  Once the steam cleared she noticed that the other mare had collapsed to the ground panting from her exertion.

“How did you do that?  I thought that your magic was limited only to spells involving fire and your barriers?”  The panting pony just lay there for a few more seconds before she struggled to her feet and started walking over towards the pouch of things she had brought to the library and started digging around.  Twilight started to look impatient as she was apparently being ignored though her eyes widened when she saw the other mare pull out a vial of silvery liquid and quickly downed it before turning back to her looking a bit rejuvenated.

“Oog, I really hate having to do that spell, it never feels right.  I did mention that I've done that spell before and, while originally it was because of poison joke, I remembered how it felt and found that I could still cast it even though it drains me quickly.  And what is that look for?”  While she explained; Twilight just stood there with her mouth agape looking at the empty vial that was still sticking out of the pack.  It isn't until a hoof is waved across her vision that she is able to recover with a shake of her head.

“Did you just drink a vial of liquid mana without even stopping to think about it?  Do you know how much it costs even for a small amount like what you used?  I could probably replace everything in my lab with just three of those!”  Aegis Flare raises an eyebrow at this as she reaches into her pack and pulls out a brace of a dozen, minus one, more vials of liquid mana.  As she looks them over Twilight's jaw drops in shock over seeing such a valuable commodity just being casually handled.

“Huh, I didn't know these were worth that much.  It explains why the formula for creating them was written in code in my mother's logbook for her potion brewing.  I never thought to try and sell them when I found out exactly what they were for as well as how hard it was to make them.  I try to make as much as I can at one time as counting out individual grains of ingredients is a bit nerve-wracking since that one grain can be the difference between a good potion and an explosion waiting to happen.”  Twilight's jaw just opens and closes soundlessly for a few moments before she just sighs and shakes her head in exasperation before she mutters to herself.

“One of these days you'll have to show me all the things you find in the Everfree and what you do with them.”  Looking over the most recent printouts she does a few mental calculations before she raises an eyebrow at what she finds.  “Anyways thanks that that little accident and the data recorded from it I think I have a good idea on where you are.  Your personal mana pool is one of the largest I've seen outside of the guard and university; easily within the top fifth percentile of unicorns.  What is odd are the fluctuations I'm seeing when you were actively casting.”

Twilight pauses as she glares at the small stack of three books that she had sitting on a nearby table before going back to the readouts.  “I would like to say that this is because of your condition but I couldn't find much on spell blindness and the effects thereof.  The last documented case was over fifty years ago and even then it was mostly done as a side note.”

She looked thoughtful for a moment before turning towards the orange mare.  “In fact what you've done has already proven many of the assumptions of your condition completely wrong.  You never should have been able to even use that water spell but you still managed to do so just because of an accident with poison joke.”

The purple pony ends her rant with a sigh as she shakes her head.  “So many answers but now there are even more questions which need tools that I don't have here.  I have a hypothesis with how some of your magic works but without a deep scan at a high end hospital I can't confirm anything.”

Twilight lets out a huff of disappointment as she looks over all the information that she had gathered as she blocked out the world around her again.  The other unicorn just watched her for a moment before she shakes her head as the purple mare goes through everything for what looks like the third time.  Her ears twitch as a sound of scuffling catches her attention and she turns her head towards the door as it opens revealing both Spike and Scootaloo.

“Come on, you don't really have to tell them do you?”

“Yes, Twilight told me to tell her and if I don't I'll be the one dealing with her and not you.  Hey Twi!  It's about time for the party Pinkie was setting up.”  Scootaloo sat back with a grumpy look on her face as Twilight's attention was pulled away to look upstairs in confusion.  A look of realization crosses her face as she looks towards a clock in the room as it hits five past the hour and her eyes widen.

“No no no no!  I'm going to be late!”  After a small whirlwind of motion she quickly organizes all the paperwork she was holding for later before she sprints upstairs and out the door as Aegis Flare hears it soon slamming open.  The two sister's look at each other for a moment before turning towards Spike who had a hand over his face.

“She forgot that she set that clock ten minutes fast again.  Now she's just going to be earlier than she wanted to be.”  As he walks away the remaining unicorn just shakes her head and gathers her things up before collecting her pouting sister and follows after her friend at a more leisurely pace.  She knew that things would only get worse if she didn't do something so she tried to draw her sister into a conversation.

“So did you have fun with Spike while I was down with Twilight in her lab?  Other than that bit when you first went upstairs I didn't hear much of anything from you two.”  Scootaloo's mood doesn't seem to improve much but she still isn't far enough gone to not answer.

“Well it was fine up until he had to go and remind you about the party.  He had a small collection of comic books that I hadn't read before.  He said that he would let me know when he gets some more from some place in Canterlot that he gets them from.”  The elder sister took that as something of a victory as it gave the younger someone else to speak and play with in town.  In fact it gave another potential pony to watch after her sister during the times she was gone, though if what Twilight said was true she may need to rethink more of her work habits.

She tried to raise her sister's mood more often as they made their way towards Sugar Cube Corner.  Unfortunately she didn't have much success doing so as they arrive and she just hoped that something didn't go horribly wrong.

<><><><><><><>

Later

“Ah sure am glad that Applebloom is finally getting to know other fillies her age.  Ah don't know why ah didn't think to introduce her to both of your sisters earlier.”  Applejack looked across the table to Rarity and Aegis Flare before glancing at her sister as she sat and talked with both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.

“I agree with you dearie.  Over the years I helped Flare here by watching Scootaloo when she had to spend a long time inside of the Everfree.  There were times when I would have welcomed somepony else that I trust to keep an eye on them when I was busy and my parents were away.”  Rarity brushes a lock of her mane away as she smiles at her sister getting along with the other two.

“I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't know until today that Sweetie Belle was probably the only friend that my sister had.  I thought I mentioned Applebloom a few times when I was able to be with her but I guess nothing came of it.”  Aegis Flare pauses as she looks at the other two mares and something came to her.  “You know I didn't notice until just now, but they remind me of us in a way.”

The other two look at her in confusion for a moment before looking back at the three fillies again.  With her eye for detail Rarity was able to spot what she was talking about faster then the farmer.  “Yes, I believe I see what you mean.  Applebloom is much like Applejack was at that age and Sweetie is giving off that aura of shyness that you always had back then.  And while she is a bit rougher than I, Scootaloo does have a habit of going after what she wants with a single-mindedness.”

Applejack snorts at her descriptions but doesn't say anything about the first two, but the third...  “Don't ya mean that she is the loud one of the group?  Ya always were the one that got the most attention as ya loudly showed off the newest things ya made.”

Rarity sniffs and turns her nose up a bit at this but the slight upturning of her mouth shows that it was mostly an act.  The three then turn to watch their respective sisters again as the newly formed trio clap their hooves together.  “Cutie Mark Crusaders Cookie Tasters, YAY!?”

As the three rush off deeper into the party the three older mares turn to look at each other.  “Am I the only one that got shivers down their spine when they did that?”  When the other two confirm that they also felt it the look worriedly back towards the fillies and wonder what they may have accidentally unleashed.
> 19
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“All right now I think that's everything.  Outfit?  Check.  Bag?  Check.  Sister?  Tickets?  Check.  Over with her friends.  Now I just have to meet up with Rarity at the train station though there is still plenty of time until it arrives.”  Aegis Flare gathered up her things before brushing off a bit of dust on her suit before leaving her home in the direction of the train station.

Along the way she came across Twilight wearing a slightly oversized pith helmet while she darted from bush to bush.  “Twilight?  What are you doing?”  The purple mare gave a yelp as she leapt from her hiding place in surprise at being called out unexpectedly.

“Shh!  I'm trying to find Pinkie Pie and I don't want her to notice me.  I refuse to believe that something as silly as a twitchy tail can be used to predict that something is going to happen.”  At the words 'twitchy tail' the orange unicorns eyes widened slightly as her horn lit up bringing a canopy of energy over her body into existence as she scanned the sky out of reflex.  Twilight brought a hoof up to the top of her muzzle in exasperation when she saw what her friend was doing.  “Oh come on!  Not you too!”

After seeing that nothing was above her, though she still nudged a flowerpot that was partially hanging off a window sill further back to be safe, she turned her attention back to the unicorn.  She was wondering what she was talking about but she quickly connected the dots.  “I'm not sure what you're surprised about considering where I've been working.  I've seen more strange things than most ponies even know of from books so what Pinkie does barely even touches the strangest.  I just assume it's some rare form of earth pony magic that hasn't been documented yet.  Of course if her Pinkie Sense really is acting up then I'm glad that I'm heading out of town with Rarity today.”

Twilight let out a groan of annoyance but she does look a bit curious as she takes in her friend's appearance.  Seeing her friend in a indigo colored business suit felt odd to her and the prench braid of her mane was looped around itself to form a bun on the back of her head instead of hanging down like it normally did.  “Now that you mention it, I was wondering why you were dressed up like that.  If you are going there with Rarity then I'm surprised that she didn't make a dress for whatever it is you're doing.”

Her comment was met with an eye roll from the orange mare as she thought back to the fashoinista's reaction.  “Well I had to talk her down to this after she saw the green suit I was going to wear.  A dress really isn't the best thing for where I'm need to go in Canterlot.  I really should go now though if I want to make it to the train on time.”

Twilight nods as the two head off in different directions towards their objectives for the day.  Aegis Flare made it to the train station as the train was pulling into the station but with no sign of Rarity.  She looked around curiously for her friend as she stepped up to the ticket counter to wave her pre-purchased ticket.  With a nod from the vendor she boarded the train before finding a seat at a window as she pondered where the alabaster unicorn was.

It wasn't until the final call for boarding that Rarity showed up in a rush.  “I'm here!  Sorry it took so long but Sweetie Belle made a mess of my inspiration room and I had trouble finding my hat.”

Looking over Aegis Flare took in the sight of Rarity's most recent apparel that appeared to be a gem-studded belt around her waist connected along the bottom of her body with a strip of pink cloth, studded with what appeared to be amethysts, where it attached to a gem-studded collar around her neck.  She was wearing a set of white boots that were trimmed with pink and the hat she mentioned earlier was also studded with gems and appeared to be made of straw with a pink band around it.

While the orange pony was shaking her head at Rarity's appearance the alabaster mare stored her saddlebags in an overhead rack before she took a seat next to the other unicorn.  “I still don't know why you wouldn't let me make you something appropriate for our trip.  I mean it's Canterlot, it wouldn't hurt to dress in something more appropriate for the city.”

Aegis Flare raised an eyebrow at her friend before she looked back out the window to watch as the countryside passed.  She knew better than to say anything to her friend that went against her beliefs but she knew better about what Canterlot was really like.  In fact she was curious about how Rarity would react to seeing where she was planning to go and a bit saddened that her friend's beliefs would be damaged a bit.

She just listened to Rarity through the entire train ride while making non-committal sounds occasionally to let her know she was listening.  She wasn't terribly interested in fashion but she knew that it was important to the other unicorn that she at least made an effort to pay attention.  She considered it a good distraction as well as it made the trip to Canterlot pass much faster than if she was alone.

When they arrived in the city Aegis Flare wasted no time with anything else as she made a direct line towards a bakery that she knew of leaving Rarity to play catch-up with her.  By the time that the alabaster unicorn caught up the orange mare was already exiting the bakery with a bag full of day-old bread that was being sold as a discount.  “Slow down please dear.  What's so important that you need to rush to a place like this?”

Aegis Flare doesn't answer immediately as she starts walking in the direction of the shaded side of the mountain city before she finally speaks again.  “That was probably one of the better bakeries if you are after quantity over quality in Canterlot and they have a really good deal for their day old bread.  As for why I needed to get it, well...”

As she trailed off Rarity glanced over at her with a touch of confusion on her face but she said nothing.  While she had known the orange mare for years there were still times when she managed to confound her with some of the things she did.  From her dislike of dresses to the how she always spoke out against the nobility; the orange mare's interests rarely seemed to match up with the fashionista.  Rarity decided to pay attention to where they were going as they were going somewhere that she didn't recognize.  As the buildings started to get grungier than what the alabaster mare was used to and the sun was blocked by the mountain she was starting to wonder if they were even still in the capital.  Her thoughts were interrupted when a small figure ran into her front causing her to stumble a bit and look down.

“Oh I am so sorry about that, darling.  I was so caught up in my thoughts that I wasn't watching where I was going.”  Looking down she found that she had collided with a young thestral filly who was busy picking herself up off of the ground before looking up at the adult mare with wide eyes.  She was a bit surprised though when she looked over the bright green coat that the filly was sporting as well as the pink mane and tail that she had since she had heard that thestrals were of darker colors to help blend in with the night.

Neither of the two noticed as the other unicorn was looking at the filly with a hint of pity when her eyes narrowed as she spotted something out of place.  As the filly started to move away she spoke up in thestrali which stopped the filly in her tracks and caused her to look back fearfully.  “~And where do you think you are going with that?  You may look new but the older fillies always tell the younger ones to not steal from ponies that bring in extra food for you, especially in this area of town no matter how rich they look.~”

Rarity looked confused as the filly turned back which allowed her to get a better look at her and she noticed that the filly was looking a bit scruffy and dirty.  She didn't really expect her to come back towards her and lift up a familiar gem with her hoof towards her.  “Um, I think you dropped this ma'am.”

Looking down at the offered amethyst for a moment the mare's gaze trailed down to see the empty spot in the center of her breast covering where the gem once was.  With a grimace she brought a hoof up to the empty spot before settling it on the gem in the filly's hoof before pressing it back towards her.  “Go ahead and keep it dear.  I can replace it later.”

Shaking her head, the orange mare also steps forward and settles the bag on the back of the filly who staggered slightly at the unexpected weight.  “~You're lucky that she is so generous with just about everything.  Just make sure to be more careful about what you do in the future since many of the ponies with money in Canterlot won't be anywhere near as nice.~”

The filly nodded as she walked away while carefully balancing the bag on her back until she was joined by an older filly who helped out while chattering at her in thestrali.  Rarity looked over at Aegis Flare to see her staring after the two with a small and sad smile on her face before she shook her head and started walking away.  The alabaster mare watched after her for a moment before she trotted to her side quickly before she nudged her with her shoulder.  “So are you going to tell me what that was all about now?  If I didn't know better you knew that that was going to happen.”

With a sigh the orange mare glanced over at Rarity before she looked ahead again.  “There is a lot about them that I don't know but I do know that there is a large group of thestral orphans somewhere in this area of the city.  I just don't know if they just gathered themselves or if there is an actual orphanage for them.  Whatever the case they seem to have problems as I've caught a couple trying to steal from me the few times I've come through town and I was able to convince them to accept food to not bother me.”

Rarity looked shocked at hearing about something like this in Canterlot and her steps faltered for a moment before she caught up again.  “What is a group like that doing in Canterlot of all places?  Shouldn't there be somepony keeping an eye on them to stop something like that?”

Rarity shrank back when her friend shot a hard glare at her before it softened at seeing the hurt look on her face.  With a sigh the orange mare slowed her pace a bit so she could get her explanation in before they reached their destination.  “Because there is nowhere else for them to go.  Non-thestrals don't want them because they are thestrals and most thestrals don't want them because they are undesirable in some way, usually because of their brighter colors.  Often they make it here since you won't find many thestrals outside of Transylmania anywhere else.”

Rarity's eyes flicked up towards her friend's ears for a moment before she connected various dots that she had seen over years from her friend.  “You see yourself in them don't you?  You think that your real parents abandoned you out in the Everfree and you could have ended up out here yourself.  Then when you see how they live compared to how the nobles in the city live and well...”

The orange mare stumbles a bit as her friends perceptiveness hits most of the things that she had been thinking though she missed a couple key points.  “You're only half right about the nobles; that's more because of the noble families in Transylmania itself.”

Looking over to the fashionista she saw a raised eyebrow and sighed before expanding on her correction.  “You have to understand that the country follows some very old traditions and are outside of Equestrian control.  Instead there are sixteen families that run the country with nine of them having any real amount of power.  The seven minor ones are more populous but the other nine are the noble families that most follow.  Being born into one of those nine forces certain expectations on you such as marrying only other thestrals and keeping the tribe pure.  They don't mind other types of ponies but they don't accept them as family and even shun those that break tradition by marrying them.”

“My father was born in one of those major families and in fact is probably the strongest militarily.  The Brasov clan controls one of the strongest castles in the country and protect it and the surrounding countryside.  When my father married mom most of them cut all contact with him and the only one that even still considers him family is my aunt who works under Princess Luna now.”  Rarity looks a bit saddened at hearing her friends family history but something itched in the back of her mind.

“I feel that I've heard of that clan name before somewhere but I can't remember where exactly.  It was somewhere important though, I just know it.”  As Rarity thought deeply about where she had heard of it before she missed the tiny smirk on her friends face until she spoke up.

“I don't think those romance novels of yours count as an important place, Rarity.”  She let out a chuckle as the mare started sputtering in indignation as her train of thought was derailed.  She let out a huff a moment later as she turned her head away while keeping an eye on her friend out of the corner of her eye.  She turned back to watch her though when the orange mare suddenly turned to head into a very dirty looking stone building that looked much like the others around it.

Following her inside she shied away from the sides of the filthy door frame and entered to find a well furnished room that contradicted the outside appearance.  She looked outside one more time just to make sure that she was in the same place before following her friend deeper inside the building.  Her friend led her to a white unicorn stallion that was wearing a black beret and had a scruffy blond beard that was more what she was expecting from the outside.  She hung back a bit as Aegis Flare nodded to the stallion before greeting him.  “Good morning, Mr. Sang.  It's been a while.”

The stallion looked up from what he was reading to see who had entered before giving a small smile.  Seeing the second figure though he raised an eyebrow at the orange mare and, on seeing her nod, reached under his desk to push something before finally speaking.  “Ahh, Dame Flare.  It truly has been a while since you've graced these walls with your presence.  And who would your gorgeous friend here be?”

While Rarity raised an eyebrow at how her friend was greeted, the orange mare only let out a groan of annoyance.  “Of course you would have heard about that.  This is my friend Rarity and she was just following me for a couple stops until we explore the city for the rest of the day.”

Rarity wasn't sure what to think when the stallion stepped around the desk to approach her but was a bit flattered when he brought one of her hooves up to plant a kiss atop it.  While she couldn't say much about his scruffy appearance she did have to admit that he at least acted like a gentlestallion.  “So who is this interesting stallion here that you've brought me to, Flare?”

Aegis Flare just rolled her eyes behind the stallion's back as he made his way back to his place behind the desk before she sighed.  “Really that is probably the question almost everypony asks him and has never gotten a straight answer for.  He's a scoundrel, fence, criminal mastermind, and probably one of Princess Celestia's most trusted ponies as he procures dangerous items and useful tools for the guard as he does shows off his bad side.”

With every word Rarity started to frown more and more and back towards the door but her eyebrows shot up at his last accolades.  Looking over towards the stallion she saw that he was just leaning back and nodding as the list continued.  Shaking her head she turned her attention back to her friend as she started digging through the bag that she brought before she pulled out a set of vials.

“Anyways I came to you since I recently learned that these were actually worth a good amount and I had a few to spare.”  Rarity watched as she brought out a half dozen vials of a silver fluid that she didn't recognize.  The stallion on the other hoof knew exactly what they were as he perked up a bit and pulled out various objects from his desk.

“Well now, it's not often that liquid mana comes across my desk, at least ones that may actually be worth supplying to the guard.”  Levitating over the vials, he uses an object much like a jeweler's lens to get a closer look at them before he lets out a whistle of appreciation.  It isn't until he pulls out a counter connected to a wand and touches it to the glass that he actually says anything.

“You found your mother's recipe for these didn't you?”  At the mare's nod he shakes his head before putting his tools away.  “I thought I recognized the look of these from before.  I'm not going to lie, you shouldn't have been able to get ahold of that but considering the circumstances it's better you have it than somepony else.  This quality is heavily controlled and only the various Captains and licensed officials are allowed to distribute it.”

With a sigh he reaches into a desk drawer and pulls out a bag of bits as well as sheet of paper that he wrote on before sliding them both across the desk.  “I'm sure you remember how these work even if you haven't been here in a while.  If you have any more of these I suggest either keeping them to yourself or bringing them here again.”  He paused for a moment before he added something.  “Of course you friend, Dame Sparkle, would also be acceptable as well.”

With a nod the mare collects her payment before walking over towards Rarity who had been watching since they had arrived.  Once they were outside she wasn't sure how to react to what she had seen as it was outside of her experience but there were a few things bugging her.  “So what did he mean when he called you Dame Flare?  You say you dislike the nobles but why didn't you say that you were one as well?”

With a groan and a roll of her eyes, Aegis Flare just shook her head at this information getting out to one of the biggest gossips of Ponyville.  “That was a pretty recent thing that I never even agreed to because of services to the crown.  I'm just glad that Princess Celestia didn't make it a public thing or else I don't know what I would have done.”

Rarity just rolled her eyes at her reaction but she had a small smile on her face as she knew something like that would annoy her friend and she could think of a few ways to use that later.  She continued to think over what she had learned as the stopped at a bank where the orange mare dropped off the slip of paper, which turned out to be a royal bit requisition form, when something came to her as the left the building.

“Wait, he also called Twilight Dame Sparkle as well and she's never mentioned anything of the like before.  With your mention of a service to the crown I can only think of a couple things that would fit, but would that mean.”  She looked over at Aegis Flare who was wincing as Rarity put all the facts together before she nodded to her.  As the ramifications of it all went through the fashionista's mind she could only come up with a single conclusion which brought up only one logical response.

With a sigh the orange mare watched as her friend keeled over from the shock and she shook her head before lifting her up onto her back before finding a shaded place to set her down to rest in until she could recover.
> 20
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soon after returning from Canterlot Aegis Flare spent a couple days on a quick scouting trip of the Everfree while gathering items for a couple requests around town.  When she returned she was planning to spend some time with her sister until she learned about a sleepover she was going on with her friends and she was conscripted to help out at the library with some re-shelving for Twilight.  Most of her friends were also there to help with the only exceptions being the pegasi of the group who were off elsewhere.  While they worked the five mares chatted about what had happened recently though the orange unicorn kept catching Rarity glancing at her out of the corner of her eye, eventually causing her to let out a sigh.

“All right Rarity, what is you wanted to talk about now?”  The other three in the room looked over in curiosity as Rarity got a light blush on her face at being caught out but quickly recovered by clearing her throat.

“Well darling I wanted to talk to you in private but if you insist on doing this now then well...”  She gave her friend a chance to respond but continued at her nod.  “Well I was curious as to why you never mentioned anything about that whole knighthood thing that we were all given for us helping the princesses.  None of the others have even hinted at it before and something like this they wouldn't have kept secret from the rest of us.”

The others look a bit shocked about this, with one exception, as they all turn towards the orange mare but they soon turn back again when Pinkie Pie spoke up.  “You mean none of you knew about it?  I figured it out when I found that bank account the princesses opened up for me in Canterlot that was full of bits.  That and the bank ponies calling me Dame Pinkie Pie once they showed me the paperwork.”

They all froze for a moment at the pink pony's words and they all have different thoughts before the first of them vocalizes theirs.  “Wait, ya are telling us that we all have a whole load of bits just sitting up in Canterlot under our names?  Ah really could have used some of that to help fix up the farm.  And what will all this mean for us when the tax pony comes around?”

The thought of tax issues didn't come to mind to most of them and there was a bit of a clamor until Aegis Flare spoke up again after removing her hoof from her face.  “I never said anything because it never really mattered and it wasn't my place to tell you if the princesses didn't.  I can guess why it was never made fully public though since the town would be flooded with reporters and who knows what else.  As for the whole tax issue there isn't any since there are no taxes on money from the crown.”

The others looked to Twilight for answers as she thought through everything that her friend just said and she nodded.  “Well she isn't wrong about anything, though I would have liked to know about all of this sooner.  The Equestrian Council voted centuries ago to put it into law and it's never been changed since since the nobles benefit from it the most.”

She is interrupted by a snort from the orange unicorn, once again turning all heads her way.  “Actually they probably get the least benefit from the law but they just don't know it.  Sure she gives the occasional pittance to them, but from what I could tell when reading through the reports in the Canterlot Archives most of the money from the crown goes to the guard, city services like doctors, and other groups that deal with the princesses.”  At the dumbfounded looks from her friends she gave a small shrug before turning back to the books she was shelving.  “What?  I've always had a head for numbers and when I get bored enough while in Canterlot I grab something like that to read to stay sharp.”

The others just stared at her for a bit longer before shaking their heads and getting back to work shelving books.  They were finished pretty quickly so took some time afterwards to clean up a few other things since they finished faster than originally planned.  So they were all still a bit distracted when a sound of screaming slowly filtered through the window but when the source turned out to be Rainbow Dash flying uncontrollably through the window there was barely enough time to do react.  Aegis Flare, having dealt with making split-second decisions before, quickly threw up a barrier to protect their hard work while leaving the five friends to take the brunt of the impact from the cyan pegasus.

After picking themselves up, and Fluttershy flew in through the window to join them, they found out that the crash as a result of a failed flying trick by the pegasus in question.  After learning about what the two were doing as well as a few other things they flew off to continue before they needed to leave for Cloudsdale.  When they left all attention went to the protege of the princesses for a solution to a problem brought up by the incident.

“Let's see, flight spells should be in one of these books just give me a moment to find them.”  The others watched Twilight with a mixture of interest in boredom as she searched through the books for the spell she was searching for.  She was about to let her friend search on her own but something that her mother mentioned to her in the past in relation to her work.

“Hey Twilight?  Wouldn't it be easier to use a cloud walking spell like they do for diplomats traveling to the cloud cities around the world?”  The purple mare looks up from the book she was looking through to say something when she paused in thought.

“I almost forgot about that kind of spell.  I'm pretty sure the princess has taken me to Cloudsdale once before but I can't remember many of the details of that day.  On basic principle that spell would be much easier to cast than a flight spell, especially having to do it multiple times.”  With a new target in mind, as well as a better idea of where to find it, Twilight quickly found the spell and looked it over.

“Of course the flight spell is in here but the cloud walking spell is much easier.  It lasts three days so even if I cast it now it'll last through tomorrow easily.  We should gather here tomorrow to get that out of the way while I'm getting my balloon ready.”  With nods all around the others prepared to leave to prepare for the next day but Rarity and Applejack were held back as Aegis Flare lifted a hoof to stop them.

“If we are going to be cheering Rainbow Dash on then wouldn't it make sense to bring her biggest fan as well?  And if she were to go I'm sure that she would enjoy bringing her friends along as well.”  The first part was directed towards Twilight but the last was to all of the mares in the room.  It didn't take them long to get what she was asking and she was greeted with smiles.

“That actually isn't a bad idea.  Sure, go ahead and bring Scootaloo with you tomorrow and if both of your sisters want to come as well it will be fine.  It might be a tad cramped in the balloon but it should be able to handle a little extra weight.”  With a smile the four part ways to prepare for what tomorrow would bring.

<><><><><><><>

“I can't believe it!  I'm actually going to see Rainbow Dash showing her moves in front of an actual crowd!  This is going to be the best day EVER!”  Aegis Flare gave a small smile as she watched her sister's antics while they all waited for Twilight to finish preparing her balloon for the flight to Cloudsdale.  She warily watched her friend work since she wasn't sure about the mode of travel that they would be using as she was more used to either traveling along the ground or the rare times going by sky chariots.

“And everything is triple-checked, you can all hop aboard now and we can be on our way to Cloudsdale.”  There were sighs from Rarity and Applejack who had gotten a bit bored waiting for Twilight to go through her checklists though the rest just climbed aboard quickly without complaint.  Aegis Flare made herself comfortable in the center of the basket while all the others jostled for positions around the edge to watch as the flew across the sky.

They were quickly on their way with both Spike and Twilight piloting the balloon to a decent height before the settled back themselves with only the occasional correction to their course and altitude.  “There, we should be there in a couple hours now.  Rainbow Dash is going to be so surprised when we show up to cheer her on, I just know it.”

She looked around at her friends and noticed that Spike went over to join the cutie mark crusaders and she let a small smile grace her lips.  She hadn't thought much about it before but she was glad that Aegis Flare brought her sister over that day as she really had been neglecting Spike by not ensuring that he had friends his own age to talk to.  As her mind settled on the unicorn mare her eyes darted around for her in puzzlement until the settled on the orange form hiding in the center of the basket.  “Come on Flare, why don't you join us in enjoying the view?  It's not often you can take in a site like this without help from a pegasus.”

The mare in question just looked up at her impassively for a moment before shaking her head.  “No thanks, I'm fine down here and I'm sure that there will be plenty to see in Cloudsdale.”

Twilight looks at her strangely before her attention is diverted by a hoof on her shoulder from Pinkie Pie who was shaking her head.  “You shouldn't try to push her, she's just really really scared and is trying to stay calm.”

She wasn't prepared for the pink mare's serious tone but when she took a closer look at the orange unicorn she could detect a faint tenseness to her muscles.  “Are you going to be all right, Flare?  You don't have to come with if you don't want to, we can still drop you off and make it there in time.”

The calm looking mare's answer to her question was a simple shake of her head before turning her attention to her hooves.  “I'll be fine.  As long as I don't get a clear view of how far away the ground is then the vertigo won't bother me as much.”

The others look unsure for a moment but don't question her resolve though Spike bluntly puts their thoughts into words.  “Huh, I never thought that you of all ponies would be scared of something like this.  Shouldn't the Element of Courage not be scared of anything?  And didn't you fall off a cliff during the incident with Nightmare Moon?”

The three fillies around him made shushing motions but Aegis Flare wasn't at all offended by his question.  “Courage isn't about not being scared, that's just being a fool.  Real courage involves still being scared but not letting that fear control you.  It wasn't so bad with the cliff since I knew I could easily save myself but I'm not sure if I could do the same from this high up.”

They all looked at her for a moment longer before deciding to leave her to what she was doing while going back to watching the landscape pass by.  While it was simple for pegasi to reach the city in the clouds it took them a couple hours to reach it even with Twilight's assistance in propelling the balloon in the proper direction.  As they were were coming in for a landing the sound of a familiar voice which caused on filly to launch herself out of the basket early and charge off in the direction of it.  Of course this action caused one other passenger to react a bit poorly as she lunged after her until she saw the carpet of clouds below.

The familiar cyan figure was caught off guard as the orange and purple projectile plowed into her side and started bouncing atop her.  “I can't believe this!  I'm finally going to see you performing for real, this is so awesome!”

Fluttershy hid her tiny smile behind a hoof as she watched the filly bounce atop her idol though like the confused pegasus on the ground she was also a bit confused.  “What the?  Where did you come from squirt?  Does anypony know that you're here?”

The filly was too excited to answer, but it was rather hard to miss the large balloon landing nearby, her friends disembarking from it.  After a short chat, and much teasing of the orange unicorn as she nervously climbed out of the basket, to catch the two older pegasi up on what happened without them Rainbow Dash took them on a small tour before the Best Young Flier Competition started.

They first stopped at the winter section of the Rainbow Factory which should have turned out fine...  If it wasn't for three young fillies that were willing to do nearly anything for their cutie marks.

“Hey!  What do you three think you are doing!  Don't touch that!”  *CRASH*  “No!  Not that!  Do you know how expensive that stuff is!”  *SPLASH*  “Fire!  How in Equestria did you set a whole vat of snowflakes on fire!”

Eventually they workers were too caught up with trying to clear up the disasters they made to pay attention to the three fillies as they were ushered out of the room by their sisters.  After that, a much closer eye was kept on the three to make sure they didn't run off again with the threat of a Pinkie Promise backing it up.

So they were kept from any trouble when they reached the area rainbows were made, but that didn't stop Pinkie from sticking her own hoof into trouble.  While the the rest were having a small chuckle at their pink friend trying to eat a cloud to get the taste out of her mouth, Aegis Flare was looking at the pool with interest before dipping a hoof into it for a couple drops.  “Hey, don't tell me you want to try as well?  Didn't you see what happened when Pinkie tried it?”

The orange unicorn just raised an eyebrow at the cyan mare before licking the drops of rainbow off of her hoof.  She winced a bit when the taste hit, but since she didn't have anywhere near what Pinkie Pie did it was mostly manageable.  Her friends' jaws all dropped at her apparent lack of reaction, but her other eyebrow rose as she recognized the flavor.

“Cloud Kicker's Five Alarm Chili.”  Her words only drew confusion from the others at first, but Rainbow Dash slammed a hoof into face in realization as the unicorn explained further.  “Every once in a while Cloud Kicker brings a family recipe to the chili cook-offs that occasionally happen in Ponyville.  She never gives out the recipe, but this tastes much like what nearly burned my tongue off last time I tried her chili.”

All eyes turned towards Rainbow Dash as she let out a growl of annoyance.  “I was wondering where all that extra liquid rainbow was disappearing to when we had to dump it for whatever reason.  I think I'm going to need to have a talk with her when we get back to Ponyville.”

As they continued on their tour they ran into a few old acquaintances of the two pegasi but things didn't go well as they lobbed multiple put-downs at the rainbow-maned mare.  Her friends looked at her worriedly as the continued the tour since they could tell that her resolve was shaken though luckily the youngest four of the group were oblivious to it.

As they arrived at the at the stadium later Rainbow Dash looked like a wreck from her worries so while the others went to find their seats Aegis Flare pulled her aside for a moment.  “Hey Rainbow Dash, don't focus on what those jerks were saying earlier.  Instead focus on something else and fix that in your mind while you do your tricks to push the fear away.  My sister always talks about you so I'm sure that whatever you do will be great.”

She left before her friend could respond though she didn't quite have the last word.  “Hey!  Who are you calling scared?!”  She just shook her head at the cyan mare's bravado and hoped for the best.  She had a bit of trouble joining her friends though when she spotted the lack of bottom on the stadium, but with generous usage of her barrier magic she blocked most of the vertigo by putting up walls between her and the fall as she moved in their direction.

The group watched as the competition began with a decent amount of enthusiasm between them all.  Only Fluttershy may have known the difficulties behind some of the tricks but even so they were still impressive more often than not.  Over a dozen pegasi had already gone out and shown their routines but they had yet to see their friend yet.

During a short break between competitors the group talked amongst themselves about what they had seen until they turned towards Aegis Flare who had been quiet until that point while keeping her vision pointed upwards to avoid seeing the long fall nearby.  “So how about you, darling?  What is your favorite routine so far, hmm?”

The orange unicorn's eyes briefly darted towards her friends before returning towards the sky once again.  “Well I'm not sure about favorite, but I was rather impressed by what Derpy was doing up until the end.  Even Rainbow Dash admits that some of the things she does in the air should be impossible, it's just too bad that she doesn't seem to be able to control it.”

There were many winces as all eyes turned towards the music section where a unicorn filly and teenager were still trying to pry the bubbly mare from out of a tuba.  Unfortunately this wasn't the one she originally crashed into as she had followed a muffin that had escaped her grasp into the current one... for the second time even.  All conversation between them ended as the announcer's voice rang through the stadium calling out the next number.  “And now, for our final competitor of the day, contestant number fourteen!”

“It's Rainbow Dash!  Hey Rainbow Dash!  Over here!”  There were a few chuckles from the older mares at Scootaloo's antics in front of them but all eyes were focused on the cyan pegasus as she started her routine.  The filly's wings buzzed in excitement as her idol weaved through pillar shaped clouds to a rock song, only lightly clipping a wing at the end.  While some of the grouped winced slightly as their friend spun-out a bit, the filly's excitement wasn't diminished at all as she leaned even further forward.

Rainbow Dash's second stage of her routine went much better even though she still stumbled a bit in the transition to her third part.  All eyes were on her as she ascended into the sky for the final part so nobody was watching as a certain orange filly kept bouncing closer and closer to the edge of the cloud.  “This is going to be so awesome!  Go Rainbow Dash! G-oWOAH!”

All eyes darted down at the filly's panicked yell as her form disappeared over the edge of the cloud as she lost her balance.  Aegis Flare's eyes nearly bulged out with how wide they opened as she watched her sister disappear from sight.  “SCOOTALOO!”

She dove after her sister and would have fallen as well if Applejack didn't clamp her teeth onto the orange unicorn's tail while Twilight and Rarity caught a rear hoof each in their magic.  Not being able to follow after her sister, Aegis Flare was left to stare in shock as her sister fell away from her with their hooves reaching out to each other.  Tears started the well up in her eyes as she watched her little sister fall further and further away, but they were wiped away by a technicolor blur passing in front of her face.

~~~~~~~
Moments Earlier

“Ugh, I can't believe that I messed up like that.  I should have had those two down perfectly with how often I practiced them.  I have to put everything into this last phase or else...”  Rainbow Dash shook her head to try and clear away the negative thoughts that were building up in her head.  Fortunately her friend's words came back to her at that moment as her gaze went down towards the platform her friends were on as she finished her ascent.

She immediately noticed that something was wrong when she saw an orange figure hanging off the edge of the cloud but her pupils shrank as she noticed a smaller orange figure falling away from them.  “No, it can't be.  I'M COMING SQUIRT!”

With a powerful flap of her wings she propelled herself into a vertical dive after the filly, narrowly missing the cloud her friends were on as she passed.  She wasn't the only one to notice the falling filly as three of the Wonderbolts had heard the yelling from her friends and quickly noticed the falling filly as well.  Unfortunately for them they weren't prepared for the prismatic streak to blow by them and send them into a tailspin.

“Come on, faster, faster!  I've got to catch her or else...”  She clamped down on that thought as she pushed herself to her limits and beyond as she kept her attention focused on the falling figure.  She didn't notice as the air around her started to get thicker as a cone began to form around her.  With all of her attention focused on the filly she didn't even notice it happening even as she pushed through the resistance.  She started to falter a bit, but when the tears of the filly falling below her splattered off her cheek she was able to force herself to put even more energy into her flying, enough to finally break through the barrier forming around her.

With an explosion of color the prismatic mare's speed increased drastically, allowing her to catch the filly just moments before she hit the ground.  Looking down she noticed that the filly's eyes were squeezed shut but with the change of wind direction as well as the forelimbs holding her the filly slowly peeked an eye open.  Scootaloo looked around in confusion at first until her eyes settled on the one that saved her.  “Rainbow Dash?  I'm dreaming right?  Wasn't I just falling?”

The cyan pegasus shook her head as a grin came to her face.  “It's not a dream squirt.  I would never let anything happen to you when I'm around.  I'll always have your back.”  Looking behind her she spotted the energy from her Sonic Rainboom spreading across the sky and she lifted the filly a bit to see over her shoulder while an even bigger grin spread across her face.  “And take a look at that!”

The filly looked and saw the ring of expanding color behind them and her wings began to buzz as she realized what she was looking at.  “You did it!  You completed your Sonic Rainboom!  Awesome!”  Rainbow Dash smiled at her young fan as she cheered her on as she flew an arc over the stadium before she flew in for a landing near her friends.

She didn't have a chance to say anything before Scootaloo was pulled from her grasp by a frantic unicorn.  “Scootaloo!  You're all right!  I thought I had lost you!”  Tears were pouring down Aegis Flare's face as she held onto her sister without any sign of letting her go.  Scootaloo, after a moment to realize once again almost happened, joined her in crying in relief though at a more subdued level.

The two just stayed that way while their friends watched, though when Rainbow Dash got to close she was pulled into a crushing hug as the unicorn chanted 'Thank You' over and over again until she managed to escape.  The orange unicorn refused to let go of her sibling from that point on as her friends lifted the two into the balloon's basket for the trip home.  It wasn't until they finally reached Ponyville that she released the filly, but it was only to set her on her back for the walk to their home.

The two stayed quiet as the rest of the day passed and it wasn't until after they finished their evening meal that a word was spoken between them.  “Scoots?  I think tonight we should stay in mom and dad's room again.  I don't think I'd be able to sleep otherwise.”

The young filly paused as she heard the wavering in her sister's voice and she knew how badly her sister was affected if it showed in her voice.  With a nod the two unlocked the door to the room and settled down in the bed next to each other.  The room was still just like their parents had left it when they vanished, and for that night they imagined that their family was whole once again with both of their parents next to them.
> 21
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Finally!  I almost though that she wouldn't let me out of the house in time for our sleepover.  It's really annoying when she gets like this.”  Scootaloo started walking away with Applebloom towards Carousel Boutique for their sleepover with Sweetie Belle.  “At least I was able to talk her down a bit so I didn't have to take half the house with me.”

Applebloom looked over at the bags being carried by the pegasus before shaking her head.  “Ah can guess how ya feel.  Mah sister would have done much the same thing if something happened to me.  Ah am surprised that she is letting you out of her sight already.”

The two continued on their way not knowing that their sisters could still hear them as they talked.  Applejack looked over at her friend as she watched her sister walk away while nervously shuffling her hooves.  “Are ya going ta be all right there, sugarcube?  Ya really aren't looking too good.”

Aegis Flare sighed as she tried to bring herself under control again though she didn't take her eyes off of her sister's retreating form.  “I'll be all right.  You know how much she means to me, especially since our parents vanished.  I just can't forget the look in her eyes as she fell away from me back in Cloudsdale.  If Rainbow Dash wasn't there to save her I don't know what I would have done.”

The farm pony threw one of her forelegs over her friends withers and pulled her close.  “Ah know just what ya need.  Why don't ya join me and Rainbow Dash as we sample the latest crop of hard cider that is ready?  Ya really look like you could use some ta help calm your nerves.”  With a nod the two walk off towards Sweet Apple Acres where they were soon joined by the hero of the week.

It was a couple hours later when the three were found by Twilight.  Walking into the barn she saw the three sitting around a mostly empty cask sipping from a cider mug.  “Really? You're drinking this early in the day?  And while I'm glad to see you out away from your sister, Flare, couldn't you have chosen a better way to do it?”

The purple mare flinched back from the smell as Rainbow Dash tottered over to her and started speaking with a slight slur.  “Lighten up egghead.  She needed something to relax and nothing says relax like hard cider.  Maybe you should try it sometime?”  All three mares just shake their heads at the pegasus before she drains another mug of cider before she keels over backwards and begins to snore.

“Dagnabbit Rainbow Dash.  I told ya ta take it easy with that.  I guess it was too much to think that you would actually taste it like ya were supposed to.”  Applejack sipped from her mug before she sighed and turned her head towards Twilight.  “Sorry about that sugarcube.  Rainbow Dash always overdoes it when ah break out the cider, hard or not.  Ah think she finished half the barrel herself.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at this as she moved to take a seat near the two still awake mares while tentatively accepting a mug for herself.  She curiously sniffed at it before setting it beside her and looking over at the other unicorn.  “Well I guess I should at least be glad that you aren't falling all over me like Rainbow almost did.  I still don't think you should be drinking this early in the day though especially after how you've been acting lately, Flare.”

The addressed unicorn just sighed as she took another sip from her mug before setting it down next to her.  “You probably are right, but it helps to have a bit of numbness to help thing this out more clearly.  My parents adopting me was always the best thing to happen to me and since then family has always been important to me.  I was scared when my mother got pregnant with Scootaloo but when I first her tiny and defenseless form I knew that I would do anything for her.  After our parents vanished I put everything aside just so that I could take care of her.  To almost lose her in front of my eyes like that without being able to do anything completely terrified me.”

She looked over at the slumbering pegasi before continuing with her alcohol inspired speech.  “Before you showed up I would have really thought much of Rainbow Dash other than somepony that my sister enjoyed watching.  Yet these past few months have let me truly get to know her and I feel ashamed of myself for ignoring her especially after what she has done for me.  I'm really not sure where I'm going with this but I really have to thank all of you for everything these last few months.”

Twilight rose an eyebrow at Applejack who just shook her head while the orange unicorn stared into her mug of cider.  The two still sober ponies scooted closer to each other so that the third pony couldn't hear their whispering, normally at least.  “Is she always like this when she drinks?”

Applejack just shrugged before responding to the question.  “No idea.  This is the first time ah've seen her even touch a hard drink.  Ah never would have expected her ta be a talky drunk, of course ah never would have expected her to even drink much in the first place.”

The purple mare just shook her head before she let out a sigh.  “Well I came over to let you know that your sister's had a small change of location for their sleepover.  Something must have come up that Rarity had to take care of since Fluttershy decided to watch them instead.  I had a couple other things to do so I'll leave you three to what you were doing.  Sorry I couldn't join you though.”

The farm mare just chuckled as she pointed something out to her friend.  “It's a bit late to say that after already finishing off an entire mug of cider that fast.”

Looking down at the now empty mug being held in her magic, Twilight's eyebrow rose in confusion.  “Huh?  When did that happen?”

~~~~~~~
Fluttershy's Home

The butter colored mare sighed as she finally got the three fillies to settle down enough that they just calmly explored her home instead of running rampant.  They had already eaten but she was taking a bit of time to fix them up a small snack before putting them to bed.  She was a bit worried that the three would break something else but they started to calm down a bit as they burned off their previous excess energy.

“Hey, Fluttershy!  Why do you have one of these hanging up in your home?”  Fluttershy's ears perked up at the question from Scootaloo and she brought the vegetable treats out to the three fillies.  She looked around for the three and found them staring at a tapestry hanging from the back walls and her ears folded back.

“Oh dear.  Are you sure you want to know about that?”  The tapestry wasn't a big affair and was composed of only a few colors.  A golden crown was on the front while a tangle of white roots were growing out from the bottom of it.  All that was atop a blue shield while a pair of gray thestral wings were spread above it.  The entire thing was set on a field of night blue to finish the look.

Scootaloo's head turned back to her questioningly before fluttering her wings a bit.  “Well, yeah.  My parents have something like this in their room and I never found out why.  I don't think I've heard of anypony else in town having something like this.”

With a sigh Fluttershy set the tray of snacks down for the three before moving over to run a hoof over the tapestry.  “I never met your parents, but I remember your sister saying that one of them was a thestral.  My mother is a pegasus and she used to live out in Transylmania when she was younger until she met my father.  She never talks about him but she says that this is the only thing of him that she was allowed to keep when he abandoned her.”

The three fillies cringed at the older mare's sad tone of voice as they turned to look at her.  The older pegasus was surprised when the three moved in to give her a group hug and she looked down at the three fondly.  “That's so sad.  Why would anypony just abandon their child like that.”

Scootaloo flinched away at Sweetie Belle's question which was noticed by Fluttershy.  “Um, Sweetie, my sister says it is because many thestrals are just jerks.  They'll work with other ponies but if you aren't a thestral you aren't family.”

The other two fillies look over at her in shock while Fluttershy just nods sadly.  “She's right, though I've heard stories that are even worse of families abandoning their foals out in the wild to die.  Ponies that are not thestrals or are of too bright of a color or are malformed in some way are generally unwanted.”

Once again the fillies initiate another hug around the mare to cheer her up after they brought up some sad memories again.  “You'll always be wanted here.”  Fluttershy had to smile at the unicorn filly's words and had to admit that she did feel better.

~~~~~~~
Later

After the fillies were put to bed, after a small musical number and the following chaos outside, the three noticed that some of the chickens were missing.  Sneaking outside the three noticed that the tracks lead out towards the Everfree and the were about to follow before they were stopped.  “Hold up girl, I need to grab something before we go in there.”

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at their pegasus friend in confusion as she ran back into Fluttershy's house once again.  Moments after leaving their sight she reappeared again with the saddlebags that she had brought with to the sleepover.  “My sister would ground me for years if she ever found out I went in there without this.  Here, put these on before go into the Everfree.”

The two looked confused as as Scootaloo passed a pair of goggles to both of them while pulling out a pair for herself.  When they put them on they let out a gasp as the world around them brightened up from that of a dark night to more of a cloudy day.  “Wow Scootaloo?  Where did you get something like this from?  I bet we could really find a lot of things to do with these for our cutie marks.”

The only response she got from her friend was a grunt of annoyance as she rolled her eyes behind her goggles.  “My sister forced me to bring these as well as a ton of other things she thought I would need.  I still don't know why I would need shark repellent or an extra strong towel and this was after convincing her to cut back on what she had me carry.”

Her friends give her an odd look before they also roll their eyes before peering into the saddlebags themselves and shaking their heads at what they say.  After sealing them up again the three look at each other before nodding and heading off into the forest after the lost chicken.  With the goggles they were easily able to follow the trail but they spent more time arguing than following it.

They were so distracted by it that they didn't notice Fluttershy get ahead of them until they literally bumped into her.  The older pegasus tried to get them to leave the forest rather unsuccessfully and even mention of a cockatrice wasn't enough.  “A cockatrice?  My sister says those aren't that scary and she's driven them away from Ponyville all the time.  They can't be that bad.”

Fluttershy is taken aback by her nonchalance until she leans in and gets a closer look at the goggles they were wearing.  After recognizing the design of them to be exactly like her unicorn friend's she calmed slightly but that wasn't much with the level of terror flooding through her.  “We really need to go now, girls.  You don't know how dangerous they can be even without their gaze.”

The fillies weren't sure what she was talking about but were distracted by the sound of clucking nearby.  They soon found the figures of two different chickens rising out of the nearby bushes and when they tried to catch both of them while Fluttershy looked on in terror they found the only one of them was a chicken while the other was a cockatrice.  After backing away a few steps in shock at it's appearance they watched as the cockatrice turned on the chicken and turned it to stone.

Two of the fillies started screaming in panic at the sight while Scootaloo just stared at the cockatrice in surprise.  She had heard things about the creatures in the Everfree from her sister but she didn't expect them to be like this.  She did remember her sister explaining about the goggles though and how they were important because they stopped the abilities of things like the cockatrice.  “I-it's not that scary.  My sister says that these can't do a thing to you as long as you keep these special goggles on.”

The creature looked at the filly as it tried to turn her to stone but it was confused when nothing was happening.  Seeing that it's original plan wasn't working it swiped its tail forward an across the filly's cheek which drew gasps from the rest of the gathered ponies.  Scootaloo drew a hoof up to her face and her eyes widened at the sight of blood on it before she started screaming herself and took off running followed by her two friends.

When the three ran into the stoned form of Twilight things got even worse as they started panicking until Fluttershy got them to hide behind her.  The three watched in awe as the pegasus Stared down the cockatrice and scolded it enough that it backed down in fear.  It soon was sent running away after it depetrified both the chicken and the unicorn in the area.  There night from their night was peaceful as the headed back to Fluttershy's cottage and settled in to sleep.

~~~~~~~
The Next Morning

“So I heard that you went out into the Everfree Forest unsupervised when you were supposed to be going to bed.”  Scootaloo looked away from her sister at her words though she was confused at how she had been caught as she had only now gotten back.

“How did you hear about that?  Fluttershy and Twilight haven't said anything about it yet.”  The filly rubbed at the bandage over her cut as she looked towards the other two adults that were also looking at the orange unicorn curiously.

“Well you did just tell me that you were in the Everfree.”  The filly facehoofed at the joke while the two older ponies giggled a little at the two.  “Also your saddlebags have a few tracking gems in them that only activate if you go into the Everfree or far enough away from Ponyville.”

Fluttershy steps forward to defend the filly.  “Um, she wasn't in too much danger really.  She did have a set of those goggles you always wear so the cockatrice wasn't that big of a danger to her.”

The young filly turned towards the shy pegasus in shock before sheepishly turning back to her sister who was rubbing the bridge of her nose with a hoof.  With a sigh she shook her head before looking at her sister with disappointment.  “At least you wore those since they make a cockatrice from on of the most dangerous to least dangerous creatures in the forest, but I've told you time and again that you should never go in there.  You know how much I hate having to punish you when you do something that I've asked you not to do.”

The filly looks a bit worried as her sister ponders what to do about the situation.  Seeing that her sister always had an excess of energy and the two didn't do enough together she came up with an idea pretty quickly.  “Starting tomorrow I think I'll be teaching you much of what our father taught me from his training.  If you are going to do something dangerous like that then I might as well make it where you can at least run away from just about anything.  Now run off back to your friends but be ready tomorrow.”

As the filly ran off the two adults looked even more confused as they couldn't see how this was a punishment.  “Are you sure that she is going to learn not to do something like that again just from that?  I'm really not sure what you're thinking, Flare.”

The orange unicorn just gave Twilight a small smile as she watched her sister run off.  “Well I had some time to think and this is the only thing I can think of to calm her down a bit, at least for a while.  I won't be able to stay with her always so I might as well teach her something.  If the pre-training drills for the Black Guard don't wear her out then nothing will.”

Twilight and Fluttershy just stare at her in shock for a moment before turning back to look at the orange filly with pity.
> 22
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dawn was beginning to break and while most of the residents of Ponyville were just starting to stir, there was one the had been at work for hours prior.  “Phew, it's been a while since I've had to use these things.  Mom also wasn't kidding about how hard it was to recharge these once they were fully drained.”

Aegis Flare ran the back of a hoof across her brow as she observed the ring of gem-topped posts that she had been erecting since she had awoken.  She set aside the vial that she had drunk while recharging the entire array that they formed as she made one final lap to make sure everything was in place before looking towards the rising sun.  “Well it's about time to get Scootaloo for her punishment.  I'll need to leave some time for her to get ready for school after all.”

Saying that it was time to awaken the young filly was one thing, but doing to always ended up being a chore.  She had just tried to gently wake the filly up since her usual ploy would have been detrimental to her plans so she was forced to go with a less kind way to wake her.  With a sigh she looks over her shoulder at Scarlett who had been with her since she woke up.  “Do you want to give it a shot or should I dig through one of Pinkie's prank bags?”

The flying fox brought one of her wing claws to her chin for a moment before she leapt onto the bed with a flap and made her way to Scootaloo.  The pet didn't do anything at first as she looked at the sleeping filly and she soon started snuffling at her mane.  The filly twitched a bit at the flying fox's ministrations but it still wasn't enough to wake her up...  At least until she decided to stick her tongue into her ear which caused the filly's eyes to shoot open as she let out a shriek and shot out of bed to land on the headboard.

“Scarlett!?  What was that for!?”  Scootaloo glared at the red-furred pet who just gave her an innocent stare before her attention was pulled away by the sound of chuckling.  Looking up she spotted her sister  standing over her bed and she tilted her head in confusion as she glanced at her clock.  “Sis?  Why are you up so early?”

Shaking her head as she allows Scarlett to climb back onto her back she points out towards the back of the home.  “I'm pretty sure I told you yesterday that your punishment was starting this morning.  I just finished setting everything up and you'll have to get started soon if you want to have time for breakfast.”

Scootaloo shivered a bit at her sister's cheerful tone of voice as it was one she hadn't heard in a while and it only meant trouble.  She wanted to argue with her sister but she was curious about what this training was her father had taught her since she had always slept through it.  The was the only reason why she didn't put up much of a fuss at being woken up as early as she had.

The filly wasn't very impressed though when she was lead to a ring of posts that were set up in the area between their home and the distant Everfree Forest.  “What's the deal, sis?  You always talked about how awesome dad's training was but if this is all it involved then I'd say the school playground would be more interesting.”

The elder sister just smirked as she advanced on the one pole that was set up outside of the ring and set her horn on the gem.  After a moment of just pushing magic into her horn for the gem to absorb it slowly started to glow and spread around the entire ring.  Once the entire ring lit up the glow began to spread to the inside of the ring before solidifying into a variety of shapes.  Scootaloo just watched with her mouth wide open as an entire obstacle course appeared from nothing.

“Hmm, I think I got it a bit out of order but it should be fine.  This is mom and dad's personal Black Guard training course.”  Glancing over at her sister she rose an eyebrow at her reaction of surprise.  “What?  You didn't think they just sat around all the time and still remained captains, did you?  Still this is a bit much for you to handle, so...”

Reaching over with a hoof to the gem she used to activate the course she started to twist it around while watching over everything.  As she twisted the gem the obstacle course started to grow and shrink in size until it was about half the size than when it first appeared.  “There, that should be about right.  Now all you have to do is make it through the course as fast as you can while I keep time.”

The mare pulled out a stop-clock and set it on another convenient pole while looking expectantly at her sister.  Scootaloo recovered from her shock to look over at her sister before she shrugged and moved to the start of the course.  With another glance over to get a nod from her sister the pegasus filly began to traverse the course.

The first obstacle she came to was simple to complete as she skipped across a path of stones from the starting platform to the other end.  Next up was a steep incline which gave her a bit of difficulty as she slid down the first time as she didn't realize how little traction she would get on it which she corrected for on her second attempt.  When she came to a series of low walls she paused for a moment to look ahead and she realized that the course appeared to get even worse later on and she wondered if she could even finish it.

From the low walls, to a tunnel she could barely fit through, to a single rope crossing were the easiest part for her to deal with.  The course had variations on those but often turned out to be even harder or take a bit of thought to find a different way to complete them.  During another wall climb where she had to leap from box to box to ascend it, she slipped just before she made it to the top.  She tried to recover by flapping her wings but all that gained her was a sharp pain in a wing as she plummeted to the ground.  When she hit the ground she scrambled to her hooves in panic just to find herself miraculously uninjured.  She was a bit shaky after that but she soon regained her composure enough to continue with the course.

Eventually she collapsed at the finish line of the course where she panted from the exertion while she looked over at her sister who was rubbing her chin with a hoof while looking at the stop-clock.  “Huh, not too bad for a first attempt while not knowing the course.  You didn't do too much worse than my first attempt and it's a good thing there are a couple enchantments to prevent injuries as well.  Now run it again.”

Scootaloo didn't comprehend her sister's words at first but when she finally realized what she said her eyes widened in show.  “Wait, what do you mean again?!  I barely made it through the first time!”

Aegis Flare didn't even react as she reset the clock once again before sitting down to watch again.  “What?  Did you think your punishment would be easy?  I think a couple weeks of this should be enough of a punishment for going out into the Everfree.  Just be lucky that I'm going easy on you for now, next week you'll get to do this with a weighted vest.”

The filly's jaw dropped in shock as the full realization of what her punishment was fell upon her.  With a shiver she stood up and toddled over to the starting point once again and waited for the signal to start.  Aegis Flare gave a nod, sending her sister off on yet another circuit of the obstacle course as her mind drifted back to her own early days of training.

The second lap wasn't the last one for the young filly, but it was during it that two other ponies showed up behind the orange mare.  “Isn't this a tad overboard for a simple punishment, Flare?  I don't even think my brother uses anything this difficult when training recruits for the royal guard.”

Looking over her shoulder the orange unicorn spotted both Twilight and Rainbow Dash advancing on her from around the house before turning her attention back to her sister.  “Oh it's not that bad.  I'm still going easy on her right now and there are a couple of the more difficult obstacle pylons still in the shed.”

Twilight just gave her a deadpan look before turning to Rainbow Dash who was examining the course with interest.  She waited for the pegasus to give her own opinion but when she just continued to stare at the course the purple unicorn dug an elbow into her side.  Looking over at the unicorn to see her annoyed expression the pegasus just shrugged.  “What?  This looks rather interesting.  Of course it's rather small for it to be much of a challenge.”

The purple unicorn just slams a hoof into her face at her friend's reaction before turning back to the other unicorn.  “I thought you were asking me to come out here because you were worried about Scootaloo.  And how can you justify using something like this as a punishment anyways?!”

Glancing over for a second before raising a hoof, Aegis Flare walks over towards her sister who had collapsed at the end of the course after finishing it once again.  “That should be good for now Scoots.  You can go inside and clean up and get ready for school.”  With a nod the filly slowly drags her way to a standing position once again before staggering into the building to do what she was told while Scarlett followed after her.  After watching after the filly and making sure she was out of sight she sighed and turned towards the other two.

“It may seem cruel but it's better than doing something silly such as locking her in her room like I've seen some parents do.  An hour of this for a couple weeks will teach her to be a bit safer as well as curb her excess energy a bit.  It'll probably send a message to the other two fillies as well once they hear what she is doing.”  The two ponies just stare at her for a moment before Twilight just sighs and shakes her head while Rainbow Dash turns  to look at the course again.

Seeing the gaze of the pegasus on the obstacle course again the unicorn sighed and started fiddling with the gem controlling the course once again.  She watched as Rainbow Dash's eyes shot open wide as the course returned to it's full size again but while she wasn't paying attention her hoof slipped and hit a second gem on the pole causing a second course to appear next to the first.  Seeing this she tried to turn off the second one but she instead brought the hoof to her face when she spotted the grin on her friend's face.

“Oh you have got to race me on this thing now.  After losing to you during the Running of the Leaves I've been itching for a rematch.”  Looking over at Twilight in the hope of help she saw that the purple unicorn was just watching her smugly before she moved over to examine the ring of pole.  With a sigh Aegis Flare just shakes her head before heading towards the shed.

“Fine, but we'll be doing it how it should be done, just give me a moment to dig out a couple vests.”  As the unicorn walked into the shed the other two looked at each other for a moment before turning back to the obstacle course.

Rainbow Dash's examinations were interrupted by a whistle of appreciation from Twilight causing her to look over questioningly.  Seeing her friend's look the studious unicorn started explaining.  “These are very high-grade enchantments being used to create the projections for this training course.  Of course it's no wonder since Flare's parents were such a high rank.  The Royal Guard uses something like this for their recruits as well, though there are a couple enchantments that I'm not familiar with.”

She would have continued but they were interrupted when Flare tossed a vest between the two.  Their eyebrows rose at how loud of an impact it made when it landed but when Rainbow Dash tried to pick it up her jaw dropped.  “What is with this thing?  It feels like it ways as much as Twilight.”

The mentioned unicorn turned to glare at the pegasus for a moment while the orange mare chuckled at them while already wearing her own.  “It probably does and it's supposed to weight that much.  The main purpose of this course is to simulate a worst-case incident where you have to carry somepony else  with you through various incidents.  It's not perfect though since the it's easier with this on to get through the smaller tunnels than it is if you were dragging somepony else.”

The two just looked at her before Rainbow Dash grinned and put the vest on herself, slipping her wings through the appropriate holes in it.  After testing out how the extra weight affected her movement she trotted over to the starting line and waited for the other unicorn to join her.  With a sigh the orange mare tossed another stop-clock towards Twilight.  “You might as well keep time for us.  Though I am curious about how much my time is changed since I've last run this.”

With  a sigh the purple unicorn just nodded and waited for the two to get into position before signaling for them to start.  She watched as the two took off quickly and she wasn't overly surprised to see Rainbow Dash take an early lead.  That lead was quickly lost when she same to the first tunnel as her wings had been partially spread as she ran so they got caught up on the side of the tunnel walls, much to Rainbow Dash's annoyance.

“What is with this obstacle?  I can barely even fit inside of it.”  While the pegasus was complaining, Aegis Flare had caught up and, after exhaling as much as she could to slim down, slid half way through her own tunnel passing up the pegasus.  Seeing this through the slightly transparent walls, Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes at her friend.  “Why that...”

With a bit of a struggle to flatten her wings all the way down Rainbow Dash was able to wiggle her own way through the tunnel.  By the time she exited she found that she had lost the lead and the orange mare was already half-way up the rope hanging from a high wall.  Seeing that she was falling behind, and remembering that the never agreed on any rules, Rainbow Dash spread her wings and attempted to fly to the top of the wall.

On the first flap of her wings she was able to propel herself up towards the top, but she was forced to hang onto the top of the wall as a shock of pain went through her wings.  After taking a moment to recover she shot a glare over at the unicorn that was just reaching the top herself.  “Hey!  What's the big idea doing something to my wings like that?!”

Aegis Flare looks over in confusion for a moment before she realizes what the cyan mare was talking about.  “Didn't I mention that?  My mom helped enchant this course so that any use of magic is effectively poisoned causing pain when you try to use any.  This course is set up to test bodily strength after all, not wings or horns.”

Rainbow Dash just stared after her a moment before she realized that she was falling behind yet again causing he to slide down the rope quickly.  From the sidelines Twilight watched as the two continued their race causing her to shake her head.  “That mare and her competitiveness.  Though I'm not sure if the other is any better considering how she just goes along with it.  At least I can occupy myself with looking over this training area.  The princess and my brother never let me look over the ones at the guard academy.”

Pulling out a scroll she started jotting down a few notes as she looked over the main control gem for the training course's array.  “Hmm, from what I can tell this one is meant to control the flow and output of energies which means it's the other ones that really do all the work.  There also seems to be something else that overlays the energy that it channels as well that feels similar to a magic suppression ring.”

She sketched down what she could recognize before moving on to on of the obstacle gems too look that one over.  “These are actually easier to understand than I thought they would be.  I would have expected it to be something more than a specially shaped barrier with a couple safety enchantments.”  She pauses as she takes a closer look at the gem itself before she goes back to the first one.  “Of course, that's why they are so rare.  These gems are so rare that even a major noble house would have trouble affording this many.  The princess must have had something to do with these I bet.”

Looking up she notices that the two are approaching the end of the course so she paused in her note-taking for the moment.  Twilight raised an eyebrow at seeing the two reach the final obstacle, a large warped wall that they needed to scale with pure jumping power, but Rainbow Dash was able to scale it first by using her wings.  The purple unicorn didn't notice the wince of pain when the cyan mare did so as she was focused more on the clocks timing the two.

“Hah, hah, beat you that time Flare.  I didn't expect the whole flying handicap though.  You could have mentioned that before we actually started you know.”  Rainbow Dash stripped off her vest as she tried to catch her breath while Aegis Flare was moving to check out their times.

“Thanks for keeping time for us Twilight.  Though I seem to have gotten a bit slower since I last did this.  I knew I've been relying too much on my magic again.”  Twilight nodded to her and was about to say something until she saw the other unicorn pull off her vest to reveal a second one below it.  When the second one was revealed, Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped before she got up into the unicorn's face.

“Whoa whoa whoa!  You mean this whole time you were wearing two of those?!  What ever happened to this being a fair race?”  The two unicorns just rolled their eyes at the pegasus as Aegis Flare started packing things away.

“Well it was pretty fair since you have never run it before and most of what you've done is more for speed than anything else.  Though you did do extremely well for a first attempt.  If what my dad told me was true then you did better than many of the ponies of the Black Guard.”  This wasn't enough to really mollify the pegasus but instead of pushing the issue she just took off in a huff.

With a sigh and a shake of her head the orange mare turned towards Twilight.  “Well since you're still here would you like to join me and my sister for breakfast?  It's been a while since we had company.”

Twilight considered this opportunity for a moment.  Since she had moved to Ponyville she had yet to see her friend's home before and she was a bit curious.  She also wanted to check on Scootaloo as well so she saw no reason to decline.  “Sure.  Rainbow Dash did drag me out of bed and pushed me out the door before I could get something to eat.”

With a small smile the orange mare led the way inside the building and showed Twilight to a chair at the table inside the kitchen.  While she made herself comfortable, Aegis Flare looked through her pantry for ingredients and started pulling out everything necessary to make pancakes.  Twilight wasn't paying much attention though as she looked around in the area she could see and she was surprised at how sparsely decorated it was in the kitchen and dining area.

Taking a closer look she found that there really was only one real decoration at all and that was a small tapestry bearing a house coat of arms on it that tickled at the back of her mind.  She soon recognized it as one of the crests from the thestral clans.  Hearing a sound from off to the side she looked to see Scootaloo coming into room.  “Hey.  How are you doing there?”

The filly collapsed into he a chair that allowed her to see above the table before her head crashed onto the table.  “Ugh, I'll be fine.  I'd rather be doing this than some of the more embarrassing punishments my sister had thought up.  I still don't know what Rarity needed all those dresses for that she had me modeling.  What are you doing here though Miss Twilight?”  She angled her head to glace over at the unicorn before shuddering at the thought of the dresses.

Thinking about how the older mare also had a similar reaction to dresses at times caused Twilight to chuckle.  “Well your sister invited me in for breakfast after finishing her race with Rainbow Dash.”  She was about to say more but she happened to glance over to see what the older sister was doing and stopped in shock.

The orange mare wasn't doing anything too out of the ordinary for a unicorn cooking but what was odd was that she was doing all of it without any utensils.  Scootaloo, after looking up to see why Twilight had stopped talking, turned to see what she was looking at before she sighed and shook her head.  “Oh great, she's showing off again.  She says that she does it to practice her control or something but she only ever does it when she is cooking for somepony other than me.”

Twilight just shook her head and watched as the other unicorn used her shield magic to form bowls and mixing tools to prepare the batter while using a spatula formed with it as well to flip the pancakes in an iron pan.  She had to admit that it was a rather ingenious use of magic, especially in how it reduced the need for cleanup in the end.

Soon she had cooked up a large stack of pancakes which she set in the center of the table before setting out a jug of apple juice for the three.  They all ate in silence, the youngest due to weariness and the elder two due to not knowing what to say to each other.  The pegasus filly soon had to leave for school leaving the other two to clean up what little there was from breakfast.  Soon it was time for Twilight to head back to the library but she paused before she left to say something.

“I'm sorry about doubting you on how you were dealing with you sister for doing something so dangerous.  I've never heard about somepony doing something like that before but it seems as if it actually does get through to Scootaloo in some way.”  Aegis Flare just gave a small smile before looking in the direction of the school.

“Sometimes I wonder if it really is the best thing for her but it's hard thinking of something that would actually get through to her.  I try to make the punishment be something that fits with what she did and in this case it'll hopefully drain her of a bit of that excess energy she has and get her to slow down and think a bit more.  Between her and her friends she does seem to be the reckless one and from what I hear around town the other two listen to her a bit too often.  I just hope that running her through some of the things I did when I was around her age will at least get her to start thinking ahead more.  Especially when one of the latest things I heard them planning had to do with building a catapult and launching each other with it.”  Twilight's eyes widened at hearing the latest plan of the fillies and she looked towards the schoolhouse in the distance as well.

“Maybe I should ask Spike to keep an eye on them a bit more.  He and your sister seem to have been spending more and more time together lately and at the very least he can maybe stall them long enough for an adult to stop their more dangerous plans.”  With a small shiver the purple mare gave a final wave to her friend before heading back to the library to make a few plans.
> 23
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aegis Flare stood in the back entrance of her home as she watched the mare running the obstacle course behind her home in confusion.  While she wasn't a stranger to finding the course being in use since Rainbow Dash had found out about it, the mare currently running it wasn't one she expected to see.  She watched as the blue and pink maned mare came around to finish yet another lap before she leaned against the starting post to catch her breath.

With a shake of her head the orange unicorn stepped out of the shadows of her doorway and moved toward the course.  “”When I set this up again I really didn't expect it to become as popular as it seems to be.  With Rainbow Dash, and now you, I'm starting to think that I should start charging ponies.”

With a squeak of embarrassment at being caught, Bon Bon turned to see the unicorn approaching before she started scuffing her hoof on the ground.  “Oh, um, sorry for using this without permission.  I was just walking around tonight and when I found that you set this up again I just felt a bit nostalgic.  That and with how angry I was at Lyra just pulled me into blowing off some steam.  I did bring my own mana source to power it at least.”

Looking at where the mare was pointing to see a vial poking out of a hole in the control gem's pole filled with a familiar looking silver liquid.  “Huh?  I didn't know that you could use those to power it.  I only remember my mom charging the gem directly.  It's fine though, I just didn't expect to see anypony other than Rainbow Dash to show up early in the morning to run the course.  Though I'm a bit curious about what Lyra did to make you so angry at her.”

Bon Bon sighs as she rubs the side of her muzzle with a hoof.  “I shouldn't have gotten so angry at her, but sometime she goes a little too far with her little obsession.  I can understand having a hobby but it's a bit too far when she hurts herself trying to walk like those bipedal things just because of her obsession with their hand things.”

The orange unicorn cocks her head to the side for a moment as she tries to picture the creature in question but with the vague description only one thing comes to mind easily.  “Why would she be so obsessed with minotaurs like that?  Sure they don't show up here much but it's not like they are unheard of in Equestria.”

The other mare opened her mouth to reply but she stopped herself as she brought her hoof up to her muzzle again.  “Right, you haven't seen her drawings.  Though I'll have to remember to mention them to her since some of her wild theories can be answered by them.  The creatures only look like them superficially though and are different in their legs and head as well as being nearly completely hairless.  I still don't understand how she can believe that they ever existed really.”

She was only answered with a shrug as the unicorn thinks back to things that she knew of that others didn't.  “It would be hard to say if they truly did or didn't exist or not.  You should know how things can get lost or covered up and I've had personal experience with something that doesn't exist anymore.  I'm not saying that she's right but she probably could use some support from you as well as a few good thumps for when she goes overboard.”

Bon Bon just sighs again as she shakes her head in exasperation.  “Yeah, you're right.  I just can't get as excited as her when she gets like that and holding her back is sometimes impossible.  I'm planning to talk with her though in the morning but I needed some time to cool off and...”

She pauses as she looks towards the horizon to see the sun's glow starting to creep up before her eyes widen as something the unicorn said earlier finally hit her.  “Oh horseapples!  It's already morning?!  I only planned to be gone for maybe an hour, not all night.  Sorry to just run like this but I have to get back and check on Lyra.”

With that the earth pony took off leaving the unicorn to just shake her head in bemusement before she starts preparing for another training session with her sister.

<><><><><><><>

The group of friends were preparing for a picnic that they had planned out for that day though they were missing one of their group.  The six knew that Rarity would be late as she was out collecting gems for a rush order that recently came in for her.  While the alabaster unicorn had asked the others to go on without her they were still preparing just in case she still was able to make it.

“I think that's everything that we need for later.  Unless somepony else has any other ideas.”  Twilight looks around at the other five while they all just shake their heads at her.  She was about to set out with them towards the park but was brought up short when Spike came dashing up, without Rarity.

At his urgency they started to rush off in the direction the young dragon came from but they slowed when they noticed that one of them hadn't started moving.  Aegis Flare didn't understand what the baby dragon had been trying to say but the words 'jewels' and 'dogs' had stood out in her mind.  Before the others could ask her why she stopped she turned in the direction of her home before looking back at them.  “You all go on ahead.  If we're dealing with what I think we are then I may have something that will help out.”

The five mares nod and return to heading in the direction of their destination while the orange unicorn took off towards her home.  Once there she slams open the doors in her path until she reaches her room and the various displays that filled her room.  She had to climb over her bed to reach the one she wanted as it was isolated in the far corner of her room and she sighed as she looked around at the souvenirs of her past.  “I really need to rearrange this place a bit.  Of course I never expected to actually need to reach this one again.”

Fiddling with the lock for a moment she opened the glass display case before running a hoof over the book and crown inside of it before it settled on the crystalline whistle that was stored with them.  Lifting it carefully from the case she tosses the attached loop over her head and closed the case again before heading out to catch up with her friends.

What she found when she arrived caused her to slap her hoof over her face in embarrassment at what she saw.  As she had thought from the dragon's cryptic words they were dealing with diamond dogs but her friends were going about getting Rarity back the wrong way.  When she saw Twilight and Rainbow Dash collided with each other she let out a wince before sighing and bringing the whistle to her lips, while clasping her ears to her head, and blew out a few simple notes.

While no sounds was audible to the other ponies, other than Fluttershy who winced and clamped her hooves over her ears, the results were obvious as a half dozen diamond dogs appeared in front of her standing at attention.  They looked confused though when they saw that they were standing in front of a pony but one of them recognized the object that the pony had in her mouth.  “How does pony have chieftain's whistle?!  All supposed to be lost for good!”

The diamond dogs all took an offensive stance and the ones that didn't speak were about to charge until they were knocked off of their paws by an orb of energy and were quickly knocked out before Aegis Flare turned her attention back to the speaker.  “How I have it doesn't matter.  What matters is that you have one of my friends down in your tunnels and you're going to take us to her before a really have to let you have it.”

While her dry tone didn't do much to convince the pony, the fact that she took a deep breath while the whistle was still in her mouth was enough to cause him to panic.  “No wait!  Don't blow, I'll take you I'll take you!”

With a nod the orange unicorn gestured for the diamond dog to lead the way as her friends joined her while looking at her curiously.  “What they hay was all that about?  And how did you get them to to come out as soon as you showed up?”

With a glance over at Rainbow Dash Aegis Flare brandished the tool that she had used.  “A few years ago I happened to pick this up from a small group of diamond dogs.  It was once used by the leaders of their packs to issue commands to those they ruled when certain patterns were blown.  I wasn't sure if it still worked but it seems that the enchantments on it still work though they still could have ignored it even if it did work.”

The whistle was soon torn from her grasp and drawn to her opposite side where Twilight was, forcing her to move in that direction to keep the cord on it from choking her.  As she lightly glared at the studious unicorn she felt a tap on her shoulder from Fluttershy.  “Um, why did it hurt my ears if it was meant for diamond dogs?  If you don't mind my asking...”

The unicorn looked back at her in confusion and she wasn't the only one as Applejack spoke up.  “What are ya talking about Fluttershy?  Ah didn't hear nothing when she blowed on that there toy of hers.”  The others nodded in agreement with the farm mare which caused the buttery pegasus to collapse in on herself a bit.

Looking over Fluttershy, Aegis Flare didn't see anything out of the ordinary but she decided to ask since she could only think of one reason why she also could hear it.  “Was one of your parents a thestral?  Only those with heightened senses of hearing can usually hear this thing.”

Still cringing a bit, Fluttershy nodded as she tried to relax again.  “Yeah, my father was.  But I really don't want to talk about him right now.”

The others looked towards Fluttershy with surprise, which caused Aegis Flare to stumble as Twilight lost her grip on the whistle, though none of them tried to push the issue further.  The diamond dog soon led the six mares and baby dragon into on of the few still open tunnels and they looked around with worry as they traveled through the constraining spaces.  They conversed with each other about what to expect and they soon came to a more cavernous area where they were soon pounced upon by another group of armored diamond dogs.

While Applejack glared up at the one that had landed on her back and was about to retaliate, her train of thought was broken as the attention of the entire room was pulled away by loud cries of pain.  “YIPE!  YIPE!  YIPE!”

Everyone looked confused as they watched one of the burly diamond dog guards drag his rear along the ground as he tried to put out the flames on his tail.  Looking in the direction that he was fleeing from they were greeted by the sight of a unicorn entirely bathed in flames.  While the other ponies didn't react much the diamond dogs went into a full on panic as they turned on the one that led the ponies into the tunnels.

“You idiot!  You brought fire pony into pack tunnels!  Fire pony will kill us all!”  With a bit of scuffling between them to be the first to escape the area soon emptied of diamond dogs leaving only the six mares and dragon.  After watching the ambush party run of in a panic the others turn to look at the seemingly burning mare before Twilight edges closer.

“Not that I mean to belittle your strategy, but do you think that you could maybe stop being on fire?  I'd rather not suffocate down here while you consume all the oxygen.”  Aegis Flare, who was breathing a bit heavily at the surprise of having the diamond dog land on her back from nowhere, blinked a couple times before she looked down at herself.  Shaking her head she dimmed her horn and banished the flames around her before looking back at her friends.

“Eheh, sorry about that.  It's become a bit of a reflex when I'm in an area that I think of as dangerous.  You don't have to worry about running out of air though, I've been practicing with a different type of fire that doesn't consume oxygen but magic instead.  As long as it doesn't hit a concentrated source of magic then it will burn itself out pretty quickly.”  Twilight just gave her a blank before she scuffed a hoof at the ground for a moment before she pulled something up with her magic.

“You mean something like this?”  Staring at the gem for a moment the orange unicorn wasn't sure what she meant until her pupils shrank as she realized what she was looking at.  As she identified the gem being levitated in Twilight's magic she brought a hoof up to rub the back of her head sheepishly.

“Oh right, diamond dogs hunt gems.  I probably shouldn't do that again unless I wanted to leave a giant crater, should I?”  The purple unicorn just gave her a deadpan stare while the other mares just shifted nervously in place.  She would have said more but she was rudely shoved aside by an overly enthusiastic dragon.

“That was so awesome!  It was just like Wildfire from the comics how you just went 'fwoosh' and burst into flames!”  Most of the mares just looked at the young dragon in confusion though the one he was speaking to took a different route by putting a hoof over her muzzle.

“Ugh, of course you would read those comics.  I was wondering where Scootaloo was getting those from.”  Seeing the looks the others were giving her she shook her head and explained.  “A comic by the names of the Power Ponies came out a couple months after we beat Nightmare Moon.  I may have came up with that trick from there, though without the hormone-driven loss of clothing every time I use it.”

The mare holds up the cord holding her whistle to show that it was completely undamaged.  The others, after realizing what she was describing, blushed at the thought before Rainbow Dash cleared her throat.  “Yeah, that's fine and all but how are we going to find Rarity now?  We just lost our guide and this place is like a maze.”

Looking around the others notice that she is correct and anxiously examine the surrounding tunnels.  The dragon pointed out how the diamond dogs were after gems so finding the path with the most would most likely lead to her.  Twilight, after being reminded that she had been shown Rarity's spell, tried to remember how to do so but before she could cast the spell both Fluttershy and Aegis Flare winced before they pointed at one of the tunnels.  “She's down that one.”

Twilight looked at the two curiously before she finished casting the spell and determined that they were correct as the gems were heaviest in that direction.  She was curious about how the two knew that as well as why they were still wincing as they proceeded down the indicated tunnel.  Eventually they found who they were looking for but were surprised to find that the alabaster mare had everything under control.

As they were leaving bother Fluttershy and Aegis Flare were rubbing their ears and eventually the unicorn spoke up to the fashionista.  “Rarity, I applaud you for what you did back there but please, PLEASE tell me you won't make a habit of that.  I don't think our ears can handle whining of that magnitude to often.”

As the unicorn became a bit flustered about this the rest of the mares started laughing.  Eventually she just shook her head at having been caught like that and sighed.  “Oh all right I won't do that again if I don't have to.  Just as long as you don't spread around how unladylike I had to be to get out of there.”

With a nod the two agreed with a smile as they pulled the load of gems the mare had earned that day back towards her home.
> 24
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rolling through the hills of Equestria, Twilight and friends were aboard the train heading out towards one of the border towns.  While Applejack and Rarity were in the last car, most of the others were in the next one watching Twilight as she attempted to repeat what she had seen her friend do once.  Her magic was slowly forming into the shape of a bowl but when she tried to form another object inside of it the whole construct fell apart leaving her looking annoyed.

“Ugh!  How can you do this so easily?!  If I just knew what the runes were to do this it would be easy but you seem to do it without even using any!”  The purple mare glared at the orange unicorn that was sleepily watching her from one of the beds.  With a yawn she lifted her head from off her pillow to focus on Twilight.

“At least you're doing better than you were when trying to figure out my fire magic.  Fighting off something you summoned from the elemental planes was not something I wanted to end an already bad day with.”  The librarian blushed at being reminded about the incident that had happened before they boarded the train.  At being reminded of this, Rainbow Dash flew over to the sleepy unicorn.

“That reminds me, what were you doing to show up so tired?  Applejack asked us to show up a week ago so why would you do whatever it was you were doing?  And how is it you were the only one not affected by that things flames?”  Aegis Flare tried to roll her eyes at the pegasus but was interrupted by yet another yawn.

“I was just doing a quick run through the Everfree Forest to check on some things.  I would have been back a couple days ago but I had to track down and save yet another guard that was following me around.  I thought the learned the last few times after they replaced them with a thestral but it seems they didn't.  I could actually put up with them screeching in my ear as long as I didn't have to drag them out of the forest.”  The others roll their eyes at this having had issues with random guards as well over the past few months.  “As for your other question-”

“It's because of the Theory of Magical Transmission.”  All eyes turn to Twilight as she interrupts the other unicorn.  “When magic is used it will transfer certain protections at the same time as a sort of safety feature.  It doesn't always happen but with elemental spells, pegasus flight, and even telekinesis there is an extra layer to the magic that protects the user or target.”

Twilight pulls out a sheet of paper from nearby with her magic as an example and pokes at it with a quill.  “Telekinesis will protect an object from damage to an extent when cast correctly while elemental spells grant a near immunity as long as you are casting the spell.  It wouldn't be very useful magic if Flare burned herself every time she used her magic, or an ice mage to contract frostbite when conjuring up a snowstorm.  Unfortunately sometimes this effect can cause some unintended side-effects.”

With a pulse of her magic Twilight sent the sheet of paper across the train to imbed itself into the wall.  The others back away from it a bit when it goes limp while still being stuck in the wall while being completely undamaged.  That was the situation that Applejack and Rarity walked in on after returning from checking on the tree.  Aegis Flare was glad to see that the sun was setting, as well as Rarity preparing for sleep, so that she could finally rest after being awake for over twenty-four hours so far.

Unfortunately for her, especially with her sensitive hearing, she wasn't allowed to do so as her friends kept up a racket.  Even after both Spike and Rarity tried to quiet them down they still kept up with the noise forcing her to follow the dragon's example of heading to a quieter place.  Spike looked up and scowled as she walked into the train car but one of his eyebrows shot up when she just tossed her pillow into a corner before flopping down onto it.  When her horn lit up and bathed the room in an orange glow, causing all sounds from outside of it to cease, the dragon just smiled before he curled up again next to the tree.

<><><><><><><>

The next morning the orange mare woke a bit late after finally getting a well-deserved rest in, though on seeing the train car being filled with buffalo she felt that she could do with a few more hours.  Looking around drowsily she brought a hoof up to rub at her eyes before sighing and looking over towards the dragon that was awake and talking to one of them by the tree.  “Spike?  Why are there a bunch of buffalo on the train and where are the others at?”

Spike looked over from where he was talking with a smaller female buffalo to see the slowly awakening unicorn.  He turns back to say something to to his new companion before leader her over towards Aegis Flare.  “Hey Flare, this is Little Strongheart and, uh, there seems to have be a bit of a problem around here.  The buffalo tribes want the ponies of Appleloosa to move their trees since they put them all in the path of their stampeding grounds.”

The dragon led the two out of the train car to find that it had been brought to the buffalo's camp instead of the intended destination.  The young buffalo took up the conversation at that point.  “We only wanted the tree and didn't intend to get anyone else involved.  The Appleloosans just started planting trees all along our ancestral grounds without asking us for permission.”

Letting out another sigh the unicorn rubbed at her face yet again before muttering.  “It is way too early to deal with something like this.  I just hope that what my parents told me about these things are correct.”  She speaks up so the others can hear her next words.  “I really hope you have the treaty between you and Equestria.  I might as well start getting information on this end and hope that Twilight is looking for something where they are.”

Spike just raises an eyebrow at her while Little Strongheart looked surprised but waved her over towards one of the tents in the center of the camp.  Inside were racks of scrolls being tended to by an elderly looking buffalo who the younger one immediately made her way to.  “Scholar, we need the scrolls that contain the treaties with the ponies.”

The elder buffalo looks at the two warily before nodding and moving purposefully through the racks until she pulls one out and lays it on a portable table for the two.  A few others soon join it until there is a small stack of them which causes Aegis Flare to shake her head.  “Well I might as well get to reading before something else happens.”

Little Strongheart stayed to watch for a bit before she left the mare to her reading in peace.  Aegis Flare found many sections that could deal with the current situation but until she had more information she couldn't come up with a plan.  With a sigh and a rub of her eyes she packed up her notes before heading outside to find that the sun had set for the day.  She was surprised to find that Pinkie and Rainbow Dash had arrived earlier as well and the pegasus was wanting to head right out to talk sense into the Appleloosans.

Luckily, after many hoofs to her own face and a few eye-rolls, Aegis Flare was able to convince her to wait until the morning before heading out.  Of course when the time came there wasn't much she could do to hold the pushy pegasus back.  “So what were you doing the whole time that we were coming to save your flank yesterday anyways?”

The orange unicorn glanced at her saddlebags before sighing.  “I was looking through the treaties for something that could help out.  Appleloosa had been around for a couple years already so it is odd that this is only happening now.  Until I can see what is going on in the town I can't say what will happen but unless a suitable compromise is found the buffalo tribe is well within their rights to kick them out.”

Pinkie looks worried about this but Rainbow Dash looks even more motivated as they march towards the town.  They arrive just as their other friends were leaving to come save them, to their amusement, and while Applejack and Rainbow Dash started arguing Aegis Flare moved over to talk to Twilight.  “Twilight, I really hope that you found something in town because from my end it's not looking good.”

Twilight looked confused at her friends words as she glanced over at the arguing ponies.  “What are you talking about?  We spent all this time getting ready to come rescue you and Spike.”

The orange unicorn's jaw dropped for a moment before she remembered who she was talking to before she started rubbing her eyes again.  “Right, you were too caught up in your books back in Canterlot to pay any attention to any of the princess' diplomatic meetings.”  Twilight looked a combination of offended and embarrassed at this but her friend ignored it.  “These are buffalo lands according to a treaty so there should be records in town on why this area was chosen over somewhere under Equestrian control.  Even maps of the area would be useful to an extent.”

Twilight looks thoughtful as she watches the others walk off after Pinkie.  “Anything like that should be in the town hall since there isn't a library here.  I don't know why I didn't think of this before, a little bit of research and everything will work out just fine.”

~~~~~~~

“Twilight, did you really have to say that this would be easy?  This place is a complete mess.”  Aegis Flare looked over the pile of scrolls that she had been looking through to Twilight who was being assisted by Spike as he brought another pile to her.  The purple unicorn looked up from her reading to glare across the room as another lock of her mane popped out of place.

“Well it's not my fault that nopony around here knows how to organize this place like it should be.  It's like they just tossed everything in here at random and just forgot about it all.”  The mare slammed her forehead down into the table in front of her as Spike popped out of another pile of scrolls.

“I found it!  Here's that map of the area that you wanted me to find, Flare.”  The orange unicorn perked up as the young dragon brought the requested documents over to her.  Quickly unrolling them she checked the area to see what was in the area but what she found left her confused.

“This area is the only way through these mountains for hundreds of miles.  Why would they block the entire pass with the apple orchard without even leaving a path through it anywhere?”  Twilight came over to look over her shoulder to see what she was complaining about to see what she was talking about.  Looking it over she pointed at a couple marks on either side of the town.

“What about those?  Aren't those paths through the mountains?”  Aegis Flare takes a closer look at the before shaking her head.

“They go through, but unless they've been improved since this map was updated they wouldn't be good enough for moving any number of wagons through, let alone an entire tribe of buffalo.”  The two continue to look at the map for a few moments more before Twilight heads back towards where she was seated before.  Before she could get back to her own research Spike called out from across the room.

“Hey, I think I found the deed to Appleloosa.  Do you think this will help at all?”  Twilight just shakes her head at him in response.

“No Spike, the purchase records of the town won't have anything that we are looking for.  We need something that will help us convince the Appleloosans and buffalo tribe to sit down and talk this out and come to an agreement of some kind.”  While she may not have been interested in it, the other unicorn was looking over in confusion.

“Let me see that, Spike.  There shouldn't even be a deed, but treaty or some other diplomatic letter since this is apparently buffalo territory.  Something isn't right here.”  She looked over the contract once Spike brought it over and frowned at what she found.  “Well there is what looks like the princess' signature, though I have no clue who this Manifest Destiny pony is.  But something is wrong with this seal, it's not like the one on the buffalo treaty but I'm not sure what's wrong.”

Hearing this was enough to catch the purple mare's attention and send her rushing across the room to look over the document.  “I can't believe it.  The princesses signature is a fake!  You can tell because she has a spell she uses when not only signing any document but also for when placing the royal seal.  If either of them are missing or even the slightest bit off then the document is supposed to be sent to her to be redone.  This shouldn't have made it out here.  Why would this be here?”

“I'm starting to wonder if there even is a copy of the treaty here now.  It's almost like somepony wants there to be a fight here.”  Twilight looks confused at her words as she writes a letter down on a spare sheet of parchment.

“But why would anypony want to start a fight with the buffalo?  It's not like there is anything out here that-”  She is interrupted by a loud crunching sound and the two unicorns turn towards Spike to see him chewing on a chunk of turquoise.  As he pulls out another piece from somewhere he sees the two looking at him and he raises an eyebrow questioningly.  “Spike?  Where did you get that from?”

The dragon looks down at the turquoise in his claws before he pops it into his mouth with a loud crunch before replying.  “Little Strongheart gave me a few before we left their camp.  They're rather tasty too.  Why didn't you get these at all while we were in Canterlot?”

“Because they cost way too much compared to what I've been getting you.  The local gems were cheaper and...”  She notices Aegis Flare slamming her head into a desk which interrupts what she was saying and makes her remember what they were doing.  “And that is probably the reason why somepony would want a fight to break out here.  If something starts then the Royal Guard would get called in and if they manipulate things even more then the buffalo could be driven off their land.  Spike, I need you to send these to the princess, now!”

Twilight passes both the letter and the deed to Spike as she starts packing everything away with help from the other unicorn.  Leaving the room they found that their friends had somehow gathered all the Appleloosans and buffalo on the border of the town and orchard in front of a stage.  What happened next caused both unicorns to shake their heads in shame as Pinkie started up what was probably her worst performance to date.  They didn't even notice when Spike had vanished but he was somehow already up on stage on the piano.

At the end things seemed to have been made worse, but before the buffalo chief and sheriff could part ways the two stepped forward.  “Wait!  If you start fighting you will be doing exactly what they want you to do and then everybody loses.”

The two turn to stare at the orange mare that stopped them with a look of confusion.  “What are you youngsters talking about?  Who is this they you are talking about?”

Twilight steps forward with her notes and the map at this point and shows them to the two.  “We would still be searching if we had time but from what we found this was all set up so you two would start fighting forcing the Royal Guard in to settle everything.  Everything was planned so that you would block this pass when logically there should have been a road through the orchard to allow traders through.”

From somewhere she pulled a few charts out showing the current design of the orchard as well as a few possible alterations.  “If the town setup the orchard like this then the would see a twelve percent boost to...”  Aegis Flare tones out the lecture that Twilight starts in on the sheriff and pulls the buffalo chief off to the side.

“Chief, she was right in saying that we haven't found everything yet but you can answer at least one of the questions.  The town was supposed to be paying their taxes to your tribe in some form but were they ever making it to you?”  The chief looks at her as if she was speaking a different language before he shook his head.

“No.  That is part of why we wanted them gone from our lands.  We could have ignored them but them blocking our ancestral paths were the last straw.  But if what you say is true then maybe other means can be used to settle this.”  He looked over to where the purple unicorn had materialized three more charts while the sheriff 's eyes were looking a bit glassy.  “It seems as if your friend has already dealt with one problem, but what about those that you say started this?”

All eyes were drawn towards Spike as he let loose a mighty belch and a small tower of flame appeared before forming into a scroll which was quickly snatched up in Twilight's magic.  After a quick read she sighed as she turned towards the others.  “The princess just verified that those documents were a fraud and if you wish she can be out here in hours to help settle the situation if need be.  The unicorn that set all this in motion is currently under guard now while investigations are underway to find what else he had done.”

The chief and sheriff look at each other for a moment before nodding to each other and turn back to the unicorn.  “No that won't be necessary, we should be able to handle everything from here, though we could use the proper documents that should have been used to be sent out.”

<><><><><><><>

“I can't believe that they didn't like my song!  It took me hours to set everything up and they just ignored the message of it.”  The others in the train car just roll their eyes at Pinkie as they try to get comfortable for the night.  Things went smoothly after everything that they needed was sent to the town and the two groups finally were able to negotiate a deal.  When they left, the ponies were starting to move many of the trees around so that there was a clear path so that the buffalo could stampede through unhindered.

“What I can't believe is that you all are still awake after all that work and are yet again keeping me awake after a long day.  Are you going to do this every time we're on the train during the night?”  Spike looked at the talking mares in annoyance from his bunk.  They flinched away when they saw his bloodshot eyes and looked abashed at keeping him awake.

The dragon looked over at Aegis Flare for help but he found that she was already asleep and on closer look saw that she was wearing earmuffs to block out all the talking.  He let out a sigh of relief as the lights were turned down and the others settled down to sleep.  It was only moments later though when whispering started floating up from the other bunks again causes his eyes to shoot open.  “Oh, come on!”
> 25
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The bell atop the school rang out signaling the end of the day and releasing a tide of foals from the building below.  After the initial rush cleared a group of three young fillies were left as the gathered around a scooter attached to a wagon.  Two of them were loading things into the wagon while the third on, the pegasus, was waiting impatiently atop her scooter.  “Come on you two, hurry up.  My sister finally let me invite you two for a sleepover and I want to get home so we can get started.”

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle roll their eyes at Scootaloo's impatience as they toss the last bag in to the wagon before hopping in themselves.  “Yeah, yeah.  Ah would have thought that ya had enough exercise after what your sister had you doing.  Ya sure liked to complain enough about it ta us whenever ya had the chance.”

The orange pegasus just brushed her words off as she started to rev her wings up.  “Psh, you'd complain too if you had to carry one of those vest while running her obstacle course.  She even had me wearing two of them during the last few days of my punishment.  Now hang on, I've been waiting to do this again since she said that torture was over.”

The two fillies in the wagon looked at each other in amusement at their friends exuberance though they understood it a bit since the pegasus had the energy to do more than complain.  Their crusades had been  passive lately because of it but they were expecting things to pick up a bit more now.  They were about to say something to their friend but they were thrown back as the wagon and scooter took off at speeds much greater than they were used to.

“WOOHOO!”  While the pegasus was cheering at her new-found freedom on her scooter, the other two were screaming in terror as they traveled at speeds higher than any they had gone before.  The citizens of Ponyville, hearing the familiar sound of the orange filly's wings, cleared the rounds as the three passed though many were still almost hit due to the increased speed of the trio.

Scootaloo was so caught up in her recovery of her ability to use her scooter that she forgot about her passengers as she aimed for a ramp near the trio's destination.  Throughout their trip the two fillies in the wagon had been trying to get their friend to slow down but it quickly became obvious that she couldn't hear them which left them with no other option but to hang on for dear life.

Unfortunately this did not prepare them for when the pegasus filly hit the ramp sending the trio flying through the air towards the home of the scooter-rider.  Their screams rang out as the two passengers flew off of the wagon and careened over their friends head towards the building ahead of them.  Their screams cut off when they are caught in an orange and yellow aura while the pegasus filly lands in front of an older orange mare.

“Really, Scootaloo?  After all those cheers about being done with your punishment you want to start it up again?”  The orange filly sheepishly rubs a hoof over the back of her head as she looks apologetically at her friends.  The other two fillies shoot a glare at her from their upside-down positions in the older mare's magic as they struggle to reach the ground through all their bags that had landed with them.

With a shake of her head and a sigh Aegis Flare sets the two down before opening the door for the three.  “We'll talk about it later, but for now everything is ready for tonight except for the food.  I was just waiting for you three to get here before I stop by that new pizza place.”  The eyes of the three light up at hearing this as she continues.  “Now Scootaloo knows the rules, but I thought of one other before I leave.  If you break something, just leave it there and back away until I get back, this especially goes for anything that was supposed to be locked.”

The three put on innocent looks as the unicorn looks over the three until she lets out another sigh.  “Just be careful you three.  There shouldn't be anything dangerous in them but if what happened at the spa that one day accidents can happen around you.  Now behave until I get back, and keep your antics above-ground since I have some things I'm working on in the basement.”

The three watched as the orange filly's older sister walked off and when she was out of sight they turned towards the open door.  “Come on girls.  No reason to just stand around out here.”

Leading them inside, Scootaloo tossed her school bag onto a hook just inside the doorway while the other two looked around curiously.  Sweetie Belle's eyes lit upon a glass cabinet with a variety of items in it, though her gaze was primarily on a shelf containing a book and jeweled crown.  “Ooh, pretty.  Where did your family get that from, Scootaloo?”

Following her friend's gaze to the indicated object, Scootaloo rolled her eyes as she looked over the displays.  “Oh that.  My sister started clearing things out of her room saying she had too many things in there and has been decorating the house with the stuff.  If some of it wasn't so cool I'd say she was taking lessons from your sister.”  The comment earned an annoyed look and eye roll from the unicorn filly.  “She says the she got that along with the book from some mare named Yearly or something because she helped her somehow.  She never talks about it much though.”

The earth pony and unicorn look over some of the other displayed items with interest while their friend waits impatiently for them to finish.  As they were told most of the items were locked away and the few that weren't were too high for them to reach, not that it didn't stop them from trying.  “Come on you two, don't touch that.  I don't want to get in trouble with my sister again.”

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle both ignored the pegasus as they used her as a step to try and reach a wooden mask that was high on the wall.  “Ah just want to look at it Scootaloo.  Your sister didn't lock it up so it can't be dangerous and it looks different from what Zecora has around her home.”

The orange filly shook her head in annoyance at her friend and the excess movement was enough to destabilize the stack of fillies.  They tottered for a moment before the three collapsed to the ground, taking the mask with them.  While the three recovered on the floor the mask landed perfectly on the face of one of them, activating it and causing it to shrink down and wrap around the shocked filly's head.  “Ahh!  It's got me, get it off!  Get it off!”

Looking in shock for a moment, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo weren't sure what to do at first as the young unicorn ran around in panic.  At one point when Sweetie Belle tripped and fell in front of them they tried to help pull the mask off of her head forcefully.  Their panic began to escalate when they found that the mask was well and truly stuck and that there was no longer a visible seam.  They were prevented from trying anything drastic though when a voice rang out behind them.  “Now what are you three up to?”

The three freeze as they slowly turn to see Aegis Flare standing behind them.  Seeing the older unicorn the three started babbling at her trying to explain what happened though she couldn't understand them given how they were talking over each other.  “Slow down you three.  I can't understand you three when you talk over each other like that.  Though I'm guessing it's because of that.”

When she points at the mask the three nod as the orange unicorn looks over it curiously as a small prank came to mind.  “You know, I never did figure out how that thing works.  Supposedly it was made by some deity of productivity or something.  I don't know why anypony would make a mask to turn a filly into a colt though, it seems kind of pointless.”

The three fillies freeze up and slowly turn to look at the masked unicorn in horror before she lets out a shriek that is muffled by the mask.  “But I don't want to be a colt!  Get it off!  Get it off!  Get it- Oof!”

Sweetie Belle ran around in panic until she crashed into her two friends, ending up in a pile in front of the older unicorn who watched in amusement.  Reaching out with a hoof she taps it on the nose area of the mask while the unicorn filly starts breathing heavily.  “Boop.”  With her touch the mask unfolded from around the stunned unicorn's head and fell to the ground in front of the trio.  “Well that would be a good story at least, but unfortunately it's just a mask used by some ancient group of guards or something.  The only interesting thing about it are the enchantments on it.”

The three fillies just glare at the older unicorn as she sets the mask back in its place again before she floats in a few boxes of pizza.  “Now here's dinner for whenever you get hungry.  If you need anything I'll be downstairs putting the final touches on the potions I was brewing.  Just be sure to not destroy the place.”

While the mare heads down to the basement, the three fillies gather up their things and head up towards Scootaloo's room.  While the orange pegasus dove under her bed in search of something Applebloom looked around the room while Sweetie Belle took a seat on the bed.  “Huh, Ah've been wondering what your room would be like.  It's about what ah expected though.”

Scootaloo looked over at Applebloom as she got out from under the bed with the notebook that she was looking for.  “Well it's not like my sister tells me what I can't put up in here.  She lets me do anything I want really as long as I don't tear down any walls or make a mess of the rest of the house.  And what are you looking at over there Sweetie Belle?”

The two look over to see the unicorn filly looking over something she had picked up from the end table next to the bed.  She turns one of the items so the others could see it, revealing a picture of Spike with Scootaloo's head in his lap as they were reading a comic.  The orange filly's face took on a slightly red tinge as she saw this while Sweetie Belle looked a bit annoyed and it showed in her voice.  “I didn't know you two were getting to be so close.”

The ears of the pegasus filly fell at the unicorn's words and she got defensive at her friend's tone.  “What?  We just hang out sometimes when you two and my sister are busy doing stuff.  He always has the newest comic books when they come out and he lets me read them with him.  What's it to you anyways?”

With a frown Sweetie Belle turned her nose up a bit.  “So you're just using him just like my sister?  You, Rarity, Twilight, all everypony does is use him without any thought for his feelings.”

Scootaloo looks confused at her friend's reaction and her temper flares up a bit.  “What the hay are you talking about, Sweetie Belle?  My sister had me help him one day and he ended up showing me his collection and he's let me know when he gets a new one now.  Why are you acting like this anyways?”

The unicorn just crossed her front hooves and got a grumpy look on her face.  When Scootaloo tried to move closer to her Sweetie Belle just shoved her away causing her to retaliate with a shove of her own.  Applebloom watched as the two alternated back and forth until Sweetie Belle eventually let out a yell and tackled Scootaloo, starting a small brawl between them.  The farm filly just brought a hoof up to her face and started shaking her head.

“Break it up ya two.  Ya can argue about who is gonna to be Spike's fillyfriend later.  We have ta figure out what we are going to do next for our cutie marks before the night is over.”  The two fighting fillies pause mid-swing at her words before they turned to each other and blushed.  Disentangling themselves they move to opposite sides of the bed while Applebloom sat in between them to prevent any further fighting.  “So what do ya think we should try next?”

The three discussed various ideas for a while before Scootaloo brought a hoof up to rub her chin.  “My sister has a ton of stuff that she keeps around to take into the Everfree with her when she needs it.  I think we can find a whole bunch of stuff we can do with it all.  Ooh, like zip-lining!  That sounds like a great idea!”

Neither of the others had any ideas so they just nodded and tried to make a list of what they needed for her idea.  While they tried to gather everything up though they were caught be Aegis Flare as they were digging through the storage shed.  “What are you three up to now?”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders freeze as they hear her voice call out to the from the open door as they were trying to untangle themselves from the rope they were trying to pull out.  The orange mare picked up the notebook that the three had left at the entrance and looked at the latest entries.  The three fillies looked worried as the orange unicorn brings a hoof up to her face and shakes her head in exasperation.  “I'd tell you three no, but somehow I doubt it'll help much.  You'll want the metal cable hanging up in the back and not the rope for zip-lining.  There's less chance of that breaking than a rope breaking.”

<><><><><><><>

The next day found the three limping their way back into the orange pony's home again after a failed attempt at zip-lining.  Aegis Flare looked over the three and she let out a sigh.  “What happened to you all this time?”

The Crusaders were covered in mud and through some of the bare spots she could see a few welts that looked remarkably like bee stings.  “Ya don't want to know.  Ah think ah'd rather have had the rope break instead of use crashing into that bee hive.”

Lifting the three up with her magic, so that they don't track mud through the house, Aegis Flare carried them to the bathroom to wash up while she digs out some salve for their injuries.  After they finished washing up and she started spreading the salve on their stings she noticed Applebloom looking at her curiously.  “Hey, Ms. Flare, how did you get your cutie mark?”

The elder unicorn froze in shock at her question while Scootaloo made a slashing gesture across her throat at the farm filly.  A moment later Aegis Flare shook her head and sighed as she collected her thoughts while glancing over at her sister.  “I guess Scootaloo never told you about what happened back then.  It really was one of the worst and best days of my life though.”

The two fillies that didn't know of her past looked at her curiously as they had never heard of anypony considering the day they got their cutie mark on of the worst days.  “I never did regain my memories from before that time so my first memories are still of waking up to the sound of an explosion and a wave of colors spreading across the sky.  The next thing I know I was surrounded by a pack of timberwolves forcing me to back away into a rock when another one jumped onto me from above.”

The three were a bit creeped out at her monotone tone of voice but were still caught up in her story.  The orange mare brushed away some of the fur around her throat and front leg to show them her scars.  “After three of them got their jaws into me my magic flared up and burned them away as a wave of fire spread out from my horn.  I earned my cutie mark from that but I was left injured and bleeding from it, making it one of the worst days ever.”

Looking at each other, the Crusaders were wide-eyed as they took in the implications of what happened to the elder unicorn.  Aegis Flare reached out and grabbed her sister and pulled her against her side, to the young filly's annoyance, before she continued.  “I passed out not long after that, but by that point our parents had found me and brought me to the hospital.  When I woke up I was still in a panic and was able to put up a regular shield around me but mom and dad eventually calmed me down.  That was also the day they adopted me which made it the best day of my life.”

Not knowing what to say, the Cutie Mark Crusaders just gather around and bring the older mare into a group hug.  The for sit there for a moment before the orange unicorn shakes her head and finishes off medicating the three.  “Well that should do it for now.  Try not to get into too much trouble today, at least until you  at heal up.”

With a nod of understanding the three fillies rush off towards their next adventure for the day leaving the unicorn shaking her head.  “One of these days those three will realize that their talents are staring them in the face.  I just hope they don't go through something like I did back then.”

<><><><><><><>

Later that day the seven older mares were gathered at Sugarcube Corner along with the three younger fillies as they finish up listening to Rainbow Dash's cutie mark story.  After the cyan pegasus finished her story the others realized that if it wasn't for Rainbow Dash they might never have gotten their cutie marks.  As they each mentioned how the rainboom had helped them they eventually turned to Aegis Flare who still hadn't answered and was looking at her hooves thoughtfully.

“I suspected that it might have been you back during the Best Young Fliers competition.  I still don't like thinking back to then but if it wasn't for you I don't think I would even be here today.  Not only did I get my cutie mark and parents that day but I'm pretty sure that you also saved my life.”  The entire room froze in shock as they slowly looked between Rainbow Dash and Aegis Flare.  Even Rainbow Dash was a bit shocked until she got a cocky grin on her face again and rubbed a hoof over her chest.

“Hah!  Didn't I tell you all how awesome I was?  Even when I was a filly I was saving lives and I didn't even know it.  Bet nopony in Equestria can say something like that.”  With a round of groans the others in the room started pelting the bragging mare with cupcakes as she started laughing at their reaction.
> 26
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You know you don't have to help me out with all this stuff.  Spike and I can handle getting everything ready just fine.”  Twilight tosses a couple more things towards Aegis Flare who funneled them into the wagon that was being used to carry everything for the night.  Looking back towards the purple unicorn she rolled her eyes before grabbing a tablecloth.

“It's fine really.  Besides, I've been meaning to ask you about this for a while now.  But why do you always have Spike doing everything around here ?  Shouldn't he be in school or spending time with others his own age?”  Twilight didn't turn back at her friends words and instead packed up her telescope.

“Spike is my number one assistant.  He's always happy to help out around the library and you've see how he gets with Rarity.”  Looking over her checklist the unicorn started to pack away her telescope for transport.  Aegis Flare thought over her friend's response before she could form one of her own.

“Isn't that kind of what you were like before you moved from Canterlot to Ponyville?  You've talked about how all you ever cared about before coming here were your books, and I saw how deeply once, and how was that any different from how Spike is now?”  Twilight was about to answer but she was distracted as the front door burst open and the object of their conversation came charging in followed by three fillies.

“Twilight!  Help!”

“Cutie Mark Crusaders, Dragon Catchers! Yay!”

The two unicorns watch as the four run in a few circles around the room before swarming into the kitchen.  After a few loud crashes the two look at each other before they started laughing at the dragon's antics.  The distraction was enough to give the purple mare time to think over her friends words.

“Well he certainly doesn't look as if he is anything like I was back then.”  Aegis Flare shakes her head at the timing of the dragon and Crusaders.

“I'd argue about that being just the usual antics of those three, but I really can't since I know my sister has actually enjoyed her time with him.  But do you really think Spike would have gone out of his way to know her if I didn't constantly bring her?”  Twilight actually paused in her packing as she considered her friends words.  The orange unicorn was about to continue when a sharp pain went through her head causing her to narrow her eyes at the door to the kitchen area.

“Sweetie Belle!  I know you aren't trying to cook anything in there.  Your parents have told you before that you aren't supposed to use other pony's kitchen without their permission.”  There was a shriek and yell followed by the sound of kitchen utensils and pans hitting the ground.  Looking over at Twilight and seeing her raised eyebrow the orange mare explained.  “I don't know why but whenever she tries to do anything in a kitchen with her magic it gives me a headache.  This was even before I found out that anything she cooks is completely inedible; even orange juice.”

Twilight looks towards the kitchen in trepidation as the sound of more things hitting the ground filters through the door before she resumes her packing.  Eventually they had everything ready for the upcoming meteor shower.  The trio of fillies had already dragged Spike out along with a wagon of food leaving the two mares to finish up the last few preparations.  Pulling down a book that Twilight requested, Aegis Flare examined it before tossing it into the wagon and watched the cloud of dust rise from it's landing.

“That can't be good for a book, Twilight.  When was the last time those shelves were cleaned?”  Twilight looks at the book and winces as she runs a hoof over it and looks at the load of dust on it.

“How did this book get so bad?  Every time we re-shelve the books we make sure that they have been cleaned as well.  The fire-proofing charm is gone as well somehow.”  She looks over the book and finds something odd about it when she looks inside the cover.  “Wait, this isn't the library's copy, how did this one get in here?”

Looking at the at the spine of the book Aegis Flare pointed out a mark that was mostly faded away near the bottom.  “Actually it is one of the books from here.  The mark is really faded though; I think it might be from before when you showed up in Ponyville.”

Twilight looks at the indicated location on the books before she groans loudly and slaps a hoof to her face.  “I thought I found everything that was missing already when I took over the library.”  She looks over the bookcases and finds the copy that she had wanted and finds it right next to where the other one came from.  “Ugh, I'm going to have to go through all of these now just to find out if there are any other books that were brought in without telling me.  That's going to take all week to finish.”

Shaking her head, Aegis Flare just pushes her friend towards the door.  “That's something for tomorrow, but for tonight we've got to go join our friends for that meteor shower you had us plan for.”

<><><><><><><>

“That pile goes up on the top shelf over there.  I can't believe that there were so many books brought in without me knowing.  I hardly ever see anypony show up and they never even check anything out.”  Twilight directed her new pet owl to where the books were supposed to go while she sorted through a stack of a few dozen more that were covered in dust.  As she was reaching for another book to clean and enchant she was interrupted by a claw poking her in the side.

“Twilight, why didn't you wake me up this morning?”  The purple unicorn let out a yelp of surprise at the unexpected words and contact, dropping the dusty book she had covering Spike in a cloud of dust.  Getting a snoot-full of dust is an unpleasant experience for any species but it is worse for those that tend to breathe fire as the dragon showed moments later as he sneezed sending a stream of flames into Twilight's face.

Twilight blinked a couple times as she looked at the blushing dragon before she shook her head to clear it off soot.  “Spike!”  She paused to take a couple deep breathes before calmly looking back at the dragon again while running a hoof through her singed mane.  “That is why I didn't wake you up Spike.  None of these books are enchanted to resist being burned.  Besides, you need some time to just be yourself instead of just my assistant.  You hardly ever spend time with anypony other than me and my friends.”

“But Twilight!  You never do anything like this without me!  Don't you need any help at all with something?”  Spike was in a bit of a panic as Twilight turned to reach for another book.  Before the dragon could offer his assistance the owl flew over and brought the book Twilight was looking for down to her before flying off again.  “Twilight, what was that?”

The purple mare glances up with a slight smile from her dusting before continuing.  “That's Owlowiscious my new pet.  He just showed up last night and returned a letter that I lost in the wind and he's been helping since then.”

Spike's eyes narrowed as he watched the owl flying around the room but before he could say anything the front door burst open.  Three pairs of eyes turned towards the interruption to see a trio of fillies come charging in recklessly heading for the dragon who's eyes widened in fear.  With a cheer the three fillies grabbed the dragon and dragged him out of the library with him yelling in shock.  “Twilight!  Help!”

The only response he got was a look of confusion as the unicorn just watched him get abducted as well as a slight chuckle as the quartet passed an orange unicorn that was just outside of the library.  “Flare?  Just what was that all about?”

With a shrug the orange unicorn closed the door behind her as she entered the building.  “I'm not completely sure but they mentioned something about needing some help with something.  I was just coming over to help out here since you mentioned that you were rearranging the library and they just followed me.”  With another glance at the door Twilight just shook her head and waved her friend over to a nearby pile of books.

<><><><><><><>

“Could you three let me go now?  Ya've already dragged me halfway across town now.”  Spike glared at the three fillies as they carried him through the trees surrounding Sweet Apple Acres.  The three ignored him until they eventually arrived at a structure in a tree which the promptly tossed him into before following in behind him.  Once the door was closed the three turned to find the dragon glaring at them while rubbing his head causing Applebloom to roll her eyes.

“It wasn't mah idea but these two thought you could help get our cutie marks.  Of course we won't get anything done if these two don't stop fighting.”  Looking over at the other two fillies Spike sees them huddled up whispering to each other while occasionally shoving the other with a hoof.  “Come on ya two.  Stop foolin' around and get over here.”

The two looked up from where they were wrestling with each other to see their friend and Spike staring at them, causing them both to blush.  After scrambling a moment they join the other two and start their planning much to the dragon's dismay.  He doesn't say anything as the three toss ideas back and forth and instead focuses on what had happened this morning.  He didn't even notice when the fillies stopped talking and turned to look at him.

“Spike?  SPIKE!”  He was pulled from his thoughts as Sweetie Belle yelled in his ear to get his attention.  Looking around he notices the three fillies staring at him and he focuses on the one that yelled into his ear.  “Is something wrong Spike?”

Looking from filly to filly the dragon's mind races until he finally sighs.  “Twilight just got a new pet  and it feels like he's replacing me.  He just showed up out of nowhere this morning and he is already doing the job that I always did for Twilight.  If this keeps up she won't need me anymore as her number one assistant.”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders look at each other looking confused before turning back to the young dragon.  “Wait, you're worried about being replaced by a new pet?  Aren't you overreacting a bit?”

Spike turns to Scootaloo with wide eyes before flailing his arms around.  “But he's doing my job that Twilight always has me do?  What if she decides that she doesn't need me anymore?  I'll have to leave and I'll be all alone and-”

He was interrupted by a hoof being thrust into his mouth and his eyes traveled up the orange limb to lock onto the three fillies that were rolling their eyes.  “Get a grip Spike, I don't see Twilight doing any of that and I doubt her pet will replace you.  All of our sisters have pets and you don't see them abandoning us do you?”

Spike shakes his head warily as Sweetie Belle takes up after Scootaloo.  “Doesn't Scootaloo's sister help out all the time already whenever you were hanging around Scootaloo?  You never were like this whenever that was happening.”

Spitting the hoof out of his mouth, Spike sighs as he looks a bit downcast.  “It was different then though.  She is one of Twilight's friends and she gets Twilight to to a break more than she usually would.  She isn't going to be around all the time like that owl though.”

The orange pegasus' ears perk up at hearing what type of pet the librarian found and she looked thoughtful.  “An owl?  Didn't Fluttershy say that that they are usually awake at night like Scarlett is?  It's rare when I see my sister's pet during the day.”

Spike opens his mouth to respond but pauses as he thinks back to what he saw when he woke up.  “Huh, I didn't think about that.  He did look rather tired when I saw him.  I still don't like it though.”  The three chuckle as the dragon pouts but after a bit more pressing they get him to finally join in on there planning.

Over the next couple days they try out various ideas without much success though Spike does what he can to stop the more dangerous ideas.  Sometimes the three would listen to him but more often than not he would get pulled into the potential disasters.  “Tell me again why we are out in the Everfree Forest again?”

Applebloom sighs at hearing Spike's question for the third time as she points at the opening in the ground they were next to.  “This is the closest cave that we know of so that we can try for a Spelunking Cutie Mark.  All the others are too far away to reach and get home from without Scootaloo's sister realizing we borrowed all this stuff.”

Looking over the various ropes, hooks, and other objects that the three had brought Spike at least had to admit that they came prepared.  In fact if they hadn't brought all of these items then he would have turned around and gone back to Ponyville.  Instead he allowed the three to lead him into the depths of the cavernous opening and as they got deep into the cave he was glad that he had followed them.

“Whoa!  If this is what spelunking is all about then sign me up for doing it again.”  Spike drooled over the sight of the massive piles of gems while the three fillies checked out their rumps in hope of a cutie mark but were instead disappointed.  Still the three had something to cheer about while the young dragon snacked on a few of the gems they had found.

Unfortunately for them they failed to notice the large green figure that was in the room staring at them in surprise before it turned to anger.  With a roar it stomped towards the four who turned towards the towering dragon in terror before the fillies let out a scream and took off running.  The large dragon ignored them as its entire focus was on the smaller dragon that had been raiding its horde.

Spike tried to put up a brave front but it soon collapsed as the dragon showed off its stature and more mature form including his own fire breath.  Leading the larger form on a small chase around the cave, Spike was eventually cornered where he proceeded to cower.  The green dragon reared its head back before thrusting its head forward to unleash a torrent of flames.

Continuing to cower, Spike waited for the end to reach him but when the temperature didn't increase at all he peeked up at the dragon and gaped in surprise at seeing the green dragon's head covered in a layer of soot.  The large dragon itself was also confused as its flames had backfired on itself.  Spike heard a call off to the side and he turned to see Twilight signaling to him to escape which he gladly did.

As they were escaping the dragon recovered enough to search for the intruder and, on finding them at the cave entrance, sent another stream of fire at them.  On noticing that it had missed the duo it proceeded to chase after them but when it tried to leave the cave its head crashed into a barrier that appeared in its was before it had a chance to react, dazing it.

When it recovered it found its quarry had escaped, causing it to roar in anger firing another stream of fire into the air.  Further away where the escaping duo were, Spike was busy hanging onto Twilight as she charged through the forest.  “Thanks for the save back there Twilight, but how did you know where to find us?”

Twilight, after checking to see that they were no longer in danger, slowed before nodding her head towards another approaching figure.  Looking over in the direction she indicated the dragon noticed Aegis Flare galloping up with three fillies on her back.  While two of them looked rather worried, Scootaloo had a look of disgruntlement on her face.  When the three were close enough Spike roughly whispered over to them.  “How did they know we were out here?”

Scootaloo shot a look back towards the other two but since neither of them wanted to answer Scootaloo let out a sigh of annoyance.  “We forgot that my sister had a few tracking gems hidden in my stuff again.  They knew as soon as we entered the Everfree and began following us out here.  Now I have another couple weeks of running that obstacle course again.”

The two elder unicorns had been listening in through all this and Twilight decided to speak up at that moment.  “I'll also be letting Applejack and Rarity know what happened and don't think you are getting out of being punished either mister.”  The four looked at each other before simultaneously swallowing in fear before settling in for their trip home which couldn't be long enough for them.
> 27
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Darling!  I almost thought that you weren't going to show up.  I barely have enough time as it is to get all of us ready for tonight.”  Aegis Flare rolls her eyes with a light chuckle as she is ushered into the main room of the spa with the rest of her friends.  Looking around as she enters the room she sees that the others were all gathered and in various states of relaxation as the spa workers helped get them ready for that night.  Out of them all, Rarity was the only one that was in any sort of panic since it was still the early morning and there was plenty of time to get ready.

“Calm down Rarity.  Twilight planned everything out and left a couple hours to spare just in case of emergencies.  I'm surprised everypony is here early still since there are still a few minutes until we agreed to meet up here.”  Rarity calms down a little at her words but the worry is quickly replaced by excitement instead.

“I just can't help it.  It's finally here, the day of the Grand Galloping Gala!  I can't believe that the day of the most prestigious event in Equestria and we've all been invited.  We can't have any of us looking less than spectacular when we show up and there is little enough time as it is.  Now let's get that mane-tie off so that I see what we have to work wi-hi-hi-haaa!”  All eyes in the room turn to look at the two as the orange mare's mane unravels from it's braid when Rarity pulls off the tie holding it and it poofs out to twice it's length becoming even longer than Applejack's.  Glancing back to see what her friend was reacting to Aegis Flare rolls her eyes while feeling a bit sheepish.

“I guess it has gotten a bit long hasn't it?  That enchanted mane-tie has just been too useful that I barely even paid attention to it beyond washing it.  At least you have something to work with now, don't you?”  Rarity stay frozen for a moment more before she let's out a squeal of delight while clapping her hooves together.  Within moments the fashionista had spirited her friend away and dunked her into one of the large tubs while waving one of the spa sisters over with the mane care supplies.

While Rarity and Aloe whispered to each other while messing with her mane, Aegis Flare turned her attention back to the other mares with a raised eyebrow.  “Ya know that she ain't gonna stop until she is satisfied, right?  That crazy mare has been after me for years and your mane is even longer.”

“She isn't the only one.  You know how many times a weak she tries to drag me here?  I like my mane just like it is, anything else just won't be cool enough.”  The other mares roll their eyes at Rainbow Dash's comment but they still nod at both her and Applejack knowing that it was exactly what they would expect from the white unicorn.

“Well she is the expert when it comes to looks and I trust her not to go too overboard.”  Glancing back at the mare she only received a waved hoof as reassurance before turning back to the others.  “Anyways I usually avoid these types of events so I have no idea what would work best with my dress so letting Rarity have her way is probably safer than trying to just do what I usually do with my mane.”

There was a snort of indignation from behind her, which she ignored, though the others nodded warily so she decided not to look behind her.  They all started talking about little things while they were pampered and cleaned for the coming event until eventually Aegis Flare's mane was done in a fashion acceptable to Rarity.  “Now just a touch there and... Perfect!  Now tell me what you think of your new coiffure.”

Looking into the mirror presented in front of her, the mare turned her head from side to side looking over her friends work.  Her mane was done up in a very loose curl which went over her horn then down on side of her head while a small bet stuck out the front along the other side of her horn.  Along that same side of her head her mane came around the back of her neck to bounce in another lose curl that hung down past her shoulder.  “It's not something that I would use all the time, but for something like this I think it will work.”

Rarity frowned at her friends lack of enthusiasm before rolling her eyes and letting a small smile grace her face as she realizes that is probably the best reaction she'll get from her.  Seeing as her friends were well on their way to getting ready, and none of them willing to let her help them, the alabaster mare went back to her own preparations.  After a few hours off cleaning, buffing, and various other activities to look their best the group of seven mares don their dresses and enter the carriage that Twilight had prepared for the occasion to take them to Canterlot.

While they were waiting for their ride to arrive in Canterlot they talked about what they were going to do when they arrive though Aegis Flare only made an occasional comment.  Once the other six had finished going over their own hopes for the night they all turned to look at the orange unicorn.  Hearing the rest of them go silent she looks back to see her friends looking at her expectantly causing her to roll her eyes.  “No, I don't have any plans like all of you do since I never really cared about going to the Gala.  I'll probably look around for a while before going to visit my aunt since I'm here.”

With a chorus of 'awww's from the other six she rolls her eyes before her vision is blocked by a mass of pink as she feels her cheeks being squeezed.  “Why are you being such a boring mcborington?  We're going to the biggest party ever!  A big party should have big plans!”

At that moment they had arrived at the palace and piled out of the carriage leaving Aegis Flare to shake her head and slowly follow after them them.  As she steps outside she sees that they had started prancing towards the castle caught up in a song number causing her to bring a hoof up to her face.  “Why do I have a bad feeling about this?  This is an event run by nobles, there's no way that things can turn out like they expect, right?”

“I know right?  I snuck in once and it wasn't really all that great.  Of course things could have changed since then but who knows.  I'm surprised you aren't with them as well though.”  Looking back towards the carriage she sees Spike closing the door as he starts following after the other six and Aegis Flare joins him after a moment.

“I don't mind a good song, but I'm not getting my hopes up about how tonight will be.  My parents used to attend and they never had much good to say about it.  Most events run by nobles were the same way really.”  Spike nods as they pick up the pace a bit to catch up to their friends as they finish their little song and reach the entrance to the Canterlot palace.

All of them look at each other before nodding and taking off to do their own things leaving Spike looking a bit down.  While the others separated right away, Aegis Flare decided to follow after Twilight to pay her respects to the Princess before going off on her own.  After talking to Twilight and motioning for her to take a place at her side the white alicorn turned toward the next pony in line and her eyes widened as she froze momentarily.  “Princess?  Is there something the matter?”

Celestia shook her head before turning to look at her young protege with a small smile.  “It's nothing Twilight.  I was just surprised for a moment by your friends mane for a moment.  It reminded me of somepony that I haven't seen in over a ten years now.”  Twilight looked at her mentor questioningly for a moment longer but she realized  that she wasn't going to get any more information out of her.  After paying her respects to the princess the orange mare went out into the party on her own for a while.

As Aegis Flare roamed around, the Grand Galloping Gala was shaping up pretty much how she expected with it being pretty boring.  Even the food wasn't that appealing for the most part and the portions weren't even enough to satisfy one of Fluttershy's animals.  About the only decent thing she could notice about the event was the music but even that was of the only variety the nobles would admit to listening to.  As she was about to leave the hall she noticed an odd sight in the form of a pure white gryphoness that was smirking for some reason while watching her friend Rarity and some stallion.

Leaving the crowded ball room Aegis Flare sighed as she looked down the halls and wondered which way to go.  While she was pondering this issue a voice called out behind her.  “Excuse me, ma'am?  Can I help you with something?  The rest of the castle is off-limits for the guests of the gala without prior approval.”

Looking behind her, the unicorn sees a thestral dressed in a maid outfit watching her warily.  She was confused for a moment but she remembered something from a letter her aunt sent her and came to a decision.  “Ah, right.  I was trying to find my aunt to spend a little time with her since I haven't seen her in... ever actually.  I've only been able to talk to her through letters since my father was never welcome at home.  Oh yes, her name is Noapte Aripa, Lieutenant Aripa last she wrote as well.”

The thestral maid was impassive the entire time that the unicorn was speaking but when the name of the unicorn's aunt was mention her eyes widened and focused on the unicorn's ears.  Turning away from her, the maid started talking into her sleeve before nodding once and turning back around and bowing.  “Apologies for not recognizing you Dame Flare.  The Element Bearers are all welcome in the palace though the timing of your visit is odd.  The lieutenant is currently in the royal wing taking care of her duties.”

Aegis Flare groaned at the title while rubbing at her head.  “Please, no titles.  I actually work for a living unlike most of the nobles I've met.”  The maid looks at her oddly for a moment before starting to chuckle leaving the unicorn looking confused and wondering what she said.  Once the thestral recovered her composure she gave the unicorn directions to where her aunt was before they nodded and parted ways.  As the orange mare walked off the maid lifted her hoof to her mouth once again and let the other Lunar Guards know that she was heading up.

While walking through the palace the orange unicorn glanced at the various decorations that she saw and wondered how old some of them were.  She knew that the princesses had been around for a long time but with the palace being around only since Luna's banishment she couldn't be sure of the ages of any of it.  She had probably seen things older that most of the items in the Everfree, especially since that was where the home of the two princesses used to be.

After walking through the twists and turns of the palace she eventually came to an area close to where she was told to go and she slowed down when she caught sight of a group of a half dozen guards in gold armor.  She was surprised to see them out and about since it was now night and the guard should have switched by now but she shrugged and brushed off her worries until they all turned towards her and the lead one spoke up.  “The jam is moldy in the kitchen and the rolling rabbit gathers no moss.”

The orange unicorn looked at the group in confusion and tilted her head to the side.  “Come again?”

“The monkeys are restless and my dog has fleas.”

“What in Equestria are you talking about?”

“If you can't stand the heat, go to the dentist and get it fixed.”

Blinking a couple more times at the nonsense from the apparent guards the mare shakes her head.  “I have no idea what you are talking about and I don't have time to find out.  I have somewhere to be.”

As she tried to walk past the group they dropped their spears to block her path causing her to stop and raise an eyebrow at them.  The burliest unicorn member of the group stepped forward while glaring at the mare.  “That proves it, she's the one that we we warned about that was going to show up tonight.  Get her!.”

With that as her only warning him and the other unicorns each fired a bolt of energy from their horns at her which she effortlessly blocked with a quickly raised shield.  When the smoke cleared from their attack the guards see the mare standing their behind a glowing barrier looking rather annoyed.  “Really?  Was that supposed to do something?  I'm starting to wonder if you are really guards now since I highly doubt they would let somepony that weak actually be part of the Royal Guard, even if it is the Solar Guard.”

Her words angered the guards that were there and the obvious leader of the group let out a whistle causing the doors to the surrounding rooms to open revealing a full platoon of guards.  Seeing that the numbers had increased to thirty the mare let out a loud sigh before doing the only sensible thing.  As she turned around and took off running the guards just stared in surprise until one of them recovered.  “Well what are you all waiting for?  After her!”

While Aegis Flare was running from the group that was chasing her she muttered to herself in annoyance.  “Come to the Gala they said.  It'll be a ball they said.  I don't see any of them being chased by ponies that may or may not be guards.”

Glancing back at the pack chasing her she saw that the leading ponies of the pack following her had already lost their helmets somehow.  She frowned at the odd manestyles the three had as she looked from the bowl-cut of the middle one to the bald one on the left and the curls around the side and back of the one on the right.  Deciding that the three earth ponies didn't look very smart she let out a small smile as she turned a corner and stopped, surprising another maid.  “Oh, sorry about that.  Do you mind cleaning up this mess for me?  I'm in a bit of a rush.”

With that she threw up a small barrier just above the floor of the corridor as the group of stallions prepared to come around it.  With the sudden appearance of the obstacle as well as how for below their normal vision range it was none of the guards had a chance to react to it starting a cascade of collapse as they all tripped on it.  Both Aegis Flare and the maid watched in amusement at the thirty pony pileup, but they both winced at seeing where the horns of the unicorns in the rear of the group went when they fell headfirst into the ones ahead of them.  “Ouch...  I don't think they will be sitting down anytime soon.  Well, see ya.”

Leaving the maid behind the orange unicorn took off running once again with the fallen guards following again minutes later, though some were limping along more slowly.  When they passed by the maid could hear them cursing about their luck while she shook her head and raised her hoof to call into the other Lunar Guard about what she saw.

<><><><><><><>

Twilight stared in shock at the mess of the grand ballroom that her friends had made and only one thought went through her head.  This night just can't get any worse.  Unfortunately for her things did just that as the doors on both ends of the hall burst open revealing her two missing friends.  From one came Fluttershy as she started screaming about something as a horde of animals ran away from her and from the other came Aegis Flare being chased by a group of guards.

Looking on in shock as things somehow got even worse the purple unicorn didn't even notice the princess leaning down next to her until she said a single word.  “Run.”  Shaking herself from her daze Twilight looked across the room before bringing a hoof up to her mouth and letting out a shrill whistle.  When her friends looked over and spotted her she waved a hoof to them before running out of the room with the others soon following them.

The room was in chaos after they left while Princess Celestia watched impassively though inside she was laughing.  The group of guards that had charged in had finally made their way to her side of the room and were about to charge past her when they were stopped by another figure.  “And where do you think all of you are going!?  You were told to stand guard in the royal quarters so why do I find all of you here!?”

The group freezes in place as they hear the voice and slowly turn to face the figure.  “Um, hey Sarge.  What are you doing here?”  The figure they called Sarge just glared at the group for a moment before observing the chaos in the room.

“I'm here because I was called in since you all screwed up the simple task of guard a single hallway which is now unguarded.  Since you all think that you are too good to listen to simple instructions then I think it's time to up your training a bit by letting her take over.”  He gestures to another figure that was advancing on them looking extremely angry and the group let's out a synchronized gulp as they recognized who it was though only one of the spoke up.

“Please no.  Not the Ball Breaker!”

<><><><><><><>

The seven mares sigh as they join Spike at a table at Pony Joe's Donut Shop and each tell him how their night went.  Most of them already knew what had happened to the others since they were in the same general areas so Fluttershy and Aegis Flare paid the most attention.  When Fluttershy finished up her side of the story they all turned towards the orange unicorn since they lost sight of her early on that night as well.

“Well after looking around the main Gala area for a while I decided to go looking for my aunt.  Getting directions was easy enough but I eventually ran into that group of clowns who decided to stop me and speak gibberish before starting to chase me.”  Looking down at her dress she frowned as she noticed the tattered edges of it and holes.  “I guess they must have gotten a bit closer to hitting me than I thought during that chase.”

The others wince as the also look at their own dresses before glancing at Rarity who didn't seem to be any worse off than before after noticing the damage.  Spike looked over the seven mares before shaking his head.  “Wow.  That sounds like the worst night ever.”

After they all started laughing at the dragon's comment they calmed down a bit and relaxed after the horrible event.  They were all surprised when Princess Celestia showed up cheering about the night and was happy how they all had livened the event up.  She joined them all at the table as Pony Joe brought something over for her and the princess looked over at Aegis Flare.  “Your aunt asked me to give this to you before I left as well as her apologies for not being able to come herself.”

Curious as to what it was the orange unicorn took the item to find that it was a letter.  Upon opening it and reading it over quickly she let out a groan before slamming her head into the table.  The others looked at her in confusion before the mare started to explain.  “It appears that I was somewhat right about those not being guards.  They were actually recruits-in-training.”

The others looked at each other for a moment before bringing a hoof to their faces at the information.  “Yeah, that's my reaction as well.  It seems that they were supposed to be doing some training exercise tonight and I got all mixed up in it when somepony failed to tell them that I was heading up.  That member of the Lunar Guard thought it would be funny for some reason to see them fail before it even started.  Now he's going to be doing the same training as the rest of them until it's been decided that his punishment is over.”

The princess clears her throat causing them all to look at her to see he trying to avoid eye contact.  “Yes, my guards and my sister's guards do not get along that well.  It has become a contest between them to see who can pull the biggest pranks on the other without getting caught and sometimes they get out of hoof.”

With a sound of hooves impacting flesh the mares of the table slap a hoof across their faces before letting out a round of groans.
> 28
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Chaos reigned over Ponyville as everything from the weather to the plants went out of control.  From the cotton candy clouds to the oversized apples everything was out of whack and none of the efforts of the ponies involved could fix things.  It was odd for Aegis Flare to see all this after leaving the Everfree Forest which was as normal as it usually was.  Seeing her friends gathered together she waved to them but paused as what she was just thinking fully registered.  “The Everfree is normal?  I really have been in there too much.”

As she joined up with the others Spike belched up a letter requesting the presence of all seven of them in Canterlot right away.  On the train the other six caught their friend up in what had been happening that day while she was off in the Everfree.  “So all of that started this morning after I left?  I didn't see anything odd, well odder than usual, when I was in the Everfree.  Of course I wasn't in very deep but that would be the area where it is easier to notice something.”

Twilight looks thoughtful as she looks out the window before she blinks in confusion at the winged clock making faces at her through it.  “That is rather interesting but I don't see how it will help with the current situation.  I just hope that the princess has some answers for what is going on.”  With a sigh the group goes back to waiting for their arrival at the mountain city.

When they arrive they are quickly escorted through the city to the palace where the princess was waiting for them.  After exchanging greetings they were all lead to another room filled with stained glass windows, a few of which showed some of the recent adventures of the seven mares.  After a quick explanation from the princess, a meeting with the new enemy, and a new plan for them to follow the seven soon found themselves separated from each other and with their horns and wings taken.

While the others were off in their own parts of the maze, Aegis Flare walked along her own path as she pondered everything that had happened.  “Something just doesn't seem right about all of this.  That Discord creature went through all the effort of hiding the Elements but then tells us where he hid them.  This all just seems to easy that he would put it this close as well, and there is still that other half of the riddle.”

Glancing at an umbrella that was running by as well as a dancing gingerbread pony the mare rolled her eyes with a sigh.  “I wonder if he had anything to do with how strange the Everfree is once you go deep enough.  They aren't as confusing as the sky rivers and the inverted forests I've been through in there.”

As she focused her mind on the problems she didn't notice a pair of eyes following her through the maze above her.  Discord had an easy time with the others but something just didn't feel right with this one to him.  Fading into view he rubbed his front limbs together as an idea came to him that was just perfect for this mare.

Taking his time the draconequus floated down until he was flying along next to the orange mare.  “Well what do we have here.  The loner of the little group of friends that is supposed to stop me.”

Aegis Flare just continued on walking without giving any sign of having heard the chaos lord even with him right next to her.  This annoyed the mismatched chimera as he was not used to being ignored by others, especially one such as this lowly unicorn.  Pulling out a variety of instruments and playing them in the mare's ear also produced no effect and he let out a growl.

“What is with this unicorn?”  Discord pulls out a magnifying lens and looks over the unicorn closely.  “Hello, what have we here?”  Reaching down he pulls on a thread from the mare's back that was invisible until he came into contact with it.  “Well no wonder something was off when I saw her.  Not even I am crazy enough to mess with that temple and yet she was right in the middle of it?  If that didn't drive her crazy then I'll have to step up my game a bit.”

He thought over his options while snapping his claws causing random things to appear in the area including a timberwolf.  Even the sight of one of her greatest fears wasn't enough to phase the mare as she just leapt onto it's back when it tried to pounce her and absentmindedly bucked it in the back of the head.  Watching the unicorn, Discord had a thought wiggling in the back of his mind that he couldn't quite grasp.  There was something familiar about her but Discord couldn't quite place it until he spotted a pegasus off in the distance.  “Now I wonder...”

Pushing the thought into the back of his mind the chimeric being decided to take a more direct approach to getting the mare's attention.  Pulling out a kazoo he took a deep breath before blowing into it next to the ear of the Element of Courage creating the sound of an air horn.  The loud sound, combined with the shock wave from the air pressure, blasted the mare off of her hooves and into the maze wall.  Shaking her head she poked her head out of the foliage with a look of annoyance.  “Pinkie!  How many times do I have to tell you...  Oh wait, it's you.”

Seeing that it was Discord that had interrupted her train of thought the mare let out a light huff before pulling herself out of the hedge and continuing on her path.  The draconequus was flabbergasted at how fast he was blown off by the mare causing him to narrow his eyes at her retreating form.  “Well how rude just ignoring me like that.  And after I came out here to check on your progress, too.”

Sparing a short glance at him, Aegis Flare spoke over her shoulder as she continued on.  “Well I highly doubt that anything you have to say will be all that important, especially since you can't even follow your own rules of no magic or flying.”  She flicks her tail back at the floating chimera to emphasize her words.

Glancing down to see the empty space between him and the ground, Discord lets out a humph as he crosses his arms in front of him.  “I never said that the rules of the game were something that were for me.  As if I would ever be bound by something so pedestrian as rules.”

With a snort Aegis Flare smirked to herself.  “Just like every storybook villain I've read about, can't even bother with their own rules.  They always have to find a way to cheat whenever they have a chance to.  Why I bet that the Elements aren't even in here especially since you didn't even state a goal of the game or what's we'll find in this maze.”

Discord narrows his eyes at the mare's back as she compares him to a common storybook character but holds his anger.  Bringing up his clawed hand to stroke his beard he observed the orange mare and wondered why she wasn't reacting as the other ponies were as well as how she was able to guess  some of what was going on.  Seeing that she was now paying attention to him he snapped his claw a few times causing a manticore to dance through the area in front of her but she barely even spared a glance at it.  “You act as if nothing is strange about any of this. I've never had that reaction before from a pony.  Now you're really starting to interest me.”

With a sigh and a roll of her eyes Aegis Flare mutters to herself just loud enough for the being of chaos to hear her.  “Well it's not like it's anything special after having to kill myself multiple times before.  After that hardly anything surprises me anymore when it doesn't involve Pinkie.”

His eyebrow rising in interest, Discord pulls out a toilet brush and start peering through it closely at the unicorn.  “How fascinating.  You look marvelously alive for somepony that should be dead then.  You must tell me who does your mane and...”  He pauses as he passed over something that had an odd shine and he moves back to focus on it before plucking an odd thread from nowhere.  “Well, well.  Somepony has been a naughty mare, going to a place like that.  Not even old Swirly was crazy enough to mess with that place even if he could find it.  It appears I might have to bring in something special to deal with you.”

It took a few more steps for his words to really hit her causing her to stop in confusion.  “Now what nonsense are you babbling abou-”  Turning back to Discord her eyes narrowed when she noticed the orange figure being held in his claws wrapped up in black licorice.  Seeing her sister in his grasp her whole demeanor changed as she takes and aggressive stance.  “Discord what are you doing with her?  If you don't let her go so help me I'll-”

She was cut off when Discord he grasped the filly's head in his claw and started to twist it sharply to the side and started speaking in a malevolent tone.  “Now now, none of that if you don't want her to have an accident.  Of course if you want me to let her go all you have to do is leave this game and just run off.  “Now what do you say to tha-”

It was Discord's turn to be cut off as a rock struck him between the eyes, having been launched there by a buck of the unicorn's hooves.  After recovering he looked around for the mare but soon felt a disabling pain from below as Aegis Flare bucked him as hard as she could in the fork of his legs, sending him to the ground curled up.  With him incapacitated the mare grabbed her sister and took off running deeper into the maze until she felt she had lost the chimera before setting her sister down again.

“That should be far enough for now.  I don't know where he found you Scootaloo but you need to hide until we somehow deal with him and-”  Her words froze in her throat as a giant lollipop came down from the sky and split her sister in half in front of her.  Not believing what she just saw her eyes shrank into pinpricks as a hoof reached feebly towards the body next to her.  Her eyes quickly changed from ones of shock to that of burning rage when she heard laughter from behind her of the cause of her torment.

“You should see the look on your face!  I've never seen anything like it before and- ACK!  Not the face, NOT THE FACE!  The teeth, THE TEETH!”  Discord's laughter was broken off as the pony started mauling him with the fury of a dozen starving crazed weasels that didn't give any sign of stopping soon.  With a quick snap of his claws he disappeared to the other side of the hedge to catch his breath and recover from the scratches and tooth marks that now covered his form.

After a moment he peeked under the hedge to see that the mare was furiously looking around the area for him and had taken on a slightly grayer color than before.  Putting a few more walls between himself and her he rubbed at his beard while wincing at his minor injuries.  “Odd, she wasn't supposed to react like that.  She should have been hiding from everything like her pegasus friend always does.  How rude of her to beat me to the punch before I could even finish toying with her.  Speaking of her she didn't react like I wanted to either.”

Pausing a moment to ponder the unicorn and pegasus he eventually just shrugs and snaps his claws opening a path between the grayed out mare and her friends.  “Well no time to bother with that any more.  I still have one more to deal with.  Now where did Miss Loyalty get off to.”  Vanishing while leaving the scent of mint behind the lord of chaos went in search of his next victim as the friends united and grass grew over the pinata that was left behind in a pile of red jelly beans.

<><><><><><><>

Twilight Sparkle just watched in horror as most of her friends just abandoned her after everything they went through to find the Elements of Harmony just to have them fail at the last moment.  After watching her friends all storms off while insulting her she sadly turned to the last one that hadn't left her.  “Well? Aren't you going to say something as well?”

When she turned around she was downcast to find that Aegis Flare had also vanished until she saw a tail sticking out of a nearby bush.  Peering into it she found her friend cowering away from something which caused her to raise an eyebrow at her.  She noted that she was a tad grayed out like her other friends, but nowhere near the extent they were after finding the Elements of Harmony.  “Aegis Flare?  What are you doing in there?”

The mare in question peeked out from under her hooves and, upon seeing the lavender mare, leapt out of the bush to tackle her in a hug.  Twilight's confusion only grew at her friend's unexpected behavior.  “What is going on with you?  You haven't been yourself since we were split up in Canterlot along with the others.  Well you aren't as mean as them but...”

Twilight trails off as she thinks back to how the other unicorn was acting since that point and realized that there was a trend to her reactions.   She hadn't said a word since that point and it was always in a way that didn't match what she knew of her.  Suddenly she made the connection to what was bugging her as she remembered the words she said a while back.

“'Courage isn't about fear but about not letting it control you.'  Discord got to you to and now you can't control your emotions at all can you.”  She looked saddened as she realized that her friend wouldn't be as much help as she thought as she started to walk away.  Aegis Flare started following after her and started bouncing around her as she walked off much to the librarian's displeasure.

After walking past a few of the buildings that were affected by Discord's power Twilight started to get annoyed before she turned on her friend.  “Can you just go somewhere else and leave me alone!?  With the Elements not working and the others off doing whatever there's no reason for you to follow me!  We've lost and you're worse than useless now!”

Aegis Flare cringed away from Twilight as she rounded on her and started whimpering as as she got up in her face.  As the lavender mare continued her eyes started to tear up until she got to the end of her rant.  With a final sniff she took off running and crying as the last of the color faded from her.  As she ran off Twilight sighed and dropped her head as she walked off while the color faded from her as well.

Twilight eventually made it back to the library where she found Spike spitting up scrolls from the princess.  As she read through them and found that they were all the friendship reports that she had sent and as she read through them her color started to reinstate itself.  As she finished reading the last one her eyes lit up as she realized what she needed to do as she ran off leaving Spike to recover.

She decided to start with the last friend that she saw, especially after what she said to her.  Finding her was relatively easy enough as she was sitting outside of her home with tears dripping down their face.  On seeing this Twilight's steps slowed as she remembered that she was that reason why her friend was like this.  As she got closer the grayed out mare heard her coming and turned enough to see her before she let out a gasp and dove into a nearby bush.

With a sigh Twilight walked over to the shivering bush before aiming her horn at it and casting the memory spell that she hoped would work to cure her friends.  She wasn't sure if it was working but she knew something was happening as the bush slowly stopped shaking and instead Twilight heard growling coming from it.  One of her eyebrows rose as Aegis Flare pulled herself out of the foliage looking much like her old self but with a strained look on her face as she turned to Twilight.  “Where.  Is.  He?”

The purple mare's head jerked back a bit at the anger in her friend's voice but she just shook her head and explained what happened and what she was doing.  Soon the two were off to collect the rest of their friends before facing the draconequus.  After easily gathering and curing them, with Rainbow Dash being the only difficult one, they found the mismatched creature in the center of town on a throne.

The end result was rather anti-climatic as Discord just sat there and did nothing as they activated the Elements of Harmony and turned him back into a statue once again.  A wave of energy surrounded Ponyville as this happened before exploding outwards across the landscape dispelling the changes made by the Lord of Chaos.  After the town recovered the ponies that had recovered from Discord's terror or were in hiding came out to cheer for the seven as they rose to their hooves after the exhaustion from using the Elements.

They didn't have a chance to start up a party before a white figure appeared from above causing the entire town to bow before her.  As Princess Celestia advanced on the bearers she had a small smile on her face as she looked over her student and her friends.

<><><><><><><>

“Ugh, I can't believe that we have to deal with all this now after everything we went through with Discord.  Can things get any worse?”  Rarity chuckled as she touched up on her looks while listening to Aegis Flare's ranting.

“Oh darling, how can you say that being made a baroness is a problem?  I've always dreamed of this day since I was a filly.”  Her eyes filled with stars as she thought of all the things she could do now while the others just shook their heads at her.  Applejack just sighed at the two before putting in her own two bits.

“Ah don't see how this changes anything really.  It's not like any of us will do anything different once we get back to Ponyville.  Unless ya can think of anything that we missed, Viscountess Twilight?”  The farm mare smirked at the librarian as she blushed at being called by her new title having been given a higher one for her role in saving the others before stopping Discord.

“Well I don't think there is anything that we have to worry about.  At least I don't remember my parents having to go through anything odd over the years.  Unless you count all that mail that they throw out all the time without reading it.”  The others looked from Twilight to the orange unicorn with looks of curiosity as she slammed her head into the table by her.

“You all know my dislike of a large portion of the nobility so this just...  Ugh, I don't even know how to explain it.”  She let's out a sigh as she moves over to a window to look out at the garden to watch her sister playing with her friends.  “I just don't know how to react to all of this happening so rapidly.  I'd rather things just go back to the way they were before he showed up.”

Her friends glance each other in surprise at the amount of emotion that the orange unicorn is showing until Fluttershy steps up and sets a hoof on her shoulder.  “Nothing really has to change, unless you really want it to.  We'll always be together if something happens and I don't think Ponyville will really care about all of this.”

Aegis Flare just sighs again as she looks out the window until her gaze is drawn to a few pegasii carefully flying a statue into the garden causing her eyes to narrow as she recognizes it.  Seeing Discord once again she spoke once more but to quietly for any of the others to hear.  “Maybe I can actually make it so things won't ever change like that again.”
> 29
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scootaloo paced back and forth in front of the Golden Oaks Library with a look of worry on her face.  She paused in front of the door to knock but after hesitating a moment she went back to he pacing.  The rest of her sister's friends were busy so Twilight was the only one she could get help from but after what she and the other crusaders went through she was wary of approaching her.  The filly was so focused on her thoughts that she didn't notice the door opening until she stopped to knock again before a purple figure crashed into her.

As the two figures recovered the one that exited the library was the first to see what they crashed into.  “Scootaloo?  What are you doing out here?”  The orange filly looked up to see her friend Spike rubbing his head.  After a moment she realized that with him she didn't need to see Twilight and she grabbed his shoulders with her hooves.

“Spike!  Just the dragon I wanted to see.  Is Twilight around anywhere?”  Spike raised an eyebrow at the question as well as the worried look on the filly's face.  He eventually shook his head before responding to her.

“Nah, she's out with her friends having a picnic or something.  Why do you want her anyways?”  Scootaloo gave a sigh of relief at not needing to meet the unicorn but she still needed help with her problem.  Looking at the dragon again she realized that he might be a better choice to get help from due to his own experience with craziness.

“Well I kind of needed help with my sister and Twilight was the last one for me to look for.  But you have to deal with Twilight all the time so that means you'll be perfect to help me out with this!”  Spike looked at her with a raised eyebrow but decided to follow her anyways as she turned to head back towards her home.

“Aegis Flare?  Did something happen while she was out in the Everfree Forest?  Did she run into a brain-eating monster that latched onto her head and is now trying to sneak into Ponyville?!”  His question was met with a deadpan stare from the pegasus filly before she let out a sigh.

“If only it was that simple.  She never even went into the Everfree like I thought.  I just found out today that she was in the basement ever since that award thingie in Canterlot.”  The young dragon's jaw dropped at hearing this before he started sputtering out a reply in astonishment.

“But that was a week ago!  You're telling me that your sister has been hiding down there for an entire week and you never noticed?  What was she doing all this time?”  Scootaloo thought back to what happened when she tried to interrupt her sister and let loose a shudder.

“It's probably better if I just show you.”  With a wave of her hoof the filly lead Spike into her home and towards the door leading to the basement.  She paused as she reached the door before she sighed and threw the door open so that Spike could see inside.  It took a moment for his eyes to adjust but when they did he spotted a figure down in the darkness which became clearer when the sun shone threw a nearby window and down into the dark.

“HISS!”  Spike recoiled at the image of horror before him as he staggered backwards away from the entrance.  As soon as he cleared the threshold the door slammed shut in his face leaving the two to stare at it blankly.  Turning his head slowly towards the orange filly with wide-eyes.

“THAT was your sister?  I haven't seen anything that bad since Twilight's brother told her that two plus two was fish and the rest of the family agreed to it.  She spent days trying to figure out how that worked.  I would never have expected your sister to pull something like this though, she always seemed to be so... not Twilight.”

Scootaloo let loose another shudder as she thought back to last times this had happened.  “She's only done this two other times and neither of them ended well.  One time it took over a month before Applejack and Rarity could pull her out of there and the other time...”  The filly paused for a moment as she rubbed her right foreleg with a hoof.  “That time we found out that if she tries nothing can get through her shields if she doesn't want it to, including air.”

The dragonling looked confused for a moment until his eyes widened in realization on the reason how she would know that.  “Whoa.  If she really can get that bad then we better find her friends fast.  I don't think she has much longer until she reaches that point again if what happened yesterday is an example.    I'll go find Twilight, you get the other Crusaders so we at least know where you all are, just to be safe.”

With a nod the two leave the house to find the others that could hopefully help out with the problem they had found.  It didn't take long for Spike to return leading the mare's six friends as he knew where they were going to be for their picnic.  “All right we're here Spike.  Now can you finally tell us what is wrong?”

The group looked around as they entered the home but they couldn't see anything out of place other than the large pile of unopened mail on the table in the room.  Ignoring the glares from the others, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie flipped through the pile and saw that most of it was from Canterlot though there was the occasional piece from some museum or other.  Finally catching his breath after having run the whole way, the young dragon finally explained what was happening.  “Scootaloo came and told me that her sister never went into the Everfree like you all thought and has been downstairs doing something and I think she's about to do something terrible like Twilight did yesterday.”

While Twilight looked a bit sheepish at being reminded about what she did, both Rarity and Applejack were instead giving each other a look of worry.  “Oh dear, you don't think that...?”

Applejack just shook her head at the fashionista.  “Ah don't have ta think, ah know it.  Ah just hope it don't happen again after she finally started opening up again.”

The other looked confused at the two before the two shook their heads and Rarity answered their questioning looks.  “You see, the poor dear has done this once before and it didn't end well.  We don't know what caused it but she was studying some sort of time magic and doing what she is now.  We were able to get her to stop but...”

She looked over at the farm mare who took up the train of thought.  “In the end she just plain shut down around everypony except her sister.  Sure she would still do her job but she never got friendly like with anypony else until Twilight showed up.”

The others in the room winced at that remembering what she was like before though Twilight was only exposed to a small part of it.  “What do we do?  If you've seen this before then you should know some way of helping her.”

Rarity shakes her head sadly at Twilight.  “We don't know if what we did then will work this time.  We tried to talk her down but since we didn't know what caused her little, incident, we couldn't help her that way.  Instead we had to, um.”  She paused as she looked over to AJ who had removed her hat and set it aside.

“We had ta hogtie her and dump her in the creek to snap her out of it.”

As AJ rubbed the back of her head Twilight looked towards the basement door and let out a sigh.  “Let's just hope that we only need the first part and not the second.”  She pauses and brings a hoof up to her chin before turning back to Spike.  “How long did you say she was down there again?”

Spike drops the pile of mail he was sorting before looking at Twilight who raised an eyebrow on seeing what he was doing.  Clearing his throat he glanced out the window as he tried to remember.  “Well Scootaloo did say she was gone since you all got back from Canterlot.  Oh and if you go down there you might want to cover the windows before opening the door, she reacts badly to the light.”

Nodding to the dragon the six move towards the basement carefully while covering all the windows and shutting off the lights.  Once the area was dark they make their way down into the basement quietly so as not to interrupt the mare already down there.  Looking around they saw scrolls and books scattered around the place while the mare they were her for was in a corner surrounded by candles.  In front of her was a board filled with pictures and notes that were connected by various colored strings.

Looking over Aegis Flare's shoulder the six examine what she had been doing the past week she had been sequestered.  Twilight's eyes traced the strings that started at a picture of Discord and eventually led to one of Princess Celestia before ending up on a banana.  The purple mare was confused at how it all started out making sense before it devolved into craziness.  Applejack lightly coughed as she passed something she had picked up from a corner to her and the librarians eyes widened in shock at what she was reading.

“What!?  Smash the statue of Discord!?”

Her hooves shot up into her mouth as Aegis Flare's head snapped up at her voice though she didn't appear to notice them as she started speaking to herself.  “Smash the statue?  No, that won't work.  Already tossed that idea out as unreliable.”  She paused for a moment as she tilted her head to the side in confusion.  “Why am I even thinking about that again?  I still need to feed the piano so that the banana is crossed with the chocolate tuna.”

Looking at each other the six mares behind the orange unicorn looked worried for her as it was obvious that something wasn't quite right with her.  They froze as Aegis Flare turned towards them but she didn't seem to see them as she walked between them all towards the other side of the room to retrieve something.  After she passed the other six she took a few more steps before she stopped and slowly turned to look at her friends.

“Where did you all come from?”  They didn't get a good view of her until just that moment but what they saw made them worry.  They remembered what happened the last time that they saw a unicorn with an eye-twitch like they were seeing but unlike with Twilight this one only had access to more destructive magics.  It wasn't just that but her mane was getting loose from her braid while her tail was a frayed mess.

After taking in the scene the group looked at each other before Twilight stepped forward.  “Well your sister was worried about you and she told us that you had been down here for a week now.  Isn't it about time that you take a break?”

Aegis Flare tilts her head as if she didn't understand them before she shakes it at them.  “No time for a break.  Have to finish before he shows up again.”

“Before who shows up again?”

“Discord of course.  Have to stop him before he hurts her again!”  Her outburst surprised them all but when she thought about it Twilight could see her point in regards to the unpredictable draconequus.  As she watched her friend turn away again to get back to what she was doing she tried to think of what to do.

“Is this really all necessary?  I mean we stopped him with the Elements so we shouldn't have to worry about him anymore.  There's no reason to have to think about him now.”  The exhausted mare froze in place at her words before she slowly turned her head back towards Twilight without turning the rest of her body.

“No reason?  No reason?!”  Turning her body she stomped up to Twilight who flinched back as her friend got close.  “We don't even know how long he will be stuck in stone this time since he escaped once before.  I'm not letting him touch her again.  Never again!”

They were all shocked at the look of panic on her face as well as in her voice especially since they didn't know what she went through exactly.  They had talked a bit after defeating Discord about what he had done to each of them but the orange unicorn had been rather closed-mouthed about her experience and had only mentioned that it had dealt with her sister.  Applejack, probably knowing the best how she felt about her sister, was the one to ask the question they were all wondering.  “Scootaloo looked fine last Ah saw her.  What did that varmint do ta her that freaks ya out so much.”

Aegis Flare froze in place as her mind shot back to that instant before everything went fuzzy that day.  At first the others thought that she had locked up and was about to faint but when they saw the tears starting to fall it was enough to force Fluttershy to rush up and grab her into a fierce hug.  She flinched from the contact but it was enough to push her into speaking quietly.  “He was trying to threaten me using her but I was able to get her away from him and run away deeper into the maze.  Just when I had found a place for her to hide Discord showed up again.”

She shuddered in the grip of the yellow pegasus as she relived that moment again in her head.  “With no warning he cut her in half right in front of me.  “The rest of the girls gasp in horror as she says this but she keeps speaking without hearing them.  “I don't know if it was really her or not but just the thought of it happening scares me more than anything.  When our parents disappeared I swore that I would protect her but to have this happen...  I just can't lose her like I lost them!”

By this point she had completely broken down as she cried helplessly into her friend's shoulder.  She was soon joined by the others as they gather around her in a group hug as they try to reassure her.  At first it doesn't help as her crying gets even worse but eventually the noises coming from her steadily quieted down until the room was silent.  Looking at their friend in their grip they all find that she had fallen asleep while they held her and they set release her while looking to each other.  “So what do we do with her now?”

Rarity steps forward as she motions towards Fluttershy while she floats the unconscious unicorn in her magical grip.  “Well I don't know about you all, but the first thing I plan on doing is getting her a bath.  After a week alone down here her coat and mane could really use some care.”

Glancing at each other as Fluttershy follows the fashionista upstairs the rest quickly converse before agreeing to spend the night there.  With a promise to return soon they all scatter to pick gather some supplies for the night though Twilight pauses at the bottom of the stairs before looking around the basement again.  Not really needing to get anything important for the night she turns back and starts gathering up the papers scattered around the room.

<><><><><><><>

The next morning found the seven curled up in various positions around the living room of the home.  They had placed Aegis Flare at the center of the room covered with a blanket Fluttershy had retrieved from her home.  Both her and Applejack had taken up positions on both sides of her to try to make her feel comfortable as well.  The farm mare was awake just as the sun came up like she normally was but she was surprised to find that she wasn't the first awake as she noticed Twilight reading through something on the nearby couch.  “Twilight?  What are ya doing up so early?”

The librarian looked up from her reading to Applejack before she set her reading material aside.  “It's what Flare was working on down there.  She was researching into the relationship of harmony and chaos and, if this is all true, she had found some interesting information.  In fact I never knew that she could perform research of this caliber.”

Retrieving a couple of the pages she flipped through them again to verify what she had read before continuing.  “I'll have to research this again myself but if this is all true it can really change some long-standing ideas.  Primarily in how chaos and harmony are not opposites like many scientists think.”

Raising an eyebrow at the claim Applejack decides to interject.  “Hold on a second there.  How can they not be opposites with how Discord was acting?  That varmint couldn't be any further from being a harmonious creature than anything.”

Shaking her head Twilight showed her a chart that was on one of the pages.  “That's the point, Discord was also about disharmony and he even mentioned it separately from chaos.  In fact chaos is needed for harmony to exist since the opposite of it is order.  It's strange though how she points out that she compares both order and chaos with death and life.  In fact if what she has written here is true then Discord would never kill.  But after how she reacted then he never should have been able to do what he did in front of her.”

Applejack looked confused but before she could respond another voice spoke up from across the room.  “Darling, if losing her sister is her greatest fear then there wouldn't have been much else that brute could have used against her.  Still, I for one am glad to see her no longer holding her feelings back since that time.”

Seeing Applejack nod in agreement earned a look of confusion from Twilight as she looked between the two.  On seeing her look Rarity looked a bit embarrassed for leaving her out of the conversation so explains a bit to catch her up.  “As you know Applejack and I lived in Ponyville when Flare first started school here in Ponyville.  Back then she was nothing like what you've known since you've shown up.  It may be hard to believe, but even after her injury healed it was hard to get her to speak and if you can believe it was even less talkative than Fluttershy.”

Glancing over at the still sleeping unicorn Twilight shook her head in disbelief before turning back to the two awake mares.  “That really is hard to believe.  She might be a bit distant most of the time but she always seemed so calm and forward.”

Once again meeting Applejack's eyes with a grimace Rarity continues.  “We don't know what happened to her but the last time she had an incident like this changed her.  Something happened to her while she was out in the Everfree that changed her from a shy mare much like Fluttershy to what she is now.  Even worse was that she stopped talking with nearly everypony outside of her business.  In fact I think outside of her work she really only talked with her sister and Derpy until you showed up.”

Checking with AJ for verification was met with a nod as Twilight thought on all this.  She hadn't found anything in the notes she had relating to that but after glancing through them quickly noticed something that seemed a bit off.  “Do you know if she worked with many museums?  Many of these books she used for her research are really rare and I recognize a couple of them as only being easily available to high ranking government officials unless you know the right ponies.”

The two think for a moment before shaking their heads.  “No, I don't believe she did much with them but as I said she never did talk with us much back then.  I suppose she may have sold things to them but I don't think she used the train often enough to make connections like that.”

Scrunching her muzzle in frustration Twilight sighed as she set the notes down.  “Well however she got access to them she really did come to some interesting conclusions through parts of it.  I'd like to do my own research into this,as well as talk with Princess Celestia, but if what she has here is right then Discord doesn't have anything to do with chaos at all and is in fact extremely predictable.”

The two gaped at Twilight as if they didn't quite hear her right.  “Predictable?  Discord was nuttier than Granny's fruitcake so how can you call him predictable?”

“Because it was obvious that he was following a plan and much of what he was doing was exactly the same as what he was doing the last time he was free.”  Three heads jerked around to stare at the orange unicorn that was wearily raising her head up from the pillow she was resting on.  While a bit wary of how she would react they did have to admit she was looking a lot better than she was the day before though they noticed something off about her as well.

“Are you all right there, dear?  You were in such a state last night when we found you and we didn't expect you to be awake until at least tomorrow.  Last time you didn't wake up for a week.”  Aegis Flare nods wearily in response as she sets her head back down on her pillow.

“That's good and all, but what are ya talking about with Discord having a plan?  He sure acted like he just did what he did at random.”  Twilight was about to answer before she was cut off by the still sleepy mare.

“He may have acted random but it was obvious he had some type of plan he was following when messing with us.  It's obvious when you look at what he did to Fluttershy.  With all of us he used the Element we each represented until he failed with her.  As soon as a little bit of chaos was introduced into whatever his plan was he forcefully controlled her to act as he wanted.  In fact he did more to remove chaotic elements than promoting chaos and even what he did to Ponyville had elements of order to it even if it wasn't of the kind we were used to.”  By this time the others had awoken and were listening in as well to the conversation.  As she looked around at the others she gave a small smile that soon had Pinkie bouncing in front of her.

“I knew it!  I knew you could give out a real smile if you wanted to and didn't hold back!”  The others looked confused though Aegis Flare just rolled her eyes at the mare though she didn't stop smiling.  She looked around at the others before her eyes settled on the blanket covering her as she took in the design on it.  She was about to ask about it before noticing them all staring at her and Pinkie causing her to let out a sigh.

“Ever since she arrived in Ponyville she's been trying to get me to give her what she called a 'genuine smile' and to stop fake smiling.”  The others give off various noises of acknowledgment as Pinkie bounces around her in enjoyment.

“Well if she has been trying since then why did it take you so long to give her one until now?  I'd be surprised if anypony would last even a week of resisting one when she decides to focus on them.”  Rainbow Dash had a point about how difficult it was to deny the pink mare anything which the others agreed with, Twilight especially after her own recent experiences with her breed of randomness.

“I don't know really.  I'm just tired of it all, tired of having to hold everything back so I don't hurt anypony else.  Not after what I nearly did to Scootaloo last time.”  She gave a shiver as she pulled the blanket over herself tighter at the thought.

Fluttershy pulled her close into another hug before whispering just loudly enough for the others to hear.  “You really shouldn't bottle your feelings up like you have been all these years.  It's no wonder that you broke down like that.”

Nodding in her embrace she tries to relax while the others catch her up on what she had missed the last few days.  Once they finish Aegis Flare is once again chuckling as she is once again stared at.  “So all that to find a friendship problem when you could have found one right here the entire time.”  While a blush develops on the purple unicorn's face the others join in on the laughter.  Once the room calms down she continues.  “Of course if I've learned anything since you've arrived it's that anything with friendship can't be done alone, though I guess I haven't been following that well myself.”

Though she was about to respond, Twilight paused to think for a moment before she looks thoughtful.  “That's actually a good point.  Why don't you write to the princess about what you learned?”

She was about to try and talk her way out of it but seeing the looks of expectation from the others just made her sigh.  “Fine, since you all have to do it and she probably meant to include me in her order as well.  Though there's something else as well.  Where's something to write on?”

Twilight pulls a quill and scroll and passes them over as Aegis Flare considers her words.  “I've known that courage has always been about not letting your emotions control you but it is possible to take that too far.  Bottling up your feelings can cause even worse problems as the stress increases on you.  Your friends can help you before things get that far since they will always be there for you.  In fact there is little that can be done alone that can't be made better by having friends by your side.”

Checking with the others for their opinion they each nod before she rolls up the letter and sets it aside to be sent away later.  “Not that I don't want to continue talking about what happened, but I have to ask something.  Where did this blanket come from?  I don't remember having something like this around the house?”

Showing off the design on the blanket that happened to match a tapestry on the wall behind her.  Fluttershy slowly raised a hoof before twirling it around her other one.  “Well when I saw that you had that picture on the wall I thought that it would help relax you.  I'm not sure why you would have something my father used... not that there is anything wrong with that.”

“Well it's...”  The thestral-eared mare froze before as her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.  “Wait, what would your father have to do with one of the head clans?”  Fluttershy just tries to burrow backwards into her blankets as everyone focuses on her.

“Um, I don't know why really.  Mother never talked about him much and only said that was the only thing she kept of him.  She only ever told me that his name was Nesimtite when I left home just so that I would know to avoid him.”  The orange unicorn's jaw dropped open in shock before she started laughing and pounding her hoof on the floor.  The other mares just looked at her in confusion as she tried to catch her breath with how hard she was laughing.

“He...  He's your father?!  The greatest tribalist of the family, Uncle Douchebag?  Oh, that is just rich!”  Most of the others flinched at what she called him, but Fluttershy just sadly nodded.

“Yes.  Mother did mention that he was called that but...  Wait...  Did you say uncle!?”  Her question was met with gasps from the others while Aegis Flare regained control of herself though there were now a couple tears rolling down her cheek.

“Yeah.  You see this isn't an ordinary tapestry design but the banner of one of the major clans of Transylmania.  My father the youngest stallion of the clan while Nesimtite was the third-born.  Actually his name doesn't really mean douchebag but he always hated being called that because nesimtit translates to it.”  Her revelation of this was met with winces at how unfortunate his name was when translated.

As Fluttershy was trying to hide in embarrassment she let out an 'eep' of surprise as Aegis Flare grabbed her in a hug while more tears rolled down her face.  “All this time I was doing what I could for what family that I had left and I didn't know that there was still family watching over me.  I...  I...”  Once again the mare broke down crying again though this time in happiness.  Fluttershy was unsure how to deal with the situation beyond patting her friend on the back while looking at her friends.  Soon enough the weary mare had fallen back asleep allowing the buttery pegasus to escape from her near death grip.

“Hey, where did Pinkie go?”  With Rainbow Dash's question the others only then realized that one of them were missing.  After a moment they all realized what she was probably doing so they were all surprised when they saw a flash of light from upstairs.  Moments later they all saw the head of the pink pony wave them all upstairs and, with the exception of Fluttershy and the sleeping mare, the quietly climbed after her.  Once they arrived they found the party pony standing outside of a room taking pictures of what was inside of it.

Looking inside they all let out quiet 'awws' at the portrayal of cuteness that they found.  Spike and the CMC were all asleep on Scootaloo's bed, but what really got them was how Both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were both cuddling up on opposite sides of the dragon.  All three of them were using Applebloom like a pillow but from how the blankets were scattered all over they hadn't started that was.  With a final look at the fillies on the bed the group of mares silently closed the door before returning to the room below.
> 30
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Slow down, sis!  I can't -pff- I can't keep up through althese trees.  How do you even do this all the time?”  Scootaloo spat out another branch as it got caught in her teeth as she tried to push through the undergrowth while following after her sister.  I didn't help that they also got constantly snagged on the saddle bags she was wearing that were also stuffed to the brim.

“Well you wouldn't be out here if you didn't somehow blow up Zecora's potion lab.  Also since you didn't want to go to the Sisterhood Social the week before this is the perfect time to spend some time together while you help replace some of it.  Besides, you're always coming out here when I tell you not to so I thought you'd be happy to have permission to be out here.”  The young pegasus just glared at her sister as she yanked her tail of the underbrush, causing her to wince as a couple hairs are pulled out.

“Why would I want to do another obstacle course when you already push me through the one in our back yard?  It's not like it would have been fair to the others if we did compete with all the practice with it.”  The elder sister had to raise an eyebrow at the maturity her sibling was showing with her thought process causing her to let out a small smile.  She slowed up a bit when she noticed the young pegasus starting to stumble over the rough terrain the were moving through.

“How much longer are we going to be out here anyways?  I'm tired, I'm sore, and I hate to sound like Rarity but I really need a bath.  I think I still have some gunk from that flower monster that tried to eat me in my feathers.”  She fluttered her wings as she looked them over before pulling out a loose feather with her teeth while grimacing at the taste.

Aegis Flare just shook her head as she shot a ball of fire from her horn into the brush, causing it to detonate sending the smoldering remains of a timberwolf flying out.  “Well I did tell you to stay close and not run ahead even if it looks safe.  Some of the most dangerous places here in the Everfree look the safest while some of the safest are the other way around.  Luckily for you we have only one more area to pass through on the way home and it's on the way back.”

The unicorn looked around the are for any more threats before she nodded and put up a barrier around their clearing as an extra precaution.  When the filly saw this she collapsed onto her stomach without even bothering to remove the bags from her back.  “Ugh, finally.  I don't know how you can do this for months at a time.  It hasn't even been a week and I never want to be out here again.”

Her sister just grins as she looks away as she congratulates herself in finally getting through to her sister on how dangerous it is out here.  Of course she knew her well enough that she'd probably forget in a month but at least she'd be a bit more careful.  After giving her sister time to rest up she signaled that they were on the way again, causing the young filly to let out a groan.  “I used to think that at first but there was always something that kept me going no matter how hard everything got.  Even with everything that I went through over the years I'd still do it all again.”

Scootaloo's ears perked up at this as she walked next to her sister.  “Really?  Why would you keep doing this if you didn't want to?”  

Aegis Flare just smiles as she looks down at her sister fondly before turning her attention back to the surrounding forest.  “Everything I did was always for you.”

Scootaloo just groaned as she rolled her eyes.  “Ugh, so sappy.  It was bad enough before, but you've only gotten worse after your friends dragged you out of the basement.”

Her words only caused her sister to smirk though she didn't deny that she had been a bit more open with her emotions after that.  Of course she didn't really have to argue when she was given the perfect ammunition to use against her sibling from that same day.  “You're one to talk with how you and Sweetie were cuddling up with Spike that same morning.”

The only answer she received from the pegasus was a deep red blush while she sputtered out half-formed denials.  She let out a laugh at the reactions which was soon cut off as the ground disappeared from below her front hooves causing her to instinctively flare her magic out to catch herself and her sister with a barrier before they could fall off the cliff that was suddenly in front of them.

“Whoa!  What the hay happened here?!”  The unicorn took a deep breathe as she tried to calm her racing heart as she looked around the area for an answer to her sister's question.  The land in front of them just dropped off into a deep pit but she could see a cliff on the far side of it.  Taking a closer look at the ground in front of her she noticed that the cut-off area was too smooth to be natural and she soon realized where they were.

“This is the place I was talking about we were going to stop at.  After that last storm I expected to see some changes but this is much tamer than I was expecting.”  Pulling a small telescope from her packs she used it to examine the bottom of the ravine where she spotted some crystal formations and even some mining tools.  Following a trail up the cliff side she saw an odd looking rock and the forest that continued beyond it.  “It's also much smaller as well though it looks like there might have been something living caught up in it judging from the tools down below.  Hop on, we're going across the short way.”

Kneeling down she allowed Scootaloo to climb onto her back before she formed a bridge across the opening with her magic.  She spent a bit of extra energy to make it look a bit fancy as she added artistic railings and pillars that glowed warmly as the two crossed.  The filly just rolled her eyes and said one word that caused the elder to chuckle.  “Showoff.”

“Well it's not like this is that hard with all the practice I've gotten with it.  As Rarity would say, might as well add a bit of flare with my magic even if it's going to be something simple.”  This earned another eye revolution from her sister but she didn't say anything else as the two finished crossing.  Scootaloo hopped off and dart over to the large egg-shaped rock as she wandered around it curiously.

Aegis Flare didn't bother yelling at her for running off as these displaced areas were almost always safer than the forest as any dangers were usually more obvious.  She instead focused on checking for signs of life along the ground to see if anyone had been caught up in the area.  Luckily, even though she found traces of hoofprints around the area they were washed out showing that they were all from before the storm happened.

As she looked along the forest edge she found part of a board that had been cut off by the edge of whatever caused these occurrences and she picked it up curiously.  As she turned it around she froze in place for a moment as she read it before she called over to her sister.  “Scootaloo, I think we need to get back to town really fast.”

Kneeling down once again for her sister to climb onto her back she used her magic to create a simple harness around her sister to keep her in place.  Taking a moment to orient herself she took off running at a fast speed towards Ponyville, leaving a trail of flaming hoofprints behind her.  Scootaloo wondered what her sister was worried about and she looked down at the object her sister had found and was sticking out of her bags.  On it she could read part of some words but from what was sticking out all she could see were the words 'Pie' and the letters '-rm' of another word.

<><><><><><><>

“...and while I'm still improving on what I can make with my shields for stationary objects I'm still working on anything that moves beyond the basics.  I still haven't had a chance to test how strong I can make them now, but I'm really not going out of my way to hunt down an ursa minor to see.”  Twilight just nodded as she continued jotting down notes on what Aegis Flare had finished describing, ignoring her attempt at a joke.  The orange unicorn hoped that she had finally satisfied her friend's curiosity as she had been answering her questions for the past couple hours now and plotted on a way to get her sister back for telling the magic enthusiast about what she was up to.

Twilight read through her notes once more before nodding with a smile and putting it away in her bags.  Turning back to her friend she only then noticed how tired she looked, causing her to grin sheepishly at getting carried away again.  “I still can't believe how much you've been able to do with your magic even without any formal training and your condition.  I can't even think of many that can even do half the things you do with your magic.”

Aegis Flare just rolled her head on the back of her seat before looking in the direction of their other friend.  “It's not that hard when you focus almost exclusively on a couple spells instead of a large number.  Since I can only do the two things I have to really focus on my control of them more than anything.  I bet I could keep up a basic shield near indefinitely now if nothing interferes with it with all the practice I get with it.  But shouldn't we be focusing more on why we're on the train instead of wasting time on this?”

Gesturing with her horn to the side causes Twilight to look over at Pinkie Pie that had been silent the entire time.  She started to look worried as she realized that the pink mare hadn't said anything the entire trip and had in fact not moved from her position at the window the entire time.  The two shudder as they watch the unnaturally still mare for a couple minutes.

“I never thought that I would see the day when she wasn't bouncing around everywhere while still awake.”  Twilight whispers to the orange mare who nods.

“She must really be worried.  This is her home and family that could be in trouble with whatever happened there.  I'm not even sure what we will find since this is the first time I've found a recognizable area in the Everfree like this, and who knows what might have been caught up in it.”  Twilight wavers between fearful and excited about this information as she checks her bags on the things she brought with.

“I hope that nothing happened to them, but this could also be the chance to finally learn more about the Everfree and why it works like it does.  There is almost nothing in the Canterlot Library about the Everfree Forest and even less on many of the things you've found.”  The purple mare was frustrated about how little there was on the place as well as the fact that much of it was only speculation.

With a sigh, Aegis Flare looked out the window at the passing terrain and found that she could see a town coming up in the distance.  “Yeah, most of the books you'll find might as well be in the fiction section.  Ironically the best source is labeled as fiction by the so-called experts but is actually the best source you can find.  Look for A.K. Yearling's book called Exploring the Mysteries of the World if you want a better impression.  Also I think that we're almost at our stop.”

Her words were proven correct as Pinkie had been starting to vibrate in place for the last few minutes once the town came into view.  As soon as the train stopped the pink mare vanished outside leaving the other two blinking before the rushed to catch up.  They soon found her rushing up to the various ponies in town and they finally caught her as she went up to an elder stallion at a market stall.

“Well now, if it isn't young Pinkamena.  Why I haven't seen you for a few years now.  Too bad you chose such a bad time to visit your parents since the went on vacation to let your sister run the rock farm alone.  Of course your sister sure seemed anxious the last couple days so maybe the young spitfire would enjoy spending time with you.”  Pinkie seemed to perk up when she heard that her family was safe causing her to slow down a bit for the other two.

With the earth pony no longer in a huge rush, the two unicorns were able to take some time to take in more of the town.  The two weren't sure what to make of it when compared to their friend as it was nothing like her.  Where Pinkie was bright and peppy, the town was dull and gray as everything was made of stone and lacked decoration.  The only thing they could really see that matched up with the party pony was the fact that they were the only non-earth ponies that they could even see.  Not even a single pegasus could be seen flying over the town even though the sky was clear of clouds.

The two unicorns were quiet as they followed after their friend through town in the direction of a rocky bit of landscape beyond it.  They had trouble reconciling their image of Pinkie coming from a town like this though they were soon distracted as they rounded a large rock to see something that was completely out of place for the area.  “Is that?”

Aegis Flare nods at Twilight's question as she instantly recognizes the trees.  “Yeah, it's part of the Everfree Forest.”  They watched as Pinkie picked up her pace again quickly leaving the two behind and forcing them to break out into a slow trot to try and catch up.  They soon saw a building located next to the displaced bit of forest and knew it was their destination when they heard voices, one of them especially panicked.

“Oh thank Celestia, you're here sis!  Ma and Pa left everything for me to take care of and then this happens, I don't know what to do, I even lost Holder's Boulder!  Please you have to-”  She froze as the two unicorns came around to see her hugging the pink mare desperately with her third sister nearby behind her.  The two unicorns blinked as they saw the two gray mares, one of them hiding behind the other two while the one hugging Pinkie turned to stare at them as her face went from one of panic to one of anger.  “And who the hay are you two?”

Pinkie just lightly bopped her sister on the back of her head causing her to wince and turn her glare towards the brighter pony.  “Be nice now, these are my friends Aegis Flare and Twilight Sparkle and they came out with me to help.”  She gestured to each of the unicorns as she introduced them before turning her hoof to her sisters.  “These are my sisters, Limestone and Marble Pie.  Flarie there was the one who found where Holder's Boulder went which led us out here.”

She couldn't get any further as when Limestone heard that one of them knew the location of the objects she was soon shaking her with all her might.  “Where is it?  Where is Holder's Boulder!?”  Aegis Flare's head bobbled back and forth as the strong earth pony shook her for information.  When Pinkie pried her out of her sister's grip the unicorn fell to the ground with her eyes spinning.  Seeing that she was incapacitated for the moment Twilight stepped forward.

“We're still trying to figure out why this happened but she found it, along with the land around it, deep within the Everfree Forest.  This is the first time we've been able to find the origin point of this phenomena and all we really know is that it happens and that it causes a storm when it does happen.  Everything returns when the next storm happens as well...  At least we think.”  Her words calm Limestone down until she says the last bit which causes her to stiffen up again but any further violence is stalled when Pinkie tosses her forelimb across her shoulders.

“Oh don't worry so much Limey.  With both Twi and Flarie here they'll be sure to make sure everything turns out just fine.”  The gray mare didn't look convinced but she couldn't really argue when her sister drug her away to catch up on things with her other sister.  This left the two unicorns to walk over to the piece of Everfree to begin looking it over.

“I guess I'll be looking through the interior just to make sure that there isn't anything dangerous in there.  It's probably safe since it's been here a week with no problems but with the Everfree I've learned not to take any chances.”  Twilight nods absentmindedly as she was already caught up with examining the border between the two terrains while taking notes on what she found.  Occasionally the magic around her horn flared up as she magically examined the area for anything of interest.

Seeing as her friend was caught up in her studies, Aegis Flare cracked her neck to the side before walking into the patch of forest.  As she entered she immediately felt that something was off about the forest as she didn't get the same threatening feel that she was used to.  She wasn't sure if she felt that was as she couldn't find any dangers in the area or if it was something else but she quickly surveyed that area considering how small the area was.

Peering over the edge down into what she found was a quarry she saw that the edge was mostly a cylinder except for where it intersected with underground air pockets.  This was the first time she had been able to find a displaced area like this so she hadn't known the shape of the area affected until now.  Looking up she wondered how high the displacement effect went and if it had something to do with the storms or not.

After going through the forest one more time, while reflexively gathering up potential food items as she went.  Exiting the forest she found Twilight pacing in the general area she left her muttering to herself.  “Well everything seems to be safe in there but something just feels off still but I'm not sure what.”

Twilight doesn't even look up from her notes as she makes a non-committal noise as she continues writing.  Looking over her shoulder, Aegis Flare tries to understand what the purple mare is writing down but it is much more advanced than anything she'd looked into before.  The math she saw wasn't as bad even though she didn't know what it was referring to.  Seeing that her friend was completely out of it she shook her head before walking off towards the Pie's home with the food she had gathered.  “Well I hope that you can hear me, but be careful around the edge as it drops off into the quarry for most of it.”

Still not getting an answer, the orange mare hopes that her friend will be fine as she looks for Pinkie or one of her sisters.  She quickly found one of them, but seeing as it was the shyer one of the trio she slowed her steps as she watched her move around the room with a feather duster.  She was glad that she followed her instincts as when Marble noticed her she let out a squeak before hiding behind the nearby couch.  With a sigh she waiting for the mare to peek out from behind the couch before she lifted the fruit, vegetables, and mushrooms she had gathered in a basket of her magic.  “Where do you want all this?  I thought I'd grab some of what I found in that forest while I was in there.”

Marble leans out to see what the unicorn had brought in and on seeing the variety of colors her eye not hidden behind her hair lights up.  She points a hoof towards a nearby doorway and when Aegis Flare goes through it she finds the kitchen along with Pinkie who was hard at work.  “Hey Pinkie, I found a few things out there, where do you want them?”

Looking back to see what her friend had brought, Pinkie's smile grew at the sight of the variety the unicorn had found.  “Ooh, those look yummy!  Just set them down over there.  Dinner tonight is going to be perfect!”

Aegis Flare shakes her head at Pinkie's exuberance but does as she asks before turning to help with the meal preparations.  Neither of them saw tail that was peeking up over the table where the unicorn had set everything, nor the gray blur that appeared causing a red berry to vanish.  This happened a few more times before a low moan sounded through the room.

The two didn't didn't hear the moan, but they did hear the impact of pony on pony as Limestone entered the room and was suddenly tackled.  “What!?  Marble, why are you!?”  Turning, the two see Marble wrapped around her sister as she nuzzled at her affectionately.  Limestone's eyes widened as she noticed all the food that was on the table, especially the berries that were being stolen.  “Pinkie!  What were you thinking feeding Marble berries of all things!?  You know what those do to her!”

Pinkie smiled sheepishly as she watched Marble snuggle up with her sister.  “Sorry Limey, I kind of forgot to warn Flarie about that when she brought it in.  She is so cute when she's like this though.”

The trapped mare just rolls her eyes at her pink sibling before trying to drag her other one into the next room.  While Pinkie continued with her cooking, Aegis Flare took her leave to check on Twilight to find her still where she had left her.  Rolling her eyes she found a spot in the sun to relax for a bit as she drifted off until she was awoken by Pinkie calling everyone in for dinner.

Seeing that Twilight had not heard her friend the orange mare sighed before grabbing up the purple unicorn in a bubble before dragging her back into the house, ignoring her struggling as she was pulled away from the forest.  Once she was inside she plopped the now sulking mare down into a seat at the dining table.  As Twilight glared at her she just rolled her eyes while Pinkie set a covered plate in front of them all.  “No matter how much you glare at me you aren't going to sit out there the entire time without food or sleep, again.  I thought you would be used to me or Spike dragging you away from your research to take of yourself by now.”

Twilight glared for a couple more seconds before she sighed in defeat and nodding to her friend.  “Ugh, fine.  Maybe a night's sleep will give me an idea to help figure out why this is happening.”  Her stomach chose that moment to speak for her as it rumbled throughout the room causing her to blush.  “And I guess some food wouldn't hurt either.”

Pinkie was the only one to react by laughing at the reaction but both Aegis Flare and Limestone had a small smile while Marble was still cuddle up next to her sister.  Seeing that they were all there they remove the covers on their plates to reveal Pinkie's creation.  While the three earth ponies instantly dig in, the two unicorns warily examine what they found before them.

While Twilight wasn't a complete stranger to odd foods, having been dragged to the occasional event up in Canterlot, she had never before seen a rock used in cooking before.  As she poked at it with a hoof, Aegis Flare poked at it with her tongue causing her eyes to widen in realization.  “I thought I recognized this.  It's a soup stone, just much smaller than I am used to.”

Limestone's eyebrow rose at this before turning to her pink sister.  “Huh, I guess at least one of your friends isn't as much of a waste as I thought.  Never expected a high-and-mighty unicorn to know something so common.”

Twilight looked a bit insulted at the tone that the gray mare was using but Aegis Flare just rolled her eyes before pointing a hoof at her ears.  “These aren't just for show, my father happens to be a thestral.  I still have the large soup stone that is traditional to some of the meals from his home country.”  She takes a quick sip of her soup before smacking her lips in thought.  “Hmm, a tad bitter.  Must still be relatively new or haven't seen much variety yet.”

The pie sisters looked at each other in shock at her words while Twilight is just bewildered by the topic as well as the rock still in her food.  The orange mare knew what her friend wanted to ask and she took another sip of her food to wet her throat a bit.  “Soup stones are a special kind of rock that absorbs and holds the flavour and nutrients of foods which it later releases when heated enough.  Fresh ones don't taste very good, and these ones are borderline palatable, but older ones can be used to make soup that even Canterlot nobles would eat.  No thestral home would be without one as there are traditions that require one.”

Limestone Pie rolls her eyes at her words before she starts muttering to herself in thestrali.  “Great, she's one of those types that act all smart.  She probably just read about all that in a book or something.”

She jerked back when the unicorn's eyes shot up to met hers and she started to regret her words just a bit when she actually replied.  “I did mention the ears right?  I would think that if you know the language, which I wonder how you know it, you would also know that thestral ears are very sensitive.”

Pinkie reaches over and starts to noogie her cringing sister as a mild form of punishment before she smiles at her friends.  “Oh, don't mind her, she's just a real grumpy pants at times.  Our parents taught the language us since the weather team here is all thestrals since they are big on boring old traditions.”

While Limestone is growling at her sister, Twilight''s ears perk up at hearing that a group of nocturnal ponies was in the area.  “Wait, if there are thestrals living around here then maybe they saw what happened that night!”

Her hopes were dashed when the vocal pie sister shook her head while rolling her eyes.  “Oh, what a great idea.  If only somepony around here thought of such a simple bit of common sense and already did that to find that they didn't know how the storm appeared out of nowhere.”

Aegis Flare's eye twitched a bit at the verbal abuse directed at her friend, but something else had also been bugging her since they had arrived at the rock farm.  “Pinkie, this has been bothering me for a while but I just have to ask.  Are you three triplets or something?  It would really explain so much.”

Though Twilight's eyes widened at what would normally be considered a somewhat rude question, Pinkie just started to giggle.  “Oh wow.  Usually ponies ask if I'm adopted but you are much closer than all the others.”  The two unicorns wonder which one is the twin since they only see the two there but the pink mare's answer sends a shiver through them both.  “Our sister Maud is away at university earning her Rockterate.  Mama was really surprised when she found out that she was carrying all four of us.”

As twins were already rough on a mare, the image of one carrying four foals at once caused the two to blanche at the thought of it.  Knowing that there was a forth sister also caused them to wonder what she was like as the three they knew all had vastly different personalities though it was easy to tell they still loved each other despite that.

Dinner soon ended and the two unicorns were escorted to a small guest room where they were forced to share a bed.  It took a while but they were soon able to get somewhat comfortable in the unfamiliar surroundings.  Twilight stared at the ceiling as she tried to slow her mind but with the mystery of the Everfree still unsolved she had trouble sleeping.  It was hours later when she finally drifted off to the sound of the screeching wildlife outside the home.

<><><><><><><>

The next few days the three Ponyvillians were busy around the farm either examining the forest or helping out with the daily running of the place.  Since there wasn't anything else that she felt she could help with in the bit of forest; Aegis Flare spent time hauling rocks around and taking care of any delicate work that needed to be done.  While she couldn't keep pace with the three earth ponies, she still felt she did rather well given that she didn't know what was normally done on a rock farm.

By the end of the week they were no further to finding out why the event happened as well as why it had chosen this location.  All five mares were gathered in the front room to savor the latest dessert that Pinkie had made, though Twilight was constantly glaring out the window at the Everfree.  “It just doesn't make any sense.  I've used every spell I can think of to scan it yet I can't find anything abnormal with the forest or the land around it.  I should be getting something, even if it's just the disharmony caused by the displaced soil.”

Marble reached over to pat consolingly on the purple mare's shoulder, but jerks back when Twilight turns her head towards her.  She was about to continue with her complaining when her gaze was drawn to Pinkie who's hooves were jittering across the ground while her ears were flapping.  “Pinkie?  What are you doing?”

“I'm not sure!  My Pinkie Sense is acting up and I don't know why!”  All eyes locked onto her when she mentioned her Pinkie Sense as her tail whipped around to tie itself around her muzzle.  Moments later both unicorns had their heads whip around in the direction of the forest as they were pulled across the room into the wall.

“What in Equestria is going on!?”  While both tried to pry themselves away from the wall, neither succeeded even with help from the earth ponies.  Twilight, being pressed against the window, could see outside from her position and what she saw defied most explanations.  The air outside seemed to warp and twist in ways that even Discord didn't manage and the last thing she saw was a flash of light as the patch of Everfree disappeared leaving a large boulder and a storm that appeared from nowhere.

The three pie sisters were shocked by what was happening and started to panic when the two unicorns were released only to fall unconscious.  “Twilight!  Flarie!”

<><><><><><><>

Twilight awoke to the sound of beeping and, thinking that it was a clock, reflexively tried to reach out with her magic to silence it only to wince in pain causing her to clutch at her head in her hooves as a severe headache made itself known.  The sound and motion was enough to grab the attention of someone else that was in the room.  “Welcome to the realm of of wakefulness, Twilight.”

Opening her eyes and looking in the direction of the voice the purple mare saw Aegis Flare laying in a bed as she cradled a glass in her hooves.  Glancing around she found herself in a hospital room, and from the view from a nearby window, back in Ponyville.  “What happened, last thing I remember...”  Her eyes widened as mind caught up with her weary self.  “The forest!  It vanished back to the rest of the Everfree but it took the magic in the area with it!”

Aegis Flare nodded as she took a sip from the glowing mixture in her hooves.  “I thought as much, but I wasn't sure since I've only once been near one of those events, but that was on the Everfree side.  I was asleep at the time so the only thing I remember was the storm and the replaced terrain but no drain.  Speaking of there is a drink next to you that should help with your head, just drink it slowly.”

With a nod Twilight carefully reached out to the indicated drink to drag it closer to grasp in both hooves.  As she slowly sipped at the drink she sighed as it relieved her of the pain caused by her magical exhaustion.  “How did we get back to Ponyville?  Pinkie's home was a long way from here.”

Her friend gestured to the foot of her bed where she found Spike sleeping in his basket when she sat up straighter to look.  “Pinkie somehow did her thing to drag him to us and had him send a letter to the princess.  He didn't know how she did it as he was sleeping at the time but a chariot arrived to bring us here.  I woke up yesterday and asked them to bring my mana potions since the ones they had were really low strength ones.”

Twilight rubbed at her head as a headache started to form that had nothing to do with the previous one as once more Pinkie did the impossible.  “Just, don't think about it...”  With a sigh she leans back into her pillow while nursing her drink some more.  “Learning about what is going on with the Everfree is going to be almost impossible if what I suspect is correct.  If the only time there are any changes is when there is a displacement then unless I get lucky and have it happen right in front of me I'll never find the answer.”

Twilight looked crestfallen at admitting this and Aegis Flare wasn't sure how to cheer her up.  She needn't have bothered as Pinkie, with her perfect sense of timing, burst into the room with a shower of confetti followed by the rest of their friends.  With the pink mare's assistance any negative feelings were soon driven out of the room as they caught up with the rest of their friends over what they went through over the past week.
> 31
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“For the last time Rarity, I'm fine.  After that potion Flare brought and a couple nights of rest it's like I never had magical exhaustion.”  Twilight complained to Rarity who was once again trying to carry everything she had brought with her for their little outing.

“But darling it's only been two days since you were released from the hospital and you shouldn't strain yourself.  You don't see Flare complaining about me helping her do you?”  She waves a hoof in the orange unicorn's direction who shakes her head and holds her own hooves up in front of her.

“Don't look at me, I've known her long enough to know when to fight her over something and when to just let her have her way.”  The other two unicorns roll their eyes as Rarity sneak the bags off of Twilight to add them to her own, much to her pet's displeasure.  Twilight sighs as she notices that this has happened and falls back to keep pace with Aegis Flare.

“Ugh, how long is she going to be like this?  I actually feel better now than before that storm drained all of our magic.”  The orange mare just shakes her head at her friend before looking back at Scarlett who was dozing on her back.

“Probably another day or two.  She'll be focused on her dress-making soon and that tends to drive everything out of her head until she is finished.  At least it's not a physical injury or else she'd be trying to drag us around in a cart with Applejack's help.”  Twilight just shakes her head before sighing and looking around at the others and their pets they had all brought.

“It is nice to see you coming out with us today though.  You're usually off doing something whenever we do this which seems odd since you've missed it every week so far.”  She glances over at her friend to see her reaction though she only just pauses a moment to rub her chin with a hoof.

“Huh, I guess I have missed every other time.  It's not like I tried to avoid it but it just turned out that way, though it doesn't help that it's usually in the middle of the day when Scarlett is asleep.”  She nudged at the flying fox with her nose which only causes her to roll over and try to bury her head in the mare's braid.  Aegis Flare chuckles at her pets reaction before she turns to see Twilight looking at her with a raised eyebrow before she shakes her head and continues on.

They soon arrived at the park where they had planned to have their pet play date.  They initially had a quick lunch out of the things they all brought while letting their pets run off to play together for a while.  This led to them waking up Rainbow Dash who just happened to be sleeping nearby, and after a short conversation, before they returned to their owners to play together.

Aegis Flare just sat there as she fed Scarlett small tidbits of fruit as she lazed around under a small umbrella that was keeping the sun off of her.  The mare vaguely noticed that Rainbow Dash had come back again but she was somewhat dozing herself until she saw Fluttershy drag the cyan pegasus off.  “Where are those two going?”

Applejack, the nearest pony to her, just rolled her eyes before tossing a stick for Winona again.  “RD said that she wanted ta get a pet for herself and ya know how Fluttershy can get when it comes ta animals.”

Looking over in the direction the two fliers had gone, Aegis Flare considered the personality of the two before shaking her head and wondering what craziness was going to come from all this.

<><><><><><><>

Twilight and most of her friends gathered up at the front of the building while Rainbow Dash paced in front of the line of animals that she was considering for her pet.  Aegis Flare walked up to join them as Rainbow Dash shushed them and began posturing in front of the animals.  The orange mare looked over to Twilight as Winona licked at her cheek, and while Fluttershy snuck over to the group of animals with the tortoise, to put in her two bits on her worries.  “You know, it wouldn't surprise me if she doesn't choose one of the animals as a pet with how difficult they can be sometimes.”

Applejack nods on Twilight's other side.  “Eeyup.  If it will cut into her nap time she'll avoid it like a cow near a snake convention.  Ah just hope that if she does go through with it and choose one that she doesn't regret her choice.  Ya all know that she would never back down from it even if she finds out she made a mistake.”

The two unicorns nod to her before turning their attention back to Rainbow Dash as she started the first event of the pet competition.  After watching a few the observing mares, minus Fluttershy who was assisting with the animals, started whispering amongst themselves.  “So which one do you think she will choose for a pet?  That flamingo is so funny and I know she'll love it.”  They all glance at Pinkie Pie before looking at the animals again thoughtfully.

“Well darling the toucan's colors are so extravagant and fits with our favorite flier's looks.”  After Rarity weighs in on her opinion Twilight shakes her head.

“I don't think that those would work well with Rainbow, especially when she is out flying.  The eagle or falcon would probably suit her more since they are the strongest fliers here.”  She looks over two Applejack and Aegis for their opinion on the subject.

“Really ah have ta agree with Flare on how Rainbow might not choose any of them.  Ya see how our pets all fit us pretty well but none of those really say Rainbow Dash ta me.”  Looking over to the orange unicorn to see what she says she nods along with the farm mare.

“Really out of them all the tortoise is a better fit for Rainbow since she loves her naps and it would make a good companion then and it goes well with the shell she keeps around herself to hide her real self but you see how she is treating it.”  They all watch as the pegasus once again berates the slow animal before they shake their heads and continue watching the competition.

The rest of the competition followed much of the same pattern the previous events had until the very end.  During the final race when the animals arrived without Rainbow Dash they started to worry until they saw her being carried in by the tortoise.  They were all surprised when the pegasus ended up choosing it as her pet over the others but after hearing about how she was rescued by it and the other animals abandoned her they understood her decision.

After finishing her letter to the princess she pulled the the unicorns aside for a moment.  “Um hey, do any of you think you could come up with a way for Tank to fly with me and be able to live up in my cloud house?”

“I have heard of objects being given to diplomats to let them walk on clouds but all I remember is that they used gems in some way.”  Aegis Flare looked towards Rarity as she was the local expert on gemstones.

“Hmm, that may be possible for the cloud-walking spell darling, but I don't know what would work to let the poor thing fly.  It is a bit outside of my expertise but I'm sure that Twilight would know somepony that could help if she can't.”  All eyes focus on the purple unicorn as she looks at the sky thoughtfully.

“Well I do have a couple ideas that could work, but most of them would only be temporary measures.  I'm sure the princess wouldn't mind helping with a more permanent solution if I asked.  It'll be a couple days but I'm sure I'll have something for you before next week.”  With her friend's help assured Rainbow Dash thanks them before she flies off to spend some time with her new pet.
> 32
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Then I was like Bang!  Zoom!  And everypony was cheering as I saved them from certain danger.”  Aegis Flare rolled her eyes as her friend regaled her once more with the tale of her exploits from outside of her shower for the tenth time that day.  She had just gotten back from an unexpectedly extended trip out into the Everfree and the cyan pegasus had spotted her as soon as she left the forest and had stayed with her ever since.  She peeks out at the mare from around the curtain with water dripping from her mane.

“As entertaining as your story is, I usually prefer to have a bit of privacy when I'm cleaning up when it's not at the spa.”  She attempts to give what she thinks is a sultry look at her friend before flipping her mane back.  “That is unless you were planning to join me?”  Rainbow Dash started sputtering out in embarrassment as she struggles to keep her wings down as she retreats from the room.

“I'll just be out here waiting for you to finish, gotta go.”  Her face reddens further as the sound of laughter follows her out of the room.  When Aegis Flare finishes with her showers she finds the pegasus still waiting for her with a pout on her face.  “Not cool.”

The unicorn winces as she tosses her towel into the nearby hamper.  “Sorry, I guess I'm still not ready to be making jokes.”  On seeing her friends downcast look Rainbow Dash shakes her head and sighs.

“Eh, it wasn't that bad but I never expected you to say something like that.  Sure it's nice to see you opening up but you may be trying too hard.  Anyways where have you been lately?  Your sister said you were only going to be gone a couple days but it's been over a week since I last saw you.”  The unicorn just shrugs as she pulls her packs over and starts putting things away from it.

“It was mostly just the usual until I came across a large portion of displaced ocean pretty deep in.  I would have just passed it by when I heard yells for help and I found what I thought were ponies being attacked by a large group of lava hounds from a nearby displaced area.  The ponies were trapped in the water as the hounds were trying to boil them alive so I had to drive them off.”  Rainbow Dash hung on her every word as she described the encounter.

“I was rather surprised afterwards to find that, while they really were ponies, they were in fact sea ponies.  After explaining to them what happened I stayed with them a few days protecting them while clearing out the nearby area of the predators which took a while.”  By this point the pegasus was looking disappointed at her friend.

“Sea ponies?  Really?  Couldn't you come up with something less obviously made-up?”  The unicorn just rolled her eyes as she dug through her packs before pulling out a photo, an odd glowing shell, and a pearl almost as big as her eye.  The cyan mare's jaw drops as she looks at the picture to see her friend along with a group of ponies that definitely weren't normal as their lower halves were built for the water and not the land.  Aegis Flare chuckled at her friends reaction as she went back to storing things away.

“The look on your face makes that expensive new camera worth the purchase.  I should probably send a letter to the princesses so that they can check to make sure that the sea pony leaders know what is going on.  Now what is it with you and all your bragging lately?  You've gone far past Trixie's bragging and you remember what happened then.”  She earned a wince in response from her friend before she drew herself up again.

“Hey, it's not my fault the town thinks I'm so awesome and wants my autograph and everything.  I'm just giving them what they want.”  With a toss of her mane the pegasus strutted out of the home leaving the unicorn to roll her eyes at her back.

<><><><><><><>

Aegis Flare just stood there dumbfounded as she watched Rainbow Dash sit there signing autographs and posing while a pony was in danger.  By the time she shook off her shock the cyan mare was finally in the air heading to the rescue but she caught sight of another figure hopping along the rooftops as well.  On seeing the new figure rescue the mare, and her friend crash into the balloon, she walked over to check on her.  “Are you all right under there?”

There was a bit of grumbling as the mare struggled her way out from under the enchanted cloth object to glare over at the costumed mare getting all the attention.  “I'm fine, but who the hay do they think they are, butting in on my rescue?  I mean who- OW!  What the buck was that for!?”  Rainbow Dash rubs the back of her head where her friend had smacked her with her hoof while glaring down at her.

“The better question is what the buck were you thinking putting a pony's life at risk like that?!”  The pegasus' jaw drops at the tone of anger in her friend's voice but doesn't get a chance to defend herself as she is talked over.  “I thought that your boasting was getting a bit over the top but to do something like this?  It's a good thing that pony was there as you didn't even come close to catching her when you finally got there but if you were a second earlier there would be THREE ponies in need of rescue as you would have got in each other's path!”

“Wha-buh-are you seriously taking her side in this!?”  The unicorn shakes her head as she tosses a glare at the retreating form of the costumed mare.

“Whoever that is is almost as bad, acting like a vigilante from one of my sister's comic books.  There are enough ponies in Ponyville that could easily handle rescues like that so a costume wouldn't be needed unless they are up to something.  Something you seem to have forgotten over the last few days while I was gone.”  Rainbow Dash just turns away from her and grumpily crosses her forelegs in front of herself but doesn't argue as her friend has a point.  The unicorn looks around the sky as she realizes something else.

“Where is the weather team anyways?  Usually there should be at least a dozen pegasii in the air right now but I only see you and the couple that showed up after the rescue.  Normally they would be around to help out if ponies are in trouble.”  Rainbow Dash's ears droop a bit as she gives an embarrassed laugh.

“Uh, well I told them that they all could have the day off and I'd handle everything if something went wrong.  That may have been a bad idea.”  She flinched away when the orange mare lifted her hoof up again but relaxed when it was instead applied to her own face.

“Right, you had better go fix that before something else happens.  This town is dangerous enough without you making it even more hazardous.”  With an ashamed nod the pegasus flies off to recall the weather team leaving the unicorn to look off in the direction the costumed mare left in again.

<><><><><><><>

With Rainbow Dash's ego deflated a bit from her scolding, the efforts of the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well, as they found was the name of the costumed vigilante, were stalled as Rainbow Dash lead a team of pegasii to evacuate a runaway cart, leaving only that for the mare to stop, as well as averting disaster when a crane went out of control saving a building that was being constructed.

All the while Aegis Flare was keeping an eye out for Mare-Do-Well as she didn't trust her actions especially with how convenient the recent problems had been.  After losing sight of her again she paused once again in thought before her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar pegasus.  “Um, hey, Flare?  Who is supposed to fix the dam above town if something happens to it, like say a pretty bad leak?”

The unicorn thinks for a moment before she shakes her head.  “I'm not sure, but I think either the mayor or Sea Swirl would know since the former should know all government workers and the latter deals with most of the water issues in town.”  She pauses for a moment before her head slowly pans around to stare at the hovering mare.  “Why do you need to know this?”

“Eh he, I may have been flying around and noticed a big crack in it that may have been getting bigger.  Nothing too bad, right?”  Her answer was given in the of her friend's retreating form as she ran as fast as she could towards the dam leaving the pegasus to admire her speed for a moment.  “Yeah, that can't be good, now where would I find one of those two.”

As Rainbow Dash was searching for the pony that was supposed to keep the dam repaired; Aegis Flare was arriving at the dam to find that it was still standing but wouldn't stay that way for long with how the cracks were spider-webbing across the face of it.  Taking a deep breath she gathers her will before projecting everything she has through her horn to create the largest barrier she had ever made across the canyon in the path of the coming disaster.  Not knowing if it would be enough she forces more power through creating an additional layer of magic around her horn throwing up a second, third, and even fourth wall of magic to protect the town.

She finished just in time as the pressure behind the dam broke through creating a huge hole that the lake behind it use to poor through.  The unicorn winced as the first barrier instantly shattered and the second one soon followed along with the third.  Pushing herself even further she was able to push out a third layer of energy around her horn to reinforce the barrier with two more behind it before she sighed as it seemed to be holding.

As she waited for Rainbow Dash to bring help, she looked around to find Mare-Do-Well staring at her from the cliff opposite of where she was.  The two stared at each other before the orange mare's gaze turned into a glare, causing the masked mare to flinch back.  Shaking her head the unknown figure lifted her hat revealing a horn which glowed with a disturbingly familiar color causing all the pieces of the damn to flow back up to where they came from and begin piecing themselves back together.  Soon the dam was once again in a pristine state allowing the orange mare to relax a bit as she slowly let the trapped water drain into the river.

“Flare!  Bad news, Sea Swirl said that the repairpony is on vacation and...  Wait, what happened here?  Who fixed the damn?”  Looking across the river she noticed that it was now empty and she kept her voice level as she replied to her friend.

“Mare-Do-Well is a unicorn.”  The pegasus' jaw dropped as she says this as the mare looks at her in disbelief.

“What?  How?  She already showed how strong she was before and the only unicorn around that could do something like that is you!  What, is she going to start flying next?!”  Their gaze is drawn to the sky as a shadow passes over them showing that the rainbow mare's words were prophetic as Mare-Do-Well flew by.  Aegis Flare's eyes narrowed as she saw this and a few pieces fell into place in her mind though some were still missing.

“More like the 'mystery' of the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well is that she is more than one pony.  Things just got much more complicated.”  Rainbow Dash nods as her jaw snaps shut leaving the two to watch the vigilante fly off.

<><><><><><><>

Lunch at Sugarcube Corner was a sedate affair as the duo met up their friends, though Pinkie was still working in the kitchen.  Spike was also there for a short while until the trio of Crusaders dragged him away for their latest cutie mark attempt.  There was a lot of tension in the room though neither of the two mares were sure what it was from as their four friends were huddled at a table whispering to each other.  “This just isn't working girls.  I don't know why but Rainbow just isn't reacting like I thought she would.  She hasn't even been bragging about anything since Flare got back and I even saw her at the dam while Rainbow flew off.”

Applejack rubbed at her chin with a hoof as she considered Twilight's words.  “Ah know what ya mean.  I caught her watching me while ah stopped that carriage and Rainbow Dash called in the weather team ta help.”  They had to pause in their talk as the orange mare in question chose that moment to head over to them.

“What are you four talking about over here?”  The four mares look at each other with worry before Rarity cleared her throat and spoke up for them loud enough that Rainbow Dash could hear from where she was.

“Well darling, we were just talking about what a fabulous figure that Mare-Do-Well pony makes.  She really is an amazing pony isn't she?”  The orange unicorn's eyebrow rose at the alabaster mare's question before she snorted in disgust.

“I think we can do without that fake, or I should say fakes since the only way she can have wings and a horn is if she was one of the princesses and of the three I know of none of them are small enough.  Seriously somepony either read too many comic books or they are up to something especially with how convenient all these problems have been with her showing up just in time.”  She misses the looks of worry that were shared between the four as she continues on with her annoyed rant.

“I could care less if these were minor problems, but they are risking ponies lives just to show off.  I already got on Rainbow Dash's case for the same thing especially with what happened with Trixie and even she wouldn't intentionally put ponies in danger just for her show.”  All of the mares, except Fluttershy, wince as they remember how they all acted with the showmare as the cyan pegasus spoke up.

“Do you really have to keep bringing that up?  I said I was sorry, sheesh.  Besides it's not like I care about that Mare-Do-well anymore since we found that it was more than one pony.  It figures it would take more than one pony to match the awesomeness the is Rainbow Dash!”  She didn't say the last part over-seriously but she still ducked away from the incoming hoof as the orange mare swatted at her head again.

Their friends just gaped at them in shock before Twilight shook her head.  “Wait, you don't even care?  After all the work we- I mean she- um...”  She trails off as all eyes turn towards her, two of them with looks of angers.  The tension rose as Pinkie Pie bounded into the room with a tray of cupcakes drawing the attention of the two shocked mares, Rainbow Dash being behind Aegis Flare and out of the pink ponies purview.

“Wait, you all are Mare-Do-Well?!”  The seated mare's shrink back at the sound of anger in the orange mare's voice though, like usual, Pinkie seems oblivious to everything as she answers causing the others to wince.

“Of course!  Didn't Twilight tell you?  She had this whole plan to overshadow Dashie's heroics so that she stopped being so full of herself.  Sure she was rescuing ponies but she didn't have to be such a Bragger McBraggerpants about it.”  She stopped talking as she saw Applejack giving her shushing motion and she cocked her head to the side as the orange unicorn took a step backward revealing a disappointed looking pegasus.  “Oh, hi Dashie!  We were just talking...”

Pinkie locked up as she noticed who she was talking to and what she had just said that she shouldn't have.  Rainbow Dash's face hardened as she glared at her friends as her wings started to stiffen.  “Just talking about what?  How you were all wanted to humiliate me just because the town was cheering for me and I was getting a bit too into it?  Hay I remember that all of you were there when it all started and were cheering for me as well.  What?  Did you just decide that you wanted to be in the spotlight instead that you couldn't just talk to me about it instead of all this?  Did you not trust me at all?!  I thought you were all my friends!”

By this point tears were flowing freely down her cheeks to the sadness of her friends as she turned and ran out of the building.  Aegis Flare moved to follow her but paused at the tower to toss another glare at her friends.  “As she would say, 'not cool.'”

As she took off after the pegasus Pinkie's mane lost it's poof as she turned a sad look to the rest of her friends still in the room.  Twilight and Rarity just sat there with looks of shock on their faces while Fluttershy was half under the table by this point.  Applejack summed up all their thoughts in one simple sentence.  “We bucked up badly.”

<><><><><><><>

Celestia's sun setting over the hills around Ponyville was a beautiful sight, but one group of mares weren't able to enjoy it as the tried to track down their friend that they had wronged.  Since Rainbow Dash had flew off, followed by Aegis Flare, the five mares had searched for her to no avail.  Their last hope was that their friend knew where she was though they would rather have found the pegasus first themselves.

After knocking on the front door of Aegis Flare's home they were answered by the orange mare in second who just stood an stared at them waiting for them to speak first.  Twilight stepped forward first as the entire plan was hers in the first place.  “Um, Flare?  We wanted to apologize for what happened to you and Rainbow but we wanted to talk with her first and can't find her.  Have you...?”

She trailed off as the orange mare continued to glare at them all while she was trying to apologize.  After a minute of standing there she just sighed and waved them into her home after their ears started to droop.  Following her in, they were led to the family room where she already had a plate of snacks set out along with a pot of tea.  The room was silent as they all took a seat around the room and Aegis Flare served them all.  After ending with her own cup she sat down and took a sip of it before sighing.

“I should have seen something like this coming, but it's my fault for ignoring it ever since we met.”  Her words confused them all but she kept on speaking before they could interrupt.  “That plan was most likely Twilight's and when we were in the Everfree when Luna returned she kept on rushing off without thinking of how dangerous the place really was with all of you following.  Ever since then I've seen her doing the same thing constantly in her lab.”

As she looks away towards the back of her home Applejack squinted her eyes at her friend.  “That's not all is it?  Ya sound like ya have more reason than that ta not like what we did.”  Aegis Flare stiffens up at her words but only the farm pony notices as the rest were looking at her questioningly.  With another sigh the orange unicorn shakes her head before turning a sad smile towards her oldest friend.

“It always was hard to hide things from you.  You all know what I do to make bits, but I never did tell you that I had a second job that is a bit more dangerous and infrequent.”  Lighting up her horn she looked over towards her packs in the corner of the room and soon a badge half the size of her hoof floated out in her magic towards the center of the group.  Once she set it down the others were able to read the letters MEEL on it.  While the others looked at it without understanding, Twilight's eyes widened on seeing it before she looked up at the other unicorn.

“You're part of the Migrant Equestrian Explorers League?!  But I thought that all the ponies part of that group had a central headquarters where they live and were sent out from?!”  Aegis Flare let out a small chuckle before shaking her head.

“It would be rather hard to get anything done quickly if it was really like that.  I think they might have rooms available for us if we need them, but most live away from there, usually near dangerous areas.  I've never been there myself but after an old, I guess I could call her a friend, sponsored me I've had access to their resources in exchange for my services in the Everfree.  Usually it's just me bringing in rare samples of what I find but there has been a time or two where I've had to escort groups through the Everfree.”  She paused for a moment as she thought back to how easy it was to get certain information recently.

“It wouldn't surprise me if the princess has a hoof in the group somewhere with how few favors I had to call in to get access to those books when I went a bit crazy about Discord.  Unfortunately it wasn't enough to keep me from from owing a few that were already called in.  Ugh, I really hate having to play tour guide in the Everfree.”  She didn't mean to say the last bit where the others could hear but a few of them did catch it.  Rarity wasn't one of them though as she spoke up about something else.

“So that group just trades favors with each other?  Far be it for me to criticize that but how do they get anything done without bits, especially if they have that building with enough rooms for all the members?”  The orange mare just shrugs as she finishes of her cup of tea and refills it.

“The bits are easy with all the rare materials and artifacts that are recovered as well as what comes in from outside groups making requests.  We're getting way off topic though, surprisingly it's not Pinkie's fault this time.”  Glancing over at the now straight-maned mare she shakes her head.  “Anyways as I was going to say, there are currently three of us that work with the Everfree but there used to be four.  A few years back all three of us received an emergency request to rescue the fourth but unfortunately she didn't make it.  We were only able to find a sole survivor and the only reason why they lived was because she gave her life to make sure they survived.”

“Afterwards, we learned that the head of the expedition was one Professor Madcap.  He was accused of some pretty serious things and this was his attempt to have it all glossed by making a huge event of it.  Because of his recklessness over a score of ponies were lost and many of them were promising researchers as well.  After that I've made it a point to prioritize lives over everything else and it angers me to see ponies putting others at risk needlessly.”  The others all wince as they realize how close they may have been to repeating something like she described if anything went wrong while they were trying to show up Rainbow Dash.

“I remember that Professor but I never knew what happened to him or much about him other than that he yelled a lot.  He just vanished one day and nopony said what happened to him.  We never intended to put anypony at risk though, we were just trying to show Rainbow that her bragging was getting out of hoof and she wasn't the only one that could deal with problems.”  The others nod and unknown to them there had been another figure listening in on them the entire time.

Rainbow Dash had been in that bathroom the entire time and had just gotten out of the shower when her friends had arrived.  Not wanting to have anything to do with them yet she lay by the door to eavesdrop as her mane and coat dried out.  As she heard her friends reasoning she couldn't sit still anymore as she opened the door and made her way to the room her friends were.  “Well why didn't you just tell me then?”

Heads whipped around at her voice that if Aegis Flare wasn't the one to have her back directly facing the pegasus one of them could have been injured.  None of them moved at first until Fluttershy ducked down behind her chair once again and Pinkie threw herself at Rainbow Dash's hooves and started bawling.  “We're so so-o-o-rry!”

The cyan mare just rolled her eyes as she struggled to pry her hooves out of her friends death grip before giving up and looking towards the others.  Glancing at each other the wordlessly agreed that Applejack would be the one to speak up for them.  “We really are sorry and we were hoping ya would come ta your senses but ya just got out of control.  We would have came ta talk ta ya but, well...”

“You are kind of stubborn and it's hard getting you to listen... eep!”  Fluttershy blushed at being so blunt before trying to hide again as the room focused on her.

“Uh, yeah.  That.”  Various emotions rolled across Rainbow Dash's face and her friends started to worry until she settled on a downcast look.

“Ugh, you're probably right about that but at least I would have been thinking about it afterwards.  Flare immediately got on my case when she saw what I was doing, though I could have done without the hoof to the head.”  There were a few raised eyebrows sent the orange mares way who just shrugged in response.

“What?  It helped get through to you quickly.  You probably would have ignored me otherwise.”  The pegasus mare just glared at her as a few chuckles went around the room.

“Well she's got ya there.  But do ya think ya could forgive us for all this?  We never meant ta hurt ya like that.”  While she tried to keep up a tough face, Rainbow Dash eventually broke as she let out a sigh.

"Yeah, I guess I can.  Just please don't do something like that again.  It really hurt to learn that none of you trusted me enough to at least talk to me first.”  There were a few sighs of relief but they were drowned out by the explosion of confetti that came from Pinkie's mane as it poofed back into it's normal condition.

“Yay!  Come on everypony, group hug!”  There were a few yelps of complaint as the room was dragged over to where Rainbow Dash was but it was minimal as they all got comfortable knowing that their friendship was on the road to being repaired again.  Noting this Twilight pulled out a scroll so that they could all come up with the lesson they had learned that day to send to the princess.
> 33
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So is that everything you'll need for the next couple weeks, sis?  I'm not sure how long I'll be gone this time since it's one of those types of jobs.”  Aegis Flare tightened the strap on Scootaloo's saddlebags as the filly gave out a grunt before shaking her head.

“Unless you have something to stop Spike in case he goes crazy and grows to the size of a house again I think that's everything.  Though I don't think I'll need that many bandages for just a few bruises.”  The filly winces as the elder sister prods at them to prove that they are still needed.  She tries to keep her fear for her sister at a reasonable level but after seeing her snatched up by a giant Spike, along with Sweetie Belle, and almost crushed it was hard not to get overprotective again.

Her mind drifted back to the two recent birthdays that she had gone to and the chaos that had stemmed from them.  While Twilight's had ended up fine after Rarity was given a good talking to, the fact that a number of nobles were present and the looks they were shooting at the group was annoying.  As for Spike's, she had heard a bit about how a dragon grew from her parents but she hadn't fully understood what they meant until she saw it.  She was just glad that Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had been able to revert his growth again which she didn't know was possible.

“I doubt Spike will do that again, but I'm sure that you can bring him back again if it does.  Now remember to use that herbal mix when you change your bandages.  Your bruises should clear up in a couple more days with it.  Also try not to give Applejack too much trouble while I'm gone, or else I may have to get more creative with your punishment.”  Scootaloo shivers at the thought of the training field somehow getting worse before she waves to her sister and heads off towards Sweet Apple Acres.  Aegis Flare smiles for a moment while watching her sister head off before turning and grabbing her own set of saddlebags and putting them on.

“Well, it's about time to meet with the group I'm supposed to be escorting for the foreseeable future.  I just hope that whatever they are looking for is relatively easy to find and that they don't give me too much trouble.  I guess this will teach me not to start pulling in favors after going crazy.”  Shaking her head she heads out towards the meeting place that was set on the edge of the Everfree forest.  It didn't take her long to arrive since the location they were meeting happened to be the part of the forest closest to her home.

As she approached the impromptu camp on the edge of the forest Aegis Flare looked over the beings that had gathered for the expedition.  Her eyebrow rose as she took in the rabble, not because of there being griffons and minotaurs along with the ponies, but the fact that they looked nothing like the researchers she had been expecting what with how grungy they were.

With a shrug she searches for the one in charge and finds him overseeing the last of the packing near the center of camp.  The brown coated earth pony that she found was more what she expected with his monocle, pith helmet, and safari vest as well as his professional demeanor.  He looked as if he would be comfortable either out in the field or in a schoolroom, though she felt that he could have been in better shape as he looked a bit overweight.  Taking a glance at his cutie mark to notice that it was a copy of his current head wear she steps forward.

“So you're the client I'm supposed to meet?  I hope you and your group are ready for this since I can't guarantee that you will all make it back alive from the Everfree.”  The stallion looks up from his work to look at her questioningly until he makes the connection.

“Ah yes, you would be the pony that is supposed to escort us to the excavation site.  Yes, I am the one you were to meet, Professor Treasured Find.  No need to worry about us, I've hired some of the best in the business as escorts so we'll be just fine.”  Taking in the stallions overconfidence, Aegis Flare just shakes her head in annoyance.

“Well don't say I didn't warn you, but I'd still like to have everyone gathered before we leave so I can speak with them.  There are still a few things that they will need to know before we head out, but until then I will need to look over whatever map you are using so I can verify our route.”  He is a bit hesitant at first as he looks at his map case before he nods and hands it over before moving to do as she requested.

“Just be careful with it, that map is very old and very fragile.”  As he left the unicorn mare looked over the maps that they had brought as well as the notes that came with it.  Some of the notes were obviously made by the stallion in charge of the expedition but a few of them were marked only with the letter 'C.'  Not finding any more information on this mysterious being she just shrugged and pulled out the maps she had made of the Everfree over the years to try and estimate where they were going.

“Hmm, this is a pretty detailed map considering how old it is and judging from some of the landmarks that are missing it must be from before Luna became Nightmare moon.  The Everfree Forest isn't even on here and the rivers and lakes are all over the place.  Of course it doesn't help that the Everfree is a mess to navigate through as it is.”  Looking over the map she also noticed that the Castle of the Two Sisters wasn't on it either, but on checking over the notes found that a small town marked on the map later on became the location of it.

After comparing the locations on the map and the notes that came with it with her own maps she was able to estimate a few likely locations of where they were going.  She had found many ruins over the years, though some were hard to recognize as such, and they weren't in the same locations as before due to the space warping phenomenon of the forest.  Setting the expedition maps down she stored her own after committing the route to memory and she made her way to where the expedition group had gathered.

Examining the group as she approached, Aegis Flare counted two dozen beings, including the researcher, with two minotaurs, eight griffons, three zebras, five pegasi, and the rest earth ponies.  She also noticed that not a single one was female but she didn't worry much about that as any that wanted to try something would regret it.  Noticing a glow from the end of the line, along with the sound of a scratching quill, she had to change up her numbers as she missed a unicorn somewhere as she cleared her throat to get the groups attention.

“All right, listen up!  I've been told that you all are the best in the business but in the Everfree Forest that all means nothing.  If you don't do what I say, when I say it you will die.  Your experiences mean nothing in there and I am your only chance of getting out of there alive.  Any question?”  A couple of the griffons looked as if the were about to speak up but a glare from their employer shut them down causing the mare to raise an eyebrow in interest.  Seeing as there were no arguments she walked along the group towards the end of line.

“Good, it seems that you at least have some brains even if you're missing any survival instincts by going in there in the first place.  Now we will be leaving in thirty minutes so if you have any seconds thoughts about going then you might as well not show up then and...”  She paused as the unicorn came into view and she froze into place before she rubbed at the side of her head with a hoof to soothe the oncoming headache.  “Okay, you heard me, finish up your business and be back when I said, now move!”

Watching for a moment as the group splits up to pack the last of the camp up Aegis Flare then turns to the lavender unicorn that had snuck into the group.  “Twilight, just what are you doing here?”

At hearing her voice, Twilight jumped a little before looking up from her scroll to find that the group had left and she was out in the open for her friend to find.  Shrinking back slightly with a blush at being caught she put the scroll away before clearing her throat.  “Um, well, hehe.  I was hoping that you wouldn't notice me until we were already on the way.  I wanted to get  chance to research more deeply into the forest after what we went through at Pinkie's home and since you said you were escorting a group I looked into it.  I was able to get approval to join the expedition from the one funding it, I even kept the letter.”

She pulled out the letter to show to her friend and Aegis Flare noted that it was the same writing style as the notes with the map as well as the large 'C' used as a signature.  Reading through it quickly she squinted at the flowery words used in it, especially in how they were borderline insulting without actually being an insult.  She tried to come up with a possible guess as to who the mysterious being was but only two came to mind with any amount of ability to get something like this started, but the princess' writing was much different and she didn't want to think about the other one being behind this.

With a sigh she passed the letter back again before once again rubbing at her head.  “Twilight what made you think it was a good idea to join a group heading out into some of the most dangerous parts of the Everfree Forest?  Even I don't take going that far in lightly especially since I still keep seeing things that surprise me in there.  It will be hard enough keeping all those others alive without me having to worry about you too.”

Twilight starts to pout a bit at her friend not wanting her there causing her to scuff her hoof along the ground.  “But I thought that it would be safer with a larger group than just with you.  How else am I going to solve what is going on with the land being displaced.  The answer has to be somewhere inside the Everfree.”

Aegis Flare just shakes her head before deciding to at least meet her part way since she doesn't seem to be giving up.  “Fine, but I want you to stay near me at all times and do what I say when I say it without questioning me.  You also need to not use your magic unless it's necessary in there since your style of magic won't work well once we get deep enough.  Also...”  Digging through her packs she pulls out a gem and passes it over to her friend.  “Keep this with you at all times just in case we do get separated somehow so I can find you.”

The lavender unicorn takes the small stone before examining it and letting out a gasp of shock.  “This contains the pure essence of your magic!  Do you know what could happen if somepony gets ahold of this and has bad intentions!?”

The orange mare just rolls her eyes at her friends reaction.  “I know exactly what can happen which is why I'm giving it to you.  I can easily feel where it is at all times and if we do get split up you can use it to find me as well.  At least you didn't immediately assume the other meaning behind me giving it to you.”

It was Twilight's turn to roll her eyes but she also had a bit of a blush as well.  With time counting down quickly until they left Aegis Flare did a quick perusal of Twilight's packs to make sure she was actually prepared for the forest.  She had to keep from slamming her hoof into her face when she opened the first one to find it packed full of scrolls, ink, and books but the second one actually surprised her.  “Huh, you actually did bring food and water bottles with, though I probably would have went for something tastier than emergency guard rations.  Though there are a few things you missed such as a tent and towel.”

At hearing this Twilight's head jerked around to stare at the open pouch with a glare.  “What!?  I didn't pack any of that!  Spike must have switched out all my books when I wasn't looking.”

This time the orange unicorn did slam a hoof into her forehead before she leveled a glare at her friend causing her to wince at the force of it.  “It's a good thing that he did or else you wouldn't be going if all you had were your books.  Did you even think to read the that book I recommended to you about what to expect in there since you seem to have not looked for one on basic wilderness survival.”

Twilight's blush got even deeper by this point as she scuffed at the ground with her hoof again.  “Well I did read a few books including that one but I couldn't find any others to verify the information in it.  I figured that while I was out there I would check on how accurate it was.  That's the only book Spike didn't manage to remove from my bags.”

With a sigh Aegis Flare pulled out the book in question before flipping to the acknowledgments page and putting it in front of Twilight to read.  “Everything in this is recent knowledge of the places in it with information gathered from experts in those areas.  The only way you would find something to compare it to is if one of those experts wrote their own book.”

The lavender unicorn's eyes were fixed on something she had missed her first time reading through the book before she looked up from the book.  “'First-hoof accounts provided by local members of MEEL?'  You mean you actually helped write this book?!  Why didn't you tell me?!”

“You didn't ask.”  Twilight just glared at her friend as she delivered the cliché line with such a dry tone before she closed up her bags and prepared to head out.  The expedition left at the projected time into the forest and Twilight kept her promise to stay near her friend though she had a bit of trouble not resorting to her magic to traverse the difficult terrain.  By the time the first day ended she just wanted to collapse on the ground and sleep but she was a bit wary at the looks the rough males were giving her throughout the day.

Luckily her friend dragged her to her own tent after setting up a barrier around the camp and making sure sentries were set for the night.  When the orange unicorn lay down next to her with her maps she let out a groan.  “You've done this for how many years now?  I could barely get through today, especially with how those stallions were staring at me the whole way.”

Aegis Flare frowned at her friend's mention of the stallions as she had also noticed it herself but ignored it.  Flicking an ear as she heard a sound from outside she glared at the back of the tent before using her magic to surround it with a barrier that kept others out as well as sound in.  Once she assumed that the stalking figure was close enough she pulsed her magic through her shield, sending a gout of flame out the back towards the figure, earning a yelp of pain before she turned to Twilight again.  “I probably should have warned you about how some of the males on these expeditions act, but all you need to do is make an example or two and they'll leave you alone.”

Twilight looked towards the back of the tent where the sound of pain had come from and shuddered as she lay her head onto the ground.  “Ugh, maybe I should have listened to you and not come after all.”  Looking over at her friend her eyes settle on the map in front of her as well as the object in her mouth.  “What is that you have there anyways?”

After measuring out a few things and making a mark on the map she slides it over to Twilight.  “It's just  one of my maps of the Everfree forest I made while trying to make sense of the place.  Not that it helps much as distance means little and it can change depending on the path you take.  I've tested getting to the same place multiple ways before but I often end up somewhere else even though I've traveled the same distance each time to get back from it.”

Twilight glances at the map before shaking her head and looking at the other object.  “Okay that does sound interesting and I'll want to know more later, but I was talking about that.”  Aegis Flare looks down at what her friend is pointing at with her hoof to find her writing utensil and wonders what is so special about it for a moment until it hits her.

“Oh right, that.  I guess they haven't released it beyond MEEL yet, though it should be soon.  It's a new innovation called a fountain pen and for the past year the creator has supplied the organization with them to test.  It combines both a quill and inkwell into a single object making it easier to use, though it does get gummed up occasionally.  I can see it being really popular with earth ponies and pegasi since it's easier to use in your mouth than a feather is.”  She rolls her eyes as Twilight examines the object from every angle and even tests it out herself on one of her own scrolls.  She chuckles a bit at her friend's fascination with the little tool before yawning and laying her head down for the night.

<><><><><><><>

The next couple days were pretty routine as Aegis Flare led the group through the forest towards their destination.  The forest was surprisingly quiet as they traveled and it was starting to worry the unicorn as a group of this size should have been attracting some of the more dangerous creatures.  By the fifth day her worries were proven to have merit as when morning arrived it was revealed that one of the minotaurs and five earth ponies ha vanished from their beds and the expedition leader stormed up to her.  “What use is your magic if something can just walk through and take my stallions without you noticing?”

The mare only grunted as she looked at one of the griffon sentries that was still sleeping away on his tree branch.  “My magic was only a side precaution.  There's a reason why I asked for you to put up a night watch since there are things that aren't stopped by magic.  If anyone is to blame it's them for not doing their job since my barrier is still active.”

The stallion continued to glare at her for a moment more before he growled and turned away to go buck the sleeping sentries out of the trees to berate them.  With a sigh Aegis Flare turns away to pack up her things before looking for Twilight.  She eventually found her at the edge of the camp examining something on the ground.  “Hey Twilight, we're about to head out, what are you doing over here?”  As she neared she noticed what her friend was looking at, causing her to stop in place.  “Twilight?  Back away from that, slowly.”

The lavender mare jerked back at her friends voice and turned to look at her curiously.  “Why?  It's just a flower.  What could something like this cause?  Wait, what's it doing now?”  When she jerked around quickly her motion was enough to agitate the flower as it started to entangle itself around her hoof, revealing that it was attached to a longer vine.  With a sharp yank the unicorn was pulled rapidly into the forest trailed by her screaming voice.  “Flare!  HELP!”

As she watched her friend get dragged off into the foliage, Aegis Flare sighed and shook her head before striking a nearby sleeping sentry's flank with a small burst of flame causing the griffon to squawk in pain before turning to glare at her.  “Tell your boss that I've found what invaded the camp while you and your friends were asleep on the job.  I'm going to clean it up and you'd better hope my friend isn't hurt or else you'll be sorry.”

With that she darted off after her friend who was easy to follow as she left a lot of damage behind her as she tried to free herself from the vine holding her.  Aegis Flare knew that it was pointless as the body of the creature that took her repelled magic which was how it got through her barrier without her knowing.  That wasn't the worst thing about the creature but considering that Twilight was a highly magical unicorn she suspected it wasn't after her for the worst reasons.

As she neared she slowed down and moved carefully as she kept an eye out for more of the vines.  Her movements and bright colors drew Twilight's eyes as she flailed in the grip of the vine above a larger flower.  “Flare, help!  My magic isn't working on this thing and I think it wants to eat me!”

The flower below started to shift as the center began to open up revealing a pit rimmed with tooth-like protrusions along with a horrid stench.  As a faint mist started to be pulled from Twilight into the maw Aegis Flare shook her head wearily.  “I did tell you to stay near me Twilight and this is why.  You're just lucky that this mutant rafflesia only wants to feed on your magic.”

Twilight was still in a panic but she was still able to level a glare at her friend.  “Is this really the time for this?  Get me down before it eats me!”

With a shrug she walked over towards a nearby rock and climbed atop it to get a good view of the plant.  After a moment of observing it tasting her friend she lights up her horn and aims at the center of the plant causing Twilight's eyes to widen.  “What are you doing?!  I already told you that magic wasn't working on it!”

Aegis Flare just ignored her as she started charging her magic into a compressed ball of fire above her head.  Watching the rate at which she saw the mist pouring off of Twilight she estimated that about half of her power should be enough as she took aim.  With a light flick of her horn she sent the ball of magical flame towards the center of the flower and once it reached the area under Twilight it was rapidly sucked into the pit below her.

Once the ball was pulled into the maw of the flower Aegis Flare put up a barrier sealing it shut before ducking behind the rock she was hiding behind.  When she released control of the devoured magic the plant reacted poorly as it started to flail around as if it was in pain.  Twilight was flung around in the air causing her to yell out in panic before the vine released her, sending her flying into a nearby bush.  Climbing out of the bush she shot a glare at her friend for not trying to catch her but her expression soon vanished when the plant exploded in a shower of ooze, coating both her and the surrounding area.

The orange mare, having dodged the slime shower behind the rock and an umbrella-shaped shield, stood up to look around at the clearing.  “I really hate having to deal with these things, next time please be more careful Twilight.  Um, where did you go?”

Looking around she couldn't see the lavender unicorn through all of the plant matter until her eyes fell on a shivering lump of green.  With widening eyes she threw up another shield as the large lump exploded outwards as Twilight shrieked and fired of a telekinetic burst, clearing a wide area around her of the sludge before she started flailing in horror.  “Oh Celestia it's everywhere?  And the smell, ugh, get it off, get it off!”

With a wince, the clean unicorn looks over at the now green-tinged unicorn apologetically.  “Eheh, I guess I should have warned you about that.  Don't worry, the color will wash out easily enough and will leave a shine even Rarity would be envious of.  The smell though...  Well it's a good thing that we'll be out here for at least another week before the smell fades, sorry.”

Twilight just glared at her with a look of horror on her face at this news before shuddering.  “A week?!  I know I was complaining about the looks I was getting from those stallions but this is NOT the way I wanted to drive them away!”

Twilight was about to continue on but her tirade was prematurely halted by a pained groan from the far side of the clearing behind a tree.  “Was that?  Was that one of the missing stallions?  They sound hurt, we need to go help them!”

As Twilight rushed off, Aegis Flare's eyes widened in realization before she started chasing after her.  “Twilight, wait!  You don't want to to see this!”  Unfortunately she was too late as when she caught up she found her backed up against a tree with her hooves in front of her face as a look of horror was plastered across it.

In front of her was the missing minotaur of the group but he was far from any state of being able to be helped.  His abdomen was swelled out into a great dome and green tendrils could be seen running throughout his body.  From the openings in his body, except for his mouth, vines emerged before curving around to form a pod-like structure around him.  The thing that horrified Twilight the most though, was the fact that he was still aware of what was happening and was repeating two words which is what Twilight had heard, 'Kill me.'

With a sigh, Aegis Flare walked over and sat next to Twilight and put her foreleg around her in a gentle hug.  “Rafflesia.  Stinking corpse lily.  There are many names that these kind of plants go by, but this specific kind has another name that sums up its horrors, the zombie bloom.  It uses live bodies to incubate its young and once the victim finally dies the young plant takes control of its nervous system and walks to a new location.  Many zombie stories are the result of beings running into these victims and not knowing the source of the problem.”

Turning the purple mare away from the scene, she lights up her horn one final time before setting the area around the body on fire, creating a pyre to give the minotaur on final mercy.  As the two walked back towards camp Twilight eventually recovered enough to speak again.  “That's so horrible, how could something like that even exist?  And why did your magic work while mine just seemed to be pushed away from the plant?”

Aegis Flare just shook her head at the first question.  “In the Everfree all manners of creatures can be found, and that's not even the worst of them.  As for why my magic worked, tell me, how much do you know about the various kinds of so-called magic immunities and how to deal with them?”

Getting a thoughtful look on her face, Twilight thought back to what she read from her books.  “Actually I don't remember there being much at all about things that are immune to magic other than the books saying that unicorns should avoid them.  There may have been something in the dark archives that the princess keeps sealed but there was nothing in the public areas.  There aren't many unicorns that would risk themselves to do a study on it since they couldn't protect themselves if something went wrong.”

The orange unicorn could only shake her head.  “Of course the so-called best unicorn school in the country would be missing information like that.  Of course everything I know came from personal experience as well as some guesswork on types I haven't seen before.  Basically, magical immunity is often a mislabeling as the only thing truly immune would be untouchable by magic of any kind as it all would pass through it.  Just about anything else still can be beaten with magic if you know how.”

Twilight glares at her at her bad mouthing of her old school but she shrugged it off as she was starting to get used to he friends attitude about Canterlot.  “That still doesn't explain why your magic worked just fine when mine was just shrugged off effortlessly.”

Aegis Flare smirked at being able to each the princess' student something that she didn't know about magic.  “Well it was only the outside of it that repelled magic, but if you crushed it from all sides with enough power you could have overwhelmed it.  The way I beat it though was because it also eats magic along with flesh so I just flooded it with more than it could handle at once.  That's why it didn't just eat you right away since it was slowly draining you of magic.  I found out about that my first time meeting one by accidentally dropping a mana potion into its mouth.”

With a look of interest, Twilight had to restrain herself from pulling out her writing implements with her magic, but she still committed everything to memory for later.  “What about the other varieties of immunity?  What have you found and how would you deal with them?”

She looked thoughtful for a moment as she thought back to her experiences and tried to remember what she had found.  “Well most of the time you just have to overwhelm their defenses with more power than they can stop or drain.”  She paused as she looked thoughtful for a moment.  “Actually that's really the key to most of it.  If it absorbs, repels, eats, or even redirects magic there is usually a limit to how much they can prevent so it can be overwhelmed.  But if it isn't affected in any way you have to indirectly deal with it by using the environment.  Even something completely unaffected by magic can be hurt by using air pressure alone usually.  Theoretically there could be something out there that negates magic but it would have to be pretty specific or else it would negate its own abilities so it would be possible to work around it somehow.”

Twilight thought on her words and resolved to do some more studies on the subject but that was for later as they were coming up on the camp.  After notifying the expedition leader of the fates of the missing minotaur and stallions they were finally on their way for the day.

<><><><><><><>

“Ugh, finally the smell is gone.  I still don't know how you could stand being near me as everypony else looked as if they wanted to vomit whenever they came close to me.”  Twilight looked over at her friend who was going over her map for the night.  Aegis Flare sighed before lifting her goggles up to look over at the lavender mare in the dim light.

“Honestly its more that I've had a lot of practice breathing only through my mouth especially since I've smelled worse.  You should really get some sleep though since it looks like we finally found where we were going.  Both my estimates and what the professor read on the ruins all say that this is what we were looking for.”  Turning to look in the direction of the ruins they had found through the tent wall she shook her head as she thought of the little she had already seen.  Plans had been made to enter the temple in the morning but from what she had seen they were being rather reckless in their efforts.  She was glad that she wasn't entering with them and she had already managed to convince Twilight not to go either especially since there was still something bothering her about the group.

“I still don't know why you don't want me to go with them into the temple.  Who knows what I could learn in there that has been lost to time.”  Rolling her eyes, the orange mare started putting everything away as she bedded down.

“I don't trust them for some reason and even you are wary of them.  This place looks pretty important but they still haven't told us what we are here for.  These are supposed to be professionals with us but I'm still looking for what they are supposed to be pros at.”  Twilight doesn't say anything as she pulls her blanket over her head but her mind still was focused on everything she was going to miss even though the reasons for it were good.  As they drifted off to sleep neither unicorn saw the smoke that was slowly streaming in from the back of the tent even through the barrier that was in place.

The next morning the two awoke feeling extremely groggy but unfortunately that was the best part of their situation which they found out when they tried to move.  “What the-?  Why am I tied up?”  Twilight tried to light up her horn while she struggled at the ropes but when her magic hit the ring on her horn she let out a help of pain.  “What's wrong with my magic?!”

When Aegis Flare woke up she knew better than to struggle wildly when she felt the ropes binding her and when she heard her friend's sound of pain she looked over to her to see the ring on her horn.  Crossing her eyes she tried to look up at her own horn but couldn't really see what kind it was from where she was.  Looking around she didn't see anyone nearby, but she could hear the faint rustling of feathers so she knew there was at least one guard nearby.

“Calm down, Twilight.  I've been in worse situations from this and they've already made a huge mistake.”  Twilight stopped her struggling but still had a look of panic as she looked over at the orange mare.  With a good amount of wiggling Aegis Flare pulled herself over to near Twilight to get a closer look at the dampening ring on her horn before she gave a snort of disgust.  “Really?  They think that this cheap thing is going to do anything?  It barely even goes halfway down your horn and I think this is the kind meant for foals in a hospital.  Even if it was strong enough it's worthless if it's nowhere near the base.”

With a raised eyebrow Twilight glanced up at her friend's horn to find that she was right about it being a foal-sized ring.  Now that she was thinking instead of reacting she had calmed down enough to realize that the shock the ring gave her was more surprising than painful and something like this wouldn't have contained her magic even when she was a filly.  Focusing once more on her magic while being prepared for the pain she channeled as a large amount of power into her horn causing the ring to shatter as it was overloaded.  Divesting herself of the ropes she turned to help Aegis Flare to find her already standing yet her horn ring was still in one piece.

Seeing Twilight gaping at the still whole ring the orange mare shrugged as she kicked it away.  “What?  There's a reason why horn rings are supposed to be fitted correctly to the base of the horn.  I would have thought that the princess would have taught you how to use magic with the separate parts of your horn in order to teach you control.”

Shaking her head Twilight throws off her confusion before blushing a bit.  “Well yes, she did.  But she always told me that it wasn't something that I should be showing others since it is supposed to be a guard secret.  I never really needed to use that skill and kind of forgot about it.”

Rolling her eyes at her friend she looked around at the building they had been thrown in before she heard the sound of hoofsteps approaching the entryway.  Turning towards it she charged up her horn and, on seeing two of the earth ponies that were part of the group she was escorting, unleashed a wall of energy slamming the two into the wall and into dreamland.  Turning once more towards Twilight she sighed at her look of shock before walking towards the door.  “We were tied up while they were calmly walking in Twilight.  It's obvious that the entire group was responsible for this.  Now come on, we should really find out what they were looking for that made them decide that tying us up was a good idea.”

The two exited the building and quickly found their way to their tent to grab all their things which had been left untouched.  While Twilight just put her bags on, Aegis Flare dug through hers for a couple leg pouches which she strapped to her legs and filled them with a couple useful objects while passing Twilight a coil of rope.  “It's been a while since I've had to enter an old temple, I hope I remember all the little tricks that I learned.”

Quickly making their way to the entrance that the group had used, Aegis Flare stopped Twilight before she could go rushing in.  “Why are you stopping me?  We have to catch them before they find whatever it is they are searching for.”

Ignoring her for a moment she instead focused on the carvings around the door before she stepped to a section nearby that was covered in moss.  Lighting up her horn she burned it all away revealing more of the wall including the ancient writing carved into it.  “First rule of exploring ruins, never rush in recklessly.  While I can't read this writing, I did learn to work out a couple of symbols and this one I have found to always mean that the passage is trapped.”

As she pulled out a blank scroll and her notes she started to sketch on it what she was guessing the shape of the temple was before jotting in some mathematical formulas.  While she was doing that Twilight was looking at the carvings that were exposed.  “Hmm, that symbol can be used in a couple ways but commonly means forbidden.  Wait!  This is an ancient unicorn temple of the moon!  The last one of these were lost long before Princess Luna rose to lead Equestria with Princess Celestia!”

Glancing up in surprise at her friend being able to read the carvings she shook her head in annoyance.  “Of course you can read it, how else would you be able to read some of the older books.  Still, if it's a unicorn temple then...  Here!”  With a flourish she points at a spot on her parchment before rushing off around the hill the door was set into.  Twilight followed after her at a slower pace but was confused as to why she was heading away from the entrance.  Soon the two came to a section of the building's original wall that was sticking out of the hill as the orange mare observed the wall above them.

“Flare?  What are you looking for?  Should we really be wasting time out here when they are getting further ahead?”  Aegis Flare looked over at Twilight again before she realized that she hadn't said anything about what she was doing yet.

“This is supposed to be a temple, right?  So why would they build an entrance that they travel through constantly just to fill it with traps?  Back there is just a fake entrance which means the real one should be somewhere over here, most likely covered with magic or accessible only with it.”  While she turned back towards the building, Twilight looked thoughtful as she reevaluated her expectations of ancient temples.

“I guess I never though about that.  I guess I never thought about how they would be designed beyond what I've read in my Daring Do books.  But since this is a unicorn temple then wouldn't they also protect the entrance from being blocked as well?”  The orange unicorn looked down at her once again curiously before nodding when her eyes widened in shock before slamming a hoof into her face.  With a grin Twilight stepped up to the exposed wall before lighting her horn causing a section of the wall to disappear leaving a large doorway behind.

The two entered the building to find a simple corridor that had the occasional room along it.  Following it the eventually found themselves at a balcony overlooking a large room, though the stairway down had long since collapsed.  They realized that they had been out longer than they thought as they found the professor along with three bloodied griffons standing next to a vine wrapped pedestal bearing a golden idol also wrapped in the vines.  “They're already here and we're stuck up here.  How are we going to stop them?”

Rolling her eyes, Aegis Flare takes aim at the quartet below with her horn before firing off a ball of flame down at them.  She had been aiming at the professor but he must have sensed something as he dropped to the ground at the last moment causing the attack to fly over him, impacting into one of the griffons instead.  With him rolling around in pain the lead stallion glared up at the balcony before barking orders out at the other two.  “Well don't just stand there, stop them!”

The remaining two took off into the air while the stallion reach out to rip the golden idol off of its stand and rushing for the way they came in through.  The two griffons spread out to opposite ends of the room in the air before they charged at the two mares.  Twilight started to take a combat stance before she was halted by an orange hoof and she looked over to see her friend smirking.  Cracking her neck to the side she just lit up her horn and caused an ever-expanding wall of power to expand away from the two directly at the griffons who stopped in wide-eyed shock.  Moments later she banished her large shield leaving only two imprints in the far walls of the two unconscious griffons.

“That felt good, though I probably shouldn't waste my magic like that.  Come on, let's get down there now.”  Figuring that the expended energy would be worth the time she created a spiral path down into the room which the two charged down quickly.  As they passe the pedestal where the idol was the orange mare slowed as her eyes focused on the plant growth around it.  “Twilight, wait a moment.”

As the lavender mare skidded to a halt the other unicorn examined the vines closely before she started chuckling.  “Well we don't really need to worry about why they wanted that thing anymore now.  It's completely worthless to them.”

Twilight's eyebrow slowly rose as her friend started digging around at the base of where the vines were emerging.  “How would you know that?  We don't even know what that thing was supposed to do and he's getting further away as we wait here.”

Aegis Flare just points at the vines which the lavender unicorn only now noticed were slightly glowing.  “These vines are an odd kind of plant that I've discovered that usually congregates around magical objects.  Normally its harmless to whatever it grows around but if it is there long enough it starts to drain the magic from it.  Since he tore that statue away from the vines all the magic was still trapped in them.  If he removed the vines at the roots then it would have all drained back into it.”

Twilight watched in interest as her friend dug up the vines before wrapping them up in cloth before placing them in her packs.  “So you mean that even though he has the idol it was all for nothing?  But what if he finds a way to recharge it somehow?”

Aegis Flare just shakes her head.  “Even if he does it won't work the same without the same kind of magic.  Besides it's who he is working for that should be the one we worry about but I just need to let a friend know about this so she can keep an eye on him if it's who I think it is.”

Looking around again she smirks as she realizes that with this her job is now complete.  “Well since their contract has ended, especially after what they did to us, how about we look around like you wanted?  Since I don't have to show them back we can take all the time you want to explore and study on our way home.”

While Twilight worried about the injured beings from the other group, she couldn't help but get excited for finally being able to take some time to study something that nopony else had.
> 34
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight and Aegis Flare's return to Ponyville was a return to normality for them after the long weeks in the unpredictable Everfree Forest.  Yet with that return brought the lavender unicorn time to think back on all that had happened, especially the worst parts.  Spike was being run ragged trying to deal with the outbursts from her nightmares, and Aegis Flare could only help delay things by taking her friend's mind off of what happened with a few projects.

The rest of their friends also tried to assist but none of them knew the horrors that they went through and neither was going to enlighten them on it either.  They did help Twilight a little by distracting her as well but more often than not it just lead to her getting more irritated.  At Aegis Flare's request they backed off a bit on trying to cheer the librarian up, but she only did so as she had gotten word from her aunt that a special visitor was planning on showing up on the coming holiday that could possibly help.

After the last year's event, Aegis Flare actually decided to put in some effort into her costume instead of just pulling something out of the closet.  She used it as another way to distract Twilight from her memories as she got her to help with the enchanting she needed.  While her idea was simple, the process in getting it to work was rather complicated so it took a lot of Twilight's extra time and left her little to think about what happened.

“Hey, wake up Scootaloo.  Didn't you want to get up early so you could meet up with your friends for some kind of meeting?”  The orange filly groaned as as stretched and rolled over to see her sister staring at her.

“Sis, what are you doing and my bed?  And there's still a few more hours until we are supposed to meet so can't I just sleep a little longer?  Why are you in my bed... any... ways...”  Scootaloo's eyes widened in horror as she pulled back the blanket covering her sister to reveal only her head laying right next to her.  It took a few moments for her mind to catch up with what she was seeing before she screamed and threw herself away from her sister, falling off the bed in the process.

Aegis Flare started laughing at her sister's reaction before she moved to look down at her over the edge.  “What's wrong, sis?  You look like you've seen a ghost.  Well since you're up I'm going to 'head' on over and meet up with Pinkie and the others for an early party.”

Scootaloo bristled at her sister as she laughed at her.  “What is wrong with you, sis!?  That joke was just terrible and what's with scaring me before I'm even awake!?”  Her sister didn't respond as she continued chuckling while leaving the house leaving Scootaloo to grumble after her and get ready for the day.

While she was walking through town Aegis Flare was getting all sorts of strange and panicked looks at her walking around as just a head.  She avoided Fluttershy, but she was able to scare the others with her outfit though Twilight had some words for her when they gathered as night started to fall.  “Ugh, really?!  I thought you were going to use that collar you were asking me for to hide your head, not the other way around!  I have enough nightmares as it is.”

The orange mare paused before looking a bit sheepish.  “Sorry about that.  I may have lost my head a bit when I finally could put this idea into use.”

“Looks more like an out of body experience than you losing your head.  Still, not bad for a prank by an amateur.”  There were a couple groans at Rainbow Dash's joke though it wasn't the worst they had heard.  Twilight wasn't sure which of the two to glare at before she shook her head with a sigh.

“Let's just get going.  I heard that Zecora was going to be helping out tonight with a little show for the foals.  It should be interesting to see what she comes up with since she has seen so much.”  Aegis Flare watched as Twilight rushes off towards the town square.  The purple mare was really looking strained as she tried to take her mind off of what she went through and She just hoped that whatever her aunt had mentioned would help.

Watching the little show that Zecora put on as they followed her to the statue of Nightmare Moon, the orange mare had to admit that she really knew what she was doing.  She had to wonder what would happen if the zebra joined up with Trixie for a performance sometime with how skilled they both were at their own brands of theatrics.  She got a small chuckle at seeing Scootaloo's reaction to this especially with her being dressed as a ferocious wolf.

When the clouds started to swirl around and a chariot pulled by a pair of thestrals appeared many of the gathered ponies started to panic.  Twilight and Aegis Flare, being the more sensible ones of the group, just looked at each other with raised eyebrows before taking off in the direction it was headed.  As they arrive they watch as a figure jumps from the carriage as it passes by and soon reveals itself to be Princess Luna.

On seeing the princess, Aegis Flare realized that she must be what her aunt was talking about which made a lot of sense when she thought about it.  The princess, being centuries out of date, was probably the best being to help with Twilight's nightmares since she acted as the guardian of dreams as well as having a fresher memory of the crueler times of Equestria.  Her thought's were soon cut off as Princess Luna began speaking in the Royal Canterlot Voice which slammed into her unprotected ears relentlessly.  While the voice was enough to shock the surrounding ponies, it was much worse for a thestral's hearing considering how much more sensitive it was.

The mare wasn't sure how long she was on the ground clutching at her ears but she was soon aware of a hoof shaking at her shoulder.  Prying one of her eyes open she found both Twilight and Princess Luna looking down at her with worry written over their faces.  She could see Twilight's mouth moving but all she could hear was the sound of ringing.  Princess Luna looked especially worried when she saw the unicorn's red mane turn slightly redder as blood dripped out of them.

“What happened to her?  She looks like she is in pain, but I don't understand; nopony else is in any agony.  And where is the rest of her?”  Twilight looks up at the princess with a raised eyebrow before going back to treating her friend.  Lighting up her horn she scans over her friend before letting out a gasp of panic.

“Her eardrums have been completely destroyed!  She always said that her ears were like a thestrals and therefor extremely sensitive but I didn't know they were this sensitive!”  Luna's eyes widened at this before they darted to take in the appearance of the orange mare's ears.

The princess' other question was answered when Twilight tried to reach down to her friend's ear just to be blocked by something forcing her to remove her collar, dispelling the invisibility effect on her body and revealing her hooves clutching at her head.  Examining her ear more closely the purple mare's eyes widen as she realizes an important detail.  “I don't know how to fix this.  A normal pony's ears would be hard enough but I don't know what makes a thestrals different.”

Feeling a hoof on her shoulder she looks up to find that princess Luna had stepped up next to her.  “Twilight Sparkle, let us deal with this.  It was our fault that this happened so it shall be us that fixes it.”

Leaning her head down the alicorn brought her horn near the fallen mare's ear before it lights up with a gentle blue glow.  Slowly the insides of the injured mare's ear began to knit themselves together though the effect wasn't obvious from the outside.  Twilight watched as her friends breathing slowly changed from the pained whimpering that it was at first to groans, until finally she went quiet while breathing deeply.

With a groan Aegis Flare brings her hooves down in front of herself again before slowly shaking her head.  With the last of her tears being cleared from her eyes she looks up to see the princess offering her a hoof to help her stand.  “We must apologize for injuring you like that.  We did not know of your half-thestral nature and we would never have used the traditional Royal Canterlot voice had we known.  Our sister failed to inform us that our favored tribe had mixed over the years with the rest of Equestria and we would never risk their ears using the voice without ensuring that they were properly protected.”

Taking the offered hoof Aegis Flare slowly rises to a standing position before trying to get her balance as a surge of weakness flows through her.  “I wonder why you would even use it in a normal situation anyways, Princess Luna.  I've never felt anything so painful before and it can't be much better for those with less sensitive ears.  Non-traditional thestrals aren't very common, especially with how they are treated by many thestrals, but there are some around, though I don't think there are any others in Ponyville with the sensitive ears other than Fluttershy.”

Luna blinks at the calm attitude of the mare that was once writhing on the ground in pain before what was said registered for her.  “Not one, but two of our saviors are half-thestrals yet our sister said nothing?  She knows how we feel about our children of the night.  Yet you mentioned something about odd treatment, what do you mean?”

Aegis Flare spent the next few minutes telling the princess everything that she had seen or heard on how half-breed thestrals were treated, much of it by other thestrals.  The night princess frown grew as she heard how foals were abandoned or even worse just for being born the wrong tribe or even the wrong colors.  As she got into the story of her own past Luna looked almost to be crying before she interrupted her tirade in a soft tone of voice instead her boisterous style.  “Please stop, I can't take any more.  How could my children be so... So callous?  So cruel?  What happened to them over the last thousand years?”

Looking towards a nearby shadow, Princess Luna stood to her full height once again though she was shaking slightly.  “Lieutenant!”  Out of the shadows stepped one of her thestral guards which came up to her before saluting.  Glancing down at the thestral mare she turned in the direction the foals of Ponyville ran off towards.  “We are going to have a long talk when we return to Canterlot, but until then you are dismissed to take care of personal matters.  You will know when we require you until we return so until then your time is your own.”

The two unicorns watched as the princess walked away before turning back to look at the thestral that had just finished removing her helmet to reveal her dark pink mane that somehow went with her dark gray coat.  Before they could say anything the thestral shook her head before her eyes locked onto Aegis Flare and she gave a piercing shriek and pounced her.  “EEEEE!  Oh look at how much you've grown since I last saw you!  It's been too long since I have my nieces.”

“Grk!  H-hello Auntie Noapte.”  Twilight was about to help her friend but paused when she heard just who the mysterious thestral was.  Looking a bit unsure if she wanted to get caught up in the exuberant reunion of family members she takes a step back to observe for a moment before making her decision.

“Now, now.  I told you before to call me Auntie Nightie.  Thestrali might as well be a dead language with how few know it outside of the old country and it's much easier to just use the common standard.  Now where is my other little niece, she was so precious back when she was born and I can't wait to see how she has grown.  Also who is your friend her-  Huh?  Where did she go?”  Looking around the mare noticed that the purple unicorn that was once standing nearby had vanished leaving the two family members alone.

At the time the orange mare was starting to turn blue from the death grip that her aunt had put around her throat.  Her aunt only finally noticed after a minute of her rapidly tapping on her leg to get her to let go and look at her sheepishly.  Catching her breath, Aegis Flare looked in the direction Twilight was a moment ago just to see her retreating form heading the same way Princess Luna went.  “Really Twilight?  You're just going to abandon me to family like that for that little joke earlier?”

Night Wing, which was how the thestral's name translated, raised an eyebrow before looking after the retreating purple flank.  “Huh, so that's one of the other Elements of Harmony?  Princess Luna wanted to talk to her about Nightmares or something.  The Solar Guard talked about her but I thought she would be wearing glasses from what they said.  Still kinda cute though.”

With a groan the orange unicorn is reminded of her aunt's flirtatious nature as the one time she met her before she always seemed to be hitting on her mother much to her bemusement and her father's amusement.  As much as her aunt complained about many of the things of the thestral country, though only privately through her letters, she still kept up the flirty nature that many of the race's nobles.  “Ugh, really?  You're going to do this to me now about my friends?  Nothing like that is going on with us and I doubt it will no matter how cute they are.  If something did we'd probably drive each other crazy and that's assuming I even have the time to even think of something like that.”

“So you think they're cute, huh?”  Aegis Flare brought a hoof up to her face at her aunt's comment with a groan.  “Besides there are few enough good stallions out there as it is so gathering the mares together first just makes sense.  Besides, with one of the top former models you'd have stallions lining up to join.  You really need to introduce me to those six sometime.”

Aegis Flare was glad no other ponies were around right now to here her aunt's comments, but they were bound to return to the area soon with the princess no longer there scaring them away.  “Can we take this somewhere a bit more private?  I did hear you say you had some personal business to take care of and I doubt you want that spread about.”

The thestral mare agreed and followed her niece back to her house.  On entry the elder of the two looked around at the changes since she was last there and was a little impressed at what she saw, releasing a whistle.  “Wow, where did the museum come from?  I don't remember any of this stuff last time I was here.”

Looking up from the tea she was rapidly heating up in her magic, Aegis Flare saw her aunt looking over a display of various artifacts she picked up from ruins inside the Everfree.  “It's only a small collection of things I've picked up in the Everfree.  It's not like I have time for any other hobbies while taking care of myself and Scootaloo.”

Night Wing just smirked before shaking her head slightly and turning towards her niece to accept a cup of tea.  “That's not what I heard about you the last year or so.  Somepony has been taking longer and longer breaks from going out into the Everfree, much to the relief of her escorts.  Out of you seven your guards have had more injuries and close calls than the others combined, though at least they aren't as traumatized as the ones assigned to the Bearer of Laughter.”

She had to roll her eyes at the mention of the guards as the orange mare wasn't impressed by them most of the time.  “I highly doubt those so-called soldiers would even have been any help if anything did happen that one of us couldn't handle.  They sure didn't do anything when a problem did happen.  I will say that whoever you have following me in the Everfree recently is at least decently skilled now.  I haven't had to pull a guard out of there in months.”

Her aunt rolled her eyes before getting a bit more serious.  “Don't remind me.  I've been having to help retrain the Solar Guard and it has been a mess.  All the whining, and complaining, and slacking off; it's a wonder there hasn't been a major attack yet.  They've had to start sending in high rank officers just to keep up with you seven and they still have trouble.  The Night Guard would have taken over, but we're too busy training them and getting reestablished in Equestria still.”

Downing the rest of her tea, Aegis Flare sighs.  “Good luck with that.  I'm pretty sure a large number of the problem ponies are related to some noble or other.  Between the Canterlot group and the ones and Transylmaneia I'm not sure which is worse.  Anyways didn't you say you were here for something?  Should you really waste time when the princess could call you back at any time?”

As if a switch was flipped, Night Wing went back into her flirtatious mode once more as she bounded over and tossed a limb around the back of her niece.  “Oh but I'm just where I planned to be.  It's been so long since I last saw you and little Scootaloo that I had to come check on you.  I never agreed with what the rest of the family did and I promised my brother that I would keep an eye on you if something happened.  I haven't done such a good job and I have a lot to catch up on.  I have to make sure that my niece's friends are worthy of her you know.”

With another groan the orange unicorn tried to massage away the headache that was starting to form.  “You know there is one major flaw in your little fantasy that you don't seem to realize.  You know that former model you mentioned, Fluttershy?  She happens to be my cousin and your niece.”

The thestral froze in place when she heard this as she stared off into nothing.  The unicorn started backing away slowly as her aunt began to vibrate in place as she brought her hooves up to her ears, guessing at what was coming next.  “EEEEEEE!  I have another niece!?  Who's her mother!?  Who's her father!?  Who!?  WHO!?”

Smirking at being able to catch her aunt off-guard the unicorn just shakes her head sadly.  “I'm not sure about her mother yet, but her father is uncle Douchebag so you can guess how that ended up since you've probably seen a picture of her.”

Night Wing's ears droop sadly as she looks rather pouty.  “Aww, him?  I feel sorry for the mare that had to deal with him.  The rest of the family would be just as bad too.”  She perks up as she gets an idea that has her bouncing in place again.  “That just leaves it to me to show her that not all of the family are complete jerks.  If I'm lucky I can catch little Scootaloo on the way as well.”

With that she took off out the door leaving her niece shaking her head after her.  Moments later her head appeared through the door once again before it closed while giving the younger mare a sad look.  “I almost forgot to tell you, there was another reason I came out here.  A message came in recently but the method used to send it didn't make it through clearly.  All that could be identified was the code used in sending it.  It was an old code once used by the Black Guard.

Once again the thestral took off out of sight leaving the unicorn alone once again.  After processing the news she staggered over to a nearby picture frame and placed her hoof next to hit as she gazed at the photo of her parents.
> 35
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So tell me again why you are doing this?”  Aegis Flare sent an unamused look over at Twilight from where she was sitting in one of the librarians science machines.  Twilight was busy fiddling with the controls to the machine while observing the read-outs from it.  She looked up to see her friend's annoyed look before grinning sheepishly and clearing her throat.

“Sorry, I thought I mentioned that.  This has been something that has been bothering me a while but I've been rather curious about how your magic works and have been wanting to take a few more scans beyond what I already have.  I've already had the others down here for some comparisons and I've already discovered a few things I didn't expect.  I'm sure that we can learn a lot about your spell blindness and maybe even a way to fix it.”  The orange mare rolled her eyes at Twilight's excitement but refrains from mentioning how little she cares about the issue being fixed.  Twilight was only just building up steam at that point as she continued talking about her findings.

“My own scans I already knew were far outside of the norm for unicorns, but surprisingly Rarity was showing a few oddities in how it flowed through her body.  I still don't have anything sensitive enough to detail earth pony or pegasus magic to the extent I want it to, but what I do have keeps throwing up errors whenever I strap Pinkie Pie in and Applejack would be like any other earth pony if it wasn't for how impressively strong her aura is.  Rainbow Dash is much the same, just for a pegasus, but what was really odd was when I finally got Fluttershy to come down here.  Her magic flows oddly for a pegasus and much of it focuses in her eyes.  I think it may be part of her thestral heritage but I can't find anything on them except for some basic medical journals.  In fact I've written to the Canterlot Archives and they don't seem to have anything either to explain it and I'm hoping that I can find answers with your results.”  The orange mare wasn't sure if the archives would even have any up-to-date records on thestrals, though the hospital in Canterlot might and the guard healers definitely should.

“I'm surprised that you even got Rainbow Dash, let alone Pinkie, to sit still long enough for you to do the scans.  Though I guess you could have put them to sleep by telling them how all your machines work.”  Her comment is met with a glare from Twilight before she just sighs.

“Yes, I can see Rainbow Dash doing that, but after her little hospital escapade it's hard to get her to put down the Daring Do books now.  But with Pinkie Pie I'm still not sure if she understands or not but then she comes out and says something that gets me thinking.  I mean I never thought that-”  Aegis Flare only partially toned Twilight out as she started going into more fine detail about her work that Pinkie gave her an idea on as her attention was caught more by her tone of voice and the slightly frantic tone that slowly crept into it.  After listening for a few minutes she decided to finally speak up.

“How are you doing lately?  After that little adventure into the Everfree you always seemed to be a bit distracted and even frantic at times.  You've gotten better since the princess showed up on Nightmare Night, but still...”  At her words Twilight stopped in place before she went back to fiddling with the controls to the machine.  In her own mind she argued with herself as she tried to decide if she should do or say anything before she finally let out a hefty sigh.

“I'm doing better but it still is hard thinking back on everything that happened that day.  It only got worse when I realized that we might have been the only ones that survived.  Other than the leader we don't know what happened to most of them except for the ones we subdued.”  She paused before she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm herself.  “Princess Luna talked to me about it when she came to town that day, though I have to wonder how she found out about it.  Every few days she still contacts me through my dreams and we just sit and talk about it and she even has told me of a few things she had experienced over the years and it has helped some.  I actually wonder how you seem to deal with all of this so well since nopony other than her and Princess Celestia would have had such extensive experience with the horrors in there.”

Twilight looked over to the orange unicorn curiously, who looked a bit thoughtful for a moment before looking at her scarred forelimb.  “My first memory being that of me nearly dieing does help, but I would be lying if I said that there weren't moments that got to me still.  The pony that brought me into MEEL was a big help for part of it, but more often than not it was Fluttershy that helped the most.”

Twilight looked disbelieving at the pronouncement of the shyest pony she knew being of any help which caused the orange mare to roll her eyes.  “I can see why you underestimate her, I did so for a long time as well, but she really is much stronger than you think.  Even with how scared she was you saw what she did with that dragon, let alone Discord.  When it's for another she just shuts out all her fears and works to help where she can, and when it comes to animals she knows just about everything about them, including the bloodier sides of the carnivores around her.”

Twilight opened her mouth to respond before she paused in thought for a moment before bringing a hoof to her face.  “I can't believe that I forgot about all of that.  I guess with how much she tries to hide from, well, everything it is kind of hard to connect the two different images.  Huh, it's even harder to connect them while thinking of the look in her eyes.  I wonder if it has something to do with her Stare ability.”

With a glance towards Twilight, Aegis Flare just smirks at knowing something her friend didn't.  “You do realize that there is a reason that thestrals are constantly shown as vamponies in literature right?  As fake as those stories are there is still an element of truth in them that my father says isn't talked about much.  With all the similarities to the daylight pegasi, there are still a few differences beyond just their wings.  One of them is that a very rare few, usually nobles, have the ability to use a form of eye-based hypnosis.  I never did think about it until now, but I'm pretty sure her Stare is based on that ability.  It wouldn't surprise me if she was accidentally using it so she doesn't get noticed as much.”

The librarians jaw dropped at this information before she shook her head in bemusement.  “That just brings up even more questions and now I'm going to wonder just how many more of these myths and legends are real.  I'll have to add that to the list of things to research, maybe Princess Luna can help me out with some of the details about thestrals.”  She paused for a moment before her machine let out a series of pinging sounds.  “Ah, that should be the scans completing.  Let's see what it says now.”

As Twilight looked over the printouts her brow furrowed at the information she found.  “This can't be right, it can't be this simple can it?”

Aegis Flare's eyebrow rose as she divested herself of the scanning tools before she moved to look over her friend's shoulder.  “What is it?  What did your machine find?”

Twilight lifted a hoof and drew it along various points of the printout of her mana pathways.  “Other than everything being stronger than average, in fact the strongest I've ever seen but that could be because you never used an outside source, there is nothing wrong with you according to this.  All except for this part here.”

She pointed out an empty space in the frontal cranial area before continuing.  “This area here is where the Runic Matrix should be located yet as you can see it is completely absent.  Also here,”  Her hoof drifted downwards a bit to a section that was much denser than the surrounding areas.  “Here is where the Arcane Matrix is and is where a unicorn's memories of spells are stored in a way where less commonly used ones are overwritten by more widely used spells.  As you can see yours is much larger than it should be and I'd be willing to bet that it is why you can do that water spell even if it is outside of your talent.  If that is true then there may be a way to teach you other spells, though it will be limited by complexity.  I mean this could-”

The rant that she was getting into was interrupted by a large crashing sound from the room above which caused the two to look upwards.  “What is going on up there?”

With a sigh, the half-thestral unicorn rubbed at her temple with a hoof.  “That would be the sound of my sister crashing her scooter into one of your bookshelves causing all the books to pile up on top of her and Spike.  As much as I'm fine with her taking after Rainbow Dash, this is something that I could do without her copying.  I've told her not to use it indoors, but with all the snow on the ground and the excitement of Hearth's Warming and Noaptea Lacrimi coming up she's been a bit more energetic than usual.”

Twilight was about to say something when she paused as she realized she didn't understand part of what her friend had said.  “Wait, Noaptea Lacrimi?  What is that?  It means night of tears, right?”  On seeing the look of surprise on her friend's face, Twilight gave a small blush of embarrassment.  “I, uh, started researching the language out of curiosity when I learned that you and Fluttershy knew it.”

With a shake of her head and a chuckle, Aegis Flare just rolled her eyes at the purple mare's habits.  “Yes, that is what it means, but it's also a thestral holiday that falls on the Winter Solstice.  It's... rather an odd holiday in that it combines a bunch of different ideals into one.  It started as a remembrance for those lost during the long winters, especially the ones caused by the windigos, but then it added a small feast for the half-way point of winter to honor those lost and celebrate surviving to the half-way point.  It also is used to celebrate life and larger families and thestral towns use it as a bit of a fertility festival as well to promote large families, but that bit is heavily optional.”

Twilight listened in interest as she was told about this holiday, though when the last bit was mentioned she blushed after a moment of thought before she coughed lightly.  “I never thought about how much thestral traditions would be different from what I've known, but with them being separated for the last thousand years it makes sense.  Other than that last part it sounds like something I'd want to see for myself.”

Some would have been annoyed at what seemed like a blatant attempt to get an invitation, but Aegis Flare could tell from the purple mare's tone of voice that it was more rhetorical than her begging for an invite.  “You know, that actually is a good idea.”  Twilight looked confused as the orange unicorn made her way up the stairs into the library.

<><><><><><><>

“Darling, how nice of you to invite us to this little soiree of yours, especially with how personal it seems to be for your family.”  Rarity nodded to Aegis Flare as she was let into the orange mare's home along with Sweetie Belle and Pinkie Pie.

“I'm so excited!  A whole new holiday that I never knew about and it took this long to be invited to it, I can't wait to find out the decorations for it and everything!.”  With a shake of her head Aegis Flare lifted a hoof up to halt the overly excited pony.

“Hold on there Pinkie.  This really isn't that type of holiday.  The most that is used for decorations are the ancestral relics of the family line.  It's less a party and more of a small family affair, well except for the fertility rituals but that won't be happening here.”  She chuckled at the blushes one the faces of the elder two while the filly just looked at the confused before she shook her head and ran off to find Scootaloo.

After showing the two to where Fluttershy was, who had arrived earlier to help cook, the orange mare had to head back to the door to let the rest of her friends in.  “Whoa Nelly.  Ya really did a number in here since ah last was here.  It's almost like a museum in here now.”

Applejack and the other look around at the various displays that Aegis Flare had set up in the various rooms in the house.  While Twilight was looking over a curious cylindrical object with what looked like a blue gem on the tip, Rainbow Dash was looking bored as she browsed through them until she came upon one she didn't expect which caused her wings to flare out in surprise.  “What!?  How the hay did you get a signed copy of of Daring Do and the Temporal Temple!?”

At her exclamation Twilight moved over to look at the case to see the book and the crown next to it before her own eyes widened as well.  “That's not just a signed copy Rainbow.  That's a pre-edit, bound edition with a signature, something I've never even heard of, that is only sent out to pre-readers!  I've never even seen or heard of something like that, Rainbow stop trying to break into the case, so how could you have gotten one, it would have cost a fortune!?”

While the gaze of the two was locked on the book, Aegis Flare was silently cursing to herself for forgetting she had that out before she sighed and came up with an excuse.  “Remember how I told you that usually favors are traded at MEEL?  Well the pony that gave that too me needed some very specific information from the Everfree forest and that was sent to me a few months later.”

Twilight stops to think for a few moments before her eyes widen as she realized something.  “Wait, I knew some of things in the book were familiar, it was based in the Everfree Forest!  You actually know A.K. Yearling!  Was Sparky actually based off of you as well?”

Rainbow Dash frowned at the mention of the character before she snorted in disgust.  “I never liked her, she just came out of nowhere and there is no way she should have survived through half the stuff that happened in the book before she just disappears.  Even that Diamond Dog leader was better than her and you've seen how ineffective they are, as if there would ever be one smart enough to lead them all.  Least favorite book so far because of her.  That crown is a cool replica of what was described though.”

The orange unicorn shook her head again before she looked in the direction of the kitchen.  “It was only the one time and I've never actually met Ms. Yearling or heard from her after that.  I can't say more since I made some promises not to.  We should join the others now though, the last of the food should be finished and even if she did volunteer I'd rather not have Fluttershy pull everything out.”

Applejack's head shot up and she glared at Aegis Flare for a moment while the rest were distracted.  She wasn't sure what it was but something sounded wrong with what her friend said but she couldn't quite place it.  Deciding that it didn't matter right now she shook her head and interrupted the others before the conversation could continue.  “She is right about that.  We all came here for some vittles and ahm sure the others are waiting as well.”

Following the farm mare's advice they all head in as the orange unicorn heads over to help Fluttershy with the final setup.  Once they were done the others were invited over to the set table with the prepared food and empty dishes for them to use.  Spread before them were a couple piles of fish cabbage rolls, bowls of corn meal with salty cheese and sour cream, vegetable soup, bean paste with mushrooms, baked potatoes and a few other tidbits for the meal while baked pumpkin, crepes with jam and papanash were set to the side for dessert.  There was also some apple cider set out along with some plum brandy that Aegis Flare had picked up just for that day.

Once they all served themselves and gathered around the larger table, provided by Applejack, Aegis Flare looked from the fillies and Spike on her left and Fluttershy and the others on her right before clearing her throat to get their attention.  The group paused as they were about to start eating, barring Pinkie who had already planted her face into her plate, while she pulled out a covered tray as well as a large cauldron that had been on the nearby fire.  “Before we begin I have a couple special items, one you can skip if it disgusts you, as well as some background on the holiday.”

As she uncovered the tray most of the others recoiled in horror at the sight and smell of the smoked sausages that were contained within.  Scootaloo rolled her eyes at her three friends before taking one of the of the proffered edibles before passing the tray along.  While the two other fillies just passed the tray along Spike curiously grabbed one himself, despite Twilight's glare, and sending it along.  Out of the other adults only Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy grabbed a piece, much to the surprise of the others.

Rainbow Dash copied the younger pegasus filly eye roll at the others at their looks.  “What?  I spent a few years of flight camp rooming with Gilda and she convinced me to try meat before and it wasn't too bad in small amounts.  I'm guessing this is from one of those non-thinky animal farms that are around the gryphon kingdoms.  I'm wondering why Flutters is taking some though, she never ate any back then and with all her animals I would think she would avoid it.”

When all eyes were turned her way the butter colored pegasus ducked under the table before peeking back over it a moment later.  “Um, well, I don't really like eating meat, but it was always a tradition I was raised with so just for today, well.”

Her cousin patted her on the shoulder before she continued with her explanation.  “You all know the story told during Hearth's Warming but have you ever noticed that all it mentions are the three common tribes while there is nothing about any of the others?”

Rarity looked thoughtful for a moment before answering for the group.  “You know darling, I never did realize it until you mentioned it but where were the thestrals when that all happened?”

The red-maned mare looked sad as she remembered the story that her father had once told to her.  “While the three tribes were fighting many of the others were either isolated or driven off by the conflict.  Because of that many of them were not prepared for the windigo invasion that chased the tribes away.  Not all of the lesser known tribes survived the event and some had to take drastic measures, especially when it came to food.  Thestrals had to resort to a more carnivorous diet Which is why it has become a tradition to have a small amount of non-fish meat on this day.  Things changed when thestrals came into contact with a small group of earth ponies that were among the last to leave the old lands.”

She reached for the cauldron next to her and removed the lid to reveal the soup in it before she used her magic to remove a large rock from it, and set it on a nearby towel, which reduced the level of soup by over half.  On seeing it Twilight's eyebrow rose in surprise while Pinkie's jaw dropped.  “Is that what I think it is?  After what I remember from the rock farm I'm not sure if I want to try that stuff again.”

Aegis Flare filled a bowl for all the beings present before she set the rest of the soup aside.  “You'll find this to be nothing like what you had there Twilight.  This stone has has a much longer time to soak up nutrients and grow.”

The purple unicorn looked down as a bowl was set in front of her and she had to admit that it did look different, especially in the rich golden color and the pieces of green beans and carrots in it.  Cautiously Twilight lifted her spoon from the bowl to take a sniff before sipping at the spoonful.  When the taste hit her her eyes widened in surprise at the richness of the flavor as well as how thick it was compared to what she was expecting.  Her eyes were drown towards Pinkie when she let out a whistle of appreciation.  “Wowie zowie, I've never seen a soup stone this old before.'d have guess three... no four hundred years old, right Flarie?”

The others enjoyed their meal as the orange unicorn pondered the question for a moment.  “Actually that piece is only about fifty but I think the stone it was taken from was over a thousand years old.  It was about the only thing my father was allowed to take when he was thrown out by the rest of his family.”

Pinkie eyes grew as she looked wonderingly at the soup stone while the others looked at her curiously.  “What is so special about it being that old, Pinkie?  Ah, mean sure ah don't think ah've have a soup that tasted this good in years but is it really all that special?”

Pinkie just shook her head to clear it before she poured herself another bowl of the tasty soup and sat down to savor it, which seemed odd for her.  “We usually don't sell a soup stone until it reaches five years old and then  it is just tasty enough for ponies to buy it.  A fifty-year soup stone is something my family can sell for the price of a house and usually only the rich can afford it easily.  One this old could easily be used to buy all of Ponyville and still have let a pony live like a princess for years.”

They all were taken aback by the seriousness of the tone in Pinkie's voice but her next act sent a sense of relief through them.  “Now enough about that, let me at that dessert now.”  The group chuckled at her antics as they joined in on finishing the meal and talking about the upcoming Hearths Warming play they were all invited to take part in.
> 36
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aegis Flare sighed as she sorted through all the receipts and paperwork that had collected over the past year as she sorted out that years taxes.  While simple, it was still rather time consuming especially when compared to the simple lessons she gave on the Everfree during Family Appreciation day, despite the comments of a certain pink filly of her being a jobless bum.  Of course it wasn't just her own taxes she was figuring out as Big Macintosh had come to her for help after the bank statement from Applejack's new Canterlot account had arrived which he had no idea how to deal with and had him panicked at not having the bits for this year.  The unicorn had him bring over everything from previous years as well so she had something to compare to.

“Okay, now carry the five and then... done!   Not too bad this year now that I have decent contacts in place after cutting my ties with Filthy Rich.  It's just too bad I had to cut all business with him since he can't control his daughter at all.”  With a languid stretch she looked over to a nearby clock before letting out a small smile.  “Looks like there is plenty of time to bring Big Mac's stuff over before stopping by Sugarcube Corner.  I wonder if Pinkie had time this year to finish or not.”

Gathering up the paperwork, she headed out through town towards the apple orchard while she took in the decorations around town.  Many ponies were out and about for Hearts and Hooves day and showed a good amount of excitement though the orange unicorn was mostly neutral about the holiday, mostly as the day had other meaning for her.  She had to shake her head at the antics of her sister and her friends as she saw them blaze by using Scootaloo's scooter and wagon and wondered what trouble those three were going to get up to today and if Spike would be around to slow them down.

Arriving at the farm, she quickly found the red stallion at the main house as he read through a pile of paperwork.  “Hey Big Mac, I just finished everything like you asked and things are not as bad as you thought.  In fact after looking over everything for the last couple years you actually paid too much and are owed bits instead.”

The Apple stallion looked back at her in confusion at the news before his deep voice rang out.  “What about that account in Canterlot?”

She shook her head as she pulled out the relevant information from the stack of paper she had brought.  “Everything in it except for the interest from savings was tax free as it all falls under the Crown's Gift laws.  Applejack earned it all with the work done for the princesses as well as the modest stipend from her noble title.  I'd suggest being careful with all those bits though, maybe invest it in something to just build it up some more in case of emergencies.  Who knows when she might get called away again for an emergency and it could be during an important time for the farm.”

After a moment of consideration Big Macintosh gave his customary response as he accepted the paperwork.  “Eeyup.”  With a nod Aegis Flare left the stallion to what he was doing as she headed back towards town.

Coming up on Sugarcube Corner the mare came upon the familiar figure of her friend Twilight walking by who quickly greeted her.  “Good Afternoon, Flare.  How have you been today?  And have you seen your sister around lately?  Her and her friends borrowed a book and I'm hoping that they bring it back in one piece.”

Aegis Flare felt a bit of worry at the news before shaking it off and joining the line that was in front of the building.  “Well I saw her with the other two speeding around town earlier but not since then.  Do you think Spike will be around to keep them out of trouble, or at least lessen it from what they usually get up to?”

The purple mare just shook her head before sighing.  “Spike volunteered to sort out a stack of books that just came in recently.  I think he is trying to avoid those three recently after they managed to turn his scales pink on accident.  I'm still trying to figure out how they even managed that.”

The orange unicorn had to chuckle lightly at the thought while Twilight finally noticed where they were and looked around awkwardly.  “Huh, was there a reason for you to be here with it so crowded?  I haven't heard that you found a special somepony or were even trying to find one.”

As she rolled her eyes at the curious look she was getting from Twilight the two were interrupted by the appearance of Pinkie Pie who was glaring at Aegis Flare and which neither had noticed approach them.  She looked extremely exhausted and was barely staying on her hooves but still managed to put some force behind her look.  “You!  You win this time, but one of these days... one of these days I WILL get you that party!”

Twilight just looked confused as Pinkie teetered off drunkenly back to the kitchen after leaving a box on Aegis Flare's back.  “What in Equestria was all that about?”

Her friend just shook her head with a slight look of amusement on her face.  “She's just annoyed that she'll have to miss throwing a party for my birthday for yet another year.  Today is always so busy for the bakery that she had been too worn out to set anything up beyond making a small cake.  She looks even worse this year though, probably because of how far along Mrs. Cake is with her pregnancy.  Oh well, maybe she'll have better luck next year.”

Twilight just nodded before her head whipped around to stare at her friend.  “Wait, you mean your birthday is today!?  Why have you never told me about that; in fact how do you even know when it is if you don't remember anything from before earning your cutie mark?”

Once again rolling her eyes, Aegis Flare started walking towards her home as she explained.  “Yes it is, and it was during a medical examination that I found that out, some kind of age detection spell put my birthday around there even though there were some odd errors with it.  I never really mentioned it though since it never was really important to me especially with all I was doing to take care of Scootaloo.”

Twilight's mouth hung open as she stared at her friend until their gazes were drawn off to the side where Big Macintosh was pulling a house through the streets with Applebloom chasing after him.  “Twilight?  Just what was that book about the those three borrowed from you?”

With that simple question Twilight froze as her mind ran through what she had already read before her eyes widened.  “It was all about the history of Hearts and Hooves Day, but it also described the potion that was used which started the holiday.  It was labeled as a love potion but the effects were so extreme that it might as well have been a poison instead!”

As her hoof met her face Aegis Flare let out a groan of disappointment at her sister's actions.  “I really wonder who though this was a good idea, do you have any idea how to fix it?”

With a shake of her head Twilight looked worried as she gazed after the runaway stallion.  “Not that I can think of but I'm sure that it's in the book but I haven't read that far in it yet.  We need to catch up with Applebloom and find out where the others are as well as the book.”

The two took off after the mobile home but luckily for them the trio had already cleaned up after there own mess by breaking the spell on the two ponies that they poisoned.  While Big Mac took Applebloom and Twilight was bringing Sweetie Belle to her sister, Aegis Flare was walking home with Scootaloo trailing behind her.  The elder sister hadn't said anything to the younger so far, but the look of disappointment was enough to caused her to wince and follow her home.

When they arrived the elder of the two started preparing dinner while the younger busied herself picking up the rest of the lower floor of the house.  As they sat down to eat Aegis Flare finally spoke up giving Scootaloo a light sense of relief.  “Three weeks this time, but I'm bringing out some of the harder courses after this time.  Also I'm going to be picking up a couple books that you will be required to read since I've told you before to plan for what could go wrong as well as get all the information on something.  If you had actually read a bit further in that book you would have known why what you were doing was a bad idea.”

Scootaloo sighed before nodding about her punishment, though she internally winced at have to run the obstacle course every morning again for a while.  “We didn't mean for all that to happen.  We were only trying to help find Ms. Cheerilee a special somepony since she is such a great teacher.  We almost thought there weren't even any stallions good enough for her in town with how odd many of them were.”

Aegis Flare paused in her eating to think on her sisters comment about the stallions around Ponyville before she shook her head.  “You may have a point about many of the stallions, but using artificial means to bring ponies together is always a bad idea since when it fades there will be a lot of anger, or even worse if it doesn't fade.  Besides, how did you know that Cheerilee wouldn't rather have found a marefriend instead?  With how there are more mares than stallions most mares form their own groups before finding a stallion that they all like.”

The young pegasus blushes as the thought had never occurred to her or her friends.  With a sigh Aegis Flare shook her head once again before floating the dirty dishes into the kitchen sink.  “You'd better head to bed now, you're going to have an early morning and you will definitely need all your energy for the new additions to your punishment.”  With a shudder the younger sister nods before leaving the older to finish cleaning up for the night.
> 37
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With a small smile Aegis Flare locked up the last of the display cases around her home after placing one of her latest acquisitions from the Everfree, this time an odd necklace of beads with a small skull-shaped charm.  “That was a rather odd town, but pretty friendly despite what they looked like.  Surprising that they had been hidden on the edge of Equestria without being noticed for so long though but that area is rather sparsely populated.  Maybe I'll visit them sometimes in the future when they aren't being threatened by a pack of displaced windigos.”

Wiping a hoof one more time across the top of the case she turned to head towards her study where she relaxed for a while thinking over the recent months.  Some events she wondered why she was even around other than to support her friends and some she wondered just what they were thinking when they happened.

vvvvvvvvvv

“Are you sure you don't need help with anything Pinkie?  My parents never had any issues with me but I remember that Scootaloo was trouble sometimes as a filly and she was never at full strength at the time.”

Pinkie Pie just shook her head as she lightly panted from her recent efforts.  “Nope, the Cakes trusted me to do this and I Pinkie Promised that I wouldn't let them down.  Now if you'll excuse me I have a flying unicorn to catch.  Wait!  Pound!  Don't touch tha-!”

-THOOM!-

Pinkie raced off leaving Aegis Flare to stare at the spot she once was with a look of concern as various sounds of destruction rang out from Sugarcube Corner.

“Pumpkin!  No!  Not the weasels, not the weasels!”

-SKREE!-

“Right, no help needed, huh?”

vvvvvvvvvv

“Really?  Just because you didn't take first place you didn't want to return to Ponyville?”  The orange unicorn looked at the orange earth pony as she shook her head at her.

“Well I told everypony that ah was going to return with all that prize money ta fix the town hall but I didn't earn anything.  I just didn't want ta disappoint them all by coming home with without it.”  Aegis Flare just facehoofed at Applejack's response before looking over towards Rainbow Dash for a moment before turning back to her.

“You do remember that both me and Rainbow Dash do better than you at some of the events they have here, right?  And none of us do it all constantly like some of the professionals that train for it as a living.  So why would we be disappointed about you taking more ribbons than any other pony there?”

Applejack froze in place as her words hit her before she started to look sheepish.  “Ah guess ah never thought about it that way.”

vvvvvvvvvv

“Daww, too bad, Apples.“

“Guess you'll just have to find a new line of work that doesn't match your names quite so... perfectly.”

“Now should we tear down all these tacky old buildings and put up new ones, brother?”

“I don't see why not, brother. After all, this isn't Sweet Apple Acres anymore. How about 'Flim Flam Fields'?”

Aegis Flare stopped from where she was counting the barrels again and whipped her head around to glares at the two unicorns.  “Excuse me?!  I don't think I heard you there, what was that again?”

At the threatening tone of voice all the nearby Ponyvillians whipped their heads around to stare at her warily as she rarely if every openly showed her emotions to the town.  Those closest even backed away as they felt a wave of heat roll off of her fur though Flim and Flam seemed oblivious to it all.  “We won so all of this is now ours to do what we will with it.  Those were the details of our bet that we just won.”

As his brother nodded along with him Aegis Flare's eyes narrowed before she looked over his shoulder at the ruined section of the orchard which brought a grin to her face.  The two unicorns only now stepped back at the look on their faces as they started to sweat a little.  “Actually if I remember it right the exact bet was for the 'exclusive right to sell cider in Ponyville' and not for Sweet Apple Acres.  Of course that means you'll still have to pay for all the apples you used for the cider as well as all the trees you destroyed.  If I'm adding thing up right you might just barely make enough to pay the Apple family back for everything, of course since you just tried to steal their home any future apples you need for your cider will have to come from somewhere else, but since their family owns just about every apple orchard in Equestria that may be a bit difficult.”

The two looked at each other with eyes full of worry before they turned towards their stack of cider barrels.  For the next couple hours their cider was sold though over half of it had to be thrown out as it was contaminated by the trees that were ripped up.  In the end they had to use not only all the money they had made to pay back the apple family but they also had to sell them their machine as well as the rights to sell cider on town once again.

As the two raced out of town to avoid any further problems the Apple family moved to thank all those that had helped them out that day.  “Ah can't believe that ah didn't remember that we only bet the cider and not the whole farm.  But what are we going ta do with this hunk a junk now?”

Applebloom was looking over the machine before she turned to her sister.  “Couldn't we use it next year?  Maybe not for everything but it sure would help with harvesting at least.”

Applejack looked ready to argue before she looked out over all the satisfied ponies before she sighed.  “Ah'll think about it, but only after Twilight looks over it first.”

vvvvvvvvvv

“Wait, Fluttershy of all ponies did all that?!”  Rarity nodded to Aegis Flare before Aloe started taking a file to her horn.

“Yes, the poor dear, and it was mighty dreadful during it all but everything did turn out all right in the end.  I do wonder where that Iron Will character went after everything that happened though.”  The orange unicorn just shrugged as Lotus worked on the scarred muscles of her hind leg.

“I'd almost thank him for helping him break Fluttershy out of her shell like that if it wasn't for her taking his teachings too far.  She really does need to learn when to stand up for herself more often.”

^^^^^^^^^^

She chuckled at the last memory before going back to her reading when she was interrupted by a frantic knocking on her front door.  When she answered it she found Spike breathing heavily as if he had run all the way from the library.  “Flare!  Quick!  Cerberus!  Ponyville!  Attack!  Help!”

The unicorn looked confused for a moment before she sighed and lifted the dragon onto her back.  “Just point the way while you catch your breath.  Of course something had to happen just as I get back from a difficult trip through the Everfree.”

The young dragon pointed her towards the other end of town and when he finally caught his breathe explained what was happening.  Her mind was cycling through ideas on what could be done, since even Celestia would be hard pressed against the jailer of Tartarus, though it was all for naught as Fluttershy had already calmed the giant canine by the time they arrived.

As Twilight and Fluttershy led Cerberus away, Aegis Flare turned to look at Spike.  “Well that was a waste of time, though I guess it is odd enough of an animal that who knows if Fluttershy could have helped.  Twilight seemed much too happy about all of this chaos though, did something odd happen while I was gone?”

Spike took the opportunity to climb down from her back and cracking his back before responding.  “Oh she's just having one of her moments after her future self from next Tuesday appeared and tried to tell her something.  Before she could tell her she disappeared again and Twilight has been worried ever since especially since she looked all beat up.”

He paused when he saw that the unicorn had stiffened up before she moved over to a nearby tree and started lightly hitting it with her head, punctuating each word..  “Why.  Does.  It.  Have.  To.  Be.  Time.  Travel.  I.  Hate.  Time.  Travel.”

Looking at her for a moment, Spike tried to stop her from hurting herself.  “Whoa, it can't be that bad.  It's not like you've had personal experience with it yourself, right?”

She glared at the young dragon for a moment at his words before she sighed and shook her head at him.  “You read a lot of comic books, tell me, what happens when time travel happens in one of them?”

Spike just snorts as he rolls his eyes as everything he had read came to mind.  “What doesn't happen?  So far they've had the world blow up, the universe blow up, the villain becoming the hero and the hero the villain, once they even changed what species even lived in the world.  Frankly those comics usually just aren't that good and end up with nothing really happening.”

By this time Aegis Flare's eye was twitching and Spike was starting to suspect she was about to have what he had dubbed a Twilight Moment.  “That's not even the start of everything that can happen or you have to deal with.  There's dozens of ways to actually do time travel and each of them has their own kinds of paradoxes that can happen.  Will doing anything change anything?  Will not doing anything change anything?  When you return are you even returning to your own world after it all?    Are you leaving your family behind to have to fend for themselves?  Time travel is one of the biggest pain in the flank things that you can deal with and I want absolutely nothing to do with it.”

Spike slowly backed away as the unicorn stomped off towards her home again before wiping a claw across his brow.  “Wow, and I thought Twilight was the only one that would do that.  Maybe it's a unicorn thing.”  With a shrug he wandered off back towards the library for a well-deserved nap.

<><><><><><><>

It wasn't until the next Tuesday that Aegis Flare saw any of her friends when Twilight Sparkle came pounding on her door.  Now that Tuesday had arrived she was a bit more relaxed than she was the rest of the week though there was still a bit of tenseness.  When she opened it Aegis Flare found herself the victim of a devastating glare from Twilight's uncovered as her friend jabbed at her chest with a hoof while still looking a mess.  “You knew!  You knew what was going to happen and you said nothing about it!  I spent all week worrying about something bad happening just to find out that I went back in time just to tell me not to worry but past me didn't give me the time to!”

Aegis Flare let out a sigh of relief when she heard how everything went which earned her another glare.  “So it was just a predestination paradox?  That's a relief, I was worried that it would be something worse.”

Twilight's glare flipped to a look of confusion at her friend's words and reaction.  “Wait, a what paradox?  You mean there were other things that could have happened?”

With a shake of her head the orange unicorn invited her friend inside.  “There are a few types of paradoxes as well as many forms of time travel.  I'm guessing you probably found one of Star Swirl's safer spells since he made so many, though he wasn't that smart actually creating them in the first place and I bet that's why he disappeared.”

The unicorn librarian jerked backwards at hearing her friend say such a thing about one of her greatest idols.  “How could you say something like that about Starswirl the Bearded?!  He was one of the smartest unicorns of his time and was a genius what with all the spells he created for the world.  Without him Equestria would probably still be in the dark ages when it comes to magic.”

The other mare had to roll her eyes at her friend's hero-worship of the stallion before she sighed.  “I'm not saying he wasn't normally brilliant, but when it came to his time magic research everything he did was moronically dangerous.  In fact in some of his apprentice Clover's journals she started to describe how in his later years he got more and more erratic as he kept searching for things and ponies that weren't there.  I'm betting that in those years it wasn't even our Starswirl and when he finally vanished he either died during the spell or his replacement did.”

Twilight looked a combination of confused and amazed at what the orange mare was saying and her curiosity started to grow.  “I'm surprised you even knew about those journals, not many ponies actually read those anymore and they just gather dust in the Canterlot Archives.  But how do you know so much about his research as well as everything else about time magic?”

She regretted even asking as Aegis Flare seemed to look through her and a hint of horror entered her eyes.  “I can't talk about that right now, maybe in the future but just not right now.”  Twilight started to worry as her friend began to shake a little before she quickly invaded the kitchen for something to calm her friend's nerves.
> 38
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Do I have to go?  It's just some sill old wedding for a princess and I want nothing to do with something that girly.”  Aegis Flare rolled her eyes at her sister's antics, especially as she could see the excited fluttering of her wings.  After packing away the last few items in their bags for the next few days she turned to look at Scootaloo.

“Well your friends are going with as well, so I doubt you want to stay back here all alone.  Besides after what you did recently I'm not sure if I can trust you to stay home unsupervised like usual.”  Scootaloo winced at this before she sighed while regrets of what happened went through her head and the unicorn thought back on the past months as well.

vvvvvvvvvv

“You always seem to know a lot about different creatures and you said your parents told you a lot about the other races.  You just have to know something about what other dragons are like.”  Aegis Flare looked at Spike and his hopeful look as she racked her brain for any tidbit that she knew.

“I'm sorry to tell you but there's actually very little that they could tell me about them.  They are usually insular to other races and even their own so they usually lead solitary lives.  There is some sort of a council that is made of of their eldest as well as a poorly named 'Dragon Lord' who is mostly just a glorified babysitter for all the younger dragons.  There is supposed to be some sort of diplomat for them that is easy for the princess to contact but you'd have to ask her about that.”  She was sad to disappoint Spike by not have much information for him, but seeing the thoughtful look on his face told her he should be just fine.

vvvvvvvvvv

“I'm really disappointed in you Scootaloo.  I thought I taught you better than this.  Especially since it is more something like what Diamond Tiara would do and you always are complaining about her doing stuff like that.”  Aegis Flare paused as she noticed her sister winced which caused her to narrow her eyes.  “Why do I get the feeling that she had something to do with all this now?”

Scootaloo tried to avoid looking her in the eyes but she eventually gave in.  “We only did the first story on our own but when we tried to do something different she threatened to put something about us in the newspaper.  We didn't have a choice!”

With a sigh the elder sister rubbed a hoof at the top of her muzzle before she shook her head.  “That's even more disappointing since you cared more for yourself than for others.  You should have just gone to Cheerilee so that she could have done her job and kept something like that from happening and if that didn't help come to me.  Though I'm surprised that after writing something about all of my friends you didn't write anything about me.”

Scootaloo looked sheepish for a moment before she responded.  “Well I was already still in trouble for the last time so I didn't want to write anything that would make you suspicious.”

Aegis Flare just looked at her sister as she put on a faint looking grin before saying in a deadpan tone.  “You couldn't find anything juicy, could you?”

With a wince her sister answered.  “We couldn't find anything.”

vvvvvvvvvv

“The cake!”  With a yell Pinkie awoke from her sleep and darted towards the MMMM only to slam into a barrier that hadn't been there until she struck it.  As the glowing orange and yellow field faded Aegis Flare came into the train car rubbing a hoof just below her horn.

“Ouch, that's the fifth time that has happened now.  I must have done something wrong when I tried to make my shield invisible for that to keep happening.  Unless you noticed something odd, Pinkie.”  Peeling herself off of the now invisible barrier the party mare dazedly shook her head.

“Nopie, nothing but the pain in my head from running into this.”  The orange unicorn examined her shield closely again before she shrugged.

“Huh, guess that feeling was from when something hits it.  I guess I still have some work to do with it before it's even useable though I wonder who the other four impacts were from.”  their friends, other than Twilight, had entered that train car at this point and started shuffling nervously at her words.

^^^^^^^^^^

“Ah still don't understand why ya didn't tell us about your brother.  If he is the Captain of the Royal Guard ah would think ya would be proud ta talk about him.”  Applejack tried to draw Twilight into a conversation while they all traveled to Canterlot yet she was too focused on her thoughts of what she had planned for her brother.  Aegis Flare raised a hoof to the farm mare's comment.

“She did make an off-hoof comment about it to me a couple times but beyond her having one I didn't know much else.  With him about to marry a princess, and Twilight being how she is, I'm starting to wonder what the rest of her family is like.  Still I'm still curious what that letter meant by me helping out the Royal Guards.  That sounds more like something the groom would be doing, though I won't say no to visiting my aunt a bit.”  She looks at the letter once again to see if she missed any details before shrugging and putting where she pulled it from.

As they all tried to calm Twilight down they were surprised by a wave of pink energy flowing through the cabin and Aegis Flare shivered at the feeling of it flowing around her.  “What the hay was that?  Something about it just felt wrong for some reason.”  Looking outside they found that the entire city had been encased in a protective bubble and they wondered what was going on.

Once they arrived they found that there was some unidentified crisis going on which necessitated the increased security.  After watching Twilight go off on her brother, while shaking her head at the guards not knowing who Twilight was, Aegis Flare took off with her sister towards one of the training yards.  As they walked Scootaloo kept fidgeting and trying to muss up her main that Rarity had brushed up for her to a shine but the elder kept knocking her hoof away.  “Come on sis, I can't stand having my main like this, it just doesn't feel right.”

“At least wait until we found our aunt.  We don't have much family left that we can visit so we can at least attempt to look nice for them once and a while.  Just be happy I was able to talk her down from making you a dress right there on the train.”  Scootaloo shivered at the thought of that as they came upon the training yard for the guard.

“Halt!  Only authorized personnel are allowed beyond this point!”  The two just stare at the guard before the unicorn rolls her eyes and passes over the notice she had been given.  After looking it over the guard flinched before nodding to his companion and turning back to them.  “R-right.  We'll let her know you're here, go right in.”

Aegis Flare raised an eyebrow at the two before she just shrugged and followed her sister in as she ran ahead.  She joined her in watching the guards training and quickly rolled her eyes at what she saw as they were practically just flailing around with their weapons with little strategy behind their blows.  From what she could see few of them even seemed physically impressive enough to be considered more than average, though one earth pony stallion reminded her much of Big Mac in his build.  “Wow, they are really bad at this aren't they?  I've seen Ms. Bon Bon and Zecora do things more impressive than them.”

A few of the nearby guards stumbled a bit at her words and lightly glared in her direction until they saw her age and instead rolled their eyes.  Aegis Flare's ears perked up though as she heard a familiar language and her eyes caught sight of three thestrals, a mare and two stallions, talking across the way in thestrali.  “Oh great, now we have what look like a couple noble brats to keep an eye on.  Look at those shiny coats, they probably never had to lift a hoof in their lives.  It's distracting to see them down here 'slumming' with their 'lessers' just so the can gawk at sweaty guards.”

“Well at least the older one has a hot flank to look at.  You have to admit that unicorns either look too plush like they eat too much or too thin of them not eating enough.  She at least is a decent medium that I wouldn't mind getting my hooves on.”  The said mare's eyes narrowed at the two but she smirked as the mare of the trio spoke up.

“I don't know, she doesn't give off the same vibe as most noble brats, though I swear she looks familiar for some reason.”  Aegis Flare's vision of the trio was soon blocked by a wall of white and when her eyes focused she found the earth pony she had noticed earlier had moved closer to her.

“Well hey there, hot flanks.  What's a pretty mare like you doing in a place like this?  How about you come with me to a place that's more fitting to somepony of your beauty, we wouldn't want you to scuff your pretty hooves, would we?”  The unicorn was about to just roll her eyes when a better idea came to mind causing her to grin internally.  Her sister though wasn't as restrained.

“Pff, like you even have a-”  Scootaloo was interrupted by a hoof landing on her shoulder which caused her to look up at her sister where jaw dropped at what she saw.  A change had came over Aegis Flare as she actively channeled the thestral side of her heritage as she gave the stallion a seductive look through her lowered eyelids.  All eyes were on her as she sauntered up to the stallion, making sure there was a exaggerated motion of her flanks.

“Well aren't you a handsome one and exactly what I needed.  You see I've always been interested in the Guard and wanted to learn some of their maneuvers.  Would a big, strong stallion like you be able to help me?”  Scootaloo was making gagging motions through all this and, internally, Aegis Flare was doing much the same while making the stallion sweat.  The stallion looked unprepared for the reaction he got from his comment and was off balance when he replied.

“Um, well, of course ma'am.  The Royal Guard is always happy to help, an um, I'll do anything to assist.  Oh and I am Private Steel Wall by the way.”  A grin grew across Aegis Flare's face as she ran a hoof from the stallion's ear to the tip of his jaw, flustering him further.  Before he could react she quickly turned away, slapping him on the opposite cheek with her tail before slinking towards the training field.

“Well don't keep me waiting big boy.  I'll be waiting over at the sparring ring so be ready.”  Most of the guardsponies were still in shocked at the reaction that the unicorn gave but many soon were over congratulating Steel Wall as they escorted him towards the sparring ring.  Scootaloo though was smirking as she recognized what her sister was doing and she wasn't the only one as the three thestrals were staring in shock.

“Was that?  Did she just issue a Thestrali Marriage Challenge?  How would a unicorn even know how a noble challenges their lesser to try to prove themselves worthy?  I think that pegasus filly even recognized it.”  The thestral mare was starting to get worried at the picture the situation was painting as something poked at the back of her mind.  The two stallions though just brushed off what they saw and made to follow after the group.

“Nah, it probably just looked like that.  There's no way she could know the meaning of what she did and she looks too prissy to even back it up.”  The three made there way towards the sparring ring to find the unicorn mare standing casually at one end while Steel Wall strutted in on the other.

“So little lady.  How do you want to do this?  I wouldn't want to do anything that would hurt you.”  While he was acting big on his way over he was now unsure as he was facing the mare who seemed unconcerned about all the spectators.

“Oh, how about we start of with something simple.  Let's see who can push the other out of the ring first.”  The stallion was about to say something about how unfair it would be considering the enchantments on his armor, minor as they were for a relatively new recruit, but shrugged it off for now.  Taking a stance he watched the mare for a moment who made no movement before he started to charge across the ring at her.

What happened next was confusing for those observing as one moment the stallion was charging and the next he was flying past the mare, as she casually sidestepped, out into the surrounding crowd.  “What happened?”  Steel Wall wondered why the mare was standing on the ceiling, never mind the fact they were outdoors, before he realized that he was somehow outside of the ring in the group of spectators.  “Wait!  That didn't count!  I just tripped!”

Aegis Flare just waved her hoof, inviting him back into the ring as she moved to the opposite end for the next round.  The thestral mare was suspicious about how the stallion tripped and with a glance at the pegasus filly and seeing her smirking she felt that she was right.  When the next round started she kept a close eye on the unicorn mare.  When the stallion tripped and fell on his face immediately she was able to catch what the rest of the crowd had missed.  “She's not using all of her horn to trip him up...  But that's...”

The thestral stallions just glanced back at her before turning back to the arena as Steel Wall went flying out of the arena again.  “What are you talking about?  She hasn't even lit up her horn this entire time.  He must be messing around with her to make her feel good about herself.”  The mare shook her head at the two as she tried to put all the pieces together quietly.

“I've heard about unicorns being able to use only parts of their horn, but I thought that only...”  Her eyes widened as she realized where she had seen the mare and filly before as her head whipped around to look up at the nearby command building and the figure visible from the balcony.  This sight distracted her from the current going ons in the nearby arena until it was too late.

“Really?  Is this all that the Royal Guard have to offer?  Guess I was right that the only thing they were good for is standing around looking pretty, this is just pathetic.  Of course what would you expect from a group that was nowhere to be found during multiple major disasters that had to be fixed by a group of civilians.  I doubt even a dozen of you could lay a hoof on me.”  Most of the guard present were shocked at the chance in personality in the unicorn though there were some that were angered at her words.

“Come on, let's show this nag what a dozen or 'pathetic' guards can do to a braggart like her.”  Scootaloo looked worried as twelve stallions, mostly unicorns with a couple pegasii, strode into the ring and started to formed a line across from her.  With a roll of her eyes at their words Aegis Flare remembered some advice she was given to her by her aunt when she was much younger.  Deciding to stop fooling around she let up her her and swung her head upwards before any of the stallions had a chance to react causing pillar-shaped barriers to rise up below them, crushing into a sensitive portion of their anatomy and sending them tail-over-head and leaving them to clutch at themselves in pain.

“JUST WHAT IS GOING ON DOWN HERE!”  A dark shape flew over the crowd to land in the center of the sparring arena to glare down at the collapsed stallions as they rolled in agony while clutching between their hind legs with their front hooves.

“Oh Dear Luna, those two are Lieutenant Ballbreaker's nieces...”  The two thestral stallions turned to stare in shock at their companion as their eyes widened in shock.

“Nothing much auntie.  These fine fellows were just keeping me and Scootaloo company while we were 'slumming' here waiting for you.  Frankly I'm not impressed with their training.”  Her eyes drifted over towards the two thestral stallions whose eyes shrank to pinpricks as their friend said what was on their minds.

“And she could hear everything you two were saying earlier.”

<><><><><><><>

“I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW UNPROFFESSIONAL YOU BUNCH OF LOUSY MAGGOTS ARE!  IF I EVER-”  Aegis Flare closed the window, blocking off her aunt's voice as she yelled at the gathered guardspony before looking back over to her sister as she wandered around the her aunt's office.  Scootaloo was busy poking at a suit of armor that was set on a ponyquin in the corner though luckily the wingblades were up out of reach.  The older sister's eyes drifted over the armor as well and took in the skeletal look that it gave of and wondered how ponies would react to seeing it worn.

“Ugh, I can't believe those morons.  I mean I told them that I had a special guest coming today yet still they go and pull something like this.”  The two turn as the door opens and Scootaloo is soon rocketing across the floor to leap into the hooves of her aunt.

“Auntie Night!  It's been too long since I've seen you!”  The two older ponies chuckle as the filly tries to burrow into the thestrals chest as she flapped over to her chair.

“Well it's not that far from Ponyville to here so you could always visit more without me having to sneak a request into the correspondence with Twilight Sparkle.”  She looked over at her older niece who was avoiding her eyes at that one.  “Unfortunately the time couldn't be spent just catching up what with the emergency going on.  I so wanted to poke at your love life some more.  And a marriage challenge?  You know how long it has been since that tradition has been used and you perform it with somepony you just met?”

Aegis Flare rolled her eyes and blushed slightly at her aunt before she cleared her throat.  “Well that answers what that note meant by assisting the guard, though they need all the help they can get.  And I only did that to prove a point to those two thestral stallions about not judging on assumptions... also Scootaloo has more of a love life than me right now, but what is happening here?  I've never even heard of a citywide shield being put up before without an immediate threat being around.”

Scootaloo glared at her big sister for the comment while Night Wing's eyes lit up at the prospect before she remembered why she had asked them here.  With a sigh, Night Wing reached into her desk to pull out a scroll to pass over to the elder sister while keeping her other foreleg and a wing around the other.  “I probably shouldn't be showing you this but with your affiliation to the MEEL group as well as one other factor I shouldn't get into too much trouble.  We received this a few weeks ago through an old communication crystal.”

Looking over the scroll Aegis Flare found that it was only a partial message with little of it making sense.  “D-ger. -an-ing attack. r-y-l wed-g. Ca-t-lot.  B- G- C- -a.  That's not really much to go on with how broken up it is with only one clear word.  Even the sender isn't clear so this could all just be a prank.”

The thestral lieutenant shook her head before she set the pegasus filly back on the floor.  “Normally there would be more time searching for the source but there is one problem with where this message came from.  The only crystals left linked to the one the message came through have all been lost...  along with the members of the Black Guard that vanished with them.”

The eyes of both orange ponies widened at this news as they slowly looked each other before looking back at their aunt.  Aegis Flare had to work hard to control her emotions at that moment as she took a few deep breaths.  “Do...  Do they have any information on who it may have been?”

Their aunt just shook her head but that didn't diminish the look of hope that was on Scootaloo's face.  “Do you think that it might be mom and dad?”

With the question finally answered the elder sister couldn't hold back the tears anymore as she grabbed up the younger in a tight hug.  “I don't know, sis, but this is more news than we've had in years so we can only hope.”  Night Wing looked at the two before moving to wrap her own wings around them but didn't say anything to dispel what little hope they now has as she knew just how long the list of missing ponies was and how little chance it was of being her brother.

<><><><><><><><><><>

“All right you maggots!  I shouldn't have to say this but as you know this is my niece and is worth more than a dozen of you.  That is why I have asked her to help whip you into shape and don't think that just because she is a civilian she will go easy on you since whatever you have done she has done worse.  Since we already know how much improvement you need at sparring we'll move along to the obstacle course.”  Aegis Flare was glad that she had so many years practice of controlling herself from showing her emotions on her face else she would be laughing at her aunt's current personality as it was so different from what she was used to.  Glancing at the course though she had to wince at how simplistic it was even if it was long.

“So should a bother using my magic for this or hold back and do without?”  Aegis Flare whispered this to her aunt as she looked over the various obstacles, if they even could be called that.  Night Wing just smirked as she turned away from her troops.

“Oh, go all out.  They are supposed to use any means available to them, except flight, but they have gotten really lazy and barely work up a sweat when they do it.  Not to mention that after seeing your setup at your home this is just a waste of your time.”  With a smirk of her own Aegis Flare took her place at the starting line and waited for the signal to start.

When the bell went off she was instantly in motion as she charged the first obstacle.  She didn't even slow as she approached the stone hurdle and leaped atop it to bound from it to the next and further until she was on her way to the next.  The wall that was next was even easier as she boosted herself over with a shield rising up beneath her and the path of vertical logs was handled much the same as the hurdles.  She barely even noted the balance beam or the barrel weave but she slowed slightly when she came on the swinging padded logs.  At this point she finally brought her magic out as more than a booster as she formed a shield in front of her a rammed through the logs, knocking them all out of her path.  Once through she flicked her head and sent her shield ahead as she dove and slid through the long tunnel in seconds before coming to their hooves on exiting and diving through the three lined up windows before finishing the course.

At the finish line she breathed in deeply once before flicking her braided mane around and looked over to the guards that just stood there gaping at her.  Night Wing was smirking as she walked up and raised the stop watch up for them all to see.  “Well look at that, a new record and she hasn't even worked up a sweat.  By a good margin too and even with full armor without the featherweight enchantments there wouldn't be much of a difference.  Now that she has set the bar let's see how all of you do and how much work you all are going to need.”

For the next few hours they watched as the guard were run through the course while Scootaloo assisted by rushing around helping supply snacks and drinks to keep them refreshed.  After they had run the course the best were sent over to the sparring area where Aegis Flare watched them and gave them tips on improving themselves.  That proved exhausting as the most many of them knew of tactics was to just line up and charge while flailing their weapons around and after the fifth time of causing them to crash into a pile she was starting to feel like it was hopeless.  “This is getting embarrassing.  You'd think that after all this you would have learned not to bunch up and make yourselves an easy target.  I mean you pegasii have wings, use them!  Get around and attack from other angles and don't make it easy for them to dodge so you crash into each other.  Predict what your opponent will do and force them into a bad position.”

It wasn't until the higher ranking guard members were brought in to lead them that they actually made any progress as they barked out orders and strategies.  Their weapon skills were still mediocre but they at least were no longer tripping over each other which highlighted the major problem with the guardsponies.  “There are too many followers and not enough with any sort of intelligence or mind for strategy.  Without any sort of leader they just charge in blindly.”

Night Wing sighed as she shook her head.  “I hate to say it but you're right and even worse those that have even basic thinking skills get promoted.  If we weren't all in the Lunar Guard part of the Royal Guard the officers would almost always be thestrals.  Out of this group of privates the only one with any potential is that Steel Wall stallion and you've seen how he is.”

“Unfortunately.  He's also the only one to even come close to touching me and that's only because he managed to break through my shields that one time when I let my guard down.  If a major conflict happened he'll either be the first to die or be earning medals with how enthusiastic he is.”  After a quick stop by her aunt's personal shower, Aegis Flare collected her yawning sister and bid her aunt good night for the moment while heading back to the Canterlot palace to join her friends.

Arriving at the set of room they were given she found that most of her friends were already asleep so she moved to bring Scootaloo to the room she was sharing with the other two fillies.  The two looked at her guiltily as she found them still awake but she said nothing as she tucked her sister in and left the three behind.  She was about to head to her own room when she noticed that Twilight was still awake and looked rather grumpy.  “Hey Twilight, did I miss something today?”

Twilight glanced over before her cheeks puffed up and she turned away much to the orange unicorns confusion.  “What?  Are you here to tell me how I'm being overprotective of my brother and that Cadance being such a nag to everypony is natural for a bride as well?”

Aegis Flare reared back a little as her confusion grew at her friend's hostility.  “Whoa!  What are you talking about?  Who's Cadance and why would I say something like that when I've been at one of the guard training grounds all day with my aunt?”

Her confusion, along with her words, were enough to cause Twilight to blush and look sheepish as she sighed explained everything that had happened over the course of the day.  Aegis Flare and listened and, while she had to admit something seemed off, she felt that Twilight might be overreacting a bit especially as she started to sound more frantic.  “Calm down Twilight.  Your manic side is starting to show and you know that ponies have trouble treating you seriously when you get like that.”

This got Twilight to pause and bring her hoof to her chest before breathing in and out deeply.  “Now why do you think something is wrong?  She just sounds like nearly every other noble I've seen in Canterlot so it's not that odd.  And what happened with Lyra and the other bridesmaids?”

The name of one of the bridesmaids caught Twilight's attention first as she only the realized something.  “Wait, Lyra?  Lyra Heartstrings?  I didn't realize she was one of the bridesmaids but nopony has heard from them since our friends were chosen to replace them.  It's been a couple years since I saw her when she left Canterlot.  How did you know she was one of the bridesmaids?”

This sent a spark of worry through Aegis Flare as she frowned at her friend.  “She's been living in Ponyville for a while now with her marefriend Bon Bon.  She was so excited to be contacted by the princess, who she called an old friend.  For her to just vanish without a trace and be replaced just like that doesn't seem right.”

Twilight's ears perk up as she is finally not the only one seeing that something is wrong.  “I know!  The Cadance I remember would never have done any of the things that this one has been doing.  In fact she wouldn't just be wandering around giving orders like this she would actually be helping out with everything even if she got a little bit dirty.  Whatever happened to change her must be what is making her magic look green now as well.”

Aegis Flare's ears shot up in alarm at the last bit of information from Twilight as she had heard of a pony's magic changing color but the cause was never good.  Her mind also went to what else she had learned earlier and wondered if it could be a coincidence.  “I think you may be right and something is seriously wrong.  I found out that the reason Canterlot is on high alert is because of a warning about some unknown attackers.  What is more worrying is that the warning was through old Black Guard channels and they may have already gotten through your brother's shield somehow.”

While she was happy to finally have convince one of her friends she was also worried about what had happened to her old foal sitter.  “I'm just glad somepony believes me finally.  Now we just need to think of what to do about all of this.

“Beyond keeping an eye out and looking for solid proof?  I have no idea.”  With a nod to each other the two went to their own rooms to prepare for the next day.

<><><><><><><><><><>

The next day was tense as Aegis Flare returned to help out her aunt some more.  She had left Scootaloo with her friends that day since she felt that she would be safer with them than out in the city.  She tried to help her aunt out again that day but Night wing noticed that she was distracted and around midday pulled her into her office.  “All right, what's wrong?  Something has had you distracted all day and you aren't pulling your hits as much as yesterday.  Some of the guardsponies are starting to complain.”

Aegis Flare pondered for a moment before answering with a question.  “How well do you know Princess Mi Amore Cadenza?”

Her aunt's ear twitched as she wondered where this was going.  “Well I never had much dealing with her except the rare times that she visited with Princess Luna but from what I could tell she always seemed to be a nice mare.  Why do you ask?”

The unicorn frowned as she had been getting that answer from all those she had asked the entire day.  “Because that similar to what I've been hearing all day yet none of that matches up with how I've heard she has been acting.  Now before you say anything, Canterlot is supposed to be on high alert from an unknown attack during the wedding so why is it such a drastic change in personality is just glossed over instead of looked into?  In fact Twilight Sparkle was the only one to say anything yet everyone was pushing back against her.  She even noticed that the princess' magical aura has changed colors which has serious implications.”

Night Wing was about to say something but a frown steadily deepened across her face as each point was mentioned.  When the last bit was revealed she was looking worried.  “You're right.  This has all been handled sloppily, just what would be expected from the Solar Guard.  They have been in charge of most of the defenses so far while the Lunar Guard has been working on training them up to at least the standards help by the thestral corps back home.  I'd better tell Princess Luna and our Captain and hope it isn't too late.”

She rang for a messenger to come to the office and the two waited for them to arrive.  The younger mare's reaction to see a colt come in was only to raise an eyebrow but felt it made a bit of sense that they would do the job for a bit of pocket change.  As he left the two were about to start planning on what to do when they began to hear yelling from outside.  “Now what what has those ninnies worked up?”

Looking outside the eyes of the two widened as they saw the swarm of creatures outside of the city shield which were ramming themselves into it.  Moments later the shield just collapsed and the two could hear even more screaming coming from the city.  While Night Wing just stood in shock at the size of the invasion, Aegis Flare's eyes just narrowed as she lit up her horn with not just one but three layers of energy.  “Ma'am!  We have a problem and need to get the Element Bearer to safety!”

Moments later a corona of energy expanded from the unicorn, passing through the ponies and objects that it came across.  While most ponies just shook their heads at the odd feeling, the one that had entered the room appeared to be set ablaze as it passed through him until the entire training compound was encased in a glowing field of energy.  Night Wing had been turning towards the intruding stallion but she froze when he suddenly burst into flames but her eyes narrowed when his form was revealed to be like one of those that were invading.

With a blur of motion she darted over to the disoriented creature and with a sharp upward swing of her hoof sent it flying upwards to impale its horn in the ceiling.  Then with a quick turn she gave a quick one-two buck to the fork in its hind legs before she flapped her wings and turned into a sharp roundhouse to the head, knocking the creature out as it started to scream out from the disabling pain.  “Wow, no wonder you earned the nickname Ballbreaker.”

“Well a mare has to defend herself from unwanted advances, and it's not like you held back yourself from taking my advice.  Now if you'll excuse me I have a defense to plan.”  With that she flew out to the balcony and took in the scene of panic below before inhaling deeply.  “ATTEEEEENSHION!”  All movement stopped below at her bellow and glared at them for their actions.  “How dare you call yourselves Royal Guard if this is how you react to what we were formed for.  All squads form up!  Sergeants, get all specialists to form a smoke screen at the edge of the barrier, we don't need them seeing what we are doing.  Then sweep the interior for any infiltrators, they can take pony disguises but they were disrupted by the shield and I already took care of one.”

She watched for a moment more before her gaze fell on a specific pony before making a decision.  “Quartermaster!  Our lines our cut so I'm making an emergency decision, I am authorizing usage of any warframes we have stored here, get those with the appropriate training and get them kitted up.  All thestrals, I hope you brought your Sunday's best.”  Her final orders were met with gasps as she turned back to her room and marched over to her own armor while speaking to her niece.  “How long do you think you can keep that shield up?”

Rubbing just below her horn Aegis Flare looked out at the creatures that were ramming her shield before they were obscured by the smoke.  “Maybe ten minutes with my current magic levels, but with the potions I brought I can make it thirty.  I've never really made a shield this big before and I'm blocking everything except visible light so the air that's inside of it is all we have.  I do have one other potion but I'm not sure how safe it will be to use.”

She pulled out an oddly glowing vial from her pouch that actually had an aura around the bottle itself.  Her aunt's eyes widened as she took it in as she almost dropped a piece of her armor.  “Where the buck did you get an alicorn level mana potion?  Those things are strictly controlled and take direct authorization from the princesses themselves to be able to sell OR buy.”

The unicorn frowned at hearing this and made a note to talk with her contact about it.  “A while back I was able to obtain a highly-magically infused plant which I decided to use.  This was my first attempt but since I didn't know how much of the plant to use I overdid it even after cutting back on how much I would normally use.”

Her aunt shook her head before she jammed her helmet on and did a final once-over of her armor.  “Well be careful with that.  I heard that Captain Shining Armor used one once and, while it worked extremely well, he was burnt out for a week afterwards.  Who knows what it would do to somepony not of his power.”

Aegis Flare raised an eyebrow at the flask once more before she stored it away.  “With what's happening now I don't think that will be much of a problem.  While I may not be able to use external magic sources like most unicorns, Twilight found out that because of it my internal power is nearly on par with hers.”

With a nod of her head Night Wing led her niece out of the room while a pair of stallions came in to take custody of the unconscious creature.  They made their way outside to where all those protected by the shield were gathered and the lieutenant gathered all those of squad leader or higher positions to plan.  “Right, I need ideas and I need them fast.  We have less than thirty minutes to prepare so what do we have?”

She looked towards the quartermaster who had sent his subordinates to help suit up the chosen ponies.  “Unfortunately we don't have much right now.  Of the warframes there are only two I-Frames and a single M-Frame in working condition.  Also while there are a dozen J-Frames we only have four earth ponies available to wear them.  With those we also have whatever your Lunar Guard brought with and then the basic gear for the thirty-two pegasii and fifty-seven unicorns not being kitted out in the warframes.  We also have no idea what the invaders have brought or their capabilities as we have no information on them.”

Aegis Flare started to only half listen as the group tried to flesh out their plans and looked around at the rest of the gathered guardsponies, many of whom were also listening in.  Her brows furrowed as she noticed the worried whispers that were being passed between them as well as the barely controlled panic.  Before she could form any further thoughts on it her gaze was drawn by a flash from the building entrance as the seven chosen ponies exited and she let out a whistle of appreciation.

The unicorn in the M-Frame was covered in thick golden plates that covered her front while her backside was studded in multiple gemstones.  Her helmet covered her entire head with gemstone covered openings for her eyes while her horn was partially visible through the dual spiral of a silvery metal than ran up along it and made it look twice as long.  Also on her back coming from her shoulders were two thick rods that ended in large gems that seemed to glow.

The two pegasii wore matching I-Frames that also covered their entire front but were of much more sleek design to allow for more aerodynamic flight.  In fact most of the armor was rather form fitting while their wings were covered in such a way that each individual feather was armored.  The only gems on their armor though was at the joints of their wings as well as around the end of each of their hooves.

The earth ponies in their J-Frames could easily be described in a single word which is what the suits were named as they were, juggernauts.  Like moving walls of steel they were plated from head to hoof in some of the strongest metals available to ponykind.  In fact if she didn't know that there was a pony underneath the armor she would have sworn that they were golems.  Every joint of the armor was also covered in gems for extra protection as well.

The unicorn had to wonder just what enchantments were on each of the suits as there had to be more to just what she saw.  Of course with how things were going she was sure to see what they could do unfortunately.  On a closer look though she noticed that most of the armored ponies also looked worried and weren't in the best of condition.  The only exception was who she quickly realized was Steel Wall as he somehow managed to strut around in the armor and she grudgingly had to give him a bit of respect for not being panicked.

“We must find Princess Celestia!  She the only one who can save us right now!”

“And I tell you that doing that is foolish, we need to fortify this area and wait for reinforcements!”

“That won't work, they enemy would be swarming there first, we need to round up whatever guard we can find!”

Aegis Flare's attention was pulled back to the arguing ponies trying to put together a strategy before she brought a hoof up to her face.  After another few minutes of arguing and nothing happening she decided to speak up.  “They are right that Princess Celestia would be the worst place to go since that is where the enemy leader will be.”

All eyes and ears turned towards her while one of them spoke up.  “And what does a civilian know about tactics or what is going on?”

The unicorn's eyebrow rose as her eyes darted to her aunt who was facehoofing at the stupidity of her subordinate.  “Probably more than you considering my parents taught me many things, including basic tactics like not attacking where the enemy expects which would be where Princess Celestia is, as well as whatever was impersonating Princess Cadenza which is now obvious after seeing a little of what these creatures can do.  Oh and before you ask, my father is Captain Vanator with his wife Captain Bella Donna of the Black Guard.”

Silence reigned at that pronouncement as all those that heard her stared in shock as the Black Guard had started to fall into myth.  To not only have a pony that was not only related to them but even trained by the Captains themselves sent a small ripple of hope through the gathered guardsponies.  Her answer shocked the naysayer into silence as he backed down allowing her aunt to take control again.  “So what do you suggest then?  The odds seem to be against us so any idea you have is as good as any.”

Taking a deep breathe Aegis Flare gathered her thoughts and something seemed to tickle at her mind that the creature had said.  With that along with some of the things she had learned from her parents an idea started to form.  “The Elements.  That creature was here for me specifically which means that most of their focus will be on capturing me.  I could lure them away while you all breakout for the real target, Princess Luna and the rest of the Lunar Guard.”

Her idea was greeted with silence before somepony spoke up.  “Are you crazy?  How the hay will you survive against all of that and what good will the Lunar Guard do?”

The speaker earned the glare of every thestral in the area while the unicorn just shook her head.  “I can do better on my own on the move than babysitting all of you.  I've probably been deeper in the Everfree Forest than anyone has in a long time and I've traveled it alone since my parents disappeared.  This is going to be nothing  and all you need to worry about is the initial breakout from this area to try and sell the fact that I should be the one to worry about and not all of you.  As for Princess Luna and her guard?  Your response alone just screams that going for  them would be the least likely course of action the invaders would worry about.”

There was still some grumbling while Night Wing considered everything.  On the one hoof she didn't want to put her niece at risk like this but on the other they didn't have any better plans.  “As much as I don't like this it's all we have for now.  Everypony be ready to move out in ten minutes.”

As the guardsponies moved to get into position the lieutenant pulled her niece aside.  “Are you sure that you are up for this?  We can figure something else out if you don't.”

Shaking her head Aegis Flare just looked over the assembled guards.  “I'd be more worried about you subordinates.  I plan on using that potion and with the boost try and find my friends and reach the Elements of Harmony.  Whatever these are seems to think they are a greater threat so once you smash into them I'll provide an even larger distraction so you can make your way to the princess.  If I can scare an Ursa Minor then holding these off will be easy.”

Shaking her head Night Wing patted her niece on the shoulder before moving off to prepare for the breakout, leaving her to think.  She was glad that the city was mostly made of stone so she could use her pyromancy but she still had to be careful not to cause too much property damage.  Taking a few deep breathes she let out a huge sigh before looking over the group and frowning.

Other than the one earth pony most of the group didn't seem to be ready to fight and looked more likely to run and panic.  Feeling the strain on her magic she broke out the last potion and chugged it down before looking them over once again.  As the potion surged through her a feeling gripped her as she marched to the head of the preparing guardsponies.  “Really!  Is this all that the Royal Guard is?  A bunch of cowards that would rather let civilians do their job for them?!  Why are you even here if not for moments such as this?!  If you back out now you will all forever by known as the ponies that ran when Equestria needed your help!”  Moments later she burst into song which started to energize the ponies present in front of her.



As the music started a wave of energy flowed out through the gathered guardsponies causing them to stand up straighter.  Their fear was soon wiped away as they prepared for the coming battle as they formed ranks.  At the call of 'Fight' they moved into action as the battle to retake Canterlot began.

----------

Outside of the shield the swarm of changelings battered at it trying to get in and accomplish the goal given to them by their queen.  Their intel had one of the Element Bearers at this position but their operative in the compound had not reported in and had been given up for lost.  The commander of the group buzzed impatiently as he waited for the shield to fall but he would never have been prepared for how it did so.

When the shield fell it didn't do so with It shattering but with it exploding outwards in a corona of flames that threw back those battering at it and bringing with it the cloud of smoke.  With it came the sound of singing and before the changelings were prepared a barrage of energy bolts came streaming out of the cloud into the the swarm, followed by a hulking beast of metal.  “LET'S DO THIS!  OORAAAAH!”

The changeling commander was unprepared as the earth pony juggernaut came flying out of the smoke wielding a large sledgehammer to slam it into his area creating a massive crater and sending changelings flying.  Before any of the others could react Steel Wall shifted his grip on his weapon and swung it around in a wide arc, clearing the vicinity before the hammer vanished back into his armor.  His solo assault was followed by the sound of yelling from the lieutenant.  “Steel Wall you moron!  Get back in formation!  Darn it, unicorn cover that fool and pegasii?  It's time to clear the skies!”

The bolts of energy intensified in their numbers as the cloud finally began to clear showing that it was all a single unicorn firing them all with four others channeling energy to her.  An average unicorn could fire off maybe twenty of these bolt a minute but with the armor the number was multiplied by ten as long as the suit had magic.

Before the dazed changelings could regroup they were buffeted out of the sky as two wings of pegasii, eleven in each, flew by creating a vortex of air around them.  The suited pegasus of each wing was channeling the magic of the entire formation into controlling the very sky preventing the changelings from being able to stay in it as they were sent flying in all directions.

The true terror for the changelings though came in the form of three thestrals that appeared and disappeared as fast as they could blink.  The three armored ponies were shredding any changeling that they neared, leaving them spurting blood, before moving on to the next target with ruthless efficiency.  The unexpected assault, along with their command being taken out so fast, left the changeling disorganized as they started signaling to the rest of the swarm for reinforcements as they scattered away from the area.

“All right we have them on the run!  Flare!  It's all on you now, the rest of you form up and move out!”  Moving swiftly Aegis Flare darted out from her position with the core unit of the guards and ascended a nearby building using her shields like a stairway.  Once there she surveyed the area and saw another group of changelings flying towards the area causing her to smirk.  The potion was still flowing through her and she was starting to feel overloaded so she used this opportunity to release some pressure as well as give the retreating guard a show.

Her horn lit up into a triple corona as she formed a large portion of her magic into a swarm of small balls of flame.  Taking aim she launched them all towards the approaching swarm in a wide spread and, though many tried to dodge, when they reached an optimal spread they all exploded and sent the swarm into disarray.  With their attention gotten she started to take off across the rooftops in the direction of the royal vaults.

As she traveled she repelled any attackers with a variety of flip, kicks, and burst of flame while searching for her friends.  Aegis Flare noticed that after the action of her and the guards she left behind the city was beginning to rise up as she found more and more ponies actually fighting back instead of running away.  She winced as she noticed a large group of the monsters being knocked away from a gray earth pony mare wielding a cello lake a hammer and a white unicorn mare using her magic to use the surroundings as weapons.

Her eyes also caught sight of a familiar duo being chased by a group of changelings into an alley but before she could move to assist a gold and gray blur flew by after them.  Moments later black figures were being sent flying from the area at a respectable rate as she continued on.  “Wow, she's just like a mama bear when her foals are threatened.”

As she traveled the rooftops she noticed another large disturbance moving in the same direction she was and she moved to intercept it.  There she finally found her other friends being surrounded by changelings, many in their forms, though they were holding their own well.  Seeing a few sneaking up on her cousin her eyes narrowed before she looked at how the creatures were descending from the sky, giving her a bad idea.

Twilight and her friends back up from the changelings as the started to take the forms of their group making things more confusing.  Before they could resume combat the sound of scream sounded above the din that was steadily growing louder and everyone froze as a ball of orange fire collided with the group scuffling behind Fluttershy before bouncing into the nearby wall.  When the flames faded revealing a familiar orange form Twilight cried out in relief.  “Flare!  Where did you come from?  And what were you thinking doing something so dangerous?!”

Shaking her head the orange unicorn glared up at her friend as she climbed out of the pile of bodies.  “Nice to see you to.  What are these things?  I've been fighting them across the city trying to find you girls?”

The two moved back to back as the changelings resumed their assault, now with the form of the seventh added to their ranks.  Twilight blasted a few of the forms back before she had time to answer.  “They're changelings and their queen is holding Princess Celestia and Cadance back at the chapel!  She was disguised as Cadance this entire time!”

Aegis Flare lit a couple of the changelings on fire, sending them running off in search of a way to put themselves out.  “I've never even heard of changelings before, and that's saying something!  This transformation ability of theirs is getting annoying so it's a good thing I found out a way to remove it, even if it may be temporary!  Brace yourself!”

Charging up, the orange unicorn used her magic to bring up another shield as it expanded across the battlefield before immediately vanishing as it covered the nearby area.  As it passed the forms of the disguised changelings rippled before they faded back to their natural form leaving themselves slightly disoriented.  Twilight also tossed a glare at her friend as she rubbed at her horn though she said nothing since her trick was effective.  “Disrupting their magic seems to remove the disguise and little is as disorienting as passing through a magical barrier with active magic.”

The group quickly mopped up the undisguised changelings but they soon noticed a problem which was voiced by Rarity.  “Where's Rainbow Dash?”

“Over here!”  The six turned to see  the pegasus pulling herself from the initial pile of changelings that Aegis Flare had incompacitated while glaring at said unicorn who was rubbing at her head in embarassment.  “Did you have to hit me with your little entrance as well?  I would almost have called it cool if not for that.”

“Sorry about that.  I just saw a group coming up behind Fluttershy and acted.”  The cyan mare just waved the incident off as an accident and the group started towards the royal vaults until Aegis Flare stumbled with a wince of pain.

“Flare?!  Are you all right?!”  Fluttershy moved to examine her cousin but she was just waved off.

“My leg is just acting up after that bad landing.  Thinking back that may not have been the best of ideas, but in my defense I may be a bit hopped up on magic right now.”  She stumbled woozily as she got up and took a few more steps.  “Which I think may be wearing off now.  Huh, I thought an alicorn level potion would have lasted longer.”

“Are you crazy!?  Even I wouldn't drink one of those unless it was an extreme emergency!?”  With a raised eyebrow the orange unicorn waved a hoof at the chaos around them bringing a blush to Twilight's face.  “Point.  But that doesn't diminish the danger of using one of those.  Now come on, we're almost to the vault.”

Minutes later they found their way to the location of the Elements of Harmony but found their way impeded by and even larger changeling force than before which had surrounded them.  The last thing that Aegis Flare saw before her vision went black was the swarm of creatures advancing on her friends.

<><><><><><><><><><>

When she next opened her eyes she found her looking at a vaguely familiar ceiling.  Looking to the side she found the she was in her room in the castle and that her sister was sleeping on the bed next to her.

“Well it's about time that you woke up.”  Turning in the other direction she found her aunt sitting in a chair nearby.  “You're up earlier than the doctors expected you to awaken but from what it sounds like you burned through that potion faster than you should have as well.”

When her niece nodded towards a nearby glass she passed it over for her to drink from before she was allowed to speak.  “What happened while I was out?  How did the battle go?”

Shaking her head she gestured towards the nearby door.  “Well I'm not sure what happened with you and your friends, but their waiting in their own rooms so they can tell you.  We did win and the wedding did go off without a hitch while you were out but on my end before that... well...”

vvvvvvvvvv

“HAHA!  HAVE AT THEE!”  With a loud *SQUEEK* another changeling was sent flying through a nearby wall as Princess Luna laid into it with her aptly named Squeaky Warhammer of Doom.  Changelings were fleeing in terror from her and her force of royal guardsponies as they advanced through the city.  “OH GLORY OF GLORIES!  WE HAVE NOT HAD SUCH FUN IN CENTURIES!  ONWARD MY STEED!”

Rearing up on his hind legs, Steel Wall leapt forward after another group of changelings as he carried the princess into battle.  She received many odd looks from her guards but none of them wished to argue with her choices in dealing with the situation though many felt sorry for the changelings being chased by the duo.

^^^^^^^^^^^

“When me made it the chapel the changelings were already being sent flying by the magical burst from the bride and groom.  From what I head the changeling queen was in a panic as the sound of Luna's hammer approached her location, like she knew what it was.  It turns out that her weapon used to be different but Discord changed it the first time they met and the princess took a liking to it.  Her sister had tried to get her to lock it away, saying something about it causing too much psychological damage.”  She would have said more but the door burst open and Aegis Flare's friends burst in after hearing the sounds from within the room.  They quickly surrounded the mare to make sure she was all right and proceeded to fill her in on what she had missed.
> 39
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So tells us again where we are going and what we're even supposed to be doing?”  The Bearers of Harmony were on the train headed to the frozen north and were a bit tired after having little to do for the entire day.  Rainbow Dash's question gave them all something else to focus on as they were slowly running out of topics.  Twilight was watching the terrain go by through the window before she sighed and turned to the others.

“The princess called where we are going the Crystal Empire and I'm supposed to somehow protect it from a King Sombra as part of my test.  I'm not sure how I'm supposed to do that though since she didn't tell me anything else and there were no books about the place at all.  I only hope that Shining and Cadance have found something while they were up there.”  Twilight lays her head down on her forelimbs as her friends look at each other.  Aegis Flare looks over her shoulder from her bunk before she rolls her eyes.

“Well for a start you could just forget about it being a test of any sort.  If this kingdom really is in trouble then that's the last thing you should be thinking about, especially if it's dangerous.”  Twilight's jaw drops as she looks over to her friend as she can't believe what she was hearing.

“How could you say something like that?  Princess Celestia is trusting me to pass this test so that she knows if I'm ready to continue me schooling.”  The orange unicorn's eyes narrow as he looks over at Twilight before her eyes flicker over to Rainbow Dash who was looking between the two.

“Rainbow Dash if you wouldn't mind?”  The two look at her in confusion until the pegasus notices swatting motions the unicorn was making with her hoof while pointing between her head and twilight.  Shrugging the cyan mare reaches over with a wing and slaps Twilight upside the head with it.  Twilight flinches in shock at the impact before she glares between the two mares.

“Hey!  What was that for!?”  Rainbow Dash shrugs as she looks back across the train aisle to their friend.

“I don't know, what was that for?”  With a sigh Aegis Flare rolls over onto her stomach before looking at her friends again.

“Well I would have thought you would have liked having a turn after what happened during the Mare-Do-Well incident.  Especially since Twilight is doing pretty much the exact same thing.”  Twilight's jaw drops at the situation being compared to that before glaring at the orange mare while Rainbow Dash just looks thoughtful about it all.

“How can you say something like that!?  The princess told me how important this was and I don't want to fail her!”  To her annoyance Aegis Flare just rolls her eyes before rolling back over onto her side once again.

“Then you really need to reexamine your priorities as this 'test' the princess is giving you is one of the stupidest things she's ever done.  No test is worth putting the lives of innocents on the line and she should know better after all the years she has lived.”  Twilight's jaw just opened and closed a few times as she tried to come up with a counter to that accusation but nothing was coming to mind.  With a huff she turned away and curled up on her own bunk as she sulked.  The others could only watch as all this went on but after a while Applejack moved to sit next to Aegis Flare.

“Don't ya think that might have been a tad harsh there?  Ya know how Twilight feels about the princess and how important it is to her that she impresses her.”  Aegis Flare sighs after a moment before she turns her body towards her friend.

“I guess I was a bit hard on her, but she does need to get over her Princess-Celestia-Can-Do-No-Wrong habit of hers.  After her mistakes in disbanding the black guard, sending us out to do things the guard should be doing, and now the changeling fiasco and this it should be obvious now that something is off.”  Applejack though for a moment and she had to agree with some of what her friend said though the way she said some of it bothered her.

“There's more to it than that isn't there?  Do ya want ta talk about it?  Hay, I'm surprised that ya are still taking it this calmly after the attack on Canterlot putting Scootaloo in danger.  I almost expected ya to lock yourself away again.”  The unicorn mare winced before she shook her head and pulled her pillow closer.

“I considered it but there is just one problem.  There is nothing at all about the changelings to be found anywhere.  Flutterponies, bumbles, hay even bushwoolies, I can tell you a good bit about thanks to my parents even though they all died out during the windigo invasion of the old ponylands.  But they knew nothing about changelings and even all my contacts in MEEL have nothing. In fact they are rushing to try and find anything as well.  Whatever we learned that day is all there is to know.”  The farm mare frowns as she listens but doesn't interrupt.  The others were listening in as well, even Twilight who had an ear turned towards them.

“In fact we had more information during the changeling invasion than we do now.  We had no clue how strong the queen would be, and I'm pretty sure that the princess was holding back otherwise she would have leveled Canterlot.  I'm still trying to figure out how we were supposed to get into the sealed vault that the Elements of Harmony were stored.  In fact why aren't we bringing those with us now if this King Sombra is so dangerous?  I'd think they would be much more effective on a single target than and army.”  She was starting to get a bit frantic in her ranting but she took a few deep breathes to calm down when Applejack set a hoof on her shoulder.

“I just hope that Princess Cadance and her husband found something up there that can help out.  If this place was so important than there should have been something about it unless it was intentionally hidden.  I hope I'm wrong about that since there is only one pony that could have done it and if anything goes wrong then there's really only one pony to blame, and it won't be Twilight.”  The others look at each other as Aegis Flare pulls herself deeper into her bunk before they each start heading to their own as the light faded outside.  They each had many things to think about that night, but none more than Twilight who was hit hardest by her friend's rant.

<><><><><><><><><><>

The group arrived at the train stop for the Crystal Empire a couple days later where they disembarked.  They weren't there long when Shining Armor showed up and filled them in on the situation when a howling sounded out over the snowy terrain.  “We have to get to the Crystal Empire!  Now!”

Shortly after a dark cloud rose from the distance and advanced on them causing a bit of panic in some of them as the glowing eyes stared at them.  The chase was soon on as they raced towards the safety of the Crystal Empire and the shield around it.  As they moved Aegis Flare charged up her horn before bringing her head around to lob a fireball at the cloud.  When her attack just passed through the location where the eyes were she frowned in thought on what she was seeing.

As they neared the barrier to the empire Shining Armor turned back to try and slow the evil monarch.  Aegis Flare stopped just short of the wall of light to turn and see the stallion being assaulted by the shadowy form and she tossed up a barrier between the two to try and help him.  She frowned as the shadows just passed through the wall effortlessly to strike the stallion and send him flying through the wall behind her.  Narrowing her eyes, wanting to try one more thing before retreating, the orange mare launched a stream of her magic-consuming fire but her eyes widened when it caused an explosion as soon as it came into contact with the shadows.  Before she had a chance to brace herself she was showered with sharp crystal shards before the shock wave sent her flying into the boundaries of the Crystal Empire.

Aegis Flare lay dazed on the other side until she felt someone trying to help her up.  Shaking her head to clear it she looked up to find Twilight saying something to her and with another shake she winced as her ears popped, removing the ringing the was preventing her from hearing well.  “Flare!  Are you all right!?  What happened out there!?”

Staggering to her hooves, wincing as she felt all the cuts over her body from the crystal shards, Aegis Flare reviewed what had happened in her mind causing her to frown.  “I'm quite sure.  Nothing else I was using seemed to touch that things body, so I figured that my fire spell that burns only magic would work but it reacted badly and caused an explosion of crystals.  I've never had a chance to test it much on a variety of magic types before now.”

“What I want to know is why she was so reckless and stayed out there to attack Sombra in the first place!”  Shining Armor came marching up to the two with a glare on his face at what he believed to be reckless behavior.  Aegis Flare just calmly looked back at him as she responded.

“I was actually getting some useful information on this King Sombra since we were sent here knowing next to nothing, and seeing your little display it's obvious that you know nothing even after being here for a few days.  Of course that's about what I would expect from a member of the Royal Guard.”  The stallions eyes narrowed at her jab at his former profession.

“And what is that supposed to mean?  What would some civilian know about fighting that the Royal Guard doesn't know?  We happen to be the best in Equestria at what we do.”  The orange unicorn just snorts and rolls her eyes at his boast.

“Yeah, at standing around doing nothing.  When a threat to Equestria shows up they are nowhere to be found.  Hay, I barely even had to try to win against a dozen of them in the sparring ring and the training course they use is a joke.  When the changelings showed up they started panicking instead of doing anything useful until I brought up a shield until they were calmed down.  If it wasn't for my aunt breaking out that fancy war armor then I doubt they would have made it to Princess Luna.”  Shining Armor opened his mouth to fire back, but he paused as a look of confusion came over him.

“Wait, all that was you?  I heard that somepony was showing up the group under retraining with the Lunar Guard, but I thought it was one of their members, not one of Twily's friends.  Where  did you learn how to do all of that and why aren't you in the Guard?  You would definitely be officer material.”  Aegis Flare refrained from taking offense at that as he meant it to be a compliment before explaining.

“I learned the basics of what I can do under my parents who were part of the Black Guard while the rest came from my years exploring the Everfree.  Frankly either of those would make me over-qualified for work there even if my Spell-blindness didn't disqualify me from joining.”  Twilight took that moment to interrupt the conversation between the two.

“As much fun as this is, shouldn't we be heading to where Cadance is?  There is an empire to save you know.”  The two look over to her before the stallion blushes and nods to his younger sister.  The group hurry through the town to the structure in the center, though Aegis Flare stumbles a few time due to the injuries she had obtained.  Fluttershy worried over her the whole time as her wound bled lightly before eventually clotting though the pegasus mare still wanted to look them over when they stopped.

The trip through town was eerie as there weren't any other ponies out and about in what was supposed to be a major city.  There weren't even any guards around the palace at the center of the city which brought up many questions about the state of things before the city vanished.  Inside the building was much the same as it was completely deserted until they reached the throne room where they found Cadance sitting alone and looking rather ragged.

After Twilight and Cadance's special greeting, they shared what information that they had, which wasn't much more than the Bearers of Harmony already knew.  At one point Twilight started to get excited about turning everything into a research paper but she remembered what happened on the train and turned to her friends.  “As much as I want to research into everything, does anypony else have any ideas?”

The others glance at each other before Rainbow Dash flies forward.  “I say we just go and find this Sombrero pony and put my hoof through his face.  Wham!  Pow!”

“Whoa now Rainbow Dash, settle down.  We can't just go up ta somepony like that what with all that dark magic of his.  If the princesses couldn't beat him then what do ya think we can do ta him?”  The others nodded along with her except for the other orange mare who was looking thoughtful.

“I don't know, Rainbow Dash's idea might have some merit.  I mean it has been over a thousand years since Sombra has been around so who knows if his magic really is that powerful.  We'd still need to research just what he is using just to be safe, though I have a few guesses.”  The rest of the room, barring the cyan pegasus who looks smug, looks at her as if she was crazy when the only stallion shakes his head.

“Twilight why didn't you tell me that your friend was crazy?  Dark magic is not something to mess around with and I wouldn't face down a user of it without a full platoon for backup.  There is no way that just the seven of you should even think about fighting him.”  Aegis Flare just smirks at him as she leans forward slightly.

“Well there's a secret about dark magic that I know that is obviously not part of the royal guard training.”  Her friends lean forward as her voice slowly drops near the end while Shining Armor looks at her suspiciously.  “There's no such thing as dark magic.”  At her revelation they all looked at her in confusion as Twilight protested.

“What are you talking about?  Of course dark magic is a thing, what do you think King Sombra was using when he was chasing us?”  While she wasn't expecting an answer the orange unicorn fired off one right away.

“Shadow magic along with some  kind of crystal based magic.  I'm not sure on that last one as it wasn't like anything I've heard of before.  All normal, though some a bit questionable, forms of magic.”  Twilight's jaw dropped at her easy answer before she shook off her confusion.

“Right, but how can you say there is no such thing as dark magic?  That kind of magic corrupts the user and eventually turns them evil.  How else would you explain why Sombra is acting like an unthinking beast?”  With another roll of her eyes Aegis Flare looks Twilight dead in the eyes.

“Dark magic is just a label given by superstitious ponies for magic that is harmful to others.  My pyromancy falls under that and is why the princess has special guard branches to keep an eye on users of those types of magic.  The kind of magic you are talking about fall more under corrupting magic, which is intending to cause mental damage like that, and improperly cast magic.  Improperly cast spells can have unintended side effects, such as mental corruption, and even magical attunement can cause problems which is why some artifacts cause problems for the user as it clashes with their own magic.  This is all basic knowledge from the Black Guard teachings.  I'm starting to wonder where everything went from it when the princess shut the entire branch down.”  She brought a hoof up to rub her chin as she thought on the issue when she was interrupted by the fourth unicorn that had been quiet until then.

“As interesting as this all is, darling, shouldn't we be heading out to learn what we need to do?  All those wonderful crystal ponies are just waiting for us out there.”  Looking over to Rarity the others nodded before splitting up to cover more ground.

Aegis Flare went back along the path they took to enter the city while knocking on the doors of a few of the buildings she passed.  Most of them were empty, and appeared to be stores of some kind from what she could tell from looking in the windows, though the ones that did have ponies in them didn't really help much.  “Are you sure that you don't remember anything?  Something that can be used to fight against Sombra?”

At the name of the ruler the crystal ponies iris' shrank as she started backing away into the house.  “No, nope, not a thing.  Fighting against him is bad, bad things happen when you fight him that I don't want to think about!  Gotta go, bye!”

The unicorn sighed as yet another door was slammed in her face.  All she had learned was that the crystal ponies didn't remember much of anything about their past and that they were completely terrified of Sombra.  The fear was actually bugging her more than the memory loss for some reason though she couldn't put her hoof on why exactly.

Deciding that there was nothing to find in this section of the city she started to head back towards the palace to meet up with the others.  As she passed by another shop though she caught sight of something interesting that caused her to pause.  Seeing as there was nopony running it at the time she dropped more than enough bits to pay for it on the counter before snatching up the item and heading out again.

The others were already back in the throne room by the time she returned though she would have been there sooner if not for her wounds slowing her down.  By the time she joined the others she was hobbling along while trying to favor her left foreleg due to the pain.  On seeing her in pain, Fluttershy rushed over to help her and change her bandages.

“Now that we're all here, did any of you find anything?”  The others responding in negative manners though when Applejack mentions a library Twilight gets all excited.  She pauses when she sees Aegis Flare wince in pain before examining her wounds.  “Are you all right Flare?  That doesn't look so good.  I think it's even starting to turn black in the middle as well.”

The orange mare's eyebrow rose as she and Fluttershy examined the wound more closely.  They both noticed the black color that Twilight saw, though while Fluttershy was just confused Aegis Flare's eyes widened in recognition.  Everyone gasped when she brought the injury up to her mouth and ripped something out of it causing a spray of blood.  “Flare!  What are you doing!?”

Fluttershy's question was answered when the unicorn spat out a glob of blood and all eyes turned towards it when it made a tinking sound when it hit the ground.  Laying in the center of the small pool of blood was a black crystal that seemed to absorb the light around it.  Aegis Flare's eyes narrowed as she looked at it while Twilight's widened in recognition.  “Everypony get back!  That thing is dangerous!”

The others backed up in shock at her words as Twilight lit up her horn and tried to grab the crystal in her magic.  They all watched as she stood there with her magic surrounding the crystal shard but when nothing happened they looked at her curiously.  Twilight started looking strained as she intensified her magic before she snorted in frustration.  “Why isn't my magic working on it?  Princess Celestia destroyed something like this before and I'm sure I'm casting the same spell on it.”

Aegis Flare, after having her reopened wound bound up again, limped over to the crystal to look it over more closely.  She noticed that after it landed it had started to slowly grow larger.  Reaching out a hoof, despite Twilight's protestations, she poked at it and observed as its growth slowed.  Twilight paused as she noticed this as well as as her fear fell away to be replaced by curiosity.  “What is going on with this thing?  It doesn't make any sense.”

Cadance, who had been out of it this whole time trying to focus on keeping the shield up that was protecting the city, slowly moved over to Shining armor to lean against him.  As she neared the area with the shard it started moving along the floor away from her while shrinking slightly.  Looking between the shard and the princess Aegis Flare made a connection on what may be going on.  “I think that thing is solidified negative energy of some kind.  I didn't notice that it was imbedded in my leg until after I was talking with the crystal ponies where it steadily started hurting more.  The amount of fear that they seemed to be feeling must have been feeding it.”

Taking a moment to observe the shard again she pressed down on a small portion of it with the edge of her hoof and watched a piece of it break away easily.  Sliding that bit away she then lit up her horn and bathed it in flames and watched as nothing happened before trying to nudge it with her shield.  Pouring more magic into it she set it to block everything and only then did it move.  Changing tactics once again she carefully drop a bit of her magic consuming flames on it and watched as it crackled and popped while it faded away.  “Hmm, I can do a bit to them but it's rather mana intensive.  It must take positive energy of equal intensity to efficiently get rid of this stuff.”

Twilight frowned before trying something else with her magic which worked this time to destroy the rest of the crystal.  The effort left her panting a bit before she shook her head in annoyance.  “Ugh, I think you're right.  Maybe there is some more information on this stuff in the library.  At least there's something else to look for while we're there.  You should stay here and rest after that injury, maybe you can find something to help Cadance.”

She turned with the others to leave before the orange unicorn cleared her throat to get their attention.  “Actually, I think I may have found something else when I was out that I almost forgot about.  I'm not sure if it's important but it seemed odd when I looked at it.”  Reaching into her bag she pulled out the item she had found and unrolled it to reveal a map of the city.  Twilight looked it over before she smiled.

“This is perfect!  Now we can... find...”  The unicorn trailed off as she tilted her head as something caught her eye on the map.  She spun it around a few more times before she up at her friends in amazement.  “Why is the city designed to look like a magic circle!?  Something like this can't be a coincidence but what would be for?”

“That's what I thought it was, but I wasn't sure when I saw it.  There are just so many questions about this place that we should have been told about before we were sent here.”  The comment earned her some glares from Twilight and Shining Armor, though the ignored it beyond that for the moment as the other six mares left in to find the library.  Shining Armor helped Cadance out to the balcony to get some fresh air leaving Aegis Flare alone to dig through her bags.

“Toothbrush, towel, extra bandages... ahh, there they are.  I really should look into how to make some of those healing salves Zecora makes.  While the mana potions are useful those being the only thing I know how to make is kind of becoming an issue during emergency situations like this.  If the recipe for those combat stims wasn't so heavily regulated I'd look that up too.”  Pulling out her stash of the potions she hobbled her way after the royal couple.  She found Shining Armor comforting Cadance out on the balcony and she sat a small distance away looking out over t he city.

“Here, I'm not sure how much these will help but it's probably better than nothing.  I'd offer a combat stim as well but I only have a small supply left and I have no way to get more.”  Shining Armor's eyebrow raises as he looks over the bandoleer of mana potions before offering one to Cadance.

“Do I want to know how you have Captain-grade mana potions as well as combat stims which a civilian isn't supposed to have any access to.”  Aegis Flare just shrugs as she watches the princess drain vial after vial until they were all empty.

“Well the combat stims were ones my parents had in storage before they disappeared on what was supposed to be a simple diplomatic mission.  I try not to use them because of the side-effects, though I can see why they are so regulated when they can keep you awake for a month straight without sleep though the coma afterwards sucks.”  The stallion's eyes widen at her seeming personal knowledge of what they can do while she continues.  “The mana potions the I make myself from what I gather in the Everfree.  I have some that are apparently Alicorn-class but after the first time using one I have Sang Bleu checking the rest over thoroughly before I think of carrying any of those around.”

Shining Armor growls on hearing the name of her vendor contact in Canterlot.  “Him?  Why would you leave something like that with that snake?  I've been trying to get something on him for the last few years to put him away yet he somehow keeps slipping away.”

The unicorn mare raises an eyebrow at him questioningly at that.  “Um, you do know that he works directly for the princess and many of the harder to get things supplied to the guard come through him?  My parents used his services quite often and told me that I could trust him the one time he visited our home.”

With a frown the stallion ponders all this before he shakes his head.  “How can you know something like that?  If you are right then the princess just let me waste time on something that didn't need to be done.  Just who were your parents anyways?”

Aegis Flare sighed as she found herself yet again having to go through this.  “My parents are Bella Donna and Vanator, Captains of the Black Guard.  At least they were before they disappeared and the Black Guard was disbanded by the princess.”

The stallion was quiet for a while, occasionally nuzzling Princess Cadance before he groaned in annoyance.  “I'm really starting to wonder how many other things Princess Celestia has been hiding from me.  I was the bucking Captain of the Royal Guard and I can't do my job if important information is being withheld from me.”

Cadance pats her husband on the back as she sags against him while her magic flickers a bit before steadying once again.  The three look over the city and soon see Twilight and the others racing back towards the palace.  The three slowly make their way back to the throne room to meet them all and find out what they had discovered.  When the two groups met Twilight started waving around a trio of books that her group had found in the library.

“We found something but it looks like there is a problem.”  Opening up the various books she revealed that a page or parts of pages were missing from each of them.  “This book describes the history of the Crystal Empire, this one is about the building of the city, and lastly we have one detailing the biology of the crystal ponies.  Unfortunately somepony tore out key parts of each book, yet from what I can tell they each were talking about the same thing.”

They paged through the books and read about how the crystal pony's biology allowed them to project positive emotions into the magic circle that was built into the city.  They held a major celebration on a yearly basis to help focus this energy through the magic circle that was built into the city with the palace at its center.  What all this energy was supposed to go toward was unclear as the torn out sections were where the answer to that question was located.  The energy provided by the crystal ponies was supposed to somehow protect the entire empire which sounded exactly like what they needed.  “So what do we do now?  If we can't find out what we are supposed to do then how are we going to fight back?”

Twilight just shook her head at Rainbow Dash's impatience as she pulled over the history book.  “Well we need to find whatever these books are referencing, but at the same time we need to set up this Crystal Faire so that when we do find it it'll be charged by the crystal ponies.  Sombra must have hidden it somewhere since it could be used against him and I'm pretty sure he was the one that tore these pages out.  Since it's most likely that he hid everything using his magic I'll be searching for it, along with Flare since she might be able to spot something with her experience.  The rest of you should try and set up the Faire and encourage the ponies of the empire to join in.”

The others nodded in agreement though there was one voice of dissent that caused Twilight to pause.  “Well I'm going with you, Twilight.  With how you get when something catches your attention at least one of us should keep your head straight.”  Twilight glared at Spike for a moment before she sighed and levitated the dragon onto her back.  With their jobs decided the seven mares and one dragon went their own ways to accomplish their chosen assignments.

Aegis Flare tested her legs as the others wandered off and nodded on finding them recovered enough for now.  Turning her mind to where she should search first she decided on the palace area since the crystal ponies seemed to avoid it for some reason.  Considering their fear of Sombra he most likely ruled from there and most likely would have kept something important like the unknown artifact nearby.

She paused for a moment as she remembered something that she had glimpsed in the history book and turned back to recheck it once again.  Getting back to the room with the books she found Fluttershy looking over the one she needed.  “Hey Fluttershy, what are you looking for?”

Fluttershy flinched at being caught by surprise but she settled down when she noticed that it was just her cousin.  “Oh, I'm just reading up on the petting zoo that is part of the Faire once more.  I want to make sure everything is just perfect for all those cute ewes.”

Aegis Flare pauses on hearing what she was planning and she cocked her head to the side in curiosity.  “Wait, they have some Baavarians here in the Crystal Empire?  Hmm, that might be really useful with how their brand of magic works.”

The pegasus mare's head turns away from the book to look at the unicorn with a look of surprise.  “Wait, you mean they aren't just cute little animals?  But why would they agree to be part of a petting zoo if they aren't?”

Waving her friends worries down Aegis Flare just moves next to her to reassure her.  “I know you don't like dealing with strangers, but I think that you'll like them.  The goats and sheep of the Baavarians live on the coast near the Shetland Isles and the Minotaur homelands.  They are close allies with the minotaurs and the sheep project a calming aura that helps during negotiations.  In fact many of them are shy like you and normally wouldn't be seen outside of their homelands without cause.  Something like a petting zoo would be something they would do as it would mostly be the young that they would interact with which is more comfortable for them.  There might be other reasons as well, but who knows what as it has been a thousand years since the Crystal Empire was around.”

Fluttershy frowns a bit though she doesn't look as worried as before when she heard that the sheep weren't just animals.  This allowed the unicorn to look through the history book and she quickly found what she was looking for on the last available page.  “Let's see...  Crystal Faire...  Centerpiece...  Crystal heart...  Hmm, I wonder if that could be what we need to find.”

Her cousin looked over her should in interest as she finished her reading and set the book down.  “The last thing that the book mention is some kind of crystal heart yet there seems to be no other mention of it.  It may not be the artifact we need, but it's at least a clue to something important even if it's symbolic.”

With a wave the two part ways with one heading out to the city and the other deeper into the palace.  With a potential target in mind Aegis Flare started going from door to door and peering into each room before moving on to the next.  “Bedroom...  Bedroom...  Storage Closet...  They would be a good place to hide something since it would be unexpected, but they would be too troublesome to have to deal with if they are constantly in use.  It should be somewhere convenient, easily defended, and where you wouldn't expect something important to be hidden.”

The next room she came to happened to be a small armory and it wasn't unoccupied like the last ones had been.  “Hey Rainbow Dash, find something interesting?”

There was a clattering sound as the pegasus dropped the helmet she was holding to turn and see who snuck up on her before trying to act naturally.  “Oh, uh, hey Flare.  Just looking for some stuff to set up a jousting ring.  I found some armor that will fit me and you, but with you getting hurt I guess I'm going to have to settle for Fluttershy helping me with this.”

Cocking her head to the side the unicorn looked at the cyan mare oddly.  “Why Fluttershy?  That would be a rather boring match to watch since she isn't suited to something so aggressive.  Sure she's tough but facing off against another pony and she'll fall apart.  Why didn't you ask Applejack?  That way you could really put on a show.”

Rainbow Dash looked uncertain as she hoofed at the ground.  “Well I could...  But she's really busy doing all that cooking and then she is going to be working at the stalls handing things out.”

With a smirk the unicorn decided to take a shot at the pegasus' ego.  “What, you didn't want an actual challenge out there and just wanted to show off?  Well I guess if you wanted an easy victory then...”

She didn't get an actual chance to finish as Rainbow Dash flared her wings at her friend.  “Hey!  Are you saying I'm scared to face Applejack!?  We'll see about that, where is she!?”

With a light chuckle the orange unicorn shook her head at her friend's reaction to the roundabout challenge before looking around the room.  While she didn't find what she was looking for she did find a set of crystal armor around her size that was for a unicorn.  Hoping that she wouldn't need it, but planning just for if she would, she carried it out to the balcony where Shining Armor and Cadance were.  After updating them on her progress she made her way to another floor to continue her search.

She went through two more floors without any better results before she returned back to the throne room once again.  As she walked in she found Spike standing at the top of a dark stairwell staring down into it.  “Huh, that wasn't there before.  I take it that Twilight found something?”

“Yeah, Twilight remembered something that the princess showed her and used her magic to reveal this opening.”  Spike paused for a moment to look down into the pit once again.  “I think I heard Twilight calling me, I'd better go see what she wants.”

Watching as the dragon started down the stairs the unicorn made her way out to the balcony as Twilight found what they had been searching for, or at least the path to it.  Once there she looked out over the city and at the shield protecting the city as it flickered slightly.  “How are you two holding up?  Twilight just found Sombra's secret room so she should be back with the artifact anytime now.”

Cadance nods before renewing her focus on the shield as her husband nuzzles her in support.  Turning back to the city she watched as the crystal ponies were gathered around the area that was set up for the Faire having a good time.  She noticed that their coats had taken on a shine since she had last seen them and she didn't see a sign of the fear she had noticed before.  She was about to turn away where she noticed something glowing out of the corner of her eyes.  “How long has that been doing that?”

Shining Armor frowned in confusion before he looked over at the armor that she was pointing at.  “I don't know, I hadn't payed any attention to it since you brought it out here.  Why did you do that anyways?”

Frowning for a moment in thought, her expression slowly changed to one of gleeful understanding as the realized something.  “I thought it would be a good thing to have just in case we couldn't find the item Sombra was hiding, but if it did what I think it did then I'm glad I did.”  Lifting the helmet she turned it around to examine the designs carved into it.  “I think it has been soaking up the excess positive energy that has been around you two and has energized it somehow.  If the entire kingdom is protected by an artifact that uses that kind of energy then it makes sense that the armor would be much the same for when the soldiers have to leave it.  I just hope that it's enough to let me actually do something to Sombra if he breaks in.”

While unsure about it her plans to fight, the stallion still helped her out as she started donning the armor.  It felt odd for her to be wearing actual armor but when the last piece was secured she felt a wave of confidence flow through her.  Looking down at her armored hoof she nodded before turning to the two royals.  “I hope I won't be needed, but until Twilight returns I'm going to stall Sombra for as long as I can if he breaks in.”

Aegis Flare made her way out of the palace towards where they had entered the city.  The citizens of the empire seemed to brighten up as she approached and waved to her as she passed by.  She nodded to them as she passed though paused when she was stopped by Rarity.  “Flare, where did you get such elegant looking armor?  Rainbow Dash and Applejack's armor didn't have such a fabulous glow to it.”

With a sigh the orange mare looked out as the shield flickered again.  “Their armor should be the same but mine was sitting next to Princess Cadance.  I think it's supposed to glow like this and is charged by positive emotions like what is supposed to protect the city.  Twilight has almost found the crystal heart or whatever the artifact is supposed to be but I'm going to be keeping an eye on the area Sombra is in case the shield falls.”

Rarity nods as she looks around to the nearby ponies that were talking excitedly.  Listening closely the two could hear the words 'crystal heart' and 'Sombra' being bandied about with the appropriate emotions behind the words.  As Aegis Flare continued on her way to the edge of the city Rarity went back to try and calm the crystal ponies which was both helped and hindered by what they had recently heard.

At the edge of the city Aegis Flare sat down to wait for things to resolve one way or another.  She kind of wished she had time to prepare some surprises for the deposed king but with how they weren't notified that they would be coming to the Empire ahead of time she only brought the basics.  Without anything to set up she had a while to think and rest from her previous scratches.

She lost track of how long she was caught up in her own thoughts, but she was pulled out of them when the shield started flickering badly.  In the moments when the shield was down she could see Sombra's cloud hovering outside of the barrier watching for a way in.  She soon spotted his head amidst all the smoke and as she focused all her senses on him she could hear him muttering something.  “The crystal heart is mine, get away from it...”

Quirking an eyebrow at him she rose to her hooves and started stretching out a little.  “Huh, I guess I was right about what we needed to find.  He seems to be a bit panicked right now about something.”  Watching him closer she could see that his attention was focused on something high up and looking back at the city she noticed something odd happening at the top of the palace.  She could see black crystals growing out of the top of the palace but before she could ponder further on it her attention was pulled back by a scream of rage from Sombra.

Turning back she saw that the former king was reared back in pain with a piece of his horn missing.  She quickly spotted the horn piece sitting on the ground just inside of the barrier and bubbling with dark energy.  The two looked at the piece of horn on the ground for a moment and Sombra, after regenerating the missing bit, started to use his magic on it but was interrupted as a column of fire engulfed the spot when the horn landed.  When the fires cleared all that remained was a scorched spot and his gaze shot up to glare at the unicorn standing inside of the shield.  “Don't think it's going to be that easy now.  Nothing is getting by me as long as I'm here.”

Aegis Flare looked at the dark unicorn defiantly with her horn lit with her fiery aura.  Unlike normal though she also had a faint blue glow around the base of her horn where it came out from her helmet.  Needless to say she had the dark king's attention now as she stood there defiant in his path.  As his gaze focused on her she could feel a wave of fear pass over her but she fought it down and stood firm.  It wasn't long before the shield gave out a few final flickers before finally fading out completely.  'All right then.  Let's dance.”

As soon as the shield dropped Sombra's shadows started swarming in towards the city with his head not far behind it.  Aegis Flare reared up before slamming her hooves down and unleashing the magic in her horn in a wave of flames directed at the monarch.  Sombra kept charging right into the attack but, while it would normally have done nothing, due to the mare's armor her attack was infused with light energy which managed to cause him to rear back in pain as the shadows around him were burnt away.  “Hiss!”

“Heh, not so tough now are you without your shadows?  You'll need more than that to get through here.”  She immediately regretted taunting him as his horn lit up causing crystals to start growing around him.  Shadows started growing out from them before the surrounded her causing her to bring up a shield around her.  She was barely fast enough as even more dark crystals erupted from the shadows in an attempt to impale her but with her barrier intercepting them she only winced from the impact.

The crystals then tried to engulf her, shield and all, but she rose upwards rapidly as she rode another shield upwards before she dove off of it towards clear ground.  On landing she swept another shield around in a wide arc, shattering the crystals and sending them flying back at Sombra.  The shards did nothing though as the shadows had surrounded him once more hiding his body from view.

Sombra warily watched the mare and tried to bypass her but her magic was always there to stop him in his tracks.  With a growl he poured even more magic into his horn causing black crystals to erupt around the area randomly.  This randomness made it harder on the mare as the attacks got closer and closer to hitting her, and some even would have if it wasn't for her armor protecting her.  The glow that the armor was giving off was steadily fading with each spell she cast and each impact as the magic powering it was drained.

Her hoof guards were the first bits to run out of power and she soon had to abandon them as they were trapped in some of the crystals that grew up around her.  With only her helmet and body armor remaining she was left panting as she was surrounded by crystals on her knees with them slowly advancing on her.  The dark king was cackling at her as he slowly advanced to finish her off but was stopped when a voice called out to him.  “Hey!  Bucko!  Catch this!”

Sombra's head turned around just in time to catch a pair of blue hooves to the face as a rainbow streak flew by him.  Before he could recover a lasso caught him around the horn and swung him in a large arc before sending him high into the air before slamming him into the ground once again.  “Flare!  Are ya all right!?  Why didn't ya tell us ya were coming out here to fight him?”

Applejack bucked a path through the surrounding crystals before pulling the unicorn out from them as Rainbow Dash landed next to the two.  “Yeah!  It's no fair for you to get all the fun by yourself!”

Catching her breath Aegis Flare looked over her two friends, and seeing that their armor had a slight glow as well, before returning her attention to King Sombra once more to see him trying to remove his horn from the ground.  “With you two busy with the Crystal Faire I didn't have time to find you, though speaking of how did you get your armor to start glowing?  And how did you know I was even fighting to come help?”

“Funny thing, we didn't notice it at first but after jousting for a while Rarity pointed it out to us.  She also was the one who told us about how ya were heading out here.”  Applejack was interrupted as Rainbow Dash shoved her to the side.

“That and you might as well have been firing off fireworks with how subtle you were out here.  The others would have come as well but they are helping out in the city as those black crystals have been sprouting up all over the place.  What happened to Twilight anyways, shouldn't you have been helping her search for that thing in the palace?”  The unicorn glanced back at the palace to see that they black crystals had grown larger but there was also a blue glow shining from the center of it.  She wasn't the only one to notice as Sombra had finished pulling himself free and was glaring at the palace.

The dark king tried to fly past them towards it but he was swatted out of the air by Aegis Flare's shield once again.  “I think she's at the top of the palace there but she might be having trouble.  The crystals weren't there when we arrived and that glow there is new.  We need to stall Sombra until she can get the crystal heart to where it needs to go.”

Applejack cracked her neck as she stepped towards Sombra as he tried to rise once again.  “Well if Twilight is up there then we just need ta give her a bit more time.  He doesn't seem all the impressive ta me if ya held him off this long.”

“He has a lot of power, but you're right in that he's unimpressive.  All he has going for him is that power and him being really tough.  As long as we cover each other I know we can do this.”  With a nod the break to flank the stallion from two sides and from above.  As they faced him down a few crystal ponies started peeking out from nearby buildings and alleys to watch the fight.

As the glow from the top of the palace brightened Sombra flew at the trio within a cloud of shadows.  Re-energized by having her friends with her, Aegis Flare sent out a torrent of flames to blast away the shadows protecting them.  Without them he was unprotected from Applejack's hooves as she got under him to buck him skyward to Rainbow Dash who slammed into him plowing him into the ground once again.

She would have been impaled in response by an eruption of crystals if not for Aegis Flare erecting a shield around her.  The impact still sent her flying away from the stallion but before he could follow up Sombra had to flee into the shadows again to avoid the earth pony's hooves attempting to cave in his skull.  Before he could react with another attack the fires engulfed his form yet again peeling away the shadows and leaving him vulnerable once more.

----------

The crystal ponies that were watching the battle weren't fully sure how to feel about what they were seeing but they felt one thing that they had not had in a long time.  Hope.  Seeing the tyrant that had done so many horrible things to them getting knocked around like he was filled them with the feeling that they might once again be free.  Unfortunately for them, the longer the fight went on the more power Sombra was putting into his attacks and they were starting to affect the surrounding area.  “Twitchy tail!”

As black crystals started erupting from building and sending rubble falling through the air a pink blur could be seen streaking through the area.  As it passed crystal ponies were whisked away from where they were about to be crushed and dropped off next to a yellow pegasus carrying bandages.  “Thank you Pinkie, I'll take it from here.”

Pinkie nodded to Fluttershy who started treating whatever minor injuries the nearby ponies may have obtained from the falling debris.  As Pinkie sped away to help others Rarity could be seen reassuring a group of foals.  “Don't worry dears.  My friends will keep the bad pony away from you all until the crystal heart is back.  Wait, I think I see it now!”

All eyes turned towards the palace as the white unicorn pointed up to the top of it.  The crystals that were growing from the top of the palace were starting to dissolve in the light of the crystal heart as it moved through it.

Twilight was struggling to keep energy flowing from the crystal heart so that she and Spike could escape from Sombra's trap, but it took nearly everything she had.  She hoped that what she was doing wouldn't harm the heart, but seeing the shield go down forced her to rush in finding a way to escape instead of taking her time like she wanted to.  Reaching the edge of the tower she looked out to see the battle at the edge of the city before glancing down at the balcony below where Cadance and her brother were.  “Hang on Spike, this is going to be rough.”

Straining herself, Twilight focused more of her magic into her horn before the two vanished in a flash of light along with the crystal heart.  Moments later she appeared next to the two royals, albeit smoking a bit, but before they could react the four vanished again before reappearing down below amidst a group of crystal ponies who gasped in surprise on seeing them.  “Look!  They found the crystal heart!”

Shaking of the daze from the teleport, Twilight looked around at the surrounding ponies before settling on Cadance.  “Cadance!  Quick!  Take the heart to the center!”  The princess shook her head before focusing on the artifact that was floating in Twilight's magic.  Grabbing it in her own magic she suddenly felt as if something was calling to her and she mustered the last of her strength before galloping to the center of the area under the palace.

As she neared the center she could feel the heart starting to pulse within her grip.  Word started spreading through the city and the crystal ponies had begun to gather around her as she neared the center.  On her arrival the heart was drawn upwards to float between two crystals that started growing out of the floor and ceiling.  With it in place the crystal ponies began to bow towards it and the world vanished in a wave of blue.

----------

Applejack and Aegis Flare panted as they tried to catch their breath as Rainbow Dash held the dark stallions attention.  All three were each on their last legs as they had put everything into the fight yet the tyrant didn't seem to be weakening and in fact was getting stronger.  The once pristine armor each wore was now covered in dents and scratches for all the close calls.  “Ah don't know about ya two.  But ah am getting mighty tired of this guy.”

Aegis Flare nodded in response as she caught Rainbow Dash as she was knocked away once again and set her down next to her allowing the three to face the stallion down together.  As they prepared for another charge Sombra's eyes widened as he spotted something behind them.  Glancing back the three saw a wall of energy right behind them which passed over them before they could react as it continued on to hit the tyrant.  With a cry of anguish and rage they watched as the stallion's form was torn apart in an explosion of energy.  The three glanced at each other before they collapsed to the ground as their fatigue caught up to them while none of them noticed the cheering ponies behind them.

<><><><><><><><><><>

Princess Celestia and Twilight gazed out the window at the lights that were coming down from the north after the events in the Crystal Empire.  “It's beautiful.”  The princesses waited for Twilight to respond but when she didn't she looked down to see her student down and away from her.  “Is something wrong, Twilight?”

Twilight said nothing at first but she eventually responded quietly.  “I've been thinking about everything that we went through and what I've learned the last few days.  I know you wanted this to be a test for me but my friends convinced me to ignore it and I realize that they were right.  The entire time lives were at stake and you sent me just some stupid test.”

The unicorn mare turned to look up at her mentor who flinched back as she saw the tears flowing down her face.  “I wanted to believe that you know what you are doing but it's just so hard when you do something like this.  I've never felt so conflicted before about whether I should trust you or not.  Princess, please don't put me through something like this again.”

As she finished speaking she broke down completely in front of her mentor as she started bawling as the princess wrapped her wings around her.  Watching her student go act like this made her realize how much pain she had put her through and that she may have made a terrible mistake.
> 40
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Thank you for helping me out with this, Flare.  I know I said that I was wanting to do this later today but what I previously had planned kept being interrupted by Pinkie.  Still, I guess this is more important than trying to turn an apple into an orange.”  Twilight scratched away on a scroll as she examined a glowing ruby brought to her by Aegis Flare.  The orange mare herself was slowly pulling out more gems from a secure carrying case.

“At least this is less likely to have Applejack glaring at you for doing something like that to her apples.  Still, while it would be an interesting trick I think this research will be much more useful in the long run.”  She finished setting out the last of the gems on the flash cards Twilight set out for them that had the appropriate information written on them.  Twilight frowned at all the empty cards that were still there while her friend stored the case away.

“You didn't get as many as I had hoped.  How am I going to study the various branches of magic and build a sensor to detect the differences if I don't have all of them?”  Aegis Flare sighed as she turned back to the librarian.

“I got as many samples as I could, but many of the more exotic or illegal branches of magic are hard to get samples of.  You'd have a better chance of getting them through the princesses.  I was lucky enough to get access to a few samples of the necromantic branch, the full spectrum of it even.”  Twilight's eyebrow rises as looks down at the card she had reserved for it and found more than one gem on it.

“Wait, you mean there is more than one type for it?  What's the difference and how did you even get these?”  As the mare looked over the assembled gems Aegis Flare looked wary before she shook her head.

“It's rather complicated, but from what I've seen and heard there are a variety of ways that necromancy is used.  Raising the dead is the one commonly associated with it but I've seen a few healers that use variations of necromancy as well.  I have a friend that has a few sources that they can gets things like this from.  Nothing illegal, but there are ponies that would take exception to the work she does.”  Twilight looks suspicious for a moment but shakes her head as she looks over the collection again and notices another oddity.

“Would this demonic magic be from that friend as well?”  Twilight gestured to the morganite as it glowed faintly on the table.

“Yeah, though she couldn't get any of the other kinds.  Demons aren't very common so getting ahold of one type is a bit of a miracle.”  Twilight walked away from the table on hearing this before banging her head on a nearby wall.

“Ugh, this is going to be more difficult than I thought.  If every branch of magic is like those two then it could take years to categorize all the variations.”  Aegis Flare patted Twilight on the back reassuringly before turning to look at the door as an odd sound teased at her ears.  Moments later there was a knock at the door drawing her attention that way as well.

Outside the two found what seemed to be half of Ponyville waiting, all of them complaining about something.  After calming them and finding what was going on Twilight darted back into the library for research while Aegis Flare just sat outside, eye twitching.  “Pinkie Pie!  And there are somehow hundreds of them?  Why do I get the feeling that this is not going to be a fun day?”

“Did somepony say Fun!?”  Some of the gathered ponies let out a shriek of surprise when the Pinkie Pie appeared out of nowhere in their midst.  The call of fun she gave off started a chain reaction as more and more of the pink pony started popping up all over the place.  This sent the crowd into a panic as they began to flee the area leaving Aegis Flare alone with the crowd of Pinkies.

With the crowd of Pinkies bouncing around her, Aegis Flare's eye twitched even more as she looked from Pinkie to Pinkie.  As she watched she tried to figure out just how this was all happening as well as possible solutions to solving... whatever it was.

As one of them became more pushy and started poking at her while chanting about fun the unicorn's annoyance caused her to lash out a bit with her magic.  Not wanting to hurt her, in case it was the real Pinkie, she only use her magic consuming flames which would only sting a bit.  Of course that is what would normally happen but when her flames came into contact with the Pinkie Pie it reacted differently... violently differently.

As the flames touched the Pinkie Pie it rapidly flowed over her and before any of the observing ponies could react her body shredded apart and flew all over the place before dissolving into sparkles of magic.  Aegis Flare's jaw dropped, along with all the Pinkie clones, at what happened before she nervously looked around.  The clones all glanced at each other before looking back at her once more before the broke out screaming as they fled the area.  “Not fun!  Not fun at all!”  Within the blink of an eye, really the mare only blinked, and the entire area was clear of ponies except for herself.

“I think I know what we need to do.  I found this book talking about some sort of Mirror Pool and...  Where did everypony go?”  Twilight looked around as she came out of the library to find that only Aegis Flare was still there.  After hearing from her friend what had happened the librarian put her hoof over her muzzle before shaking her head.

“You really need to be more careful with that spell.  We still don't know why it reacts that way and you could really hurt somepony if you use it recklessly like that.”  The orange unicorn shrugged while Twilight scanned the area where the incident happened.  After a moment the purple mare frowned before shaking her head.  “Well as far as I can tell your magic just dissipated the magical construct which was pulled back to the pool.  I found a spell that does the same thing but we need to find the real Pinkie Pie or else it could send her instead.”

Aegis Flare's eyebrow rose in confusion.  “Why would the spell send her to the mirror pool when she isn't a magical construct?  A spell like that sounds too dangerous and vague to be worth using.  Why wouldn't it use the makeup of the spell itself as a focus instead of what I'm guessing is the Mirror Pool?”

Twilight opened her mouth to reply before she looked back at the library.  “I, I don't know.  I mean it is an old legend so maybe it's all they could come up with at the time?  That doesn't matter right now, we still need to figure out which one is the real Pinkie Pie.”

Searching through the town proved fruitless as the Pinkie clones kept running as soon as they recognized the orange unicorn.  After the third time of this happening Twilight let out a groan of annoyance.  “How are we going to find the real Pinkie Pie if we can't even get close enough to check if they are the real one?  And where is everypony else hiding?”

Looking around Aegis Flare just sighs before shaking her head.  “I think these Pinkie Pie wannabes are all running from me after what happened while the rest of town is hiding from them.  They've caused quite a bit of damage in such a short time.”  She looked around at the overturned carts and damaged buildings before her gazed settled on something out of place.  “Twilight?  What about that one?  She's at least not acting like any of the others.”

Her eyebrow rose questioningly before Twilight looked in the direction her friend indicated to see a rather depressed looking Pinkie Pie with her head on a table of the nearby eatery.  She was about to just brush it off before she looked at her once more then looked at the fleeing Pinkies.  “I don't know actually.  I've never seen Pinkie Pie sit so still before, but you're right that she isn't like any of the others.  I guess it would hurt to ask.”

Walking over to the mare Twilight stopped a few paces away before clearing her through.  “I don't suppose that you happen to be the real Pinkie, are you?”

The pink mare just kept poking at the ground wearily without really looking at her.  “Heck if I know. Could be any one of us if you ask me. And if I said I was the real Pinkie, you wouldn't even believe me anyway. So just leave me alone. I've got some important poking the ground with my hoof to do.”

Twilight's just looks at her for a moment before turning back to Aegis Flare.  “Well she's certainly not like any of the others, but how do we make sure we have the real one so we don't send the wrong one back to the pond?  I'm actually starting to miss her and her antics and  these clones are a poor imitation.”

While Aegis Flare looks thoughtfully at the pink ponies in the distance Pinkie Pie sighs.  “I bet she misses you too. Bet she'd do just about anything to get to be with her friends again. Hey. Hey! What if you gave them a test? Pick something really hard for- YEOWCH!”

“FLARE!”  Twilight glared at the other unicorn as Pinkie Pie hopped around awkwardly after having her hoof bathed in flames.  The pain quickly faded causing her to look accusingly at her undamaged hoof while Aegis Flare just shrugged.

“What?  She didn't explode so she has to be the real one.  After the last test we all went through I'd rather not go through another one.  Also sorry about that Pinkie, it's still safer than the spell Twilight found.”  Pinkie glared at her before she perked up again and nodded  while Twilight just glared at the unicorn.

Shaking her head Twilight just sighs before looking around the area.  “Well that's one problem solved, but after seeing what happened when you got rid of one of them we need to get them all into one place before even trying to get rid of the others.”  Pausing in thought she hummed before letting out a growl of aggravation.  “We're going to need the others for this, but you two will need to stay out of the way.  Wait at Sugarcube Corner until I send someone to find you.”

With a nod the two head out to the pink mare's home to wait out the coming storm.  It takes a while but Twilight eventually manages to find their other friends and round up all the Pinkie clones they could find in town into the town hall.  Once the last of them enters the building Twilight throws up a shield around the building and turns to her friends.  “Right, now that that's done  can one of you go and get Flare from Sugarcube Corner and the rest wait out here?  I'm going to head inside to deal with this mess.”

The four look at each other for a moment before Fluttershy flies off and the other three look at her.  “Uh, Twilight?  Are ya sure that going in there alone is a good idea?  We don't know which one is the real Pinkie so shouldn't we be in ta help?”

Twilight just waved a hoof at her in response.  “Don't worry, I'll be fine in there.  Also we also found the real Pinkie and Flare is keeping her company at Sugarcube Corner.  Now if you'll excuse me I have some clones to send back.”

Her friends watched her enter and close the door with looks of worry, though their worries changed  when screaming from the Pinkie clones began to filter through the closed door and the barrier around the building covered the door as well.  Looking between each other they tried to decide if they should do something when Fluttershy returned with both Flare and the real Pinkie Pie.  “What's going on here?”

Before any of them could answer the door burst open and one of the Pinkie clones tried to escape only to run into the barrier.  With the door open they could hear Twilight's voice filter out from the building along with the sound of her magic.  “Don't believe me do you!?  Your trusted student that has done everything for years!?  Then you just send me away to save a city and call it a test without telling me anything!?  Well take this!”

The six mares look at each other before Pinkie walks up to the clone who had her face pressed against the barrier, eyes darting around in panic.  As Pinkie got closer to her she seemed to calm down and began to start imitating Pinkie's movements.  Suddenly a blast of magic came flying out the door cause the clone to dissipate into a swirl of magic causing the real Pinkie to leap backwards in shock.  All eyes focused on the door as Twilight slowly walked out with a smile on her face and her horn glowing red from all the magic she was using.  “Ahh, that felt better.  Now we can get to fixing the town up again.”

The purple unicorn looked around at her friends as the just stared at her before Rarity walked up to her.  “Twilight, darling?  I think we may have to have a talk.”
> 41
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Cutie Mark Crusaders watched in horror as their clubhouse was taken over from them by Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, and Applebloom's cousin.  The three had been making the three fillies lives difficult the last few days, but this was a new low for them.  While Applebloom and Sweetie Belle started to turn away they they were stopped when they heard a growl from Scootaloo.  “That's enough!  RAAAGH!”

Before they could stop her the pegasus filly charged up the ramp and swung a hoof directly into the face of Diamond Tiara as the other two of the trio watched on shocked.  Their shock didn't last long before they threw themselves onto the filly but the other two crusaders had joined in to help their friend as well, turning the situation into a brawl.  Both sides got in a few good hits on the other before a horrified voice cut into the commotion they were causing.

“Girls!”  The six stopped on hearing the shout and turn to stare at the pony that interrupted them.  While one of them was new in town the other five knew how much trouble they were in when they saw the figure of their teacher, Cheerilee, standing on the pathway that led up to the clubhouse.  Yet, even though she didn't know the mare, Babs knew they were all in deep trouble as she recognized the look on her face as that of a major authority figure.

----------

“-and that is when I decided to come to you.  I've known that your sister has had some problems with Diamond Tiara but this is the first time that any of them have gotten violent.  I'm hoping that you can do something so that she knows that violence is not the answer.”  Aegis Flare looked from Cheerilee to Scootaloo before she shook her head in disappointment.  Her sister was rubbing at her eye which was starting to darken from it being hit there.

“Scootaloo, I want you to head right to Fluttershy's until I come and get you.”  With a nod the filly quickly ran out of the door before her teacher could react.  Cheerilee looked up at the other mare in confusion as she watched her sister leave and when she could no longer hear her she turned back to the teacher.  “You know, I'm surprised they still teach that lie in schools.  All it ever does is help the bullies.”

Cheerilee's mouth dropped in shock at hearing this and she looked like a goldfish for a few seconds.  When she recovered she leveled a glare the orange mare that sent a shiver down her spine.  “What do you mean by it being a lie?  When ponies have problems they should always talk it out and violence is never the answer!”

The mare was passionate in her words but was surprised when all she got for her words was a snort of indignation.  “Too bad the world isn't like that and violence is sometimes the only answer.  If talking things out would work then my sister's problems with Diamond Tiara would have been over long ago.  There's a reason why I no longer do business with the Rich family and it seems even that wasn't enough to get her to stop with her bullying.”

The cerise-coated mare just gave her a disappointed look before shaking her head.  “Can you even tell me one situation where that is true?  Violence is something that no longer has a place in Equestria.”

Aegis Flare just looked at her as if she was speaking in a foreign language before she said three things.  “Nightmare Moon, Discord, and Sombra.”  The teacher just looked at her blankly for a moment before she remembered just who she was talking to exactly.  She had gotten so used to seeing the seven mares that she had forgotten all the things they had done for Equestria in the last few years.

“Ugh, you're right but I still don't like it.  It just doesn't feel right for my students to do something like this and them not facing any repercussions for it.”  The orange mare's eyebrow rose for a moment before she responded.

“Oh, don't get me wrong.  She's still going to be punished, at the very least for not coming to me when these problems began.  She would always come to me about these things back when I was nearly gone all the time, yet now that I'm here more often she hasn't been talking to me as much.”  Cheerilee frowned at her as she considered the situation.

“I'm not sure how I can help with that, but she has been been staying awake in class since you've started spending more time with her.  In fact she's had too much energy at times.”  Aegis Flare pauses for a moment before she lets out a small smile.

“If she has so much energy then I think I might have the perfect idea for a punishment, especially since her grades are still rather average.  Maybe she'll start thinking more deeply into her actions this time.”  The two talked for a while longer, but the teacher left after being reassured that things would be handled here and headed towards the next pony she needed to talk to.

---------

“So how long am I going to have to run the course this time?”  Scootaloo sighed as she looked out over the training yard her sister had set up behind the house.  While her sister hadn't said anything she knew that she was going to be punished for getting into a fight the previous day yet she didn't know how long it would go on this time.

“Actually it's going to be a little different this time.  With how often you've been doing this you should have been able to avoid getting a black eye like that.  So this time we're going to be doing something different.”  Scootaloo's head jerked around to stare at her sister when she heard this as she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

“Wait, you're punishing me just because I got hit, not that I got into a fight?”  Looking down the older mare ruffled her sister's mane with a hoof before leading them to the center of the field.

“Well that, and the fact that you didn't come to me for advice when you had a problem you couldn't handle without fighting.  Actually I've been expecting something like this to happen for a while now since talking to Diamond Tiara's parents hasn't done anything so far.  Sure her father started paying more attention after I stopped supplying him, but her mother is still as insufferable as ever.”  The filly frowned as she remembered the few times she had met Spoiled Rich, especially when she had stormed over to scream at her older sister when she had stopped selling to Barnyard Bargains.  She had been so furious yet it was her sister that had scared her more with how calm and silent she was that day.

“So if I'm not going to run the course, what am I going to do then?”  Her sister led her to a new pylon that had been set up in the center of the field and activated it causing a dome to form over the area in front of them.  It wasn't a perfectly formed one either and it kept shifting around constantly as if it was unstable.

“This is one of the most annoying training tools mom and dad had, but also one of the most useful.  It's been a while since I've used this myself, so I'm going to show you how it works first.”  Stepping up to the pylon powering the shield she moved a few of the toggles around before stepping inside of it.  As she reached the center a ball of energy appeared and started bouncing up and down next to her.  Each time it bounced it steadily went higher and higher until it reached the top of the barrier where the angle sent it flying off to the side.

Through all this Scootaloo watched in confusion as her sister moved her body out of the way of the ball whenever it came at her.  “Is that it?  This doesn't seem that hard, I mean...”  She stopped when she noticed a second ball appearing much like the first did and going through the same process as before.  Soon two of them were flying all over the place and a third one appeared even faster than the second.  It wasn't long until her sister was dodging a dozen of the balls, making it look like a dance, as they came at her from every direction.  It was until the fifteenth one appeared the she started actually being hit by them causing her to shut down the training area.

“Hmmph, I need to practice a bit more with this.  I used to be able to get up to twenty before they even got close.  Also I need to turn the impact setting down a bit, it's still set for adults.  So what do you think of your punishment training?”  Scootaloo's jaw had nearly unhinged at the spectacle she had watched and wondered what her sister was thinking putting her through this.  Her sister noticed her look and just fiddled with the control pylon.

“Oh, don't be like that, most of the extras will be turned off so the balls will appear at a steady rate and won't constantly speed up after every bounce.  Also the ground won't bee feeling slippery either so you should be fine.  I think we'll set the maximum to five for now and see how things go from there.”  Scootaloo could only wince as she moved into the center of the chamber and warily watched the bouncing ball that appeared.  Soon she was diving around trying to avoid being hit since she quickly found that they stung a bit when she lost track of one and it came up from behind to hit her in the flank.  Not even hiding in a corner helped much and in fact made it worse if one of the balls happened to somehow make it between her and the wall.

After ten minutes of this her sister ended the training and walked over to her panting form.  “Hmm, not bad for a first time, at least after you got out of the corner.  Tomorrow we can try for six and maybe by the end of the week you can do ten.”  Scootaloo's only response was to whimper and wonder where she went wrong.

----------

“Oh I am so happy that all of you could show up today, darlings.  It's not often that we all get together for something like this.”  Rarity looked around to the rest of her friends in the private area of the spa as they relaxed with various activities.  Fluttershy and Twilight had joined her in the hot tub, with Pinkie imitating a shark between them, while Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Aegis Flare were getting massage treatments by the spa sisters Aloe, Lotus, and Vera.

As the others nod in contentment as they relaxed, the fashionable mare took a moment to look over each of their physiques.  While she was mostly satisfied with her own svelte form she had to admit that she was a bit envious of some of the others, especially Fluttershy.  The mares leggy and thin form and natural beauty were just so easy for her to maintain while she herself had to work to keep her own form in the state it was.

Twilight was almost the opposite with her plumpness due to her inactivity in the library, but there was still a bit of muscle underneath it all with how she would carry around saddlebags full of books most places she went.  She also knew how much the constant use of magic could eat into a body's resources and she was just as guilty as the librarian at skipping meals they shouldn't have.

With Pinkie Pie she didn't even want to think of how she stayed as thin as she did with her eating habits.  Somehow she managed to keep a plush form when looking on it from the outside yet you could feel all the muscles hidden under the layer of fat.

The three getting a massage were also a wonder to her as they each represented the peak of physical beauty for each of their respective races.  Applejack for example was larger than the other two but her toned muscles shown through her legs in a way that was beautiful as well as healthy.  Rainbow Dash was the shorter of the three but just as impressive as the largest in how tight her form was allowing for an aerodynamic form while still appearing strong.  As for Aegis Flare she was about in the middle, size-wise, but easily as muscular in her own way.  However with her the muscles had a layer of fat to soften the lines of her muscles due to her unicorn heritage.

Looking between them all again before looking at her own leg she had to admit that they were all relatively fit.  In fact few of her costumers could actually boast having a physique like her little group of friends now that she was thinking about it.  She shook her head as she realized that Applejack was asking her something which she missed.  “I'm sorry dear, but could you repeat that?  My head was in the clouds a tad there.”

Applejack just frowned before she winced as Vera hit another sore spot in her back.  “Ah said how has your sister been doing since that incident a couple weeks ago.  Applebloom's finally done with her punishment and was excited ta play with her friends again.”

Rarity frowned as she remembered the small whirlwind of orange and yellow that came through her boutique to abduct her sister as her punishment ended.  “Hopefully she isn't getting into any trouble so soon.  It was dreadful what happened and it took days to get the blood out of her coat.  What about your sisters?”

Applejack just shrugged as she lay there while glancing at the quiet unicorn relaxing under Lotus' expert touch.  “Well Applebloom ran off before I could talk ta her today, but she did talk about how Scootaloo was acting real twitchy recently during school, especially when they were playing dodge ball.  Applebloom said she actually broke down whimpering.”

All eyes were on Aegis Flare as she opened an eye to look around at the others before sighing.  “I may have gone a bit overboard with her latest punishment, but she should have talked to me before it got to this point.  I can't believe that the threat of being a snitch is still as strong as ever.”

Pinkie Pie was the only one to not react to that as the others had various experiences from either end of the issue.  The orange unicorn looked over to Applejack before nodding to her.  “I'm sure you remember some of the threats you gave out during our younger years when I first arrived in town.  Sure you had good reasons since it stopped them from trying to pick on me, but none of them ever said anything even after what you did to some of them.”

Rarity winced as she remembered some of those moments when she had to comfort her friend, especially in the days when her voice was still at its worst.  “Those were some awful times that I would rather not remember.  I never even thought about my own sister being on the other end of that kind of situation.”

Applejack nodded as well as she frowned.  “Ah'm sorry ta say that mah cousin Babs was the one ta start all of this.  Ah still can't believe that she would do all this, especially after her being bullied back in Manehatten.  It took all day after Ms. Cheerilee came ta me but she eventually told me everything.  She had me take her ta the school to apologize ta all three of them before she went back home.  It was the one day that I let them off of punishment ta talk and it turned out somewhat well.  Ah'm not sure if ah liked how much she was talking with Scootaloo about how good she was at fighting, but they did seem ta start getting along.”

Aegis Flare let out a moan as Lotus hit and especially tight spot in her leg.  “I just hope that things calm down with them for a while.  From what it sounds like Diamond Tiara has been avoiding them lately, though her mother has tried giving me an earful about her 'precious' daughter being hurt.  As if her complaining and threats were enough the last time something happened.  It may have taken up much of my own time to find buyers, but me cutting off my dealings with them cost them a good chunk of their profits.  The things I pulled from the Everfree was almost five percent of their sales to Canterlot alone, especially the exotics that came from other countries.”

Applejack looked thoughtful as she considered something.  “Filthy Rich's family always worked with the Apple family for generations, but Diamond Tiara and Spoiled Rich have been getting a touch... out of control lately.  Ah don't think that we are ready ta do what ya did, but if things don't change then we might have ta.  We'll have ta see what comes of all this with Diamond Tiara in the future.”

Aegis Flare and Rarity nod along with her at all this while the others watch on.  Twilight frowns as she considers the implications of all that happened and how it related to friendship.  In a way she had neglected something with her studies in how enemies relate to friends and how it can affect everything in relation to the two.  She had to wonder the reasons why ponies became friends or enemies and if there was a link between it all.
> 42
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Scootaloo watched as her sister went through another round in what she had personally dubbed, the chamber of pain.  Sure it didn't really hurt normally, but when the balls hit rather sensitive areas such as her wings and... other places... it was far from comfortable.  The first time was rather scary for her since she didn't have time to prepare for it and seeing her sister go through it so easily just annoyed her.

Right now her sister was up to around forty of the balls and was either dodging or deflecting the balls with her shields.  She wasn't able to stop everything but those that did get through were just glancing blows instead of full on hits.  Once the count hit fifty it started to roll backwards once again until it eventually shut down letting her sister leave.  “How can you do this all the time?  I still can't get the thought of how scary being in there was during my first time.”

Looking over at her sister as she finished wiping herself down with a towel before answering.  “Well it is rather easy after doing it constantly for a while.  Also after some of the things I've seen in the Everfree this is nothing in comparison.”

Scootaloo looked away from her sister as she scuffed he hoof along the ground.  “I wish it could be that easy for me.”

Aegis Flare just patter the filly on the back.  “You're doing better than I was and I voluntarily went in there.  I was a bit cocky and thought my shield would stop anything.  I walked right in and just sat down with my shield covering an area around me when one of the balls appeared inside of it.  You can probably guess what happened then.”

Scootaloo winced at the images that brought up in her mind as even at the worst she wast hit as often as what she pictured.  “Yeah, wasn't that much fun, especially when it started hitting my horn.”  The filly winced even harder at this as she knew that her sister's horn was more sensitive than her wings when it was active.  The two were interrupted from any further bonding as explosions rang out over Ponyville.  Looking over they noticed that someone was setting off fireworks over the town.

“I wonder what is going on now?  Last time I saw something like this was...”  The unicorn's eyes widen as she realizes just who it might be before she grins and turns to her sister.  “Well this should be interesting if my guess is right.  Come on, sis.  Let's go see what's going on.”

The two trotted through the town until they heard the sound of a crowd along with the sound of music sounding out over it.  As they neared Scootaloo's eyes lit up seeing the magic show while the older mare looked for the mare of interest that was hosting the show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0BrGz2ReVo

The two siblings join the back of the crowd to find Rarity and Applejack, along with their siblings, along with Rainbow Dash and Twilight watching the improved show by Trixie.  The orange unicorn allowed her sister up onto her head for a better view as they watched the show begin.  Up on stage at the time was a spectacular light show with a trio of dancers that looked remarkably like the showpony in question though there was something off about them.

“I can't believe that Trixie has improved so much to creature illusions of this caliber.  Even I can barely tell that those dancers aren't real and that's along with creating all those lights and music as well.”  The other adults kept an ear pointed towards Twilight to listen while Spike and the three fillies payed more attention to the show.

“Well it might be a bit cooler, but her bragging sure doesn't seem to be any better.  Just listen to her song, just about every word is her bragging about herself.”  The others glanced at Rainbow Dash before rolling their eyes at her.

“Dash, if ah didn't know any better ah'd say you were jealous.  You would be doing the same thing if you were the center of attention.  Thinking back ta last time ah'd say Trixie is like both you and Rarity combined inta one.”  While Rainbow Dash turned to glare at Applejack, Rariity just snorted before throwing out her own comment.

“Darling I would never be caught dead wearing something so tacky like that.  There is just so much more she could do to look fabulous up there.”  There were a few more chuckles before all attention was back up on stage as the pre-show ended in a cloud of smoke as Trixie appeared in the center of the stage.  With the show started the mare began with a series of simple tricks which increased in complexity as the show went on.  By the end she was pulling of levels of illusions that were hard to differentiate from being magic or physical illusions.  Twilight was the only one that could point out which ones used magic, but only Aegis Flare and Rarity could catch a hint of how the physical ones worked considering the attention to detail they needed for their careers.

Eventually the show was over and ponies started to leave the area with many staying behind to leave offerings to the showmare in appreciation of the show.  Most left only a bit or two but Aegis Flare decided to leave a hundred bit coin, much to her friend's surprise.  “Don't you think that is a bit much?  From the looks of things she is making plenty with nearly everypony donating something.”

Glancing back Aegis Flare watches as the rest of her friends, with Rainbow Dash trying to be sneaky about it, before she answered Twilight.  “Well she does deserve it.  If you look at her show back then and compare it to now you can see how much effort she put into improving.”  As they walked away none of them noticed the figure that was listening in to them on stage, silently crying at their praise.
> 43
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“Ugh, I hate having to come here every month.  My wings always feel so weird for the rest of the day.  Why do I have to do this so often?”  Scootaloo glared at her wings as she fluttered them to try and get the odd combination of numbness and tingling out of them.  She followed her sister out of the doctor's office and her latest medical appointment while Aegis Flare looked over her copy of the results that were given to her.

“Well you are always complaining about not being able to fly and this will help us find out why you can't.”  On hearing this Scootaloo looks crestfallen as she looks away from her sister.

“I still don't know how all this is going to help.  I'm starting to think that I'll never be able to fly.”  Scootaloo trudged off away from her sister on her way to try and find her friends leaving Aegis Flare to look after her sadly.  Looking down at the results she traced a hoof along a graph showing the was steady during most of it until it began to spike upwards at one point.  Mentally comparing the time of when the changes started she realized that she may just know why it was happening.

“Don't worry, sis.  One of these days you will fly and I know just who to talk to.”

<><><><><><><><><><>

“...So after going to talk with Twilight about what was wrong I came to you.  We're going on a camping trip with Applejack and Rarity along with their sisters and I was wondering if you could join us as well.”  Aegis Flare looked at both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy as they looked at her sympathetically on hearing about Scootaloo's issues.

“Wow, I didn't realize that the little squirt had a problem like that.  I thought she was just a late bloomer, I mean you've seen how she zooms around on that scooter of hers.  I mean, hay, she's faster than some pegasii in the air using that thing of hers.”  Rainbow Dash scuffs a hoof as she thinks about all the times she had seen her fan over the years.

“But how are we supposed to help?  We don't know anything about how to fix something like that.”  When the two look over at Fluttershy she let out an “eep!” at having the attention on her.  Aegis Flare sigh as she looked out in the direction of the library.

“Well I talked with Twilight and she came up with a theory.  You see with her being born premature she didn't have enough time to develop a stable system for her magic which is why her wings are still so small.  It wouldn't be a problem normally if she was raised in Cloudsdale or somewhere with a lot of pegasii magic, but here in Ponyville that isn't as much.  Twilight went into a whole lecture on sympathetic magic, but in the end what it basically comes down to is that for her magic to develop she needs to spend more time around mature pegasus ponies.  From what the doctor reports have been showing her magic levels have actually started growing when she began spending more time around you two.”  The two fliers looked at each other before turning back to the unicorn and nodding.

“Spend more time with my number one fan?  Well sign me up then.  But are you sure that Applejack and Miss Prissypants won't mind us coming along with you on this camping trip?”  The unicorn stretched out as she levitated in a plate of cookies from the kitchen to rest it in between the three.

“I already talked to them and they said it was fine.  Actually Rarity was happy to be able to share, how did she say it, her torture while having to deal with all the dirt out there, and Applejack was fine with it since she considers all of us family after everything that happened.  Actually she wanted me to try and get Twilight and Pinkie to come as well but they had to go to Canterlot for something for the princess.”  Grabbing one of the cookies the three converse about what they would need to bring as well as any other preparations they needed to make.

<><><><><><><><><><>

Applejack and Aegis Flare watch as Rarity finally arrives with Sweetie Belle carrying all the luggage causing them to shake their heads.  As Applejack went over to talk to Rarity Aegis Flare went to unhook Sweetie Belle from the wagon and used her own magic to pull it.  “Thank you. *gasp*  Why does Rarity have to pack so much?”

As Sweetie Belle panted and moved over to collapse next to Applebloom, Scootaloo went over to her sister who was looking back towards town.  “Everypony is here now sis, what are you looking for?”

Her question was answered when a rainbow streak landed in front of her revealing Rainbow Dash who was soon followed by Fluttershy.  Scootaloo's jaw dropped in surprise when she saw her idol wearing her own set of bags much like hers.  “Rainbow Dash?  What are you doing here?  Are you coming camping along with us as well?”

The cyan mare playfully ruffled the filly's mane before nodding.  “Yup, your sister asked  me and Fluttershy along to spend some time with you.  Since your sister can't fly she came to the best to help you get off the ground for a bit and show you what it's like for a real pegasus to be!”

Hearing this Scootaloo became a bit excited as the cyan mare picked her off and took off ahead of the group towards their camping location with Fluttershy following behind.  Aegis Flare watched the trio fly off ahead with a small smile as Applejack came up behind her.  “Are you sure this is what you want, sugarcube?  You know how Rainbow Dash is and ah doubt you will get much time with your sister which is what this trip is about.”

The orange unicorn just shook her head as she looked back at her friend and started pulling Rarity's wagon.  “All I want is for my sister to be happy.  If this is what it takes then so be it.  Besides she wants to fly and that's something I can't give her down here.  She needs another pegasus like Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to show her what I can not.”

Applejack could only shake her head as her friend trotted off ahead of her as she watched after her with a look of sadness.

<><><><><><><><><><>

After a couple days travel the group managed to set up at Winsome Falls as the sun was setting and each member having taken care of their chosen chores in setting up.  While Rarity and Rainbow Dash kept an eye on the fillies, though the alabaster unicorn was more lounging that watching, the other three older ponies were preparing everything for that night's dinner.  Aegis Flare occasionally looked over her shoulder to where her sister was trying to impress Rainbow Dash before turning back to her work and sighing.  Those looks didn't go unnoticed by her companions as Fluttershy eventually sidled up next to her.  “Flare, are you all right?”

Flicking an eye over the unicorn could only sigh.  “I'll be fine.  As long as Scootaloo is happy I'll be fine.”  Her friend didn't respond but kept a concerned eye on her friend as they worked.

Unbeknownst to the elder sister, Scootaloo had noticed some of the looks and was even shooting a few of her own back towards her when she wasn't looking.  She tried to not let it affect her though she had to awkwardly catch herself in an attempt to impress Rainbow Dash when she said something to her.  The night came to a close after she accepted sharing a tent with Rainbow Dash for the night though as she entered she stole a glance back to her sister hanging a hammock between two trees under the stars before sighing.  Needless to say her sleep was not all that restful.

----------

Scootaloo ran.  She wasn't sure what it was that chased her but she ran knowing that if it caught her something bad would happen.  So she ran, and ran, and ran.  Through the darkness surrounding her, not being able to see what lay ahead of her.  She knew not how long she ran, but run she did until her hoof caught something on the ground, sending her falling to her knees.  She began to rise to run again, but a feeling behind her froze her in place and she knew that she had been caught.

The young filly's head turned to see what was chasing her and she gasped at what she saw.  Behind her was her sister but she was caught in the grip of something that had been reaching for her.  The orange unicorn stared at her sightlessly as the creature slowly pulled her back into the darkness causing the pegasus to cry out and reach for her as she disappeared.  Tears began to fall from her eyes as she watched her sister be pulled away from her after protecting her.  The creature then began to laugh menacingly from in the dark until a bright flash of light erupted from nowhere.

“ENOUGH!”

Scootaloo staggered back at the force of the voice before she looked up to see a winged shape before her that resolved into a form that she recognized.  “Princess Luna?  What are you doing here?  Shouldn't you be in Canterlot?  Wait!  Where did my sister go!?”

“Your sister is safe, for I am the princess of the night. Thus it is my duty to come into your dreams.”  Scootaloo breathed a sigh of relief at hearing that her sister was safe before a puzzled look came over her face.

“Wait, is this just a dream? But it feels so real!”  The princess moved to lay next to the filly before laying a wing over her back.

“I assure you that you are asleep. But when you awake, your feelings that haunt you will still exist.  Tell me young Scootaloo, what is it that bothers you?”  The filly looked up at the princesses face and saw something there that she couldn't identify, but it made her want to trust her causing her to sigh.

“Well it's about my sister.  Ever since our parents disappeared she has done so much for me.  Yet for all she has done I have never seen her do anything for herself.  Sometimes I feel as if she would be better off without me.  Without me there is so much that she could have done without me holding her back.”  As Scootaloo buries her face in her hooves the princess looks down on her sadly as she thinks about her own sister.

“Your sister, the Bearer of Courage, is the only on of my saviors that I could not find much about.  My sister somehow managed to lose anything she had on her so I can only guess about much of your sister's reasons.  I did learn some things from my sister from the few times she has met with yours.  Before your parents disappeared I have heard that your sister was much like Fluttershy, the Bearer of Kindness.”  She waved a hoof in from of her to reveal a scene of Aegis Flare when she was younger peeking out from behind her parents.

“Afterwards she went through an amazing change.”  Waving her other hoof she drew up an image of the unicorn as she was now.  “Where once she was a filly full of fear and doubts is now a brave mare that has been through things that most would run from.  Yet if you were not there then would any of this have happened?  What would she be like if you were not there?”

Scootaloo though back to how here sister used to be and how she used to act in the past before their parents had disappeared.  She was often there to help her when she needed it yet she still had friends she met with.  Afterwards she shut everyone else out of her life for her job to support her sister yet it left Scootaloo so lonely.  It wasn't until the events with Nightmare Moon that it felt like she had her sister again from when she was younger.  Yet through it all there were moments that stuck out to her where her sister went through things she normally wouldn't, yet came out stronger for it.  Turning to the princess the filly nodded to her to show her understanding of the princess' words.

Luna smiled down at the filly before standing up.  “Without you your sister would not be who she is today.  In a way you could say that you, young Scootaloo, are your sister's courage.  Without you she may not have had the drive to do what she has done as ponies will do more for others than they will do for themselves.”

Scootaloo feels a little better after their talk and the princess soon leaves her to help others throughout the night.  The young filly woke up soon after to find that it was still late into the night and all the others were still asleep.  Standing up she looks outside of the tent towards her sister and glances back at Rainbow Dash once more before sneaking out to where her sister was sleeping.  Glancing around once more she climbs up onto the hammock and burrows into her sister's chest before falling back asleep.

Aegis Flare cracks and eye open before smiling and wraps a forelimb around her sister and dozing back off herself.  A pair of cerise eyes also watched everything before the owner smiled and went back to her own bedroll for the night.

<><><><><><><><><><>

The next morning the group of ponies took in the view of the area that wasn't visible the night before when they arrived.  “Are you sure you are fine with me spending today with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash?  I mean we are supposed to be out here together.”

Aegis Flare just ruffled her sister's mane before nudging her towards the other two pegasii.  “I'll be fine, now go on.  It's not every day that you can take some time in the air like this.  With their help I'll bet you'll be flying on your own some day.”

Aegis Flare watches as her sister joins Rainbow Dash who soon takes off with her into the air towards a cloud where Fluttershy was resting.  The cyan mare flew the filly around it a few times and then did a lap of the various rainbows in the area before setting her down next to Fluttershy.  Once there Rainbow Dash then began to show off while Fluttershy tried to explain some of the calmer points of being a pegasus that she remembered from school.  Every once and a while the filly looked down towards her sister to wave and who waved back when she noticed.

“Seems like you are doing better.  Did something happen that ah didn't notice?”  The orange unicorn finished waving to her sister to look back at Applejack.

“Hmm?  Not that I know of, but Scootaloo does seem much happier for some reason.  I wish I could be up there helping her, but as I said before, as long as she's happy I'll be fine.”  While she didn't say it, she actually was feeling better for some reason and just chalked it up to her sister being happy about being in the air where a pegasus should be.
> 44
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Aegis Flare yawned as she returned from her latest foray into the Everfree forest to check on the changes within.  She was relieved to find nothing overly complicated, yet it was still a lot of work traveling out there and back, even with her experience.  Her tail even managed to keep up with her for most of it to her surprise as most of them seemed to get lost not far past the castle in the forest.

While she had been through much worse, she was still weary and wanted to get home yet her wishes were denied when she heard a yell ring out through the Everfree.  “Of course, my trip out here can never be simple.  Wonder who got lost out here this time.”

Picking up her pace she soon heard the sound of timberwolves along with another familiar voice.  “Help!”  Recognizing the shout as Spike's the mare quickly took off running before climbing over a large rock and leaping down to land in front of the cringing dragon where she tossed up a shield around the two.  With a sigh she turned back to the young dragon as the wooden wolves relentlessly beat themselves against her shield in rage.

“Spike?  What are you doing out here?”  The dragon slowly opens his eyes to see that he is safe before looking up at his savior.

“Flare!  You saved me!  I didn't mean to come out here but Cherry Berry's balloon got free and...”  He detailed the small adventure that he just went through after finishing his chores for the day causing the mare to sigh.

“Well that is certainly interesting, but why didn't you drive them off yourself?  Timberwolves shouldn't be all that tough for you to drive off.”  She looked curiously down at the dragon as he looked at her with worry.

“What do you mean?  What can I do to something like that?”  He gestures towards the beasts trying to break through the barrier in various ways.  Rolling her eyes, the unicorn pointed her horn at one of the wolves before opening the shield in front of it and unleashing a torrent of fire at it in a manner that looked much like the young dragon's.  As the wooden wolf was sent howling off she quickly sealed the wall once again before raising an eyebrow at the dragon.  “Oh right, that.”

At his sad tone of voice the mare looked down at him more closely before she sighed.  “All right, what's wrong?”

The dragon was silent for a moment before he winced at the burning wolf letting out another yelp until he sighed.  “It's just, you see what I am?  I mean sure Ponyville has been pretty nice, but all many of the ponies in Canterlot saw was a monstrous beast.  I had to be careful with my claws and flames because if I ever hurt anypony then they might have taken me away from Twilight.  Just the thought of it terrifies me.”

Aegis Flares gaze became one of sympathy as she looked over the saddened dragon having known a bit of how he felt.  “I know a little of how you feel.  My parents drilled into me how dangerous my fire magic was and told me what could happen if I hurt others with it.  Even so, I learned that there are time where you have to use it to hurt others to protect those you care about.  Timberwolves were always good practice for it since it takes much more than that to kill them, in fact I still don't know how to do that.”

She unleashed another torrent of fire on another wolf, but this time not letting up until its body was burnt to ash.  Spike watched as a green glow rose from the body and appeared to glare at the mare for a moment before being sucked deeper into the forest.  “Wait, are you saying these things are some kind of ghost or something!?”

The mare glares at the fleeing energy for a moment before unleashing her flames on the rest of the wooden wolves.  “Something like that.  Ever since I was young these things have been after me and I'm sure it's the same pack.  There is something in their den in the forest that keeps them going yet it's too dangerous to find out what since they come back as soon as you destroy their body that close to it.  That was a really tiring day.”

With the timberwolves cleared away the unicorn dropped the shield and knelt down so that the dragon could climb up on her back.  As they prepared to head back to town she looked up and noticed Applejack up on a nearby ridge who nodded to her before turning back towards town herself.  Aegis Flare and Spike slowly made their way back to town, with the dragon deep in thought.

As they exited the Everfree forest the young dragon finally spoke up on his thoughts.  “Hey, Flare?  How do you know when you should use your powers to hurt others?”

The mare didn't answer right away as she thought on the answer.  In the end she couldn't come up with a complete answer so just told him how she felt.  “Usually I don't use my fire since I have other things that I can use first.  The timberwolves are one of the few exceptions since it is the only sure way to stop them for a while.  I did use it against the changelings, but even with them I had a non-lethal variant that targeted their magic instead of their body.”

The two were quiet for a minute thinking again when the unicorn remembered somewhere that could help that she hadn't been to in a long time.  “Though I may know someone that can help.  I think they are still in town, but it has been years since I last visited them.”

The dragon looked curious as the mare changed directions and started heading towards a part of Ponyville he hadn't been to before.  The dragon never had a reason to come to this side as it was in the opposite direction of Sweet Apple Acres from the Library and he couldn't think of what would even be out here.  Soon the duo came to a small building hidden by a row of trees while an old gray-maned, gray earth pony was watering some flowers around the building.  On hearing the sound of approaching hoofsteps the mare looked up and spotted the approaching pair.

“Well if it isn't young Aegis Flare.  Why I haven't seen you since your father visited all those years ago.  Have you come to ask for advice from the Night Mother again after all these years?  And who is this young one?  I haven't seen many dragons before so I don't know much about their gods but I'm sure there is much I can do to help.”  Spike looked confused as he examined the mare and glanced at her flank to see what appeared to be a necklace of round objects which told him little about her.  He was surprised then to see Aegis Flare step forward and give a small bow to the elder mare.

“Hello again, Mother Rapture.  This is Spike and he was needing some guidance with something personal to him.”  Kneeling down she allowed the dragon to hop off her back and step forward warily.

“Hi, what is this place?  I've never been somewhere like this before and I didn't even know there even was somewhere like this in Ponyville.”  The elder mare tilted her head  before giving the youngling a kind smile before waving the two towards the entrance of the building.

“Well I'd like to say that there was some grand name for it but this just a humble shrine to the divine beings of Equestria, unlike some places such as the Temple of Divine Light in Canterlot.  I am Mother Joyous Rapture, the sole proprietor of this humble building and I help all those that come to seek aid from their deity of choice.  Ponyville has little use for separate places for each so all are welcome here.”  Spike paused as one of his eyebrows rose while he looked around the inside of the building to see three simple pillars with the cutie mark of one of the three princesses atop each.

“Wait, this is a church?  How will somewhere like this help?  Princess Celestia never talked much about these places but the few times she did it was usually to complain.”  He glanced back to Aegis Flare who was rolling her eyes but his attention was pulled back when the older pony started to chuckle.

“Yes young one, I've heard of the Lady of Light's opinion of us yet she also does nothing to stop us from worshiping her or the other alicorns.  The Lady of Love tried to stop any worship of her when she revealed herself but that only drove it underground until she gave up and allowed it.  They still watch over us but mostly to prevent any conflict to be caused in their names.  The Night Mother's return was a surprise to many of the clergy and it almost came to blows until the Lady of Light stepped in.”  The two looked at her in surprise causing her to just wave a hoof at them.

“Oh don't look at me like that.  Just because this shrine is small doesn't mean I don't hear things.  Canterlot isn't that far from here.  And most of us make at least one pilgrimage in our lives to gaze on the Divine Ladies.  I've come to enjoy taking tea with the Lady of Light over the years and try to make it at least once a year if I can.  Now we aren't here to talk about me, so how is it that I can help you young one?”  Spike twiddles his thumbs as he glances back at the orange unicorn who just nods add him to encourage him.  After a moment he begins to explain to the elder mare his concerns as well as a few stories of what happened to him when he was younger.  She listened intently through it all with the occasional nod when she heard something interesting until the young dragon finally finished his story.

“Well now that is a difficult question to answer yet, at the same time, is rather simple as well.  In fact every unicorn has to answer this question whenever they use their magic against others.  Have you heard of the book called, 'The Ethics and Responsibilities of Unicorn Magic'?”  Thinking for a moment the dragon eventually nods.

“Yeah, Twilight talks about it sometimes yet I haven't read it and never saw a reason to.”  The elder mare chuckles as she pulls out a rag and starts wiping down one of the pillars casually.

“That would be a good start for finding your answers as many of your questions match up with those in the book.  You could also talk with a member of the local guard since they have to deal with more violent incidents which can end up with others being injured.  In the end it is up to you to decide when and where you should use your abilities and you need to learn to trust yourself to do what is best at the time.”  This advice caused the dragon to be lost in thought leaving Aegis Flare time to speak with the older mare about the years that had passed since she was last here.  Much of the focus though was on the recent years involving the Nightmare Moon incident and the period afterwards.  Eventually Aegis Flare departed the building with a wave, carrying the dragon back towards his home.

As they neared the library the dragon let out a sigh.  “Why couldn't this be something simple?  Even the Dragon Code that I learned about from a couple other dragons that the princess helped me get in contact with doesn't have anything about it.”

Aegis Flare could only cat him on the back as he dismounted outside of the library.  “Deciding to hurt others should never be a simple thing.  Yet you should always know when you need to do so since you may have to protect others in the future.  Especially with how much time you have been spending with my sister and Sweetie Belle.  It wouldn't do to hear that they got hurt because you didn't protect them because you were scared to hurt something that was a threat.”

While she said the last in a serious tone, she let enough of a teasing tone to enter her voice that the dragon could only blush in response before rushing into the library.
> 45
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aegis Flare was starting to notice a rather uncomfortable trend which she should have seen a while ago.  Whenever Princess Celestia called upon her student trouble always seemed to follow and her friends were likely to be pulled along for the ride.  Today was one such day as she sat there, eye twitching, while staring at the statue of Discord that had been left for them to reform, more specifically Fluttershy for some reason.  Her friends had to prod her a few time before she grabbed her Element to wear so that they could free him even though she wasn't sure if they even should.

She was still undecided when she felt Applejack prodding her shoulder to take her place around the statue with the others.  She felt the magic from her element waver for a moment, as if feeling her reluctance, before she reaffirmed her trust in her friends decision.  With a flash of rainbow colored light the statue of Discord became riddled with cracks before it completely shattered releasing the draconequus.

With her position behind the spirit of disharmony she watched as Discord started right away into his antics with the others.  Her eye began to twitch even more as he continued and she slowly walked up behind him .  She got to just below where he was floating with Fluttershy in his grip when he started looking around.  “Hold on...  three, four, five, six...  Wasn't there one more?”

Hearing a grinding noise he turned to try an locate it before his beard was gripped in a magical force and his head was pulled down until he was face to face with the orange unicorn where he found the source of the noise which was coming from her teeth.  His eyes widened as he took in the mare that had caused him some small problems when they last met but she began to speak quietly before he could react.  “Listen here you poor excuse for a chaos spirit.  I don't know why the princess thinks that you can be redeemed or why my cousin is the best choice, but if you do anything, ANYTHING to hurt her I will do everything in my power to make your life miserable.  As for last time you were free...”

Aegis Flare released the spirit but before he could pull back too far she formed her shield into a bat-like shape and swung it as hard as she could into his side, catching his arm in the blow and sending him flying which caused the other mares to gasp.  Shooting a venomous look at him as he shakily tried to rise again she spat one last thing at him.  “If you ever, EVER get near my sister again that will be the least of your worries.”

With a toss of her head the unicorn stomped off as her friends watched her leave with looks of disbelief.  Frowning the spirit dusted himself off with the arm opposite of the one that was hit as he narrowed his eyes at the retreating mare.  “How rude, can't she take a simple joke?  I mean it's not like I actually did anything to her.  But I do know of a way to get her to lighten up...”

He tried to raise his eagle claw to snap his fingers together but all he got from the attempt was a sharp feeling of pain.  Looking down his eyes widened in shock and horror as he saw his arm dangling at a crooked angle that was odd even for him.  “She broke my arm?  She broke my arm.  That crazy mare actually broke my arm!”

He started to hyperventilate at the realization as the mare's heads turned to stare at him in shock.  Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie moved over to help him while Twilight turned to look back in the direction that her friend had gone before she decided to follow after her.

----------

“I can't believe that she let that thing free like this without giving us any warning.  If I had time I would have told her exactly what I thought of her plan and what she could do with it.  I really hope that she knows something that I don't since after that short study on him I don't think reforming him is even possible.”  Aegis Flare kept muttering to herself as she watched over her sister spending time with her friends.  She was still shaking a little from her encounter with the draconequus and jumped when Twilight lay down next to her.  

Twilight Sparkle didn't say anything at first as the orange mare tried to catch her breath after being startled.  The Ponyville librarian was quit for a while as she joined her friend in watching the antics of the three fillies and Spike until she felt an appropriate time had arrived.  “Do you want to talk about what all that was about back there?”

Even after the question the silence between them continued until the red-maned mare let out a sigh.  “I said most of what I had to back there, but what I didn't mention is that he completely terrifies me.  Nightmare Moon, the changelings, Sombra, hay even just me being out in the Everfree every day I came closer to dying yet they never made me feel like what Discord does.  It doesn't help that there was no warning from the princess about her insane plan to allow us to prepare for it.  The only reason that I haven't barricaded myself in the Everfree with my sister is that we have the Elements ready this time since those seem to be the only thing that can touch him.”

Lifting one of her eyebrows the purple mare looked over at her friend curiously.  “Well I'm not sure what you did then but you managed to break his arm right before you stormed off.”

It took a moment for her to register what was said, but when it did Aegis Flare's light panic faded as she looked over at Twilight in confusion.  “Huh?  That can't be right.  He has to be faking it since you've seen everything I found in my research on him.  Nothing seems to have any effect on him other than the Elements of Harmony.  Even then I really didn't even hit him with anything, it was all pretty much a light show filled with nothing and should have just shattered on impact instead of him flying like that.”

Twilight opened her mouth to respond before she paused, looking thoughtful for a moment, before planting a hoof across her muzzle.  “Oh, sweet Celestia, why am I not surprised?”  Her friend looked at her in confusion before she started to explain.  “You just said that other than the Elements, nothing could harm Discord.  So since you technically hit him with nothing...”

As Twilight trailed off the orange mare groaned and started rubbing at her head to soothe the oncoming headache.  “Since I hit him with nothing it actually ended up doing more damage than it should have.  That makes no sense and too much sense at the same time.”  With a groan she threw herself to the ground with a huff while watching as Spike made his way over to the two leaving the three fillies to play amongst themselves.

“Hey Twilight, Flare.  Are you already done with whatever the princess wanted you to do?  What was it all about anyways?  And why do you have your Elements with you now?”  The two mares looked at each other for a moment before they summed up what went on and how nothing was completed yet and it all hinged on Fluttershy to complete.  The young dragon looked thoughtfully in the direction of where they indicated they last saw the spirit of disharmony.

“Huh, I never would have expected that, even with all the crazy things Princess Celestia has done over the years.”  Twilight glared at Spike for him saying something about the princess even while trying to ignore the fact that it was in line with what Aegis Flare had said earlier.  “I wonder what he is really like anyways.  I didn't see him at all the last time he was on the loose so everything I know was what others have told me.”

Twilight tried to dissuade him from going near him yet he wouldn't be denied, especially when he brought up everything that he went through to help out against him last time.  With great reluctance she carried him along as she went back to the others along with Aegis Flare.  They found the other mares where they left him with Fluttershy treating the wounded Discord's arm while Pinkie Pie was keeping him entertained with her antics.

When Discord noticed the group returning he proceeded to hide behind the two mares.  “Not again!  Keep that crazy mare away from me!”

Spike looked between the spirit and Aegis Flare before rolling his eyes.  “Wow, this is what you were all scared of?  No wonder the princess wants Fluttershy to reform him if he's this much of a coward.”

He flinched when he turned back to find Fluttershy glaring at him.  “Spike!  Be nice!  Can't you see that Discord is in pain?  And Aegis Flare!  What were you thinking doing that to Discord when we were supposed to be teaching him about friendship!?”

The orange unicorn met her cousins gaze for a few moments before she eventually sighed and shook her head.  “Fine, I won't do something like that again as long as he behaves.  But don't expect me to apologize until I get one for what he did.  You know how important family is to me and I would have done much worse after what he did.”

Fluttershy looked deep into her cousin's eyes, searching for something, before she slowly nodded without pressing the issue further.  She knew that the unicorn would keep her word to her especially when she recognized the look in her eyes as that which she saw most days looking in a mirror.  The pegasus knew what fear and terror could cause others to do from her interactions with her animal friends and, even though she usually had it under better control, ponies like her causing weren't much different.

As she returned to tending Discord's broken arm, the spirit just looked on in shock at the interaction between the two before huffing.  “What?  That's it?  She just breaks my arm for no reason and that's all you have to say to her?”

Feeling a pat on his side he looks down to discover Pinkie Pie being the cause of it.  “Silly Dissy, she didn't do it for no reason.  She did it because you brutally murdered that life-like pinata of her only family member that she knew she had left when you first met.”  The entire group just stared at the pink pony warily as she said that in her usual happy tone of voice which made it sound creepier somehow.

For the sake of their sanity they all decided to just ignore what had happened with Spike clearing his throat.  “Well anyways, I really don't get what the big deal is with Discord.  I mean, sure he has a lot of power but what good is it if you don't use it for anything important?  Nothing happened to me last time, but from what I hear Discord was rather predictable and made cliché mistakes that even comic book villains would cringe at.”

Discord's jaw fell so far that it hit the ground leading to a short chase as he tried to catch it once again.  Once he reattached it he glared at the young dragon.  “What do you mean predictable!?  I am the living embodiment of chaos, lord of laughs, a practical god!  Being predictable is the exact opposite of all that.”

The draconequus crossed his arms with a humph as he turned his head away from the dragon who just rolled his eyes at him.  “Oh please, you did just what every villain does in the comics and go after your biggest threat just to ignore them once you think you had won until they eventually defeated you.  Then you do pretty much exactly the same thing you did when you were last free, not very chaotic when it's a repeat, and in fact predictably changed everything that you came into contact away from it's normal state.  In fact you made things more orderly in the end, just an odd sort of order.”

Everyone was gaping at Spike for his insight as Twilight blurted out her thoughts.  “How did you come up with all of that, Spike!?”

Spike looked around at all the others before he shrugged.  “Hey, there isn't much else to do when you all run off leaving me home alone while the Cutie Mark Crusaders are at school so I spend a lot of time reading.  Sometimes the notes you leave laying around the library are more interesting than anything else you keep in there.”

Twilight looks over at Aegis Flare, remembering the notes that she had gotten from her after the last time Discord was free.  The orange unicorn just rolled her eyes before smiling at the dragon for putting one over one the chaotic spirit.  On his end he finally recovered enough before shooting a look at the young dragon.  “Well if you're so smart then what do you think I should be doing then?”

Spike looked thoughtful for a moment as he tried to come up with an answer before he just shrugged.  “Hay if I know.  I'm not the one with all that power at my claw-tips.  Maybe you should, I don't know, try something different and actually try to make friends without going overboard with your magic like you always seem to do?  It's not like you can't wait for a few hundred years to see how things go with you trying something different.  I'm sure Pinkie Pie alone could give you a bunch of ideas on what to do for a while, ones that won't cause others to run in panic or try to lock you away again for a thousand years.  Or maybe Fluttershy can show you some, quieter ideas so that you don't always have to be so over-the-top.”

Discord looked down at the two mentioned mares to see the pegasus glance up momentarily with a smile before returning to tending his arm and the earth pony smiling up at him.  Looking back up at the dragon he opened his mouth to speak before he did a double-take and peered more closely at him before answering.  “Fine.  It's not like I can't just change my mind later if I get bored in a hundred years or so.  For at least the next hundred years I promise not to use my powers recklessly, but only because you suggested it.”

The draconequus turned away with his nose held high and walked off with one arm around the pink mare and the yellow pegasus following on his other side to keep an eye on him.  The others just watched him wander of in confusion, wondering if he really meant what he said.

<><><><><><><><><><>

“...and that's what happened, Princess Celestia.  Discord seems to be keeping his word but I don't know how long that will last.  Also while Fluttershy is with him like you asked, Pinkie Pie started helping out as well to keep him entertained after the... incident.”  Twilight Sparkle looked up towards her mentor as the alicorn sipped from her cup of tea while looking thoughtful.

“While not what I had initially planned, this may have turned out better than I expected.  While Ms. Flare's actions are regrettable, the fact that she had actually managed to harm Discord is more disturbing.  Still I doubt it shall happen again considering the nature of Discord since it now makes sense that what she did should work on him.  Even so, you do not have to worry about Discord going against his word as it is the one thing that he has never broken.  When he says something I have found that it is always the truth, even if he may twist the meaning of them.”

Twilight tilted her head as she considered her mentor's words.  “So what now then?  I thought this would be harder yet not even an hour has passed since we released him and he's already been effectively reformed.  Something just doesn't seem right about all this.”

The princess chuckled at her student's words before she lay a wing over her back to reassure her.  “Just do what you have been doing, my student.  Trust in your friends to keep Discord on the path of harmony as they will teach him a lesson that he has not had a chance to learn for himself.  Yet there is one thing that does bother me.”  The princess looked towards the window through which she could see a group of four smaller figures playing.  “Why did Discord ignore young Spike that day and why did he so readily take his advice this time?  It is not something that I would have expected from him, even if he so enjoys doing the unexpected.”

Twilight frowned at hearing this and started wondering the same herself now that it was pointed out.
> 46
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ugh, not again!  Someone please snap her out of it before Pinkie Pie joins in again!  I can't take another day of that.”  The others roll their eyes at Rainbow Dash's complaining, yet Rarity still reaches over to poke at Aegis Flare to get her attention.  The orange unicorn's humming stops at contact as she looks up at her friend questioningly.

“Darling, your little habit is showing again.  You wouldn't want to have a repeat of the last time Pinkie heard on of your tunes, would you?”  With a shudder Aegis Flare shook her head as she remembered the days it took for Pinkie to wear herself out that one time she was around for one of her episodes.

“As interesting as it was to finally hear at least one of the tunes I don't realize I'm humming, I'd rather not have half the town angry at me for starting Pinkie up again.  One of these days I'll figure out why it keeps happening though.”  The others nod to her as she glances at Fluttershy who was currently distracting the pink mare.

Shaking her head Aegis Flare goes back to staring at the icy landscape passing by through the train's window.  With the unicorn no longer bothering her with her humming, Rainbow Dash settled down for a nap while the others busied themselves waiting for the train to reach their destination.  Of course not all of them were comfortable with the silence so it was only a matter of time until one of them spoke up.  “So how have things been going with Discord lately?  I haven't seen or heard much of him recently so I can only assume he is behaving.”

Fluttershy and Pinkie look over at Twilight as Aegis Flare drops her face into her hooves.  “Um, well he hasn't been all that bad really.  Every week he visits for tea and we talk about whatever he feels like at the time.”

The yellow pegasus was pushed aside by the proinking pink pony as she tossed in her two bits.  “Really?  Every week we both plan out all kinds of pranks and party plans.  He's really good at them too when he isn't being a big meanie pants about it.”

Twilight looked thoughtful at her friends words before nodding but before she could say anything else her attention was drawn by a groan from the orange unicorn.  “Flare?  Is something wrong?  Has Discord been seeing you as well?”

With another groan Aegis Flare pulled her head out of her hooves before throwing herself down onto her seat.  “If only that was the problem.  Ever since he was released he has been bothering me and trying to, 'make amends' as he puts it.  Unfortunately it usually involves some poorly thought out idea of his that goes wrong.  Thinking about it he probably mixed up the party plans he makes with Pinkie with his prank plans with how badly they go.  I'm still wary of him, but he seems to at least be trying to make an effort at it, and he hasn't tried anything with my sister either.”

Aegis Flare rests her her head atop her hooves after saying all this and closes her eyes in thought.  When they don't open her friends think she had fallen asleep which was false as she was only thinking back to the first day after Discord's freedom.

vvvvvvvvvv

Aegis Flare yawned as she rubbed a towel through her mane as she finished up taking a shower that morning.  She had made it an extra long one that morning in an attempt to forget the events of the previous day, but unfortunately she came face-to-face with those events as she threw open the curtain to her shower.  She stood there frozen as her mind tried to process the grotesque visage before her before she reared backwards in surprise at seeing Discord so close to her.  “HISS!”

Seeing her reaction, Discord let out a hmph of annoyance as he turned away and crossed his good arm over the top of his other arm that was still in a sling and cast.  “Well how's that for gratitude, I come here to try and apologize and that's the way I am greeted.  Why I...”

The draconequus trails off as he turns to peer more closely at the mare with narrowed eyes.  Said mare was unamused by his comments as well as his presence and she made her feelings known.  “Discord!  What are you doing in my bathroom!  I really don't have time to put up with this and-  What the hay are you doing!?”

Discord had ignored her words and was busy poking at her ears, more specifically the furry tufts that she had on them that came from her thestral heritage.  “Well this is unexpected.  I knew there was something odd about you at first but I didn't realize that you were related to those introverted thestrals that Princess Moony loves to coddle.  No wonder you didn't react as I expected, and I thought I was losing my touch.  And if dear Fluttershy is your cousin... well this really makes things interesting.  I'm going to have to rethink my approach to all this now.”

With a burst of bat shaped bubbles the spirit of chaos and disharmony vanished from sight leaving the unicorn mare snorting in frustration at his previous location.  With a toss of her head she tried made her way out of the room to find something else to relieve her of her new found stress, blushing as she remembered how she had lost control of her actions when Discord had appeared.

^^^^^^^^^^

“So why are we heading out to the Crystal Empire again?  I didn't quite catch the reason when you were explaining it earlier Twilight.”  The orange unicorn's words drew the attention of her friends as they had thought she had fallen asleep.  Twilight rolled her eyes at one of her friends not paying attention to her, though she had expected it to be either Rainbow Dash or Rarity to be the first to ask and not the usually more observant Aegis Flare.

“Hey Twilight.  Show her that awesome thing that Princess Cadance sent you.”  With a roll of her eyes the purple mare pulls a hoof-sized flat crystal out of her bag and sets it down in front of her.  Tapping it on the side a couple times with her hooves she lit up her horn, causing the air above it to shimmer until the form of Princess Cadance appeared and began to speak.

“Is it on now?  Oh I hope this works, she'll be so excited.  What?  What do you mean it's recording?  *ahem*  Dear Twilight.  No that won't work, start it over.  What do you mean you can't?  Ugh, fine.  Hey Twilight, things have been rather interesting up her in the Crystal Empire since I last saw you.  Shiny and I have been working to get the crystal ponies caught up and it hasn't been easy to say the least.  Even so there was much that was lost when Sombra took the city out of time and this message is just one of those things.  While there is more I would like to say the time on these things are limited so here's why I'm contacting you.  It seems that this year things have been heating up for the Equestrian games and seeing as we are new the games committee is sending an inspector here within the next few days to look around.  I was wondering if you and your friends could come and help out a bit since it would be a huge boon to the Empire to have such a huge event here.  It would also be nice to see you again since it takes so long to travel up here with only the one train.  All right, I think that's it, you ca turn it off now.  Oh wait there was one last thing I had to tell her and-”  The crystal's magic faded out at that point and went dark leaving the orange unicorn to stare at it with her head tilted.

“Huh, that's interesting.  Though I wonder what she was about to add at the end.  It's not very efficient though if you make mistakes like that though.  Can it be redone afterwards or is it permanent?  Odd though how it feels as if it should let you talk to her through it as if they're connected though.”  Twilight perks up as she puts the crystal away and pulls out a book.

“Actually Cadance sent this book with her message as well and it has all sorts of information about the uses of crystals from the Crystal Empire.  It sounds like they are still trying to perfect it again, but this book says that something like that is possible and is the least of the many uses crystals from the empire have.”  Rainbow Dash let out a groan as Twilight started to get deep into the techno-magical side of how the crystals could be used.  Most of the mares tuned her out though Aegis Flare listened in trying to understand what she could though some of it felt faintly familiar to her for some reason.

It was a few hours later when the train finally pulled into the station for the Crystal Empire allowing the seven mare to disembark.  Looking around they found that the rails had been extended a bit and now ended on the outskirts of the city allowing building to be put up around it.  In the short time since they had been there the city had started to recover.  “Huh, they sure have been growing the city.  Buildings are sprouting up faster than a barn at mah family's reunion.”

Applejack got a few odd looks from her friends though they still nodded as they got the point of her remark.  Proceeding on their way to find the princess, they made note that it was oddly quiet for it being the middle of the day and they soon noticed that the crystal ponies were stopping to stare at them before whispering to each other.  They were starting to wonder what was going on when a greenish-gray filly walked up to them carrying a large piece of paper.  “Um, excuse me, but is this you?”

Looking at the paper the found that it was a poster featuring all seven of the mares in a variety of poses.  They were all confused as to where she had gotten it from though Rainbow Dash was a tad excited on seeing it.  “Yeah, did you want something kiddo?”

The filly bounced in excitement a couple times before she remembered herself and looked shyly up at the pegasus.  “Um, well, can I please get all your autographs?”

While the others were even more confused by this turn of events the cyan mare just smirked.  “Of course, wouldn't want to disappoint a fan.”

With the filly once again bouncing in excitement the seven mares proceeded to sign the poster, oblivious to the increased whispering from the crowd around them.  Once they returned the autographed poster to the filly she quickly sped back to her awaiting parent.  “Mommy!  Mommy!  It's them!  They really were the Champions of the Empire!”

As if her words were the floodgates the crowd burst out into an uproar as the converged on the seven mares.  “By the heart!  It really is them!”  “Can I have your autograph!”  “I really like your mane!”  Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

The seven mares were overwhelmed by the attention as the backed into a circle with Fluttershy cowering in the center.  Rainbow Dash tried to soak up as much of the attention as she could but it was too much even for her.  As panic started to set in a loud whistle rang out above the crowd which parted as a squad of crystal pony guards marched up leading a carriage.  “All right, break it up!  The empress has requested the presence of the champion's immediately.  You all will have to wait to talk to them later.”

The crowd let out a chorus of 'awws' as one of the guards opened the carriage door for the group.  Within moments the group was piling in, Fluttershy making it in first, and they were soon on their way to the palace.  The group took the time to calm down, though Rarity was more focused on helping Fluttershy deal with her panic attack than herself, before Aegis Flare spoke up.  “Now what the hay was that all about?  I know we helped out when we were last here but was it really worth all that?”

The others that had calmed enough only shrugged as the waited out the ride with Twilight peeking out the window.  She soon spotted something which caused her to rub her muzzle with a hoof.  “Ugh, I don't think that is the worst of it either, look.”

Gesturing with a hoof out the window the others crowded around to see what she was referring to before their jaws collectively dropped.  In the center of the plaza the were passing was a large crystal statue featuring all seven of the mares.  The centerpiece of the statue featured Twilight standing tall with a replica of the crystal heart floating at the tip of her horn.  In front of her were Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie positioned in ways as if they were helping others while at her back were the other three mares, reared up in combat poses wearing armor as if they were combating an enemy.  The two pegasii could just barely read a plaque at it's base with their better eyesight stating, 'The Heart-seeker, the Terror-breaking Trio, and the Tender Triad;  Champions of the Empire.'

Fluttershy's fell back whimpering at the sight while the others were just astonished at what they saw.  They were pulled out of it when the carriage rolled to a stop, yet they had yet to reach the palace.  “Huh?  Why are we stopping?”

The door opened, revealing one of the guards, who explained having heard the question.  “Sorry for the subterfuge, but the empress is waiting inside the spa and didn't want the citizens to know and possibly converge on the building just to see you.  Now if you'll please, this way now.”

Looking at each other the mares just shrugged as they followed the guard inside the building.  As he said the building was a spa, which was getting Rarity excited, and after being led to the back they found themselves being greeted by the pink pony princess who went through her greeting routine with Twilight before focusing on them as a whole.  “Twilight!  You're here!  Why didn't you wait at the station, didn't you get my message?”

With a confused frown Twilight brought out the crystal and played it again for the princess.  Once it ended she rubbed at her temples with a hoof before sighing to herself.  “Shiny, I told you to send the other one.”  Turning to the mares.  “The crystal ponies have a bit of an issue with hero worship after all that time under Sombra.  Getting them to stop is nearly impossible, just as impossible as it was preventing the spread of the Love Shack around Equestria, there's already one here even.”

Rarity blinked a few times at the name before clearing her throat.  “Excuse me, princess?  Did you say Love Shack?  Please tell me that isn't what I think it is?”

Princess Cadance shook her head and was about to respond when Aegis Flare spoke up.  “I believe that is what the church devoted to her is called.  Relatively simple and to the point when compered to what some of Princess Celestia's are called.  I think one of them takes a whole minute to even say.”

With a nod the princess shakes her head wearily.  I never did care for being worshiped like that, but it did teach me how to pick my battles.  The crystal ponies...  They actually need something like this to give them hope after all those years under Sombra's tyranny, and it is relatively harmless.  Unfortunately, because of all the attention you seven will get you won't be able to help show the inspector around without getting in the way.”

The mares look a bit crestfallen at hearing this though they perk up at Cadance's next few words.  “But that just means that you all can join me here in getting ready.  You see there is a customary look that the empress of the crystal empire wears when greeting ponies of special interest.  It takes a lot of work but with your help we should have it done in time for when we meet the inspector after Shining finishes showing them around the empire.”

The mares nod to the princess when Twilight's head tilts to the side about something.  “I've been hearing the title empress being used a lot recently.  Why are you being called that instead of a princess like before?”

The pink alicorn rolls her eyes at this.  “It's just another one of those things about the crystal ponies.  They refuse to call me anything except that because they have always been ruled by one.  Really it's pretty much the same thing so I decided not to press the issue right now when there are more important things to deal with.  Now, we really should get to work on the preparations for meeting the inspector, it's going to take a long time to finish but at least with you all here I won't be bored.  Especially since this will give me time to finally get to know all of you better.  It wouldn't do to not get to know Twilight's friends now that she actually brings them around to meet for once.”

“Cadance!”  Twilight blushed at her ex-foalsitter as the others joined in laughing with the princess, knowing how the studious mare is about social interactions like that.  Settling down the group made there way through the spa to the preparation areas and proceeded to help out the princess while telling her all about themselves.

It was soon apparent that only two of the seven really had any experience with the high-level grooming needs of the princess so while Rarity and Fluttershy helped out the attendants the others kept the princess entertained with various stories of their day-to-day lives and adventures while in mud bath.  “...and that's the last thing I was able to learn relating to my parents.  My aunt is still keeping an eye and ear out for more information that has anything to do with them but even Princess Celestia is in the dark on this it seems.”

Cadance let out a hum of interest at this as she rubbed at her chin with a hoof while Rarity tried to style her mane as shown in the book.  “I met them a time or two in the past though I never knew much about them.  I think I remember auntie saying something about them disappearing during a diplomatic mission to one of the gryphon kingdoms.  It was supposed to be a simple delivery she said yet they, along with their contact, were never heard from again.  Many of her agents were vanishing around that time and it was with their disappearance that she decided to close the black guard down due to them being targeted.”

The mood took a downward turn as often happened when discussion of the missing parents came up.  Seeing this the princess of love clapped her hooves together to break the stillness.  “Well speaking of your family, I have had the pleasure of meeting your aunt.  She's such a breath of fresh air compared to the other thestrals that try to keep to themselves.  The things she told me about how thestral society worked bothered me except for one interesting little facet of it.”

While the others mares just looked at the princess with confused interest, Aegis Flare groaned as she knew exactly what was coming and was proven right when Cadance turned her head towards Twilight.  “So when are you going to find a nice stallion to settle down with, Twilight?  You all get along so well that you could already be a herd if not for the lack of that key part.”

Twilight's face darkened rapidly at the question as all the blood rushed to her face.  “That's not...  I mean, we aren't...  What?  Huh?”

The other mares weren't in much better of a condition with Rarity fanning herself, Fluttershy covering her face with both hooves, and Aegis Flare sinking into the mud.  Rainbow Dash and Applejack were a little better off as they chuckled at their friend's discomfort but their face told a different story while it was hard to tell if Pinkie was affected much for those that didn't know her as she only froze up at the question.

Cadance just sat looking amused at their reactions as this was the first time that she was able to tease Twilight about something like this.  None of them could really come up with a good response and eventually the orange unicorn sighed and lifted her head out of the odd green mudslime.  “While it wouldn't bother me too badly to be with them like that, I just don't think it would work out well since what we'd want in a stallion wouldn't really mesh up.  Just going off the stallions I've met, they each in theory would work, but there is always something that would turn out poorly with at least one of us.  Not to say that it may not happen but it's more likely that we'd split off into two or three different herds with a different stallion.”

The princess smirked at Aegis Flare's answer before giving her response.  “So you've actually thought that deeply about it already?  And your aunt said that you had no interest in such things.”

Hearing this, the mare planted her face into the muck while her friends gave her odd looks over her thoughts on the subject.  Applejack's eyes narrowed at her friend as she connected the dots between her words.  “Now just hold on a minute there.  Are ya saying ya thought about all of us and the different stallions in Ponyville?  Ya better not be including mah brother in there.”

Multiple eyes rolled at her defensiveness though Aegis Flare wasn't overly worried about her friend's aggressiveness.  “AJ, he's probably the most eligible bachelor in all of Ponyville so it would be insulting not to think of him first.  Even so, with him being your brother, and him not really being my type coming up right away it was easy to move on.”  The unicorn brought up a hoof to forestall the farm mare's next question which she had heard often enough.  “And yes, he is a great stallion, but he's just to passive for me, I just don't think his take-things-as-they-come approach would work for me.  That and it would be rather awkward having been around him while visiting you all these years and catching him multiple times prancing around in a dress.”

There were a few titters at the last bit as the orange earth pony pulled her hat down over her face.  “Dang it, Big Mac.  Ya said that was only a one-time thing.”

Clearing her throat from behind the princess, Rarity took the opportunity to throw in her own two bits.  “Applejack darling, she is correct about that.  While Big Macintosh truly is one of the best looking stallions in Ponyville, even I fantasized about him a time or two, not just any mare would be right for him.  He and Sweet Apple Acres can't be separated and any mare that is with him has to accept that.  Why out of all of us, I believe dear Fluttershy would make the best match overall.  A strong, gentle stallion to keep her safe while being patient and quiet enough to help her through anything?  Why, they are practically made for each other.”

As attention turned to the buttery pegasus she shrank away behind her mane yet again.  Yet as they were all about to take pity on her and turn the conversation elsewhere her voice floated out from behind it.  “Um, well.  It's not like I haven't considered it.  I mean I have talked with Ms. Cheerilee after that love poison incident and how she really felt about him.  And, oh dear, we, she...  WE'RE HAVING A DATE WITH HIM NEXT WEEK*meep*”

The shy pegasus dove under the nearest massage bench in fear of how her friends would react to her news.  The others looked surprised at hearing this and they all tensed up when Apple climbed out of the tub to make her way over to the cowering mare.  Feeling a hoof on her shoulder, Fluttershy peeked out from under her hiding place to see Applejack looking down at her with sympathy.  “Ah'm sorry about that Fluttershy.  Ah didn't think of what ah would do if one of mah friends took interest in mah brother.  Most mares are only after him for his looks, but I know that none of ya aren't like that.  Ah'm just so scared of what would happen ta mah family after ma and pa left that ah can't help but worry about them.  If ya want ta try dating him then ah won't stand in the way.  Ms. Cheerilee isn't so bad either.  Hay she is one of the few that can keep Applebloom out of trouble, usually.”

The others let out a sigh of relief at the farmer handling things calmly, though Cadance was oblivious to the tension and was just smiling at the pegasus for trying to find love.  After coaxing the mare out, Applejack didn't leave her side as she led her back to the others while quietly whispering something to her that caused her to lightly blush.  Even while this was all going on Rarity had kept up her work on the princess' mane and was just now putting on the finishing touches.  “Aaaand, done!  While it took longer than I thought, it would have taken even longer without Fluttershy's assistance.  I can't believe that this has to be done every time you have some important meeting like this.”

The princess carefully turns her head in various directions to find that her mane is holding well in place before she slips out of the tub, the mudslime just slipping right off of her.  After running a warm towel over herself to remove any further residue her coat took on a healthy gleam as she walked over to her dress, soon followed by the others.  Once her dress was on, the princess led the group out to a waiting carriage which brought them towards the palace where they would later meet with the inspector.  As they were riding, Aegis Flare took a seat next to Applejack.  “You took Fluttershy's news better than I expected, especially after the last time a mare told you they were after your brother.”

Applejack winced as she remembered that incident and how she had chased that one mare around the entirety of Sweet Apple acres with a rake until she dropped.  She may have regretted her actions but she still didn't like the mare's attitude toward her brother.  “Ya know how hard it is ta get mad at Fluttershy, and I did say I thought of ya all as family before.  This just will make it official with her.  Also ah owe it ta Cheerilee after what our sisters put her through so if she wants ta continue then so be it.”

The unicorn shook her head as she thought back to that day and wondered if Twilight had left any other dangerous books out where others could find them and made a note to check.  The group made small talk as the carriage brought them right up to the gates of the palace, so as to avoid an incident like earlier, where they disembarked and made for the throne room.  With the help of the seven mares, Princess Cadance was early for her meeting with the inspector so they had plenty of time to share more stories, though there were problems keeping Rainbow Dash from showing off her tricks inside the high-ceilinged throne room.

Eventually the time had arrived and a blonde-maned, brown earth pony mare was escorted in by Shining Armor.  After introducing her as Ms. Harshwhinny to his wife he stepped over to greet his sister.  “Hey Twily, I'm glad you could make it and help Cadance out.  It's too bad that you couldn't have handled showing the inspector around, but it turned out rather well.  She praised my my professionalism and all but said that the games would be here after seeing the coliseum.  In fact she said it was larger than she was expecting since the entire city would barely fill a quarter of it.”

His sister was happy for her brother, but she still looked a bit saddened which was quickly picked up on by him and the reason pulled from her.  “That's great and all, but I was just hoping to do more.  An opportunity like this doesn't come along often and I was just so excited when I heard about this.”

Most of the other mares nodded along, though one looked more thoughtful than disappointed.  “Hey, Twilight?  What were you even planning on showing her anyways?  I have no idea what there is to find in the Crystal Empire, or even where anything would be.  Where did you find out what the Crystal Empire had?”

Opening her mouth to respond, Twilight stopped as she realized she had forgotten something important.  Putting her hoof over her muzzle she let out a groan of annoyance.  “I can't believe that I was so caught up in my excitement that I forgot something so basic!  This is why checklists are so important, otherwise you forget important things!”

Shining Armor and the mares just shook her head in amusement at the lavender mare's reaction as Princess Cadance came over to tell them the good news before heading out to announce it to the rest of the empire.  The Equestrian Games were guaranteed to be held there for the first time ever.

The rest of their stay was rather trivial and the mares soon had to bid the two royals farewell as they snuck out into a carriage to the train station.  Word still managed to get out though as they had a literal parade of ponies following them the whole way and they had to have Twilight teleport them inside the train.  Once there they let out a sigh of relief as they settled in for the long trip.  “Well that was a tiring couple of days.  I can't wait to get back to Ponyville so I can get some more training done and check on the weather team.  How about all of you?”

Most of the others had similar answer of getting back to the usual like Rainbow Dash though Aegis Flare flicked an ear.  “I'm not quite sure right now.  I'll probably have to see what my sister has been up to while I was away.  Something tells me I might have to up her training plans yet again.”

While too quiet for most of the others to hear, those with thestral ears could easily make out a soft groan followed by a light thump of hoof meeting hide from underneath one of the train seats, which both Fluttershy and Aegis Flare glanced at before going back to talking with their friends.
> 47
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Seriously Twilight?  I can't believe you still haven't put these books somewhere safe so that the wrong ponies don't get at them.  You even left the one that my sister and her friends used to create that love poison that almost ruined Big Mac and Cheerilee.”  Twilight blushed as Aegis Flare paced through the library looking at book after book, looking for more dangerous knowledge.

“I just haven't gotten around to it yet.  There's just so many books to look after and I still have to do things for the princess when she requests it of me.”  Spike let out a noise of disagreement from his place atop a nearby ladder as he was re-shelving some books.

“More like she was too caught up in reading to actually remember to do it.  You should have seen all the piles of books she left in the libraries around Canterlot, at least when she didn't try rearranging them.  If I wasn't here then who knows how badly this place would look, probably find the advanced magic books in the children's section.”  Twilight's face darkened even further as she glared at the dragon.

“Spike!”

“What?  You know it's true.  I'm surprised that the adult books section hasn't been scattered around the library in more 'appropriate' sections.”  Twilight gaped at the dragon for a moment before slamming the book she was currently reading shut.

“Spike!  That was just the one time!  And I thought we agreed never to talk about that incident again!  We don't even have an adult section here anyways.”  Turning away with a huff, she didn't notice the odd looks that the other two were giving her at that moment.

“Um, actually we do Twilight.  Didn't you know that the bookcase over there was also a door to help keep younger foals from getting in there?  There's even another one that was completely empty last time I looked up in your room as well.”  Twilight's gaze snapped over to the dragon as he climber a ladder to hit a hidden button which caused on of the bookcases to swing open revealing a small hidden room of books.  Blinking a few time she stared blankly at the two who seemed to know more about the library than she did before she vanished in a flash of light.  The two could hear her rummaging around upstairs before her voice called down to them.

“Why didn't anypony tell me these were here?!  I could have had my personal collection put somewhere safer than under my bed and...”  Twilight's voice trailed off as she realized what she was saying while the other unicorn looked at the dragon with a raised eyebrow.  After a moment the two just shook their heads before Aegis Flare went upstairs.

On entering the upstairs room she found Twilight frantically moving books from various places around the room into the now opened secret room.  Moments later the lavender mare had put the last of the chosen books into the room before shutting the bookcase and turning away.  “Really, after all this time and only now am I being told about these rooms?  How am I supposed to keep track of all the books in the library if they are being hidden from me?  At least nopony ever comes up here except my friends so I don't have to worry too much about losing anything important that the princess sends me.  I don't even want to think about what she would do if I somehow lost Starswirl the Bearded's journal.”

Aegis Flare's eyebrows shot up at hearing about the journal and she made her presence known.  “Wait, you have the journal of one of the craziest unicorn mages to ever live?  Please tell me that it doesn't contain untested temporal magic, or any temporal magic period.”

Twilight glared at her friend for a moment before responding.  “Starswirl was not crazy, he was a genius!  No unicorns have done as much as he has for the many fields of magic and Equestria wouldn't be where we are today without him!”

Aegis Flare just shook her head at the other mare.  “I'm not denying any of that, but with all the spells he made involving time travel he must have been crazy to some extent, you'd have to be to want to mess with that stuff.”  She paused seeing the look of outrage the Twilight was giving her causing her to remember the lavender mare's own experiences as well as a couple other incidents.  “The Smartypants Incident and just about any time involving Princess Celestia.”

The look of outrage turned into one of bafflement then embarrassment before Twilight let out a huff and turned away.  “So maybe you have a bit of a point, but I still don't appreciate being called crazy.  Especially when I distinctly remember you doing something similar.”

With a shrug the orange unicorn looks over to Twilight's desk to find the journal she was talking about before casually flipping through it as she responded.  “I'm not denying that either, hay I doubt you it's even possible to point out a completely sane pony, especially here in Ponyville.  It's pretty much a requirement to fit in.  Of course not everyone is as special as you to have a permanent place on the town's betting pool of what the next exciting event will be.”

The lavender unicorn's eyes bugged out when she heard this before letting out a snort of indignation.  “What!?  Why would other ponies be betting on me?  What did I do that was so exciting that I would be put up on it?”

Her friend gave her a deadpan look before responding.  “Well not including some of the adventures we've had, like with Discord or Nightmare Moon, you DO have a habit of blowing something up on a near weekly basis, but that has the lowest odds so far after too many ponies were winning too often.  Now the bets have to be very specific in what happens for something like that to have a chance of winning.  Berry Punch has actually kept the pot a few times because of how unique some of your magical disasters have been.  I actually made a couple hundred bits after your little Smartypants Incident from my ten percent handlers fee for running the numbers for the pool when she collected the pot due to no winners.  I think the popular long-shot now is you somehow managing to blow yourself up during an experiment.”

As Twilight's jaw dropped in shock at the implications of this, Aegis Flare continued flipping through the journal of Starswirl.  She paused as she noticed something odd about the journal and looked back over at Twilight.  “Twilight?  Why are some of the pages in here mostly blank except for a spattering of odd symbols?”

Twilight looked at her blankly for a moment before rushing over and examining the first of the pages her friend was pointing out.  “But...  This is one of the spells that Starswirl invented.  With your condition you shouldn't even be able to see anything with it being entirely in runes, unless...”  She pauses thoughtfully for a moment before her eyes widen.  “Can you point out which ones you are seeing for me?”

As the orange mare pointed out each one Twilight got more and more excited.  When the last one was pointed out she was bouncing in place.  “I knew it!  I knew something was off about these spells when I saw them!  It was odd that the journal didn't have any spells or encryption on it, he left false information in his spells like a hidden code!  If I do this...  Then over here...  Aaaand, DONE!  Now after rearranging the lines of the spell according to all that we find...  Oh my, this is the first teleportation spell.  It's a bit inefficient compared to what we have now, but this is still so exciting!  Now, what about the next one.”

Aegis Flare knew that she had lost her friend at that point and frowned in thought about what she may have inadvertently unleashed.  Heading downstairs she stopped next to the dragon before heading out.  “You may want to watch out, Spike.  I think Twilight is about to go on a research binge once again.  I'll try to get the others to drag her away once a day though to minimize the damage, especially with that book.”

The dragon nods before the two cringe as a small explosion sounds out from upstairs followed by an “I'm all right!” from the mare in question.  Shaking her head with a glance upwards the orange mare heads out of the library.

<><><><><><><><><><>

The next week was a blur for Twilight when it came to her researching the journal.  Her friends prevented her from working non-stop on it as they each had come to pull her away for some time to relax as well as dinner each day.  Afterwards they made sure that she actually slept for the night so that when she returned to the library she was well rested and she wasn't sure if the loss of time actually hurt as she seemed see more clearly what she was reading after each night.  She was still working on the final spell, which was much harder to decipher as she didn't have a clue on how it worked, but had managed to almost getting it working the previous night.  She was still unsure what the spell was missing, but once she figured out what it currently did she was sure finishing with it would be a piece of cake.

Still, even with her lack of success her spirits felt higher than ever and she felt the need to let the whole town know it through song.  She made her way through town greeting those she came across and it looked like nothing could bring her mood down.  Of course the world took that as a challenge as she reached the end of her little song.  “That everything is certainly-”  *FWOOSH*  “Yeeaaaaaa!”

An orange blur passed in front of her leaving a short wall of flames where it passed, which happened to be dangerously close to Twilight's hooves.  In fact it was so close that she was forced to dance backwards before raising them to blow on them to try and cool them off from the sudden heat.  “Whoa, sorry about that Twilight.  Didn't see you there.”

Looking up to berate the pony that had nearly toasted her hooves, Twilight was surprised to find the profile of Aegis Flare standing next to her.  She was about to reply when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye and turned to see Rainbow Dash's cutie mark adorning her friend's flank.  “What are you doing?  What happened to your cutie mark?”

The orange unicorn just looked at her quizzically.  “What are you talking about Twilight?  I'm practicing for the next race just like always since my cutie mark appeared.  I may be the fastest around but I can't get lazy now.”

Twilight looked back the way her friend had come to see the scorched trail she had left behind, and the ponies complaining about it.  Unsure about what was going on, Twilight looked back at her friend while thinking of the others.  “Where is Rainbow Dash?  I really need to speak with her right away.”

After being told of the cyan mare's current whereabouts, Twilight quickly rushed off to find her.  Her path soon led her find the mare in question bearing Fluttershy's cutie mark.  This then led her to finding Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack, each with the previous mare's cutie mark.  Her worry neared frenzy levels though when she was told that Rarity was in the Everfree forest.  “Where could she be, Spike?  Applejack said she should have been out by now yet I still don't see Rarity.”

“What about me, darling?”  Twilight and Spike both jumped in surprise at the voice ringing out behind them.  Turning the two found the mare they were searching for, but from the state she was in they could tell she had better days.

“Rarity!  Your mane!”  After glancing at a bedraggled piece of her mane that was hanging in front of her eyes for a second, Rarity just shrugged at Spike.

“Oh it's nothing that a little trip to the spa won't fix.  Trust me when I say that those brutes in the Everfree have it worse.  They'll know not to mess with me from now on.”  She started giggling in a crazed manner as she pulled out a lighter and started flipping it open and closed in her magic.  The librarian assistant glanced at each other before slowly backing away until they came to a safe distance.

“This is bad.  This is very, very bad.”  Twilight started panically prancing in place as the precocious pre-teen watched looking perplexed.

“What's going on?  Why is this happening?”  The lavender librarian proceed to explain what she had been doing recently with the journal and how she had partially cast the spell last night to try and find out what it should be doing.  Seeing as it was their best hope at fixing things, the two quickly returned home to try and find a spell to undo everything.  Unfortunately they couldn't find anything in the book which pushed Twilight into a near depression after doing what she did to her friends.

Slowly traversing her room, Twilight eventually came to a stop before a picture of her and her six friends.  After staring at it for a while she felt something welling up from deep inside herself causing her eyes to widen.  “I've got it!  I know what to do!”

Rushing out of the library, Elements of Harmony in tow, she quickly searched the town for her friends and came upon Fluttershy who looked to be preparing to move away from town.  After convincing her to come with her, Twilight brought Fluttershy to her cottage to try and help Rainbow Dash.  After a bit of coaxing, and a little work, Twilight managed to convince Fluttershy to help Rainbow Dash who was in trouble with the animals.  The animals were soon calmed down and a realization came to the buttery pegasus as Twilight placed the Element of Kindness around her neck.  Something, most likely the remnants of the spell Twilight tried to cast, flooded into Fluttershy restoring both her memories and cutie mark.

After allowing Fluttershy a moment to reassert herself, Twilight broke out into song along with the mare before they turned to Rainbow Dash to convince her that Aegis Flare needed her help.  Quickly the trio left that cottage in search of the orange mare, and eventually found her on the edge of town racing around it.  Looking at her friend's face, Fluttershy could see flashes of pain cross it and turned to Rainbow Dash with a gasp.  “She's in pain!  Hurry, you are the only one that can catch her!”

Rainbow Dash looked unsure of herself as she took flight after the mare but soon came up alongside her.  Glancing over, Aegis Flare noticed the challenger before smirking at her.  “Is that the best you've got?  Just try and keep up!”

With a flash of flames Aegis Flare went even faster while leaving an even larger trail of flames behind her.  Narrowing her eyes, Rainbow Dash accepted the challenge and put on her own burst of speed as the competitive spirit arose within her.  Soon the two were racing neck-and-neck around Ponyville, neither getting an edge.  As they came around to where they left the other two mares Rainbow Dash dug deep and blew right past the unicorn, sending her spinning tail over head.

“Oh yeah!  Who's the mare!  Who's the mare!”  As Rainbow Dash did a victory dance in front of Twilight, the lavender mare levitated the Element of Loyalty around her neck which returned her own memories and cutie mark, just like the previous time, leaving the mare shaking her head.  “Uh, what just happened?”

“There's no time to explain, but we need your help.  Rarity is out hunting in the Everfree!”  Rainbow Dash blinked a couple times before looking over at Aegis Flare and grinning.

“Say no more!”  With that the cyan mare took her place in the song as she convinced the orange mare to go help Rarity.  Soon enough the four were off to the edge of the Everfree to find Rarity, which wasn't that difficult when the screaming started.

“Heeeeelp!”  The group was greeted with the sight of Rarity being chased by a pack of timberwolves, one of which was carrying a whip covered in sputtering flames in its mouth for some reason.  On seeing the wolves Aegis Flare's pupils shrank, but with some urging from Rainbow Dash she took a deep breath and took a step forward.  Getting the pack's attention ended up being easier than it should have been as the moment she stepped forward all eyes were on her before they all gave out a howl and rushed her.

Even worn out the mare's body still held all the experiences and instincts of her previous fights with the creatures and she was able to dodge their attacks even in her clumsy state.  After a few moment the pack had surrounded her but as the all leapt as one a sphere of flames lit up at the tip of her horn before expanding in all direction, incinerating the creatures in an explosion of flames.  With a snort and a toss of her head the mare watched as the essences of the creatures fled back into the forest as Twilight hung her element around her neck, freeing her from the spell.  Once her memories returned she shook her head to clear it before glaring over at Twilight.  “You cast that spell, didn't you?  I thought I asked you to be more careful?  We'll be having words about this later, now, what is going on.”

The lavender mare blushed at being caught out like this but explained what was going on and what they needed to do.  Soon she was also caught up in the song and getting Rarity to help out Applejack.  It wasn't long before she and Pinkie Pie were back to their normal selves and the seven mares were on their way back to the library.  Once their Twilight began explaining what had happened as she showed them the journal before she suddenly let out a gasp.  “I've got it!  I know how to fix the spell!”

The next few moments Twilight rapidly transcribed the unfinished spell onto a new scroll while making the appropriate changes.  After finishing on the runes she modified the odd sentence that went with it all.  “From all of us together, together we're friends. With the marks of our destinies made one, there is magic without end!“

As she pressed her quill into the scroll for the final period the Element of Magic began reacting to something.  The Elements of Harmony, except for Courage, began to glow before firing out a beam of energy and converged on the Element of Courage right next to Twilight.  “Twilight!  What's going on!?”

Being as confused as the others the lavender mare didn't know how to respond to Aegis Flare and before she could the energy that was built up fired at her own element.  The energy began swirling around her in a ball of energy but it didn't stop there as it started to expand slowly through the room.  “Twilight!  Are you okay in there!?  Say something!”

Rainbow Dash's question went unanswered as the energy soon enveloped the other six mares before halting in its expansion.  With a flash of light the ball of energy exploded leaving the room empty, books scattered all over the place, with a giant scorch mark on the floor in the shape of Twilight's cutie mark, her friend's own marks replacing the various stars other than her center one.
> 48
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I told you to be more careful with the spells in that journal, now look at where we are!”

“Well excuse me for taking my studies seriously for the princess!  How else was I going to figure out what it was supposed to do!?”

“You could have at least set up a shield or something to contain the effects!  I could have helped with that at least and with who your brother is I'm sure even he taught you a few tricks!”

Aegis Flare and Twilight argued with each other while their friends just started around at the endless, starry expanse in shock.  The two had been going at it since they had appeared wherever it was they were and the others were starting to feel anxious.  Eventually one of them snapped.  “Girls!  This is not the time or place for this!  We all need to work together and find out what is going on so until then you need to stop arguing!”

The two mares froze in place under the force of Fluttershy's stare before glancing at the others and blushing.  Taking a moment to calm down the two turned back to each other.  “Sorry about that Twilight, I really shouldn't be yelling at you like that, this is just so outside of anything I'm used to.

Twilight shook her head at her friend.  “No, I'm the one who should apologize.  You are right though, I should have taken better precautions before casting that spell.  Because I didn't I almost ruined the lives of all of my friends.”

The two hugged though the orange mare still quietly whispered something so the others couldn't hear.  “We're still going to talk about this later.”

Twilight only nods in response while the others look on.  “That's better, now how about we figure out just where we are now...  Um, if you don't mind that is.”

The group of mares nodded to Fluttershy but before any of them could react their attention was drawn by a globe of light forming in the area.  From out of the light stepped Princess Celestia who had her eyes closed as she was speaking.  “Congratulations, Twilight. I knew you could do-”

The princess froze in place as she opened her eyes and took in the figures of seven mares instead of only the one she was expecting.  The mares looked at each other in confusion as the princess' normally smoothly flowing mane started taking on a jagged appearance.  As her eye began to twitch the princess began to speak again.  “Wait, what...  What are all of you doing here!?  No, no, no, no, this isn't right.  Nothing was ever said about this, what could have gone wrong.”

Suddenly a scroll thicker than any of the mares were tall appeared between them and the princess as she started unraveling it.  “No.  Not this.  Not here.  Certainly not this.  Nothing!  This wasn't how it was supposed to go!  It has to be here somewhere!  It has to be!”

As the princess began to panic more and more the seven mares looked at each other before settling on Twilight who was starting to twitch a little at seeing the princess lose her composure like this.  “You know, I always wondered where Twilight got that from.  I just didn't expect it to be the princess.”

The others nodded to Rainbow Dash while Twilight shot a glare at her.  Watching the princess they all wondered what they were supposed to do now when another voice spoke up.  “Well this is a pleasant surprise this fine night.  No wonder my sister was so secretive lately and ran off so suddenly during our private meal.”

The seven turned to see princess Luna walking up behind them with her eye on her sister as she sighed and shook here head.  “Oh Tia, you still haven't learned how to deal with your chessmaster schemes going off script, have you?  You always were too organized and never could handle the unexpected.”

“Is it raining, is it snowing?”

Princess Luna winced as her sister started rocking back in forth with her forelimbs grasping around her rear while saying random things.  With a sigh she turned to look back at the seven confused mares thoughtfully.  “Now how to deal with all of you.  Tia played everything so close to her chest that I have no clue about what she had planned.  From how she always talked about her student I believe that only Twilight should have been here and the rest of you were the flaw in her plans.”

“Oh no, my caterpillar didn't turn into a butterfly.”

Looking from her friends to the crazily muttering white alicorn, Twilight stepped forward to address the other princess.  “Princess Luna?  Just what is going on?  One moment We were finishing that spell in Starswirl's journal, and the next the Elements of Harmony all lit up and did something to send us here.”

“Have fun storming the castle.”

“Yeah!  First they were all vreee then all fwoom and then we all exploded!”  The others stared at Pinkie Pie for a moment before Rainbow Dash facehoofed.

“Seriously!?  You cause an explosion and you catch all of us in it instead of just yourself?  I was sure I was going to win this time and now Berry is going to collect the pot yet again.”  Twilight glared over at her friend at finding out she was the one that had bet on her exploding for the town's betting pool.  Before things could escalate Luna cleared her throat, though paused after glancing at her sister once more.

“Tia like big boom!”

“That is going to be difficult to explain.  We should-”  The princess was interrupted as a shrieking pink missile passed in front of her to crash into Twilight causing her to bring a hoof up to rub at the base of her horn.

“EEEEEEEE!  Oh Twilight I can't believe you actually did it!  I just can't wait to show you everything and-”  Princess Cadance looked up and paused on seeing the six other confused mares and looked around only to discover the state her aunt was in and wince.

“There's no place like home.”

“Oh auntie, this again?  I would have thought you would have learned after the last time.”  Looking around her eyes fell on the other royal sister and she smiled sweetly up at her from her position holding Twilight.  “You're here too auntie Luna?  Have you explained everything to them yet?”

“You can't handle the truth.”

With a sigh Princess Luna looked over the others.  “As I was saying, things are more complicated than we had anticipated so we should move this conversation somewhere more comfortable.  It should not be long before you are drawn back to where you arrived from and we shall meet you there.”

She was about to say more when a loud smack rang out through the area.

“At the sound of the beep, the time shall be ten thirty-seven, BEEP!”

All heads turned to stare in shock at Aegis Flare who was standing next to Celestia with her hoof raised after smacking the crazed princess.  They could only stare in horror as her hoof came back around for another pass.

*SMACK*

“Coltston, we have a problem.”

*SMACK*

“My precious.”

*SMACK*

“Are you not entertained!”

“Flare!  What do you think you're doing!?”  Looking up from the princess, Aegis Flare rose an eyebrow at her friend's looks.

“What?  Whatever this is is obviously her fault since she had it all planned out and I doubt I'll ever get this chance again.  I have a feeling that I'll want to do worse after this is all over if her reaction is anything to go by.  Besides, it's rather therapeutic.”  She flinched slightly when not only Twilight, but Fluttershy and Luna all glared at her causing her to drop her hoof.

“Well stop it, this isn't the time for that and you should have more respect for-  Wait, now what is happening?”  Twilight's anger turned to confusion as lights began swirling around her and all her friends, lifting them into the air.  Princess Luna gave them all a comforting smile as they rose.

“Do not worry, it is just this place returning you once again where you belong.”  The mares looked relieved, except for Pinkie Pie who was disappointed about something.

“Aww, but that looked like fun and I didn't get a chance to try.”  The princess rolled her eyes as the pink mare was pointing at her sister before the group disappeared.  With them gone she looked around to find that Cadance had already left, most likely to notify her husband, before settling her gaze on her sister.

“Cats and dogs living together, total anarchy!”

With a frown the princess of the night raised her hoof before giving her sister a smack across her muzzle, setting her to swaying.

“Price check on prune juice!  Price check on prune juice!”

The princess looked down at her hoof in surprise for a moment.  “Huh, she was right.  This is rather therapeutic.  They can wait a bit longer, they have plenty of time now.  I really need to find out what my sister had planned first anyways.”

The area rang out with the sound of hoof meeting flesh and giggles as the princess of the night took a bit of long-awaited revenge on her sister.

<><><><><><><><><><>

Back in Ponyville the citizens of town were preparing for sleep when a lightshow appeared about the town library.  They watched in awe as a large representation of Twilight's cutie mark was circled by that of each of her friends as they slowly descended to the ground.  As they landed the shapes erupted in fountains of color and when the show ended seven mares were left in its place.  The townsfolk watched in awe before one of them stepped forward to prod at one of the bodies and do a quick examination while looking over a scroll.  “Hmm, nope!  No alicorns on the list this time for the pool so looks like I win the pot again.  Like usual, partial bonuses will be paid out at the pub.”

A chorus of 'awws' met Berry Punch's proclamation and the crowd started to clear out for their homes.  The casual observer would have wondered at the lack of response to the odd discovery, but the town was used to oddities and were just waiting until one of the usual figures came to explain what was going on.

Shortly after the crowd had dispersed the mares began to stir.  “Ooogh, my head.  What happened?”

Applejack looked around blurry eyed at the others before settling on Rainbow Dash who had her forehead pressed against the ground.  “I don't know AJ but can you help me?  I'm not sure how but I'm stuck over here.”

With a shrug the farm mare unsteadily rose to her hooves and made her way over to her friend.  It took a bit of effort but they managed to free Dash's head from the ground, causing Applejack to freeze in shock at what she saw.  “Ow, that hurt.  What was even keeping me from-  Applejack!  You have a horn!”

Applejack shook her head at Rainbow Dash's exclamation and crossed her eyes trying to look upwards at the new appendage before responding.  “Mah horn!?  What about yours!?  Just what is going on around here!?”

The others soon found that the two athletes weren't the only ones with new appendages and the reactions all differed.

“Oh my, oh my, oh my!”

“Ooh, this is so exciting, I was planning a new line that would be just perfect for these.”

“This is impossible, how did this happen!”

“Whee!  This is so much fun and much easier than before!”

On hearing Pinkie Pie's shouts of joy all eyes turned towards her to see her vanishing and reappearing in a cloud of confetti along the ground and sometimes in the air.  Rarity was about to start panicking at the sight before she got a thoughtful look on her face.  “Actually somehow she makes even more sense like this than before.”

The others nodded along with her words as they turned back to their own awkward appendages.  Aegis Flare, having refused to look behind her even though she could feel the wings on her sides.  Remembering the princess' words she decided to speak up.  “You know maybe we should-”

Aegis Flare stopped in shock as her hooves flew up to her throat at the change in her voice.  The others also turned to stare at her though the reactions changed when they got a good look at her.  “Darling, your wings!  They're, they're...”

A bit afraid to look, but knowing that she had to, the orange mare slowly turned her head to get a good look at her back.  She was confused for a moment before her eyes widened in realization of what she was seeing.  Unlike her friends who all now had feathered wings, her own were those of her unknown parentage and thus took on a more bat-like appearance.  They were not what she was expecting and she took the time to admire them before a loud whistle broke out over the confused group causing all heads to turn to Twilight.  “Girls, we should really head inside until Princess Luna arrives.  Hopefully she can tell us just what is going on.  This night was just gotten weirder and-  Fluttershy!  You're bleeding!”

All eyes snapped towards the shy mare to see her wiping a hoof across her mouth revealing a red cut on her lip.  ”I-i-it's nothing really.  I'm just not used to how long my fangs are now and-EEP!”

She was interrupted when Twilight teleported in front of her and pried her lip up to see the pair of fangs in her mouth.  “When did you get these?  Did that spell do this to you or did you always have them?”

Twilight was about to bombard the mare with more questions before she was pulled away by Aegis Flare.  “You can ask her later Twilight, but yes she always had them.  It was part of why she rarely showed others her smile.  All those I've met with thestral parentage has always kept a few traits; Fluttershy's hearing and fangs, as well as her Stare, my sister's stockier build, and my ears and well, these.”  She gestured to her wings.  “Usually you can identify them early but some show up only after puberty.”

While the lavender mare stopped to consider the implications of all this, the others led her into the library where they made themselves comfortable waiting for Princess Luna.  It was after they had laid out tea and cookies that a knock came from the front door, and when opened revealed the night princess.  She said nothing as she was invited in and took an empty place from which to observe the seven mares before speaking.

“My sister is asleep now so I have yet to find everything, but I have found enough from her notes.”  Luna looked around at the gathered mares who watched her intently.  “We have seen many signs and heard many prophecies over our long lives, but not once has the full story been known until after it has been fulfilled.  There were signs that suggested that it was possible that Twilight may, over time, have become an alicorn yet my sister decided to push the issue.”

All eyes fell on Twilight as she looked conflicted about the news but none of them interrupted.  “We do not know if that decision caused this to happen or if there were other circumstances that we knew nothing about.  Suffice to say, all of you are now alicorns and that makes things...  Difficult to say the least.”

The others looked at each other before Twilight spoke up.  “But what were those signs?  And what is this going to mean for all of us?”

Princess Luna shook her head sadly before replying.  “You will learn what the signs were in time I am sure and is unimportant now.  As for what is to be done now.”  Her gazed passed over each of the mares, though she paused a moment on seeing the bat wings on one of them.  “Tia had plans to coronate you as a princess, Twilight, once this all happened, yet I feel that things may take a different turn for now.  My sister saw in you a great destiny and with how powerful you were she took steps to make sure you were ready.  Yet with the rest of you ascending her plans will likely have changed but until she awakens I do not know what they will be.  Suffice to say it may take days or even months to find a solution as to what shall be done.”

Before she could continue one of the mares interrupted her.  “Wait, so ya are saying that one of the only things she had to go by was how uniquely strong Twilight is?  Shouldn't she have taken an interest in some of the rest of us then?  Ah mean Rainbow Dash IS the fastest pegasus ever, and well, Pinkie Pie.”

The others nodded while Aegis Flare took up the thread of conversation.  “Let's not forget how Applejack looks after one of the largest apple orchards with only her brother for help, Fluttershy's Stare, or how Rarity's telekinesis is so advanced that I'd trust her over most doctors for precision.  Really, I'm probably the only odd one out.”

The others made sounds of objection while the princess shook her head.  “You do yourself a disservice.  True your magical abilities may have been stunted by your condition, but you still managed to control what you do have in astounding ways.  Much of what I said was my sister's opinions yet for myself I think her fears are unfounded.  During the changeling invasion it was you that rallied the available guards to begin pushing the invaders out.  Without your presence many lives may have been lost trying to retake the city.  In fact many of you, even with how recent your titles have been given, are more noble than the unicorns in Canterlot and are more noble than they pretend to be.”

Luna looked around once more before her gaze settled on Rainbow Dash who was dancing from hoof to hoof.  “Pray tell is something the matter, Rainbow Dash?”

The cyan mare winced as she lifted one of her rear hooves to look at.  “Yeah, what all happened to us anyways?  First the elements did that little light show sending us wherever that place was, but when we get back we are like this.  Now the ground just feels all weird, though it's nice not to have my hooves ache, and something even happened to Flare's voice!  It's not as scratchy as it used to be.”

The princess looked partially saddened as she looked over the mares once again.  “Ah yes, that would be due to how the ascension process works.  Needless to say your previous bodies would not suffice for the new power you have been given so they had to be broken down and remade.  What you are feeling is most likely the beginning of your earth pony abilities manifesting.  As for your friend's voice, I had heard she had been injured as a foal but now any injuries would be gone and future ones will not last either.”

The mares considered this for a moment before six pairs of eyes focused on Fluttershy causing her to let out a squeak.  They all widened on seeing that where there had once been a cut was now a fresh layer of fur as if it had never been.  Aegis Flare, on a hunch, grabbed a familiar book from a nearby pile and flipped through it.  She frowned when she found that she still could not ready any of the runes within it though.  Princess Luna saw this and quickly guessed the reason why.  “While the body does undergo repairs, magic of your original tribe is mostly untouched beyond being strengthened by the others.  Of course, alicorn magic follows different rules as well and is more about instinct and intuition rather than runes and spellcraft.  Twilight and Rarity will probably have the most difficult time of learning to put those abilities to use due to their previous experiences with unicorn magic.”

The seven sat thoughtfully as they considered these recent revelations, many of them looking at their new appendages and trying to discern if anything felt different.  Many of them shivered at the odd new feelings while the ones with fresh wings tried stretching them out.  “It is fortunate that you all are from the various tribes as it will be easy for you to teach each other about your former tribes.  Until we meet again it would be best for you all to learn how to use your new abilities and familiarize yourselves with the changes in your bodies.  We shall contact you when we have come to an agreement with our sister on what must be done next.”

Heading for the door, Princess Luna paused as on other important bit of information occurred to her.  “One last thing you should know.  The appearance of an alicorn is not a random occurrence, but something that happens when they are needed for an important role.  My sister and I ascended with the rise of Discord and the unicorns losing control of the sun and moon.  Cadance ascended after defeating a great enemy, but it is now obvious that she was being prepared for the return of the Crystal Empire.  While my sister worries about her plans not turning out as she expected, I worry more for what role seven alicorns are needed for.”

The princess left the mares to their own devices after that, though they were still confused as to what these changes would mean for them.  For a few of them some of their answers came a bit sooner as they went home to their families.  Aegis Flare was surprised to find that Scootaloo was still waiting up for her when she got home and was about to tell her off for being up so late when she looked at her and her eyes widened.  “Oh come on!  First that baby of the Cakes family flies around my head all day and now you come home with wings!?  Are even you going to start flying before I do!?”

With all thoughts of punishing her sister when she heard the tone of desperation in her voice, Aegis Flare quickly moved to wrap her sister up in a hug.  “Don't blame me for this, sis.  That book I told you that the princess sent Twilight?  Well turns out that it was supposed to turn just Twilight into an alicorn and somehow she managed to turn all seven of us into on instead.”

Scootaloo just sat it her sister's embrace for a moment before she started snickering.  “All of you?  Even Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy?  I bet Princess Celestia was sure surprised by that.”

With a roll of her eyes the elder sister shook her head.  “You have no idea.  I thought that Twilight's breakdowns got bad, but the princess was even worse.  I'm just glad Princess Luna calmed her down before she could do anything drastic.”

Scootaloo burst out laughing at the image as she turned so her back was to her sister's chest.  “So that's where Twilight got it from.  No wonder she thought it was a good idea to make Twilight a princess if she is also like that.  Can you imagine Twilight living as long as her without her friends and family and not destroying half of Equestria?”

While her words were said in jest, they were still enough to cause her sister's pupils to shrink at the thought of it and what the future may hold.  She quickly calmed down as she looked onto her sister and instinctively drew her new wings around her.  The two sat there for a while, the younger basking in something she didn't know she missed and the elder in thoughts of the future, until Aegis Flare spoke up quietly again.  “We'll get you flying someday, sis.  Sure your wings are small but if Bulk Biceps can fly then it should be simple for you.  You are already faster than a lot of pegasii while on your scooter so it's obvious your wings work.  We just need to find out what you are doing wrong.”

Scootaloo squirmed a little in her grasp before she finally settled down with a sigh.  “Yeah, I know.  It's just so frustrating seeing others fly before me when I've been trying so hard.  Sweetie Belle and Applebloom have tried to help sometimes, but they have their own problems.  Why just today we tried...  We tried...”  The filly looked confused for a moment.  “Um, I'm not sure what we tried today.  It's all just a blur.”

The elder sister looked worried for a moment before realizing that her memories were much the same, as if it was all a dream, and just chalked it up as a side effect of the spell.  When she thought of the spell she remembered that she would need to meet with the others later about how to deal with their new abilities which included flying.  As much as she dreaded the thought, she knew that she could use the training as an excuse to help her sister.  “Hey sis, I just had a great idea.  Since I have these wings now I'm going to be learning how they work with the others while also passing along my own skills.  How about you come along and join in during the flying lessons, maybe we can figure something out then.”

“Really!?  That would be so awesome!”  Aegis Flare watched as her sister escaped her grip and began bouncing around the room in her excitement with a grin.  After a few minutes she had to shake her head and reach a hoof out to stop her.  Come on now, it's about time you should head to bed.  You're lucky it's not a school night or else you'd be too tired for school, let alone learning how to fly.”
> 49
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So once again, here we are in the Crystal Empire.  What did your sister-in-law want with all of us this time?”  Aegis Flare looks over to Twilight as she and her friends ride in a carriage from the train station to the Crystal Palace.  It takes a moment for her to respond as her head was buried in a book but she eventually managed to tear herself away from it.

“I'm not really sure.  All that she said in her letter is that she had some secret alicorn issues to talk with us about that she could only tell us about in person.  I really hope that it she can give me some answers on how alicorn magic works because I just can't wrap my head around it.”  The others looked at each other before shaking their heads at Twilight.

“As interesting as that sounds Twilight, some of us still need to practice with the magic ya already know a bit about before even thinking about trying something fancy like that.”  Applejack's response was met with a series of shudders and nods as the past few weeks came back to the forefront of the seven mare's minds.

vvvvvvvvv

“Come on, come on, come on, get up!  We're going to be late for training with Rainbow Dash and the others!”  Scootaloo rushed into her sister's room to wake her up for flight training with the others only to find the older mare nowhere to be found.  Stopping with a confused look as she hadn't seen her anywhere else in the house she looked around until she heard an odd sound coming from the closet.  “Is that... snoring?”

Opening the door to the closet she stifled a giggle as she found the hilarious sight of her sister hanging upside down with the rest of her clothes by her tail.  She had faint memories of her father sleeping upside down occasionally, but she had never heard of her sister doing so and she could only guess it had something to do with her wings.  Reaching out with a hoof she prodded at her sister's hanging form, causing her to rock back and forth and bringing about another giggle from Scootaloo.

Getting an idea the filly rushed out of the room for a moment before returning with a camera to use for evidence of what she was witnessing.  Unfortunately she had forgotten to turn off the flash so when she snapped the picture the bright like broke her sister out of her sleeping state.  With a jerk Aegis Flare snapped into wakefulness as she looked around in confusion.  “Huh?  What?  Where am-WOAH!”

With a crash the mare's tail came loose for the crossbar in her closet as she went plummeting to the ground with a crash.  Shaking her head to clear the disorientation the alicorn looked over to find her sister howling with laughter just outside of the closet and she gave her a deadpan look.  “Oh haha, very funny.  How did you even get me in here anyways?”

After being given a moment to regain her composure, Scootaloo shook her head at her sister and pointed a hoof at her wings to which her sister looked crestfallen at when she turned to look at them.  “Hey don't look at me, I just found you in there.  I think I remember dad doing that before so it's probably because of those.”

“And here I was hoping that it was all a dream.  I guess we should get ready to meet with the others then and find out what we are going to be doing.  This whole transformation is going to bring one headache after another, isn't it?”  With a shake of her head the mare rose to her hooves and took a step forward.  “Whoa!”  Or at least tried to as her hoof landed at an odd angle, sending her crashing face-first into the floor causing her sister to wince.

“Are you all right, sis?  That looked like it hurt.”  Glancing up before rolling her eyes at her sister, Aegis Flare slowly rose back into a sitting position before rubbing at her nose.

“I won't even dignify that with an answer, ow.  Something just doesn't feel right with my legs.  They aren't moving like I remember them moving.”  She looked over her hooves trying to find what was wrong as Scootaloo rubbed at her chin.

“Huh, now that you mention it you do look a bit taller and...  Thinner I guess?  You don't seem as hard either, closer to how Fluttershy always was than Applejack or Rainbow Dash.”  Scootaloo poked at her sister's leg to prove her point as her hoof sank into more padding than used to be there before hitting muscle.  The elder mare frowned before giving a dejected sigh.

“Great, just one more thing to be forced into getting used to.  At least I won't be the only one having to deal with this.  I can't believe the princess wanted to put Twilight through all of this with nobody else to understand what she was going through.  I doubt her or Luna would have the time to help her, and Cadance is up north dealing with her own kingdom.  At least now we can all turn to each other if we need help with adapting, well, except for Pinkie Pie.”  Scootaloo listened intently to her sister and frowned at thinking about what Twilight may have done if she had so many changes forced on her alone, but she froze up with wide eyes when it finally registered that Pinkie Pie was also an alicorn.  Her reaction didn't last long before she started looking thoughtful.

“Is it wrong to think that Pinkie being an alicorn just makes her seem more normal now?”  Her words brought a chuckle out of her sister before she ruffled her mane.

“I think all of us reacted like that last night, especially since she seemed to be having no problem at all flying around or teleporting.  Sometimes I envy how little things like this affect her.  Well we might as well get ready to head out and meet the others.  Not quickly though, I'd rather not fall on my face any more than I have to.”  Rising to her hooves she shakily took a step forward before slowly leaving her room to prepare for the day.  Not much later the two orange ponies found themselves at the meeting place that had been agreed upon the previous night.

When they arrived they found that the other mares were each nursing various bumps and minor injuries except for two of them; Rainbow Dash whom had yet to arrive, and Pinkie Pie who was just bouncing around in excitement.  Scootaloo noticed that her fellow crusaders and Spike were also there and rushed over to them as the elder sister joined the other older mares.  “I see that I'm not the only one not used to their changed bodies.”

There were nods from the others while Applejack frowned and looked at her hooves.  “If only that was the only problem.  Mah aim is all off now and ah hurt poor Bloomberg Jr this morning.  Put a right big crack in him when trying to buck the apples off of him.  It's going to take all we got to heal him up before winter rolls around.”

Twilight frowns at the farm mare as she brings a hoof to her chin before wincing as she touches a sore spot in that area.  “I thought that it was only an accident, but if my magic is actually a bit stronger then that would explain how I managed to hit myself in the face with a book this morning.  That's not even including how clumsy I've been feeling physically.”

The others nodded along with her though only Rarity had noticed any increase in abilities so far.  The group failed to consider another aspect of their problems until a shout flowed down from above.  “Look out below!”

With a thud and cloud of dust a familiar cyan object crashed into the center of their group.  Once the dust cleared the mares could identify Rainbow Dash as she lay on her stomach looking dazed.  Shaking her head she looked up at her friends who were looking at her with concern.  “Uh, I meant to do that, I think.  I've had off days before but this is ridiculous.  It's like my wings aren't moving like I want them to, and not only that it feels like I'm moving faster than I'm trying to.”

Her friends quickly explained the little bit she missed and once they finish she looks annoyed while thoughtful.  She looked over herself and her friends for a moment and noticed the changes that they had each gone through.  She intimately knew her body due to her constant training so she easily identified the increase in muscle mass from the earth pony physique as well as the layer of plushness that came with the unicorn form.  The others had generally gone the other direction as they lost some of that plushness while gaining a more visible tone to their muscles.  Applejack was the exception as her once visibly toned body had practically vanished as she slimmed down to a more pegasus physique while gaining a layer of fat from the unicorn side of alicorndom.

“Huh, that's a bit of a problem but it shouldn't be that hard to deal with.  While teaching you how to use these babies then we can work on getting used to how everything else moves now.”  The others roll their eyes but they can't come up with a reason to argue.

“Well don't forget that them wings aren't the only thing ya have to worry about.  Ah'm not sure what ya all can learn from me and Pinkie, but we sure can try.  Ah'm also not sure how ah feel about it, but ah might as well learn how to us this thing as well.”  Applejack prods at her horn causing those not used to it to cross their eyes looking at their own.  Plans were made and they all agreed to meet again the next day for training with Rainbow Dash.

---------

“I really don't know about this.  Are you sure we can't just start on the ground?”  Aegis Flare anxiously looked towards the edge of the cloud as she stood in the middle of it.  The others not used to standing on clouds without a spell were too busy marveling at the new sensations while her sister and Rainbow Dash just rolled their eyes at her.  The group had been ferried up on smaller clouds so that they had a safer area to train outside of the view of other ponies.

“Well if being Fluttershy's cousin was ever in doubt then it's easy to tell now.  I haven't seen another pony that could fly that was scared of heights since Fluttershy was in the flight academy in Cloudsdale.  All right everypony, line up and spread your wings, before you can even think of flying you need to learn how to take care of your wings.”  Fluttershy glared at her fellow former-pegasus but still helped the others spread their wings before going over to reassure her cousin.

Rainbow Dash stalked up and down the line examining her friends as she muttered to herself.  “Needs work, Twilight.  Clean, but messy, Applejack.  Pinkie Pie.  Hmm, almost perfect Rarity, but get rid of that shampoo, it dries your wings out too much.  And...  Uh...  Help me out here Fluttershy, I have no idea about these.”

When she came to Aegis Flare's thestral wings she stopped in confusion as she had never examined the bat-like wings before.  Fluttershy moved over to examine them while humming to herself.  “Well I'm not really sure, but they seem to be fine.  They aren't quite like any bat I've seen but they are pretty similar.”

With a hum, Rainbow Dash walked around her while dragging a rear hoof until she had performed a full circuit.  “Well there's no time like the present to start.  Now remember to spread your wings early.”

Her words confused the orange alicorn who hesitated while the cyan mare reared up onto her hind legs.  “Huh?  What are you talking about- Rainbow Daaaaaaaaaaash!”  With the full force of her weight, Rainbow Dash slammed her hooves down on the inside of the circle she drew causing the cloud to disintegrate under her friend.  This sent Aegis Flare plummeting down to the earth below as her wings snapped tight to her sides.

As their friend disappeared beneath the clouds, the rest of them just looked on in shock as Rainbow Dash turned to the rest of them.  Before she could choose her next victim she was met with an angry mare staring her down.  “Rainbow Dash!  You should be ashamed of yourself!  You know how uncomfortable she is with heights, especially after what happened during the Young Fliers Competition!  Do you have to use the horrid methods that they used on us back then?”

Rainbow Dash froze for a moment as she had flashbacks of her own before she sighed.  “Sorry about that Flutters.  I try not to think of those days too much and it was the first thing that came to mind.  I guess I'll have to come up with something else, huh?”

The others nodded in agreement before they tried to brainstorm ideas on how to deal with the situation.  They weren't long into their planning when Aegis Flare was dropped off on the edge of the cloud by Flitter and Cloudchaser, both who requested by Rainbow Dash to help ferry the group up and down as needed.  After a few moments to recover she angrily rose to her hooves and started marching towards the group with all her attention focused on her cyan friend.  “You!  Do you know how scared I was when you just dropped me like that!?  Why I ought tooooooooo-”

The mares just gaped as Aegis Flare fell off the cloud at the exact same location that she was dropped from.  With a roll of their eyes and a chuckle the two pegasi dove down after her yet again.  “Wow, I didn't expect for that to happen.  Think she'll still be angry when she gets back up again?”

Rainbow Dash was met with shrugs as they went back to planning.  When the orange mare was dropped off yet again on the cloud she only curled up and started shivering in place.  Her friends looked over at her before Pinkie Pie sighed and bounced over towards her and started stroking at her tail.  “Flarie, you really need to stop letting your fear control you, aren't you supposed to be the Element of Courage?”

The shivering alicorn started taking deep breaths to control herself, but just when she was starting to get control of herself Pinkie Pie turned and softly bucked her off the cloud.  The other mares gasped at seeing this happen but they soon looked confused when they started to hear their friends voice from off the cloud.  “Pinkie Pie!  What was that for!?  Get me back up there right now or I'll-”

Her tirade was caught off as Pinkie Pie flew down to her and shoved a cupcake in her mouth.  “Just take in the view until you can spread your wingies out and get back up with them, we'll talk when you get back.”  The others had walked over by then and were looking over the edge of the cloud to find Aegis Flare's tail being stuck in the cloud by Pinkie.  As the pink alicorn flew back up onto the cloud she looked around at the others.  “What?  She can't fly if her wings freeze up just looking over the edge.  Even Fluttershy isn't that bad anymore.”

Fluttershy blushed as she pawed at the cloud with a hoof and the others sat in a circle to go back to planning.  Eventually Aegis Flare crawled her way back onto the cloud with her wings spread wide before she slumped over panting while leveling a glare at the group.  “I don't know how, but I'll somehow get you back for this later.”

---------

Her promise came true sooner than Aegis Flare expected as the mares tried to learn how to use their unicorn magic a few days later in one of the Apple families barns on the edge of their property.  “Wow, how did you even manage to do that Rainbow Dash?”

The cyan pegasus blinked at her friend as she tried to shake off the black residue that covered her body after electrocuting herself while her horn smoked.  “I have no idea.  I was only trying to do the light spell like Twilight said.”

She wasn't the only one having troubles as Applejack had a habit of putting holes in the building while Fluttershy seemed to be scared to even try.  Twilight wasn't handling things too well as her mane popped out of place at seeing how badly her friends were doing while Pinkie Pie conjured up various items out of boredom.

^^^^^^^^^

“I just wish it didn't take over a week before I thought to ask my aunt for advice.  It would have been nice knowing that pegasus flying styles and magic are barely compatible with the thestral manner.”  Aegis Flare sighed as as she looked around at her nodding friends who each had had various problems over those weeks of training.

“Quite, there just has to be a better way to connect with our earth pony magic than doing farm work all the time.  'mucking about' in the mud just isn't for me.”  Applejack rolled her eyes at Rarity and her prissy ways.

“Well I did say that ah wasn't sure if we could teach you anything.  Earth Pony magic isn't like your fancy unicorn or pegasus magics, it is more subtle.  Unlike Pinkie Pie most earth ponies have no idea how to use it and know that they are.  At least the mud is all ya have to worry about.  Ah still can't get the smell of burnt hair out of that barn.”  Rainbow Dash shudders at the memories of her horn malfunctions over the weeks.

“At least the crusaders have been having fun.  Sweetie Belle and Applebloom have been having loads of fun spending time with their sisters and Scootaloo has been there every day for flight training.”  The elder sisters of the trio smile as they think of how their sisters had been so ecstatic at spending time and learning with them.

“It's just too bad that Scootaloo doesn't seem to be getting any better at flying.  I've tried every trick I know of to get her in the air but she barely manages to flutter in place for a few seconds.  How can somepony with that much power on a scooter not manage to stay in the air?  I even dragged Twilight's little wing-power thingie out and she barely even moved it, even on her scooter.”  Rainbow Dash threw herself back onto her carriage seat as the others glanced over at her.  Twilight only glanced at her at first, but when her eyes passed over Fluttershy she froze before frowning thoughtfully.

“You never told me that you pulled the anemometer out to test her wing-power.  I was wondering why it was sitting outside of the library.  Did you try letting Fluttershy try and teach her for a while?”  Rainbow Dash looked at the lavender mare as if she was crazy.

“Why would Fluttershy teaching her help any?  We all know that she isn't the best of fliers and has one of the lowest wing-powers I've ever seen.  No offense intended, Flutters.”  The buttery mare just gave a non-committal shrug, acknowledging her weakness, while Twilight just smirked at the pair.

“You mean the mare that wrestles bears for a living?  That kept up with you, and even caught you, back when Discord first escaped?  Who also has a mixed heritage that includes thestral which has magic different from a pegasus when used for flying?”  Rainbow Dash moves to answer but no sound leaves her mouth as her eyes dart between Twilight and the wilting Fluttershy.  Aegis Flare looked thoughtful as well as she looked between the two former pegasii before settling on her cousin.

“It's not the craziest idea ever, but it does make a lot of sense.  Fluttershy's speed really is up there when she isn't thinking about it.  I bet she would enjoy spending time with her favorite cousin as well.”  Fluttershy blushes as she meekly tries to deny what they were saying.  She is saved from answering as the carriage comes to a halt and one of the guards knock on the outside of it.

“Ma'ams?  We have arrived at the palace as requested.”  With a look around and nod to each other the seven mares filter out of the carriage, much to the awe of the crystal guards.  They were soon escorted into the palace and quickly arrived at the throne room, with only a short delay as Twilight ran into a pegasus guard.  On arrival they found the three princesses, the largest looking rather red in the face, waiting for them, though two were surprised to see them.

“Twilight!  You are finally here with your friends!”  After their customary greeting, Twilight caught the pink mare up in a hug.

“It's good to see you Cadance, but we still aren't sure why you even wanted us here.”  A clearing throat brought the groups attention to the tallest of the mares in the room as she stepped forward with an eye twitching.

“That is what I would like to know.  The princess summit is for us to meet with the rulers of other nations and their presence isn't required here.”  Both of the other princesses roll their eyes at the eldest alicorn before Luna steps forward.

“It was my idea to have young Cadance invite them here during this time.  There is much that they still have yet to learn and even you must admit that hiding their presence from the other nations would be a bad idea.  Even if your plans had succeeded, Twilight would be here for this yet would not be part of the meetings until she had had time to settle in to her role.”  Celestia looked over at her sister for a moment before her gaze moved over the assembled mares before she settled on Aegis Flare with narrowed eyes.  Saying nothing she exited the throne room leaving seven confused mares and two shaking their heads.

“Did we do something wrong?”  Twilight sounded worry and there was a hint of tears in her voice as her mentor just walked away without a word.  Luna sighed as she shook her head at her sister's behavior.

“I must apologize for my sister, I had forgotten how poorly she handled her various plans coming apart in unexpected manners and it seems that little has changed since I had been gone.  Just give her some time to manage everything and she will be back to as you remember.  It may take longer though as she has been finding that there has been much that was kept from her over the years.”  The mares, including Cadance, looked confused before she continued.

“She hasn't been idle since we had last met.  Since then she has been summoning many files on all you mares trying to get more of a feeling for you all.  Much of it includes young Twilight's letters to her, but there are many other sources she has been utilizing.  Unfortunately, when it comes to Aegis Flare there has been surprisingly little and is where the problem lies.”  The mentioned mare perks up as all of her attention is on the princess by now.

“Almost all of what she has found has been from her student, everything else has been found to be missing.  On further examination she found that everything dealing with her Black Guard had been stolen and now has some of her best ponies looking into it.  I fear that much shall be revealed to have been out of my sister's control than she expected and have my own looking into many parts of the government for more issues.”  The other mares glanced at each other before Aegis Flare rolled her eyes.

“Well you can probably blame many of the so-called nobles for many of the problems that you'll find.  It is worrying though that she hasn't found anything though since I personally know two of the mares that are in Ponyville that were assigned to watch over me due to my magical affinities.  It makes me wonder just where the information went especially since the Black Guard was shut down because of problems like this.”  Luna frowned in worry before she eventually shook her head.

“While disturbing to consider, there shall be time for that at a later date.  For now it is getting late so you should all turn in for the night.”  With a nod the seven mares turned to Princess Cadance who waved them along as she excitedly showed them to their rooms while chatting with Twilight.  She fended of the younger mares questions, having known her for a long time, leaving everything for tomorrow.  Soon the seven mares were in their own rooms preparing for bed and what the next day would bring.

Some of the mares had more trouble than the others as Aegis Flare tossed and turned dealing, not only with the still unfamiliar feeling of her wings, but the echoes through the empty crystal halls at night and her sensitive hearing.

“Did you see them?  I just can't believe it!”

“I know, it's so exciting.”

“I heard before coming in from a guard who saw them but I thought he was just joking.”

With a groan the orange mare glared at the door before lighting up her horn sending a glow throughout the entire room.  She sighed in relief at the silence that followed as her shield cut off the noise from outside of her room.  With a final look over at her Element, which the seven had brought with as a safety precaution, she closed her eyes and soon fell asleep.

<><><><><><><><><><>

While most ponies were asleep during these late hours of the night, one cloaked mare slunk through the halls in search of her goal.  The guards were sparse, and with her hooves muffled she easily could hear any the were coming giving her plenty of time to hide.  A glow came from underneath the cloak, revealing a horn, as the cloaked figure came to an intersection before it took a left turn.  Soon the figure came across a row of door and the figure's magic was drawing her to the last of them.

As the figure passed by the third door it paused as it felt a tugging sensation which caused it to pause and turn towards it.  The door was much like the others but there was an odd glow coming from it and the figure could detect a strong protection spell on it.  With a moment it shook it's head before turning away from it as a feminine voice came out from under the cloak.  “No time to satisfy my curiosity, there isn't much time to spare.”

With a shake of her head the figure moved on starting a chain of events that would cause many ripples in the future.

<><><><><><><><><><>

The next morning found Aegis Flare yawning as she left her room, looking around in a daze.  After taking a moment to check she found that all her friends had already awoken and left somewhere.  Wandering blindly she eventually found the dining room but when her friends weren't there she asked for directions from a nearby guard who directed her to somewhere deeper in the palace.

She soon found her friends in what appeared to be some sort of display room surrounding a mirror, sans Twilight.  “There you all are.  What's going on?  Where's Twilight?”

“It took you long enough to wake up.  We tried to wake you up but your weird shield magic kept us from getting into your room.”  Despite Rainbow Dash's abrasive mood, it was easy to tell that she was just worried about something and Aegis Flare soon found out why.  As the others explained to her what had happened she frowned at the mirror and wondered just what was over there and what would happen over the next three days.

<><><><><><><><><><>

“...So after defeating her and returning her back to normal the dance went on as normal before I returned through the portal.  So did I miss anything over here?”  The mares gaped at Twilight as she told her story before shaking their heads at what she described.  They weren't quite sure how to respond but the first thing any of them said was not what Twilight was expecting.

“Huh, better not mention any of that to Lyra back in Ponyville.  They'll have to keep her from breaking in to steal the mirror just so she can study it.”  Aegis Flare's words drew a blank stare from Twilight for a moment before she shook her head.  “Wait, Lyra?  Lyra Heartstrings?”  The mares gave her a nod in response.  “I didn't know that she lived in Ponyville.  I haven't seen her since we went to school together at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.  Huh, I haven't thought about her in a while either.”

Twilight frowned in thought for a moment before Pinkie Pie interrupted her thoughts.  “Well Princess Celestia told us a story after you left and...”

vvvvvvvvvv

“Her name is Sunset Shimmer and was one of the biggest failures that I have made in the last century.”  At their blank looks Princess Celestia sighed as she got a faraway look.

“It was many years before I took Twilight as my student.  In fact Sunset Shimmer was my student before Twilight.  When she was very young she lost her parents in a magical accident and I became her guardian as well as teacher.  Eventually I had come to think of her as my daughter but I ignored her more than I should have in favor of duty.  Over the years she grew more and more distant and became more impatient in her lessons and wanted to advance faster than she was ready to.”  With a sad shake of her head Celestia told the tale of her student and how she slowly descended into the state she was now.  It took her a while but none of the gathered mares interrupted until the end.

“But wait, if she was a student so long ago before Twilight was, then why does she look no older than any of us, princess?”  Looking over at Rarity, Princess Celestia frowned in confusion.

“That shouldn't be possible, she should be at least ten years older than you all, unless...”  Looking over at the portal she studied it for a moment.  “Not much is known about the mirror, but it is possible that time does not align between our two worlds.  It would explain why she has taken so long to show herself once again.”

Her following silence was the signal for the end of the conversation as the mares went back to waiting for their friend to return home.

^^^^^^^^^^

“The princess never told me about her previous student when I was living in Canterlot.  She might be right about the time difference though since even over there Sunset was the same age as the others.”  The others saw her starting to slip into her research mode but before she could get too deep into it Rarity decided to speak up.

“So, about that stallion that you keep running into, hmm?”  This sent Twilight's thought off the rail as she began sputtering in embarrassment as Rainbow Dash spoke up.

“Meh, sure he didn't look half bad, but I doubt that he is all that smart.  I mean what kind of guard stands in the center of the hall when ponies are walking through it and runs into them?  And not once, but twice into the same pony?”  Twilight frowns at the cyan mare but can't come up with an argument.

“Be nice to Twilight.  It's not like she has had much contact with stallions that weren't the anonymous guards around Canterlot.  Even in Ponyville most of the stallions are taken and even Big Mac is...  Oh um... never mind.”  The others watch as Fluttershy shrinks away as she almost gets into her own potential love-life.  Before the topic could focus on her cousin, Aegis Flare sighs and turns to Twilight.

“So you said you met all of our friends, but you never said anything about me.  How did the Elements activate over there with only six of them present and not seven?”  Her question stopped all conversation as the group turned to stare at Twilight whose eyes widened as she hadn't notice the issue before in the excitement.  Glancing at each of her friends she pondered the question.

“I...  I don't know.  Actually only one of them was even there which brings up even more questions.  Does this mean that each one can work separately from the others?  There is so much about them that we don't know and even Princess Celestia was unsure as to what they can do.  Ugh, why did the she have to forbid me from doing any studies on them?”  Her question drew laughs from the rest of her friends her proceeded to try and comfort her by bringing up the future meeting with her sister-in-law now that things were settling down once again.
> 50
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Can you stop laughing for just one second and help me out of this thing!?”  Aegis Flare did her best to glare at the rolling figure of Bon Bon, but it wasn't easy with her being stuck in the tunnel of her obstacle course.  She had been slowly getting used to her changed body over the past weeks, but she had forgotten to modify the course for her changes, hence her current situation.

“Heh, heh.  Oh I really needed that.  I can't believe that the great explorer of the Everfree, daughter of two of the top Black Guard members, is defeated by a little tunnel.  How did this happen anyways?”  Bon Bon looked over the trapped mare before gripping her tail with her mouth and giving an experimental tug.

“I forgot to reset the parameters on the course to account for my changes.  Turns out my larger size and these are just too much for what I used to be able to fit through.”  Bon Bon glances up and sees her friend fluttering her wings, causing her to pause and drop the tail once again.

“I keep forgetting that you have those now.  That shouldn't be possible, you know just what I used to be.”  The candy mare rubbed her chin with a hoof before noticing the trapped mare impatiently tapping on the side of her enclosure.  “Oh right, sorry.”

Regaining her grip on the tail she began trying to tug her backwards.  Unfortunately the alicorn's wings had managed to get far enough in that they prevented both forward and backwards movement.  With a sigh Bon Bon released her grip and glared at the glowing tunnel in frustration.  “Really, this is going to be one of those days, isn't it?  First Twilight shows up yesterday and abducts Lyra when we were supposed to spend the day together, and now I found you stuck like this.  What else can go wrong today?”

Aegis Flare winced as she heard this.  “Please don't say that.  After being around Pinkie all these years I've found saying something like that ends up being an invitation for it to happen, usually with her or Rainbow Dash going on a pranking spree.  Though why would Twilight abduct Lyra?”

Bon Bon shrugged as she looked over the enclosure looking for a weak spot.  “I'm not sure.  She just showed up babbling something about meeting some old friends before she teleported away with her somewhere.  I've come to expect her to do odd things, but this was stranger than normal.”

Aegis Flare thought for a few moments before she remembered a recent conversation and sighed.  “I think she is trying to meet up with some ponies from Canterlot she used to go to school with.  She mentioned that she used to go to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns with Lyra and she never even realized that Lyra even lived in town until I made a mention of it.  Makes sense considering what I remember of her all those years ago the few times I saw her.”  Bon Bon looked confused for a moment before the alicorn continued.

“I vaguely remember most of it, but every time I saw her she always was buried in a book.  Only the princess or Spike seemed to be able to pull her attention away from them, even after some of the things I did to her mane and tail, though Spike chewing on her tail after I braided gems into it often woke her.  I can only imagine what she would be like with those that considered her a friend.”  Bon Bon rubbed at her chin a moment before she blinked as the tunnel obstacle began to blink before fading, freeing the trapped mare.  Looking around she spotted Scootaloo, with a large bat on her back for some reason, over by the control area for the course, causing her to bring a hoof up to her face.

“Now why didn't either of us think about doing that?”  Aegis Flare just sighed as she stretched her wings out, trying to remove the kinks.

“Probably because of all the recent stress we've been under.  Me with all of this and you with Twilight's little event.  I really need to take a vacation, maybe a month out in the Everfree would be a good idea.”  Scootaloo rolled her eyes as she walked up with Scarlett who was beginning to doze off as the morning rolled on.

“That's not the only thing you missed, sis.  Why is the sky like that?”  Frowning at the filly, both of the mares looked up before their jaws dropped at what they were seeing.  Instead of the usual morning like they were expecting, they found that the sky was split into two, one half with the sun reigning over it and the other the moon.

“How the buck did we miss that?”  Bon Bon nods before her ears start twitching as an odd sound started to come from nearby.  Looking around she quickly noticed the source of the problem and poked at the alicorn.

“Uh, don't look now, but I think the Everfree is coming this way.”  Frowning at the earth pony's words, Aegis Flare looked over towards the forest before using a hoof to rub at her face.

“You just had to ask didn't you?  Want to ask again and see what else pops up?”  Bon Bon just glared at her until she sighed and shook her head before turning her attention back to the black vines that were slowly advancing from the forest.  She lifted an eyebrow as she watched one of the vines rise up high above the other to touch a cloud causing it to start growing spiked vines of its own.  “Bon Bon?  Do you think that you could take my sister somewhere safe before seeing if the flower sisters have some kind of weedkiller to deal with this stuff?  I think this may be just the kind of exercise I needed.”

The earth pony nodded before ushering the pegasus filly off, complaining the whole way, while the alicorn twisted her head around to loosen it up.  “This is what I get for not clearing out the Everfree regularly, guess it's time to get to work.”

As she had never seen this type of plant before, she warily watched it as it steadily advanced on the town.  She tossed up a barrier in its path first to see how it would react, and frowned as it just pushed on into it with the thorns easily slicing through her shield.  “Well that could be a bit of an issue, though it only seems to be the thorns causing problems.  I guess plan B it is then, usually is anyways.”

Rearing back for a moment she unleashed a wave of fire at the vines and, after a moments resistance, they soon caught before steadily burning to ashes.  The bat-winged alicorn frowned as she watched this as, while the vines burned steadily, the thorns were unaffected by her magic though the flames created afterwards slowly ate away at them.  She let the vines advance again twice more before burning them away to the same effect, though with the massive size of the forest they easily reached Ponyville from other directions.  “I can't believe I'm saying this, but this would be so much easier if I was at least a passable flier.  I'm just barely getting down how to glide and turn a bit, let alone taking off from the ground.”

As she glared at the vines her ears twitched as she registered an odd sound coming from above her.  Looking up her eyes widened as she found that the infected clouds had not only increased, but also looked rather angry now.  With a frantic dive to the side she barely avoided being fried by the lightning launched at her from the clouds, to which she quickly retaliated with a barrage of fireballs.  While her attacks cleared the clouds relatively well, they were quickly replaced as more swarmed in.  With the additional angle of attack, she was hard-pressed to keep the vines back as if she focused on on set of targets the other would soon swoop in after her.

The rest of the bearers of the Elements found her frantically trying to hold her ground against the plants while avoiding injury.  She had been mostly successful yet her wings and legs still bore scratches from near misses, though those were slowly healing.  “Flare!  We've been looking everywhere for you, are you all right?”

Fluttershy and Twilight skidded to a stop next to the thestralicorn while the others repelled the vines with their hooves.  “She looks okay, Fluttershy.  But how is your magic unaffected by those things?  Rarity said that hers was going out of control when she tried to use it to help her sister.”

Aegis Flare only shrugged as she caught her breath now that she had a moment to rest.  “Everything seemed to work just fine as far as I could tell.  Those thorns are real nasty pieces of work though since they seem to cut through anything I could throw at them and being scratched by them disrupted my casting a bit.”

With a frown, Twilight looked over towards her friends as they fended off the vines before she lit up her own horn.  Going on a hunch she tried something a bit different and when a blast of power erupted from her horn to slam through a patch of vines her eyes widened in realization.  “Of course!  These things infect the area around them in a way much like the Everfree Forest!  Using magic the usual way is disrupted but it has no effect on your personal energies so spells cast only with that are unaffected!”

“Yeah, that's great and all, but you haven't gotten around to showing us how to do that yet so how does it help us, Twilight?”  Twilight just rolled her eyes in annoyance at Rainbow Dash before firing a beam of energy through the center of the mass, cutting a path.

“It helps since there are now two of us that can clear the way to the source of these things so one of us can rest while the other clears.  Now everypony through that hole.”  With a nod to her, the seven mares charge towards the opening she had made, while avoiding the thorns left behind, with both her and Aegis Flare using their magic to hold back the vines that tried to fill in the gaps.

Once the group had made it deep enough into the Everfree past the barrier they slowed to catch their breaths while looking around.  “Why aren't they coming after us any more?  There are still vines all over the place.”

Looking around Twilight frowned at Rainbow Dash's question before shaking her head.  “I'm not sure.  Maybe it has something to do with how the magic works in here compered to around Ponyville.  Whatever the reason we need to find the source of these things and if they are going to ignore us then that's fine.”

As Twilight marched off ahead of them the others glanced at each other before shrugging and following after her.  Aegis Flare was the first to catch up to her and kept pace next to her.  “So what is going on with these things anyways?  With how these came out of nowhere and seems to mess up the magic in an area I'd guess Discord had something to do with it, especially since I've never seen anything like them before.”

Twilight shook her head as she kept an eye on the nearby vines, blasting any that moved towards the group.  “We already talked with him and he was offended that we would accuse him of this without asking him about it politely.  Of course he didn't do much of anything to help out with solving the problem he seemed to have nothing to do with this.  Zecora was driven out by the vines but she was able to bring most of her alchemical supplies, including a rare scrying potion that showed me a vision of some kind of crystal tree that the princesses retrieved the Elements of Harmony from.  I think that the tree is somehow connected to all this and might need out help which is why we brought the Elements along...  You do have yours with you, right?”

The orange mare rolled her eyes as she lifted her mane to reveal the Element of Courage at the base of her braid, holding it together.  “I figure that I never know when I might need it so might as well always keep it close.  Also did Discord actually say he knew nothing about these things or did he just let you all assume that from his antics?  I don't think he ever really lies, but that doesn't stop him from using misdirection to make you think otherwise.”

The others glanced at each other for the answer but none of them could recall the draconequus ever coming out and saying so.  “Gosh darnit.  When we get back ah'm gonna have ta have a little talk with that snake about what it means ta be honest.  Sure we shouldn't have just assumed this was his fault but if he knew anything then he should have told us.”

Fluttershy reached over to lightly pat at Applejack's shoulder in concern.  “Um, well maybe he had a good reason not to say anything.  We did just blindly accuse him which wasn't very nice, but I'm sure there must have been a good reason for him not to say anything.”

The shy mare's comment was met with frowns, causing her to flinch, but Aegis Flare soon just shook her head.  “Well whatever caused this we should deal with it after we get rid of these things.  How did you even know to come back here, Twilight?  Last I heard you had abducted Lyra from spending time with her friend and was dragging her with you to Canterlot.”

Twilight paused a moment before continuing on with a slightly darker tinge to her cheeks.  “Oh, you heard about that, huh?”  She glanced over to see her friend nodding before continuing with a sigh.  “Right, that wasn't my greatest moment, but when I got to talking with her I was reminded of the ponies that I used to be around back in Canterlot.  It showed me just how bad of a friend I was back then and how I basically just abandoned them to move here.”

Her speech was met with sounds of protest from her friends, though they turned to look curiously at Aegis Flare who was chuckling.  “Yeah, you did ignore nearly everything around you back then.  Of course it was interesting seeing you flail around in panic when Spike started chewing on your tail to get at the gems I put it in.”

Twilight's jaw dropped at her friend before she started sputtering.  “Wait, that was you!  Do you know how long it took to break Spike of that habit!?  Until we did I had to make sure to always keep him in my sight or else he would go after it in search of more gems to eat!”

She turned a glare on the rest of her friends, who had started giggling, before she shook her head with a chuckle of her own.  “All right, fine.  It was a little funny thinking back, but it wasn't then.  Anyways when I was in Canterlot with Lyra I tried to reconnect with some old friends.  While Minuette, Twinklieshine, and Lemons Hearts were pretty understanding it was a bit harder to reconcile with Moondancer.”

Twilight paused for a second which allowed one of her friends to speak up.  “Wait, Minuette?  Isn't she the twin sister of Ponyville's dentist, Colgate?  Hay, do they get annoyed when you confuse the two of them.”

Rarity rolls her eyes at Rainbow Dash for not knowing the difference.  “Oh darling, it's easy to tell the difference.  Colgate has the persian blue mane with moderate blue stripes and Minuette has the moderate blue mane with persian blue stripes.  Oh, how I wish that they would let me design a set of dresses for them, it's so hard to find twins that look so similar.”

Looking at her friends blankly for a moment, Twilight makes a mental note to pay more attention to who lives in Ponyville before continuing.  “Anyways, it took a while, but we finally convinced Moondancer to let me explain everything to her.  Thinking back I should have at least stopped by to explain why I couldn't make it to her birthday party instead of just taking off to Ponyville like I did.  All of them were actually surprised when they finally noticed my wings, but when she saw them she gave me a chance to explain and she was actually very forgiving when I explained everything that had happened over the years.  Actually she practically wouldn't leave my side after that and she kept staring at me when I wasn't looking for some reason.”

Her friends chuckled at Twilight's deadpan tone when she says that as Rarity spoke up.  “Well it looks like somepony sure has an admirer.”

Twilight stopped to look back at Rarity blankly for a moment.  “Really?  Who?”

The lavender mare's friends all look at her for a moment before collectively planting their hooves across their faces and shaking their heads, much to her confusion.  Shaking it off she goes back to her story.  “It was actually earlier today that I was approached by one of the royal guards while I was spending time catching up with all my old friends.  Some time during the night both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna went missing which was when I noticed the phenomenon with the sun and moon.  Not only that another guard came running up telling me about the Everfree invading Ponyville and soon I had an entire group of guards surrounding me.  The entire castle was in a panic, and since some of the guards noticed me and that I was an alicorn they assumed that I would know what to do and kept calling me princess even though I told them not to.  Well it turns out that Moondancer is very well-read and actually knew the required procedures to take in case something like this happened so I put her and my other friends from Canterlot to organize everything there while I came out here to find out what was happening.”

With her story finished, Twilight turned her attention back to where they were going and did so just in time as her next hoofstep met empty air, causing her to let out a shriek of panic as she scrabbled at the edge.  “We're here!”

All eyes turned towards Pinkie who had just started hopping down a set of stairs while the others only now noticed that they were at the gorge by the Castle of the Two Sisters.  “Did... did we really just follow Pinkie Pie all the way out here?”

The other nod to Twilight before she shook her head and muttered about it 'Just being Pinkie' before they all followed her.  As they traveled down the stairway they wondered how they could have missed it the last few times they were here as it started right next to the bridge across the chasm.  As they reached the bottom of the stairs they found their next obstacle.  “Dagnabbit.  Now how are we going ta get through all of that?”

Applejack pointed a hoof towards a nearby cave entrance that was overrun with the vines as well as some sort of bulbous pod-like thing with a mouth attached to the end of some of them.  Before any of the others could respond, a swarm of needles, scissors, and various other sharp object went flying by in a blue glow to start pruning away at the blockage.  Within moment the cavern was cleared and the mares turned to look at a breathless Rarity.  “What?  I am tired of all this icky stuff and I just want to go back to the spa.  The faster we are done here the faster I can go.”

The alabaster mare teetered a bit as she took a step forward.  “Oh my.  I had forgotten how much using my magic like that wears me out.”

Twilight shook off her shock before moving over to support her friend.  “Are you crazy?  Casting like that without proper training can burn out your magic or even worse!  I didn't even know you knew how to do that much.”

Rarity just waved her off as she regained her balance.  “Oh I'll be fine.  My father showed me this trick when I was younger and told me to only use it in an emergency.  Seeing as my regular magic doesn't work right this seemed like the perfect time to do so.”

Watching the alabaster alicorn walk towards the open cave, the others just shook their heads at her recklessness and followed her.  As they entered they were halted as Fluttershy gave out a shriek of fear before cowering behind the others.  “Dragon!”

Looking around the mares couldn't find what she was talking about until Rainbow Dash groaned and pointed at the spires lining the inside of the cave.  “Fluttershy, that's not a dragon.  It's just those stalac-thingies that are always inside of caves like this.  It does kind of look like a dragon's maw though gaping open to bite down on us though.”

As Fluttershy tried to back further away the others glared at the prismatic mare before Aegis Flare moved to put her wing over Fluttershy's back to calm her.  “Not helping, Rainbow.”

After a few moments of reassuring the shy alicorn, the group was able to continue and soon came upon the Tree of Harmony nearly cocooned in vines.  Not quite sure how to proceed, Twilight flew up to get a closer look but was soon grabbed around a hoof by a vine.  She easily severed it before it could do anything, but she noticed that it was much weaker than the previous ones causing her to take a closer look at the tree.  “Girls, I think I know what we have to do.  We have to give it the Elements of Harmony.”

The other mares just stared at her blankly for a moment before they all spoke collectively.  “What!?”

Rarity was the first to recover out of them all.  “How are we meant to rein Discord in if we can't use the Elements to turn him back to stone?”  She ignored Aegis Flare's comment of maybe doing something more 'permanent' next time.

“Twilight... The Elements of Harmony... They're what keep us connected no matter what.”  Twilight just lightly smiled at the others before she responded.

“You're right about one thing, Applejack. The Elements of Harmony did bring us together. But it isn't the Elements that will keep us connected. It's our friendship. And it's more important and more powerful than any magic. Our new forms may bring about many changes and challenges, and our friendships may be tested, but it will never, ever be broken. There's no time to lose.”  She turned to face the tree with the others after the sadly nodded.  “Everypony ready?”

Removing the Elements from her friend's respective necklaces and her crown, Twilight prepared to send them back towards the tree until the vines reached out to entangle her and attempt to grab the magical gems.  This was a last effort by the plants as the gems, as if they had minds of their own, dart around swiftly before coming to rest on the branches of the tree with the Element of Magic at the trunk's center.  The gems began to pulse with magical energy which flowed into the tree causing it to steadily glow brighter until it was impossible to look at.  Once it reached it's brightest it released a wave of energy outwards that caused the vines to disintegrate as it touched them leaving the tree in a pristine condition.

Soon all that was left were two cocoons of vines which slowly faded away as well revealing the two missing princesses.  On seeing them, Twilight quickly rushed forward to embrace the larger of the two who leaned down towards the smaller alicorn.  As the two conversed, the tree glowed bright once more and a small sprout began to grow until it bloomed revealing a chest.  Most of the mares were focused on the new object, but one of them was looking at something else with interest which was soon noticed by Princess Celestia.  “Aegis Flare?  Why are you looking at the Tree of Harmony like that?”

The others looked over to their friend now that her interest had been pointed out and she raised a hoof to point at the Element of Magic.  “I was always curious about what signs you saw in Twilight becoming an alicorn, and seeing this it actually makes a bit of sense now, though she isn't the only one with a mark like that really.”

Her eyes lighting up in understanding, Celestia just lightly smiled before nodding.  “Yes, when we found the tree it already had the sun and moon on it yet until young Twilight came along the star was always a mystery.  I had thought it was just due to the shape of the Element of Magic but when she had that surge that fateful day it all became clear.  True it was not the only sign, but it was the one that had me the most hopeful.”

“But what about our cutie marks?  You were so surprised when we all became alicorns but if this is why you thought Twilight would become an alicorn then shouldn't you have expected it of us as well?”  Celestia looked down at Pinkie Pie in confusion before looking at the tree again.

“I do not see what you mean.  The tree is unchanged since my sister and I first found the Tree of Harmony and retrieved the Elements from it to battle Discord.  We have returned many times to study the tree but never once have we seen your marks on it.”  Pinkie Pie just tilted her head a bit while squinting up at the tree.

“Hmm, nope!  They're still there!  See there's mine, then Rarity's, Applejack's, Rainbow Dash's, Fluttershy's, and Flare's!”  With each name she pointed at the respective Element of Harmony.  Princess Celestia's eyes widened as each one was pointed out though none of the others noticed as she was facing away from them.

“Pinkie, those aren't the tree.  Those are the Elements... of... Harmony...”  Twilight's voice trailed off as she noticed her mentor doing something she had never seen before.  At that moment the larger princess had her hoof buried squarely across her face as realization finally caught up to her.  Princess Luna, having followed all this, chuckled as she patted her sister on the shoulder.

“Well sister, it seems that you have finally been given a sign.  Shall we go through with it all now?”  The smaller mares looked confused at her words, but Celestia just rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Fine.  But I will not be the only one doing all the work.  You shall be helping just as much.”  Princess Luna just nodded and looked proud at getting her sister to concede for once as the older sister turned back to the group.  “We shall need all of you to come to Canterlot in a weeks time.  That should give you ample time to prepare as well as give Twilight time to study that chest a bit.”

“Prepare?  Prepare for what?”  Aegis Flare wasn't sure if she wanted to know, especially if it involved more of the princess' plans involving them.

“You'll see.”

<><><><><><><><><><>

When the seven alicorns arrived back in Ponyville, the princesses having rushed to get back to Canterlot, they found an odd sight awaiting them.  “Spike?  Why is Discord hiding behind you like that?”

Spike looked behind him for a moment before he ran his claws through his head-spikes.  “Well that's an interesting story.  You see when you left me here to keep an eye on him I kind of got a bit bored and asked what all these things were.  He explained told me how they were an old trap that he had set for the princesses when they first fought that he had completely forgot about.  After hearing that I happened to mention how Flare wouldn't be too happy with him and he proceeded to use me as a shield until you all returned.”

“Wait, we went through all that trouble and Discord knew what was going on the whole time!?”  Rainbow Dash snorted and made as if she was about to charge until a hoof stopped her.  Aegis Flare glared at the draconequus for a moment, causing him to flinch away, before she just sighed and turned away.

“Just leave him.  He'll get everything he deserves some day but right now I'm too tired to bother with him.  Besides, I doubt he even could have done anything even if he wanted to.  I may not know everything about chaos magic, but I do know that alone it is inherently unpredictable and mixing chaos with chaos is a really bad idea.  Knowing our luck it would have probably caused all the vines to explode, violently.”

Multiple jaws dropped at that before they slowly back away from Discord.  Forgetting his fear he looks offended at the avoidance.  “Oh come on now.  The chances of that happening is too small to measure.  It's more likely that the town would get a new layer of sour cream than that.  Of course why would I even bother changing something that I created in the first place?”

Both Pinkie and Fluttershy look at him sadly for a moment before the former pegasus responded.  "Even if you couldn't do anything, you could have at least helped in some other way.  That's something that friends do when their friends are in trouble.”

Discord froze up before looking guilty at the two ponies that had given him a chance and even helped find creative ways to satisfy his chaotic urges.  With a snap of his fingers he teleported away to consider just what they meant to him, as well as what he could do to stop disappointing them.
> 51
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I think I left Scootaloo alone back home, let me go and check real quick.  Wouldn't want her to get into any trouble.”  As Aegis Flare attempted to leave the room, Twilight sighed before grabbing her in her magic and setting her friend back in her seat.

“Nice try, but you know that she's with your aunt right now.  Really now, do you have to keep trying to escape from this even after failing this past day?”  The orange alicorn just grumbled in her seat as her friends shook their heads.

“Well it's not like ah don't understand her feelings.  Ah mean can ya even see me as a princess?  That's like putting a hog in one of Rarity's dresses and no matter how pretty it looks it just ain't right.”  Rarity glared at the farm mare for even think of doing that with one of her dresses but she didn't argue the point.

“Well right now I would gladly wear one of Rarity's dresses, even the most uncomfortable one that she has.  Compared to this thing it would be like I was wearing nothing at all, this thing is so uncomfortable it almost hurts and I can barely even move my wings.  You can tell it was a unicorn that made this thing, er, no offense.”  Rarity just rolled her eyes at her friends using her work in their complaints before she sighed.

“Disregarding the uncomfortable traditional finery for this, I have to agree that I am still unsure about all of this.  I mean I have had thoughts of marrying Prince Blueblood, if only I knew how much of a cad he was, but even if that impossibility was to happen it would not be the same as all this.  All I wanted was to be able to take part in the upper levels of society, not rule over it.  I just don't have the experience for something like that and I definitely don't feel comfortable even thinking of it.”  Twilight sat back rubbing both of her hooves at her temples as she felt her headache increasing.  Looking around between her friends she took in the dresses that each of them wore and silently agreed that it would have been better to do something new as it was both uncomfortable and, due to her time spent with Rarity, she could tell that the colors just didn't work with all of them.

“Do you think that I'm doing any better?!  This is so far outside of anything that I could expect or plan for that I am this close to doing something I would regret!  The only reason I haven't is because I still can't believe that this isn't a dream!  I mean back when it was just me and my books I was content with my life!  Then I found all of you and for once I was actually happy!  But this?!  How am I supposed to feel about this?!  And what if this isn't even the end?!  What could be happening next?!  I get worshipped like some sort of god?!”  As she broke off panting there was some light coughing as Aegis Flare turned away from her which didn't reassure her.  She looked over at Fluttershy for a moment, who was rocking back and forth in the corner muttering to herself, before her gaze settled on Pinkie Pie.  “And what about you?  Do you have any complaints to add to this?”

Pinkie Pie, who had been bouncing in place merrily for the past while, just grinned as she looked around the room.  “Are you kidding?!  This is going to be the best thing ever!  Can you just imagine all the new ponies and non-ponies that I will be able to meet like this?  Soon I can throw the biggest party in the history of ever and invite them all!”  Her friends just stared at her for a moment before they shook their heads at her reaction.

“Of course Pinkie Pie somehow manages to turn this all into a plan for a party.”  Rainbow Dash just leaned against a nearby couch as her dress wouldn't allow her to sit down at this time.  Pinkie, finally sensing the mood, looked around at her friends before settling on Fluttershy with a grin.

“Speaking of meeting new ponies, I seem to remember Fluttershy having a good time last night when our families showed up.  What were you talking about in the corner with Marble all that time, hmm?”  The buttery alicorn let out an 'eep' of shock at having attention drawn to her as memories of that night went through the minds of all the ponies present.

vvvvvvvvvv

“So why did she have us come all the way ta Canterlot to meet her if she is just going ta have us wait in here?”  Applejack and the others looked towards Twilight who just shrugged with a sigh.

“Honestly I have no idea.  The princess has always been hard to predict but lately it's somehow gotten even harder.  I think only Princess Luna even has a chance of knowing what she is thinking now.”  Shaking her head Twilight pushed open the door to the room they were sent to and froze in place at what awaited them.

“There she is!  Twilight, Why didn't you tell us that this was happening sooner?  You're just as bad as your brother, telling us about your coronation the day before when you've been an alicorn for months now.”  Twilight stood there with her mouth open as she stared at her parents, trying to process why they were there and just what they had said.  Before she could formulate a response though, a blur blew into the room past her as a thestral tackled Aegis Flare into the room.  While the others stood in confusion, the bat-winged alicorn's mind latched onto one word in their sentence and she reared up, eyes wide as she prepared to bolt before being tackled by her aunt.

“Hah!  Didn't I tell you princess?  My niece was the first one to realize what this is all about AND she tried to bolt as soon as she heard.  That's another ten bits you owe me.”  Princess Luna rolled her eyes as she approached from the hall behind the mares as her Lieutenant boasted.

“Yes, well I would have thought that one of the more... levelheaded ponies of the group would have acted with a tad more grace.”  Night Wing just smirked from her position on atop her niece with her rear planted on her back.

“Pff, that was the most rational response that any of them gave.  While the others were just confused she recognized what was happening and tried to get the hay out of here like any sane pony would.”  She patted her nieces head with a hoof as she grumbled under her armored posterior.  Twilight was only starting to shake off the shock of what was happening as she turned to the lunar princess.

“Princess Luna, what's going on?  Why are my parents here, I thought Princess Celestia wanted to talk to us about something?  And what is this about a coronation?”  As Twilight speaks her mane starts popping a bit out of place, causing her parents to look at each other before slowly backing away.  Luna looked around at the other alicorns to see that they also were interested in just what was going on causing her to shake her head.

“I am guessing that my sister decided to keep everything close to her chest yet again.  After your recent exploits, even more-so as word has been getting out about you seven, we decided that it was time for all of you to be officially recognized as Princesses of Equestria.  Your families have already been contacted and some of them will be here to help prepare you for tomorrow, while the rest that could show shall be here tomorrow for the coronation.”  The unoccupied alicorns stared at her in shock for a moment before they all started shouting questions at her at the same time.  Seeing their opportunity, Twilight Velvet and Night Light moved over to their shell-shocked daughter and led her to a nearby couch so they could try and calm her down some.  Through it all Aegis Flare just grumbled under her aunt who just smirked down at her before she leaned down to whisper in her ear.

“You know, this doesn't have to be a bad thing.  Sure you will have all sorts of responsibility that you probably don't want, but just think of all the things you can do with that power.  Say, oh, make your way into files restricted only to the princesses like the recently reclaimed black guard records?”  Aegis Flare's grumbling stopped as the words registered with her and she tilted her head up so she could see her aunt's face.  Seeing the seriousness and the slow nod the orange alicorn flopped her head back down to the ground in defeat.  “That's better, now let's have no more attempts to run away.  You wouldn't want to leave your friends to deal with this alone now, would you?”

The mare just grunted at her aunt who took that as an affirmative as she slowly got up and helped her niece to her hooves.  As she moved over to take a seat near the others the first of the many family members, barring Twilight's who were there prior, started to arrive.  “Heya sister!  Your favorite baby brother is here.  And oh my, is that Rainbow Dash?  You know you didn't have to go through all this trouble just for me.”

Fluttershy's expression morphed into something that most of her friends had seen before, while Rainbow Dash  looked really disturbed.  Seeing this, Aegis Flare leaned over to the cyan mare.  “So who is this, and should I be setting him on fire or something?”

“Yes, please do.”  All eyes turned in shock at Fluttershy agreeing with the idea in a very deadpan voice, but the bat-winged alicorn just shrugged and lit up her horn.

“Oh come on now sister, you don't really mean that do you?  You know Rainbow Dash wouldn't want this hot body to come to any harm.  Though I do seem to be feeling a bit hotter than normal.”  Fluttershy's brother looked around in confusion for a moment before one one of the two unicorns in the room lifted a small mirror up in front of him.  He took a few moments to admire himself in the mirror before he finally noticed that his mane wasn't supposed to be flickering orange and he let out a scream.  My mane!  My mane is on fire!  Water!  Water!”

The group of ponies watched as he tore out of the room at Rainbow Dash level speeds.  Soon splashing could be heard which brought a thoughtful look on Twilight's face.  “Um, Princess Luna?  Isn't the closest source of water one of Philomena's personal water bowls?”

She was soon answered as another shriek rang out from the hall.  “Aieeee!  Killer bird!  Killer bird on fire!”

All eyes turned to the three ponies that caused all this to happen.  “Um, who's brother was that and was all that really necessary?”

Applejack's question was met with a shrug from the other orange alicorn and nods from the two former pegasii.  “Unfortunately that was my half-brother and yes he deserved all of that and more.”  Fluttershy started to turn away before her pupils shrank to pinpricks as she realized something.  “Oh no.  If he's here then that means...”

“EEEEEEEEEEE!”  Another blur flew into threw room and glomped onto Fluttershy before anyone could react.  Once the dust settled the group saw that a pegasus mare of a paler color than Fluttershy with a red mane was currently trying to hug the life out of her.  “Oh, I just can't believe that my darling baby is going to be a princess, why didn't you tell me earlier!  I always knew that you were my special little Flutterbutter, but I never expected you to be this special.”

Fluttershy struggled in the mare's grip as she gasped for breathe.  “Um, hi mom.  It's been a while.”

None of the other alicorns moved as they watched the meeting play out between mother and daughter.  As they looked on, none of them noticed the other pony that had snuck in.  Suddenly Rainbow Dash jerked upward as the figure brushed a wing against her rear hoof.  “Ack!  Hey, who did that?  You know I don't like it when somepony touches my hooves!”

The others turned to see what she was talking about to see another mare flying right behind her.  They needed little guesswork as to who this was as that pegasus mare shared Rainbow Dash's coat color yet her mane was the opposite as it hung down to her hooves with all the colors of the sunset of red, orange, and gold.  The mare brushed a wing along Rainbow Dash's ear causing the mare to twitch it before spinning around to see who it was, yet the elder mare spun around to keep behind her.  “All right who is doing that!”

She glared at the others before frowning as she realized that all of them were nowhere near her.  She frowned for a moment until her ears picked up the sound of odd gasping behind her which she quickly recognized causing her to tilt her head backwards as far as she could.  “Mom!  Must you always keep on doing that!  Wait, if you're hear...  Oh please tell me that dad isn't here as well, you remember what happened last time he showed up for an important event for me!”

The mare, revealed as the rainbow alicorn's mother, flew around in front of her daughter and turned to face her.  The others watched awkwardly as the elder pegasus said nothing yet Rainbow Dash started to frown.  “Yes, I know that Derpy needed cheering up, but did he really have to flirt with her like that?   He even did the same thing the first time I brought Fluttershy home!”  The two looked at each other for a few more moments much to the confusion of the others.

“Yes, I know now that he knew her mom and helped set her up with her husband, but it was still embarrassing.  And then there is his reputation as being the biggest flirt in all of Cloudsdale.  Do I still only have six other mothers right now or has he found another mare again?”  Still the mare said nothing and the curiosity of the mares finally built up for them to step in.

“Um, darling?  Are you all right?  Your mother, at least I assume she is, hasn't said anything so why are you talking as if she is saying something?”  Rainbow Dash looks over at the others before glancing back at her mom once again before she put her hoof to her head.

“Mom, no, please don't make me say it.”  A few more moments and the cyan alicorn just rolled her eyes before sighing and turning to her friends again.  “Girls, as you can guess this is my mother, Eventide Flicker.  She'd tell you herself but  she is speechless at being in the presence of my friends.  Not like she could say anything being mute anyways.”

It took them a few moments but the others groaned at the poor joke while Rainbow Dash's mother was silently laughing at the reaction.  The cyan alicorn just groaned and looked over to Fluttershy.  “Mrs Shy?”  The mare holding Fluttershy raised an eyebrow at her causing her to sigh.  “I mean Camellia, do you know where my father is?”

“That's better, I told you not to call me Mrs Shy, it makes me feel old.  That goes for the rest of you as well.  And don't worry about him, your other mothers are keeping him occupied until tomorrow so you can relax.  You know how much he loves them and will do anything to keep them happy and right now keeping you happy will keep them happy.”  Rainbow Dash stared at her steadily for a moment before she sighed and leaned into her mother as she came over to hug her.

“So wait, does that mean you were actually talking with the pegasus wing language?  I've always heard about it yet have never actually seen it used.  Also I would never have expected you to take the time to learn another language, no offense.”  Rainbow Dash tossed a glare at her mother as she started laughing soundlessly before she shook her head.

“Well I do, as well as the hoof language, since one of my mothers is blind.  It's kind of important that I understand what my mom is saying, though it annoys me that she can still fly rings around me because of it even if I can go faster than her.  And I learned Griffonic from Gilda back in flight school; I almost needed it too since dad almost got some albino gryphoness to join the herd but lost her to some rich noble or something.”  Her friends looked at her for a moment in disbelief before she turned away from them slightly as her mother prodded her side with a wing.

“Okay, so I may also know a bit of a few other common languages as well.  The Wonderbolts go all over Equestria and sometimes outside of it so you never know when they could be useful.”  Her friends made noises of understanding as they rolled their eyes at their friend's reason, though the noticed that Eventide looked saddened as she rapped her hooves on the floor in a complicated pattern which caused her daughter to look at her in shock.

“Wait, what do you mean 'Sorry about me not being able to get into the Wonderbolts now'?”  With her attention on her mother again, she watched the tiny movements of her wings, which the others were now closely watching for, before Rainbow Dash shook her head.  “Yes, I know that they are a pegasus flight team, but what does that have to do with anything?”  With a sigh her mother flicked a wing up and tapped at the cyan horn sticking out of her head, causing her to flinch away at the unfamiliar contact.  Crossing her eyes she looked up at her horn before her eyes shrank to pinpricks in realization and started to panic.  “Wait, that doesn't mean anything, right?  I mean I still can join them even with a horn, there aren't any rules against it, are there?  I mean it's always been my dream to fly with the elite fliers of Equestria so it can't be true!  Please tell me that it isn't true Princess Luna!”

The princess looked down at the younger mare with pity before she shook her head.  “Unfortunately, what your mother says is true.  Due to your new status you would not be able to be a part of the team in question.”  Rainbow Dash's jaw drops in horror and it looks as if she is about to break until the princess continues which causes her to freeze yet again.  “But is not this an elite enough group for you?  The Wonderbolts are comprised of a hundred pegasii in their flight team as well as thousands in the military branch that few know of.  Yet here you are now part of a group of less than a dozen.  I should also mention that while you may not be able to be a part of them, your new status as a princess after the coronation would allow you to be in command of the Wonderbolts when necessary.”

“Not to mention that you were already better at flying than the Wonderbolts if their past efforts are any indication.  My sister falling from Cloudsdale, Spike's little rampage, them being nowhere to be found during any of the disasters we had to take care of, they really weren't all that impressive yet you outdid them at every turn.”  Rainbow Dash shot a short glare at Aegis Flare for bad-mouthing the Wonderbolts, but she couldn't argue against what was being said.  With a sigh she turned back to the princess and gave her one last pitiful look.

“I need some time to think about this.  Getting into the Wonderbolts has always been my greatest dream, but to lose that now because of this?”  She tapped her horn a couple times before continuing.  “Are you sure I can't just wear a hat or hide it with a spell or something?”  Luna sadly shook her head while her friends moved to comfort the mare.  Rarity, held back a bit as she contemplated her friend's situation before coming to a disturbing conclusion.

“You may not be alone in losing something important to you, dearie.  If being an alicorn will stop you from fulfilling your dream, what would it do to my career?  Sure ponies will still buy my dresses, but they will be doing it for these-” She stretches out her wings in emphasis, “instead of for any of my actual talent.  If I wish to continue operating my boutique then I don't think I will be able to do it under my own name any more.”  Most of her friends looked at her in shock while Luna and Aegis Flare nodded slowly.

“Why do you think I want nothing to do with this?  It was annoying enough having to save inept guards as they followed me into the Everfree, but what will they be like after this?  They'll probably try to saddle me with hundreds of them that will ruin any chance of me doing anything constructive out there now.”  The others began to realize just how much these changes were going to affect them as they wondered what they may lose in the near future as well.  Luna cleared her throat to get there attention yet again after giving them a few minutes of thought.

“I must take my leave of you all to help my sister with the preparations.  The rest of your families should be arriving soon, though I am sorry to say the it appears that yours will not be here until tomorrow, Rarity, as there have been delays due to unexpected weather interfering with the airship they are currently aboard.”  Rarity sighs as she slowly nods, thinking about how yet again her parents are absent when she needed them most.

As the princess left Camellia Shy left her daughter's side and advanced on the bat-winged alicorn and her aunt.  “So Night Wing.  This is that niece I've been hearing all about from my daughter?”  Aegis Flare raised an eyebrow at the less-than-friendly tone the pegasus was using and glanced at her aunt who slowly nodded.  Before she had a chance to react she was the victim of a crushing hug much like what Fluttershy had gone through earlier.  “Oh you poor baby!  Losing your parents like that!  Your father was one of the few good memories I had of Transylmania and he even warned me about his brother even if I didn't listen!  Oh, but listen to me ramble on, tell me everything about yourself and your sister, we have so much to catch up on as family!”

The alicorn glared at her aunt as she rolled on the floor laughing at her before meeting Fluttershy's sympathetic gaze.  She struggled a few moments to try and break free before giving in and telling the older mare about her life since she was found.  As the two talked, the next group arrived much to the surprise of a certain pink mare.  “Marble!  Maud!  Limey!  You all came?!  What about mother and father?”

“Pinkamena!  I thought I told you not to call me that!”  Pinkie Pie just grinned as she ruffled a hoof through Limestone's mane while hugging her three sisters.

“Mother and father are taking care of the farm.  They will be here tomorrow.”  Pinkie's friends watched this little exchanged and jaws dropped at the vast differences between the familiar pink mare and her unfamiliar sisters.  Twilight and Aegis Flare exchanged glances when they heard the dry tone of Maud, before shaking their heads at how different the mare was from their expectations, though they weren't sure exactly what it was they were expecting after seeing the other two sisters.

As the two more outspoken mare and the seemingly emotionless mare caught up, the fourth sister slowly retreated into a corner to hide from all the unfamiliar ponies.  Backing away from all the unfamiliar ponies, she didn't notice that the corner had already been claimed until her rump met a feathery surface.  “EEEEP!”

“Oh I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there.”

“Oh, no it was my fault, I should have said something.”

As Fluttershy and Marble Pie traded apologies they slowly formed a connection until they slowly quieted and sat in an embarrassed silence.  Neither one of them wanted to say anything at first, but they eventually started to feel more comfortable near each other as they felt something familiar from the other.  The buttery alicorn was the first to break the quiet between them as she was about more open with others because of her friends.  “So you have problems with unfamiliar ponies, too?”

“Mmhmm.”  Fluttershy, on hearing this, felt a kinship that she had never had before with another pony.  As the two settled down to quietly talk, Pinkie Pie had an eye on them and she giggled at how well her sisters and friends were getting along.  Even Limestone with her usual abrasive attitude was speaking with interest to Rarity on a topic that the fashionista was familiar with.

“So you're saying that everything that I've been digging up over the years are low-quality scrap?  But they always look so pretty and I never saw any problems with them.”  Limestone Pie looked over one of the gems that Rarity had with her and even sniffed at it a couple times.

“Well it's not the worst, but we usually crush anything of this quality to improve our other gemstones.  These are fine for general use but for if you want them for anything beyond decoration then they need a lot of work.  Actually I'm just surprised that you found these as a unicorn and there wasn't a large diamond dog pack claiming the area.  You wouldn't believe the problems we have with them trying to muscle in on our home.”  Rarity looked thoughtfully at the gem and and remembered how one gem that Spike had found looked leagues ahead of it before swallowing at the thought of possibly getting dirty even if the results would be worth it.

“Well darling, maybe you could help me understand what I need to do to improve the gems that I do find.  My passion may be in fashion, but my talent involves gemstones so it would be a waste if I do not find out everything that I can.”  Limestone looked at her warily for a moment before she glanced over at Pinkie Pie who quickly turned away.

“I would ask why you haven't asked my sister, but I can guess why.  Don't expect much from anything I tell you since it took years to gets where we are on the rock farm.  But I can at least give you a few tips to get you started as well as a few what to avoid.  Now first you need to learn how to determine which of these are worth trying to improve, and which you should just crush down.”  As Rarity chatted with Limestone, Applejack surveyed the room before sighing.  Seeing Rarity and Limestone, Twilight and her parents, Rainbow Dash and her mom, Pinkie and Maud, Fluttershy and Marble, and Aegis Flare with her aunt and Fluttershy's mom made her ache for her own family, especially her parents.

“Thinking about them again, ain't ya?”  Applejack nods sadly before she jerks around when she realizes just who was speaking.

“Granny?!  But I thought you had to be away for the entire week!”  The elder green mare just cackles at her granddaughter's reaction before sitting down next to her.

“What?  Do ya think that ah would miss one of the most important events of mah granddaughter's life?  Ah just had ta make sure that the rest of the family was going ta make it.  Ah reckon that more of the Apple family will be here than at any reunion ever.”  Applejack's draw dropped at the news before she shook her head.

“Ah's still not sure if ah should even be here, Granny.  All of this?  Becoming a princess and running Equestria?  Ah don't even know the first thing about it and ah don't feel like ah can fit in with the others.”  Granny Smith eyed her granddaughter for a moment before she sighed and deflated in on herself, much to Applejack's surprise.

“Applejack, how old do ya think ah am now?”  The alicorn was confused for a moment about the subject change before she gave it a thought.

“Ah don't rightly know, ya never mentioned it before.  If ah had to guess I'd say almost a hundred now.”  The elder mare chuckled in amusement at the younger mare's answer.

“And how old is Ponyville now?”  Applejack still wasn't sure where the questions were leading but she still answered.

“Well ah'm not quite sure.  Ah think that the eight-hundredth anniversary is coming up but what does that have to do with...”  Applejack's pupils shrank to pinpricks as she realized how the numbers didn't add up, especially since her grandmother was there at the founding of Ponyville.  Seeing the realization in her granddaughters eyes, Granny Smith nodded with a tired sigh.

“Ah haven't been a hundred in a very long time.  All these years ah've been watching over the Apple family, waiting for somepony that could take over for me.  Ah had high hopes for yer mother, but after the accident...  Sometimes ah wonder if she knew what would happen when she named ya Applejack.”  The alicorn's brows furrowed at the comment as she tried to understand what she meant.

“What does mah name have ta do with anything, Granny?”  Granny Smith appeared to stare into the distance for a moment before she looked over at the former earth pony.

“Ah've seen many things and ah'm weary of watching time pass me by.  Yet now this happens and ah finally see my well deserved rest coming for me.  Now don't look at me like that, ah still have a few years left to go.”  Applejack's face morphed from horrified to embarrassed though she still worried about her elder's words.

“Yet despite all that there is still one story ah have not told ya about our family, the greatest treasure of the Apple family.  Apples have been around for a long time, but not even the princesses know just how long.  Our family started with an Applejack, in fact the very first Applejack who saved the world from many threats much like you and your friends have already done while still being a simple apple farmer.”  Applejack was surprised to hear this about her ancestor and how similar the ancient mare was to her.

“Time has lost many of the names of those that helped her, but your friend Twilight also shares a name with one of those ancient mares.  In fact other than her the Apples are one of the only families that can trace their lineage back that far.  There even have been Apples that have had a chance ta be rulers, but they always refused and stayed with the simple life.  It seems that fate itself has decided that one of our own finally takes their place in history to help shape it.  So when ya say that ya don't feel as if ya fit in remember, the Apple family has more nobility in them than any noble house out there now and ah'm relieved that their will be somepony to watch over the family when ah am gone.”  The old mare wraps a leg around her daughter's shoulder and pulls her close.

“We're Apples forever, Apples together.”  Applejack straightened as her granny began quietly singing their family's song but soon took up the next bit.

“We're family, but so much more.”  Granny Smith pulled her granddaughter's head onto her shoulder as she nuzzled her mane.

“No matter what comes, we will face the weather.”  As they reached the last line they joined in together with what had been the family motto for generations.

“We're Apples to the core.”

^^^^^^^^^^

The gathered alicorns shook off their nervousness as memories from the previous day came back to them allowing them to face the coming event.  “I don't know how Pinkie does it, but she always knows how to bring up the mood.”

The others nodded at Rainbow Dash's comment as a guard opened the door to the waiting room they were in.  “Ladies?  It is time.”

With a nod the mares filed out of the room towards the grand hall where the coronation was taking place. As they neared the doors they spread out in a line with Twilight in the middle, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack to her left and Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Aegis Flare to her right.  Princess Celestia's voice filtered through the door as they waited for the final call to enter the room.  “These young mares have done so much for our great country and it is only right that what they have earned is bestowed upon them.  Over the coming months the country shall see these mares join my sister and I in front of you all in preparations for their coming duties.  Now, without further ado, I present to you the Bearers of Harmony!”

At that the doors to the room were thrown open allowing the mares to see the crowd of ponies waiting for them as they began cheering.  One entire side of the room was filled mostly with rough looking ponies the were obviously of the Apple family and Applejack looked downwards bashfully at seeing them all.  On the other side of the room were more noble looking ponies, though the alicorns could see an occasional familiar face within the crowd.

Fluttershy froze up at the sight and Aegis Flare quickly scanned the room before her gaze settled on something she wasn't expecting and quickly whispered to her cousin.  “Fluttershy, don't think about any of the ponies.  Look, next to Discord.  I can see Harry with Angel on his head, just focus on them.  You wouldn't want to disappoint them, would you?”

Fluttershy's breathing steadily slowed as she gazed upon her animal friends until she slowly nodded allowing the group to proceed as one.  As they moved a choir began singing.  “The princesses come!  Behold, Behold!”

“Can the music get any cheesier?”  While Rainbow Dash's muttering was quiet enough for the crowd not to hear her, it was still loud enough for her friends to pick up on it and Twilight nudged her side as a couple of the others held in laughter.  Soon the seven were standing in front of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna who smiled fondly down at them.

One by one, the two started from opposite ends and recited some words of an unknown language before setting a crown on the head of the one they were in front of.  Soon only Twilight was left and Luna stepped back allowing her sister to have the honor and soon all seven mares had a shiny new golden crowns containing gems of a color that matched the Element the once wielded.  As one the seven turned back to face the crowd of onlookers.

“I present to you, the Princesses of Harmony!”  With Princess Luna's proclamation the crowd began to cheer as the seven mares tried to maintain their composure while feeling the heavy weight atop their heads.
> 52
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Trash, trash, burn it, burn the pony if he even gets near her...  Ugh, this is really getting out of hoof.”  Aegis Flare slammed her head into the table in front of her while her friends looked over at her in askance.

“What is all of that anyways, Flare?  You've been going through all morning since we gathered for breakfast.”  Aegis Flare looked over to Twilight before she torched one of the letters she was reading.  She flicked a wing towards her crown that was sitting next to her before responding.

“Ever since we had these forced on us I've been getting all kinds of letters from ponies around Equestria.  Unfortunately, most of them are marriage proposals from various nobles.  Haven't you all been getting them too?”  The others looked at each other before turning back and shrugging.

“All of my mail goes through Spike, but I haven't seen anything like that yet.”  Twilight looks to the others who just shake their heads as well.

“Mine goes through my boutique and I haven't had a chance to check it this week.”

“Angel hasn't given me anything yet either.”

“Ah haven't been to the farm since we got here.”

“We can get mail here?”

“If it isn't part of my my weather duties or about Daring Do I usually just throw it out without reading it.”

The group turns to look at Rainbow Dash before shaking their heads at her.  “Well what is so bad about all those marriage proposals?  I would think it would feel flattering to be so desired.”  The bat-winged alicorn just wordlessly passed over one of the letters to Rarity who quickly read it before her eyes widened.  “This...  This is just obscene!  Scootaloo is still just a child!  Why if they tried anything like they wrote in here about Sweetie Belle why I'd...”

Rarity trailed off as she realized that she may have some of the same letters as well before she scowls and tears the letter to pieces.  Applejack frowns as she makes a note to check with her brother who was currently handling things on the farm while she was in Canterlot.  “See?  This is why I don't bother reading through all the junk unless I know who it is from.  Too much drama otherwise.  Of course with all this I doubt I'll be checking my mail for another couple months when the next Daring Do arrives.”

“Didn't you hear, Rainbow?  The next book was delayed a couple months.”  Rainbow Dash shot up as Twilight revealed the news with a shout of denial.  Her friends rolled their eyes at the mare as she began her own special form of drama which they mostly half listened to until the cyan mare gave her plan of action which caused Aegis Flare to look over at her uncertainly.

“Wait, you want to what?!”

<><><><><><><>

“Are you sure we should be bothering her out here?  I mean there has to be a reason that Ms Yearling abandoned her old home like that to move to the other side of Equestria like this.  I'm sure she's just fine.”  The others rolled their eyes at Aegis Flare as she had been trying to get them to head back though they couldn't understand why.

“Yeah, yeah.  We heard you the last hundred times but we have to make sure.  We wouldn't want anything to happen to the boo- I mean A K Yearling.”  Aegis Flare just grumbled to herself as she kept a wary eye out on the dark trees around them.  While the mare they were searching for was one of her worries, it wasn't for the same reason as the others and she had other worries as well, specifically the part of Equestria they were in.

“I still don't understand why anypony would want to live out in this dark and dingy forest.  Especially with a name like the Forest of Trotting Death.”  The others nodded while Aegis Flare just grumbled behind them.

“Probably to keep others from bothering her, much like we shouldn't be doing.”  Her friends ignored her as they walked through the forest and they soon came upon a cabin in the middle of a clearing.  They were surprised by what they found as it contrasted heavily with the surrounding area.

“Finally!  Ugh, we could have been here already if you just remembered that she moved, Twilight.”  Twilight just tossed a glare at Rainbow Dash before she shot back.

“Well excuse me for forgetting about it since most of the time I heard about it was from my mom who is the editor for the book.  It was only after we got to her other place that I remembered Derpy mentioning this place when she brought a load of her books one day.”  Looking around the mares took in the dichotomy of the terrain as the advanced on the building.

“Well isn't this a rather cozy place she has here.  Almost like out of one of them fairy tails Granny used to read ta me.”  Applejack's words were met with nods from the others as they advanced on the idyllic little two-story cottage.  Entering the building, Aegis Flare wasn't surprised to see the damage within it, though she still thought that they shouldn't have come.  Soon enough the group had gathered on the ground floor once again after having found nothing.

“What are you all doing here?”  As every head turned to the voice, Aegis Flare side-steeped so that she was hiding behind Fluttershy, much to her confusion.  As her friends talked to the mare she started hearing an odd sound and, seeing her ears twitching, knew the Fluttershy heard it too.  While listening to both the sound and her friends she had to facehoof at what Rainbow Dash ended with.

“Okay, clearly this isn't the best time, but I've just gotta say how much we all really love your books...”  While trying to stay unseen, this was just too much for Aegis Flare.

“Seriously Rainbow Dash, when you go crazy over something you don't do it by half measures.  I don't even know why I bothered to try and stop you.”  While her friends rolled their eyes once again the other mare in the room tried to peer around them at the hiding mare as she sounded familiar to her.

“Wait, is that Sparky?  What are you doing here?  Wow time sure has been good to you and...”  The mare paused as she got a clearer look at the bat-winged alicorn and she squinted her eyes.  “Whoa, when did you upgrade to wings?  Did you find something interesting out in your area of the Everfree Forest?”  Aegis Flare winced as she looked back over at her wings before sighing.

“I really hate that nickname you know, and you just had to use it in your books.  Also, yes, I did find something in the Everfree along with my six friends.  Perhaps you've heard of them?  The Elements of Harmony?”  The non-alicorn looked around the room a moment, her gaze stopping on each of the alicorns, before she frowned.

“Huh, how did I miss the room full of alicorns?  It still doesn't explain why you are here after promising not to say anything about me, or why your horn is lit up.”  Her question was partially answered when a large crashing sound was heard, along with cries of pain soon after.

“I didn't tell them anything and even tried to get them not to come.  Also Twilight's mom is your editor and we all live in Ponyville so I wouldn't be surprised if your sister said something on accident.  As for the horn, well since you didn't seem to be expecting visitors I took the precaution of catching your little intruders upstairs.”  The beige mare looks over at the blushing Twilight before she rubs at her head with a hoof.

“Of course you live there.  You only told me at least a dozen times in your letters.  Dang it Derpy, how many times do I have to ask you not to brag about me to your friends?  Now let's see just who these intruders are.”  As they moved upstairs, Aegis Flare ignored the glares she was receiving from Rainbow Dash.  She could guess what they were about but she had promised not to say anything about the mare they were following and she still had a few more secrets.  When they reached the top landing of the stairs the found the orange alicorn's shield blocking the doorway, with three stallion trapped inside of it in a bubble.

“So we meet again.  Granted the situation isn't ideal but it is a surprise to find that you have actually trapped your own home.  Still this won't last forever and once it falls we shall get what we came here for, Daring Do.”  Both Daring Do and Aegis Flare groaned at the secret being revealed while the other alicorn just gaped in shock at her as she removed her disguise of her alter-ego.

“Oh, will be going anywhere for a long time Dr Cabelerron.  Of course the item you are searching for isn't even here and there is no way you or Ahuizotl will be able to get ahold of it.”  The stallion just glanced down at his injured minion, who had ran headlong into the barrier, while ignoring his other one before scoffing.

“I admit that this is a minor setback, but only that.  Once we escape we shall track down the artifact and claim it for our client and there is nothing that you can do about it and if you get in our way you will pay.”  The minion kept trying to get Dr Cabelerron's attention, but he was ignored as Daring Do started chuckling at him.

“So, did you get all that Princess?”  The pegasus looked over at Twilight who had been writing down everything that the stallion was saying.

“Just about, so tell us again how you are going to commit crimes including theft and assault?”  It was only then that the stallion noticed that there were others in the room and that they were all alicorns.  Noticing the princesses the stallions jaw dropped open as he went into shock at what he was seeing.

“There probably isn't much else that he can say that would incriminate him, Twilight.  It's not like he ordered his minions to kill us in the Everfree during that little trip we took, isn't that right Mr C?”  At the name drop Twilight's head whipped around to glare at the stallion who flinched backwards as if it had real force behind hit.

“What did you just call him?”  The venom in the purple alicorn's voice sent chills down Dr Cabelerron's spine and her friend's leaned away from her in surprise.

“Oh, that's right.  You didn't know who it was that organized that adventure we had.  How did that idol work out for his client anyways, Daring Do?”  The pegasus chuckled at the question before jerking her head towards the trapped stallion.

“His client was quite mad about it.  The group tried to sacrifice him in hopes of recharging it but he always has a plan to escape if things go south.  Well, almost always as you can see now.”  She gestured to the stallion who was now frothing in rage at the two mares though his words were incomprehensible at this time.  “So what are you going to do with him now?”

Pinkie Pie let out a high-pitched whistle, causing the two ponies of thestral heritage to wince and glare at her, which caused a commotion downstairs as well as the window in the room they were outside of.  Soon a dozen members of the guard, not the Royal Guard as they had been refusing to follow them out of Canterlot due to the difficulty, were surrounding the three encased stallions.  “That's easy.  We'll just let these fun ponies take them all the way back to Canterlot to meet Celestia and Luna.  Take them away boys.”  One of the guardsponies clears her throat and looks at the pink pony who looks sheepish.  “And girls.”

“Uh, Pinkie?  Where did all these guards come from?”  Twilight watched as all but four of the guards marched the trio of stallions away while the ones staying moved to outside of the building.  Aegis Flare raised an eyebrow at the purple alicorn before twitching her ears.

“They've been following us since we left Canterlot.  What, did you think that they would let us go off without guards of some sort to protect us?  At least this group seems to be more competent than the Solar Guard.”  The alicorns all looked at each other in surprise at hearing this, except for Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy who rose a hoof.

“Um, I heard them the entire time.  I'm sorry I didn't say anything but I thought you all knew.  Though I'm not sure what those things I've been hearing when we entered this forest are though.”  The mares looked uncertainly at Fluttershy before turning back to Aegis Flare though it was Daring Do that answered.

“It's nothing to worry about unless you go too deep into the forest, though this cabin is just on the border.  The guardians of this place don't really like uninvited guests and you wouldn't believe what it takes to get an invitation.  My wife was out with them which is how I knew somepony was here.”  At this point finally had enough of holding herself back and she spoke her mind.

“Wait, wait, wait.  When did you get married!?  And for that matter...”  She turned towards the bat-winged alicorn.  “You knew that A K Yearling was Daring Do this whole time!?  Why didn't you say anything before!?  Does that mean that you actually were there in Daring Do and the Temporal Temple!?”  Aegis Flare looked towards Daring Do who just shrugged at her while her friends watched on, also interesting in hearing answers.

“Hey, don't look at me.  They're your friends.  You might as well tell them since they're going to hear about it eventually since they are all princesses.  It's probably a good idea that they know about Ahui just to be safe in case she and my daughter need to go to Canterlot or Ponyville for some reason.”  Twilight's head shot up at the name causing her to frown in concentration.

“Wait, Ahui?  But didn't she return to being Ahuizotl in Daring Do and the Diadem of Duality?  Wait, if all the books are true, then does that mean you actually were a stallion after Daring Do and the Fetish of Fertility?”  Before the purple mare could ask anything else, or Rainbow Dash join in, Daring Do groaned as she brought a hoof to her face.

“Yes, yes, it all happened.  Ugh, why do all these ancient groups have to be so vague with their artifacts?  After Ahui and I spent time getting to know each other we agreed to start dating and she wanted to be left out of the books after finding a cure.  We thought that the diadem would help, but it turns out it works oddly when the target is pregnant so it split Ahuizotl away from her into his own being.  Only now he is much crueler than he used to be as if all that was good about him is gone.”  The two mares were about to say more but Aegis Flare stepped forward to interrupt.


“As fascinating as all this is, maybe they can all wait until later?  Hay, you could just send them in a letter through Derpy to her so she has time to think them through and not releasing more than she might want to.  Even I didn't know about her having a child until just now, all she told me was that there were 'complications' that split Ahui from Ahuizotl.”  Daring Do ran a hoof through her mane is she looked towards the floor.

“Please do that.  Ahui is probably going to kill me for letting all of that out.  I'm not really that good with dealing with others.  It's why I always worked alone until Sparky showed up on that expedition.”  The others nodded, though Rainbow Dash still tossed a glare at Aegis Flare.

“That can wait I guess, but when are you going to tell us just what is going on?”  The orange mare inhales deeply and holds it for a few moments before exhaling.

“Since Daring Do says it's fine to tell you, I'll tell you everything once we get back to Ponyville to my home.”

<><><><><><><><><><>

The seven mares sat in the family room of Aegis Flare's home as she tried to compose herself for the coming conversation.  When Scootaloo came in carrying a tray of cider and cookies, the bat-winged alicorn sighed and turned her head towards her sister and lighting her horn.  “Scotty?  Can you bring me the Daring Do book from the case over there?”

Scootaloo looked shocked for a moment before nodding and heading towards the now glowing display case.  As she reached it a section of it popped out revealing the key she the pegasus snatched up and shoved it into the lock.  Opening the case, she reverently lifted the book onto her back and carried it over to her sister.  “Are you finally going to say how you got this?  Can I stay and listen, too?”

Aegis Flare was about to deny her, but she quickly realized that she would probably sneakily listen in anyways and nodded and lifted one of her wings.  The filly quickly climbed onto her sister's seat and nestled under the wing with a sigh as she watched the book be set down in front of the duo.  “This...  Isn't going to be easy for me.  This isn't just a copy of the book, but a copy of the original journal that Daring Do wrote after we escaped from the Temporal Temple.  Yes, it is a real place, though I can't say where it is or how to find it as we don't even know how we found it the first time.  Most of the time when she writes her stories she has to exaggerate things a bit to make it interesting, but this was the only time I know of that she had to understate the situation because of how bad it was.”

“Was this what caused ya to hide in your basement for a month until we drug ya out of there?”  Applejack's question received a nod causing her to look at the book wide-eyed as her mind went back to that day.

“It started out as a normal day a few months after my parents had gone missing.  Around that time I was starting to get used to exploring the Everfree Forest, having learned many of the things to avoid and how to defeat many of the threats as well.  Yet that all changed when I came across the camp of Emperor Imperious Rex....”

vvvvvvvvvv

The orange teen unicorn slowly climbed through a tight thicket in search of anything that may have been useful.  It had been a week since she had entered the Everfree Forest and she had yet to find anything worth carrying back to Ponyville.  She wasn't too worried though as she had gone longer without finding anything, though this time she had managed to leave a decent buffer back at home with her sister this time.  Still she was doing well for such a young pony that had known little about the place a little over a year ago and was starting on an amateur map to try and keep track of where she had explored.

Finding nothing she let out a quiet sigh as she left the thicket and ascended a nearby tree to try and get a better view of the area.  While she didn't see much other than more greens and browns, her ears twitched as she heard something out of place for the Everfree.  If she didn't know better she could have sworn that they were voices.

After taking a moment to identify the direction of the voices the teen descended the tree and carefully made her way in that direction.  After a short while she slowly creeped up on the edge of a camp populated by diamond dogs and she listened in, not wanting to be seen.  “Hurry up you mutts!  We must to get to that temple before it disappears and this all goes to waste.  She's somewhere out there and I want us to be somewhere where she can't sneak up on us.”

Aegis Flare was curious as to who they were talking about, as she didn't know who these diamond dogs were nor had she met any before.  Warily she began backing away from the group until she backed up into something that had not been there when she passed through moments earlier.  Panning her gave around she came eye to nose with a beige muzzle causing her to take in a breath of panic before a set of hooves were thrown over her mouth.  Moments later she was flying in her captors grip through the Everfree until they were some distance away from the diamond dog encampment.  “Now I'm about to release you, but don't scream.  We don't want those mangy mongrels to find us, now do we?”

Aegis Flare shook her head hurriedly, but when she was released she dashed over into the nearest bush before turning to see what had grabbed her.  With the better viewpoint, she was able to see that it was a beige pegasus, who was shaking her head, with a greyscale mane and wearing a pip helmet and and olive safari jacket.  “W-w-who are you?  What are you doing here?”

The pegasus sighed as she looked over the unicorn in frustration.  “Oh great, it's just some kid.  Never mind why I'm out here, what is some little punk like you doing all the way out here?  There isn't a town around for days.  Oh this is just great, I follow King Imperious Rex and his crew all the way out here and I run into this.  I don't have time to take care of a snot-nosed little brat and there is no way that I can take her back now.”

The beige pegasus started pacing back in forth as she muttered to herself with the young unicorn watching on.  Movement from behind the pegasus caught the orange mare's eyes and when she focused on it her eyes widened.  Lighting up her horn she unleashed a stream of fire at the creature behind the pegasus who let out a yelp as she dodged to the side.  She was about to retaliate when a scream rang out from where she was and she turned to see a pile of slime on a nearby tree writhing in pain as it was being bathed in fire.  Soon it stilled as its life faded and the pegasus looked at the unicorn questioningly.  “T-that's a parasite slime.  It attacks its victims from hiding and tries to take over it's body by crawling into its head.  It is also coated with a nasty poison that can burn flesh with prolonged exposure.”

The pegasus just looked at the smoldering corpse for a few more moments before she frowned.  “Okay, maybe I was wrong about you, Sparky.  You still seem to be a bit young to be out here in such a dangerous place though, but I really could use a guide that knows the area.  The name's Daring Do.”

Aegis Flare looked at the extended hoof of the pegasus for a moment before she hesitantly reached out her own towards it.  “I-i-i'm Aegis Flare.  I'm not sure how much help I can be though.  I've only been out here for about a year now.”

Daring Do just shrugged as she looked off in the direction of the diamond dog camp.  “It's more than I know.  While I'd rather work alone, this forest is just odd and nothing like the jungles that I'm used to.  Your year is much more time than I've had and the diamond dogs have already lost a dozen in here, though there are still many more left. Now come on Sparky, we need to catch up with them and keep an eye on them.”

As Daring Do was about to take off into the air to try and get a view of the diamond dogs, Aegis Flare's ears flicked around a few times before she turned and started back unerringly in the direction they had come from.  The pegasus gazed after her a moment before she settled on the thestral-like ears before she shrugged and followed after.  Neither said anything, which was fine by Daring Do as she had no need to get close to her young guide while on the job.

Soon the duo caught up to the other party and, using her enhanced hearing, followed at a safe distance.  Nothing happened for days for the two ponies, though Aegis Flare found a few medicinal plants to stash in her saddlebags, though the number of diamond dogs slowly dwindled as they ran into obstacle after obstacle.  Most of the creatures were driven off by the group, but some were left for dead allowing the unicorn to get samples from some as well as learn about a few more dangers that were new to her.

After a week, Daring Do was starting to get frustrated with the diamond dogs as she shot a glare in the direction of their leader.  “What is King Imperious Rex even doing?  He's just wasting the lives of his subjects, and for what?  Some rumored temple that may or not be there?  Even so, doesn't he know how dangerous the artifact he is searching for can be?”

“What is it that he is searching for?”  Aegis Flare cringed as Daring Do turned an eye on her.

“I wish I knew, but from what I can tell it's supposed to have something to do with time travel or time control or something.  There's hardly anything out there about this place and even the myths consider this place a myth.  I never even heard of this Temple of Time place until one of their agents came to me asking about it.”  Suddenly, as if her saying the name was a sign, the whole world felt as if it lurched under their hooves.  When they were able to recover their balance they found that the forest had disappeared and they were now at the bottom of a stairway leading up to a giant stone building.

“Um, I think we're here?”  Daring Do just glanced over at the unicorn before raising a hoof to her temple.

“I have a bad feeling about this.  That was not any kind of magic I've seen or heard of before.”  Daring Do looked around warily before tapping a hoof on the bottom step.  “We better get inside quickly.  If this appeared for the others, then they might already be further inside.”

Rushing up the stairs, Daring Do stopped near the top to see the younger mare slowly following her.  “You can stay out here, I doubt you have any experience with places like this.”

Aegis Flare didn't respond verbally, but she slowly made her way up the stairs to stand next to the pegasus.  Raising an eyebrow, Daring Do shook her head before entering the temple.  The two looked around as they slowly advanced down the featureless hall.  They weren't sure how far they went, but when they saw the first crossroad they welcomed that change from the featureless white walls.

Suddenly from out of the left hall Aegis Flare and Daring Do came charging out into the crossroads.  Before either of them could react the ceiling came down on the two, smashing them into paste causing a spray of red to spurt out the sides.  Seeing this, Aegis Flare's breathing started to increase before she was in a full-blown panic and started screaming.  “We're gonna die!  We're gonna die, we're gonna die we're gonna-”  *SMACK*

Silence reigned as the unicorn's head snapped to the side after being struck by Daring Do's hoof.  “Get ahold of yourself!”  When the unicorn just pointed at the scene of carnage ahead of them she only received a shake in response before her head was turned towards the blood-splatter.  “Look closer!  Something isn't right here.”

With her head forced into staring at the area where she died she kept shaking in fear as she surveyed the area.  Noticing something peculiar her eyes narrowed as she traced the blood stains and noticed that they just cut off a short distance from the ceiling trap.  Suddenly it began to rest itself yet there was no sign of anything being there before as the floor was still a pristine white.  Soon even the bloodstains faded away leaving her more confused than in panic.  “I don't know what that was, but there is no way that it could have been us.  Since we just saw it we would know to avoid the trap so there is no way that it would have caught us.”

Calming down, though still fearful, Aegis Flare nods to the pegasus who pats her on the shoulder before moving toward that trapped area.  It didn't take her long to find the trap mechanism and the two walked around it to the hall on the other side.  The two traveled down the hall, through various twists and turns until eventually the pegasus threw up her hooves.  “What is with this place?  There is no way that it was this big on the outside and we haven't even taken any turns yet.”

The unicorn's ear twitched as she picked up a faint clicking sound as the adventurer was pacing around followed by another sound that was familiar to her.  Reacting to the direction of the sound she quickly tackled Daring Do off to the side of the hallway before putting up a shield around them against the wall.  Before the pegasus could ask what was going on, a wave of water crashed down the hall from behind them, flooding the area.  It passed over the two like a stone in a river and it soon passed, but soon after it was followed by a wave of flames, drying the hall once again.  Once the danger had passed, Daring Do got up and growled.  “Okay, how was that even possible!?  We didn't pass anything that could have caused all of that back there, and THAT certainly wasn't there before!”  She pointed a hoof at a slightly raised portion of the ground.  “And that hall certainly wasn't there before!”

Aegis Flare looked to where the mare was pointing to find that a new path had opened up without them noticing.  She was about to turn away when she saw movement at the other end of the hall, but she couldn't believe what she was seeing.  “Mom?  Dad?”

Daring Do looked at her curiously for a moment before the teen dashed off down the hall.  “Hey, wait!  Don't just run off like that!”

The unicorn ignored her though as she ran down the hall to where she saw her parents.  Rounding the corner she slid to a halt as she came across a horrifying sight.  Before her was herself, but not as she was but a grotesque effigy of herself.  The figure was turned away from her and appeared to be eating something but the teenager didn't want to know what as she tried to quietly back away, but failing as she stumbled.

The creatures head shot up at the sound and it slowly turned to face her, blood dripping from its muzzle.  Seeing her the creature started advancing on her revealing an orange form behind her.  “No, it can't be...  Scootaloo?  Not my sister...”

Aegis Flare looked on in horror at the body of her sister just laying there, entrails spread out like spaghetti.  Her head smashed open like a ripe cantaloupe.  Her chest-

----------

“Enough!”  *SLAP!*  Rarity struck Aegis Flare with her hoof to interrupt her from her hyperventilating as her mind locked in on the memory.  “Sorry, darling, but I don't think we really need to hear about all that.”

Looking around the orange alicorn saw that her friends were looking rather green in the faces and she only then noticed the shivering form against her side.  Glancing down she found her sister against her side, eyes wide in fear at what she was hearing.  Using her wing she pulled her closer to her side as snug as possible, which slowly calmed the filly as she felt safer from the pressure.  “Sorry about that everyone.  It's just...  I still have nightmares about that day and even now the thought of that place terrifies me.  It's one of the reasons why I didn't want to talk about this place.”

The alicorn shivered in fear, but it slowed when she felt pressure all around her.  Looking up she found that all her friends had rushed over to grab her up in a group hug.  The eight mares sat like that for a few minutes before one of them finally spoke up.  “You don't have to continue if you don't want to anymore.”

Glancing over at Fluttershy, the bat-winged alicorn just shook her head.  “No, I'm doing better now.  I've already gone this far so I might as well finish.”  With a nod the yellow pegasus slowly backs away towards her seat, soon followed by the others.

----------

With a shriek the teen's horn lit up as an inferno blazed out of it, engulfing the figures before her.  Even when there was nothing but ash the flames still poured out of her and only cut off when she felt hooves wrap around her from behind.  “It's all right, it's dead.  That's enough now.”

Turning back she found Daring Do holding her before her eyes teared up and she threw herself at the mare, wailing in grief.  The pegasus just sat there making calming noises as she rocked the unicorn back in forth.  “Shh, it's all right.  It wasn't her, it couldn't have been her.  This place is just messing with your mind, none of it is real.”

The two stayed like that for over an hour before the unicorn had cried herself out.  While fatigue was setting in, the pegasus knew that they couldn't stop just yet.  “Hey, are you going to be all right?”

The unicorn sat there for a moment before she nodded and slowly pulled away.  Rising to their hooves, the two prepared to head out again when they heard voices from the hall they had just left.  “Fascinating, I've never seen anything like this before yet it feels familiar for some reason.  Don't get lost now, who knows what will happen if you leave my side, now, Allons-y!”

Looking down the hall they saw a brown-maned, tan stallion walk by follow by a blonde-maned, gray pegasus mare with a set of bubbles as a cutie mark.  The two-

----------

“Wait, wait, wait!  Why is Derpy in your story?  It's impossible for her to be there since she was pregnant with Dinky around that time.  I should know, I was with her in Cloudsdale then.”  Aegis Flare looked at Rainbow Dash blankly for a moment before she looked thoughtful.

“Huh, how did I never notice that before?  It might not have been our Derpy though considering how that place works though.  Now can you please save any questions like that for afterwards?”  Getting a nod from the mare the orange alicorn took a deep breath in as she continued her tale.

----------

The two mares looked at each other for a moment before following after the two ponies, but when they reached the corner they found the hall empty.  “Ugh, this is getting to be annoying.”

Deciding to ignore the incident, Daring Do made her way down the hall in the direction the two weer going.  The unicorn made to follow, but stopped when her hoof came into contact with something making a clattering sound.  Looking down she found a blackened, cylindrical device which she picked up to examine.  After turning it over and looking at the odd gem on the tip she just shrugged before tucking it away into her pack and following the pegasus.

The next few hours were spent searching the temple while finding nothing but danger and empty halls.

“Why is there a cake in the middle of the hall?”

“Ack!  Bees!  Not the bees!”

“Get me down from here!  The spiders are getting closer!”

“Ack!  Weasels!  Can't you use your magic to get rid of them!”

“Not when they're fire weasels!”  The two mares darted down one hall to run face-to-face with another horde.

“ZOMBIES!”  The two turned and ran in another direction as a pack of zombie Daring Do and Aegis Flares chased them, and soon became flaming zombies when the weasels crashed into them.

The chase led them into another another hall where they managed to lose them as they ran by a small group of diamond dogs who were soon beset upon by the flaming zombies.  Once they had traveled far enough that the sounds of screaming had stopped the two paused to regain their breath.  “Well I guess that just confirms that none of those are really us.  I am really starting to hate this place.”

The two started off down the hall but Aegis Flare was soon tackled from behind by a doppelganger of herself.  “You won't get me this time!  If I get you first then there is no way for you to kill me!”

Daring Do could only watch as the two rolled around on the ground, quickly losing sight of who was who.  Trying to decide what to do the decision was taken when on of them kicked out with her rear hooves, sending the other flying over her head to land on the ground of the path ahead of the duo.  The unicorn quickly rolled to her feet but was met with a loud click as her hoof landed on a pressure plate.  “Oh buck!”

With a scream the floor disappeared under her, sending her screaming into the darkness below.  Aegis Flare could only stare in shock at having caused the death of another, especially with it being herself, that she just locked up in shock.  Seeing her freeze, Daring Do knew that she was the real ones as she grabbed her in yet another hug.  “Don't think about it, just let it pass and move on for now.  Think about it later.”

It took a while but the unicorn slowly recovered as tears began to flow from her eyes.  Shaking off the adventurer she started to turn away from her.  “Y-y-you should just leave me here.  I'm just holding you back.  No way should a coward like me put a brave pony like you in danger like I've been doing.”

Daring Do looked over at the unicorn for a moment before she let out a sigh and removed her helmet.  “That isn't true and you know it.  You've already saved my life a couple times and who knows how many more times you will in the future.  And as for being scared?  Well I've been scared this whole time but brave ponies have to be scared, you know why?”

Aegis Flare looked shocked for a moment but quickly shook her head in confusion at the pegasus.  “A pony without fear is just reckless.  A brave pony is one that is scared, but still does what needs to be done anyways while not letting that fear control them.  Instead they use that fear to help them survive.  You've done that already just to get this far, you might as well see it through to the end now.”

The unicorn looked unsure for a moment before she slowly nodded to Daring Do.  With a smile the pegasus held out a hoof to her which she pressed her own against, feeling a bit better knowing that she wasn't the only one scared.  Turning around the two prepared to go on again when they found that they had somehow reached the end of the hall and were now in a grand, treasure-filled room.  “I am really starting to hate this place.”

Aegis Flare nodded along with Daring Do as the slowly creeped through the mounds of gold, jewels, and various artifacts.  “There is no way all of that can be real.  I've been through many temples but none of them had anything close to this, and those that were similar were just one giant death trap.”

Her words caused the young unicorn to flinch away from the object she had just been reaching out to poke with a hoof.  She kept a watch on where she placed her hooves from that point on to prevent coming into contact with any of the treasure just in case.  Suddenly Daring Do put a hoof in front of the unicorn as she cocked an ear, listening.  With it being brought to her attention, Aegis Flare also lifted her ears and could hear some voices from up ahead.  “Shoot, that must be Imperious Rex up ahead.  I just hope we aren't too late.”

The two rushed forward towards a door that they saw on the other end of the room.  Going through they found themselves in a smaller room, still filled with treasures, though it was different in that the center of the room was dominated by a large tree from which odd, orb-shaped fruit hung from.  At the base of the tree they saw what remained of the diamond dogs along with their leader who was reaching for one of the fruits.  “King Imperious Rex!  Don't touch that!  You don't know what it will do!”

The ruler of the Diamond Dog Empire paused when Daring Do's voice rang out and he slowly turned to glare at her.  “Ah, Ms Do.  I have heard much about you these past few years.  Unfortunately I don not have time to deal with you so, guards?  Take care of them.”

The few remaining guards looked warily at the two for a moment, but started to advance when the king's adviser blew into a whistle causing them to wince.  Aegis Flare became worried at the large creatures advancing on them but Daring Do wasn't through with the ruler.  “Are you crazy?!  For all you know that thing will destroy us all!  What do you hope to accomplish?”

The ruler glanced back at the two ponies once more before he began to reach for one of the hanging orbs.  “You ponies have always thought that you ruled the world, and it is all because of that princess of yours and her immortality.  But with this, I shall have control over time itself and my empire shall flourish in ways you can only dream of.  With this, nothing shall be able to stand against me!”

As he said his last line his paw came into contact with the orb and it began to glow at his words.  Before anyone could react, an orb of light began to expand from the orb, followed by another, and another.  Where the lights passed, flesh it came into contact with began to peel away layer by layer.  All the dogs watched in shock as their leader's flesh was ripped off of him,followed by muscles and even his bones were steadily worn away leaving only an outline hanging in the air with whatever gems and metal he had been wearing hanging from it.  When the noticed that the orbs were still expanding it was too late for them as the same thing began to happen to them as silently as had been done to the king.

Daring Do was always a quick thinker, and when she noticed how the light only affected living or once-living object her gaze shot around the room.  Spotting a large bowl big enough for the two of them, she quickly grabbed up Aegis Flare and dove into the bowl causing it to flip over the two of them.  The unicorn didn't even react as she had frozen at the sight of the diamond dog king's grisly death.

The two stayed under the bowl as lights flashed along the bottom rim and soon wailing sounded through the room outside of it.  After an unknown amount of time to the two, the sounds slowly trickled to a stop along with the lights and a rattling sound reached their ears.  Daring Do waited a few more minutes just to be safe, before she lifted the edge of the bowl, the end away from the tree, to find that nothing seemed to be happening.  Slowly rolling the bowl over, the two peered around the room to find no sign of the diamond dogs beyond the metallic objects and gems that they had been carrying.

Glancing at the tree one more time, the pegasus turned to the shivering unicorn.  “I've had about enough of this place to last me a lifetime.  Start grabbing anything of interest and let's get out of here.  Just don't touch that tree.”

Aegis Flare shakily nodded as she began scooping interesting objects into her pack before the two fled the temple.

^^^^^^^^^^

“We soon found our way out of the temple through the front entrance, everything we went through being the rear, and made our way back to Ponyville.  Daring Do was really annoyed about that and eventually learned that all her previous adventures were much the same.”  Aegis Flare stood up and moved back to the case to return the book back into it before lifting the crown which Twilight eyed.

“But wait, if there was a diamond dog king, how come I never heard of him before except for in the Daring Do book?”  Aegis Flare looked up from the crown to her friends before shaking her head.

“We aren't really sure, but after I got back to Ponyville a locked myself in the basement, my only contact with others was getting certain materials sent to me.  From what I can tell, that tree was linked to all of time and actually granted his wish.  Nobody can ever stand against him now since it erased him completely from time, not just this one but from any time-line that he existed in.”  She shivered as she says this while the other mares look at each other in amazed shock.

“This crown was the one he actually wore at the time and is the only evidence he ever was real.  Of course nobody believed Daring Do even with it so she sent it to me along with a message reminding me of what she told me on our adventure.  'Being brave is not the lack of fear, but feeling it and not letting it control you while using it to push forward.'  Even today I have yet to find a saying that has resonated with me like that and I've tried to live by it ever since.”  The alicorn returned the crown to the case before locking it once again.  Before she turned away she gazed at it one more time as a shimmer moved across it and returned to her seat next to her sister.

The other alicorns weren't quite sure how to respond to the amazing story and decided to say their goodbyes to take some time to think on it before talking with her again the next day.  Outside they were still quiet, some of them unusually so which didn't go unnoticed by the one most usually the quietest.  “Um, Pinkie?  Are you doing all right?  If you don't mind my asking, I mean.”

The other four turned to look at the pink mare to find the normally hyper mare walking at a somber pace with her mane slightly deflated.  “I'm doing okay, but Flarie isn't.  I always knew that there was something wrong since she never truly smiled with her whole heart, but I never thought it was this bad.  She wasn't just hurting all these years, but something actually broke in her.  I never was able to cheer her up, even with her doing better the last couple years.”

Both Rarity and Applejack looked at each other before Applejack took a step forward.  “Ah think ah might know some of why she is like that.  Flare used ta be much like Fluttershy when she was younger, but after that temple she changed.  It started back when her parents went missing, but since then she was always losing things.  First her parents, then her foalhood, and after hearing her story she lost so much more than we realized.  In fact ah think that her whole life was full of loss and even with her sister she was afraid of losing the last thing she cared for, her sister.”

She looked over to Rarity as she came up and set her hoof on her shoulder.  “Applejack is right.  What Pinkie said about her getting better is true as well, she has been getting better ever since Twilight moved to Ponyville.  Since then she has actually been gaining more than she has lost, but the fear is still there.  I'm not sure what we can do to fully heal her of her pain, but I expect that she needs something that we just can't provide.”

The mares nod to each other while looking thoughtful as they each head to their own homes.

----------

Back in the home of the two orange sisters, Scootaloo shuffled off after her sister as they headed to their rooms.  Before they could party ways the young filly cleared her throat, getting her sister's attention.  “Um, sis?  Do... do I have to worry about what you saw happen to me in that temple?”

Aegis Flare's head shot around to look at her sister to see her trembling with fear causing her to turn around and pull her sister into a hug.  “No!”  She shouted out louder than she want which caused her sister to wince.  Taking a deep breathe she started again at a quieter tone.  “No.  You never have to worry about that place again.  Whatever happened in there happened to some other version of you from a different time-line.  I was really lucky to survive my early years in the Everfree, but that Scootaloo?  I don't think her sister was as lucky.”

Both of the two shivered at that before the young filly peered up at her sister wide-eyed.  “Ca-can I I still sleep with you tonight anyways?  I don't want to sleep alone tonight.”

Looking down at her sister, the older mare felt a bit of regret in allowing her sister to hear the tale of what happened before shaking her head.  Lifting Scootaloo on her back she turned towards their parents room.  “I don't think I would be able to sleep myself either, but I think our parents room will be a better place tonight than either of our beds.”

Soon the two sisters were curled up together in the one place they still felt safe as they dreamed of better times long lost to them both.
> 53
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ugh, finally we are done for the day.  If I had to sit through one more pony whining about how few bits are being spent on them I would scream.”  Rainbow Dash planted her head onto the table of the private eating area while her friends followed in behind her.  Taking their seats at the table, the other alicorns sighed as they gave their food orders to the nearby servant.

“How about another little song?  You seemed to really enjoy that part of the day.”  The cyan mare turned a deep crimson as she remembered what had happened near the start of their time sitting in the Day Court.

vvvvvvvvvv

“Wild thang!  You make my heart sing!”  Six of the seven alicorns in the throne room held back chuckles of amusement at the face of the seventh as it turned from its usual cyan color to a cherry red as the stallion serenaded her.  As the song progressed she was soon slamming her head into the floor in front of her.

“Oh, please just kill me now.”

^^^^^^^^^^

“Did you have to bring that up, again!  That was just so embarrassing, and he wasn't even that good of a singer.  Why would he have thought that doing that in front of everypony was a good idea?  He was still just a colt, too!”  Aegis Flare shook her head as she leaned back.

“Well I did warn you about what would be happening before.  I'm just surprised that you were the first one that someone blatantly did something like that with.  I would have thought they would have tried something dramatic with Rarity or Fluttershy instead.”  Fluttershy ducked down under the table as her cousin gestured over towards her while Rarity just rolled her eyes.  Clearing her throat, the shy mare spoke up quietly.

“Um, well, there have been a few ponies that have approached my home, but Angel had Harry politely ask them to leave.”  At the thought of Angel asking politely, most of the mares winced as they had been on the wrong end of the bunny's temper.  Out of them all, only Fluttershy and Aegis Flare didn't notice anything wrong with his attitude, the former due to her just being Fluttershy, and the latter as the bunny could tell that she was family somehow.

“Ehem, well as lovely as it is to hear about Rainbow's and Fluttershy's suitors, what is everypony planning to do once we get back to Ponyville for the next couple days?  As much as I enjoy the spas here, I miss seeing both Aloe and Lotus back home.”  Despite the eyerolls from the others, they have to agree with Rarity about the trip back to Ponyville despite her priorities.

“As much as I'm missing my sister, I promised her that I would look something up while I was here in Canterlot.  Scootaloo already has a few sleepovers planned with her friends until I get back.”  Rainbow Dash nods add this while the others frown sadly at not traveling back with their friend.

“Yeah, I finally managed to get in contact with Spitfire so I'll be staying, too.  I've been thinking a lot about what Luna said about the Wonderbolts and how, while I can't fly with them like I wanted, I'll pretty much be in charge of them.  While I've been in charge of the Ponyville weather team, the Wonderbolts are something completely different so I'm going to be talking to her about the differences.  I also plan on asking her what the buck was going on when they screwed up so badly with Spike and the other times you all mentioned.”  The others nodded, though were rather surprised that the cyan mare was actually admitting to needing the help which showed how much she was affected by the news of her dream being impossible now.  Her usual cocky expression came back quickly though as she looked at her friends that weren't staying.

“Of course just because I'm not going to be there doesn't mean that you all can just slack off.  I expect all of you to at least fly back to Ponyville and not take the train, though you all are certainly better than a certain somepony who still can't seem to make the flight without help.”  All attention turned to Aegis Flare as she lightly blushed at being a worse flier than even Fluttershy.

“What?  These things aren't as easy as yours are for longer flights.  There's something I'm missing so that I don't wear myself out so fast, but I don't know what.  At least I'm not floundering around like I used to.”  The other alicorns chuckle at their friend's pointing out of the bright side, though Rainbow Dash had to get in the last word on it.

“Well you better find it out or else your sister sill become a better flier than you are.  She's already getting the hang of getting in the air and landing and she'll probably be flying faster than you soon.”  While Rainbow Dash's jab was meant to try and get the bat-winged alicorn to try and improve, all it did was put a smile on her face as she remembered the first time her sister had gotten into the air under her own power.

vvvvvvvvvv

“I *pant* made it.”  Scootaloo looked around at the alicorns gathered on the cloud platform outside of Rainbow Dash's home.  The fact that she had gotten up to it without any help from any other ponies was still starting to hit her.

“I did it?  I did it.  I did it!  Yesyesyesyesyes!”  Aegis Flare looked on as her sister bounced around the cloud as her eyes started to tear up at seeing the young filly finally reaching a goal she had been trying for to the point that she was starting to think she would never fly.  The only thing that could have made this moment better was if their parents could have been there to see this moment as well.

^^^^^^^^^^

Aegis Flare shook her head as their meal was brought out for them.  Little was said during it and as they finished the seven alicorns soon split up to their various destinations.  The orange mare herself headed first to the room reserved for her whenever she was in Canterlot, her friends each having their own, to remove her jewelry she had worn throughout the day.  As she removed the crown, torc, and decorative hoofguards, she looked over the silver used in them and the topaz gems.  Her friends had the same regalia for when they were in Canterlot as well, but with the gem colors swapped out for the one matching the Element of Harmony they once held.  She had been taking better care of her own set recently, after having stepped on them one too many times in the morning, but she still felt that they just did not fit her well.

After she finished freshening up, she made her way to the Royal Archives where the records she was looking for were being kept.  Unfortunately, when she arrived she reached a little snag in her plans.  “Wait, what did you just say again?”

“I said that only the princess is allowed to see these records.  You'll have to talk with her if you want to get in.”  Aegis Flare blinked a couple time before she shook her head and smirked.

“Who do I have to go and see?”  The guard rolled his eyes before repeating himself.

“I said you'll have to go talk to the... princess...”  He trailed off as the alicorn started poking at her horn with a hoof while extending her wings.  With a groan the stallion brought a hoof to his face as he realized just who he was talking to.  He mentally cursed himself for not clarifying with his superior just which princess they meant instead of just assuming it was Princess Celestia.

“*sigh* Go right ahead, your highness.”  Aegis Flare's eyebrow rose once again at the unprofessionalism from the guard, but only shrugged as she entered the room.

Inside she looked around at all the scrolls, gems, and other miscellaneous objects that were stored inside before she frowned and looked resolute.  “Finally, now let's see just what has been going on.”

It was there that Princess Celestia found the younger alicorn late the next morning as she pored over the various documents and records that were stored there.  The larger mare looked at the back of the younger princess, taking in the sight of the cup of coffee that smelled remarkably like what her sister would drink before shaking her head with a small smile as she remembered her former student spending sleepless nights doing her studies.  “I was wondering when you would find your way here.  Of course, I would have thought you would have been here as soon as my sister told you that the Black Guard files had been found.”

She watched the orange mare for a moment waiting for a response, but when one didn't seem to be forthcoming she frowned.  Moving forward she looked over Aegis Flare's shoulder to see what she was so focused on.  Reading over what had her attention, Celestia's eyes slowly widened as she read over what the younger princess had been writing down the entire night.  “Wh-what is all of this?!  How did you find all of this overnight!?  I've had teams of trusted ponies going over this and they have trouble getting past the magical encryption on most of the important parts!”

Aegis Flare glanced back at her before she sighed in annoyance at seeing her.  “Well most of it they already translated, but the parts that they didn't weren't encrypted by Manifest Destiny, and were the original Black Guard records which even he didn't get into.  It turns out that the one protecting my parent's journals work with them as well.  But all of this I found after going through it all along with his financial records.  A lot of this was pretty obvious with even minimal experience with accounting systems, and I'm sure an expert would find things that even I would miss.”

Celestia snatched up the scroll in her magic as she took a closer look at it in horror.  Her gaze traveled down it until she spotted something that made her freeze up and look down at the other mare.  “The funds set aside for the surviving black guard members or their families were never sent out!?  But I was assured that it was taken care of!  Why was I never told about any of this!?”

Aegis Flare just shrugged as she passed over a few other forms.  “Well, I'd guess that none of them actually knew something was supposed to be sent, I know I didn't.  But that actually lead me to all these companies that were owned by that stallion, or ponies that were in his pocket.  In fact I'm wondering why he was even put in charge of all of this in the first place since he was high on the Black Guard's watch list.”

Celestia frowned at this as she thought back to when she had shut things down.  “Actually, I have been wondering that myself.  I had put a stallion named Coin Counter in charge of all of this when I disbanded the black guard.  Strangely enough, he has vanished without a trace and nopony seems to know when it happened.”

The younger mare frowned for a moment before she shuffled through the piles around her before she pulled out the scroll she was looking for and read through it quickly.  “I thought I recognized that name.  It was buried in a load of other trivial details, but it seems that Manifest Destiny had him 'dealt with' so he could get control of all of this.”

On hearing this, Celestia's face turned from worried to anger.  “That stallion has so much to answer for.  Even if half of this is true it will take years for the courts to go over everything.  I can not believe that he had his hooves in so many parts of the government that will have to be dealt with.”

Aegis Flare just nods as she takes another sip from her coffee and winces at how bitter it was, even though it kept her awake.  “Unfortunately, there was nothing about my parents in any of this, though I think I might have a lead after finding some of their personal logs, as well as part of why that stallion took control of all of this.  It turns out that not all of the Black Guard was disbanded.  Manifest Destiny was in contact with an Agent X, or at least receiving messages from him though he tried to find out who it was.  There were warnings years ago from him about the Changeling queen, as well as a few other issues that he took advantage of to profit himself from.  In fact...  Is something wrong?”

She had stopped speaking as Celestia's face turned to one of shock and horror at hearing the name of the still active agent.  “How did you find out that name?  The only ones that should know it were myself, and your parents.  Anything that they would have had on him would have been encrypted in such a way that only they could access it.”

With a frown, Aegis Flare reached over to a small black book.  “It was all written down in this.  And it wasn't that hard to read since I used a trick I found for their other journal using one of my sister's feathers.  Who is this Agent X?”

The elder princess sighed as she looks towards the nearby door.  “He was part of a measure that I took so that if anything happened to me like what happened with Luna, there would be an agent that I knew little about in case it was needed.  The captain of the Black Guard was to be the only one that knows who they were, and the latest one was Agent X as they preferred to be known as.”

“So he reported directly to my parents?  Now I really want to find him, which should be easy once I finish reading through this book for the right pass-codes.  It would be nice to have somebody that might be able to help set up a new Black Guard again.”  Celestia blinked a couple times before she frowned before eventually sighing.

“I want to try and talk you out of it, but after reading all these problems that Agent X as been reporting on I am afraid it might be necessary.  Your parents always did say that I was always too soft to run the Black Guard, though it was always Luna that was in charge of those kind of things.  I hate to admit it, but she always was better than me about the more underhoofed side of running things.  But are you sure that you are up to running an organization like that?”  Aegis Flare just looked thoughtful for a moment before shaking her head.

“Probably not, but that's for in the future and if your sister ran it then I'll definitely ask her for help.  First though, I need to find this Agent X.”  Princess Celestia nodded as she started to pore over the records with the other princess.

----------

“So this is where he is hiding?  Well I guess it takes all kinds.”  Aegis Flare looked at the door inset into the side of a hill.  With a shrug she knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

“Who is it?”  Her eyebrow rose at the voice of an elderly old mare sounding through the door before she shrugged.

“I am the terror, that flaps in the night.”  There was a long pause as she waited for an answer and was surprised when the voice changed.

“I am the gun that sticks to your shoes.  What took you so long?!  I've been waiting for contact from the captains for years now!  What kind of... wait, when did an alicorn join the Black Guard?”  The alicorn blinked as what she presumed to be Agent X opened the door and was something she wasn't expecting.

“Huh, I didn't expect Agent X to be a changeling.  Well this ought to be interesting.”  The changeling blinked at her as he cocked his head to the side in confusion.  “Well this is going to take a while, but you are needed back in Canterlot so I'll have to explain it all on the way.”

On board the train back to Canterlot, Aegis Flare sat in a private car with the changeling, now disguised as a crystal pony stallion going by the name Crystal Hoof, as she explained just what was going on.  When she had finished he looked downcast at hearing about the disappearance of her parents.  “So they haven't been heard from since?”

Aegis Flare just shook her head which caused the changeling to frown.  “Well that's odd then.  I had sent word back that Chrysalis had been targeting Black Guard members, though it must have been after they vanished, and if she had actually caught them then she would have either captures them and taken their place, or left their bodies somewhere where some other group would take the blame.”

He looked thoughtful for a moment before he brightened up a bit.  “If that's the case then maybe they are still alive somewhere!  Your parents were the first friends that I had ever made and to hear that they vanished...  But if there has been no sign of them then they must be out there somewhere!”

The alicorn could feel herself get caught up in the changelings excitement, though she held herself back from celebrating just yet.  “I really hope that that's true, but right now I'm trying to rebuild the Black Guard.  I need to know everything that you know about how it was run.”

The changeling nodded as he began explaining the workings that he knew of, as well as giving her the names of some others that could help as well.  Unsurprisingly she recognized one of the names, but she expected that Bon Bon wouldn't want anything to do with the group anymore.  Still it gave her a lot to think about as she hadn't realized just how much her parents had dealt with even while taking care of her and her sister.

The two arrived back in Canterlot late in the day and they entered that castle near the end of the time for evening court.  They made their way to the throne room, after a short detour to the alicorn's room to retrieve her regalia, where they found Princess Luna, along with Rarity and Rainbow Dash holding court, though there were few ponies waiting for an audience.  “Ahh, Princess Aegis Flare, I presume from the presence of your companion that your trip went well?”

Aegis Flare nodded as she stopped in front of Luna and gestured to the disguised changeling who proceeded to bow to the trio on the dais.  “It could have been better since I didn't accomplish my main goal, but he did give me at least some information that...”  She was interrupted as a flash of green blazed up from her side and she sighed as the room erupted in panic.

“Changeling!”  The orange alicorn sighed as she tossed a glare at the unrepentant changeling before throwing up a shield between him and Rainbow Dash, wincing as the cyan mare splatted against it.  Shaking her head, Rainbow Dash glared up over at her friend next to the changeling.  “Hey!  What gives!?  Why are you protecting that thing!?”

“As I was about to say, this is Agent X, the last remaining active member of the Black Guard, and someone that could easily deal with an amateur attack like that, let alone the guards that think they are sneaking up on him.  Though I will admit that it might be enough for one of the common members back in the day, but not one of the elite.”  She tossed a glance back at the guards, one being a now Corporal Steel Wall who stared back at her in embarrassment, before turning back to the other princesses.  Rainbow Dash was still glaring at her, but Luna was looking interested while Rarity seemed a bit put off.

“Interesting.  How is it that we knew nothing of the changelings if there was one in the Black Guard all this time?”  The orange mare opened her mouth to respond, before shy frowned in thought as she hadn't noticed that little issue before.  As she considered this, the changeling cleared his throat and looked embarrassed.

“Actually, the only ones who knew what I really looked like where the two captains.  They found me when I was exploring outside of the hive without permission and became my first friends.  They always assumed that I was an odd sort of pony and I never bothered to correct them.  It was only after they disappeared that I sent information back to them when I heard about the false queen's plans to attack Canterlot but I only recently found out that none of it reached you.”  Luna frowned in thought before she brought a hoof up to her face in realization.

“Of course, Manifest Destiny had everything by then, didn't he?  My sister made so many mistakes in the recent years with what used to be my organization, but at least she remembered to keep that one operative that she has no control over.  But what do you mean by false queen?”  The changeling frowned he realized his little slip before shaking his head with a sigh.

“I used to follow her before the captains found me and they showed me how much she was lying to me and her subjects.  She always claimed that ponies would destroy us if we were found, and she was the only one that could protect us.  I later found that she was really an outcast from the changeling society that was spread across the continent.  Eventually things became too much and I spoke up against her and was banished, I still never found out why she is like this but she seems to have a grudge against ponykind.”   The princesses frown at the news of there being other changelings leaders that they knew nothing about.  Rainbow Dash eventually shook her head and frustration and glared once again at the changeling.

“How do we even know that he is telling the truth.  Are you sure that he isn't a spy, Flare?”  The changeling blinked in confusion before tilting his head to the side.

“Um, but I AM a spy.”  At his answer Rainbow Dash froze up for a moment before she flew up right into his face.

“Ahha!  I knew it!  Who are you working for!?”  The look on the changelings face didn't change as he somehow looked even more confused.

“Um, I work for you?”  His answer caused Rainbow Dash's jaw to drop while Aegis Flare chuckled at the answer, dropping the shield in the process since there was no threat to the agent any more.  She cyan alicorn recovered quickly and let out a cry off annoyance.

“All right, that's it!  You're coming with me!”  Grabbing the now unprotected changeling, Rainbow Dash flew out of the room with him, leaving the other princesses to stare after her retreating form.

“Um, should one of us go after her?”  Aegis Flare shook her head at Rarity's question before sighing.

“I don't think she's going to do anything too rash.  She doesn't handle frustration well, and I bet I can guess where she is going considering the direction she went, and the challenge I accidentally gave her earlier.”  She looked over in that direction again as she thought about who may be at the guard's training ring right now.  “We can talk to him later though, I actually needed to talk with both of you about something I was planning that Celestia agreed with.  I was wondering if you both could help me with restarting the Black Guard.”

Hearing this, Princess Luna's eyes lit up while Rarity just looked confused.  Before either of them could reply, the door to the thrown room was thrown open and a voice that none of them wished to hear at that moment rang out.  “Auntie Luna.  I was wondering if I might have a moment of your time.”

With a sigh and a roll of her eyes, the Princess of the Night responded.  “Fine.  But please do not ask me about building you yet another statue as the answer is still no.”  Prince Blueblood just smiled sweetly as he moved to stand before the throne.

“Oh nothing of the sort, this is much more serious than a trivial token such as that.  You see I have been asking Auntie Celestia for years to reinstate a certain group that has been vital to the safety of Equestria for centuries.  Today has been the first time that she has told me anything other than no, yet I am still unsure as to why I am to ask you about it.”  Rarity bristled at the disrespectful tone that the prince spoke in, but on hearing the question she turned to look at the other princesses to find Luna with a sneaky smile.

“Well nephew, you happen to be in luck.  We were just discussing how we were going to restart the Black Guard.”  The prince only half listened to her as he was running off a script of how he believed the conversation to go.

“Now I know that you don't know much of the modern times, but this group is essential to...  Wait...  What did you just say?”  Rarity had to restrain herself from giggling while a white figure sitting with the small group of courtiers brought her claws up to her face.

“I said that we were just starting to plan out how to restart the Black Guard.  In fact, Princess Aegis Flare here had just finished retrieving the sole member of the previous group that had still been active and outside of my sister's control.”  Hearing this, Blueblood froze up in shock before he started lightly bouncing on his hooves in excitement as he turned towards the orange alicorn.

“You mean you actually found Agent X!?  I've been trying to find him ever since auntie shut down the Black Guard!  Where and who was he!?”  The princesses were surprised about the prince's change of attitude and were slightly taken aback.  Shaking her head, the orange mare recovered from her confusion.

“Well you'll probably hear about it soon, but it turns out that he was a changeling that was banished by the Queen that had attacked Canterlot for speaking out against her.  It turns out that she was an outcast from her kind and not a good representative of the race, but we haven't figured out what to do with this information yet.  We still have to decide more on how to proceed before we can say just what we will be doing.”  She paused before narrowing her eyes at the prince as she started to suspect something that was linked to something odd she had found before.  “Actually, do you happen to have any ideas that may help us in restarting the Black Guard?  I doubt you would be bothering your aunts if you didn't have ideas yourself.”

The prince jumped slightly in surprise as he realized just how he had been acting and took a moment to compose himself.  He looked at the younger princess and saw something that caused him to speak a bit more respectfully.  “Ah yes.  Well previously the Black Guard would induct members from  sources outside of the normal guard.  One of the prime ones happened to be the prisons scattered around Equestria, some of which are now strained for resources as they hold more inmates than they can handle.  In fact you may find that there are many that should have been released years ago as a certain stallion you may be familiar with has been rather busy interfering with the courts.”

The stallion levitated over a scroll which Luna quickly opened to see a familiar name that had been a thorn in the royal's side recently.  With a growl she passed it to the other princesses as she turned back to her nephew who continued to speak, but back in a tone she was more familiar with.  “Of course, with the prisons requiring less funds I'm sure some could be spared for another statue dedicated to me, hmm?”

The princess refrained from rolling her eyes at her nephew before she let out a sigh.  “We shall see, nephew.  I'm sure we can find something to thank you with for your assistance in this matter.”  With a nod, the stallion walked towards the door he had entered from, and the mares thought they saw a bit of bounce in his steps as well.  Once he had exited the room, the four princesses turned to look at each other.

“Well darlings, that was rather unexpected.  I was expecting him to be less helpful than he was and more of a jerk.  Was that really the same Prince Blueblood from the Gala?”  The other two princesses shrugged at Rarity in response as they weren't quite sure as well.  “Still, I have to ask why you think that I would be able to help with this Black Guard idea?”

“Well you are actually perfect for dealing with the diplomatic side of the Black Guard.  Most only think about the spying and assassination part of them, but the higher ranked members also have to be skilled diplomats as they are encouraged to try for non-violent means first.  I plan on talking with the others, but the three of us should be able to deal with the important parts.  Rainbow Dash being here would have just been convenient since she was trying to work with the Wonderbolts.”  Rarity nodded to Aegis Flare for her explanation before looking thoughtful.  The sound of a throat clearing at that moment pulled the attention of the three alicorns before the conversation could continue though.

“Excuse me, your highnesses.  But I would like to apologize for Prince Blueblood, there aren't many that he feels that he can trust to show his true self around.”  The three princesses looked up to see an albino gryphoness approaching the dais.  Aegis Flare's eyebrow rose as she took in the pure white, falconesque form, white cheetah-like posterior and red eyes of the female.

“Ah, Lady Gwenda.  Is is always a pleasure to see you.  Yet I do not understand why you feel the need to appoligize for our... nephew.”  Luna let a small bit of distaste enter her voice, which caused the gryphoness to sigh and shake her head.

“He really can be one of the most aggravating and insensitive stallions out there, but also has a side that he doesn't show to many outside of his home.  I presume that Princess Celestia has yet to inform you of the code words that they use since he has been complaining about opportunities being missed to help the city.  He always gets really emotional when he misses an opportunity, but that is why I love my husband.”  The three mares blinked in confusion for a moment before her words registered to them.

“Wait, Prince Blueblood has been married this whole time!?  How come I never heard about this before!?  And why did he never say anything when we first met at the Grand Galloping Gala!?”  Lady Gwenda blushed as she remembered that day as she wasn't proud of what had happened.

“Well, you see, when we first met I was going through a hard time.  When the wedding came about we agreed not to publicize that it had happened and only our closest compatriots and the guard knew about us.  I have to apologize to you for that day as it had become a habit for him to do what he could drive away those that he perceived as gold-diggers who only saw him for his position and not who he truly was.”  Hearing this, it was Rarity's turn to blush as she had been thinking more about what the stallion was at the time, and not who he was.

“Well darling, he may not have been completely wrong at the time.  I may have been thinking much as he expected, though I was also expecting him to be more prince-like than he portrayed at the time.  How did you two even get together?”  The gryphon got a dreamy look on her face as she thought back to the days they had first met before shaking her head.

“I was born in one of the more distant gryphon kingdoms but due to my condition, as well as my mother's, we had to flee for our very lives.”  She looked down at her pale white claws before continuing.  “Many gryphons back there are not tolerant of anything different, and being an albino was no exception to that.  When I was a teenager we finally moved here to Equestria, and it was in Cloudsdale when I finally was able to start feeling good about myself.  There was a pegasus stallion that did a lot to help me, but it was Blueblood that I fell for while he was visiting the city for a political event.  It took many months, but I managed to meet with him in private to speak with him.  Over the course of the night we got to know each other and things just progressed from there.”  Rarity had a dreamy look on her eyes as she heard the story, but Aegis Flare had another question.

“What about your mother?  You said there was a reason for her to leave as well.”  Lady Gwenda looked over in the direction that Rainbow Dash had gone before she sighed.

“I wouldn't be saying any of this, but after seeing that changeling walking in here openly like that I feel I can trust you with this.  You see my mother is a changeling.”  Her statement caused a pair of raised eyebrows on both Luna and Aegis Flare, as the latter lit up her horn to cause a wave of energy to flow across the room as she expanded a shield through it.  Her eyebrow rose even higher as the shield passed through the gryphon, yet nothing happened to her form after the contact.  For her part the snowy gryphon looked confused for a moment before she realized what had happened and shook her head.

“This really is my true form.  There is much more to changelings than you know or could even guess.”  The orange alicorn nodded as she looked thoughtful while Luna made a comment.

“That is true.  Learning that there is a whole society of them hidden from us, and that this Queen Chrysalis is really not a queen at all but an outcast is unsettling.  We really should get in contact with the real leaders so that something can be worked out between us.”  The other two princesses nodded along with her as the wife of Blueblood continued.

“As you saw, changelings can change shape, but what you saw that day was only the simplest change they can do.  With enough love and energy they can change their bodies in such a way that they are indistinguishable from the real thing.  While in that form, any children will be of that race, though they will often have some problem like my albinism.  The only time that their forms can be revealed is upon death, they change themselves again, or during childbirth.  It was that last one that forced my mother to flee as my sire found out about her.”  The three princesses winced as they could imagine how things may have gone in an intolerant society that was described.

“When the rogue changeling attacked with her swarm, mother was worried about what might happen because of her actions.  My husband has known of her and they have been working to convince the other changelings to step forward and start negotiations with all of you but there are many voices cautioning against it still.”  Luna frowned in thought as she considered this information.  She wasn't given much time though as an explosion rocked that palace, causing Aegis Flare to sigh and bring a hoof up to her face.

“Now what is Rainbow Dash doing?”

<><><><><><><><><><>

Minutes Earlier...

“So why did you grab me and drag me out here?”  Agent X looked over at Rainbow Dash as she paced back in forth on the other side of the courtyard that she pulled him to.  Listening closely, he could hear the cyan mare muttering something to herself.

“Think I can't beat him, do you?  Think a changeling is all that?  Well I'll show you.”  Without any warning, the cyan mare turned and charger at the Black Guard changeling with her hooves outstretched.  If he hadn't seen her speed before he might have been hit, but considering he had seen it once before he was ready for her as she charged at him.  Moments later Rainbow Dash was upside down and blinking in confusion against the wall while the changeling was unmoved from his position.  “What the buck just happened?”

“What?  You haven't seen the Light Hoof fighting style before?  It's standard for most unicorns that are part of the Black Guard.  I think Princess Aegis Flare knows some of the basics of it from how she moves.”  Rainbow Dash just growled at his non-nonchalant attitude before righting herself and charging at him yet again.  Before she hit him she stopped and started unleashing a flurry of punches and kicks which he effortlessly brushed aside with minimal movement.

“That's it?  I would have thought that you would have at least known the Steel Wing style, and not something worthless like karate.”  Rainbow Dash growled as she backed away to catch her breath for a second.

“What do you mean worthless?  I spent two years earning a black belt in karate.  And what the buck is Steel Wing?”  Agent X just chuckled as he cracked his neck and transformed into a pegasus form.

“Well it's not bad if you enjoy dancing, as for Steel Wing...”  He proceeded to demonstrate the style as he charged Rainbow Dash and caught her in the breastbone with an outstretched wing, causing her to rear back in pain.  With her wide open he spun around to catch her in the stomach with his other wing, but as he moved to throw a buck at her she flew up into the air and out of his reach.

“Ouch, what the buck are your wings made of?  A hit that hard should have broken your wing from the impact, or at the very least hurt it more than you hurt me.”  The changeling smirked as he shifted into his Crystal Hooves form as he stood up on his rear hooves and rubbed his front ones together.

“That's the point of the Steel Wing.  At least these sparring grounds are warded to prevent any major injuries as a hit like that could have split you in half.  I would have thought you would have heard about it as it is a major pegasus technique and even the Wonderbolts are trained in it.  Also you really shouldn't just hover in place like that, even against an earth pony.”  Rainbow Dash looked confused as the changeling brought his forehooves back towards his side as he concentrated for a moment.  As he thrusted his hooves towards her, Rainbow Dash's eyes widened as she watched a wave of distorted air begin to fly towards her, and when it reached her her wings trembled from the vibrations as she started to lose altitude.  “And the is the earth pony Quake Hoof technique.”  Before she hit the ground she managed to recover and gain altitude once again before she glared at him with a growl.

“All right, that's it!  You may think that your little tricks are so special, but wait until you see this!”  With a hard flap of her wings, Rainbow Dash took off upwards into the air rapidly.  The changeling watched in confusion and wondered just what she was up to as she stopped high in the air, just barely visible with his enhanced night-vision as it was starting to get dark out.  Soon the alicorn began plummeting right towards the changeling who only sighed as he braced himself to use the Light Hoof style once again, thinking that she still hadn't learned.  As a pressure cone began to form around Rainbow Dash, the changeling frowned in confusion, but when she punched through that barrier in an explosion of color his eyes widened as she reached incredible speeds, causing him to brace himself for her attack.

<><><><><><><><><><>

“Now just what have you two been doing out here!?”  Aegis Flare glared down at the alicorn and changeling that were laying sprawled next to each other in the guard sparring arena.  The changeling only groaned as he was still recovering, though Rainbow Dash just lifted a hoof in his direction.

“Heh, just getting to know this guy.  I guess he isn't half bad if he can stay conscious through a Sonic Rainboom to the face.  And you thought that I couldn't take him.”  The orange alicorn just groaned in annoyance as Rarity patted her on the shoulder.  With a sigh the mare looked skyward before looking back at Rarity and Luna.

“I was expecting her to try something, but I didn't think she would go this far.  At least we don't have to worry about how badly the others will react since she at least seems fine with him now.”  Luna just shook her head as she looked up towards all the faces in the windows of the palace.

“I guess I should go and let 'Tia know about what has been going on as well as the rest of the guard.  After that half of Canterlot is probably wondering what is going on.”  Hearing this, Rainbow Dash just chuckled in embarrassment as she flopped back down in exhaustion at the little sparring match that just occurred.
> 54
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Six of the newest princesses sat around one of the tables in the back of Sugarcube Corner's front room.  The resident princesses of Ponyville had started to make it a habit of meeting up like this when they could before starting their days so they could keep up with any going ons that they each had.  Currently Aegis Flare was missing, but they had come to expect her presence to be unpredictable due to her lifestyle.  So when she walked into the building with both of her wings bandaged they were noticeably surprised.

“Flare!  What happened to you!?”  Fluttershy rushed over to the orange alicorn who just waved her off with a sigh.

“It's just the result of my own stupidity and forgetting about some of the basic needs of a thestral.  It turns out that an alicorn healing factor isn't quite enough to prevent rot-wing.  I can't believe that I forgot how often my dad oiled his wings to prevent injury.”  Aegis Flare flopped down into a seat with the others as she shook her head.  Fluttershy lifted up one of the bandages before letting out a gasp at seeing the cracked skin below, some of it leaking blood.

“My goodness!  How could you not have noticed that this was happening before?!  Damage like this couldn't have happened over night!”  Glancing back at her pushy cousin she frowned in thought.

“Actually, that is exactly what happened.  As far as I can tell the damage just built up so much that my body could no longer keep up.  I never even put much thought into any habits I might have to change in taking care of my body until now.”  She may have said more, but a loud rumbling sound interrupted her and drew everyone's attention.  All eyes focused on Rarity who was a deep red from her blushing as she sank down in her seat in embarrassment.

“Oh my, I am so sorry for that.  I don't know why but I am feeling so hungry, and maybe a tad bit faint.”  A few eyebrows rose at her words, while Twilight's vision drifted down to the alabaster mare's plate which wasn't even a quarter of the size of the others.

“Rarity, please tell me that you haven't been starving yourself since our ascension.”  Rarity's lack of response was enough of an answer for her causing her to rub a hoof at her temple.  “Ugh, didn't you know that alicorns have a much higher metabolism!?  Why do you think Princess Celestia can keep up with Pinkie Pie's eating habits without putting on any weight?  Actually, that should have been the first clue that Pinkie could have become an alicorn.”  As Twilight looked over at the pink mare thoughtfully, Rainbow Dash was busy examining the wings of her friends closely.

“Eesh, also what have you been putting on your wings Rarity?  You can't be using harsh perfumes like that or else you can damage the feathers making it hard to fly.  Yours aren't much better Applejack, is that mud I see at the base of some of your feathers?”  With the problems actually being pointed out, the alicorn's started doing a once-over of their bodies in in the end, only Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie didn't have any obvious issues, though Twilight's issue was more with her hooves being a bit overgrown due to her lack of using them or getting them filed down like the others.

“Huh, ah didn't know that there was so much ta deal with these extra parts.  Ah only thought that they just needed to be washed off like normal.  But how is it that Rainbow Dash isn't having any problems.”  All eyes turned to the former pegasus who started to feel uncomfortable from the attention before Aegis Flare snorted.

“She probably got help from Aloe or Lotus.”  Most of them looked at her in confusion, though Rainbow Dash looked over in shock as she tried to spout out denials, much to the bat-winged mare's amusement.  “What?  You though that you were sneaky by going to the spa at the very end of the day when almost nobody is around?  Besides, do you really think that you could sneak by these ears?”

“Rrrrealy?  So tell me again how only lame, uncool ponies go to the spa?”  As Rarity started teasing Rainbow Dash about her decisions, the others shook their heads while Pinkie Pie brought in a large platter of pancakes, with extra servings for Rarity.

“Well now that Flare is here, Does anypony have anything the rest of us should know, or have any plans?”  They were silent in thought for a moment, before the last princess to arrive raised her hoof.

“Actually, I was wondering if you ever finished that magic detector that you were trying to build.”  Twilight's ears perked up at the question and she clapped her hooves together in excitement.

“Yes, actually.  Or at least as much as I could with the samples that you brought me but it wouldn't be that hard to add the data from any new sources that you find.  Why do you ask?”  Aegis Flare lifted a hoof and waved it in a so-so manner.

“Well I could use a bunch of them as part of the Black Guard's basic equipment, but just one would be useful for now.  I have a list of potential candidates and I could use something to confirm any magic that some of them supposedly have.  Well, that and it would be useful if Applejack joined me when meeting with some of these beings.”  The farm mare looked confused at her friend requesting her presence to meet with a bunch of criminals.

“Why would ya want me ta go with ya?  Ah don't see how ah could be any help putting together a group of spies and murderers.”  In response the darker orange mare just smirked at her.

“I just could use your honest opinion on them, and if I read one of these right then you might have some personal interest in one of these.”  Applejack frowned in confused as she slowly nodded in agreement to join her friend on her trip.

<><><><><><><><><><>

“Please be careful in there princess.  While she hasn't done anything while in here, you didn't see what happened to that mare when she got her claws on her.”  Aegis Flare rolled her eyes at the warning, having seen the real paperwork detailing what had happened, but still nodded.  The guardstallion moved to open the outer door, which she quietly entered through, before he joined Applejack at the observation room.

Inside the room, Aegis Flare sat in the shadows around the door as she watched the female gryphon that appeared to be preforming a dance in the room.  The gryphon was a pure black, with a raven front half and panther rear half, and after a few moments of watching the princess realized that she was in fact going through fight forms for some kind of sword and only made it look like a dance.

“You know.  It is rather rude to hide in the shadows and spy on someone you know.  It is rather obvious that there is another in the room when the door opens and closes that quietly.”  Aegis Flare smirked as she tried to place the gryphoness' accent before speaking up.

“Well it would have been rude to interrupt with how busy you looked.  Though I must say that from what I saw you may be exactly what I'm looking for.”  The gryphoness paused before turning with a quirked eyebrow to look into the shadows.

“Indeed?  Well I hate to disappoint you but I doubt you have the power to free me, even if I cared to leave.  After all those years of hunting down the cloven hoofed mare to avenge my father there as nothing left for me out there.”  The princess' smile only grew as she pulled out a bundle of papers and tosses them across the cell towards the gryphoness.

“Oh it's not like you had a choice about staying here.  Those happen to be release orders as well as a royal pardon for all those supposed crimes you are charged of.  All this is, is a job offer for when your release is finalized in a couple days, along with a multitude of others from this prison.  It turns out that there are still laws on the book regarding deaths during an honor duel so you should never have even been put in here.”  As the gryphon's eyes widened as she read through the paperwork, the princess turned back to the door.

“The details of the offer are on the bottom, so you have a couple days to come to a final decision.  But I'm sure that you'll accept it as I doubt you'd want to let others go through what you did and it will be the perfect job to do so.”  As she turned to the door she lit up her horn to opening it, allowing the gryphoness to see both her wings and horn.  Nothing was said, but she looked thoughtful as the princess left the room to join her companion.

“So what do you think, Applejack?”  The farmer princess frowned in thought as she looked through the glass into the cell.

“Ah think that she is very dangerous.  Are ya sure that ya want her ta be a part of your group?  She has already killed once and could do so again.”  Aegis Flare nodded as she looked at her list for the next target.

“That's actually what I'm looking for.  I need beings that are willing to kill if needed as well as being highly skilled and from what I hear Grainne Hillstalker there is one of the best swordsfighters in Equestria, if not the world.  That's not all I'm looking for, but it's the bare minimum since that will be at least enough to clean up monsters in dangerous area around populated areas, like the Everfree Forest.”  Applejack frowned as they moved along to the next cell, but still looked thoughtful as she knew how dangerous the borders of the Everfree were.  They traveled through the prison, occasionally stopping to check out some of the prisoners and pass out a few more pardons, before they came to the next prisoner of note.

“Hoowee, he is a big one.  He makes Big Mac look tiny in comparison.”  Aegis Flare nodded to her friend as she looked over the stallion through the window.  The stallion was easily as tall as Princess Luna, and maybe even equal to Celestia, with much the same build as Big Mac.  But instead of the red coloring of their fellow Ponyvillian, he was a deep blue color with a brown mane and tail.  At the moment he lay on his back in his cot looking seemingly asleep.  “What did he even do ta be put in here?”

“Do you want the real reason or the one actually given?”  While she knew the question was rhetorical, Applejack still gave her a deadpan glare as she proceeded to give her both of them.  “What the reports say is that he was captured outside of an orphanage after killing everyone inside of it.”  She paused as Applejack let out a gasp of horror and shot a look over at the giant stallion.  “What really happened was that he was ordered to clear out the building but when he found out just what was inside he refused and almost killed his employer.  Because of that he had to watch as the rest of the thugs with them were sent in to slaughter them all while he took all the blame.”  Applejack looked through the window at the stallion with sympathy.

“That is just plain wrong.  I can't believe that somepony would do that ta another like that.  Ya got ta respect somepony that will stand up for themselves though, even if they are violent about it.  Ah'll admit that there are times ah have gotten violent, though I've been trying ta hold back after becoming an alicorn since mah control isn't what it used ta be.”  Aegis Flare nods as she had noticed some of those same issues herself after their change, having accidentally damaged a few doors in her home.  

Looking back into the room the two noticed the stallion moving as if he was awake and the still bandaged princess took that time to enter.  She kept quiet as she could as she had done all the previous times as a test to see how aware the various ponies and non-ponies were.  After sitting for a couple minutes with no response she was about to speak up when the stallion finally spoke from his bed.

“The guards said nothing about visitors.  Is there a reason why you are here ma'am?”  The princess was taken aback a moment at how deep the stallion's voice was, as well as how slowly he spoke, but quickly recovered.

“I'm here to speak to you about an incident involving you and an orphanage a couple years back.”  The mention of the incident caused the stallion's head to rise from where it lay so that he could look at her innocently.

“That wasn't me.  I would never do anything do harm a child and I was not involved in that... attack.”  Aegis Flare's eyebrow rose a bit at his pause, but ignored it for the moment.

“Actually, that is why I am here.  Information has come out proving your innocence, and once everything has been cleared you will be free to go.  That's the first reason why I am here, the second is so that I can offer you a job, I could use a stallion of your talents on the outside.”  Like before, she brought out a packet of papers and passed them over to the stallion.  The stallion squinted at the words as he read through them slowly, that or barely understood the words, before he eventually set the packet down.

“I guess I could follow you.  It's not like I have anything better to do, and it would be nice to feel the sun on my.. hide.”  The stallion stretched out his hooves, causing the wall to crack as one of them impacts it, as the princess looks at him closely.

“I didn't expect you to answer me already, but it's nice to hear one.  Still you should take some time to look over everything thoroughly before you actually... decide.”  With a grin, the princess left the room to the sound of the stallions deep laughter as she joined up with her friend.

“Well he certainly looked like a nice fellow.  Seems ta be a bit slow though.”  Aegis Flare smirked at Applejack as she glanced through the window at the stallion who was now studying the papers she had left.

“So you fell for it too, huh?”  The farm mare looked at her in confusion as she continued.  “He's much smarter than he appears, and it makes many underestimate him, much like your brother.  Didn't you notice how he was ending his end of the conversation with something that rhymed with what I last said?  Granted it certainly doesn't fit with his name of Brute Squad.”  Applejack sputtered a bit on hearing his name.

“Brute Squad!?  Is that his name or title?  He certainly can fill that job all by himself.”  Her friend chuckled as she began to move off to the next cell.

“It's his name, and if you think that's impressive, you should see his mother.  The picture of her in his file has her barely coming up to his stomach in height.  We should hurry up here though as there is one place we need to go to after finishing here, and I think you will want to see who we are meeting there.”  Shaking her head, the stetson-wearing alicorn looked at the retreating form of her friend with a frown before quickly following her to the next being that they were in the prison to visit.

<><><><><><><><><><>

“So who are we meeting at a mental hospital?  Ah'm not sure how helpful anypony we find here would be with your Black Guard or why ah'd be interested in them.”  Applejack looked warily at the sterile looking building that her friend was leading her towards.  The bat-winged mare said nothing, but quietly led the way to the front desk to wait for the secretary.  After giving the waiting bell a tap, a voice rang out from a nearby doorway before a red-maned, white unicorn was seen coming through it.

“Oh!  You are here sooner than expected, your highnesses.  Actually there were those saying that it was all a joke as why would a princess want to see that... thing.  I'll let the doctor know you are here.”  The mare left, leaving the two princesses alone to look at each other in confusion.  It wasn't long until she returned to lead them towards their destination.  Soon they reached a heavily sealed room with a stallion standing outside of it who greeted them.

“Your highness, this is a surprise, though we didn't expect you to have any interest in...  Well, you'll see for yourself.  You see I inherited the the problem from the previous doctor who went mad.  He probably already was long before the incident, especially to have let that thing name herself.  It's procedure now that no personnel are to be near the room when it is opened, so we shall leave you to whatever it is you are doing.”  The doctor and secretary quickly retreated from the area, leaving the two princesses to watch them leave.  Aegis Flare frowned as she could almost feel the fear coming from the retreating pair before she turned back to the door.

“Just what did you bring me here to see?”  The darker orange mare frowned as she looked at the door before pulling a small machine out of her pack and started fiddling with it.

“I'm starting to wonder myself.  From what I was told, there should be a little filly in there.  No name was given, but her parents?  Well that is were it gets interesting.  You see her father...  Is Manifest Destiny.”  Applejack's eyes narrowed when she heard this before frowning.

“Just what hasn't that stallion done?  Even abandoning family now?  But who is the mother?”  This question caused Aegis Flare to frown as she turned away slightly from her friend.

“That... is where I think you would be interested.  You see her name was Tender Apple, and she died giving birth to this filly and apparently she wasn't willing in the first place.”  Hearing this, Applejack's anger flared as she knew that name and hadn't heard from her in years.

“The rest of the family had wondered what happened ta her.  But none of us expected anything like this.  Ah hope that Princess Celestia locks him away for good as if ah ever see him...  Well let's just say it won't be pretty.  But why is the filly here?”  Aegis Flare's frown deepened as she looked at the mechanism she was holding as the gem embedded in it flickered between black and red.

“The notes I have didn't give much information, but if I'm reading this right it appears there is some sort of necromantic magic in there.  It seems to be something new as it can't identify it exactly, but it must explain the odd reports that were with my information.”  Her friend's eyes widened in horror at hearing this before her head whipped around to stare at the door wide-eyed.  Aegis Flare ignored her reaction as she reached for the door to open it, and when she finished they were surprised to see what they found.

“Yay!  New ponies!  Look mommy!  New ponies have come to play with me!”  Inside the room was a plum colored unicorn filly with a black mane that appeared to be half the age of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, yet Aegis Flare knew she was supposed to be at least as old as them.  Her flank was still blank, but what was oddest was the earth pony skull she had in her hooves that she was talking to.  As she entered the room, Aegis Flare could feel some kind of pressure, but it quickly vanished as soon as Applejack followed her in.

“Hello, little one.  I am Princess Aegis Flare, and this is Princess Applejack.  We were wondering if we could speak with you for a while.”  The filly gasped as her eyes lit up and she turned to look to her side.

“Did you hear that mommy!?  They're princess!  I always wanted to meet one!  Are you here to play with me?”  The two princesses looked at each other until Applejack warily nodded.

“Actually, I would like to talk with your mother if that is all right with you.  But your cousin here would love to play with you for a while.”  The filly's eyes lit up even brighter as she stared bouncing around the farm mare who led her over to a chest of toys she saw in the corner of the room.

“Com on little one, let's see what ya have in here.  Uh, what should ah call ya anyways?”  The filly grinned  at the older mare before belting out an answer.

“Deathbringer!”  The filly looked back towards the skull with a glare.  “Mommy, no!  Mr Doctor let me choose a name, I don't want to use something silly like that!”  Applejack stopped for a second before tossing a glare back at her fellow princess before she sighed and continued to the toybox.  Aegis Flare watched them for a few second before she sighed as well and turned to where she saw the filly looking earlier.

“You can show yourself now.  I promise that nothing will happen to you or her.”  She waited for a few moments before a spectral figure slowly faded into view.  Her colors were grayed out, yet she could barely make out the apple-themed cutie mark but few other details as the ghostly mare was mostly transparent and even her bones were visible.

“Huh, a guardian wraith?  That really explains a lot of the reports I found about your daughter.  In fact the Black Guard could really use her talents.”  On hearing the name of the organization, the wraith flinched away in terror, but quickly moved to interpose her form between the princess and her daughter.  Seeing her reaction, Aegis Flare raised in hooves in a placating gesture.

“I don't mean it like that, whatever you might have heard about how the group acts.  I'm trying to rebuild it in the way that my parents described it to me.  'The Black Guard is a home for those that society has abandoned.  The unwanted, the downtrodden, or those that just don't belong, the Black Guard shall always have a place that they will be accepted.'  There is was so much more to it than what most hear about.  Sure it has its hoof in assassinations and spying, but everything it does is to protect Equestria.”  The princess looks into the eyes of the wraith, and through them to her daughter.

“You know that with what she can do that many will be terrified of her.  The Black Guard can give her a place to learn and be safe, and unless she chooses otherwise won't be required to go out and do anything dangerous.  Even if she does she won't be alone and will have some of the best protecting her from harm.  I can tell that she is special as few necromancers have undead of any kind following them willingly, especially before they know their special talents.”  The wraith calms down at the explanation, and looks questioningly around the room.  The princess isn't sure what she meant exactly, but she had a pretty good guess as she saw flickers of disgust on the mare's face.

“Yes, that means she won't be staying here any more.  The facilities are still being renovated, but everything should be ready in another week or so to move her out of here.  Even if she doesn't do anything for the Black Guard, she will at least have a safe place to grow and learn until she can fend for herself.”  The mare looks back towards her daughter before turning her gaze back to the princess and pointing to herself.

“This would be so much easier if you could talk.  But I know that takes a lot of skill to allow that.  And yes, you are welcome there as well.  A child should never be separated from those they love.”  The wraith flinched back at the emotion in the princess' voice as there had been little in it before.  Even though she was dead, it didn't mean that she had lost her sense of empathy for others hardships.  With a soundless sight the mare turned towards her daughter and mouthed something to her, which drew her attention away from the dead cockroaches she was making dance for Applejack, much to her disgust.

“Really, mommy!?  I can finally go out and see what is outside of the hospital!?  Yes!  Yes!  Yes!  Yes!”  As the filly bounced around the room the wraith rolled her eyes and turned once more to the princess with a pointed glare.  Aegis Flare didn't have to guess what the wraith was trying to say as she recognized the look as one her own mother used to give others when she left them in charge of her.  With a nod to the wraith, she slowly backed out of the room with Applejack following quickly behind her.

“There is still much to prepare until then, so we will leave you so we can finish the last few details.  We hope will see you again once everything has been finalized.”  Once the door closed Applejack let out a sigh of relief as she shuddered at what she had just seen.

“That filly is just plain creepy.”  She paused for a moment to look back towards the closed door before sighing once again, this time in resignation.  “But she really is family.  Ah didn't want ta believe it when ya told me, but that really was Auntie Tender.  She looked just like ah remember her...  Well, except for the whole see through bone thing.”  Applejack shakes her head sadly as she ponders just what she was going to tell the rest of her family regarding the odd pair.  Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of running hooves causing her to look up and see the doctor racing towards them.

“Your highnesses!  You're all right!  Please tell me that she didn't somehow get that skull back in there again?  Every time that thing is near the filly odd things happen.  We've tried locking it away but she always seems to somehow get it back.”  He sighs as he glares towards the door.  “Just how many are we going to lose this time trying to get it away from her.”  The two princesses frown at the doctor's tone before 	Aegis Flare stepped forwards.

“That won't be necessary.  In fact we shall be taking over the care of, let's just call her D for now, her.  Within the coming week we shall be relocating her into the new Black Guard compound that is being refurbished.”  The doctor looked as if he was about to argue, but on hearing of the Black Guard's involvement he shrank away in fear.

“Um, well, if you think that is for the best then I don't see how I can stop you.  But why would the Black Guard be involved in something like this?”  The two princesses looked at each other for a moment before Applejack smirked.

“Let's just say that it is a family issue and leave it at that.”

<><><><><><><><><><>

Aegis Flare looked over the gathered potential recruits for the Black Guard and smiled sadly as her thoughts drifted to her parents and if they would be proud of what she was doing.  With a sigh she turned to Princess Luna to see how she was reacting.  “So what do you think?”  The elder princess took a moment to formulate her answer as she looked over the gathered beings.

“It reminds me much of when I first began the order all those years ago.  It's a shame that my sister shut it down during my absence.  But tell me, are you sure about including non-ponies in the Black Guard?  As I recall there were rules in place preventing the entrance of outside races.”  Her gaze drifted from the many ponies to the smaller group in their midst, consisting of a gryphon, a minotaur, a diamond dog, and even a sheep.  She blinked a couple times before focusing her gaze on a small filly riding atop the back of a giant of a stallion the was next to the gryphon.  Aegis Flare noticed where her gave was focused and smiled lightly.

“I'm sure.  In fact my parents used to complain about how difficult it was to get things done in some areas because other races weren't allowed.  It's probably why the chose a changeling as their agent since he could pass as a pony and the other races.  The filly isn't joining, but she will be living in the compound with them.  There aren't many places that a budding necromancer can live in relative peace after all.”  Luna's head whipped around to stare at her in shock at hearing of the filly's abilities.  The orange mare shook her head sadly as she looked over to the stallion carrying her.

“The giant and the gryphoness heard her story and have taken a liking to her innocent personality so have taken it upon themselves to watch over her.  She has her own room to play in, but she seems to prefer staying with them.  Her mother seems to approve at least, now if that friend would get back to me then she can start learning to control her powers instead of it being all instinct.”  Luna frowned as she stared down at the filly, but could sense nothing malicious coming from her despite being in control of such a dark power.  Shaking her head she turned towards the other princess that was with them.

“Princess Twilight, what are your opinions on...?  Huh, where did she go?”  Looking around, Aegis Flare groaned as she spotted her on the other side of the gathering surrounded by levitated scrolls.

“She appears to be occupied with the one that was supposed to be showing some of what they will be learning.  I guess it was too much to hope that she would be able to ignore the only known friendly changeling and not bug him for information on his kind.  I guess that means that all of that will have to be pushed back for now.”  The night princess chuckled as she had gotten to know some of the quirks of the new princesses and had seen the lavender alicorn's thirst for knowledge herself a few times.  Shaking her head, Aegis Flare stepped up to the front of the crowd.

“Welcome everyone, to the Black Guard entry program.  You have all been selected as being some of the best at what you do as well as having skills that don't fit anywhere else.  Whatever you were before this doesn't matter, all that matters is what you can do.”  She paused a moment to catch her breath, which allowed the lone minotaur to interrupt her.

“Excuse me, your highness.  I am Heavy Arm, and I have to ask, why is little sheep here?  My homeland borders their country and they are not all that impressive.”  While she hadn't memorized everything yet, the princes vaguely remembered something from her information sheets but before she could reach for them to verify anything the diamond dog stepped forward.  Many of those present snickered at the pink poodle type canine, but he ignored them all with practiced ease.

“I can answer that, good sir.  I am known as Swanky, and this is my wife Sheep and...”  He paused as the sheep, with the rather unimaginative name, nudged her companion who leaned down so she could whisper to him.  With a smile the diamond dog straightened up before continuing.  “Ahh, it would appear that my wife wishes to know if you would like to join her in a dance.”  The minotaur's eyes widened for a moment in panic as a seemed to recognize the phrasing before he waved his hands and slowly backed away.

“No thanks!  Forget that I even asked.”  Most of those present were curious as to why a large minotaur would back away in fear from a tiny sheep, but only one was dumb enough to take it as a challenge.

“A dance sounds fun, so how about it little sheepy?”  Luna facehoofed as her current escort, Corporal Steel Wall, stepped forward to challenge the sheep who just smiled shyly as an area was cleared for them.

“He's a good soldier, but why can't he think before he acts?”  The orange mare shook her head sadly to Luna's quiet question as she fumbled through her folders looking for the one detailing Sheep.  Before she could find it the 'dance' had started, with the corporal smirking as the sheep reared up to her rear hooves and started making heavy steps.  Between those steps she would occasionally kick a rear hoof up to smack it with her front hooves, causing a cacophony of clopping and slapping sounds.  The crowd started to chuckle, but that soon cut off as out of nowhere the sheep slapped the earth pony across the face, stunning him in shock, before backing away without interrupting her dance.

What happened next could only be described as a slaughter as the impact angered the pony, yet no matter what he could do he just could not catch the sheep.  When he tried to charge her, she somehow ended up behind him to give him a boot to the rear.  When he tried to retreat he was met with more slaps to the face.  Even standing in place trying to defend himself ended up with her rapidly circling him as she prodded at any opening she found.  Soon the corporal was left whimpering on the ground as the sheep pranced back to her husband who swept her up onto his shoulder.

“Well I hope you have all learned a lesson from this.  You are all here for a reason and it would behoove you to not underestimate anyone, no matter how innocent they look.”  Aegis Flare pointed her hoof towards the filly, whom was still atop Brute Squad, as she spoke to the empty air excitedly.  There were many gasps as the filly's mother slowly faded into view to give a creepy grin at them all before she faded once again.  By that time the orange princess had found what she was looking for.

“Well with that demonstration of Baavarian Slap Dancing out of the way, and the other one distracted, it is time to show you some of the tools you will need to familiarize yourself with in this job.”  She pulled out a small badge containing a large gem in its center.  “Firstly is this, what is probably your most important tool.  All those that are accepted in the end will get one of these badges that will be bound to them.  It will act as a locator beacon as well as an emergency signal in case something happens to you.  There are more features being added which will all be listed in your manuals at the same time you receive this.  Currently it's a bit too...  wordy and we are working to cut it down a bit.”  She glanced over at what appeared to be a stool at first, but was instead the manual written by Twilight detailing every little thing about the tools that would be given to the graduates.  With a sigh she pulled out the next item and continued.

<><><><><><><><><><>

“So are you sure this is going to work?  I've never even heard of something like this being possible.”  Aegis Flare looked over towards Luna from her cot as the night princess prepared her own bed for the night.  The deep blue alicorn just smiled knowingly as she lay her head down.

“As the guardian of dreams, there are many things at my disposal that few know of, and much of what I know has been forgotten by modern ponies.  So being the expert, what do you think the answer will be?”  The other princess could only roll her eyes and shake her head at Luna's playful tone, though she had to admit she had a point.

“Well either way, this has got to be one of the strangest ways of testing how good someone is in an unexpected situation.  And since it will be a dream then it won't matter how dangerous it gets.”  Princess Luna nods to her fellow princess as she closes her eyes.  After a moment the younger mare joined her as they slowly drift off into the world of dreams.

After what felt like moments, The orange alicorn jerked back to awareness to find that she was no longer in the room the two were sharing for the night.  Instead she found herself in the center of a field of stars with nothing supporting her.  Princess Luna had warned her how disorienting the experience could be at first, but the reality was much worse than she expected.

“Ahh, there you are.  I was wondering when you would be here to join me.”  Aegis Flare turned her head to find Luna fading into existence next to her.  Seeing the princess just appear like that was slightly unsettling, but she was able to center herself quickly once again.

“Well this wouldn't be possible without whatever you did to that room.  Otherwise, who knows how long it would take for me to start dreaming, then for you to pull me here.  Still, words do not do this place justice.”  The orange mare stared around the place in wonder while Luna smiled at her words and expression.  After giving the younger princess a moment to look around, the elder waved her hoof and a scattering of stars flew up to in front of them before they formed into a multitude of screens, each showing one of the various Black Guard hopefuls.

“We might as well begin now.  Time may flow differently here, but we still do not have time to waste.  Do you know where it is you wish to send them for this test?”  The orange mare nods as she mentally goes over everything she had seen in the Everfree Forest and constructed a mental map of a section of it.  Luna uses her magic to take that map and used it to create a dream realm of which they would send the applicants into.

“Hmm, interesting choice.  I had heard of how diverse the Everfree had become, but I never expected it to have this much variety to it.”  The two look over a virtual map of the chosen testing area, with hazards lit up in varying colors, before finally pronouncing it complete.  Before they could start the test though, they were interrupted by a crunching sound which drew their attention off to the side.

“Pinkie?  Fluttershy?  What are you two doing here?  How are you two here?”  The buttery alicorn just whimpered in confusion as she looked around at the unfamiliar area.

“Um, I'm not sure.  Last thing I remember was going to sleep.  I was having such a nice dream too, then I found myself here.”  Heads turned to the pink pony that was munching on popcorn, where she got it they refrained from asking.

“What?  You expected me to miss such a great show?  And Fluttershy always wanted to see the creatures you described in the Everfree and this is the perfect chance for her without having to travel through the dark and dangerous forest for days.”  Aegis Flare frowned hearing this, though the excited look she saw on Fluttershy's face kept her from speaking up.  Looking to Luna she found her looking back questioningly to which she only shrugged.

“Oh my.  You mean that we can see some of the cute and cuddly creatures of the Everfree?”  The former pegasus quickly moved to take a seat next to her cousin in front of the magical screens to watch the coming show.  Once they all settled down, Luna looked around one more time before her horn lit up and the Black Guard applicants began to awaken within the crafted dream.

The various beings slowly awoke to their new surroundings before looking around in confusion.  The each soon found a set of equipments that they were all familiar with, along with a message crystal that told them what was going on.

“Prospective Members of the Black Guard,
For this test your mission is simple.
Survive.
Those that make it out will be one step closer to being accepted.
Those that don't...  Well let us say that things will be getting much harder from here on out.”

Reactions were mixed from the awakening group.  Some were panicked, some frozen and shock, a couple just shrugged it off before heading out, and a couple of them actually seemed joyful about the situation, one of which caught Fluttershy's eye.

“You even have a filly out there in such a dangerous place!?”  The orange alicorn winced at her cousin's louder than normal tone before shooting a glare at Luna.

“That would be Deathbringer, the resident necromancer of the compound who shouldn't even be a part of this.”  Princess Luna just rolled her eyes at the glare before pointing a hoof at the screen.

“Oh, do not be like that.  When she heard about it she kept begging to be included on it.  Besides, it looks lie she is having fun.”  Looking back at the screen they found the filly pulling at a claw reaching out of the ground which soon revealed a skeletal bear.  Soon she had a small menagerie of unique animals with her which she bounced around and played with as they marched through the forest.

“Oh, um, well I guess if she is having fun it can't be all that bad.”  Fluttershy sounded unsure of herself, more than usual, but she kept an eye on that screen just to be safe, though what she saw made her want to run and hide.

“You know, she is kind of like Fluttershy in a way since she talks to all those super creepy dead things just like how Fluttershy talks with all her super cute animal friends though actually it's kind of sad how she only had the dead to keep her company but at least now she has a great big new family to watch over her.”  The other alicorns glance at Pinkie for a moment in shock at how deep of an observation she just made, though when they focused on the screens once again the buttery alicorn's eyes had softened a bit,

By this point the other members of the test had started to reach the various obstacles scattered around the area, though some were more successful than others.  The first to die, due to being impaled by the forelimbs of a giant spider, was a brown coated, brown maned stallion.  While he seemed very bland and generic, he had one feature that stood out to those looking at him, his blank flank.  Seeing his death, Fluttershy buried her head under her wings in terror.  When she heard him screaming as the recorded message played again she peeked out and gave a sigh of relief at seeing the he was still alive, though back at the start again.

“Ooh, look!  A snake pony!”  Eyes turned to a pair of screens that had the inhabitants coming upon a creature with the upper half of a pony, but the lower half of a snake.  Aegis Flare's attention focused as she noticed that the two figures were both prospects she had her eye on, Brute Squad and Grainne Hillstalker.

“Well this is interesting.  I wonder how these two are going to handle this challenge.  Nagas are not something that just anyone can deal with.”  Luna's head turned to look at her in shock before she looked more closely at the creature in question.

“Where did you manage to find a naga?  I had thought the last of them had been banished to Tartarus centuries ago due to their violent nature.”  The orange mare smirked as she leaned back a bit and reached for a hoofful of popcorn that Pinkie offered.

“You'd be surprised at what is out there in hiding in the dark corners of the world.  And Tartarus was always meant to seal in the evil of the world, but what happens when something that doesn't belong finds its way inside?  A good many happen to live in a town out near the edge of Equestria that is supposedly led by a gargoyle of all things.  I've heard that you were familiar with him.”  Luna's eyes widened in recognition, but choked back her question as she glanced at the other two before making a note to talk with the other princess later.  For now the reactions of the duo facing the naga were a more immediate concern.

---------

The naga and the giant stared at each other from across the clearing.  Neither one moved a muscle, but while the naga was in an aggressively defensive posture the large stallion just looked casual.  Eventually cracks started to appear in the serpentine pony's posture before she let out a hiss of frustration.  “Well are you going to attack me or not?  That's what you ponies always do whenever you find me!”

“Why would I do that?  You have done nothing to me.  It just wouldn't be neighborly.”  The naga's face just froze in shock for a moment before she started chuckling.  Those chuckles soon turned into full on laughter as she rocked side to side atop her snakey appendage.

“Oh now that's a good one!  I haven't had a laugh like that in a while.  Why should I believe that you won't attack me as soon as I let my guard down?  Ponies always run or fight when faced with something they see as a monster, and I don't see you running.”  Brute Squad just tilted his head in confusion.

“I don't see a monster, just an odd looking pony.  I know what it is like to be mistaken for a monster.”  The naga froze once again and actually looked seriously at the stallion and noticed his unusual size.  She had seen some large stallions in her time, yet few of them could hold a candle to him.  Slowly the naga's posture relaxed, though she was still cautious.

“I can honestly see that, but what brings a giant among ponies out here?”  The stallion explained everything to her and she looked thoughtful as she considered everything.  When he finished, the naga considered him once more before sighing.  “Fine, if all you are trying to do is get out of her then I can show you the way.  It wouldn't do to let one of the few friendly ponies die.”

----------

The naga looked up at the point of the sword pointed down at her as she breathed heavily.  She had fought fiercely, yet not once could she land a blow on the gryphoness while that blade had managed to pierce through her defenses effortlessly.  No normal blade should have been able to wound her, yet just from the quality she was seeing alone that sword was something special.  Suddenly the blade was removed from her face, and to her shock the gryphoness began to walk away from her.

“H-h-hey, wait!  Aren't you going to finish me off!?”  Grainne paused in her tracks before she glanced back towards the downed naga as she sheathed her blade.

“So you can speak, as I thought.  Well then I must thank you for such a wonderful spar.  I also must apologize for what damage I have caused as I have gotten rusty over the years.  I hope that we can meet again in the future to spar once again.”  The naga just watched in shock as the raven/panther hybrid walked away before her laughter began ringing out into the forest.

----------

Princess Luna frowned as she watched how the two dealt with the naga.  She still couldn't believe that there were still some out in the world, yet seeing the interactions in the dream she could understand why they would stay hidden.  While Pinkie and Aegis Flare were watching along with her, Fluttershy was peeking over her wings at the unlucky brown stallion as he once again ran into trouble to be torn apart by a flock of birds.

“Those two are really shaping up rather well.  She's a bit fight happy, but knows how to hold back.  On the other side he, despite first impressions, is a deep thinker that is always careful in whatever he does.  I think they'll be perfect for the role of Joint-Captains once everything is settled.”  Aegis Flare looked over to Luna to see her nodding before she pointed to another screen.

“True, they do compliment each other well.  Yet that one may be a bit more problematic.”  Looking at the indicated screen the orange mare saw that the unicorn mare inhabiting it as she cackled madly while using her magic to swing a swarm of daggers around at anything that came close to her, covering the forest in a rain of blood.

“Yes, that could be an issue.  She probably won't be a good choice for a diplomatic role.”  Frowning for a moment, her attention was soon pulled away as Pinkie Pie let out a sound of delight.

“Look, Fluttershy!  This time he found a large group of bunnies!  Maybe this time he found a safe path.”  The shy alicorn peeked at the screen once again before she let out a gasp at seeing the creatures, though it was a combination of wonder and horror.

“Those aren't bunnies, those are bloodsucking chupabunnies!  I've always heard about them but never thought I'd see them.  In small numbers they are shy creatures, but with that many together...”  Fluttershy let out a gasp as the stallion was swarmed by the creatures and he was soon nothing but a husk before being sent back to start once again.  The four mares watched as the starting scene began once again, but this time the stallion broke down crying.

“Oh dear, it appears that he may not be cut out for this.  Who is that stallion?”  Aegis Flare frowned at Luna's question as he had high hopes for him after what she had read.

“His name is Dies Horribly, and I thought he would have gotten further.  Before being framed as a leader, he was surrounded by four of the most dangerous bandit gangs on the border with the gryphon kingdoms.  The scouts of the Equestrian Military said they found him ducking and dodging all kinds of attacks as the four groups tried to kill him.  And before that there were reports of him being seen getting chased by a large variety of monsters over the years.”  The princess of the night did a double take on hearing the stallions name.

“Wait, Dies Horribly!?  What kind of parent would name their foal that!?”  The orange mare just shrugged as she turned back to the magical screens.

“Who knows?  Still, I was expecting more from him.  I guess we should pull him out before he suffers any more mental damage.”  Before Luna could answer a quiet voice spoke up.

“Um, do you think that maybe I could speak with him first?”  All eyes turned to Fluttershy as she looked at the crying stallion with worry.  Peering at the mare for a moment, the three turned to each other questioningly before the bat-winged alicorn shrugged, leaving the decision up to Luna.  With a sigh the princess slowly nodded before Fluttershy disappeared from view, reappearing moments later next to the stallion.

----------

Fluttershy was dazed for a moment as her surroundings changed without warning before she looked around the forest she found herself in.  The sound of crying soon drew her attention to the stallion curled up at her hooves.

“Oh dear, what's wrong?”  The stallion jerked back in fear before looking up at the alicorn with his pitiful teary eyes.  Seeing one of the princesses there with him, he promptly threw himself at her and started wailing as the alicorn wrapped her hooves around his crying form, trying to comfort him.

“Princess!  Oh, it was so horrible!  This nightmare just won't end!  I just don't think I can fight it anymore!  All these years of fighting it, but I just seemed destined to die horribly like everypony has always told me!”  Fluttershy looked down at him as she listened to his words before she blinked at him blankly as her mind drifted back to her past.  With a frown, she pushed the stallion away, causing him to look up at her in confused shock.

“Then why don't you just end it then?”  The stallion's jaw dropped open in shock at her words while she continued.  “You have lived through so much all these years, yet all it takes is a little dream to make you give up?  How can someone so horrible at dying complain so much about being alive?  Just waste whatever care your loved ones or friends spent on you all these years.”  Before she could continue she once again disappeared from view as she was pulled from the stallion's dream.

----------

Fluttershy blinked as the area changed around her once again as she rejoined the other alicorns.  Before she could regain herself she was grabbed by Pinkie Pie.  “Just what were you thinking!?  Why would you do something like that instead of being your usual kind self!?”  The former-pegasus blushed as she ran her hoof through the space below her.

“Um, well...  You remember Gilda, right?”  Pinkie nodded as the other two watched on.  “Well she wasn't always like that, at least without a good reason.  Back in flight camp she made friends with Rainbow Dash but mostly ignored me.  When she did say anything to me it was usually just to complain about my shyness.  Yet, there was one time that...”  The yellow alicorn took a deep breathe to center herself before continuing.

“It was shortly before I got my cutie mark that the bullying had gotten really bad and I found myself at the edge of Cloudsdale.  One of my wings were bruised from what was done to me and I was just staring over the edge to the ground below.  I found myself leaning over the edge when Gilda found me and pulled me back.  She gave me much the same speech that I just did for him and it stuck with me ever since.”  Her fellow Ponyvillians just stared at her in shock before shaking their heads and wrapping her up in a hug.  Hearing Luna whistle in appreciation caused their heads to turn towards her.

“As cruel as that may have been it appears to have been exactly what he needed.  Just look.”  Looking back at the screen with the stallion they found that he had once again found the chupabunnies again, but this time had grabbed onto one of them in his hooves and was using it to pummel the others with.  The entire time tears were pouring from his eyes yet his face was filled with determination.  “You have the instincts for this Fluttershy, maybe in the future we can spend some time watching over the dreams of our ponies.”

Fluttershy just blushed at the praise before she rubbed her right hoof against her other foreleg.  “Um, maybe.  I really should apologize to him though when I see him since I may have been a tad harsh.”

The four settled down to watch the rest of the show as some of the beings began to complete the test.  Once they had done so they were sent back to their own dreams while the princesses evaluated their efforts.

----------

The next morning Fluttershy made her way to Canterlot in search of the one stallion she had spoken with over the dream.  Going to the Black Guard compound she was directed to a waiting room as a guard was sent out to hunt down the stallion's location and send him to her.  The alicorn fluttered her wings in nervousness as she waited until a knock sounded at the door.  Moments later Dies Horribly opened the door and peeked inside.

“Um, you asked for me your... highness?”  He blinked a few times as he realized just who was waiting for him before he gasped and ran over to throw himself down into a bow at her hooves.

“Princess Fluttershy!  I-i-i didn't know that you were the one that wanted to see me.  May I ask why I am here?”  Fluttershy blushed at the treatment she was receiving before she shook her head to try and clear it.

“Oh, um.  I wanted to apologize to you for what I said.”  The stallion looked up at her in confusion as she fidgeted.  “Last night during your test I said some cruel things that I really shouldn't have.  I also wanted to make sure if you were all right after what you went through.”  The stallion looked confused for a moment before his eyes widened in realization that she was actually there for him the previous night.  He raised his hooves up and waved them in front of himself.

“Oh no, there's no need to apologize.  You helped me much more than you know.  My family and friends always told me that things would be fine and tried to encourage me.  You were the first pony to actually challenge me over what I was doing.  I really was thinking too much about what may happen and not on actually living.  In fact...”  He turned to the side showing off his no longer blank flank.  Upon his flank was an hourglass with most of the sand drained out the bottom with only a couple left at the top.  The entire thing appeared to be frozen as icicles dangled off of the sides of it and the hole between top and bottom were was sealed.

“You were actually right, my name wasn't about how I would die, but about what I was horrible at.  My special talent is my ability to cheat death and being horrible at dying.”  The stallion actually looked proud about this leaving Fluttershy bemused.  He wasn't quite done though as he pulled a sheathed dagger from his mane.

“There was something else I wanted to do as well.”  The stallion knelt down once again in front of the princess as he held out the dagger.  “Princess Fluttershy, I pledge my life to you and if you ever require my aid, just call me.”  Fluttershy's eyes widened before her face turned a deep red at his act.  She was about to try and refuse, but she quickly realized that this was just part of being a princess as she slowly reached a hoof out for the weapon.  As she laid her hoof on it it shimmered with a rainbow hue the flickered in her eyes as well.

<><><><><><><><><><>

Within the chambers of the princess of the sun a maid relaxed on the sofa contained within with one of Celestia's special books.  She knew she shouldn't be there, but she had been having a rough day and felt that she deserved the time to relax.  Suddenly a wailing sound rang out from the room, sending her in a panic as she searched for the source of the siren.  As she flailed around the room she came to the nightstand by the regent's bed and found in the top drawer a bright red gem that was flashing in time with the siren's song.
> 55
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Princess Celestia smiled as the next petitioner entered the throne room of the currently mixed court.  As Luna had modified her sleep schedule from what it used to be over a thousand years ago, the two had started holding half of each of their respective court times during each others to show their unity to Equestria.  The petitioner happened to be Fancy Pants, one of the few nobles that were actually enjoyable to be around, took the smile as permission to speak.

“Good evening, your highnesses.  As you know I have an upcoming...  My what IS that sound?”  Fancy Pants paused and looked towards the throne room door as a wailing sound steadily grew louder from somewhere in the palace.  Both the princesses frowned on hearing it, though Celestia was more from a faint feeling of familiarity than the confusion of her sister.  As the sound reached its peak the doors to the throne room opened to reveal a weeping maid who was carrying a flashing red gem.

“Your hi-hi-highness!  Please don't banish me!  I didn't mean to break it!”  The mare started admitting to everything that she had done wrong while she was supposed to be working but Princess Celestia's attention wasn't on her.  Instead her gaze was locked on the gem that the mare was holding out in her hoof with a look of shock.

“Shattered Alicorn.”  The entire room went silents as the solar princess spoke those words.  With wide eyes a nearby guard managed to clear his throat moments later.

“Excuse me your highness, but could you please repeat that?  Did you just say...?”  The guard was blown back by a wall of wind when Celestia's wings snapped open as she rose to her hooves.

“I repeat, this is a Shattered Alicorn situation!  Call up all active Wonderbolts for immediate deployment!  Lock down the palace until further notice!  Move it ponies!”  The entire room burst into action as the princess went from her usual peaceful demeanor into command mode.  While many worked to clear the throne room, some were unprepared for the chaos as the two princesses watched one stallion dive out the window in panic as klaxons began to sound throughout the palace.

“Sister, just what is going on?  We have no troops or commanders out anywhere dangerous to require a call for all available reinforcements so who activated this beacon?”  Princess Celestia lifted the gem in her magic before she started to make her way towards the exit of the throne room.  Her sister watched her for a moment before following her out as well.  As soon as the doors closed behind them the throne room finished emptying leaving the stunned mare alone before she promptly fainted.

“This beacon is not from one of our current operatives around Equestria, but one that has been missing for a long time.  So very long.  It is about time that they finally can come home.”  Luna was surprised at how anxious her sister was about this, but more from the fact that her sister's emotions were plainly visible on her face.  She wasn't the only one to notice this as the gem disappeared from Celestia's magical grip and a jovial voice rang out above them.

“Now what is it about this little thing that makes even the mighty Celestia, Princess of Boringness so worked up.  So much chaos from such a little thing that even I am a tad jealous of.”  Discord floated above the two princesses as he flipped the gem like a coin into the air.  Celestia glared at the draconequus humorlessly before she stomped her hoof and posed aggressively at him.

“Discord!  I do not have time to deal with you right now so give that back.  I need to get it to the map room so we can begin doing a trace on where the signal is originating from.”  Discord just waved off the alicorn as he brought the gem up to his eye before putting it in one ear and pulling it out the other.

“Oh, don't get your panties in a bunch, Celly.  In fact I'm here to help and...”  Discord pauses as he looks more closely at the gem and plucks a claw at an invisible tether leading out from it.  “Why hello, what's this?  I wondered where that place had run off to.  Good thing I was here or else you never would have found it.”  Celestia blinks a couple times in confusion before she reaches up to grab Discord in her hooves.

“You know where they are!?  Where, tell me!”  The princess began to shake the chaotic being in an effort to force the information out of him.  After a few seconds of this he disappeared for a moment before reappearing out of her reach.

“How rude.  And just when I was about to tell you.”  The two princesses just give him a deadpan look as he pouts at them.  “You're lucky that I want to see just who it is that can get you worked up.  You would never find that island otherwise since I made it created it so that it would always change locations and couldn't be tracked, well except for that compass that finds whatever you desire most.”  One of the guards escorting the princesses let out a gasp of realization of what the draconequus was describing.

“You don't mean the Gallopingghost Island!?  But that is just an old foal's tale!”  Discord rolls his eyes at the guard before flicking the gem back towards Celestia who hastily catches it in her magic.

“Ugh, I never really liked that name.  She always called it Paradise Island.  Ahh, those were the good old days.”  As Discord's eyes glazed over, the two princesses looked at each other wondering what he was talking about.

“She?  She who?”  At Luna's question the creature of chaos shook his head and his eyes returned to normal.

“What are you talking about?  Weren't you in a hurry to rescue whoever is on the other end of that gem?  If you take too long even I may lose track of the island again.”  As Discord heads towards the map room the two princesses look at each other once more, wondering just what that was all about.

<><><><><><><><><><>

“...and there.  I'm still not sure how I feel about it, but I think it was worth writing down, right?”  Fluttershy looks to her closest friends, minus Rainbow Dash, as she closes the journal.  The six mares along with Spike were gather around a table at the town's local diner waiting on their lunches.

“Well it sure sounds like something worth recording.  Though I didn't even realize that this group journal was going to be a thing.”  The others look at Aegis Flare in confusion for a moment before realizing the issue which Twilight quickly corrected.

“Right, you were away that day.  When you were looking for Agent X we all ended up at the Castle of the Two Sisters.  The rest of them were busy scaring each other for some reason, but I managed to find a journal that Princesses Celestia and Luna wrote in when they were younger.  After reading some of the entries it just felt like a good idea for us to have one as well so that future generations could read about our adventures from our point of view.”  Aegis Flare looked thoughtful for a moment before she shuddered.

“That would have been a better trip than what happened the one time I WAS there.  I've had to keep an eye on Scootaloo so that she doesn't manage to pick up another one of those enchanted comic books.”  They all shook their heads as they thought back to that day.

vvvvvvvvv

“...and Flare!  You're Wildfire!”  The bat-winged mare groaned as she finally recognized the costume that she was wearing before hitting her head into a nearby wall.  Spike wasn't finished as he turned to the three fillies that had also joined him and the adults in the comic.

“I don't know why you three are here dressed like that though.  Those are the costumes of the Filly Force Five, the youth superhero group the was setup by the Power Ponies.”  Scootaloo let out a gasp as she recognized the outfit she was wearing.

“Awesome!  That means I must be Dread-hawk!  Master of gadgets and acrobats!”  She ran a hoof through her black cape, revealing a belt full of pockets.  Looking at her friends she pointed the same hoof towards Applebloom.

“And you must be Cyberfilly!  Half filly, half machine, and all kick flank!  And Sweetie Belle is the Banshee!  She terrorizes her enemies with her sonic screech!  All we're missing now are the Manehatten Mauler with her regeneration and her collection of blades, and Nox the black coated alien alicorn who is the daughter of a Nightmare!”  Aegis Flare just groaned once more and continued hitting her head into the wall, even as an alarm rang out from a building across the street.

^^^^^^^^^^

The darker orange mare of the bunch rubber at her temples as she felt a headache coming on from that memory before turning back to the journal.  “I'll have to remember this if I ever do come across something worth writing in it.”  Twilight blushed as she started tapping her hooves together nervously.

“Um, I may have actually wrote something in tit already for you.  When we met Daring Do, your story was just so interesting that I just had to write it down.”  Aegis Frowned for a moment before she shook her head.

“Well I guess that would fit well, though it would have been nice to know about it earlier.  Though one of these days I really need to take the time to explore that place more thoroughly.  I still can't believe that Celestia just left so much stuff in there, like that library.”  Twilight nodded as a waiter came out with the lunches they had ordered earlier.  Pinkie Pie started vibrating in place after the food was set down in front of her.

“Now what's wrong Pinkie?”  The pink mare shook her head at Twilight as she tried to stop her hoof from shaking so she could dig into her meal.

“I'm not sure, Twilight.  My Pinkie Sense has being acting up all day now and I can't figure out why.  Whatever it is it's going to be one hay of a doozy.”  At the word doozy, the other mares flinched away while the other ponies in hearing range fled the area, not wanting to have to deal with the results of a doozy.  Looking around, Applejack frowned at the retreating ponies before focusing on the empty seat at the table.

“Where is that Rainbow Dash at now anyways?  Ah thought that all of use were meeting up here ta eat.”  Fluttershy looked around before she took a sip of her tea.

“Oh, well she had to go to the schoolhouse today.  It turns out that she forgot that Cheerilee had asked her to help out with some of the pegasii students with some flight excercises while she helps the earth ponies and Amethyst Star assists the unicorns.  Cheerilee asked me to remind her about it after we talked about us and Big Mac having a girl's night out later this week.”  The others looked confused by her statement, until Applejack brought a hoof up to her muzzle in exasperation.

“Darn it Big Mac, I thought ah told ya ta get rid of that dress.  Why does he even wear that thing?”  Fluttershy blushed for a moment before answering her friend.

“Um, well he says that he has fewer mares bothering him when he is dressed up like that.  I find it kind of sweet how he gets in touch with his mare side like that.”  The others just shake their heads at this before they are interrupted by a loud belch from Spike.  Looking over the group saw that a message had arrived from Celestia which Twilight quickly unrolled.

“Huh?  This is odd.  Princess Celestia has never sent me anything like this before.”  When her friends just looked at her in confusion she turned it around so they could see it.

“'The Ebony Heart has been recovered'?  What is that supposed to-  Flare, are you alright, darling?”  On seeing the message, Aegis Flare's pupils shrank while her breathing rate increased.  Pinkie Pie reached a hoof out to poke at her, but when she came into contact the bat-winged mare vanished from sight leaving a fiery contrail as she took off flying towards the school.  Applejack looked after her in confusion for a moment before her eyes widened and she turned towards Rarity who mirrored her action.

“Rarity, ya don't think...?”  The alabaster unicorn nodded before the two looked in the direction their friend just took off to.  “We had better go after her everypony.  If this means what ah think it does...”  Applejack took off running after their friend with the others following right behind her, Twilight only after dropping a bag of bits onto the table.  The path their friend took was easy to follow as it was the fastest route to the schoolhouse and their was a trail of windblown ponies along it.

Before they arrived an explosion rang out through the skies over Ponyville, and a ring of flames spread out over it originating from the direction of Canterlot.  Arriving at the schoolhouse, they found Rainbow Dash looking in the direction of the explosion with her jaw halfway to the ground.  When she noticed that the rest of her friends arrived she shook herself and half shouted.

“Just what the buck is going on here!?  Since when could Flare do a Corona Burst!?  That is supposed to be Spitfire's special move!  And why did she grab Scoots like that?  Somepony has been holding out on me during our training.”  While the last part was to herself, the others still clearly heard her and wondered much the same.  Twilight unrolled the letter they had received and showed it to the cyan alicorn.

“We aren't sure.  She just flipped out as soon as she read this which the princess just sent to me.  It's strange though since she didn't even bother to sign it, but it is her horn writing.”  Rainbow Dash looked over the short message before she frowned.

“Huh, it's a code phrase.  It looks like they found something important but I haven't heard of Ebony being used before.  Platinum is for Celestia and Sapphire is for Luna for example.”  Her friends looked at Rainbow Dash curiously before she rolled her eyes.  “What?  Spitfire has been teaching me stuff like this.  It's kind of important to know if I'm going to be leading the Wonderbolts some day.”  There were a few chuckles at her reaction, but Rarity and Applejack's eyes met once more before they nodded in agreement.

“Girls, ah think ah know what it means.  But if that's so then we have ta get ta Canterlot as fast as possible.”  The others were confused by her words, but they nodded before they all turned towards Canterlot.  Before they could take off though they were interrupted by a shout from the school.

“Wait!  Take us with you, too.  Flare took Scootaloo with her and we want to go and make sure she is okay!”  Applebloom and Sweetie Belle ran up to their respective sisters and looked pleadingly up at them.  While the two would rather leave their younger siblings in class, they knew that if what they suspected was true then Scootaloo would need their help.  With a nod the two knelt down so that their sisters could climb onto their backs, while Twilight let Spike climb on as well before the alicorns took flight and headed for Canterlot.

While the didn't go as fast as Aegis Flare was, they still made respectable time from Ponyville to there.  When they arrived they found nothing out of the ordinary at first, but when they reached the castle they found the guards fully mobilized.  After a moment to be identified they were led to the throne room where they were met with an unexpected sight.

“Ah can't believe it.  Is that really...”

vvvvvvvvvv

A short time earlier

“Sis!  Slow down!  I can barely hang on!”  Aegis Flare's speed didn't lessen at her sister's words, but her horn did light up causing a ring to wrap around the two, securing the younger pony to her back.  With the risk of falling off no longer a concern, the young pegasus was able to take in the feeling of the wind through her mane as they traveled at speeds that she had only seen Rainbow Dash reach.  Her sights soon settled on the approaching palace causing a question to go through her mind.

“Sis!?  Just where are we going!?  What's going on!?”  Her question received no answer as the alicorn dove towards the castle entrance and blazed by the guards before they could react, leaving them slightly scorched from the fiery trail that she left behind.  The young filly braced herself as the closed door of the throne room approached which was slammed open as her sister hit it, the latches broken from the impact.  The alicorn stood frozen in the doorway and when nothing happened Scootaloo opened her eyes.  What she saw caused her to freeze up in shock like her sister as tears came to her eyes.

“Mommy?”  As if her words were a trigger, the alicorn under her took off towards the mare laying before the thrones where they met in a tearful reunion.

^^^^^^^^^^^

“...Ms. Bella Donna?”  The heads of her friends snapped around to look at her an Rarity as a hint of wetness came to their eyes.  Turning back to the pile of ponies on the floor they looked at the seated mare, both Scootaloo and Aegis Flair curled up in front of her asleep.  The description they were given of her before was spot on, with a bit of graying after the years she had been gone, but what caught their eyes most were her legs.  Or the lack of them to be exact.  Both of her rear legs had been replaced by wooden constructs that were obviously cobbled together, the left starting just below her hip and the right at the knee.

“Oh my, she looks like she has been through a lot since she disappeared.  What happened over the last ten years to her?”  The others nodded at Fluttershy's question, wondering the same thing as well.  Pinkie Pie looked over to her fellow alicorn next to the mare, before she let out a gasp.

“She's smiling.”  Her quiet words were confusing to the others until they followed her gaze to Aegis Flare's face to see the smile on her tear-filled face.

“So?  I would expect her to be happy about something like this.  It's not like we haven't seen he smile before.”  Shaking her head at Rainbow Dash the pink pony clarified herself.

“No, it's a real smile from her.  She always seemed so sad even when she smiled before even when she was asleep.  Yet now the sadness is gone.  I had almost given up on seeing a real smile from her.”  The pink alicorn shuddered as her Pinkie Sense went off one last time before settling down.  The others had to admit that what they were met with could be classified as a doozy as none of them ever expected something like this to happen.

With their surprise slowly wearing off, they all advanced into the throne room, catching the attention of the mare before Celestia and Luna.  “Even more alicorns?  Just what have you been doing since I was last here?  I had barely gotten here when my daughters busted in here and you still haven't said anything.”  Bella Donna leveled a glare at Princess Celestia who flinched away, much to everyone else's surprise.

“Um, well, you see.”  Celestia started tapping her hooves together in embarrassment, which threw off all the other mares in the room except for the Black Guard Captain.  Pinkie Pie was the first one to recover, much to the displeasure of the eldest princess.

“Did you forget Celly?  I mean I can sure understand that since you did forget about Flarie after her parents disappeared and...”  From there the pink alicorn proceeded to recite the bat-winged alicorn's life story from the moment that she had to fend for herself and her sister until the present time.  As the story progressed, Bella's face grew grimmer and grimmer while Celestia managed to get even paler.  By the time Pinkie had finished the orange unicorn was glaring at the solar princess who looked as if she wanted to be anywhere else at this time.

“So let me get this straight.  We trust you to look after our daughters if some happens to us, and you go and FORGET ABOUT THEM!  Not only that you let the entire Black Guard collapse and fall into the hooves of the one stallion that managed to evade our efforts all this time!”  Princess Celestia could only meekly nod which causes the unicorn to growl lightly while the others watched the tableau in shock.

“What kind of hair-brained, cake-scarfing...”  The unicorn started to roll out a large number of insults towards the princess, so many that Applejack and Rarity had to cover their sister's ears to prevent them from hearing.  By the time she finished, Celestia was looking like a whipped filly while Luna looked impressed and the others were staring wide-eyed with reddened ears.

“It has been a long time since I have seen my sister like this.  Teach me, please?”  The unicorn's eyes turned to the lunar princess as she panted before her eyes widened in recognition.

“The Night Mother!?  You truly were real.  He always talked about you so much but when you finally return he...”  The unicorn looks sad for a moment before she shakes her head and focuses once again.

“My apologies.  I would be honored to teach you but fixing certain mistakes your sister made take priority.  And here I was hoping I could retire and spend time with my daughters.”  She was prevented from going any further as laughter reverberated through the room and a familiar serpentine form faded into view with a bucket of popcorn.

“Wonderful!  Wonderful show.  Oh, I knew it was a good idea to help rescue this mare from my old island.  Not even her parents could make old Celly cower like that.”  As the draconequus laughed to himself at the situation, the unicorn eyed him warily as he had not shown himself during her rescue though she recognized him.

“Even Discord is freely roaming around?  That pink alicorn mentioned it but I wasn't sure if it was true.  Of course now I know why those water parks were on that island if he made it.  We are seriously going to have a long talk later.”  Celestia whimpered as the mare addressed her once again, but before she could continue another angry voice spoke up.

“Discord!”  All eyes snapped to Aegis Flare who was angrily climbing to her hooves with her full attention focused on the draconequus who was slowly backing away out of fear.

“Now now.  Let's not do anything rash shall we?  I mean I did help out, didn't I?”  This didn't stop the mare from advancing on him at all though.

“First you make me think my sister is dead, then you go and brainwash me and my friends, then after we give you a second chance you constantly torment me with your pranks and nonsense.”  As she neared the chaotic being she reared up onto her back hooves, causing Discord to close his eyes in fear.  When he felt his body being enclosed by a warm feeling he was confused as he was expecting more pain.

“But you brought back my mom.  Thank you, Discord, thank you!”  Discord looked down at the mare as she started crying into his chest as she had him wrapped up in a hug.  He had no idea how to deal with this so he looked over towards Pinkie and Fluttershy, who only smiled and nodded at him in approval for what he had done.  Completely flustered from the unexpected situation he fled from the room, leaving the crying alicorn in her mother's hooves once again, though he couldn't help wondering why the feelings he felt were so familiar.

With the disappearance of Discord, Bella Donna quietly got to know her daughter's friends as she worked to calm her down again.  Once the crying had ended she sighed as she knew that it would probably start again at what she had to say even as her other daughter drifted awake during that time.  “Flare?  Scootaloo?  About your father...

<><><><><><><><><><>

Rain poured over Canterlot as the princesses and nobles gather at the entrance to the royal tombs.  The weather was often kept clear during the day in the mountain city, but one of the few exceptions were during days of mourning for those honored by the princesses.  That day they all gather to lay one Vanator, father of Princess Aegis Flare and Scootaloo, husband of Ex-Captain Bella Donna to rest.  The nobles were not told of this though as the former captain wanted her identity to be a surprise right up until the end.  Once they summoned ponies had gathered, Princess Celestia stepped forward to the podium.

“My Little Ponies.  We are gathered her today to honor a pony that has done much for this great country.  It has been a long time coming, but only now have we finally had a chance to praise this unsung hero.  Before I continue, the wife of Black Guard Captain Vanator would like to say a few things to those gathered here today.”  There were a few looks of confusion as she mentioned the name, but many nobles soon had looks of terror as the cloaked mare hobbled forward and slowly dropped her hood.

“My husband has done a lot for this kingdom and if not for him I would not be alive to finally reunite with my daughters once again.”  She gestured to the orange alicorn and filly that were standing nearby before continuing.  “But even though he is gone he would still want me to push on and protect Equestria.  And from what I can tell there is a lot of work needed to clean things up once again.”

As her glare passed over the crowd many nobles began to quake in fear, not only in learning that the two most feared beings in recent history had children of which one was now a princess, but the the Poison-Tongued Queen had returned, and was coming for them.
> 56
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aegis Flare awoke with a gasp as she shot up in her bed looking around wildly.   When her eyes landed on the form of her mother she let out a sigh of relief.  “It wasn't a dream.  She's really back.”

The alicorn relaxed as she looked over the sleeping form of her mother with her sister cuddled up on her other side.  It still felt like it was all just a dream as she had nearly accepted that she would have never seen her parents alive again, yet here they were now with them finally reunited.  Maybe one day she would wake up without that feeling, but none of the last week were that day.  Her gaze drifted down to her mother's injuries and she remembered back to the day after the funeral when the stopped by the doctor to give her a checkup.

vvvvvvvvvv

“Now Mrs. Donna, I'll need you to come along with me while the rest of your party waits here for you.”  The doctor stepped backwards a few paces as the full force of three glares hit him as the mother and two daughters focused intently on him.  Realizing that the three were not going to allow themselves to be separated without a fight he quickly backtracked.  “Of course if you really want they can join you as well, as long as they stay out of the way.”

The family was led to a simple examination room where the doctor left them as he went out to make some preparations.  It wasn't long after they began to relax, the mother on the bed with her daughters on two nearby chairs, when they were interrupted by the door opening once again and two small figures rushing in before hiding under the bed.  Moments later the door opened once again revealing the form of a harried member of the Royal Guard.

“Excuse me ma'am, your highness.  But did you see anypony come by here?”  The three shook their heads as the guard groaned before closing the door once again and taking off down the hall in search of the figures.  Once the sound of hoofsteps had gotten out of hearing range, Scootaloo sighed before looking under the bed.

“You can come out girls.”  Stepping back she from the bed she was followed by Sweetie Belle and Applebloom who were looking a bit embarrassed.  “Now what are you two doing here?”  The two fillies looked at each other for a moment before turning back to their friend.

“Well you were just grabbed by your sister from school without a word and we were worried something bad had happened.  We were wondering if you were all right and when our sisters brought us here to Canterlot so much happened that we didn't have a chance to see how you were doing.  And well...”  Sweetie Belle looked over to the injured mare, more specifically to her hind legs that were still using the cobbled together hunks of wood and vines to hold her up which she moved using her magic for some amount of locomotion.  Following the gaze of the two fillies the older unicorn, recognizing the look of curiosity that she had also seen on her daughter's faces, Bella Donna gave a sad sigh.

“I suppose I should tell you about what happened back then since it was supposed to be a simple delivery and not... this.”  She gestured around her to where they were now as she let out a sigh.  “I can't tell you much about what happened during the mission until I talk with Princess Celestia, but it pretty much turned from a delivery into a counter-espionage mission.”  The fillies looked at her with confusion causing her to roll her eyes and smirk.

“Dealing with enemy spies.”  The three let out 'ohs' of understanding while letting her continue.  “Needless to say Vanator and I escaped by stealing an airship from their shipyard while they gave chase.  We were somewhere over the ocean when they finally caught up to us and the ship exploded sending me over the side.  Vanator... He...”  She had to pause for a moment as the last moments with her husband came back to her.  She felt a wing settle over her and she smiled at her oldest daughter before continuing.

“I'm still not sure how he did it, but with his wings shredded by the blast he managed to reach me in the air and slow our descent.  Bracing for impact with the ocean he managed to put himself underneath me to absorb the blow.  We were both surprised when we started falling through the canopy of a jungle the wasn't there moments before until we hit the ground below hard.  After recovering from the impact I tried to stand but only then realized that I had lost my legs.  Your father though...”  With a sad look one her face she nuzzled at her younger daughter.

“He stayed with me for three days, but n the end his injuries were too much for him.  His last words were to tell me to survive and get back to you two, and to tell you that he loves you and was sorry that he couldn't see you grow.”  The two sniffled in sadness as tears threatened to fall once again from the two sister's eyes.  The other fillies weren't much better as the tragedy of the story got to them as well.

“It might have been over for me as well, but that island...  Well it is fitting that it was created by Discord as I didn't have to worry about food since not far from where we landed was a water park with everything you would expect at one.  The food stalls never seemed to run out and were always fresh.  Over time I managed to cobble these together so that I could at least get around, and with nothing better to do I deciphered everything that we had managed to take with before escaping.  I'm not sure if my message ever got through to the castle, but seeing as Canterlot hasn't been conquered then something must have gone right.”  Aegis Flare's eyes narrowed at the mention of a message as her mind drifted back to what her aunt had told her during Cadance's wedding.  The fillies didn't notice this as they started peppering the unicorn mare with questions about the island.  The doctor chose this moment to return and, seeing the two new figures, let out a sigh of annoyance at having more ponies to work around.

^^^^^^^^^

Much to her relief, Aegis Flare didn't have to worry about her mother getting sick after her time on the island as she appeared to be as healthy as ever according to the doctors.  They even had new prosthetic legs brought in, but on seeing them Applebloom criticized how stiff they were while Scootaloo helped her mother with putting them on and attempting to walk around with them.  Sweetie Belle, felling a bit left out, started singing a rhythmic song softly to give the unicorn something to try and keep pace with.

After laying there for a long while, the alicorn sighed as she slowly rolled out of bed and onto her hooves.  The family was planning on heading back to Ponyville soon, but before they left she had some things to take care of with the Black Guard.  Thankful for the plush carpeting in the room, the alicorn made her way out of the room at a casual pace so as not to disturb her family.  Once she entered the hallway and closed the door she realized what she had thought and started prancing in place with joy.

“I still can't believe that she's actually back!  Just the thought of her officially being home tomorrow makes me so...happy!”  As if the word was a signal, music began to filter through the halls as she started to strut towards her destination.



Aegis Flare strutted down the hall to the beat of the music as she sang a cheerful song.  The various guards and servants that she passed gawked at her as it seemed very out of character for her.  Yet despite that they clopped their hooves against the floor as she passed by, caught up in the song themselves.  By the time she entered the section of the palace containing the Black Guard offices she had a small train of ponies following her adding to the beat, led by Pinkie Pie.  She noticed none of this until she arrived at the office reserved for the future captains and finished her song.  Feeling a presence behind her she looked over her shoulder and quirked an eyebrow at the crowd behind her.

“Don't you all have something you should be doing right now?”  The guards and servants blushed before rushing off back to where they were supposed to be, while Pinkie Pie just smiled and bounced away to do... something.  Shaking her head the orange alicorn smiled at her friend's antics before heading into the office to get some work done.  Steadily working through the paperwork in the office she soon finished after an hour.  Most of it was routine work but two things stood out in their importance.

“Well, I guess I'll have to dip into my personal funds again to get the rest of these tools for everyone.  I'm glad that all those investments paid off with what I earned from Celestia before all this alicorn stuff happened.  Still it will be nice to not have to use it once everything is settled and a basic set of equipment is chosen.”  Sighing she pulls up a tattered looking scroll that was wrapped with the skeleton of a bird, which also happened to be what delivered it.

“At least this one is something I've been waiting for.  It took long enough for him to answer back, but it's good that he's agreed to teach D.  Well, as soon as she finishes this first assignment and sends back a reply with this same bird.”  She frowned at the dead bird before shrugging and setting it aside to give to the filly's guardians later.  Cracking her neck she rose from her seat and left the room to check on those that stilled remained as potential candidates of the Black Guard, most of which were almost guaranteed to be accepted in the end, though none of them knew that.

As she walked through the halls towards the outdoor training area, she paused as she passed another training room that had recently been finished.  She knew that she should just keep walking, but she felt herself getting rusty as she hadn't been keeping up with her usual training as much as she used to.  “I suppose one short round couldn't hurt.”

Stepping into the room she walked over to the pylon at the side of the room and started toggling some of the gems to change the settings on it.  Once she was satisfied she moved to the center of the room as a barrier began to encircle the arena in the center before she relaxed and prepared for the training simulation to begin.  When a glowing point of energy started to bounce in front of her she shifted into a ready position as she focused on the object.  Soon it was bouncing around the enclosure she was in with many more joining it every few seconds.  As she got a rhythm going her movements became more of a dance as yet another song bubbled up from the depths of her soul.



She glided around the small arena as she sang, avoiding the projectiles by narrower and narrower margins until it was impossible to dodge as the came at her from every direction.  But in time with the song she lit up her horn and burst out a wave of flames, incinerating them from existence and her dance truly began as she brought her wings into play as well.  Wrapping a barrier around them she used them to deflect and knock away many that came at her from the sides while avoiding those from the other angles.  When she came close to being overwhelmed she sent out more directed bursts of flames to clear out a path for her to avoid the rest.  Soon the globes of energy were spawning as fast as they were being destroyed, with her in the center as a flaming tornado of death.  As her singing came to a close she sent of one last burst of flame, clearing the room just before the training exercise ended.

As she started to catch her breath, her concentration was fully shattered as applause broke out from the entrance to the room.  Whipping her head around she found her mother, along with D and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, just inside the room with a small crowd of Black Guard trainees arrayed behind them.    “And that, little songs, is how an expert deals with multiple attackers.”

“Mom!”  The alicorn blushed at her mom using the words of her song against her, as well as catching her singing in the first place.  Seeing her daughter looking looking embarrassed, the unicorn mare broke out laughing and was soon joined by the younger sibling.  Glancing back to the others she waved them off.

“You all head on ahead.  I need to have a few words with my daughter before I come join you.”  As the group left, the trio of trouble only after D pulled them away towards her guardians with a skeletal bird soon following them, the alicorn worked to calm herself at being caught out like that.  With a smile the elder mare toddled over before sitting down next to her daughter and tossed a forelimb over her back.

“I must say you found an interesting group to rebuild the Black Guard with.  Most of them already have something in common to bond over, I still can't believe Princess Celestia didn't do anything about him, and it is already showing in how they interact.  I have to ask about that little filly though.  She seems a tad young to be involved in this, especially being such a powerful necromancer as well.”  The alicorn was still grumbling a bit about earlier but she sighed as she looked after where the filly went with a raised eyebrow.

“Well she's a bit older than she looks, about the same age as Scootaloo.  I can get you the file on her later, but her talent will definitely be related to necromancy, though just how is unknown.  I'm guessing you stopped by the captain's office since she had that bird with her which was supposed to be part of her learning how to control her powers.”  The unicorn nodded before she sighed as she watched a crystal pony walk by the door.

“Yeah, it was rather surprising to see her excitement about it.  I've seen a few necromancers over the years, but just about all of them were rather grim in how they acted.  The guard seems to attract the oddest beings to its ranks, such as Thorax who I need to give a good talking to.”  Aegis Flare looked over at her mother in confusion at the name, but it was eclipsed as the stallion that had just walked by yelled out in panic.

“Abort!  Abort!  Identity has been compromised!  Initiate Escape Plan Delta!”  The stallion went rushing back by the door, and it was only then that the alicorn recognized it as Agent X in his usual disguise.  Her mother just looked at the door in amusement until the stallions head peeked back around the edge of it with wide eyes at her.

“Wait, Bella Donna?  Old friend, you're back!”  Rushing into the room his disguise dropped revealing his changeling form before he pounced at the unicorn.  On landing he started babbling out questions at a pace near that of Pinkie Pie as he looked her over.  The unicorn, with a look that combined amusement and annoyance, placed a hoof over his muzzle to quiet him.

“It's good to see you, too.  But were you seriously still using that silly name you came up with when you took the job as an operative?  And how come you never told me about what changelings were?  It seriously would have helped during that last mission.”  The changeling flinched away before he crouched down like a scolded foal.  With a sheepish grin he could only reply with the most annoying answer possible.

“Um, you didn't ask?”

<><><><><><><><><><>

The rest of the day passed quickly after Bella Donna caught up with her changeling friend.  Nothing happened until the next day when the family took the train from Canterlot to Ponyville, joined by the rest of the newest alicorns minus Rainbow Dash who had to stay back to meet with Spitfire and the Wonderbolts.  As the train began to pull into Ponyville Aegis Flare was up on the tips of her hooves in excitement at being so close to home once again with her mother with her sister right next to her.  The elder unicorn was the first at the door as it opened before a blast of confetti flew in her face.

“SURPRISE!”  The unicorn blinked at the pink alicorn and burst of confetti in front of her before looking back behind her to where the mare was a few seconds before.  Turning forward again she closed the door to the train before stepping back next to her daughters.

“Wasn't she just...?”  The mares behind her just shake their heads as her daughter rests a hoof on her shoulder.

“Yeah, I wouldn't bother trying to figure her out.  Even before becoming an alicorn she did things that should be impossible, and she was an earth pony.”  Looking back towards the train Bella Donna narrowed her eyes.

“Really?  And how long has she been doing that?  I would think I would have heard of something like that back when I was in charge of the Black Guard.”  Her elder daughter could only roll her eyes in response as she took a step towards the closed door to open it.

“Well when only unicorns are deemed important enough to be given the direct attention of a princess as well as be offered so much more then it's extremely easy for the other tribes or species to fall through.  It doesn't matter if you can fly fast enough to create tornadoes by yourself, or ignore the basic laws of physics, or even control others just by looking at them, if you aren't a unicorn you won't be watched.”  Bella frowned at her daughter's tone, but couldn't actually deny her claim as she couldn't actually remember any foals being put on the watch list that weren't unicorns.  Still she made a personal note to talk to her later before she sighed and stepped up to open the door one more time.

“SURPRISE!”  Once more she was blasted with a cloud of confetti as the doors opened, but this time she looked past it and the pink mare to the figures behind her.   Many of them she had known casually from her time in Ponyville, but through her daughter she had gotten to know three of the figures in the shocked looking  forms of Rarity's parents and Granny Smith.  The fourth figure she wasn't prepared for as she fell back onto her rump when the cream mare pounced her.

“Teacher!  You're back!  I didn't think I would ever see you again!”  The unicorn reflexively wrapped her forelimbs around Bon Bon to comfort her as she lightly wept in relief.  Aegis Flare knew that the mare had been taught by her mother, but she never expected them to be this close.  The interruption was enough to snap the other ponies out of their daze at seeing the long thought-to-be-dead mare.

“Well ah'll be.  She really wasn't pullin' our leg.  Ah never expected ta see that youngin' back after she up and vanished all those years ago.”  The elder pony sighed as she looked back towards Sweet Apple Acres, in the direction of two weather-worn stones that she knew were at the far end of the farm.

“I heard that you were one of the few to survive Sweetie Drops.  But what made you choose Ponyville?  I would have thought the Everfree would have kept you away if you were trying to stay in hiding.”  The younger mare froze up at the sound of her old name as a green mare stepped forward from the crowd.

“Bon Bon, why did that mare call you Sweetie Drops?”  Looking back at her 'best friend,' Bon Bon gave a small embarrassed smile before she slowly walked over towards her.

“Um, well, you see.”  Bon Bon sighed before she hung her head.  “Can we talk about this back at home?  I don't feel comfortable speaking about it out here.”  Lyra looks at her suspiciously before she nods and they move off back into town.  Bella Donna watches as they move off with a raised eyebrow before looking back towards her daughter.

“I'm guessing that they are together and she never told her.”  Her daughter makes a so-so motion with her hoof, while the other alicorns look at her in confusion.

“Wait, are ya telling me that Bon Bon was part of the Black Guard?  How come ya never said anything ta us?”  Aegis Flare just shrugged at Applejack before turning to watch as her mother lit up her horn again to control her rear legs to stand and walk forward.

“It never really came up, and it's not like I had the right to reveal it for her.  It's all in her past anyways.  She's happy with her shop from what she's told me.”  The farm mare frowned before she nodded.  The group watched as Bella Donna was greeted by many of the ponies that knew her back when she had lived there.  With a large rush of air, Rainbow Dash landed next to the group as she finally arrived from Canterlot.

“Ugh, remind me the next time that I decide to try and get the Wonderbolts to do something different to bring a big stick or something.”  Turning from watching the unicorn meet with old friends and acquaintances, the other alicorns looked at her questioningly.

“Whatever do you mean, darling?  I thought that you were getting along with Spitfire.”  Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at Rarity before she sighed.

“We get along fine, but even she has a hard time changing things.  In fact since she took over she has been trying to update the Wonderbolts' training, but she is denied at every turn because of 'tradition' and stuff like that.  It's like they don't even want to improve since they think they are the best.”  The cyan mare flew upwards for a moment to grab a cloud before she brought it down to flop on and sulk.  Her friends glanced at each other before responding to her.

“Well why not put them up against somepony that's even better than them?  If the lose out against some other group then it might motivate them to listen.”  At hearing Twilight's words, Rainbow Dash could only roll her eyes.

“That sounds good and all, but where am I going to find a group that can actually compete with them?”  Looking around, Twilight pointed towards a group of pegasi moving clouds around the sky.

“What about them?  I remember seeing a couple of the weather ponies around here going to that training for the Wonderbolts Reserve, and I doubt that there are many weather teams that have to deal with weather or other problems that come out of the Everfree Forest.”  Rainbow Dash looked thoughtful for a small grin appeared on her muzzle.

“Huh, that's actually not a bad idea.  It can't be a real threat, but I bet we could come up with a training exercise or two for them to react to in the middle of some sort of competition.  Good catch, egghead.”  The lavender mare rolled her eyes at her friend's nickname for her, but takes the praise for what it was.  With the idea in mind the cyan mare took off again to look into what she needed as the others shook their heads at how their friend had trouble sitting still.  Soon the townsfolk started moving off through the town as Pinkie led them towards the party that was prepared for the mare of honor.

<><><><><><><><><><>

“It feels so good to be home again.  Of course it looks like you two picked up some interesting decorations while I was gone.”  Bella Donna looked around the main room of her old home at all the unfamiliar decorations from her seat in the room.  The other alicorns, as well as their younger family members, had joined the family at their home after the party.  Scootaloo pointed over towards her sister at her mother's question.

“This was all sis' stuff that she picked up from the Everfree.  She started putting it out here when she ran out of space in her room.”  Aegis Flare shoved her sister lightly at throwing all the blame on her as their mother looked around at everything.

“Well it's quite the variety of things, even considering what that place is like.  I mean is that a zebrican fertility mask?  And over there, that looks just like an official favor trinket of Marelantis.”  As she looked over the various objects, her older daughter smirked as she slowly pulled a book out in front of her and her sister.

“Um, what is that sis?”  The darker orange alicorn's smirk widened as the rest of the alicorns leaned over to look.

“Oh, nothing much.  Just a photo album of many of the things mom missed while she was away.  Think of it as a thank you for your laughter earlier and for just now.”  Scootaloo's eyes widened in horror as the book was opened to the first page revealing a younger version of the filly curled up with a plushy panda that was larger than her.  Her face turned red as a chorus of 'awws' rang out through the room led by her mother.

“Aww, you were so cute back then.”  She shot a glare at Sweetie Belle as her blush deepened even further as page after page of her went by.  Soon they came to a page that would have had her laughing at her friend as well if she wasn't caught up in it as well.

“What's this?  Did my little angel get a marefriend and dragonfriend while I was away?”  The trio blushed as they were confronted by the picture of the day when the Cutie Mark Crusaders had Fallen asleep around Spike.  Applebloom just smirked at the other three as she had to put up with their antics ever since.
“W-when did you even take that?!”  Scootaloo glared at her chuckling sister as she pointed at Pinkie Pie.

“She had a camera nearby, in fact many of these were taken by her.  Some of these even I didn't know about until...”  Turning to the next page the elder sister froze before turning a glare at the pink mare who just smiled at her.  On the next page were more photos, but this time of some of her achievements and embarrassing moments.  She still continued paging through with the group as her sister had her own time to laugh, enjoying her mother's looks as she saw many of the missed moments of her children.

“All these years, and I missed so much.  I have so many stories that I could tell you, but it's just not that same.”  Looking around the room her eyes settled on Twilight before she smirked, causing the mare to shuffle about in worry.

“Such as all the things that happened in Canterlot when Princess Celestia took you on as her student.  Did you ever tell them about that incident you had with the quesadillas?”  Twilight's eyes widened in horror as she tried to get the older mare to stop by waving her hooves at her.  Spike had other ideas as he saw an opportunity to tease his caretaker.

“Oh yeah.  That really was a horrible mess that day and Twilight won't even go near the things any more.”  The unicorn nodded before shaking her head.

“She was so excited to show off that Come-to-Life spell at dinner that day and used it on her food.  It took a dozen guards to subdue it and I bet even now those stallions won't talk about it.”  Twilight at this point had curled up as her mind drifted back to that day.

“No, not there, get away from there you evil cheesy monster.  Please, no more.”  The others looked at their broken friend before Rarity excused herself to help her friend back home, taking Spike and Sweetie Belle with her.  Seeing as the gathering was ending, the others started to leave, one by one, until the residents of the home were left, along with Fluttershy who shuffled around nervously.

“Um, I guess I should go as well.  I wouldn't want to interrupt your reunion any longer.”  She was about to leave but was quickly blocked by a bat wing.

“Come on now, Fluttershy.  We're all family here and you should take some time getting to know your aunt.”  Bella Donna looked at them curiously as her daughter realized that she hadn't been told yet.

“Oh right, well we found out that her father was one of dad's brothers who abandoned her and her mother.  She's probably the only good thing to come out of Uncle Douchebag.”  Her mother groaned as she rolled her eyes at her daughter.

“Of course it would be him.  I wonder if he'll even admit to anything even after she became an alicorn.  Still, it's nice to see that you managed to find some form of family while I was gone, though most of your father's side refuse to acknowledge us.  I think your father's sister is the only one that still talked with us.”  Her daughter nodded as she responded.

“Yeah, she's one of Luna's lieutenants now, but she's away from Canterlot right now or else you would have seen her.  Knowing her as soon as she hears that you're back she'll be rushing right over.”  She looked back over to Fluttershy who had yet to say anything.

“Well, I would love to, but I really need to get back and check on my animals.  Maybe tomorrow?”  After a moment the group nodded as Fluttershy took off.  With the three alone the sisters led their mother up towards her room, and paused as she looked inside before freezing.

“It... it hasn't changed a bit.  Did you two really not touch this place since then?”  The two looked at each other before looking away from their mother.

“Well, we did sleep in here when we were really missing you over the years.  It... it became a safe place for use as we hoped to see you again.”  Their mother looked at her daughters before she smiled sadly and waved a hoof at the two.

“I'm here now, so how about once more for old times sake?”  With a smile from the elder daughter, and a shout of glee from the younger the two entered the room as their mother moved over towards the bed.  That night, the three slept better than they had in years as they indulged in a ritual that they had not taken part in in years.
> 57
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy whimpered as she looked around at her friends as they tried to convince her to go against her instincts and use her Stare on the vampire fruit bats.  Slowly her gaze settled on Aegis Flare who was looking around the sky for something and she realized that her cousin hadn't said anything so far either way.

“Um, Flare?  What do you think should be done with the vampire fruit bats?”  The other alicorns turned to look at their friend curiously as they couldn't remember her saying anything either, even during the song earlier.  With a sigh the bat-winged mare turned her attention away from the sky before wrapping a barrier around the bottom of a newspaper before applying it to Twilight's head with extreme prejudice.

“Bad Twilight!  What have I said about recklessly using your magic without thinking of the consequences!?  Do you want a swarm of starving creatures praying on ponies!?”  Twilight tried to fend off the newspaper with horns and wings, but whenever her horn lit up it got hit, and her wings were little help due to how sensitive they were to blows.

“Ow!  Hey!  Cut it out!  Stop it!”  Fluttershy sighed in relief at her cousin defending her, but she cringed back as the newspaper was pointed in her direction leaving the lavender mare to glare at the wielder.

“And you!?”  Aegis Flare frowns at her causing cringing away from her causing her to sigh and her expression to soften.  “Well at least you are trying to stand up for yourself more, but something does need to be done about these creatures.  Just look at them.”  She pointed a hoof towards the hundreds of bats causing Fluttershy and the others to turn their heads towards them again.  Looking more closely at them, Fluttershy took in how thin the bats were looking as well as the patches of missing fur on many of them.  With a gasp she covered her muzzle with her hooves.

“Oh my!  They don't look so good.  Do you think that they need help?”  The buttery alicorn's friends rolled their eyes while her cousin rubbed at her temple with a hoof.

“Fluttershy...  You should know better than anyone that this isn't healthy for anything.  Creatures like this don't swarm an area like a plague without a reason and certainly not in the state they are.  This only happens when something allows them to over-breed out of control which brings up the question of; where are all the birds of prey that should be keeping their numbers down?”  Fluttershy cringed back at the question before she started tapping her hooves together nervously.

“Um... well...  You see I ask my animal friends to not hunt each other around my home and for a good distance nearby which may have included Sweet Apple Acres...”  With a sigh the dark orange mare brought a hoof up to her face before shaking her head in exasperation.

“Really Fluttershy?  I can understand them not targeting the critters that you are friends with but stopping them completely is just irresponsible.  Because of that these vampire fruit bats are overrunning what is probably one of the few places where they aren't being culled back.  I thought you learned about how important something like that is.”  Her cousin opened her mouth to argue, but paused as her head turned to gaze at the dagger she kept strapped under her wing for a moment before she lowered her head in defeat.

“I don't want to see my animal friends hurt, but you're right.  Allowing them to live like this isn't a kindness like I thought before if it causes this much misery.  Like with a rabid animal it sometimes is just kinder to... let them go.  I'll go talk to my birdy friends and let them know that they are needed here, as well as warn away the others that like to come here about what is happening.”  As her cousin took flight towards her cottage, Aegis Flare let out a sigh before looking at the rest of her friends.

“As for the rest of you.  Let's just say I'm disappointed with all of you that you thought that you had to pressure Fluttershy like that.  I would have thought that you would have respected her a bit more that you wouldn't need to resort to what you did just to get your way with her.”  The rest of the alicorns winced as the disappointed mare took off towards her own home.  Looking at each other, Rainbow Dash sums up what they were all thinking.

“We bucked up, didn't we?”

<><><><><><><><><><>

The alicorns separated to do their own things for the rest of the day, though it wasn't until the next morning that Aegis Flare left her home.  When she left she was still annoyed with her friends and took to the air to work it off through exercise.  She paid little attention to anything as she flew around Ponyville, just enjoying the burn of her exertions, so much so that she didn't realize the passage of time until she heard someone calling for her.

“Hey, Flare!  Wait up!”  Hearing the call, the bat-winged alicorn slowed down to look behind her to see Rainbow Dash flying towards her.  With a sigh she slowed down, allowing the mare to catch up to her.  “Finally.  It took all morning to find you just to find you up here.  You've been holding out on me!”  Aegis Flare stops to hover in place before looking at her friend in confusion.

“What are you talking about?  I'm just taking some time to cool off, especially after what happened yesterday.”  The cyan mare winced before she brought a hoof around to scratch at the back of her head.

“Yeeeah.  About that.  I probably should apologize to you about that.  I mean, I already talked to Fluttershy about it, but she said I should apologize to you as well for putting you in the middle of all of us like that.”  With a nod, Aegis Flare sighed.

“And like I thought she easily forgives you, which is why I was only annoyed and not mad at you all.  While she needs to be pulled out of her comfort zone once and a while, what happened was closer to bullying than that.  And you still haven't told me what you meant by me holding out on you.”  Rainbow Dash flinched at being told she was bullying Fluttershy, but recovered at being reminded of a previous topic.

“I mean all this!”  Rainbow Dash waved her hoof around at the sky and her friends wings before clarifying.  “Before you couldn't go twenty minutes without being worn out yet you've been out here for hours according to your mother.  Not only that but when you found out about your parents being found you broke the sound barrier and created a Corona Burst!  You know how many ponies can actually do something like that and keep up with me in a race now!?”  Aegis Flare blinked without comprehension for a moment before she looked over her shoulders at her flapping wings before realizing that what her friend was saying was correct.

“Huh, I didn't even realize I was doing that well lately.”  Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped as the orange mare closed her eyes and focused her attention on her wings.  “In fact now that I'm paying attention to it I can actually feel something being drawn into my wings from the air around them.  I've never been able to do that before.”  As she opened her eyes to look at her wings curiously Rainbow Dash shook her head before looking at her friend in confusion.

“Wait, you mean you never let your wings 'breathe in the air' to help you fly before?  But that's the most basic thing that a pegasus learns as a foal!  How could you have never known how to do that!?”  Her questions were met with a deadpan look as the orange mare tapped her horn.

“I was a unicorn, remember?”  This response caused the other mare to facehoof at having to be reminded.

“Oh yeah, right.  It's hard to remember that with all of us being like this now.  Funny since most of us are still having trouble with the new magic we gained; my unicorn side, Twilight with her pegasus side since she thinks too much, Fluttershy with her unicorn magic, and Applejack with both unicorn and pegasus magic.  Rarity took to the new types easily after talking with Pinkie's sister, and Pinkie... yeah.  That's three of us now that only need to figure out the alicorn magic.”  Shaking her head at her, the orange mare turns to look at her wings once more.

“I wonder...  This feels a lot like how I've heard unicorns normally take in magic except that it is lacking the part where they change the mana they take in to match their own.”  Rainbow Dash blinks at her explanation for a moment before she looks thoughtful.

“Wait, you mean there is more to using your horn than to just pull the magic in and use it?  Is that why I keep having problems with anything except levitation?”  The two think back to the mare's previous attempts.

vvvvvvvvvv

“...and that's all there is to it, now you try.”  Twilight gestured to Rainbow Dash who shook her head, clearing the glazed look in her eyes.  Spreading her legs out a bit the cyan mare closed her eyes and concentrated on her horn causing it to light up with a rainbow glow.  Things looked as if they were going well until sparks began to fly off of her horn causing Twilight's eyes to widen.  Moments later an explosion erupted from Rainbow Dash's horn, covering the area in smoke.  When it cleared the two alicorns were covered in soot and coughing from the smoke.

^^^^^^^^^^

“Most likely.  Unicorn magic is more actively controlled so the energy needs to be attuned to yourself so that you can easily control it.  From what I can tell Pegasus magic is also active, but since it is generally the same type it's just pulled in and immediately expelled.  Earth Pony magic on the other hoof is rather passive as they always draw in magic to fuel their strength and stamina.  I wonder if it's possible for an alicorn to use the mana from one type to fuel the other abilities though.  Unicorns naturally can draw in mana faster so you could potentially fly even faster or become even stronger than normal.”  As Aegis Flare started to ponder this, Rainbow Dash just shook her head in exasperation.

“Ugh, eggheads.  Can you maybe think about it some other time?  I came to find you because I wanted to ask your help with something.”  Her friend's eyebrow rose as she gestured with a hoof for her to continue.  “You see I have to talk to the Wonderbolts and try to convince them to show up for a match between them and the Ponyville weather team.  Now I know that they'd have an advantage if we just used the normal training courses so I need to come up with something to throw them off without making it look like a setup, but I can worry about that later.  The problem is I need to find a way to convince them to actually show up without making it look like I'm doubting them.”  Aegis Flare frowned at this, but she could see why it could be a problem and could guess what was coming next as she waved at her friend in understanding.

“Well with you being considered one of the leaders of another branch of the military it would make perfect sense for you to try and goad them into going through with it.  Sure the Black Guard is only now starting to send ponies, and other species too I guess, out and around, but it is still recognized as being full of the best because of your parents.  I know you might say no after what happened yesterday, but Rarity is the only other one recognized as being in charge, and she's getting ready for some big thing out in Manehattan.”  The orange mare thought for a moment and silently agreed that Rarity probably would have done better using more diplomatic means, but she herself knew how to rile up ponies if needed.  Shaking her head she looked at her friend in exasperation.

“I'll go, though I hope you aren't leaving the planning until the very end.  In fact, I have some ideas that you could use for the real test, I just need to get in contact with a certain mare.  I'm certain she'd be eager to agree to a 'royal performance' if we ask for one.”  Rainbow Dash frowns in confusion for a moment before she shook her head and spread her wings.

“Great!  Come on then, we need to be there in a couple hours.”  With that the mare took off in the direction of the flying city, leaving her friend to shake her head at her friend's lack of planning.  Spreading her own wings she took off after her friend, mentally telling herself that she was lucky that she didn't have anything else to do for the day.

It didn't take her long to catch up with Rainbow Dash, but only because the rainbow-maned mare held back so she could catch up.  As soon as she did the competitive mare slowly sped up until the two were just short of breaking the sound barrier.  With a smirk the cyan mare glanced back at her friend before angling her flight towards a town on the ground ahead of them.  Once they were over it she slowed up before turning back towards her friend.

“Wow, you really have come into your wings now.  Even after all that way you still aren't breathing hard and you were out all morning.”  While she did notice that flying seemed to have gotten easier, Aegis Flare could still feel a bit of strain from her wings since she hadn't used them for such long periods before.  Looking around she frowned as she failed to see the cloud city that they were supposed to be heading towards.

“Weren't we supposed to be heading to Cloudsdale?  Not... wherever this is?”  Rainbow Dash rubbed a hoof at the back of her head as she looked around sheepishly.

“Yeah, well it was scheduled to be here today.  It must have been called away for an emergency weather call somewhere but it should be back soon.  In the meantime, welcome to Anchor, the town that Cloudsdale rests above when it isn't traveling across Equestria.”  The rainbow-maned alicorn gestures to the collection of buildings below them.  Most were homes, but a good number of warehouses and even a business or two were visible from the air to the two.

“Huh, I've never heard of this place before.  I'm guessing Cloudsdale takes all the credit for anything that happens here as well?  So what are we going to do until the city returns?”  Rainbow Dash nods to the first question but pauses to consider the second before chuckling oddly.

“Um yeah, I may have somewhere we could go but... um...  Just follow me.”  Aegis Flare looked after the other alicorn in confusion as she flew off before shrugging and following after her.  Soon she was led to a large home, built with a mixture of wood, clouds, and stone, that was situated on the outskirts of the town.  Without preamble the cyan mare walked up and opened the door before proceeding inside, leaving the bemused alicorn to follow after her.

“Hey!  Anypony home!  The awesomeness has arrived!”  Aegis Flare looked at her friend curiously until a rumbling started up within the house.  She stepped back it sounded as if it was approaching them until another sound rang out.

“DASHIE!”  Bounding out of the next room came a group of youngsters, three fillies, a young female hinny, and a colt.  Rainbow Dash sat down and spread her forelegs wide as the group pounced at her, sending her falling onto her back as the group wrestled around with her.  Aegis Flare just watched in shock until she heard a chuckling and turned to see a heavily fire-scarred, white unicorn mare walk in through the same doorway that the children had come through before she spoke in a gruff voice.

“Huh, about time that little Dashie brings home another one of her friends.  And judging by your stare you had no idea that she was bringing you her family's home.”  The orange alicorn nodded, causing the unicorn to chuckle.  “I thought so.  She never tells anyone that she will be showing up here, so you won't see most of her parents here at the moment, just me and the old blowhard watching the little ones while the rest are out.  Those six will be at it for a while, so you might as well join me for a little refreshment.  Knowing her she wouldn't have given you time to get anything.”  At her nod the unicorn rolls her eyes and waves her into the next room.  As she sat down at the table while a cup of tea was prepared for her, Aegis Flare realized something that the older mare said and peered more closely at her.

“Hey wait, you look familiar.  You also said anyone instead of anypony, weren't you apart of the old Black Guard?”  The unicorn raised an eyebrow before a faint smile crossed her muzzle.

“Good guess.  If you knew that then you must be on of the Captains' daughters.  Never did meet you but those two never shut up about you.  It's a shame what happened to them with their disappearance.  I would have gone looking for them but at the time this happened which earned me a formal discharge and eventually met Dashie's father, that old blowhard.”  The mare stiffly waved a hoof over her fire-scarred form while insulting the stallion of the house, though she said it with a fond smile.  The alicorn tilted her had at the mare in confusion as she would have thought she would have heard by now.

“Haven't you heard the news?  My father has been confirmed dead, but my mother managed to survive and is back home in Ponyville now.”  The unicorn froze on hearing the news as her eyes widened in shock.  Her breathing slowly sped up before she jumped to her hooves and rushed to a door opposite where they came in.

“Tack Dash Harness, you old blow hard.  Get down here right now, you have some explaining to do!”  Soon enough the sound off hooves could be heard tromping down a stairway, followed by some more yelling before a statuesque gray pegasus stallion with a silver mane appeared while being shoved towards the exit of the home by the unicorn.  “Dashie, can you watch over your siblings until one of the others get back, we need to run and visit an old friend, thank you, goodbye.”  With that the two disappeared from the building leaving the orange mare bewildered as she looked around the room.  Her attention was soon drawn to a wall full of picture frames featuring what she assumed were many of Rainbow Dash's brothers and sisters.  After examining one of a teal maned, purple earth pony stallion bench pressing a wagon her attention was grabbed by something she didn't expect from her friend as she walked into the room.

“Hey Flare?  What just happened with Momma Frost?  She just took off out of here in the family chariot forcing my dad to fly at his top speed.”  The younger ponies streamed by the alicorn and into another room, and upstairs if the sound of hooves going upwards were any indication.  Aegis Flare said nothing for a moment as she read over the document before she tossed an answer over her shoulder.

“I just mentioned how my mom had returned back to Ponyville.  It turns out that she knew her from before she had disappeared.”  She left out some of the more sensitive information, not knowing how much Rainbow Dash knew of her mother, which left the mare confused for a moment.  After a moment her eyes lit up in realization before she shook her head.

“Oh right, she mentioned that she was burned like that while in a special branch of the guard.  She must have meant the Black Guard since she didn't say much about what she did.  If she only know heard about it then that means dad must have messed up and not told her which would explain why she looked annoyed at him as she left.  What are you looking at anyways?  You haven't even turned to look at me since I came in here.”  The rainbow-maned alicorn moved to stand next to her friend and looked over the wall but froze when her friend lifted a hoof to point.

“I don't know, why don't you tell me, Dr. Dash.”  The mare groaned as her attention was drawn to a copy of a doctorate in weather sciences with her name on it.

“Oh, buck me, I can't believe I forgot that my parents put that up there.  Well, go ahead and laugh now that you know I'm almost as big of an egghead as Twilight.”  The orange mare lifted an eyebrow as she looked over at her friend.

“Now why would I do that?  Sure I never expected you to have something like this, though I should have expected something with you being the weather captain in Ponyville, but if anything I'm actually a bit envious of you.”  Rainbow Dash frowned as her friend says this as she twitches her wings nervously.

“Why would you be envious of me?  I mean you've done so much on your own while you were younger while I was stuck in school trying to get this thing.  Those years were just so boring.”  Aegis Flare shook her head as she turned away from the wall and moved over to sit in a nearby chair.

“I may have done a lot, but there are many times when things would have been easier to have something like that.  In fact I never even could finish basic school since I had to take care of Scootaloo.  Without that no college would even accept me, and even with it many unicorn schools would have turned me away due to my condition.”  She sighed as she thought about the lost opportunities.

“Not only that, if I had a degree like that ponies with one as well would actually listen to me as if I knew what I was talking about.  But no, because I didn't even finish school they think they know more than me as I warn them not to wander off and they end up in the belly of some beast of the Everfree, or disregard anything I get into a book even if the research is sound and even more thorough than they would do.  If it wasn't for Daring Do getting me into MEEL I wouldn't have done anywhere near as well as I did but even that wasn't enough to get respect from many so-called scholars.”  Rainbow Dash blinked as her friend lightly panted after her little rant and the fear and tension left her body.

“Wow, that's...  Yeah, I don't know how to respond to that.  I mean I could see Twilight going off like that, but you?”  The orange mare sighed before she shrugged in response.

“I've just had a lot of bad experiences with ponies pointing out how much smarter than me because they have some kind of degree and I don't.  Then they proceed to do something stupid that nearly gets them killed leaving me to save them.  Actually, it's usually the unicorns that are like that and, in fact, they even look down on pegasii and earth ponies who go to non-unicorn universities unless they need them for something.”  With a frown she crossed her hooves in front of her barrel and looked down as Rainbow Dash looked thoughtful.

“I only went through school for it because I knew it would help get into the Wonderbolts so I never saw any of that.  But yeah, I could see that happening if they are like what we've been seeing during court in Canterlot.  But can we maybe keep this just between us?  I'd rather not the others know about me having this.”  With a smirk, the bat-winged alicorn turns slightly away from her friend.

“I'll have to think about it, I mean this is such a big secret to keep away from our friends.  Who knows what they'll do if they find out that you are hiding it.”  Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes at her the mare while frowning at the answer.

“Come on, you aren't really going to tell them?  Are you?”  Her friend continued to be evasive until more of Rainbow Dash's parents showed up at the home, letting them know that Cloudsdale was back in the area.  After greeting them and explaining just where the two of Rainbow Dash's parents they were had expected had gone, they bid them farewell and took off to the city in the sky.

When they arrived the two quickly made their way to the Wonderbolt's training grounds where they found the active members of the group training, as well as a few support and retired members.  The two watched them train for a few minutes in secret before they looked at each other and nodded before stepping forwards.

“And here they are, the best flying team in all of Equestria.  Impressive, right?”  Ears of the nearby Wonderbolts perked up as they glanced in their direction and word soon spread of the attention of two of the newest princesses.  Spitfire, having helped with the plan Rainbow Dash was using, slowly made her way towards the two as they conversed.  Looking over the group of pegasii, Aegis Flare frowned at them before shrugging to her fellow princess.

“They aren't bad, but I've seen better.  Really though, I don't see what's so great about them.  I've seen weather teams that were better than this bunch.”  The nearby pegasii frowned at her words but she paid no attention to them as she continued.  “I mean look at them, they may look impressive but their movements are too practiced.  They may look pretty but when there's an emergency needing them to do something outside of their tricks they fail horribly.  They were nowhere to be found when Nightmare Moon and Discord showed up, and when a filly falls from a crowded event they were present at not a single one of them even noticed.  Let's also not forget the time when they showed up to deal with a greed driven dragon they were taken out of the fight in seconds.  Not only that but a bunch of civilians did what they could not, and in the case of the last it was a bunch of fillies that beat the dragon!”

The Wonderbolts began to mutter amongst themselves at her words angrily, but they couldn't argue her points which made them even angrier.  Even Spitfire was frowning at her words as she was reminded of the incidents that she was personally part of and she was part of the plan.  She shook her head to clear it and stepped forward for her part but before she could say anything she was pushed to the side as another figure brushed by her.

“Well if it isn't Princess Rainbow Dash.  Come to check on the best fliers in Equestria again?  And I see that you brought along one of your fellow new princesses this time.”  Rainbow Dash shivered slightly as the pegasus stallion approached the two.  Aegis Flare's eyebrow rose in curiosity as she took in the older pony's cerulean blue coat and grayish green mane.  The stallion moved confidently as he brushed at some imaginary dust on his jacket and scarf.

“The name is Wind Rider, your highness.  And I must say that it is a pleasure to finally meet with another of our newest princesses.  But I couldn't help but hear what you were saying against the organization I was once a part of.  Don't you think you may be exaggerating a bit?”  While this wasn't part of the plan, the orange alicorn took it all in stride and kept up the act.

“If only I was, but from what I've seen then I doubt they are much better than the eye-candy that just stands around Canterlot Palace.  They may look pretty but when something important comes up they are either absent or fail horribly.  I'd rather rely on some of the weather teams I've met since they at least have proven they can handle dangerous situations.”  The stallion frowned before it morphed into a smirk as he looked around at the insulted ponies hanging about the area as a plan formed in his mind.

“If you think that then how about we make a little bet?  If you really think that some no-name weather team can even hold a candle to the Wonderbolts then choose one to face them.  If your team wins then we'll allow one forfeit of your choice, but if the Wonderbolts win...”  He looks up at the pegasii in the air around them who were glaring at the princess.  “Well I'm pretty sure they can come up with something suitable by the time the competition starts.”  The princess pretends to ponder for a moment before nodding which caused the stallion's smile to widen as he turns towards Spitfire.

“Ah Captain, it seems we have come to an agreement.  Would you care to do the honors of setting up the rest of the details?”  The Wonderbolt Captain frowned slightly before she shook her head and waved a hoof towards the nearby offices.  She led the two princesses into the building and as soon as the door closed she let out a giant sigh and rubbed a hoof at the side of her head.

“Ugh, I am really starting to dislike that stallion.”  While Aegis Flare looked confused, Rainbow Dash smirked at the leader of the Equestrian flying team.

“Starting to finally think that I was right about trusting him?  I can't believe that I used to look up to him.”  While Spitfire nodded at her question, the other alicorn just grew more confused.

“Um, explanations please?  I still only know a small part of whatever this plan was and this Wind Rider was never part of it.”  Rainbow Dash sheepishly rubbed at the back of her head as Spitfire gave her an exasperated look before turning to the other princess.

“As your friend was supposed to tell you, this is all so that we can actually improve the training that the Wonderbolts go through.  I've managed to add one or two things over the years, but usually anything outside of what is 'traditional' is met with scorn.  Really, I'm only the captain of the Wonderbolts in name.  You saw what happened out there, as soon as Wind Rider showed up the entire team looked to him.  I never noticed it before until Princess Rainbow Dash said something and it started to stand out to me.”  The orange alicorn frown in thought as Rainbow Dash shook her head.

“Yeah, they even ignore me when I make suggestions and it's even worse when he is around.  I used to look up to him, but when I first met him something just felt  off about him.  I just can't figure out why it's happening, but it feels kind of like how I did when I ignored Twilight's warnings during her brother's wedding.”  Aegis Flare frowned at this before her expression turned thoughtful.

“Weird, something felt odd to me as well when he walked up, but it was coming more from some of the active Wonderbolts members.  I would swear that they were scared of him for some reason.”  As her frown returned, the pegasus looked confused for a moment before she shook her head.

“Well as interesting as that sounds, how about we get started on the rest of the plan.  Just who are you planning on challenging my ponies, and what will you be having them do that the can hope to challenge them at?”  Aegis Flare smirked as she rubbed a hoof at the end of her red braid as Rainbow Dash looked sheepish once again.

“Well I haven't thought of anything yet, but I figure that we can set up an obstacle course with a whole bunch of different things that a pegasus may have to deal with.  She had a few other ideas that she hasn't told me about yet.”  As the rainbow-maned mare gestured towards the other alicorn she shook stepped forward.

“Well I still have to find her, but I know a pony that can really help out.  I'll have to work out the details  with her when I find her, but I'm thinking a fake monster attack during the other tests will be the perfect test for who is better.  What do you think about it, Doctor Dash?”  She smirked at the mare as her jaw dropped before Rainbow Dash leveled a glare at her.  Spitfire just looked at the two for a moment before she dug through a nearby drawer and pulled out a folder wrapped in a red ribbon before digging through it hastily.

“Wait, are you saying that she actually had a doctorate?  But there was nothing about that in her file, just a brief mention of having taken a few classes before moving to Ponyville as the head weather manager.”  With a final glare at her smirking friend, Rainbow Dash sighed and hung her head.

“Yeah, I do.  I don't like talking much about it, but I completed my studies in the Weather Sciences to help out with my flying.  Knowing how the weather works makes it so much easier to plan out new tricks.”  Spitfire looked bemused as she slowly closed the fire and shook her head.

“Seriously?  It's too bad that you didn't mention that when you sent in your application.  Do you know how many pegasii there are that are both good fliers AND have an education like that?  With only one you would just be another common member, but with both you would have been thrown right into officer training and would have been accepted almost right away.  It's a pity that you grew a horn, right now we have almost no officer quality members, though Soarin is working on that issue.”  Spitfire gestured toward a picture frame on the wall which held a diploma of her own, one for Magical Theory.  Hearing and seeing all this caused Rainbow Dash's jaw to drop open before she let out a shout.

“MOTHERBU-!”

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“Come on Rainbow Dash, cheer up.  At least you know you have more in common with Spitfire than you thought and earned more of her respect.”  The cyan mare just mumbled grumpily at her friend as they walked back into Ponyville.  While she wouldn't admit anything, she actually felt relieved that her idol didn't reject her over having a diploma, and she especially wouldn't say anything about it to the mare next to her as she knew she would gloat about it.  It was still odd how she kept feeling things from the Wonderbolts, but she felt relieved for some reason after the little talk with Spitfire after her secret was revealed.  Before she could sink even deeper into her thoughts, the two ran into a familiar purple-maned filly.

“Scootaloo?  What are you doing out here?  Weren't you going to spend time with mom today?”  The filly looked up with a haunted look on her face before she shuddered.

“Yeah, well that was until those two ponies showed up and started talking to her for a while.  After a while they went upstairs and then the moaning a screams started.  I really did not need to hear my mom banging a couple ponies like that.”  Her sister's face froze up at that while Rainbow Dash looked down at the filly in shock.

“Wait, how do you even know that was what they were doing?  You're too young to know about something like that.”  Scootaloo just cocked her head to the side questioningly before replying.

“Why shouldn't I know?  Sis took me to the Canterlot Fancy House a couple years back and let me ask one of the mares there all kinds of questions.  Of course if I knew that I would be hearing my mom doing that stuff...”  The filly cut off with a shudder leaving Rainbow Dash with her jaw wide open in shock.  Looking over at the elder of the two sisters, the prismatic mare just pointed at her in shock over what she was told.  Shaking her head to clear it of the previous shock, Aegis Flare sighed in exasperation.

“What?  It's what my dad did for me.  Thestral culture actually places great importance on places like that for the health of the community.  'Better to know all the messy details than to hide it all and let horrible mistakes be made' was what he said to me.  Of course the Canterlot nobles may complain about it, but it doesn't stop them from using their services.  Most of the time they just hire them to stand next to them during their fancy parents just to brag.  In fact most of the mares and stallions that work there have more education than the average pony, and some even work as teachers at times.  It's not like sex is the only thing they do.”  She paused as she looked off in the direction of her home before looking back at the still shocked mare.

“You do realize who my sister was talking about right?  You know, the two ponies that we met earlier today that were supposed to be visiting my mother?”  Rainbow Dash's expression slowly shifted from shock to confusion, and from there back to mortified shock as she remembered earlier that day.

“Oh, buck me!”  As she took off towards the home of the two sisters, the two looked at each other before following after her at a slower pace.  Reaching their home the found the other alicorn flying above two of her parents with her face buried in her hooves.  Her father appeared to be groaning in pain as he was draped across the back of his wife who was also limping a bit.

“I can't believe you two!  I mean I would have expected this from dad, but you, too?!  Ugh, why must you always embarrass me like this?!  It was bad enough that he would flirt with my friends, but now to do... that... with one of my friend's moms?  Come on!”  The stallion could only groan as his daughter berated them while the older mare could only chuckle.  She lit her horn up to remove an ice pack from between her husbands legs and replace it with a fresh one before replying.

“Okay, so I still had some feelings for her after all these years, but you forgot to mention her little... issue before we came out here.  You should have known how that would have set your father off, and she's the one that reciprocated his affections.”  Rainbow Dash could only shake her head before sighing at the two.

“I didn't even know where you were going until after you abandoned us back home.”  She looked around to see nearby ponies starting to take interest in the conversation before frowning.  “We'll talk more later.  I assume that you two need some help getting back home since I doubt he'll be flying anytime soon.”  Seeing her mother nod she rubbed a hoof at the side of her head before turning to the orange alicorn.  “Flare, I'll talk to you later since these two won't be getting back by themselves without help.

“The two sisters watch as the three depart before slowly entering their home.  They soon find their mother humming happily as she cleaned up around the main room of the house.  They sat their watching her with wide eyes as she danced around, as well as she could with her prosthetic legs at least, until she turned around and spotted them.  Seeing the looks on their faces she just smiled sweetly at them.

“What?  You try being alone for over a decade with nobody to help scratch your itch.  I still miss your father, but he wouldn't want me to torture myself by staying alone, and Frost was always a good friend.  We were planning on inviting her to join us before the incident, too.”

Aegis Flare and Scootaloo looked at each other before simultaneously facehoofing, much to their mother's amusement.
> 58
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Aegis Flare yawned as she trudged her way through the Everfree, heading back towards Ponyville.  As she looked around she started to notice some familiar landmarks before she turned her head back to the passenger that was asleep on her back before she smiled.  It may not have been as long as her usual trips, but the last few days out were enjoyable as it got her away from the annoyances that came with being a princess, and the company wasn't so bad either.  Reaching her head back she nudged as the mare resting atop her. 




“Come on, wake up Fluttershy.  We're almost back home.”  The yellow alicorn let out a moan of annoyance at the prodding before she yawned cutely and raised her head to look around wearily.  She didn't react at first as she looked around, not seeing anything she recognized, but her cousin's words soon penetrated through to her sleepy mind causing her to look at her in surprise. 




“Weren't we still hours away from Ponyville?  Don't tell me you let me sleep all this time while you carried me.”  The orange mare just smiled sheepishly before she faced forward once again. 




“Well we did need to get back soon for that trip to the visit Cadance, and you really needed the rest.  Don't deny that you were struggling to keep up at times and I'm sure that our escort would love to get back sooner as well.”  Her response was met with a loud 'YES!' from somewhere behind them, followed by the sound of a hoof hitting flesh as hidden companion to the yelling guard facehoofed.  The two alicorns looked back in the direction the commotion came from before turning to each other once again as Fluttershy climbed off her cousins back while blushing. 




“Well, I guess I can see your point, but you still shouldn't have let me sleep the whole way.  Weren't you lonely with nopony to talk to?”  Aegis Flare just shook her head as the two started to walk towards the exit of the forest. 




“Actually, it's been rather refreshing.  It's been a while since I've been able to come out here and I've forgotten how enjoyable it was.  Of course I could have done without the little crash earlier when I tried to fly.  No wonder Rainbow Dash avoided it when she could out here since only your internal magic is reliable.”  The two winced as they remembered the alicorn shaped hole in the side of the cliff from where she had found this all out.  While remembering that incident a few more recent memories came to mind causing the bat-winged alicorn to chuckle. 




“Still, it was worth it to see your reaction to what we found out here.  It was so cute how you reacted to us finding that phoenix nest.  Then there was that giant panda that just wouldn't let you go and kept cuddling you for a couple hours.”  Fluttershy blushed as her cousin laughed and she drifted off into an embarassed silence.  With her shyness brought to the forefront again, the two walked in silence leaving Aegis Flare to her thoughts once again.  As her thoughts started to drift, the orange alicorn frowned as she glanced over at her cousin. 




“Hey, Fluttershy?  Would it make me a bad pony that I am relieved that I don't have to take care of Scootaloo anymore?  I mean, don't get me wrong, I still love her, but it's just...”  She paused as she tried to find the words she was looking for.  Fluttershy sadly shook her head and moved up to lay a wing over the orange mare's back. 




“I think I understand what you mean, and it doesn't make you a bad pony.  You've had to take care of not only her, but yourself at too young of an age.  Now that your mother is back, everything is no longer on you to take care of your family and you can actually do things for yourself.  Everypony needs time to yourself, even from loved ones.  I love Big Mac and Cheerilee,  but there are still times when I just need to be alone.”  Aegis Flare sighed as she leaned into Fluttershy as they walked through the trees.  Looking around the yellow mare still couldn't recognize anything that indicated that they were close to the edge of the forest causing her to press closer to her cousin. 




“Um, if I may ask, but...  How do you know that we are almost back to Ponyville?”  The orange mare's ear twitched as she heard the question before glancing back. 




“A few things really.  I recognize some of the area and it also feels lighter which means that we are in the area affected by the Tree of Harmony.”  She paused as a howl rang out in the distance causing her to frown as Fluttershy shrank back.  “Then there is the oh so familiar sound of those timberwolves.”  She was stopped once again as a familiar scream of panic followed the sound of the howling causing her to bring a hoof up to her face.  “And the sound of my sister and her friends getting into trouble once again.” 




With a sigh she charges off in the direction of the screams with Fluttershy following not far behind.  Soon they reached the edge of the forest near Ponyville where they saw a pack of timberwolves chasing the Cutie Mark Crusaders and one other familiar filly.  Seeing the fillies in danger, Fluttershy's eyes widened as she prepared to fly over and use her Stare on the wooden creatures before a shrill whistle from next to her startled her into cowering under her forelegs.  Peeking from under her mane she saw Aegis Flare lowering a hoof from her mouth after unleashing the shrill sound. 




She wasn't the only one as the heads of the other two parties turned towards the sound to varying reactions.  While the quartet of fillies were relieved, the eyes of the timberwolves started to glow with hatred as they locked onto her and the pack immediately began to charge her.  The alicorn sighed as the wooden creatures charged at her before her horn lit up creating a sheet of energy above them.  Before they could react the alicorn smashed it down onto them, crushing them into the ground.  After raising the barrier off of them, a few wisps of green flew off to the Everfree while a couple of the wolves tried to rise once again.  Seeing them recovering, the mare slammed the barrier down a few more times before dispelling it as a cloud of green fled away. 




The fillies started to cheer until the orange alicorn's attention turned to them and she leveled a glare at them, reminding them that the trouble wasn't over yet.  As the alicorn stomped towards them she recognized the fourth filly as D, and she paused for a moment wondering where her mother was. 




“What are you three doing out here now with those things?  And dragging another filly into it as well?!  Where's your mother at D?”  The four fillies cringed down at her tone, feeling ashamed at being caught.  Before any of them could say anything a ghostly figure faded in between the mare and fillies.  Tender Apple rose a hoof and shook her head at the alicorn. 




“Tried to... stop them...  Wolves bite... hurt me...”  Looking closely the alicorn could see parts of the mare's leg having scrapes in it as if something had bit her.  This was something she didn't know that the timberwolves could do and she frowned in thought, not seeing the youngest filly of the four advancing on the pile of kindling which was starting to rustle or commenting on how the mare was able to talk, even in such a limited manner.  Looking at her sister her frown deepened, though she spoke in a calmer tone. 




“Well?  You still haven't answered me.”  As she tapped her hoof on the ground, the three fillies looked at each other before Applebloom stepped forward. 




“Um, it was all my idea, really.  You see I was trying to build something and I wanted to see how timberwolves worked.  We almost had one caught too, until the cage turned into more of them.  We didn't know that it could turn wood like that into more of itself.”  Aegis Flare frowned as she hadn't seen them do anything like that before either, except when they were near their spawning den.  The bit of them being able to harm incorporeal creatures was something new as well.  Her contemplation was was interrupted by the sound of growling behind her, causing her head to shoot around to see a timberwolf reassembling itself over the filly she had overlooked.  Before she could do anything the filly reached up and slapped the timberwolf across the snout with a hoof. 




“Bad doggy!”  As her hoof hit the wooden creature a cloud of green erupted from it before dissipating into the air leaving the creature frozen in place with glowing white eyes.  Everyone stayed frozen in place, waiting for something to happen, but the creature didn't move or even seem to be alive despite the fact that it was still standing.  Tender Apple moved to float between it and her child before poking at it with a hoof which proved to be a mistake.  As her body came into contact with the creature she let out a shriek that caused the others to cover their ears before she vanished into the timberwolf and it collapsed to the ground in pieces. 




“MOMMY!”  Seeing her mother vanish like that caused D to panic and start grabbing at the pieces with her hooves.  The fact that she could no longer even feel her mother, a presence that she had always felt since she was born, didn't help matters.  As tears started to form in her eyes, the pile of wood started to flow together as a hoof rose out of it to brush against her cheek. 




“Don't cry... little one.  Mommy's here.”  The voice lacked the unearthly echo from before and was replaced with a more earthly grating sound, but it was still recognizable as Tender Apple's.  As her head formed out of the pile, she noticed her wooden hoof that was wrapped with plant matter causing her to pause in shock.  “I... I'm alive?”  Seeing this the filly threw herself into her mother's chest, bawling her eyes out before being surrounded by the three other fillies.  They babbled on at the two before the froze and pointed at the filly's flank. 




“D!  Your Cutie Mark!”  Turning to look the filly's eyes widened as she saw a white cross with a hook on the bottom of it on her flank.  Seeing it cleared her tears right up as she started bouncing around her mother in excitement proclaiming that day as 'the best day ever.'  The two alicorns looked at each other wondering just what this all meant for the future. 




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“...and that's the what I could figure out so far.  Her body seems to be completely stable but I'm wanting your opinions on all of this.”  Aegis Flare looked at the two glowing gems in front of her while she was on the train to the Crystal Empire.  It had been a couple days since Tender Apple's strange resurrection, but she needed time for Derpy to deliver a communication gem to an expert before she could get answers.  It was only after getting on the train with the other six Ponyville princesses that it had arrived with him which was why she was now in a three-way call with her expert and Celestia.  While Celestia was currently quiet, a rich male voice rang out from the other gem. 




“Well, my dear I just may have the answer for you.  In all my years I have seen many necromancers, but most that are naturally gifted end up like the young mistress.  It is just a shame that all mention of spirit guides have fallen out of your history books, isn't that right Lady of the Sun?”  The orange mare could hear grumbling come from the other gem before Celestia's voice sounded through it. 




“Not all of the books are gone, but they are heavily restricted.  Magic of that kind has not been seen in Equestria for centuries so it has not been needed, Lord Grimfeather.”  Aegis Flare pondered this as she looked between the two gems. 




“So what does this all mean?  And should we be worried at all?  The mare has been getting along with the two that practically adopted her daughter so I'd like to know if I should warn them of anything.”  There was silence from the two gems for a moment before the one from the expert spoke grimly. 




“There is no need to worry about them.  But you should be wary of why a pony with the ability to guide the dead to where they belong has appeared after so long.  Destiny is a fickle mistress but does nothing without a reason.”  The mare silent at this before a shudder went through her form.  After getting a quick info-dump from both sides there was little else to talk about so she bid the two farewell before turning to look at the rest of the train car and her friends. 




“So who was that you were talking to, darling?  From the sound of his voice he must be very... interesting.”  Aegis Flare was surprised to find Rarity right up in her face when she finished her conversation and flinched back.  The white mare looked sheepish at her friends reaction, only now realizing how close she was before she backed of a short distance.  The orange mare didn't answer right away as she looked around the royal train car they were riding towards the frozen north.  The rest of their friends were around the car doing various things, though Pinkie looked up when her gaze passed over her and pointed a hoof at her eyes and then towards her, and she had to admit that this part of being royalty wasn't all that bad. 




Unlike the rest of the train, the royal car had a multitude of spells on it making it as comfortable as one of the guest rooms in Canterlot's palace and nearly as large as well on the inside.  Along with the spells making it larger on the inside of the car than outside, were ones preventing all outside motion from reaching the passengers granting the illusion of being in one of those rooms as well.  Even the storage compartments were filled with anything one of the princesses could want on trips of any length around Equestria.  With a sigh Aegis Flare returned her attention to Rarity. 




“His name is Grimfeather, and he is the second-in-command of a village on the edge of Equestrian borders.  I can't tell you which one as I have promised not to reveal anything specific about it.”  She pauses for a moment as she looks closely at Rarity's face and the sly expression on it.  “And no, there is nothing like that going on.  He isn't my type and I can assure you that he isn't yours either.”  Rarity pouted for a moment before she sighed and looked towards the others to see Pinkie once again glaring over at the bat-winged alicorn. 




“Pity, though I doubt that you know what I'm looking for in a stallion, even if we have been friends for so long.  Now perhaps you could explain to me why dear Pinkie Pie keeps on looking over at you like that?”  Glancing over at the indicated alicorn Aegis Flare just shook her head. 




“No clue, but she's been doing that ever since she got the Cakes to take those two guards on as helpers around the shop.  What I'm more worried about is Twilight over there.”  Looking at the studious mare, Rarity had to admit that her friend had a point as Twilight was starting to look a bit disheveled over what she was reading.  The two moved to join her in hopes of heading off a potential breakdown. 




“What's wrong Twilight?  You're looking a bit... stressed.”  Twilight jerked in surprise at the interruption, having been so focused that she hadn't noticed them approach.  On seeing them and processing the question she leaned back from her work before bringing a hoof to her chest and extending it out. 




“It's, well.  I want to say it's nothing but this is just so frustrating.  You see when all this...”  She waved to the wings of the three, “...happened there has been a lot of paperwork to fill out.  One of the things Princess Celestia has had me do was track down the family history of all of us so that it could be properly recorded in the royal archives.  It was rather interesting researching this, I even found out that the Pie and Apple families are distantly related, but then I ran across a major problem when it cam to your family.”  Twilight looked directly at Aegis Flare for this who quirked an eyebrow in interest. 




“Because you were adopted I thought it would be impossible to find anything on your history, but when I used a common medical spell it actually found a match in the archives.  The problem is that what it showed me is completely impossible.”  Twilight's face took on the most serious visage either of her friends had ever had before.  “If what it say was right, your biological parents are Black Guard Captains Vanator and Bella Donna.”  The two mares were silent in shock before Rarity spoke up. 




“But Twilight, that's impossible.  Flare said that they found her abandoned out in the Everfree.  Why would they throw her away just to pretend that they didn't know her and adopt her?”  Twilight shook her head as a look of confusion fell over her. 




“I have no idea.  I mean it's not like she appeared out of nowhere or somethi...”  Twilight stopped as something occurred to her that had been bugging her for a while.  By this time Aegis Flare had managed to shake off her shock and look at the purple alicorn curiously. 




“Twilight?  What is it?”  Twilight frowned for a moment before she groaned in frustration. 




“Ugh, I have no idea but if I'm right I think I might know where your parents are.  Remember how when I chased Sunset Shimmer into that other world I said that I saw copies off all but you and me?  What if, somehow, on the day Rainbow Dash performed her Sonic Rainboom you somehow were pulled from that world into this one?”  The two mares stared at her with their jaws open before shaking their heads. 




“That's interesting and all, but it's not like it matters.  First, we have no way to tell if it's true.  Secondly, does it really even matter?  This has been my home for as long as I can remember, and as far as I am concerned my parents are who they have always been.”  The two just stare at Aegis Flare before Twilight sighs in disappointment. 




“You're right, as much as I hate to admit it.  I wouldn't even know where to begin researching this right now since everything is over on the other side of the mirror.  Well, unless I could somehow go back there to see it all happen...”  As Twilight pondered the idea, she didn't notice as the bat-winged alicorn's horn lit up and pulled a rolled up newspaper out of her bags. 




“No!  Bad Twilight!  No using time magic to try and fix your problems... again!”  Twilight flailed her hooves as the newspaper swatted at her nose and horn in a panic. 




“All right, all right, I won't!  Cut it out!”  Aegis Flare got a couple more swats in so that she knew that her message had sunk in before putting it away again.  “Why are you still carrying that thing around, anyway!?  I recognize that issue from the last time you used it.”  Her only response was a shrug from her friend as she leaned towards the back of her seat. 




“Eh, I've found that it works better than just words to get through to some ponies.  Besides, with our luck if you went back you would find out that you caused the timberwolves to attack me somehow.”  Twilight grumbled as she started putting her notes away on the families of the seven alicorns.  She brightened up as she pulled out a different set and looked up at Aegis Flare. 




“While I may not be able to do anything about that, then that means that I can focus on this then!  What have you found out about Tender Apple and her new body!?”  The two mares across from her rolled their eyes at their friend before the orange mare gave a small smile. 




“Well at least necromancy is a safer topic than time magic.”  This earned a pair of deadpan stares, but they didn't interrupt her.  Hearing the topic change to that of her relative, Applejack left her place by Pinkie to sit in on the conversation.  “Well there isn't much to tell yet without a full examination being sent over, but I did find out a few things.  First, her change is most likely permanent, though her form will still be stabilizing for a while.  He couldn't tell me just how far the changes will go, but considering her appetite who knows how far they will go.  It seems that when D hit the timberwolf she caused it to eject everything in it except for a piece of pure soul.  When her mother touched it that piece sucked her in and her memories of her old body remade all the wood in the pile into a new one, including her old cutie mark.”  Applejack frowned at this before she shook her head. 




“That just ain't natural.  But she is family in the end...  Ah really don't know how the rest of the family will react though.  Ah just got done telling them how she died not too long ago.  Still, if her cutie mark is there then that must mean something.”  Rainbow Dash had been listening in on this and chuckled at the farm mare. 




“Your family will be fine I bet.  Your family has always been close to your trees, she's just taken that even further.  I bet she could give Fluttershy some tips on being a tree.”  The prismatic mare's comment and following laughter earned her a glare from both Applejack and the previously mentioned mare.  Still, Fluttershy looked thoughtful for a moment before she shook her head and turned back to talking with Pinkie Pie about her recent trip with the Apple Family.  Aegis Flare just shook her head before continuing. 




“Anyways, until we know the extent of her changes there will be someone keeping an eye on her.  Luckily enough she's already good friends with the two Captains that will be watching over her. Much to her daughter's delight.  I just hope that D finding her cutie mark like this isn't a sign of things to come.”  Her words were met with nods as the train rolled on towards the Crystal Empire. 




<><><><><><><><><><> 




“...after finding out that she stole half of the designs that I was preparing to submit, well, I didn't really take it well.  It took me months just to get that persona set up so that I could continue with my passion and she ruined it in less than a day.  I should have listened to my friends when they suggested a less known pony, but I thought I knew better.  Still, even after being forced to ruin all that work by revealing myself in front of the fashion show to denounce her, I did manage to find a pony to help out.  It turns out that Coco was also having her work stolen as well but she never said anything since she had only recently started designing and needed the exposure.  At least now the poor dear is going to help me out as I start up a new persona and at the same time she gets the help she needs making a name for herself.  It should be easy for her if that thread she created is any indication of her skill.”  Princess Cadance nodded as Rarity finished her story about her recent adventures of the problems of princess-hood.  The eight alicorns were relaxing in one of the large pools within the Alicorn of Love's home, taking some time to relax after the long train ride. 




“That is quite a story.  But I was just asking what made you all decide to come visit today.  There isn't anything wrong that I should know about, is there?”  Cadance's sister-in-law rolled her eyes, even if she had to admit that most times they had met recently had led to some rather interesting problems. 




“Oh relax, Cadance.  Nothing is going to happen this time.  It's not like there just has to be a problem that pops up every time that we meet.  Why?  Do you know about something we don't?”  Cadance's eyes shifted from side to side as she nervously looked about. 




“Nope!  Nope!  Everything is perfectly fine!”  Her obvious avoidance of the issue raised a few eyebrows, but they ignored it for now.  Rainbow Dash rubbed at the back of her head as she spoke up. 




“Um, yeah.  It's actually about all these new things we gained when we became alicorns.  I've heard about how you were a pegasus before and wondered if you had any tips on how to deal with it all.  I'm getting better using magic, but it still feels wrong.  And that's not even going into these odd feelings I've been getting around other ponies that I don't even know how to explain.”  Some of the others that weren't unicorns previously nodded along with her and Aegis Flare raised a wing. 




“She isn't the only one feeling something odd.  I think that it might have something to do with our alicorn abilities, but we couldn't really ask Celestia or Luna since there's deal with a more physical object, while you may actually have a better idea how they work since yours seems to deal with something intangible as well.”  The Crystal Princess looks thoughtful, thankful that the topic was changed to something interesting, before she frowned. 




“I'm not sure how much I can tell you, but most of what I can do is all instinct.  It's not really something you can control, not even my aunties can fully control their powers.”  The others looked at her in confusion for a moment before she cocked her head to the side.  “What?  Haven't they told you yet about how their little show of raising the sun and moon is mostly an act?  As long as their magic isn't being blocked somehow they unconsciously move them and it's only during special occasions that they show off like they do.”  The mares looked at her dumbfounded until Aegis Flare looks thoughtful and shrugs. 




“That makes sense.  I was always wondering how Luna could stay up so late and fall asleep until lunch time.”  While she was accepting of it, the others weren't quite sure how to react, especially when Twilight's mane started to pop out of place. 




“What do you mean they don't really raise the sun and moon?!  But every book I've read says that they control them every sunrise and sunset!”  Cadance rolled her eyes at her sister-in-law before bringing a hoof up to rub her head. 




“Twilight?  If they had to move the sun and moon constantly like that, don't you think there would be issues if they had to travel across the world?  They wouldn't have been able to keep time reliably if they had to consciously control their powers at all times.”  At the explanation, Twilight brought a hoof up to her chest before extending it again, trying to calm down.  She still made a note to talk with her former mentor though, about the issue when she could. 




“Still, about your abilities you will just have to get used to them over time.  There just isn't much that you can learn from others as your abilities should be unique to yourselves.”  At them being called unique, Twilight got a thoughtful look on her face. 




“Hmm, I wonder...”  The others looked over at her as she looked towards the other pink alicorn in the room.  “This may sound crazy, but I bet that explains how Pinkie could do everything she does.  I mean if you take into account the Element she represents then everything she does relates.  She seems to always know when somepony is sad, and always is ready to cheer them up.  Even her Pinkie Sense seems to work along those lines, though what happens afterwards may not be all that fun for the one targeted by it until much later.”  The alicorns all look towards the pink party pony, who was busy playing with a pair of boats, oblivious to everything going on around her.  Shaking her head to clear her head of any thoughts on the confusing pony, Applejack's mind goes back to a previous topic that had been bothering her. 




“So what was that ya were talking about earlier?  Some problem that ya know about that ya didn't want ta talk about and made it obvious that ya knew of?”  Cadance's eyes widened as they shout around the room over the gathered alicorns. 




“Uh, I don't know what you're talking about.”  As she caught sight of the farm mare's deadpan stare and slowly raising eyebrow, she remembered just who she was talking to and what she represented.  With a sigh she looked down before shaking her head. 




“Fine.  Auntie didn't want me to say anything and let you find out about it yourself, but they're starting to cause problems.  It wouldn't be right for me to do anything about them since they are your worshipers, but they are starting to turn towards more violent means to spread their so-called holy word.  Ugh, they're almost as bad as mine at the Love Shacks.”  The seven mares looked at her in shock before Aegis Flare buried both hooves into her face. 




“Ugh, already!?  Couldn't they have waited like fifty years or so before coming out like this?”  Her response snapped the others out of there shock as they turned to stare at her.  Looking back at them she tilted her head to the side. 




“What?”
> 59
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“In this corner we have the Master of Shields!  The Prince of the Pink Pony of Plentiful Pleasure!  The White Knight of all White Knights!  The...”

“Pinkie!”  The pink paused in her commentating to look at the other alicorns, one of them blushing, as they sat in the stands of the Crystal Coliseum.

“I really don't think we need you to tell us who they are.  It's just Flare and my brother having a sparring match.  Though why they are doing this now when we should be heading to check on these so-called worshipers of ours I'll never know.”  Pinkie Pie turned to the peeved purple pony princess with a pointedly pitiful pout.

“Aww, but he finally let me talk for once and you know how hard it is for me to not say anything when I have something to say and he had better let me talk during the party and...”  The other alicorns tuned the pink party princess out as she started to go off into her own little world, though Cadance was confused about much of what she was saying, before the other pink princess turned to her sister-in-law.

“Well Shiny has always wanted to face your friend ever since he heard about her deeds during our wedding.  There are very few unicorns that are specialized in shield spells like they are and he has wanted to see how well another practitioner would be against him.  He really hasn't had a good challenge since he became the Captain of the Royal Guard and this is the first chance they've had to test each other without some major event taking up their time.”  Twilight raised an eyebrow at her fellow princess before she shook her head.

“Seriously?  The fact that we have ponies building a shrine to us and doing Celestia knows what else doesn't count as a major event?!  I mean, sure it's not as bad as say Sombra or the changelings, but it's still pretty major!”  As Twilight's mane started to pop out of place due to her annoyance, Applejack moved to place a hoof on her shoulder which calmed her some.

“Calm down, Sugarcube.  It's not like we don't' think it's important, but that we have no idea what we are dealing with.  Well, Flare seems ta know something but she said she would tell us after this.”  Twilight just started grumbling to herself as she looked around the arena at the small number of crystal ponies gathered there.  There were surprisingly more than would have been expected at such an event, yet considering who was fighting it may have been understandable.  When she looked back out onto the field her jaw dropped at what she saw.

“What?!”  Looking out on the field her eyes locked onto her brother as he pulled out a set of seven spears and took his place on one end of the field.  “He's actually going to start with using his Orochi style?!  I helped him practice for a couple years before moving to Ponyville and he never once brought it out when facing me!”  The others blinked at her before Rarity cleared her throat.

“Um, darling?  Isn't that name for a monster with eight heads?  Shining Armor only has seven spears.”  Twilight's eye was twitching as she looked at the two competitors stare at each other over the field as a crystal pony checks in with both to see if the are ready.

“The eighth is his horn, and we are so going to have words once he is done.”  All conversation stopped as the referee moved to the center of the arena and raised a hoof to the sky.  The two ponies in the arena spread their legs to the sides in preparation before the referee's hoof dropped, signaling the start of the fight.

As soon as the hoof hit the ground the two sprang into action.  That action being of lighting up their horns and a dome of energy surrounding each of them.  For the next few seconds nothing happened as the two stared at each other until Aegis Flare rolled her eyes.  Walking forward to the edge of her shield, she walked through it causing it to mold over her before the larger part of it shattered away leaving her in a shell of energy. As she cautiously advanced on Shining Armor's shield she called up a half dozen orbs of energy which she set into floating around her head as she looked over her opponents barrier.

Shining Armor watched as she advanced, curious as to what she would do, though his interest was also piqued by the spells she was using.  When she turned around at the edge of his shield he frowned in confusion until her legs pulled back sharply before slamming into the glowing wall.  On impact, a shockwave spread out from the point of impact sending dust flying from the area.  Shining Armor winced at the impact before his eyes widened in realization of just how bad it was to allow her free rein like that.

After retracting her legs with a wince, the alicorn mare looked back with a frown before her own eyes widened at the sight of seven projectiles flying towards her.  She quickly rolled to the side to avoid the first two while using her floating shields to knock the next four off to the sides then retreating away as the last hit in front of her.  Coming to a halt a distance away she smirked at the unicorn, knowing she had at least rattled him before charging in once again as he started to retrieve his spears.

Seeing the mare charge in once again before he was ready, Shining Armor quickly spun his spears around to fly back at her yet again, just to watch her orbs spin around rapidly in front of her to knock them all away yet again.  When she planted her hooves just before his shield and started to spin her rear around for another buck his eyes widened before he retracted hi shield out of her bucking range.  What he wasn't prepared for though was that she expected something like this and as the wall of energy retreated her wings flared out and swung around in a motion to propel her backwards towards it allowing her to unleash a flying buck into the shield, causing a web of cracks to appear in it.

Seeing this Shining Armor reacted by expanding his barrier outwards, sending her flying a decent way across the arena.  As she landed at the midpoint she quickly rolled to her hooves and stared across the arena and tried to plot out her next course of action.  Shining Armor wasn't going to give her a chance though as he started to march across the field, moving his shield as he went.  He didn't give the alicorn time to react as he moved to drive her into a corner by harassing her flanks with his spears.

Aegis Flare frowned as the unicorn advanced on her while trying to drive her back.  The cracked portion of the shield had been rotated away and was slowly repairing itself so she couldn't exploit that but she did have an idea.  Faking a charge towards her opponent she made as if to buck the shield again but used her rotation to hide the fact that she conjured up to more orbs and sent them under the ground at her hooves.  As she expected, the pink bubble expanded to throw her away, forcing her to flap her wings to push herself away again.

With her trap in place, she slowly retreated once again using her other barrier orbs as a distraction.  She kept a pair of them trying to go for the cracked part of the shield but it constantly rotated away from them.  When the shield passed over the area she had tampered with she grinned as the ground exploded upwards on the inside of the shield and two orbs darted towards Shining Armor.

Seeing an attack inside of his shield caused the stallion to panic and dive to the side to avoid them, making him lose his concentration and causing his shield and spears to fall.  The spheres chased him back to his end of the arena before his horn lit up and another shield expanded out from him, knocking the attackers away once again.  With everything back to where it started the two looked across the arena at each other.

Deciding to up the difficulty, Shining Armor not only sent out his spears but also started firing energy bolts at his opponent.  Aegis Flare also stepped it up since her earlier gambit more than likely wouldn't work again so she doubled the number of orbs flying around.  Keeping four of them on defense, the rest  she sent to repeatedly batter at one point on the shield.  Shining armor frowned as he steadily reinforced the area being attacked, each of the orbs hitting the precise area.

The alicorn payed close attention to the shield and noticed that the area she was attacking was starting to take on a more solid appearance while the rest of it faded.  Bringing up two last spheres she quickly sent them high into the air before causing them to spin and lengthen.  Soon the two spheres had lengthened into a sharp point before the plummeted towards two points in the shield.  Just before impact, Shining Armor noticed the new angle of attack, but it was to late to react as they hit the weakened parts of the shield and barreled on through.

With no other course of action the stallion was forced to dodge out of the way before they impaled him.  Once again he was sent on the run as his shield was once again penetrated and he had to regroup at the edge of the arena.  The two frowned at each other at the way the match was going, but for different reasons.

The stallion was surprised that the shield he had taken pride in had been bypassed twice so far, which very few had been able to do.  The mare on the other hoof was starting to feel weary as her magic was starting to run low, not being able to recharge like the stallion could.  They both knew that things couldn't go on much longer like this, so decided to put everything into the next attack.

As Shining Armor brought up another shield, the alicorn decided to bring out the other side of her magic since the stallion had already used magic outside of his shields.  Taking a wide-legged stance, Aegis Flare began to call up her flames and send them to wrap around the stallions bubble.  Shining Armor frowned at this new angle of attack, but he started to panic when he felt the magic he was putting into the shield draining out of it.

He began to pour more magic into his shield, but soon ran into a problem as he started having trouble pulling more magic in.  Soon he had to rely on his own personal magic to keep it powered, yet there was still a massive drain, more than should have been possible from simple fire.  Eventually he had to dispel his own shield before he ran out of energy and prepared to dive away when the attack closed in on him.  So imagine his surprise that no attack came when he dropped his shield, carrying the flames with it.

The two stared at each other across the field, panting in exhaustion at having to go all out.  Seeing that their opponent was in the same state they were, they each turned to the referee and raised a hoof to him.  With a surprised look, the crystal pony ran to the center of the arena.  “By unanimous agreement, this match is a draw!”  As muttering passed through the observing ponies, the two made their way towards the exit.  Shining Armor glanced over at the alicorn with a frown.

“I really have to commend you.  Not many have been able to actually get through my shield, yet you did it three times.”  Aegis Flare returned his glance as she limped out of the arena.

“I'm guessing that Twilight is probably one of the few that got through.  I probably would have done better if the terrain was something other than a flat plain, though I'd guess you probably haven't faced single opponents with how I was able to get through like I did.”  Shining Armor nodded at her guess, though he frowned about the first part of her observation.

“Hmph, be that as it may, Twilight cheated to get through.  She couldn't even batter through with all of her power and then she starts hijacking my magic.”  Unbeknownst to the stallion, a certain purple pony was standing behind him with a peeved expression on her face.

“Cheating was I?  You were the one that forgot about Xerox's Law of Simulacrum Semblances and Similitudes!”  Shining Armor jumped when his sister yelled out behind him but quickly turned around to glare at her.

“And other than you who would even be able to do that?!  You were supposed to help me train for any possible enemies that I may face!  Not try and embarrass me in front of the other guards!”  Cadance groaned as the two started arguing back and forth and waved the other alicorns forward.

“Oh, not this again.  Come on, these two will be at this all day and you wanted to see that church.  Honestly I thought those two would have grown out of this years ago.”  Applejack chuckled as she trotted up next to the taller alicorn.

“Aww let them be.  Ya should see me and Big Mac when we get into it.  It's just how brothers and sisters act sometimes.  But no matter how much we fought we always loved each other.  I'm sure that it's the same with those two as well.”  Cadance sighed before she nodded in agreement.

“True, and sometimes getting them to start in on each other was the only way to get Twilight out of the library.  It's just annoying how they always seem to get like this at the worst times as well.  But that can wait, what's important now is what all of you know about the churches, especially you Flare since you seem to know a bit more than the others.”  Aegis Flare frowned for a moment while everyone turned their attention to her.

“Well I probably don't know much more than the others, but I did learn a few lesser known things.  The worst is the fact that it is impossible to stop it from forming, though I was honestly hoping for a few more years.  Also trying to stop ponies from worshiping us would be a bad idea unless you'd like them to go underground and possibly go out of control.  We don't need another Nightmare Cult rising when worshipers of Luna were forced into hiding a thousand years ago.”  She pauses in thought as the group approaches a familiar looking guard.  “Oh yeah, and the changelings.”  Cadance froze in place at the word as she looked around fearfully.

“Changelings?!  What do they have to do with the church?”  Aegis Flare smirked as she moved towards the pair of guards they were about to pass.

“I don't know, why do you think that changelings would be around a bunch of ponies in a church?”  The familiar looking guard rolled his eyes before returning her smirk.  With a flash of green flames the pony's form burned away revealing Thorax to the group.

“Why are you asking me?  Why would I know why a bunch of changelings the feed on emotions would be in a highly emotional environment?”  Most of the mares were shocked at the appearance of the changeling until they recognized who it was, but Cadance had yet to meet him so let out a shriek of panic.  At her shriek a blur of white and blue sped past the group and the changeling was encased in a pink bubble.  The changeling rolled his eyes before looking at the form of Shining Armor who had rushed forward at his wife's scream.

“Seriously?”  Staring at the glaring unicorn for a moment the changeling eventually sighed before his form was covered by a flash of green flame yet again leaving him in a pegasus form.  With a casual wave of his wings a burst of air flew out from him and disrupted the shield around him with a pop.  Shaking himself off he changed back to his previous form and looked over at the prince and princess that were staring at him in shock.

“Did...  Did a changeling just use the Breaking Wind skill!?  How does a changeling know how to use the pegasii anti-unicorn technique!?”  Both Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash started chuckling at the name of the technique, with the other mares shaking their heads at them, before Aegis Flare stepped forward to introduce the changeling.

“I would have thought you two would have heard of him, but I guess not.  This is Secret Agent Thorax of the Black Guard.  Also I'm still learning just what all he can do, but only my mother seems to know all that he knows.”  Shining Armor frowns at the changeling, but still nods as he had heard about the illusive secret member of the Black Guard and it being a changeling made an odd amount of sense.  Cadance though was still wary as she lifted a hoof to wave at him from behind her husband.

“If you say so, but are you really sure about him?  You do remember their queen, right?”  Aegis Flare had to facehoof at this and just wondered where the lines of communication were between Canterlot and the Crystal Empire.

“I would have thought that Celestia would have told you.  We found out that Chrysalis, the so-called queen, is actually a renegade changeling.  Blueblood is in negotiations with their actual leaders, though it's unlikely that they'll reveal themselves anytime soon, especially those practically running the churches.”  Twilight had caught up by this point, though she continued to glare at her brother, and cut in on the conversation.

“Well, the emotions that come with feelings of worship are one of their primary food sources so it makes sense that they would want to keep that hidden.  From what my research says it is one of the more filling types of emotions they can harvest, though it is supposedly very bland.  Now do we really have time to waste here when we have a church to get to?”  The other royalty looked at Twilight as her eye began to twitch due to her impatience.  Looking to each other they nodded as they continued on the path to the exit of the royal palace.  As they didn't want to draw much attention to themselves, they boarded a carriage and had some of the guards pull them to their destination.

“So, just how did you get through my shield like that back there?  The first time was so obvious that I'm ashamed that I didn't realize it, but what about the other two times?”  The bat-winged alicorn looked from the window to the unicorn that had taken a seat next to her in the carriage.  Gazing past him for a moment she noticed Cadance on his other side talking with Twilight, and Fluttershy past her.  On the opposite bench, starting with in front of her and toward Fluttershy, were Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash.  Thorax happened to follow along as well but was on top of the carriage, along with his student Dies Horribly.

“Well the first time you mentioned I was unsure if it would work.  I could see how you were moving it through the ground, but I wasn't completely sure just how much you were blocking under it.  I was pretty sure you couldn't do too much though otherwise you would be getting caught on everything underground that you weren't expecting.  So I just dropped a couple unmoving shields down there and let you walk into them.”  Shining Armor frowned at this information but nodded as he promised himself to fix that little problem.

“The other time I had to resort to using one of my special spells.  I've managed to come up with a flame spell that feeds off of magic, so once it was wrapped around your shield it just constantly fed off of it until you used up all the magic contained within and could no longer draw on an outside source.  It's still not fully complete, but it only causes things to blow up one time of of ten now.”  The stallion leaned away from her at her revelation and wondered just what type of friends his sister had.  The carriage soon came to a halt as it arrived at their destination and the alicorns all looked out the window with a gasp.

“What did they do to that beautiful statue of us?”  All eyes were glued on the spot Rarity pointed out that once had a statue commemorating their efforts in saving the kingdom.  In its place was a statue of all of them with their backs towards each other, wings spread and forehooves in a praying gesture.  Each of the seven were also adorned with a plain robe that Rarity would never deign to wear or allow her friends to wear either.

“That's only the start of it.  While the building is still rather plain, you should see the plans they have for it.”  Cadance gestured a hoof towards a crystal building that was indistinguishable from all of the others around it.  The rest of the area was rather empty considering the time of day, but they could hear the sound of a large number of ponies coming from one of the buildings.

“All praise the saviors!  Those that have risen beyond their mortality to join the ranks of the gods!  All hail the Goddesses of Harmony!”

“All Hail!”

“Now, I shall read from the Great Book of Friendship.”  The seven mares listened in on the pony leading the gathering from the back of the room for a few minutes when Twilight realized why the passages they were reading sounded familiar.

“Those were the Friendship Lessons I sent to Princess Celestia!  How did they get those!?”  Her cry of surprise was enough to draw the attention of some of the ponies in the back of the room who gasped when they turned to see who was making so much noise.  Word quickly passed from pony to pony until the entire room was looking at them.  Moments later the entire room was bowing to the seven alicorns as Cadance looked on from behind them, her husband waiting outside, with a combination of pity and amusement as she remembered her own experiences.

The reactions of the seven alicorns varied as they took in the sight before them.  Fluttershy was hiding behind her mane and Applejack her hat as they had no idea how to deal with the situation.  Rarity was little better as her face reddened from embarrassment while Pinkie Pie just looked oblivious as she bounced in place next to the others.  Lastly, both Twilight and Aegis Flare were face hoofing as Rainbow Dash false whispered to the rest of them in a tone audible to most of the gathered throng.

“Wow, for a bunch of ponies reading from something called 'The Book of Friendship' they sure aren't that friendly.”  As her words registered with the ponies in front of them, a gathered gasp of shock rang out from the crowd.

“Oh, we are so sorry your Loyaltyness.  Tell us what we must do to appease you!”  The alicorns exchanged glances as Rainbow Dash shrugged at them before Twilight shook her head, starting to understand a bit of what Princess Celestia went through and she made a note to talk with her about it when they met again before stepping forward.

“Well you could start with not bowing like that.  If this is all supposed to be about friendship then what kind of friends would be if we had all of you bow like that?”  Her words sent another wave of muttering went through the crowd before it parted and the pony leading the congregation stepped forward.

“That does sound like the friendly thing to do.  We bow to your... I mean... uh...”  The stallion drifted off as he tried to figure out how to pull his hoof out of his mouth.  The rest of the ponies slowly rose up and approached the alicorns as they each made their way to different parts of the room.  Each of them managed to gravitate towards the alicorn that they felt that they identified most with or needed help from.

“So I keep finding her in bed with ponies that I can't stand.  I want to stay loyal to her, but she never comes home anymore and I just don't know what to do.”  Rainbow Dash frowned at the stallion as her head began to ache before she sighed.

“Honestly I have no idea what to do when it comes to relationships, but I do know that loyalty works both ways.  I can't make the choice for you since it's all on you, but you should really talk to her.  But you really need to remember that at the end of it all, you need to be loyal to yourself and what you believe in.”  The stallion looked thoughtful as the gathered ponies nodded and smiled as they began sharing their own problems with the cyan alicorn.

In her corner Fluttershy's group weren't sure what to do as the shy mare cowered away from them all until the pet of one of the ponies snuck out of her mane.  Seeing this broke the yellow alicorn out of her shell as they began talking about the various pets they each had and the things they did with them.  While it didn't strictly focus on kindness, their talks occasionally drifted towards it.

“Now ah don't know much about all this worship business, but what I do know about is farming.  Ya see honesty is everything when it comes ta farming as the land tells no lies.  Trying ta lie ta the land is like believing a fox will protect a hen-house.  It just won't work.”  While the ponies were rather confused about what she was saying they still payed attention as they felt that there were some words of wisdom in what she said, some of them taking notes.

On the other end of the room Rarity took time to help out in the design side of the things for the church, while commenting all the while.  “While I agree that being fabulous is important, you have to know just what it is you really need to be able to help.  Now this really is a nice design, but, while I think it is spectacular, it doesn't fit all of us.  Let's see, add a bit here, remove that, and....  Done!  Now can anyone tell me if there is anything I missed?  There's no point in being generous if you don't know just what your recipient needs.  Of course, the opposite is true as well, there's no point in giving if it's something they don't want.”  She was soon bombarded with ideas and suggestions as the design slowly evolved into what they considered to be a perfect design for the future building and uniform designs.

“Where did you get all of this!?  I mean, not that I'm not flattered, but I thought all of this was private between me and Celestia?”  Twilight sat with the congregation leader who looked around worriedly at her intense questioning.

“There are many believers in you and one of them reclaimed the teachings from its imprisonment in the sun palace.  There have been many that have lost faith in the Sun Goddess and your ascension has been the sign they have been looking for as the rise of a new world order.”  Twilight's eye began to twitch as she heard him talk against her mentor.  She was starting to see what the major problem Cadance was talking about, especially if it was the same with both her and Luna as well.

“We need to talk about that as well.  You can't really talk about the other princesses like that, especially if you want this all to be about friendship like you seem to be wanting.”  Twilight began to start lecturing the stallion and other gathered ponies into how things should be organized as well as how things outside of the church should be treated.

Aegis Flare sighed as she sat at one side of the room watching the others.  She had been noticing lately that she could sense fear, or smell it she wasn't quite sure which, and she was feeling a lot of it in the room.  Slowly it started to settle as the ponies got to know the other alicorns, but it was still at uncomfortable levels for her, especially from a mare that was sidling up to her.

“Oh, um, do you think that maybe we could talk for a bit?”  The alicorn looked at the mare, with a white mane on black coat and wearing the outfit of an assistant, before her eyebrow rose.  She could detect the mare's fear increase as she stood there and she had a realization as she looked around to see if anyone else was near enough to hear them.  With a smile at the mare, which seemed to increase the amount of fear from her, she took a seat next to her.

“Well there does seem to be a lot of time, though I'm not sure why a changeling would just come up to me like this.”  The mare froze in place as her fear skyrocketed and her eyes darted around the room to see if anyone heard the alicorn.  Seeing none of them paying attention to her she turned her attention back to the alicorn.

“Please don't say things like that in the open, it's... I mean...  How did you even know?”  Aegis Flare shook her head as she looked at the rest of her friends.

“It is mostly a guess, but lately I've been able to sense fear and your just felt unnatural.  You probably have less to worry about than you think though, at least around here.  Thorax was out in the open the entire way here from the palace and I don't think any of the crystal ponies blinked an eye at him.  Them being out of touch for all those years is a big advantage for your kind as they didn't have to deal with that renegade, and they are still trying to catch up so they will just think that you are something new that showed up.  Besides, I think you all have a lot in common with them.  You just need to have the courage to take a chance.”  The disguised changeling just sat their silently in thought at her words before sighing.

“It's not my decision, but I'm sure the leaders will take it into account.  I'm not sure if I'd just go out in the open, but there are a couple ponies that I want to trust with my secret but...  Well, that's where the courage part comes in I guess.”  She sighed as her fear battled with what she really wanted until a shriek sounded from the other side of the room.  Looking up the two saw Rarity flailing around with her main covered in whipped cream.  Soon a volley of pies flew across the room and they backtracked the trajectory to Pinkie Pie and a few other laughing ponies.

“Pinkie Pie!  You get back here right now!”  Rarity began chasing the pink pony around as she laughed and tossed more pies back at the mare, but more often than not missed and hit other ponies in the area.  Soon the entire building interrupted into a vast food fight with the participating ponies laughing in joy as Aegis Flare sighed and took cover with her cousin to enjoy the show as the ice was truly broken between the alicorns and their worshipers.

<><><><><><><><><><>

“Ugh, what a long day.  While things could have been worse with that church, I'm still not sure how I feel about it.  At least Pinkie managed to cut through all the tension so we could actually have a decent conversation with them in the end.  Maybe if they can actually talk to us like normal ponies it won't be so bad.”  With a sigh Aegis Flare pulled her covers up to her neck as she settled down for the night.  The peace of the night was soon shattered as an explosion shook the building causing her to groan.  Climbing out of the bed she made her way to the window and looked out to find a cloud of smoke illuminated by a fire out near the guard's sparring ring.

“Really Twilight?  Did you really have to get into it with your brother at this time of the night?”  With a sigh the alicorn lit up her horn and put up a shield around her room for climbing back into bed once again.
> 60
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What about this part right here about the benefits that come with friendship?”  Pinkie and Rainbow snickered at this, causing Twilight to glare at them.  “What?”  She reread the part she was asking about before blushing at just what it was talking about.  “Oh very funny you too, but is this really the time for  your pranks?”  Aegis Flare leaned over to peer at the document that Twilight was reading from.

“Actually, this looks to be a part of the original plans.  Hmm, it needs a bit of work, but it could be a lot worse.”  Twilight spluttered a bit while the others looked at her oddly before she shrugged.  “What?  From what I've heard Cadance's followers had a ritual orgy a couple times a week when she found out about them.  Last I heard she managed to cut them back to only special days of the year with something else for use in private settings.  Probably should ask for some advice from her to avoid any conflicts.”  Twilight shook her head to clear it before looking at her friend in disbelief.

“Are you seriously saying that we should allow something like this to be part of the church that is about us?!  What kind of pony would even have use of something like this in their friendships?!”  It took but a moment for the rest of the room to come up with an answer to her question at the same time.

“Cloud Kicker.”  Twilight blinked at the sudden response for facehoofing.

“Oh right.  Her.  I still can't believe that she asks that right out of the blue.  And in the middle of the library!”  She huffed as her friends rolled their eyes at her.

“Yeah, she does get a bit out of hoof sometimes.  She doesn't seem to understand that not everypony wants her to be their first experience.”  Rainbow Dash's comment was met with silence from the others causing her to blink.  “Uh, why aren't any of you saying anything?”  Twilight rubbed a hoof at the back of her head as she looked around at the others, most avoiding each others eyes.

“Well I'm not sure about the others, but I did experiment once with a stallion after finding a how to book when I was younger.  I was curious about why ponies would do the things in the book and well...”  Twilight trailed off as her cheeks reddened.  Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped at this news before she turned her gaze on the rest of her friends.

“Well even a lady has needs.  A lady also doesn't kiss and tell.”  Rarity looked to the side as the rest of them sounded off.

“Just some stallion at a rodeo.”

“Just some bodyguard I worked with a few years back.”

“Cloud Kicker!”

“Um, well, Big Mac was my first... eep!”  Rainbow Dash's jaw fell even further as even Fluttershy had more experience than her, though she wasn't surprised that her coworker and Pinkie had hooked up before.

“Oh, come on!  Seriously?!  All of you?!”  As the group of alicorns continued on their conversation, the door to the conference room was closed and Scootaloo let out a sigh as she walked away from the room.  She had come to Canterlot with her sister and mother, but they had then became focused on their work leaving the filly on her own.  While wandering off she failed to watch where she was going and ran into a pair of dark blue legs.  Her gaze followed the legs upwards until her eyes met those of the princess of the Night, causing her to blush in embarrassment.

“Oh, hi Princess Luna.  Sorry about that, I guess I wasn't watching where I was going.”  The princess chuckled lightly as she took a step backwards and lowered her head to be level with the smaller pony.

“That is quite all right.  You do not have to call us princess when we are not in public considering that your sister is a member of royalty making you one of the family as well.  Now what seems to be troubling you, young one, that has your head hanging so low?”  Scootaloo looked away from the alicorn.

“It's nothing.”  Luna gave a deadpan look at the filly's unconvincing reply before sitting down next to her.  Spreading her wing she brought it over Scootaloo's back and pulled her close.

“Now why is it that I do not believe that?  You do know that I protect the dreams of ponies and know that yours have been especially troubled lately, right?”  The orange filly winced at being reminded of how her dreams had been going lately before sighing in resignation.

“It's... it's just that I haven't been able to spend much time with my sister lately.  Ever since mom came home it's been like she has been avoiding me or something.  Did I do something wrong to cause her to hate me or something?”  Luna looked down at the filly with understanding, having felt the same way once herself with her own sister. Even so she knew that the filly was worried over nothing as she had been keeping an eye on all of the new princesses lately.

“I am certain that it is nothing like that, especially with what I know of your sister.  I do not know why she has not been spending time with you, but her dreams are of your family as well as her fear of losing all of you.  Her nightmares have lessened since the return of your mother, but she still has them from time to time.”  Scootaloo shivered at hearing of her sister having nightmares as she had seen the results of them many times over the years when her mother had been missing.  In fact the first few months after the disappearance of their parents were full of them leading to many sleepless nights.

“But what should I do then?  I just want to be able to spend some time with her more than we do, but she's always busy here in Canterlot or running off somewhere.”  Luna looked  down at the filly before she smiled kindly.

“Why do you not just tell her?  From what I know of your sister she would listen to whatever you tell her seriously.  I am certain that she would spend more time with you if you just asked.”  She paused as she noticed Scootaloo look away before remembering what her sister represented.  “But I am guessing that you do not want your sister to know that you are scared of losing her.”  At the young filly's shy nod the alicorn shook her head sadly before looking towards the room she knew the younger princesses were currently inhabiting.

“Hmm, what if...”  The filly looked up at the alicorn in hope as she trailed off thoughtfully.  “What if you do something to show her how much you miss her?  Is there not a special day coming up for her that would be perfect for it?”  The young pegasus thought for a moment before her eyes lit up and she started to buzz her wings.

“That's it!  That day is perfect!  Now if I could just-”

“HOLD IT!”  Scootaloo froze in place at the voice as a blur of pink appeared in front of her revealing the pink pony princess Pinkie Pie glaring down at her.  “I already had to run off that creepy stallion so don't make me do the same to you!  I Pinkie Promised that I would throw this party and nopony makes Pinkie Pie break a Pinkie Promise.  NOPONY!”  Scootaloo swallowed nervously as the peeved party princess before she tried to placate her.

“Umm, do you think that maybe I could help out?  She is my sister...”  Pinkie Pie peered down at the panicking pegasus with piqued eyes.  She let out a 'hmm' of considerations before she answered her.

“Okie doki loki!”  Her attitude did a complete one eighty as she bounced off away from the two ponies who let out a sigh of relief at avoiding the unpredictable ponies ire.

“I guess I should follow her then.  Thank you Pr- Luna.  Your talk really helped.  It's no wonder why my sister always liked you more than your sister.”  With that the filly ran off after the prancing pink pony leaving the befuddled princess of the night behind.

<><><><><><><><><><>

“What!?  You're getting her for this!?  Just what are you thinking!?”  Aegis Flare rolled her eyes at at Rainbow Dash's reaction to her revealing who she was getting for the coming training exercise.

“I'm thinking that she will be perfect for the job.  Sure I'll have to give her an assist to make it seem realistic, but she can easily make enough of a ruckus with her skills.  You remember what happened the last time she was here.  It'll be perfect.”  The cyan alicorn grumbled for a moment before continuing along the road, her in the air and the orange mare on the ground, through Ponyville.  Looking around as they walked, Aegis Flare noticed all the pony couples going on dates for the holiday and looked at her friend.

“That reminds me.  What happened to that date you had set up for today?  You were talking about it all last week.”  Rainbow Dash groaned as she brought a hoof up to rub at her temple.

“Ugh, don't remind me about that jerk.  Something was screaming at me to avoid him when I first met him and I found out earlier today why.  I was sensing how disloyal he was and I ran into him sleeping with another mare when he said he was single.  Not only that but three other mares found him that way at the same time.  I should have known something was wrong when he reminded me of Wind Rider when I met him.  But what about you?  Why don't you have a date for today?  I would think that you would have ponies lined up, especially for today.”  The bat-winged mare once again rolled her eyes at her friend before letting out a sigh of annoyance.

“Oh there have been a few, but most of them were so arrogant that they didn't feel a bit of fear.  The ones that weren't only sent a letter and never overcame their fear to even approach me.  Well, of the ones that actually seem to be sincere enough for me to keep them.  I never even cared to search for a stallion, or mare, before I met all of you and after gaining these...”  She raised her wings for emphasis.  “...I doubt I'll be finding anyone anytime soon that would interest me.  At the very least they need to be able to approach me to make their interest known without being self-absorbed.  It's either that or follow Cadance's example and cultivate a coltfriend, but that's really not my style.”  Rainbow Dash grunted at the other alicorn as her eyes flicked over to her friend's home as the approached it.

“Well I may just have to do the same thing if this is the type of pony that is going to approach us.  I think Applejack has been having trouble as well, but she has been avoiding going on any dates to catch up on the farm.”  Rainbow Dash slowed her flapping to drop back behind her friend as she approached her door and smirked at her back.

“Well I doubt there will be many stallions showing up that are worth it.  Sure Big Mac and Shining Armor are nice, but they just aren't what-”

“SURPRISE!”  Aegis Flare froze up as she walked into her home to find a crowd of ponies waiting for her, Pinkie Pie in front of them all.

“DidwesurpriseyouDidwedidwedidweIttookalongtimebutIfinallywasabletothrowyouapartysodoyoulikeit?”  Aegis Flare blinked as she looked around once again at her friends and family that had gathered before her gaze drifted up to the banner emblazoned with 'Happy Birthday Aegis Flare!'

“Pinkie?  How did you get the time to do this?  You are always too busy on Hearts and Hooves Day to have a chance to set this up?”  By this time Pinkie had calmed down a bit and answered at a more reasonable rate.

“Oh that?  Well with the help of those two guards I asked for we finished everything in plenty of time.  Scootaloo helped out as well.”  Her answer caused the orange alicorn to look at her sister who scraped a hoof at the ground.

“Well I never did say you had to do all this alone, so I guess that fulfills that Pinkie Promise those years ago.”  She moved over to lay a wing over her sister who leaned into the hug.  The filly proceeded to lead her big sister around the party to the various games set up by her and Pinkie.  Eventually they came to the point where it was time to open presents.  After going through the various gifts, each of which matched the personalities of her friends and what they thought she would like, all that remained were two.

“Mine next, sis.”  Lifting up the envelope Aegis Flare slowly opened it, revealing a set of three tickets.

“Tickets to the Manehattan Fairgrounds?”  She raised an eyebrow at her little sister who fluttered her wings nervously.

“Well, we haven't been spending much time with each other so I was thinking that you, me, and mom could spend some time out doing something fun for once.”  Looking down at her sister for a moment she glanced over to her mother to see her smiling fondly at her children and came to a realization.

“I haven't been spending enough time with you lately, have I?  I would love to go with you to this.”  As she pulled her sister into another wing hug, Scootaloo smiled in relief as her sister seemed to realize the point of the gift before leaning into the hug.  The rest of the ponies smile at the sisters before the gifter of the last present stepped forward.

“My turn, my turn!  It took me a long long long time to think of something but then mom and mommy gave me the best idea ever!”  Aegis Flare chuckled at D as the filly necromancer hopped around in front of her holding the cylindrical wrapped object out to her.  Both her timberpony mother and adoptive gryphoness mother, the two having come to an agreement over the issue, smiled down at her excitement as they leaned against the giant stallion between them.

“Ah'm sure that it will be nice, D.  Now how about ya let her have it so that she can open it?”  D blushed as she realized that she was keeping the present away from the birthday pony and shyly passed it over.  With a fond smile at the filly, Aegis Flare lifted the object and started tearing into the packaging.  Unveiling the object she found a pure black candle which she raised an eyebrow at before turning her inquiring eye to the filly.

“Here!  Put it on the table so I can light it for you.  It'll only work this one time though.”  Quirking an eyebrow she shrugged and set it where the filly indicated before stepping back.  The filly bounced up onto the table before setting her horn against the wick.  As soon as she came into contact with it it burst into flames, but instead of being a flame of it's usual color it instead blazed the color of emerald.

As the filly hopped away the other looked warily at the candle.  Bella Donna noticed a flickering off to the side but when she turned to look at it she let out a gasp and brought her hooves up to her muzzle.  Aegis Flare, hearing this, turned to look at her mother and noticed the tears forming in her eyes.  Out of concern and curiosity at what her mother was looking at she turned to see and froze herself.

“Daddy?”  Hearing her voice of disbelief, the entire room turned to see a ghostly figure standing behind them all.  Those that were native to Ponyville or the Black Guard immediately knew who it was and could understand just how incredible this gift was.

Aegis Flare and Bella Donna charged across the room to throw themselves at the figure, with Scootaloo not far behind, as tears began to fall as the four embraced.  The stallion spoke in a low tone that only the three could hear, but everyone could see the effect it had on them as their tears began to flow freely.  Applejack and her family began to tear up as well as they watched a broken family be united one final time so that they could finally say the goodbyes that had been robbed from them all those years ago.

“Did I do good mommy?  Why are they crying?”  The timberpony looked down at her daughter and drew her close with a forelimb.

“Yes dear, you did great.”  The filly smiled widely and curled up next to her mother as the candles flame slowly burned down, counting the moments the reunited family would have together for the last time.
> 61
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Aegis Flare let out a yawn as she sat with a gathering of all the princess' of Equestria just outside of Ponyville.  They day had finally arrived for the competition between the Ponyville weather team and the Wonderbolts.  While the others were bright eyed and ready for the event, she was just waking up as she had returned late the previous night.

“Hey?  You going to be okay over there?  You look like you got ran over by a thunderhead.”  The orange mare blinked as she looked over at Rainbow Dash before letting out another yawn.

“Yeah, just got back late from Manehattan with my family.”  The prismatic mare smirked at her friend before deciding to push her.

“Oh?  So you are finally learning how to have fun?  It's about time.”  The bat-winged mare responded with a roll of her eyes before arching her back in a stretch.

“Haha, very funny.  Besides, there were a few... issues while we were there.”  She thought back to the fair, remembering how she had gotten banned from them after accidentally destroying a few of them.  Such as sending the bell of the bucking post flying or causing the ball toss stand to collapse after taking out the main support pole along with all the bottles.

“Yeah, well hopefully there aren't any of those here, especially with who you got to help out.  Hey, Twilight!  Are you sure that none of them will be able to see us out here?”  Rainbow Dash turned towards Twilight, while keeping an eye on one of the two non-alicorns that were with them and not with the crowd of townsponies that came to watch the show.

“Of course.  It was only a matter of expanding the natural aura all alicorns have that causes them to be unnoticed when they try not to draw attention to themselves and strengthen it.  As long as nothing is done to attract anypony's attention to us it should easily hold, even with ten alicorns here.”  She shot a glance at the pony that her friend was keeping an eye on, though she wasn't as sneaky as she thought she was.

“What?  Why are you looking at Trixie like that?”  The blue unicorn shot an offended look at the purple alicorn who just rolled her eyes.  While the mare had been trying to put up a brave front and play herself up to the others, most of them could see how nervous she was being around so much royalty.  The other non-alicorn chuckled at the mare's defensiveness, earning a glare from her.

“I would think that it would be reasonable to worry about you.  I mean who was it again that decided to start adding pyrotechnics to an active flight show a year or so back without talking with anypony about it beforehoof?”  Spitfire glared at the unicorn as she remembered how close some of her team had come to being injured that day because of her.    She looked over at the princess' with a frown.

“What is she doing here anyways?  I thought that we were here to watch the competition between your team and mine?  Why would we need somepony like her here?”  Trixie turned her glare on the pegasus, but before she could voice her annoyances she was interrupted by the on who called her in.

“Actually her habit of causing a scene is exactly why she's here, but instead of focusing on herself it needs to be directed on the real goal of the upcoming test.”  The rest looked over at Aegis Flare curiously as she had yet to tell them exactly what to expect, except for Trixie who was looking down at her hooves.

“Trixie will admit that she has gone a bit... overboard in the past.  But Trixie has improved over t he years and even now her powers of illusion are unmatched!”  Most of the gathered ponies rolled their eyes at Trixie, though the bat-winged mare just shrugged.

“You aren't bad, but you still have a long way to go until you're the best at it.  I've read about illusionists the could make illusions so real that you could feel, smell, and even taste them.  Last I heard, you only could get the sight and sound part of it fully working while the scent was incomplete.”  Trixie looked away instead of answering which was an answer in itself, coming from her.  “At least I have an idea to deal with the touch part, so you don't have to worry about that.”

The orange mare pulled Trixie off to the side to discuss just what needed to be done, leaving the others to wait for the participants to arrive.  Soon enough the weather team for Ponyville had gathered and were warming up while a wing of two dozen Wonderbolts were visible winging their way in.  Soon the two groups were examining the prepared obstacle courses while the two leaders of the the teams landed in a prepared area in front of the princesses, though one of them wasn't who they were expecting.

“What is he doing here?  I thought that you said that Soarin or Fleetfoot were going to be in charge while you were with us?”  Spitfire frowned as Rainbow Dash pointed out the major problem that she was looking at which was the form of Wind Rider as he stood next to Thunderlane.

“He's not.  In fact I told Fleetfoot to do whatever she could to keep him busy and away from here.”  While Spitfire was frowning at his presence, the stallion in question was looking around in annoyance, looking for someone while muttering to himself a bit away from the other stallion.

“Now where is that feather-headed excuse for a captain?  I was told she was supposed to be here along with the bat-winged freak and sorry excuse for a princess.”  Unfortunately for him, while he was far enough away from Thunderlane for him not to hear, the princesses and Wonderbolt Captain had a front seat show.

“Why that slimy little...”  Rainbow Dash growled at the stallion and would have tackled him if not for Applejack holding her back.

“Simmer down there Dash.  We'll handle him later, but for now let see just what is going on.”  The cyan mare glared at the stallion as he walked away before she grunted and plopped her rear back onto the cushion she had been using as a seat.  During this Wind Rider had walked back over to Thunderlane and began speaking with him, the stallion have a look as if he had eaten a lemon plastered on his face.  While most of the princesses couldn't hear what was being discussed by the two, Fluttershy and Aegis Flare's superior hearing could easily make it out what the two were saying and they were not happy about it.

“Oh my...”  The others looked at the buttery alicorn curiously, but after looking towards her cousin who shook her head she said nothing as they soon returned to watching the preparations.  Soon the two teams were ready and squaring off at the first event, and Rainbow Dash groaned at who she was seeing.

“Seriously?  Derpy of all ponies?  Sure she isn't a bad pony, but for an important event that involves precision flying?”  The others look closely at the first flier as she moves to the starting line, crashing through a cloud on the way, and realize she is right.  Celestia, recognizing the figure, chuckles as the gray mare rubs at the back of her head bashfully.

“I did not realize that she was also part of the Ponyville Weather team.  But I suppose a member of the Royal Canterlot Mail Pegasi brigade would need something to do when they are not handling sensitive messages or handling other missions.”  Rainbow Dash looked confused at the information though both Twilight and Aegis Flare, having heard from where she was over talking with Trixie, looked impressed as they looked at who they thought was just an average mailmare for the town.

“Um, what's so special about this Royal Canterlot Mail Pegasi group?  I've never heard of them before.”  Both of the two newer princesses that knew of the group looked at the rainbow mare with jaws wide open before they shook their heads in disbelief.

“How could you have never heard about them before!?  They contain the best fliers in all of Equestria, many of them as good as or even better than the Wonderbolts!”  Rainbow Dash lifted an eyebrow in disbelief at hearing that they may be better than the Wonderbolts while the bat-winged mare rejoined the group with the magician.

“Actually there are many members that were once Wonderbolt prospects that didn't make it in for various reasons.  Those reasons are also why there is a lot of bad blood between the two groups.”  Aegis Flare glared at Wind Rider before running a hoof over her bags that were next to her cushion.  Rainbow Dash just shrugged as she turned back to the watch Derpy as she finished the course by crashing into the finish line.  The two groups went through course after course, and the entire time Rainbow Dash started to get more and more agitated.

“What the buck is going on up there?!  Is Thunderlane even trying?!  Why is he sending the worst ponies to handle each obstacle?  Ponyville should be way ahead of the Wonderbolts by now, especially since they keep sending the same pony first on every event!”  Spitfire frowns as she glares at the stallion that had taken charge of her team, especially as she had her eye on the pony being sent out as a promising Wonderbolt candidate since losing both Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust.  Aegis Flare turned towards Trixie and gave her a small nod as she smirked.

“This should be enough time for them to warm up.  I think it's time for the real test to begin.”  The showmare returned the smirk as she lit up her horn, followed closely by the dark orange alicorn's.  Soon the lake, under which the competition was taking place, started to roil and churn as something formed under it.  The two eldest alicorns looked on in interest as they had heard a little about the unicorn mare from Twilight and this would be the first time seeing it in person.  The others were only mildly interested as they were still mostly unsure of the mare, except for Cadance who was unfamiliar with her and also wasn't as familiar with magic as her aunts due to her originally being a pegasus before ascending.

“Behold!  From the depths of the Hayseed Swamps, I present to you!  The Emperor Kappa!”  Trixie reared back onto her hind legs to pose as a giant form erupted from the lake.  Breaking through the surface was a large, green turtle-like being that stood on it's hind legs before letting out a cry from its beaked maw.  The alicorns weren't sure just what a kappa sounded like, but the cry sounded like a mixture between a bird and a hydra.  The spectators around the lake froze up at the cry and slowly turned towards it as they had not seen it arise from the lake and by the time they saw it was standing above them.

“THE HORROR!  THE HORROR!”  Trixie's eye twitched as she looked at the three mares and had the illusion reach down and grab the magenta one with lime green mane who was wearing a yellow dress much like one a story tale princess would wear.  The two around her, wearing red and green overalls, fainted as their friend was lifted away in the monster's grasp.

“Trixie?  How did you manage to grab Daisy like that with an illusion that you said you couldn't make do that?  Better yet, why did you even have it grab her in the first place?”  Twilight glanced over at Trixie as she bit her lip and lowered herself back onto all fours again.

“Trixie... is not sure why she grabbed that mare.  Something about her just called out to Trixie to do so.  Luna smirked and jabbed at her sister with a hoof.

“Hah!  I told you that those dresses were evil!  Not only do they attract brigands they also suppress any ability to fight back!”  The mares blinked at the night princess while Celestia sighs and shakes her head.

“Whatever you say, though I still doubt that they had anything to do with that incident with Princess Platinum and the bandit lords.  I still allowed you to ban royalty from wearing anything of the sort when power was passed over to us.”  The conversation drew some inquiring stares which turned away as the blue unicorn continued speaking once again.

“As for how she could do so...”  The showmare trailed off leaving the others watching her, waiting for an answer, until the other mare with a lit horn spoke up.

“That would be my doing.  I'm covering her illusion with a shield that follows its motions and allows it to interacts with things.  Just to be safe the shield also has limits on it so nobody is hurt too badly if the get hit.”  The others nod before turning back to the show as the ponies above begin to react to the situation.

“Cloudchaser!  Flitter!  Find Fluttershy and bring her back here!  Hopefully she can calm that thing down!  Thunderlane!  Take a wing and clear out the rest of the ponies in the area!  The rest of you...”  Cloud Kicker paused as a wave of blurs dove past her, sending her out of control for a moment.  Once she recovered she looked down and saw the Wonderbolts all charging right at the creature in a full frontal assault.

“Buck!  Everypony else do what you can to cover those featherbrained fools!  Blossomforth, on my six!”  The weather ponies all nod to the second sub-captain of the team before breaking formation towards their assigned duties.  Those supporting the Wonderbolts split up into teams of two to three as the spiraled along behind the stunt fliers, keeping a decent separation between each other.

The effectiveness of each team's strategy became apparent as the Emperor Kappa looked up at them before opening its mouth wide.  Before the could react a large stream of water erupted from its mouth and plowed right through the center of the Wonderbolt formation, sending them into disarray as many of its members were sent flying.  The Ponyville weather team moved to rescue those caught in the initial blast, while evading the watery torrent as they did so.  While they managed to avoid any direct hits, a few of them were clipped, forcing them to retreat to recover.  The Wonderbolts attempted to reform for a counter attack, but a cry rang out that froze the combatants in place, one which struck terror into the hearts of all the Ponyvillians present.

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, MONSTER HUNTERS!  YAY!”  The weather ponies all froze in place before they began to scramble around the sky, trying to stay out of the incoming path of destruction.

“CODE TRIO!  CODE TRIO!  Evasive actions and somepony get their sisters here, now!”  Two pegasi darted away towards town, and the rest scattered just in time for a rock-like object to fly by the giant monster on a direct course for the remaining Wonderbolts.  They managed to get out of the way, but they didn't notice the fuse attached to it until it was too late.  With a loud boom, the ball exploded into a corona of color as more fireworks began flying out in all directions. Pegasi began trying to dodge around in panic to avoid being hit, though some still were struck by the explosions and sent tumbling out of the skies with others chasing after them to catch them.  While they were all distracted by the initial attack, another volley came flying in from the direction the previous one had.

With the new angle of attack, even the Ponyville team was having trouble as some of them went spiraling out of control due to singed wings and temporary blindness from the colorful explosions.  As all of this happened, none of them noticed the giant kappa fading away, leaving the mare in its grip unconscious on the ground.  The group of alicorns could only watch with dropped jaws as the chaos unfolded before them.  When a whimper sounded out next to them their gaze turned towards the showmare who was looking at the fireworks in shock, causing them to realize just where the fillies had found them.

“Don't worry, anything the they used or broke will be payed for.”  Trixie's eye twitched at the words before she slowly nodded, though her eyes didn't leave the tableau before her.  The other mares turned back to watch the scene before them.  By this time the fillies came into view riding atop an odd contraption that looked to combine a catapult and multiple barrels which the loaded with fireworks as they fired off.

“Sooo, isn't anypony going to stop them?  I think it's pretty obvious now just which is the better team.  Where did those fillies even get that contraption and the idea to use it like this?”  Pinkie Pie's eyes shifted around awkwardly but was saved from answering as another being appeared in the area.

“Oh hoho, what a marvelous performance.  If I didn't know any better I would think those three were draconequui in disguise.  A word or two to them about where to find everything and off they go.  Why I barely even need to do anything around here with them around.”  The mares turns to find Discord floating behind them with a large bag of popcorn watching the proceedings.  The spirit of chaos looks down when he feels their gazes on him, but he starts to sweat when he notices one of them is missing.  He is suddenly grabbed around the neck and brought down low to the ground as Aegis Flare grabs him in a light headlock.

“So you've been giving ideas to my sister again have you?  Even after I told you to stay away from her and was nice enough to let it go the last time when they asked you to help them get their cutie marks and you nearly destroyed the town?  Not to mention that little time travel debacle that happened not long after that.”  The draconequus looked nervous as she spoke before he started to speak in a placating tone.

“Now now, there's no need to do anything rash.  I mean I did stop them from trying to bungee jump over at Ghastly Gorge just now and I think this would be preferable to that.  And look, here comes your mother now with those three, everything is fixed.”  The orange alicorn looked up to see the his words were true, though what he failed to mention was the thick coat of tree sap the was covering her.  Behind her were the three fillies that had interrupted their plans for that day, each of them with one of their ears glowing with the unicorn's magic as she dragged them towards the alicorns.

“Here, these are yours.  Now if you'll excuse me I have a certain other troublemaker to deal with.  Maybe he can tell me just how those three managed to somehow hit the only source of tree sap in the area right when I was walking by it.”  She relinquished custody of the three fillies with their sisters as she stalked off towards Discord who was slowly backing away.  The fillies winced as their sisters gave them a look  indicating that they would talk to them later before turning to the approaching stallion that had now noticed them as the spell making them unnoticeable had fallen during the confusion.

“Ah, I didn't notice that your highnesses had arrived.  It is such a shame that things were cut short due to the interference of that creature and these fillies, but the results of your tests are rather telling even if they weren't half done.”  Spitfire glared at Wind Rider as he handed over a scroll detailing the results of each event.  Aegis Flare smirked as she took the scroll and tosses it to the side.

“Unfortunately, none of that was the real test.  The actual test was to see how each group would deal with an unexpected situation, which unfortunately the Wonderbolts failed completely at.  Not only did they not evaluate the threat, they also charged in blindly from the front.  If that had been a real monster then half of the Wonderbolts would likely be dead, crippled, or out of action for months.”  The stallion's jaw dropped at hearing this before he started trying, and failing, to speak once again.  He was cut off before he could form a coherent thought as the mare continued.

“Of course that can all wait until they recover from what happened.  Now as for you, we have a lot to go over as some very serious matters have come up.”  The stallion looks confused as the alicorn starts pulling out a variety of folders and scrolls before setting them in front of her.  Soon the stack is half the height of her barrel as she lays there.

“What are you talking about?  What is all of that for?  I've done nothing wrong.”  The stallion seemed confident, though there was a nearly imperceptive tremble in his voice.  Most of the ponies present didn't notice it, but Applejack narrowed her eyes at him as she could tell that he was blatantly lying.

“Really?  So these reports and statements about you blackmailing ponies are false?  How about these showing you falsifying documents?  Or how about all these statements from ponies who you have threatened and ruined the lives of over the years?  It took a while, but Luna and the Black Guard managed to dig up a lot that you tried to have buried.”  The stallion froze up in shock as she presented evidence after evidence of his wrong-doing.  The other ponies could only stare in horror as she brought out documents for incident after incident, not expecting anything like this from such a decorated member of the Wonderbolts, former as he was.  When the last one had been shown, both Rainbow Dash and Spitfire reached out and began to read through them themselves.  The others weren't far behind while the stallion tried to defend himself to Celestia.

“I've been a loyal member of the Wonderbolts for years until my retirement.  Who are you going to believe?  Somepony that has been a part of an elite unit for years?  Or some upstart with delusions of princesshood?”  Only Luna could tell that her sister was starting to get annoyed with Wind Rider as she had many years of deciphering her sister's serene face for emotions.  The younger princesses were not as skilled at hiding their emotions though, as proven by Rainbow Dash as she put down what she was reading and flared her wings in anger.

“Loyal?  Loyal?!  You have been anything but loyal for many years if I'm reading these right!  You've betrayed the very principles of the Wonderbolts!  You've betrayed your teammates!  And you've betrayed all those that look up to you!”  Wind Rider opened his mouth to respond, but was quickly cut off when Fluttershy spoke up, much to everyone's surprise.

“You were cruel to those that you should have supported, all just to benefit yourself.”  Rarity stepped forward to stand opposite the shy mare with the stallion between them.

“You were ruled by your greed for fame, allowing it to destroy others just so your records couldn't be beaten.”  Aegis Flare took her place next to the white mare next.

“You used fear and terror to dominate all those that couldn't fight back...”  Pinkie Pie stepped forward next.

“...you robbed all these ponies of joy and their very dreams...”  The farm mare princess was next to join the group around the stallion.

“...yah lied and cheated your way to stay on top...”  Finally Twilight took her place leaving the confused and panicked pegasus surrounded by the seven princesses.  With her in place the eyes of all seven began to glow with power as the final mare's voice began to vibrate the air around them all.

“...you've abused the sacred bonds between ponies for your own benefit for long enough!  You stand here having been found to have violated everything that this country has been built on!  So let the punishment fit the crime!”  The alicorns slowly began to rise into the air around the stallion before the area was engulfed in a field of power, the scrolls and notes swirling around the group.  The stallion could be heard yelling in panic from within.

“What are you doing to me!  Let me go, LET ME GO!”  The other three princesses watched wide-eyed at the tableau, until Cadance leaned over to the others.

“What is going on?  This doesn't seem like them at all.”  Luna and Celestia glanced over at the younger alicorn before looking at each other.

“I am not sure, but it reminds me of...”  Luna trailed off as she sent a questioning look to her sister who nodded in reply.

“Yes, it seems that their alicorn powers are starting to develop in an interesting way.  While alone they each have abilities relating to the Element of Harmony they possessed, together it seems that have abilities akin to what the Elements could do.  I can not say just what they can do, but it appears that they must be more in sync with each other to activate it than before.”  The three watched as the light faded away from the area, leaving everything seemingly unchanged.  Soon the seven mares slowly collapsed to the ground, unconscious, as the power they used had drained them completely.  The stallion looked around at the seven before patting at his own body before smirking as he found nothing wrong.

“Heh, is that all?  I should have know that they would be all show and no substance.”  His disregard for them angered the other three princesses, but the stallion was saved from their anger as a figure dropped from the sky between them.

“Princesses!  Captain!  I didn't notice that you arrived yet.  I'm sorry to say that things got a bit... out of hoof so the competition may have to be delayed.”  Soarin looks over at Wind Rider before tilting his head in curiosity.  “Who's the strange stallion wearing a Wonderbolt jacket?”  Jaws dropped at his question as Wind Rider began to look panicked.

“What are you talking about?  Surely you can't have forgotten your old teacher Wind Rider?”  The stallion tilted his head the other way before glancing towards Fleetfoot who just landed next to him.

“Never seen you before in my life.  Hey Fleets, do you have any idea who this is?”  The mare lieutenant of the Wonderbolts peered at him for a second before she shook her head, much to everyone's surprise.  On a hunch, Spitfire looked around at the scattered papers before finding one she had been looking at which held the Wonderbolts records as well as the records of some dismissed hopefuls from the past.  She quickly brought it over to her subordinates.

“Quickly, can you two tell me what is on this?”  The two look it over quickly before shrugging.

“Isn't this the list of the current Wonderbolt records?  Why are there so many smudges on it though?  Like this one which is held by...  Huh, I can't remember.”  Spitfire looked at Fleetfoot as she answered before looking at the one the mare was trying to remember.  An idea solidified in her mind as it was the only record that was still legitimately held by the stallion.

“How can you not remember me!?  And those are my records!  How can you not see that!”  The three princesses and the two guests that were witness to the recent event looked at the stallion as he started to hyperventilate, yet neither of the two lieutenants reacted to him at all.  Soon the stress of the situation got to him and he soon passed out, surprising the two that seemed to be ignoring him.

“Woah!  Hey, are you all right!?”  As Soarin moved to help the downed stallion, Spitfire moved to stand next to Celestia.

“I think I know some of what happened.  Whatever those seven did somehow made them forget everything that Wind Rider did, even to the point that they block out anything trying to remind them of it.”  Celestia nodded, but Luna had a look of horror on her face for a moment before she sadly shook her head.

“The punishment fitting the crime, indeed.  There is nothing worse than being completely forgotten when all you want is to be acknowledged.  When I was released from the moon only to find that I had been forgotten, it almost broke me.  But to find that young Twilight still knew of me?  At that moment I almost broke down crying and I vowed that whatever happened she would be spared even if she was allied with my sister.”  Celestia looked over to Luna before she moved over and set a wing over her sister.

“That time is all over now.  You don't have to worry about Nightmare Moon ever controlling you ever again.”  Luna opened her mouth to say something to her sister, but decided against it with a shake of her head before leaning into her sister.  Seeing the two having a moment, the Wonderbolt Captain turned back to her teammates and frowned.

“Take him to a secure room back in Canterlot Palace, the princesses are going to want a word with him later.”  She looked over at the remaining active Wonderbolts and could only find two of them left in the air, one of them being the rookie.  “Oh and make sure that the rookie is ready the next training day for the main squad, she definitely earned her place today.”  The two looked surprised but nodded as they moved to lift the stallion onto Soarin's back.  As he flew off towards Canterlot, Fleetfoot went towards the conscious Wonderbolts to deliver the news, as odd as it was.

“Well that was rather interesting, but I suppose it works out.  Princess Celestia, we need to talk.”  All heads turned to see that Bella Donna had returned from her talk with Discord.  The tall alicorn nodded to the former Captain.

“Yes?  What is it that you need?”  The unicorn frowned at the princesses calm tone before looking back over towards her daughters, one of which was taking the chance to run off again with her friends since their sisters had fallen unconscious.

“About how you abandoned my daughters...”  The unicorn trailed off when she saw the princess wince before her expression turned sad.

“Oh, that.  I still can not express how remorseful I am for that.  I still stand by what I said before, if there is anything that I can do to make it up to you, just name it.”  Celestia had a feeling that her promise would come back to bite her in the flank as a sinister smirk appeared on her former Captain's face.

“That's good to hear then.  Because I finally thought of the perfect thing and you have a month to prepare for it.  You... are going on a vacation.”  The two conscious princesses and their guests just stare at her as if she was crazy.  A snort rang out, and Celestia turned to glare at her sister as she tried to maintain her composure and failed as she hid behind a wing and started laughing.

“I do not see what is so funny about this, sister.  We do not have time for such frivolous pursuits as there is still so much do be done, especially in light of the corruption that has been revealed in the recent years.  If I just took off like that then who would make sure that the kingdom is running correctly?”  Celestia didn't seem to fully realize what she said as both of the other princesses looked a bit miffed at her words.  Bella just shook her head at the trio with a sigh.

“This is why you need to go for at least a month, and why I'm giving you time do prepare.  You seem to have forgotten that you are no longer alone in running the kingdom, especially with there being ten alicorns around now.  I'm sure that nothing will happen to Equestria while you take a few days to yourself.”  Celestia looked unsure about that which was shown by how her wings twitched nervously, showing just how out of her comfort zone the idea was.

“But!  They are not ready yet!  And Luna still has not gotten used to the modern times and all the new laws and...!”  She was brought up short when her sister pressed herself up against her side.  Looking down at her younger sister she chewed on her lip as she stared into the puppy-dog pout that was being given to her.  Spitfire chose this moment to speak up with her opinion on the subject.

“I have to agree with her on this, your highness.  In fact you even signed into law requiring that all government personnel are required to take a vacation at least every other year and even gave power to their subordinates to force their leaders to do so in the event that they are no longer performing their duties up to a certain standard.  You've said that we were always supposed to treat your sister as your equal in all things, yet you still keep on trying to deal with everything alone bar the few instances you called on Princess Twilight and her friends to deal with.”  The princess was about to argue, but when she thought back on the time since her sister returned she couldn't think of many times where she asked her sister to deal with something without her watching over her.

“As for them not being ready...  How will you know if you don't let them try?  My daughter has been doing a fine job with the reinstated Black Guard and Rainbow Dash has been actively learning from Spitfire here.  In fact the only one that may have any trouble would be Fluttershy, but it's not like they will be alone.  Sure they may not have your experience, but Princess Luna isn't new to ruling, and Princess Cadance has knowledge of the current laws.  Working together I'm sure they can more than make up for you not being there.”  The princess couldn't find fault in the unicorn's words, especially as she had been grooming Twilight for the position for years.  Yet there was still a part of her that didn't want to give in just yet.

“But...  It...  They...”  As the princess tried to find words for what she wanted to say and fail, she finally gave up with a sigh before nodding, her head low.  With a smile, Bella Donna waved a hoof causing Discord to appear next to her.

“Don't be like that.  You still have a month to prepare yourself and Discord is helping out by arranging transportation so that you won't be bothered by anyone.  Of course I'll leave the explanations to the others to you.  Speaking of, they appear to be waking up now.”  Turning to the collapsed mares they found that the first of them had begun to stir, followed soon by the others.

“Ugh, what the hay just happened?”  Rainbow Dash groggily raised her head and looked around to find her friends on the ground and the other princesses looking at them.  Rising to her hooves she looked over to the alert ponies and wasn't the only one as the others awoke one after another.  Seeing as Celestia was still partially in shock and Luna was there supporting her, that left only one pony to explain things.

“All of you somehow managed to tap into your alicorn natures when dealing with Wind Rider.  We aren't exactly sure just what you did, but when they find out Auntie Celestia and Luna will let you know.  Wind Rider was also taken away to be dealt with as well.”  The seven mares looked confused, but nodded all the same to Cadance.

“Still, now that you are all awake it seems that almost everything here is finished.  We should really go and let the town know what happened before the panic spreads too far.”  Turning towards Ponyville, they noticed some ponies running about in panic.  With the weather team in disarray and taking care of their injured, that just left the group of alicorns.  Seeing this, the group spread their wings to fly back to town, but Rainbow Dash was stopped when a voice called out to her.

“Hey, Rainbow?  Wait up a moment.”  Pausing mid-flight, the rainbow-maned pegasus turned back to Spitfire who was digging through her saddlebags.  Landing once again she waited as the mare pulled a wrapped package out of it and turned back towards the alicorn.

“So what's up?  I really need to go and help the others so...”  Spitfire just smiled at the impatient mare before slowly unwrapping the bundle.

“I was actually planning on saving this until later, but seeing what you and the others have done for the Wonderbolts I feel that it shouldn't be put off any longer.  When I first saw you in action I always knew that you would be one of the best Wonderbolts ever, but when you grew that horn everything changed.  Yet even after that you still put your all into the Wonderbolts even though you no longer can join.  So it felt right to give you this.”  She finished unwrapping the package revealing a coat much like the one that was being worn by Wind Rider earlier.  Rainbow Dash looked on it in confused shock as the Wonderbolt Captain continued.

“So, in light of the great loyalty you have shown as well as the efforts you have taken to improve the Wonderbolts, I am proud to bestow this upon you and to name you an honorary Wonderbolt along with all the benefits given to our retired members.  I look forward to working with you more in the future as we work to bring the Wonderbolts back to their former glory.”  Spitfire passed the jacket over to the cyan mare before taking wing and flying after the other princesses to see if there was anything she could do to help.

With her gone, Rainbow Dash sat there trying to process just what had happened as she stared at the object in her hooves.  As a shimmer matching her mane passed over her eyes she snapped out of it with a squee of joy as she finally registered just what she was given.  In a flash she had put the jacket on and found it to be a perfect fit.  While she wanted to take longer to admire it, she managed to remember that she had something to do and took off back towards town.  Silence settled over the small clearing until a voice broke it.”

“Did everypony forget about Trixie?  What is she supposed to do now?”
> 62
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ugh, I still can't believe that mom would do something like that.  She knows how little I care for this title, and  know that I'm not cut out for it.”  Scootaloo rolled her eyes as she flew along next to her sister around Ponyville's airspace.  She had finally convinced her sister to show up for a day of flight training just between them, but much of the time was spent listening to her complaining.  With a sigh she circled around her sister, top to bottom, before replying.

“I know that, as if you haven't been saying the same thing about a dozen different ways now.  But can we please just get back to what we are out here for?  I don't get to spend enough time with you as it is.”  Aegis Flare sighed as she cupped her wings to slow down and come in for a landing on a nearby cloud, followed soon by Scootaloo.  Shaking her head, the elder mare came to the realization that she had been ignoring her sister again.

“Sorry, but when the time limit is up and Celestia is sent wherever for time-off that means that there will be almost no time for me to spend with you.  It's already hard enough dealing with the few things that keep piling up because of these things, but to actually do Celestia's job as well?”  She spread her wings out in emphasis before flopping her head down on the cloud.  The pegasus filly rubbed a hoof at her ankle as she stood next to her sister.

“Actually that may not be that big of a problem really.  You see mom signed me up for some event during that month that she found out about.  I have no idea what it is, but it sounds like we wouldn't see much of each other anyways.  Of course the fact that Diamond Tiara's mom isn't letting her go just makes it better.”  The alicorn raised an eyebrow at her sister's words as she realized that this had been the first time in a while since she had heard about the other filly.

“How have things been going with her anyways?  You haven't been complaining about her much lately and I don't think I've even seen her around lately either.”  Scootaloo opened her mouth to respond, but paused before looking thoughtful.

“Huh.  Actually I'm not sure.  Diamond hasn't actually been doing anything to us these days.  She, along with Silver Spoon, have just been avoiding us except for when we were trying to get help from Twilight.  Dragged half of the class along with them as well, it was a surprise that we even found what we were looking for with them taking up Twilight's time.  At least Spike knew where to find what we were looking for while she was busy with all of them.”  Aegis Flare smirked as she watched her sister's wings flutter at the young dragon's name.  She avoided saying anything for now as she pondered her words.

“You know, I've heard about her and her mother getting into a lot of arguments lately, I wonder if that has anything to do with it.  Spoiled Rich sure hasn't been holding her tongue at all lately, and I think she has gotten worse about it.”  The two look at each other before shrugging and standing up once again to flex their wings in preparation to begin flying once again.

“Still, it would be nice if mom would actually tell me what she is doing when it involves me before actually doing it.  A month is way too little time to prepare for something like this, well, unless you're Twilight Sparkle then it's too much and too little at the same time.  The library has been a mess since she heard.  I guess it's a good thing that Pinkie's sister is going to be in town today, we could all use a distraction.”  She looked thoughtful as her mind drifted to her cousin that had spent the last few weeks in a panic in her cottage, while Scootaloo shuddered.

“Pinkie Pie is strange enough most of the time, but what kind of mare is her sister going to be like?”  The alicorn blinked and just shrugged.

“I have no idea, this is the sister I have not met yet, but if she's anything like the others then she is bound to be interesting.”  Lifting a hoof to ruffle up her sister's mane, the elder mare took off into the sky, soon followed by the younger after swatting her hooves away.

<><><><><><><><>

Six ponies sat on a picnic blanket setting up for the arrival of their other fellow alicorn and her sister.  They were all curious about just what Pinkie's sister Maud was like as they had only minimal inteeraction with her during their coronations, but Aegis Flare and Twilight had their suspicions as they had already met the other two of the three siblings of their close friend.  So when the pronking pink piny princess arrived, they were rather excited to see just what this last pie quadruplet was like.  Soon they saw a stone gray mare approaching, and after a small pause she moved to greet the group.

“Salutations.”  Twilight and Aegis Flare blinked at hearing the emotionless tone once again that they remembered hearing once before.  When they started chuckling the others looked at them in confusion before Twilight waved a wing at them in apology.

“Sorry, sorry.  It's just...  Flare and I, well we already met Pinkie's other sisters and were trying to guess what the last one was like based on what we knew.  It's actually hard to believe that all of them are related, yet at the same time it makes a lot of sense in a nonsensical way.”  As if her words were a summoning, laughter filled the air causing her to groan and shake her head.

“Sense?  Oh but what fun is there in that?”  In a flash Discord appeared between Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy with his arms draped over them.

“Ugh, Discord?  What are you doing here?  Can't you see that this is a private party?”  Discord looks offended as he brings a claw to his chest.

“Oh, but Rainbow Dash.  I was invited by my dear old friend Pinkie here personally to meet with her sister.  Speaking of, here she is now, oh and what is this you have there?  OW! It bit me!”  Discord yanked his claw away from the rock that Maud was holding and stuck it in his mouth.  Maud just blinked before holding the rock up to her ear.

“This is my pet rock, Boulder.  He says he doesn't like you.”  Discord glared at the rock as he sucked on his claw before bringing his paw up to rub his chin.

“Well as interesting as that thing is, though it does look familiar, I'm not sure I like it either.”  He jerked away from the rock as it skipped out of Maud's hoof towards him.

Hmph, I see how it is.  Well if this is how I'm going to be treated then I'm leaving!”  Like that the draconequus disappeared as fact as he had appeared leaving the rest of the group confused.  Maud was just as emotionless as ever as she reached down and picked Boulder back up once again and began to pet him.

“Aww, and I had so many fun things planned that I was sure he was going to like.  How about you all get to know Maud while I go speak with him.”  Pinkie Pie bounced off after Discord leaving the other alicorns alone with Maud.  Turning towards them, Maud just raised an eyebrow as she waited for them to make the first move.

”Umm, so.  That's an interesting wardrobe you have there...”  Rarity attempted to start up a conversation with the gray mare, but as they were all about to find out, learning about the mare was easier said than done.

----------

Aegis Flare and Maud stood staring at each other with matching expressions.  The other alicorns, sans Pinkie, watched on as they stood outside of the bat-winged mare's home, heads turning from one to the other.

“Wow, it's almost like a mirror.  No wonder Pinkie always seemed ta know how Flare was feeling before Twilight showed up.”  Applejack's comment was met with nods followed by a glare from the pony in question.  After a moment Aegis Flare just shook her head with a smirk before turning back to the stony mare.

“Whatever.  Still, after watching the rest of the I think I know the perfect thing to show you Maud and I think you might enjoy it.”  Waving a wing to her, the alicorn opened the door and led the mare along the various displays she had set up on the bottom floor.  Finding the one she was looking for, she run a hoof along the bottom edge of it, tapping a few points, before opening up the case before steeping aside for Maud Pie.

“Your sister mentioned that you were studying for a Rocktorate, so I'm sure that these will be of interest to you even though I have no idea what they are exactly.  I just found them to look interesting as I was traveling through the Everfree Forest.”  Maud stepped forward to look into the case, in which she found a variety of rocks.

“This is an odd mixture to find in a forested area.  This one is Pyroxenite and that one is Serpentinite.  They are not found in an area like that normally and rarely near each other.  Then there is Hyaloclastite, Llanite, Shonkinite, and...”  The mare stopped with a small sound of indrawn breathe that most of the mares missed, but with her superior hearing Aegis Flare just managed to catch.

“Is something wrong?”  Maud slowly lifted a hoof and pointed at a blueish gray stone that had a slight glow coming off of it near the center of the collection.

“That one is a very rare stone commonly known as star stone.  There are very few raw samples to be found as it is the rare component used in making orichalcum.”  Aegis Flare's eyebrow rose at hearing this as orichalcum was very rare and very expensive.  A chunk of the material of that size was enough to buy a small town if you could get ahold of it, yet it was also a heavily controlled substance due to the many uses that it could be used for, many in a military setting.  The alicorn looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding to herself.

“How about you take it then?  I have no use for it, but I'm sure that you'll get much more use out of it in your studies.  Of course if you need anything to go with it you can always come to me or your sister.”  Maud's eyes widened ever so slightly as she slowly reached for the stone with a hoof.  Once she had it clutched to her breast, she leaned slightly to the side until she came into contact with the alicorn.  Aegis Flare wasn't sure, but she felt that she had definitely made an impact on the mare and smiled to herself.  After seeing their interaction, Rarity realized that there was an opportunity to be had at the moment and she had an idea of what to talk with the earth pony about.

“Excuse me Maud.  I have a small request.”  The stony mare turned and looked at her but said nothing.  Rarity took this as acceptance and continued.

“Well, your sister Limestone helped me out a bit with improving the gems I use and I was wondering if you could help me out a bit by looking over what I have done so far?”  Maud stood there for a moment before nodding slightly the the former unicorn.  Soon the group headed over towards Canterlot Boutique down into the basement of the building.  Yet that wasn't their final destination as they found that there was another floor below that which they didn't know of before.

“Um, Rarity?  Since when was there a room below your basement?  If you don't mind my asking, I mean.”  The white alicorn looked to Fluttershy beforeblushing.

“Well when I talked with Limestone I found that many of the gems the grew are done in dark areas, most while still inside rocks.  I managed to... convince... a few diamond dogs to dig this area out for me as an alternative to that.”  The others nodded at the explanation while Rarity opened the final barrier, revealing the collection of gemstones that she had crafted.  Maud moved over and peered at them before tapping at one with a hoof.

“Hmm, these are not bad.  They are not the same quality as what is found at home, but there are few places you can find gems better.”  Rarity hummed to herself as she thought on the mare's words.  While the Pie Family farm was held in high esteem for the quality of their gems, which she had learned after researching it when she was given some tips by Limestone, she didn't expect for her work to match them yet.  She looked over the various gems she had sitting rooted in the soil before her eyes landed on the chest she had hidden in a corner.

“Actually, I have one other that is completed, but it is rathher odd.  All these gems I worked on using only my hooves as Limestone suggested, but this one I made on accident.”  Opening the chest she revealed a solitary gem, but of an odd coloration.  While at first it appeared to by a dark grey stone, the colors in it flickered occasionally as if lighting arced across it.  On seeing it, Maud's eyes widened slightly as she reached out a hoof and lay it atop it.

“This.  This is very rare.  I have never heard of a storm gem being grown, only found on mountains that are struck by rare magical storms and even then they are never of this size.  How did you make this?”  Rarity looked down at the gem before tilting her head.

“I'm still not sure myself, darling.  I was worn out after a long days of work and fell asleep down here.  When I awoke I found that my wings were wrapped around it with my horn leaning against it.”  Maud hummed in thought as she continued to examine the gemstone closely.  While the explanation wasn't enough to tell her how it was created, she had some theories but had no real way to test it out herself.  Still, to have a chance to examine two rare minerals in one day, one of which was given to her, was not a chance she was going to waste.

<><><><><><><><>

“So Celly, how do you like your new home away from home for the next month?”  Princess Celestia looked around at all the trees that surrounded her before her eyes settled on one that looked scratched up at first.  On closer inspection she noticed that it was intentionally carved into to like like that shape of a pony, a bat-winged one to be precise.  It was only then that she realized just where the were and she looked down sadly.

“This is where she was stranded for all those years, isn't it?  Fitting that she chose this as the place to send me as punishment for my failures.”  With a sigh the alicorn turned away, causing Discord to chuckle.

“Oh don't be like that.  It's not like you are going to be alone here.  How would you ever relax if you tortured yourself the entire time.  Of course I don't mean me, I'll be too busy watching the chaos your replacement spread in Canterlot while you are gone.  Speaking of, it's about time I go check in on them now.”  Celestia's head shot around to stare at him, but he had vanished before she could lock eyes on him.

“What do you mean by that!?  Discord!?  DISCORD!?”  She stomped her hoof and was about to fly off when she felt something poke at her knee.  Snorting angrily she looked down only to see a small colt standing next to her, her retreated under her fiery gaze which dimmed when she saw him.

“Umm, pwincess?  Can we go pway on the wollew coastew now?  The stwange mawe said you wouwd let us pway on them when you got hewe.”  Celestia was confused about the presence of the colt and his words until she looked behind him and noticed a break in the trees behind the colt.  Taking a few steps past the colt she found that she was on the very edge of the jungle and right next to where she was left was a giant fair grounds.

“Right, Discord created this island so of course there would be something like this here.”  Rubbing a hoof at her head she looked down at the colt who was smiling hopefully up at her, causing her to nod.  The colt's smile grew even wider as he dashed ahead, and when the alicorn's eyes followed him she spotted more colts and fillies ahead of them.

“Maybe this will not be as bad as I thought.  Who know, I might actually be able to have some fun for once.”  Her hopes were darkened a bit as a familiar cry rang out through the amusement park, one that she had heard much about from her student.

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS AMUSEMENT PARK GUIDES!  YAY!”  She blinked warily as the voices reached her, causing her to rub a hoof at her head once again.

“Or maybe things may be even more stressful if those three are here.  Well they can not be any worse than the majority of the nobles that wander through my throne room.”  With one more shake of her head she calmly made her way towards the group waiting for her to begin her tour of the island that was once Discord's playground.
> 63
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Aegis Flare yawned as she slowly awoke from her night's rest, looking around blearily.  It took her a moment to remember, but she eventually recognized the room she had been staying in for the past week in Canterlot where she and her friends were learning from Luna and Cadance their duties as a princess. The seven new princesses had made it through the last week, and starting today they would all be helping hold Court with the two other princesses, during the four hour period when the Night and Day courts overlapped.  This would last for the next week which would then have them alternating between the two to get the full experience.

Still, the mare had to admit that there were some advantages to being in Canterlot as she had complete access to the guard training grounds.  In fact she decided to head out to check on them now that she had some spare time, patting Scarlett on the head as she passed by her perch.  She decided to head towards the Royal Guard training grounds instead of the Black Guard's, just to see if there had been any changes since she was last there.

This led her to be disappointed when she arrived as she saw no real changes since she was last there. She was about to leave towards the Black Guard training grounds, when her ears caught the sound of sparring, yet it didn't sound quite right to her. Following the sound, she soon came to an enclosed area which caused her to slowly raise an eyebrow.

“Training golems? Those are new.” She sat back and watched a couple of the guards spar with the stone ponies, and frowned as they seemed to be struggling against rather amateur movements. She winced as she saw one of them take a double-hoofed buck to the chest and go flying into the wall. The pony only shook his head and stood back up as if the heavy hit was only a light tap, making the curious princess realize that there must have been a spell in the area to prevent injuries.

With a shrug, she moves up to one of the operators for the golems and indicates that she wants to give it a try. After a bit of arguing, she gets the level set to max, while the guard shakily sends a recruit to get one of the drill instructors. Standing in the starting ring, Aegis Flare, breathes in deeply before rearing back onto her hind legs and settles into a two-legged stance, with one forehoof in front of her and the other angled off to the side.

“Sir! Sir! Corporal Punishment says to tell you that there might be a problem at the golem arenas. One of the princesses just entered and set the system to its highest level.” The drill sergeant groaned and muttered something about 'stupid nobles' when he realized just what the private had said.

“Wait, which princess?” The private glanced back before informing him who caused him to smile.

“Well now that changes things. After what she did last time she was here this may be interesting. FALL IN!” For the last he turned to the recruits and privates that were currently training in different activities, causing them to jump and surprise and look over in confusion as it was much too early to quit for the morning. This did not stop them from quickly putting their equipment away and forming up in front of the smirking form of the drill instructor. With a couple more commands he had them following over to observe the princess as she began to spar against the fresh training golem. The instructor's eyes widened when he saw the stance the bat-winged princess was in.

“Well now this will be interesting. Pay attention and maybe a few of you will learn something as it's not everyday you see someone that knows the core martial arts of any of the pony tribes.” With that he turned his attention back to the princess, hoping to see what he could learn himself from the spar.

Aegis Flare carefully watched the stone figure advance towards her with heavy steps. It slowly picked up speed before it was barreling at her at a galloping pace, causing the princess to frown at it. Sliding a hoof around as it neared, she quickly spun around to its side before slamming the golems head into the ground with her right hoof and leaping back in case it tried to counter.

The golem twitched as it stared at the ground in front of it as it tried to register what had just happened to it. It actually took it ten seconds before it slowly rose to its hooves once again, leaving the watching drill instructor to facehoof at it. Craning its head around, the stone pony soon found the princess a short distance away and turned towards her for another attack. What followed could be described more as a slaughter than a spar as Aegis Flare continued to use the same move every time her opponent neared as it failed to be able to register just what was happening to it.

After ten minutes of this, the bat-winged mare sighed in disappointment and signaled to the operator to shut down the golem. Walking out of the small arena, her eyebrow lifted at the gathered guards before shrugging to herself and heading back to her room. Once she was out of sight the drill instructor turned to the gathered ponies.

“Now if any of you can pull of something a tenth as good as that then maybe you'll have what it takes to even think of becoming an officer. Now then, all of you back to work! Move it! Move it! Move it!” As he chased the recruits and privates back to what they were doing, the instructor looked back at the sparring rings with a frown before shaking his head at how badly they had done. They may have been new, but they should not have just froze like that in the face of one of the three pony martial art styles.

Back in the palace, Aegis Flare cleaned up back in her room before joining the rest of the princesses in the dining room for breakfast. Unsurprisingly, she was the last to arrive except for Luna who wouldn't be awake until around lunch. With Celestia on vacation, that left Cadance in her place as she was down from the Crystal Empire to help the new princesses get settled in.

“Well now that we are all here we can finally discuss just what is going to be expected of you the next few days.” Waving a hoof to one of the servants, she signaled for them to take their orders before they all began. Once they were placed, she turned to the group with a small smile directed at the last to arrive.

“First, I hear from the instructors for the Guard that you have been showing off again. It seems that some of the recruits have been disheartened by your example, though there are some that they have said are working even harder.” She stops to hear what the darker orange mare has to say who just shrugs in reply.

“I thought that those sparring golems they had would have at least been a challenge, but they ended up being rather disappointing. I think even the physically weakest of the black guard could have taken them on without much trouble. Though I really need to practice that style more often, it managed to nick me a couple of times still. Hopefully, I can find who came up with them, though. I want to see if I can get one with a few ideas added into it.” Cadance blinked a few times as she tried to guess what she would need one for and came up blank. Shaking her head she looked back around at the others.

“Anyways, just please try and be a bit more careful when you show off like that. Shiny has been complaining about there not being enough ponies getting through the Guard training. Now as for the second thing, today you will all be sitting in on the Night and Day Courts for the next week.” The newer princesses nodded, with only Twilight rolling her eyes.

“So pretty much what Princess Celestia always had me doing as well as what we've been doing the last few months?” The pink pony princess just smirked at her sister-in-law.

“Yes, but this time you are not going to be having your head stuck in a book the entire time. Also Any decisions will be made by all of you before I give them out in a manner that they will expect, instead of like before where you offered your opinions yet Aunty Celestia or Luna still decided.” Her comeback drew laughter from the others as Twilight blushed, knowing that she couldn't argue about it. When the mirth around the table settled, Cadance looked around one more time to see if there were any questions. Seeing none, she settled into her chair and proceeded to finish her breakfast before they had to head out to the throne room.

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When the Day Court began, things already went in a direction that most of them weren't expecting. As most of them were expecting, as soon as the first petitioner entered the room, Pinkie Pie was up in her face babbling away. What they weren't expecting though, was for the mare to just walk on by her as if she wasn't even there. With a sigh Cadance pulled the other pink mare back to the cushion set up for her before explaining as the mare began to speak.

“I forgot to mention, Auntie has a spell on this room making it so that many of her actions are hidden. Anything outside of what is expected of a princess is ignored, while something like that will make you practically invisible. You'll understand why she did this soon enough.” It actually didn't take them long as the first petitioner was exactly the type of pony the spell was for and they found out at the end of her long rant.

“...and that is why it would be best if that old orphanage was torn down to make way for my fabulous new pool.” The newer princesses could only stare at the noble mare blankly as Cadance brought a hoof up to her face.

“Wait, she can't be serious, can she?” Cadance could only nod at Rainbow Dash as she could already feel a migraine coming on, having had to deal with issues like this for the past week already. With a sigh she gave what had become the most used answer she had for ponies like this having seen the rejection in their response and not needing a discussion.

“We shall consider your proposal and get back to you as soon as we investigate the issue.” The mare nodded and trotted away smiling, while Cadance rubbed at her head.

“Well, at least the worst is over. I mean the rest can't be as bad as that one, right?” The pink princess gave Fluttershy a deadpan look before sighing.

“Oh, you have no idea.” From then until lunch it was a line of pony petitioners, many with issues just as bad if not worse than the first.

“...So in conclusion, an expenditure of bits on my project will help stave off my impending lack of cheese.”

“...he said yes but now I need a new dress!”

“...Free Destiny! Free Destiny!”

“...I'm here to refill my rash cream medication.”

“I feeeeel sooooo bluuuuuuuuue!”

After the last one, which happened to be the fifth song of the day for Rainbow Dash, the court broke for lunch where they were joined by a weary looking Luna in her pajamas. Throughout the past few months they had gotten used to the night princess' habits and how she wasn't in a condition to socialize until after her first cup of coffee. After procuring it, the dark blue mare noticed the lighter blue princess banging her head on the table and raised an eyebrow in question.

“Ahh, it seems that many of Rainbow Dash's... fans... have come been showing up again to try to serenade her.” Luna looked thoughtful as the embarrassed mare growled at the rest of the table.

“Why is it only me anyways?! How come none of you ever seem to have these creeps pining after you?” While the rest of the mares shrugged, Luna looked at her more closely before nodding in remembrance.

“This happening sounds familiar to me as it is much like what happened with my sister. Discord made what is called the Royal Maiden's Curse that causes many to attempt to woo those under its effects. All those of royal blood that have not felt the intimate touch of another are inundated with a multitude of suitors.” Rainbow Dash just stared blankly at the elder princess before her head fell to the table with a thump once again.

“Are you telling me that this is all because of some stupid prank that Discord set up over a thousand years ago? What the buck was the point of that?” Luna smirked as she thought back to one of the few times back when she first faced the spirit and was actually entertained by his antics.

“I believe his exact words were, 'Sunbutt really needs to get laid.'” This got a combination of chuckles and eye-rolls from around the table while Rainbow Dash once again face-planted into the table.

“Seriously? All these annoying colts keep bothering me just because of a stupid joke of Discord's?! Ugh, when I get my hooves on him, I'll...” She trailed off as she began pouting over her predicament while the others watched on. Cadance tilts her head in curiosity as she examines the mare.

“So why haven't you actually done anything about it? It can't be that hard for you to find a stallion or mare with how attractive you are, and even before your change.” The cyan pegasus groaned at the love princess' comment before turning a glare on her.

“I keep telling ponies that I'll do it when I'm ready. I'm not just going to get with the first pony I'd see, otherwise I'd be with Cloud Kicker. I at least want somepony as awesome as I am before I even think about sleeping with them.” With that the former pegasus turned away from the others with her front legs crossed as she started pouting. This wasn't the first time she had gone through something like this and she was starting to get tired of others trying to push her into something she wasn't ready for. In fact, the mentioned pony was probably the worst of her friends to bother her over it and after becoming an alicorn there was no way in Tartarus that she was going to feed her ego even more.

“As interesting as this all is, isn't it nearly time for the mixed court to begin?” Looking at the time, the others realized that Aegis Flare was right, and they had about twenty minutes until it began. Those that hadn't finished eating quickly shoveled their food down, while Applejack, who had already finished, just snorted at the mare.

“Why do ya even care? Ya barely even said anything during tha morning court and had yer nose stuck in all that paper ya had with ya.” The bat-winged mare just shrugged as the other princesses looked at her, the two elder ones with a glare at her not paying attention.

“I kept up with most of it, not like there was anything important to pay attention to. Well except for that one stallion requesting help for his business. He has a lot of wasted spending on things he doesn't need, as well as he is overpaying for his supplies. If someone could send him this he won't even need extra funds.” The other princesses stared at her blankly for a moment before Cadance looked the documents over. Finding nothing out of place, as much as she could understand at least, the princess passed them to a nearby guard and sighed.

“You do know that we have ponies that can take care of things like this, right? They could probably even do it even faster as well so you don't waste an entire morning like today.” The other princess just gives her a strange look.

“Actually, I finished it about ten minutes after he had left. Much of what I was working on was reports from the Black Guard.” She continued to talk as they all started making their way towards the throne room.

“Lately, there have been some kind of strange sickness going around affecting unicorns. It was only a few at first, but the numbers are starting to grow so I've had to put some more focus on it. From the sounds of it, there may be some being spreading it so I've been putting some of the best on it.” Luna frowned as something sounded familiar about the problem, but shook it off as they began entering the throne room and took up their seats.

The afternoon petitions were much like the morning group as they brought in complaints and requests that were as trivial as ever, with only a couple real requests. At the mid-point of the afternoon court, a guard ran in past all the waiting ponies and stood panting before the throne. All eyes were on him as he tried to catch his breath, the current petitioner glaring, before he pulled a large gem and held it before him.

“Princesses, urgent message from the north! Code Level: Black!” Most of the ponies in the room looked worried at his words, except for four of the princesses. Luna, Aegis Flare, and Rarity knew that their wasn't much to worry about as the code was for general messages, yet still something to check on right away. Pinkie Pie wasn't worried either, but there really wasn't much that could get to her.

“Guards! Clear the room, court has been suspended until Night Court!” There was a bit of grumbling from the nobles as they were ushered out, but the room was soon cleared. Once they she was sure that the room was clear, Luna put up an isolation field to prevent any sound from leaving the room.

“So does anypony know what this emergency is all about?” The three princesses that have the most direct actions with the Black Guard glance at each other before quietly letting the darker orange mare explain.

“Well it shouldn't be anything disastrous judging by the code used, but the area is worrying. There aren't many agents up north but what is concerning is that one of the teams are under an active Requiem Order.” She got a bunch of blank stares at the term before she sighed and rubbed a hoof at her temple.

“Right, you haven't heard. My mother decided to take off with that 'song' comment a while back and changed all the mission codes into ones based on musical terms. She even calls all the agents her little 'Songs' or 'Songbirds' depending on the situation. A Requiem Order is just as it sounds, it's a death order.” Gasps were heard from many of the princesses not knowing the meaning, with Rarity looking sad but not surprised over it. Before any of the others could complain the mare continued.

“This isn't something done lightly and is usually the last resort. When they tried diplomacy, they were immediately attacked just because they were female, but as they were escaping they found something alarming. This kingdom of caribou were planning on invading Equestria to enslave all the females they came across and had built a device that would corrupt all the leylines in the country.” The princesses just learning of this let out gasps of horror, though none were as horrified as Twilight.

“But that's just insane! If they did something like that then after a few years all of Equestria would become uninhabitable as the very magic in the land dies! How could a group even think to do something like that to a place they want to conquer!?” Aegis Flare shrugged as she looked at the gem waiting for them.

“I have no idea, but there may be something in their report.” Nods went all around as Luna started funneling mana into the gem, allowing it to connect with the one trying to contact them. Soon an image began to form over it as the image of a fluffy, white, chow chow breed of diamond dog appeared. If she looked surprised to see a majority of the princesses gathered for her report she didn't show it as she saluted.

“Your highnesses! The mission is complete with a few... complications.” Rarity's eyebrow rose at the wording as it should have been rather simple to remove the targets that she knew of considering the skills of the two on said mission.

“Complications?” The bitch sighed as she glanced towards somewhere outside of the projection before shaking her head.

“While the targets have been... neutralized... there was an issue with disabling the 'Mana Bomb' as it has been called. You see, Tempest decided to get involved.” The three alicorns that knew all of the current Black Guard members groaned and rubbed at their temples in irritation.

“What's the damage then? She never does things half-way when she gets involved.” The dog sighed as she looked away from them once again.

“Well let's just say that you won't have to worry about the caribou doing anything for a very long time. At least as long as it takes them to rebuild the population... and the entire city... and... FIZZLEPOP BERRYTWIST! You put that skull down right now and...! Wait! No, don't cry, I'm sorry I yelled at you and... I'll have to finish my report later, your highnesses. Fluffykins, signing off. Come on Fizzie, come here and get a hug.” The last thing the group of princesses saw before the image went dark, was a dark orchid mare crawling towards the dog. When they saw her broken horn those having not seen her before gasped in horror.

“Oh my goodness! What happened to her? And who is this Tempest pony she was talking about?” Aegis Flare shook her head sadly as she moved to pick up the gem before retaking her seat.

“That unicorn is both Fizzlepop Berrytwist, as Tempest Shadow. She was one of the ponies that we released from prison because of bribery from Manifest Destiny and those connected with him.” Applejack raised a hoof at the name causing her to pause and allow the farm mare to speak.

“Wait, isn't that the varmint that those ponies earlier were wanting us ta free? And wasn't he tha one that almost caused that war in Appleloosa?” Aegis Flare nodded before she glanced over to Luna.

“Yeah, though I'm not sure what all came from that yet. I haven't been keeping track of that at all. Luna would probably know more.” The elder princess sighed before shaking her head.

“Unfortunately, nothing has been settled yet regarding him.” She raised a hoof to forestall any complaints.

“The problem is that there is still so much we are investigating that we do not have the full picture of his treachery. Already we have enough to imprison him for life, but we still do not know how many followed him willingly and how many were forced into doing his work. As the information comes out the ponies are put on watch, but only the worst have been apprehended though much of our information points to connections outside of Equestria, most which have vanished if they ever existed in the first place.” Applejack snorted as Luna explained the situation.

“Well that snake better hope that ah never have ta meet him. Nopony messes with mah family. But back to that unicorn, how can a pony have more than one name?” The other orange pony looked away slightly as she ran a hoof over the communication gem.

“She was one of the unlucky few locked away. The pony that put her away had her locked in isolation for almost a decade. He was the only one that she saw the entire time and... I refuse to go into detail about what happened, but she had a daughter because of him and her mind broke after she managed to break out and leave her daughter with her sister in Ponyville.” The room went silent as the others processed this and slowly looks of horror grew over their faces at the implications. Anger crept into the bat-winged mare's voice as she continued.

“She barely could function on her own when we found her but Agent Fluffykins has done a lot putting her mind back together. Right now there is probably little more that can be done to help her, but she has been left with two distinct personalities. Fizzlepop who is much like how her sister described her as a filly, though still growing, and Tempest, who came about to protect her mind. Tempest is the one that convinced Fizzlepop to join the Black Guard and has been coming out less and less often. When she does though it tends to get messy. Hopefully, she will be ready to be reunited with her family, but at least she won't have to worry about seeing that... THING... again. Once we found out what happened to her he was immediately arrested and was thrown into Tartarus itself.” There were no arguments about the punishment being too severe as the crime was something that they would have thought unthinkable so there were no other punishments that they felt would have fit.

“So that Diamond Dog, Fluffkins, has been with her ever since she was rescued?” The three in charge of the Black Guard nodded to Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah, it was my idea. After seeing what Sombra had done to the Crystal Ponies I had been looking into ways to heal mental damage and training mind healers. Sometimes they aren't enough, though, and we have found assigning a compatible companion to them works better. I've seen her file and until recently she hasn't been able to trust other ponies. Since Fluffykins was raised by ponies she was the best match we had at the time.” Rainbow Dash nodded solemnly to Cadance before she frowned.

“I guess that explains her name as well. I was going to make fun of it, but with what she is doing I can't help but respect her.” Rainbow Dash's words earned her a few glares, but the others nodded at her last point.

“Since the issue has concluded, for now, I guess we should break early for dinner before you all join Auntie Luna for Night Court.” With nods all around, the group followed Cadance as they moved out to the dining room once again. After a quick meal the newer princesses were back in court under the watch of the second eldest of them all.

“...and for just three simple donation you will never again have to worry about twittermites ever again.”

“...that pony stepped on my dress! I demand you punish him, now!”

“...I swear that she was a changeling a moment ago! You have to believe me!”

“Is every court like this? I haven't seen so many crazy ponies since Twilight enchanted that doll.” Twilight glared at Rainbow Dash for the comment as a slight blush overtook her face.

“Unfortunately, the ponies of this time are much softer than they used to be. A thousand years ago court was only for important problems that needed input from my sister or me. While it is good for us to keep track of our pony's issues, I still disagree with Celestia's decision to let any of them come to us whenever they wish.” Twilight looks thoughtful for a moment before pulling out an empty scroll.

“There is a lot of wasted time because of that, true. And many of the issues should be going to the courts first anyways before it comes before a princess. Not only that, but it is not even guaranteed that we could handle the issue without checking with the others or doing research first. I doubt Rainbow Dash would know much about a magical issue, but ask her anything about the weather and I doubt there is much that she would have to check on.” Rainbow Dash shifted nervously in her seat as Twilight began talking more to herself as she started planning something out. Turning to Luna, the cyan mare attempted to change the topic.

“So, um, how many more ponies are there supposed to be today for Night Court?” Luna sighed as she leaned over to an attendant and whispered a question. A moment later she was given an answer and she nodded before turning back to her fellow princess.

“It appears that there is only one more for now. Today there have been more ponies than normal for it, but that is to be expected with how the nobles feel they can get away with more with all of you. The last petitioner appears to be one, Grand Pear.” Applejack's eyes widened at the name, causing her to shoot up straight in her seat. The others looked at her curiously for her reaction, barring Twilight who was more focused on her work. As the pony entered the throne room, the apple mare's eyes stayed locked on him warily as he approached.

The aged, light amber stallion looked up at the princesses with a sad look, but the inspection by them could see that he was completely focused on Applejack. The princesses waited for the stallion to say something but the tension only increased as the two stared at each other. Finally the gray maned stallion sighed before looking away.

“You look so much like her.” His words confused the princesses causing them to look towards Applejack questioningly who only shrugged.

“Excuse us, but is there a reason that you have approached the Night Court?” The stallion glanced at Princess Luna before sadly shaking his head.

“No. I'm just an old fool trying to atone for past mistakes. I only wished to bring a gift for Princess Applejack before returning home.” With a bow the stallion set a box on the ground before turning to walk away. As he neared the exit, Applejack finally shook off her shock and realized just what he had said.

“Wait a moment. Ya knew my mother? Mah granny always told me that the Apples and the Pears were always feuding before ya left Ponyville. Pa didn't marry her until after that so how did ya know her?” The stallion paused and looked down at his hooves in shame, but didn't turn back to look at the princesses.

“That is something you should ask your granny about. I'm sure the old bat is still around.” With those parting words, the stallion left the throne room leaving the princesses to look at each other awkwardly. Seeing the box as her only answer, Applejack walked over to it before looking inside, gasping in shock at what she found.

“What tha...? Just how did...?” When she saw what was in the box her eyes widened as she tried to come up with a coherent thought. The others were wondering what she had been given, and when she lifted it out with her magic they gasped as well.

“Is that a small tree growing both apples AND pears? But that should be impossible!” Applejack slowly nodded to Twilight's exclamation and slowly examined the tiny fruit. Seeing nothing wrong with either of them, she tasted one of each and her eyebrow rose at finding them to taste perfectly fine.

“Ah don't know how he did it, but that is exactly what they are. Ah think that ah may have ta miss tomorrow doing all this because ah really need to talk ta Granny about who that was.” Princess Luna looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding.

“Yes, I can see how that would be important to you, being the one to bear Honesty. Go on then and meet with your family; I know better than to get in the way of that.” Applejack sighed before looking back at the small tree in front of her. As court closed down for the night, that mare's eyes barely left the impossible tree as she wondered just what Granny Smith had not told her.

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Applejack breathed deeply as she strode through the trees of her home orchard, having missed the scent of them. Her enjoyment was cut short as she heard a set of hooves hit one of her trees awkwardly, followed by a yelp of pain. Glaring to the side she saw one of the groups of guards that had been sent to help out at the farm to help train their strength up. She didn't want them on the farm, but she was convinced by Aegis Flare and her brother to at least try them out while she was in Canterlot for the month. While she didn't like them being there, she was still curious as to why Bon Bon was asked to check in on them a couple of times a day. Speaking of the mare, she found her glaring at a group of stallions that were just standing around doing nothing.

“This is the third time now that I've been called down here because you have not been listening to Big Macintosh. Since you don't seem to understand how to listen when asked nicely, we'll just have to be a little less nice.” Before any of the stallions could react, her right rear hoof shot out and sent a distortion of air shooting out behind her. Their jaws dropped as it hit one tree before passing through it and striking three more, divesting all of them of their apples. Looking back she frowned at the filled buckets before turning her gaze back on the slackers.

“I may be a bit out of practice, but that will be you next if you don't start listening. It may not be the dozen that I used to be able to do, but four is enough to send you half way across the orchard.” Big Mac had been watching for the entire time and gazed neutrally at the trees. Glancing down at his own hoof he slowly pointed it back to the ground before stomping down lightly. The gathered group stumbled as a shockwave traveled through the ground and all the trees nearby, over five dozen in total, shed their limbs of their fruit. Bon Bon looked over at the large stallion before rolling her eyes.

“Pff, showoff. Now ask yourself, do you want deal with that? Or actually listen for once?” She didn't even finish before all the guard trainees were rushing away to get back to work once again. Applejack shook her head at what she saw, especially since she had never seen her brother do anything like that before, before waving over to the two.

“Hey, Big Mac! Ah need ta talk with Granny about something, have ya seen her? Ya might want ta come with as well.” The stallion looked at his sister for a moment before slowly nodding. He could see that something was bothering her, especially if she was asking him to come along as well. Waving to Bon Bon, who decided to stay and keep an eye on the recruits, the two made their way to the house and found both Granny Smith and Applebloom. Applejack was about to say something, when she noticed the her sister was eating out of a jar of something unfamiliar.

“Applebloom, now what is it that ya've got there?” The younger filly looked up at her sister before setting the jar she was eating out of down.

“Just some pear butter. Some strange old stallion came through town a few days ago and gave it to me. It's actually pretty good.” Both of the jaws of the elder siblings dropped when they heard this before turning to look at the older mare who was watching on with a sad expression. Shaking her head, Applejack looked at her granny before rubbing at the back of her head.

“All right, now ah know that something is wrong here. Ah'm pretty sure that same stallion was just up in Canterlot yesterday, but he said that Granny would know why he was there before giving me this and leaving.” Lifting her hat, the alicorn revealed the small tree which she set down in front of her for the others to see. Her two siblings could only stare at it in shock, while the elder mare sighed on seeing it and shook her head.

“Now what is that derned fool stallion up to. Applejack, grab the book, we have a little trip ta take, ah'll explain everything there.” It took the orange mare a moment to realize what her granny was asking for, but when she did she quickly ran up to her room to retrieve the Apple Family Journal that was there. With it retrieved, the four ponies made their way out into the orchards towards an area they rarely went to. As they went the tried to get at least a hint of what the old mare was planning, but she was tight lipped the entire way. They knew they arrived at their destination when they saw something much like what had already shocked them earlier that day.

“What in tha world? Ah couldn't believe what ah saw before, but this is just as impossible.” As the younger trio stared up at the pear and apple trees that were entwined with each other, Granny Smith took the journal from her granddaughter and sat before the tree.

“Ah'm sure that ya have noticed that this book is not yet finished. It still is missing much of recent years including much about yer parents.” Applejack slowly nodded as that had been bugging her since she had tried to see what it said about them at one time out of curiosity to find it mysteriously blank except for a sole entry recording the birth of her father. The elder mare looked sadly up at the tree before running a hoof over the entwined trunks.

“Ah never did tell ya how things were added ta this did ah? Well ah guess now is as good a time as any. What do ya know about yer mother's real name?” The three younger ponies just stared at her blankly for a moment before they looked at each other and silently agreed on the middle sibling to take the lead with this.

“Ah'm not sure ah understand, granny. Isn't Buttercup her name? That's tha only thing ah've ever heard her called.” Granny Smith just smiled sadly as she opened the book to the last page and set a hoof on it.

“True, our family called her that, but it was only what yer father called her as a pet name. Her real name was Pear Butter, and she is why family is tha main focus of the Apples in recent years.” As she spoke, black lines ran out of her hoof and began to cover the page and snake around to the following pages leaving a trail of words. Soon the journal had expanded with much of the recent history of the Apple family that had not yet been written until that point. The trio of siblings could only stare at her in shock as the ramifications of what they were hearing meant.

“But what about the feud?” The two sisters nodded along with Big Macintosh's rare moments of speech.

“Yer parents never really cared about that feud, and ta be honest ah don't even remember what even started it. All they cared about was whatever time they could get seeing each other over tha years. In the end they had ta sneak away with Mayor Mare to get married in secret from everypony. Yet her father and ah still caught them right at the end.” The green mare sighed as she ran a hoof over the book.

“What happened next made me realize just how wrong ah was keeping them apart. As soon as tha wedding was completed, her father forced her ta make a choice. Yer father, or her family. Ya can guess what happened with that.” The three gasped in horror as Applebloom buried her head in her brother's chest, tears leaking from her eyes. The old mare continued on, heedless of their cries as she was lost in her memories.

“Not long after tha rest of the Pear family moved away, leaving her behind. We did everything ta make her feel welcome, but ah could tell that she would have given near anything ta see tha rest of her family again. Yet not once did they try ta contact her since that day, and even on her funeral day not a one of them showed ta pay their respects.” The aging mare pressed a hoof to the trunk of the trees again as she bowed her head in remembrance of her departed children. As Applejack watched her family she began to wonder just how hard it was for what she now knew as her grandfather to finally be honest with himself and admit his mistakes while trying to make up for them. As she made a mental note to see Twilight about the journal she and her friends had been writing in, a faint shimmer rippled along the leaves of the small tree she had been given.

----------

The rest of the month of Celestia's 'vacation' passed relatively quickly for the six newer princesses. A few issues came up, but with the help of Cadance and Luna they were quickly smoothed over. The court periods were actually shortened as Twilight had taken it upon herself to completely reorganize how things were done to improve efficiency by reducing wasted time. Now it was required for petitions to be put in writing except for those that dealt with the immediate threats of life. This also allowed for the princesses with the most experience on the issue to handle it personally instead of wasting time by having to gather them all together for each petition. This did not sit well with a large number of the nobles as they began finding their issues shunted to the bottom of the piles more often than not, and they even found some of their plots turned against them without them being their in person to interfere. So it when Celestia finally returned there were many eager to meet with her as she entered the palace.

“Princess Celestia! Thank goodness you have finally returned! Those miscreants that took over while your radiant self was indisposed have made a mockery of your court! You must fix it before they make it any worse!” The noble that accosted the solar princess wasn't even paying attention to her or else he would have been horrified by the sunglasses that she wore as well as the black cap sporting a pair of mismatched horns much like Discord's. Peering over the upper rim of her shades she sipped from a cup full of shaved ice she was levitating before replying.

“What seems to be the problem, my little pony?” Still not paying attention, the noble pulled out a scroll and passed it over to the princess.

“It's just horrible! They've completely ruined the court system and require near everypony to send notice ahead of time. They don't even see us when they should and instead have been seeing commoners first instead of those more worthy! And that's not all that we have gathered in that list!” Celestia boredly browsed through the list until her mouth quirked up in amusement at some of what she was reading. Coming to the end she just shook her head sadly before rolling the scroll up.

“It seems that you have made a mistake and left out certain information that is now required before it is considered by a princess. If you would rewrite it and turn it in tomorrow I will be sure to look at it. Until then I am still on vacation until the end of today and I have an important appointment with the royal baths.” Passing the scroll back to the noble she brushed by him, leaving a smear of tree sap on his side which also dripped in a trail behind her.

“Seriously, how do those fillies manage to find so much tree sap in a log flume?” The noble could only watch with his jaw dropped in horror as the princess walked away muttering to herself.
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Aegis Flare yawned wearily as she looked around at her friends that had gathered for their weekly get-togethers to catch up on anything that they may have missed. It also happened to be a time for them to share anything they thought was important for the others to know regarding princess issues they may have had over the period to try and keep them all on the same page. For the bat-winged mare, this mainly meant keeping them up to date on any serious issues that the Black Guard came across as they all had resources they could use that may come in handy in helping out some of them. Of course, it was also mainly a time for her to complain about what had been bothering her as well such as what she had learned from her sister the previous week when she came back from her 'camp' their mother sent her to.

“I still can't believe the camp mom sent Scootaloo to was actually the same place that she had Celestia taking her vacation. She was supposed to be sending her somewhere to get away from having to be the mother of the country like she always seemed to have to portray.” Rarity snorted though it was mostly due to all the bragging her sister did to her about what she had learned over the last month showing that the trip wasn't a waste for her.

“Now be nice. Unlike those supposed nobles, at least the children actually learn from what she says and are more mature as well.” This comment brought a few chuckles from the others before the orange mare shook her head and looked around again.

“So is Fluttershy not coming? She's the only one that isn't here.” Pinkie Pie bounced around her in excitement at the question before chirping merrily.

“Ooh, ooh, I know, I know! She's off on a very special play-date with my very own special sister Marble who just got into town today along with Cheerie and their very special somepony Big Macintosh!” None of the others knew that one of the Pie sisters were going to be in town, but from how they had heard that the three were considering adding her as a fourth to their little relationship they were accepting of her absence.

“Well, I guess I can start then since I doubt any of you could have any worse news. Frankly, it's a giant mess all over the place and it gets worse every report that comes in. Many nearby nations have been increasing weapon production, including some new ones that we haven't seen here in Equestria that I hope to get samples of. Many of those same nations hate Equestria and blame us for their problems. And most of our allies are pulling back into themselves with hardly any word from their diplomats. On top of that, the disease going around seems to be getting worse and I've been getting reports of a half-pony, half-minotaur creature around those same areas.” That mare sighed as she rubbed a hoof at her head to try and relieve the headache all the bad news was giving her. The other princesses looked worried as well and were anxious for more information, though Applejack looked thoughtful about something.

“They hate us? But why would they be blaming us for their problems? Equestria has had a history of peaceful relations for centuries now with the surrounding countries.” Aegis Flare could only shake her head at Twilight's question.

“Honestly, I'm not even sure half the time. There seems to be some outside pressure from their neighbors that don't border Equestria, and from what little I can gather from them their grievances are over a thousand years old, some of them maybe even from before the windigos.” Twilight frowned at this as she dug through her memories of what she had read.

“Really? Something from that long ago? But how is that possible, Discord supposedly destroyed any written records from before his reign so how would they have problems with us for something that long ago?” The only response she got was a shrug until Applejack finally spoke up.

“Well, not all the records, sugarcube. Ya remember that ah still have mah family's journal and from what ah can tell it is much older than all of that. Why that one creature Flare mentioned kind of sounds like... Uh, Pinkie, what's wrong?” The farm mare was distracted from what she was saying as she noticed her friend curled up and clutching her stomach. Her eyes were clenched shut at first before they widened in horror.

“Oh, no. Nonononono, not that! Anything but droppy stomach and crunchy kidney!” Her eyes darted around the park before finally settling on Applejack. Before anyone could blink, the party mare dove into the farm mare with her forelegs around her.

“Not again. I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry.” The five other princesses just looked at Pinkie, wondering just what she was doing.

“Pinkie? What are ya doing?” Pinkie didn't answer Applejack's question as she just continued to cry into her chest. The sound of rapid hoofbeats caused her to look up and she frowned when she saw her brother charging towards the group. As he neared the group, he slid across the ground, digging up a small trench, as he tried to stop and started panting heavily as he caught his breath.

“AJ! You have to hurry! It's Granny...She... She...” Looking between her brother and Pinkie Pie, the orange mare had no idea what was going on at first. Suddenly her mind made a connection and her eyes widened as her head shot around towards the farm.

“It can't be...” With a beat of her wings, she took to the air towards the farm, leaving the other princesses behind. The giant red stallion was after her only moments later with Pinkie Pie not far behind. The other four alicorns looked at each other in confusion and worry.

“What is that all about? You don't think something happened to Granny Smith, do you?” Rainbow Dash's wings twitched as she asked this while Rarity frowned.

“I'm not sure, I've never seen Big Macintosh look so scared before. And did anypony else notice that bracelet he was wearing?” The others thought back and realized that she was right and the stallion had been wearing something on his hoof as he ran up, but it had been mostly covered by the ground he had kicked up.

“Well anyways, we should all probably go after them. Who knows what is going on, and they could need our help.” With a nod to Twilight, the group spread their wings and took off after their friends.

----------

It was a gray day in Ponyville. Not because of the cloud cover put into place by the weather team, but as the day the town put one of its most beloved figures to rest. The family of the famed Granny Smith knew to expect a crowd as their entire family arrived for the funeral, yet they were not prepared for not only the entire town, but for major figures from around Equestria to arrive as well, some they never would have expected.

“Now I know that we have had our differences in the past...” Flim claimed as his brother stepped forward.

“...but we really owe your granny a lot. If not for her we would not be talking to each other today.” Applejack glared at Flam as he finished but sighed and waved them along as she remembered a bit of what had happened in Dodge Junction a while back. She may not have liked the two, but they still did show up to pay their respects for the Apple Family Matriarch and she didn't have the heart to stop them, even though they weren't the worst of the group that had passed her by.

“Why do we have to be at this mockery of an event? It's not like anypony important will be here.” Speaking of which, Applejack shot a covert glare at Spoiled Rich as her husband tried to quiet her down. She was surprised to see that even he was starting to look angry with her as she had never seen even a hint of him saying anything against his wife's antics before. She didn't have time to ponder on this as she had to turn to the next guest arriving for the funeral.

Originally the event had been planned to be held outside of the barn nearest the Apple home, but with the numbers that arrived it had to be moved to a nearby field. It used to be that the town would double in size when there was an Apple Family Reunion, but over the years it had grown. Yet even with that growth the town had nearly tripled in population at the numbers that had shown that had their lives touched by the gentle old mare.

Eventually, the entire area was packed with ponies, and even a couple non-ponies, leaving the three Apple siblings at the front of the crowd. Looking over the crowd, it almost brought a tear to their eyes at how many showed up, if it wasn't for the fact that they had cried themselves dry over the last few days. Glancing at his sisters, Big Macintosh lifted a hoof up to his black tie to straighten it before stepping forward to give his speech.

“Ah had a lot of time ta think about what ah was going ta say, but speeches have never been my strength. Then ah remembered just what she wanted right before she left us.” The big stallion paused as he gathered himself to go through the experience once again. Few had heard just what had happened during the elder mare's final moments, not even his two sisters had heard anything about it from him or his marefriends. After taking a moment, the stallion began his tale.

vvvvvvvvvv

“It is so nice to see you again, Marble. We just don't get enough time to spend together, and it is always enjoyable to see you.” The shy Pie mare nodded to Cheerilee as she leaned into the hug being given her by Fluttershy and Big Mac. The teacher was probably the most talkative of the group, but her experience with a variety of foals allowed her to understand the other three pretty easily. She still was able to get a decent conversation out of them when she needed it as they were all rather intelligent as well despite not saying much most of the time.

The quartet slowly walked through town back towards the apple farm for lunch. Big Macintosh had prepared things before heading out to meet them at the train station and it was being watched over by Granny Smith for them. Yet when they arrived the mare was nowhere in sight, yet the food was all setting out for them. Shrugging the four sat down for an enjoyable meal before going out for their later plans for the day. As they were finishing up and getting ready to leave the house, they were stopped by the return of Granny Smith, and surprisingly Mayor Mare.

“There ya all are. There is something that ah wanted ta ask of ya all. Ah know it may be selfish of me, but ah don't have much time left and there is one thing that ah want ta see before ah go, whenever that may be.” The four were unsure about what she was talking about until they looked to Mayor Mare. When they saw her lift a set of four bracelets, their faces turned red at just what was being asked of them. Big Macintosh looked questioningly at the three mares in askance as they considered the implications of what they were deciding.

“Um, well, I wouldn't really mind, if you all don't at least.” Fluttershy looked shyly at the other two mares to see them nod as well, not trusting their own voices at the moment. With them all in agreement, they stood in front of the mayor as Granny Smith shakily made her way to her rocking chair and settled down into it. They made a promise to have another wedding where they invited their friends before making their vows to each other and the mayor pronounced them an official herd. With a final kiss to seal everything, Big Mac looked over to Granny with a tear of happiness in his eyes.

“Granny, this is the best day of my life. But why did you... Granny? Granny. Granny!?” The stallion didn't notice until he neared her, but she was much quieter than she should be ,even when asleep. When his hoof prodded her shoulder and she just flopped backwards, his eyes widened in panic which crept into his voice. His mares quickly joined him around the elder pony and examined her as well, causing Fluttershy to gasp.

“Oh, my! Quick, go and get Applejack; and Mayor Mare, we need a doctor here, fast!” While she didn't raise her voice much, the urgency in the alicorns voice set the two in motion as the other two mares helped carry Granny Smith to her bedroom. Their efforts were for nothing though as nothing they could do was enough to resuscitate the elder mare and the doctors sadly proclaimed her death when they arrived.

^^^^^^^^^^

As he finished his tale, the stallion looked towards the front row where his three wives were sitting with the rest of the Ponyville princesses. After taking a moment to settle himself with the sight of them he continued his speech.

“At first we wondered how we would deal with our wedding being the same day Granny died, but then our little Marble Pie made a realization. Granny Smith has had a long life and has had many memories over that period. Yet in the end the last thing she saw, the last thing that she wanted to see, was her own family growing even larger. That alone makes it the most memorable day we could ever have.” There weren't many dry tears in the place after his story of the elder mare's final moments. For all of them this was the first they had even heard of the wedding of the four ponies, yet many had noticed the gold bracelets each of them had been wearing lately. With his speech over he stepped down and his youngest sister stepped up to the podium. As she was about to speak, a voice rang out, interrupting her.

“Oh great, now we have to listen to the little blank flank talk about that nobody of a pony? Why do we have to sit here and listen to this-” *SMACK!* Spoiled Rich's head snapped to the side as her husband's hoof slapped her across the cheek. Filthy Rich panted angrily as he stared at her shocked face while the rest of the crowd looked at the two with a mix of anger and astonishment.

“That is enough of that! All this time I've ignored your antics even though half of Ponyville has had complaints about you but this is just too much! You've known that the Apple Family is close to the Rich's and we would not be where we are without them. I just don't know what happened to you, you sure aren't the loveable mare that I married all those years ago.” The mare just looked at him before turning away with a huff and stomped off. The stallion sighed as she marched away and looked back to the rest of the crowd.

“I am so sorry about all of this. I just don't know what happened to her since she would have never would have done that when she first met. Now if you will all excuse me I have to go and make some arrangements with my lawyer, that was completely unacceptable of her and it will never happen again if I have anything to say about it.” With that the brown stallion marched his way back into town, leaving the rest of the crowd in shock. Applebloom's speech was forgotten as she was now too busy crying into her sister's chest as she comforted her from the unwarranted attack. Everyone was unsure as what to do now that what had been planned was thrown off, until Pinkie Pie walked up to the podium, her mane lying flat. She just stood there at first as the crowd's attention slowly focused on her before she began to solemnly speak.

“I've known Granny Smith ever since I moved to Ponyville, but it was only recently when I found out that the Pie family may be distantly related to the Apple family that I really spent any time with her. Sure she always yelled and complained about everything. Yet, that just made my time with her more special as it always reminded me of home. She also always had the best stories to tell, like that one time she told me how she used a ladle, a rope, and a rutabaga to stop a horde of rabid wombats.” The ponies weren't sure what to make of Pinkie's final claim, but there were a couple chuckles from the audience.

“Yeah, I remember that one. Though I loved that one about how Apple Fritter would always get into the batter for the fritters. She even broke out the photos for it as well.” The named mare glared at the stallion that said that, but she couldn't identify just where in the crowd the cousin who said it was.

“Oh, yeah? But what about the story of how you would always climb into the pigpen around feeding time and join them at the trough?” As the stallion blushed, a few more chuckles rang out from the crowd as the aura of sadness slowly lifted over the gathering. Soon everybody began trading stories about their time with Granny Smith while Pinkie Pie slowly slinked away. Applejack quietly followed after her as the crowd began to shift from mourning into a quiet celebration of the mare they had come to say farewell to. She eventually found the pink mare sitting atop a nearby hill staring out over the orchard. She took a seat next to her and joined her in looking over her home before finally speaking.

“That was a good thing ya did back there, Pinkie. After what that mare did, ah wasn't sure just how ta get that funeral back ta how it should have been. But ah think that what ya said made it even better than before.” Pinkie just sat there for a couple of minutes before she finally sighed.

“I really don't know what I was doing back there. I never liked funerals as everypony is always so sad at them and I don't like it when ponies are sad. When I remember Granny Smith in the future, I don't want to remember sad ponies.” This caused Applejack to look thoughtful as she glanced back to where ponies were starting to break out barrels of cider. Looking back over to Pinkie she sighed and scooted over to lay a wing over her.

“Well, sugarcube. Sometimes ponies just need time ta be sad about things. Yet that doesn't mean that they can't be happy at the same time, too. Ah mean, just look at everypony now.” Turning the pink mare around, she gestured back to the celebration of Granny Smith's life. While it wasn't all exuberant as most of the parties in Ponyville, it was nowhere near as sad as it once was. Reaching into her hat, Applejack slowly passed a wrapped object over towards Pinkie.

“After all of this ah really think that she would be proud of her funeral. Every member of the Apple family has something that they carry with them, something that is special ta them, and ah think granny would have wanted ya ta have this.” The pink alicorn slowly unwrapped the bundle, revealing the shawl that Granny Smith always wore. With a sniffle, she slowly draped it over her neck like how the previous owner did.

“I'll always treasure it. Even if we aren't sure of it, you will always be like family to me.” The two embraced in a hug before separating, Pinkie's mane having gained back some of its previous poofiness.

“Why don't ya head back? Ah have a couple of things I have ta do before joining ya.” With a nod, Pinkie made her way back to the party as Applejack pulled a book from her hat, neither of them noticing the shine coming from the old shawl. Opening the book to the last page, the farm alicorn set her hoof on a blank page and started to concentrate. As words began to write themselves into the book, she felt a thump next to her and she glanced over to see Princess Celestia settling down next to her.

“Ah was wondering when ah would see ya around here, Princess Celestia. Ya never did say how often ya came ta visit tha farm in the past. When Granny added ta tha family journal it told of all tha times ya used to come just for Granny's pies, though it didn't say why ya stopped when mah parents were born.” The larger princess nodded sadly before looking over towards the farmhouse in the distance.

“She was one of the few friends that I had after banishing my sister, and it was after her second century of life that I finally gave into her invitations to visit her more often. In a way she was always one of my unofficial advisers, and one of the few I was able to be myself around. I didn't want to stop visiting, but things were getting hard on your family and others were starting to take notice and cause problems.” Applejack's eyebrow lifted at this as she looked back at the book.

“Huh, could that be why tha feud with tha Pear family started? Granny said that she didn't even remember how it all started.” Celestia nodded slowly as she sighed wearily.

“Most likely. The two families used to be such good friends once as well. When they started fighting and I found that I was the cause I had to distance myself.” She shook her head sadly before looking fondly at the mare next to her.

“Sometimes it feels as if I am cursed and I ruin everything I touch. But then ponies like you, Twilight, and your friends show up to prove me wrong. These last couple years have been wonderful because of you all, despite the problems that have come about.” Applejack just leaned into the older mare to reassure her as she looked down at the book.

“Well it's not like mah family is much better when it comes ta seemingly like they are cursed. Ya wouldn't believe how many stories there are in here about how an Apple was part of taking out some big monster or some such thing. Huh, we were even talking a couple of days ago about some creature causing problems right now that sounded a lot like on of them.” Celestia's ear perked up in interest at this and looked down at the book.

“Oh, and what creature was that?” Applejack flipped through the book until a point way near the beginning of it. Running a hoof down she stopped as she came to the part she was looking for.

“Ah, here it is. Flare mentioned something about a half-pony, half-minotaur creature and ah thought it sounded familiar. If ah didn't know any better ah would say that was this centaury creature called... Tea-wreck? Ah think that's how it's- Uh princess, are ya all right?” Celestia was curious on first hearing of it, but at the vague description of the creature it sent a bolt of panic through her and the name solidified it into pure terror which showed on her face.

“No, it can not be. How can he be free?” Shaking her head she shot a serious look down at the younger mare.

“I am sorry to leave, but I must hurry back to Canterlot to check on something. Take the rest of the day with your family, but it is imperative that all the princesses meet me there tomorrow. If I'm right, the fate of Equestria could be in terrible danger.” With those parting words the sun princess took off into the sky leaving Applejack behind. She was worried about the princesses reaction, but decided to take her advice and began to head back to spend time with her family, hopefully it wouldn't be the last.
> 65
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“Are you sure that the name you read was Tirek?”  Aegis Flare looked over towards Applejack as they sat in the chariot flying them to Canterlot.  While they could have easily flown themselves, a trio of chariots were sent by Celestia to pick up the seven once they were ready to leave.  As they were the ones knowing the most about what they were called to Canterlot for, the two orange mares were paired up in one of the chariots.

“Yup, and Celestia looked mighty shaky about it, too.  Ah don't think I've ever seen her look actually scared about anything before.”  The two looked at the approaching palace in worry at what was coming.

“That's not good.  I've been keeping an eye on everything coming in about him and it's not good.  A couple days ago I sent out a Requiem order on him, but if Celestia is worried then that may not be enough.  I just hope that what mom gave them will be enough.”  On landing the seven alicorns were quickly escorted into the throne room where the other three princesses were and the guard quickly vacated the room.  Once the room was clear Celestia's horn lit up as she scanned the room to make sure it was clear as well as putting up a privacy screen around the room.

“Thank you all for joining us here, especially with the passing of your granny.”  Applejack sadly nodded to the princess before the white mare began explaining the story behind Tirek.  As she finished her tale about the centaur and her brother she paused for a moment, allowing one of the other princesses to speak up.

“If Tirek is back, then shouldn't we ask his brother for help?  He already helped ponies once, so wouldn't he do it again?”  Celestia shook her head at Aegis Flare's question before Rainbow Dash snorted.

“Would he even be alive?  This all happened over a thousand years ago right?  So how do we know he hasn't changed if he's even around?”  The princess paused for a moment as she looked at the orange mare curiously, as she spoke as if she knew he was around, before answering.

“Scorpan is still alive as, like Tirek and alicorns, he is an aspect of the world.  As such killing him is nearly impossible.  Yet it is impossible to ask for his help as relations between him and Equestria have been strained.  No, he is not the one to deal with Tirek.”  The rainbow-maned alicorn just smirked before stepping forward.

“So where do you need us then?  And should we bring the Wonderbolts as well?”  Aegis Flare nodded as well and stepped forward to stand by her friend.

“The Black Guard is also prepared as well.  I've already sent out the orders and select members have already been armed with doses of Alicorn's Bane.”  Twilight gasped as she heard the name and turned a gaze of disbelief on the bat-winged alicorn.

“What!?  But that's the most powerful poison known in the world!  Not only that, it is banned as it is said to be able to kill an alicorn, hence the name!”  Her exclamation was met with a roll of her friend's eyes.

“Mostly banned.  My mother is one of the few allowed to even know what goes into it, let alone make it.  Though I'm not sure if even that will be enough if he's truly immortal.”  Luna snorted as she glanced sideways at her sister.

“Poisons alone would not be enough to stop an immortal.  I have been shown this so-called Alicorn's Bane, and at the most it would temporarily disable our magic and make us sick.  To truly slay an Aspect, it takes a magic of such strength that they are immediately locked away when found.”  Glancing around the other mares nodded to her before a quiet voice spoke up.

“Um, does that mean that you have something like that?”  All eyes turned to Fluttershy, who shrank away from the sudden attention, before looking back at Luna.  Her gaze went to her sister who subtly shook her head before taking over the conversation again.

“As for what we need you to do, right now that would be nothing.  We have a much better choice of who shall deal with Tirek.  One whose skills are more fit for finding the imbalances caused by him draining magic from ponies.”  As if her words were a sign, a chuckle flowed through the room.

“Oh, is it my turn now?  I am honored that you are leaving this mission to me.”  The mares could only stare as Discord appeared in the room above them.  They weren't sure what to think at first and one of them spoke up on that issue.

“Um, not to question your judgment, but are you sure that Discord is the best choice?  I mean he is easily distracted and his horrid sense of humor often causes more problems when something goes wrong than they solve.”  Discord huffed and turned away from Rarity, looking offended, but froze when another voice spoke up.

“I trust him.”  Rarity rolled her eyes at the comment.

“Well of course you trust him, Fluttershy.  I mean, you and Pinkie are always around him and know him better.  But he is always such a hassle whenever he shows up at the Boutique.”  Fluttershy just shrank down before Pinkie put a hoof on her back.

“Um, Rarity?  Fluttershy wasn't the one to say that.”  The fashionista did a double-take as she turned to see everyone staring at Aegis Flare, Discord with his jaw on the ground.  The orange mare returned their stares and shrugged before answering their unspoken question.

“What?  He brought my mother back to me when he could have just left her, lost and alone, on that island.  After that, there is little that I wouldn't forgive him for.  I don't even mind if a hangs around my sister because I know that no matter what, he won't do anything to hurt her because, at heart, he really is good.”  They all were silent at her words, though none were quieter than Discord.  He quickly tried to recover as he crossed his arms and turned away.

“Well that-  I mean-  I-  But-  I have work to do.”  Unsure of how to react, the draconequus vanished off to search for Tirek, leaving the others behind.  While Pinkie and Fluttershy treated him as a friend, even they hadn't given words that heartfelt and he was unsure how to deal with it.  With his disappearance, the group looked at Aegis Flare.

“Are ya sure that ya know what ya are doing trusting him?  Ah mean ya always are complaining about him and how he keeps bothering ya all the time.  Ah would have thought that ya trusted him the least.”  The darker orange alicorn shook her head at the lighter coated one.

“Eh, it's really not all that bad.  Sure he's annoying, and loudmouthed, and could learn to take a hint.  But he really is a good being at heart.  Though there is something off about him that I just can't figure out.”  The interest of the other princesses is piqued as she says this while she continues.

“After he first escaped and we sealed him, I spent a lot of time researching him and the nature of chaos, yet one thing never added up.  When he tried to stop us he changed all of us with his traps he succeeded with all of us except Fluttershy, yet instead of allowing the chaos of his plan failing, him having a plan odd in the first place, he forced her to conform with what he envisioned.  That should have been completely impossible for him as it would have been against his nature as the Aspect of Chaos.  I just could never figure out why he seemed so off before we used the Elements on him a second time.”  The others looked thoughtful at her words, though Celestia and Luna more-so than the others.  They had seen some oddities in the draconequus before, and just hoped that they wouldn't cause any trouble with his search for Tirek. 

----------

“I can't believe that ungrateful fool would kick me out.  If it wasn't for me that so-called business of his wouldn't have gone anywhere.  Who was it that made connections with nobles, who found deals to sell, and who practically ran the place?  Me!  That's who!  And he just tosses me aside for that hick family and their blank-flank foal!”  Spoiled Rich grumbled as she marched down the streets of Manehattan, glaring at anyone that neared her.  As she passed a dark alley, her ear twitched as she heard a sound from it causing her to pause and look towards it.

“Hello?  Is somepony there?  Ugh, I can't believe that I'm doing this, that Tartarus-cursed stallion and ungrateful whelp are making me question my sanity.”  Cautiously the mare walked into the dark alley in search of what she heard.  Soon she came across a unicorn collapsed behind a dumpster, causing her to let out a huff of annoyance.

“Great, just some drunken bum.  Why did I even bother coming back here anyways?”  As she turned to leave she was confronted by a cloaked figure who grabbed her around the throat and lifted her up to his face.

“What is this?  An earth pony weak enough to fall for my attractor spell?  Well, I'm not one to turn down a free snack when it shows up unannounced.”  The earth pony's eyes widened at being labeled a snack.

“Wait, wait!  You don't want to eat me!  I can help you with all the connections I have.  Just name it and I can get it for you!”  Tirek's eyebrow rose as he slowly closed his mouth that he had started to open.

“I highly doubt that there is anything you can do to gain me the power of the three alicorns of this pitiful country.”  As he began opening his mouth, the mare smirked and said two words.

“Ten alicorns.”  Tirek froze before once again closing his mouth.

“What was that?”  The mare's smirk grew as she knew she had him by the horns, which she could see propping his hood up.

“There are ten alicorns now.  Seven of them live in Ponyville along with their entire families.  I'm sure you can think of some way for that information to help you, so how about letting me go?”  The centaur looked thoughtful before turning his gaze upon the mare who smiled sweetly at him.

“Oh, I'll let you go already, but not before I drain you of your magic!”  As his mouth opened wide the mare's face took on an appearance of horror as she started to struggle.  Yet, due to her sedentary lifestyle, she was unable to summon up the strength to break lose, despite his weakened condition.  As a stream of magic slowly flowed out of her into his mouth, her struggles began to die down until she hung limply in his grasp.  Once he had finished draining her he looked at her with disgust.

“That was the worst tasting magic I have ever found a pony to have.”  As he was about to drop the mare, a chuckle echoed through the ally.

“Well, that's what you get for sampling Spoiled goods Tirek my boy.”  The centaur's eyes narrowed as he recognized the voice and tossed Spoiled Rich to the side, her head impacting the nearby wall hard.

“Well if it isn't my old friend Discord.  I'm surprised that you are up and about since Equestria is rather normal.  Could it be that you are losing your touch?  Or did you only now escape?”  Discord appeared above the cloaked figure with a frown on his face, his skin crawling at the sight of the centaur.  With a snap of his fingers, Tirek was bound in chains, causing him to frown.

“What is this?  I would think that you would have been happy to see me after all these years.”  The draconequus just turned away from him as he crossed his arms.

“Well for your information I've been out for a while now.  Also, my touch is just fine as you can see, you are way too dangerous to let be especially if your goal is going to hurt dear Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie.”  The centaur's eyebrow rose at the names.

“Fluttershy?  Pinkie Pie?  Don't tell me that you are friends with ponies?”  The chimera spread his arms towards the captured figure.

“Surprise!”  Tirek frowned as he looked at the chimera.

“So the mighty have truly fallen then?  The once King of Equestria has now been reduced to being Celestia's obedient attack dog?  What happened to the one that once had the whole world in his iron-clawed grip?  I am surprised that someone with your intellect does not see this 'friendship' is but a new form of imprisonment. Clearly you've had to abandon your true nature to stay in their good graces.”  Discord just snorted and turned away.

“I have done nothing of the sort!”  The centaur's smirk widened as he got under the draconequus' skin.

“Oh, please, I've seen this before. But he was always weak minded. You are Discord, you are legend, you cannot fall into the same trap that claimed my brother! Help me to grow strong, and be rewarded with something far greater than friendship. Freedom. Once I've stripped these ponies of their magic, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see their world turned upside down. Who better to do so than the master of chaos himself? Join me, Discord, and reclaim your greatness. Unless, of course, 'pony errand boy' is the role you've always wanted to play in this world.”  Discord looked thoughtful and prepared to give his answer before a voice rose up within his mind.

“I trust him.”  While he recognized Aegis Flare's voice, there was another one just below hers that sounded both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.  Along with the voices, came a feeling that he was unfamiliar with that came bubbling up from deep inside himself.  He had never really had reason to hate anyone before, yet that was the only way he could describe what he was feeling.

“No.”  The centaur shook his head in disbelief at what he heard.

“What?  Are you saying that instead of being free you would rather be a slave to the ponies?  A veritable dog?”  Discord started growling at the bound being in front of him.

“I don't know, but I do know that there is something in me saying that you are the last thing in the world that I would ever work with.”  He was about to continue until a sharp stabbing sensation was felt from his head, causing him to clutch at it from the pain.

vvvvvvvvvv

“Twilight!  No!”

“Please!  Help them!”

“No!  Get away from them you monster!”

“Please Discord, whatever happens in the future.  Remember us.”

^^^^^^^^^^

“Who said that?  Remember who?  Why can't I remember!”  Discord dropped out of the air and slammed his forelimbs into the grounds, blasting out a ring of energy.  Tirek just stared at him as his eyes slowly widened before narrowing again calculatingly.

“What is this?  Can the seal be breaking?  No, not yet.  But soon.  If he remembers, but no that will not happen.”  The centaur straightened up and pulled the front of his cloak open, revealing a bright red gem in a dark gray necklace with an alicorn adorning it.  Focusing, his eyes began to stream a red smoke as the gem began to glow, and the chains around him shattered.

“What?!”  Feeling his magic shattering was enough to snap Discord out of his fit, but it wasn't enough to save him as his entire body was grasped in a red aura.  Moments later his mouth was forced open and his magic was pulled out of him in a stream of black and purple energy.  As Tirek drained his magic, his size began to grow until he stood over twice the size of Celestia.  As he finished draining the chimera's magic, the gem in the amulet around his neck shattered causing him to lift his hand up to it.

“It was a good thing that I found this on that traveling merchant.  I was hoping to save it in case the princesses found me before I was ready, but to stop you the sacrifice is worth it.”  Discord weakly tried to lift his head, but the strain of being trained kept him down.

“Still, you could still be a threat if you should remember, so I'm afraid that we must say farewell.”  At that, Tirek's horns began to glow with power as he stood over the draconequus.  But before he could fire, he was pelted with darts from multiple directions, causing him to stagger as his magic flickered and went out.

“What is this?!”  He staggered back a few steps before falling to a knee as a dozen figures appeared around him.

“Black Guard!  Take him down!”  The group swarmed the centaur, only for them to be knocked away as he swept his arms around him.  A minotaur in the group quickly recovered and charged in again, only for Tirek to slam his he into his, sending him crashing into the ground below.  As the group fought, Discord felt himself lifted up onto the back of another figure.

“Let's get you out of here and somewhere safe.  I was worried when he made his offer, but I am glad to see that your friends trust in you wasn't misplaced.”  Thorax spread his wings as he took off out of the area with Discord draped over his back.  The chimera weakly coughed before lifting his head towards the changeling's ear.

“Please, take me back to the princesses.  They have to know before he reaches them.  I can't lose them, not again.”  He slowly fell into delirious mumbling as he was carried off by the Black Guard member.  Glancing back at his passenger, Thorax slowly nodded before changing course as an explosion rang out behind him from the alley the others were left.

----------

“So that is the last issue of the day.  Now, while we are all here we should discuss what to do about Tirek when Discord finally brings him in.”  Luna looked around at her fellow princesses as they were gathered in Canterlot for a quick meeting.  Since they had learned of his escape they had been meeting up every other day to keep up to date on what was happening.  Aegis Flare's wings twitched as she looked at a scroll next to her while Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

“How do we even know that Discord's even looking for him, huh?  We haven't heard anything from him for two weeks now so how do we know that he is still looking?”  Fluttershy sighed at her friend as she had been questioning the decision to send the draconequus for the past week now.

“He knows how serious this is, especially since Tirek may even be a threat to him.  I know that he can drain magic from ponies, but do we know if he can drain the magic of any other races?  Or if Discord having pony parts would be enough for him to be drained?”  Nobody could answer the shy mare's question, and they moved on to the main issue.

“So what should we do about this terrible creature then?  Can we even do anything about him other than toss him back into Tartarus if he is immortal?”  Rarity's question was a good one that most of them couldn't answer, though the bat-winged alicorn frowned at that.  Celestia remained tight-lipped, and after staring at her for a moment, Luna rolled her eyes.

“There really is not much that will work on an immortal, but there might be something else that can be done, is there not, sister?”  Celestia looked at Luna for a moment before her eyes widened in realization.

“Luna, no!  You know what happened the last time it was used so that is not an option!”  The others looked at the two in confusion before Aegis Flare spoke up.

“Wait, you have something that may be able to kill Tirek?  If so then I think we may have to resort to using it.”  Gasps rang out from her fellow princesses, while the two elders looked at her in confusion as they heard the hostility in her voice.  None of them would have the chance to respond as the doors to the room slammed open, revealing the form of a familiar changeling with a serpentine figure draped over his back, eyes glazed.

“Princesses!  Sorry to interrupt, but I think we have a problem.”  Turning to the side he revealed Discord's form and they gasped at how weakly he seemed as he tried to lift his head.

“I'm so sorry.  I couldn't stop him.  The alicorn amulet, he somehow found it.”  Twilight and the two older alicorns gasped at hearing this as they knew about the artifact.

“But where could he have found that?!  It's a Black level artifact due to its curse and the massive amount of power that it grants!”  Aegis Flare frowned at Twilight's words before looking thoughtful.

“There was a merchant in Canterlot that ran away before he could be arrested, along with a good amount of his wares.  I don't think he was ever caught and if Tirek found him first then that may be where he found it.  We may have problems if he has an amplifier like that along with Discord's magic.”  Thorax cleared his throat as he settled Discord into a nearby chair.

“Well, you won't need to worry about it anymore.  The gem on it shattered after he drained Discord.  If you haven't heard anything yet then he must still be alive, despite taking a full dozen darts full of Alicorn's Bane.  We should send a rescue team out to Manehattan to check on the agents that were facing him while I brought Discord here at his request.”  Eyes widened at hearing about the destruction of a powerful artifact, especially with no catastrophic effects to accompany it.  Applejack frowned as she thought about the rest of his report.

“Wait, Discord asked ta be brought here?  Now, why would he go and do that?”  Her question was soon answered as said draconequus gasped from where he was sitting as his eyes cleared a bit.

“Ponyville!  He knows!  Spoiled Rich told him everything before he drained her.”  His words were met with more gasps as the residents of said town rose to their hooves.  Moments later a guard ran in through the open doors, panting in his haste.

“Princesses!  It's Ponyville!  Something is attacking it!  You can see the explosions from here!”  Alarm rippled through the room before all the occupants were thrown off their hooves from a shock-wave.  When they recovered they noticed that one of their number was missing.

“Where did Flarie go?”  Heads shot up at Pinkie's question as they all looked at the door, and the guard sprawled outside of it.

“No!  She couldn't be going to fight Tirek on her own, could she?!”  Celestia's question was met with deadpan looks from half the other mares at her surprise.

“Ya know how she is about her family, and if it really is Tirek then she won't be alone.  Tha only reason ah am not after her right now is because ah'm feeling a tad dizzy after her exit.”  The others nodded as they collected themselves and prepared to leave before Celestia stood between them and the door.

“But you can not go after her!  If Tirek really has Discord's magic then he may be able to drain an alicorn now!  We must not allow that to happen!”  Rainbow Dash growled as she stalked towards the larger princess.

“Then what do you expect us to do?  Run?  Hide?  Abandon our friends and families to whatever he has planned for Equestria?  If he is strong enough now then that means he wasn't before when you first called us.  If you sent us back then, then we wouldn't be having a problem now and I for one am not leaving Flare to fight him alone.  I'm going!”  With that, she brushed by the shocked alicorn and was soon followed by the others, though Twilight paused to sadly pat her on the shoulder as she passed.  Soon only Celestia and Luna were the only alicorns left in the room.

“I was wondering when this would happen, sister.  I knew that they would eventually overturn one of your decisions like this, I just hoped that it wouldn't be because of a problem that we had thought buried.  There may be much that they do not know, but they still may need our help against him.”  Sadly the alicorn of the sun nodded to her sister and slowly walked out of the room after the other eight alicorns, trying to catch up to them.  Luna moved to do the same but paused as her hoof kicked a scroll that was on the ground.  Curiously she picked it up in her magic and realized that it was the one that Aegis Flare had been carrying with her earlier.  Opening it for a quick glance, her eyes widened when she realized just what she was looking at.

“Oh, no!  Is it really that bad?”  Looking up from the scroll she frowned before making her way deeper into the palace, making a small detour before following after the others.

----------

“So what are we going to do to try for our cutie marks today?  Bonsai tree growers didn't work out that well yesterday.  Big Mac wouldn't even let us near the one at your home, Applebloom”  Spike rolled his eyes as he followed the Cutie Mark Crusaders through Ponyville, doing his best to keep them out of trouble.  He found he often didn't need to do all that much other than let an adult know what was going on, but he still stuck around just in case.

The town was rather quiet at the time, even for the early morning, and they were about to find out why as a pair of eyes followed after them as they walked along.  Tirek had interrogated a few ponies around the town before draining them and had found that the three fillies he had his eyes on were relatives of four of the new princesses.  With them held hostage, he was sure he could easily drain them of their magic in exchange for their safety.  He ignored the dragon, though there was something about him that bothered him as he opened his mouth wide in their direction.

“How about we try...”  Scootaloo stumbled as she suddenly felt weaker before she collapsed onto her side, followed by the two other fillies.  Spike's eyes widened as he ran over to their sides and placed a hand on their shoulder.

“Hey, hey!  Are you three all right?”  As he shook them, the ground trembled as the centaur walked towards them.  Soon the young drake felt the disturbance and looked up, eyes widening as he saw the figure.

“Don't worry, they will be fine as long as their sisters surrender like planned.  Of course, you may not be around much longer, something about you just reminds me of 'him' and I can't even the thought of 'him.'”  Many looked down on Spike due to his age, but he was much smarter than they gave him credit for.  So as the centaur spoke he was easily able to connect the dots.

“You!  What did you do to them?!  You had better undo whatever you did or else you will be sorry!”  The centaur's response was to laugh in his face, which was the wrong answer as Spike started to growl.  Tirek's laughter stopped when he noticed the dragon start sparking with green flames as he began to grow in size.  With a frown, he realized just why the young dragon annoyed him as he was exactly like the one he remembered so long ago, before raising his arm and swatted the growing dragon away towards a nearby building.  Before he could hit the building, Spike was intercepted by a red blur, slowing him down.  Tirek's eyes narrowed when he noticed the dragon being caught by a large red earth pony, but before he could react he felt the impact of multiple darts in his side, causing him to cry out and fall to his knees.

“Argh!  Again with these tricks?!  Who is it this time with this infuriating poison?!”  Looking around he found a unicorn mare, riding with her back half in a cart and a front leg replaced by a peg, emerge from another nearby alley, followed by dozens of other ponies.

“So, you must be the infamous Tirek I've been hearing about.  Welcome to Ponyville, too bad that this is the last place you will ever see.”  Bella Donna nodded to the various guards-members that she had gathered up when she had gotten word of Tirek approaching the town.  The ones there were some of the best, while there were many others that had been evacuating the townsponies into safe areas in case the battle started damaging the town.  Through all this, Spike didn't take his eyes off the centaur as he kept growling, until a hoof came down atop his head, causing him to wince.

“Stop that.  Don't worry about him, we'll handle him.  You take the girls and run to the farm's storm shelter.”  The dragon growled at Big Mac, before slowly nodding and focusing his attention on the trio of fillies.  Returning the nod, the earth pony put his weight on his back hooves before kicking off towards the centaur, who was distracted by the approaching guards.  Because of that, he wasn't ready for the red missile that collided with his hind legs, sending him off balance and giving the dragon a chance to rush in and scoop up the three fillies.

Feeling the claws around her, Applebloom blearily opened her eyes and saw the larger dragon carrying her.  While Spike had changed, she easily recognized him after all the time she and her friends had been around him.  While her mind was foggy, she had heard much of what was said and to find the dragon protecting them she felt something in her chest just.  Yet she was too tired to figure out what it all meant and jet lay her head against his chest as he ran towards the farm with her and her friends.

As the dragon was running, the guards-members were doing their best to stop the centaur, but even with the poison coursing through him he easily overpowered them.  He didn't try to use his magic right away, yet twenty minutes into the fight he finally reached out and drained one of the unicorns fighting him before throwing him into a nearby building.  Bella Donna frowned in thought as he reached for another target before making a split second decision and shot him with another dart, causing him to roar in pain, throwing the pony into the ground instead of draining him.

“So it may not kill him, but it does stop his magic.  Good to know.  Big Mac, how long do you think you can stand up to him?”  The large stallion frowned as he picked himself up from next to her as he tilted his head to the size, releasing a large popping sound.

“I don't know.  I may have picked up a few things from watching Miss Bon Bon, but I still don't know much of what I've been doing.  But as long as you can keep him from using his magic I'll do my best.”  The mare grinned as her horn lit up and she started summoning her tools from where she had them hidden in her home, as well as a multitude of signal flares.

“That will have to do then until help arrives.  We're going to need everything we can get to bring him down.”  With a nod the stallion charged in once again as the mare fired off every flare she had into the air, hoping that someone in Canterlot was paying attention before circling around the centaur and harassing him from afar while the stallion worked in up close.

Despite the advantages of numbers and stopping his magic, the battle steadily went into Tirek's favor as he took out one Equestrian after another.  Even with the poison managing to disable his magic, it was only a temporary solution and if the timing was wrong of reapplying a dose, or the dart missed, it allowed him to drain a pony.  One by one the ponies fell to Tirek, and the non-ponies were knocked out or worse until there were only two remaining.

Big Macintosh and Bella Donna panted as they faced down the giant centaur, being the last two standing, or half standing as the mare's cart had been smashed.  They knew there wasn't much time left as the unicorn had unloaded the last of the poisoned darts she had into the monster, leaving them on a clock until their effects wore off.  Yet, the didn't have time to worry about this, as the magic eater soon charged in and back-handed the red stallion through a nearby wall, before grabbing the mare's throat with his other hand and lifted her bodily off the ground.

“You two have been a thorn in my side long enough.  I am beginning to tire of all these apple ponies I have met over the years, always more trouble than they are worth.  And there always seems to be an apple pony interfering with my plans, I should just wipe out their entire clan and be done with them.  But you?  You're different.”  The centaur stared into the mare's eyes as she glared back at him defiantly.

“It isn't often that I find a pony that is more predator than prey and to actually create a poison that could hinder an immortal?  You have my respect for that.  Which is why I can't allow you to live else you may actually create something that would actually cause me harm.  So this is where we say-”  His words were stopped as a whistling sound reached his ears and he slowly began to turn his head towards it.  He didn't get very far though as something impacted the side of his head with a shout of rage.

“LET HER GO!”  An orange blur struck the side of Tirek's head, sending him flying across the street into the building opposite Big Macintosh.  Bella Donna barely had time to realize that she was falling before she was scooped out of the air and set down next to Big Mac as he tried to climb out of the building.  Looking up she stared right into the panicked eyes of her daughter who tried to reassure herself that her mother was all right.

“You two!  Get down here!  Get my mother and Big Mac out of here, now!”  A nearby cloud shook until is disgorged the forms of Rainbow Dash's mother and father who quickly swooped down to carry off the two ponies, leaving the alicorn alone to face off against Tirek.  The unicorn groaned as she rubbed at her bruised neck while glaring at the pegasus mare holding her.

“I thought I told you two to get out of here?”  Eventide only silently chuckled as Tack Harness flew nearby with Big Mac.

“Did you really think that we would let you go out there and leave us behind?  We may not have been trained like you have, but at the very least we can get ponies out of the area.  With help from a couple Wonderbolt trainees, we were able to get all the injured ponies out of the area while you distracted that thing.”  Glancing back at the building Tirek was thrown into he watched as it collapsed as the centaur crawled out of the wreckage.

“Just what is that thing?  And does the princess even stand a chance?”  Looking back, the unicorn frowned at her daughter as the ground beneath her began to blacken.

“I hope so, or else all of Equestria will be doomed.”

----------

Tirek slowly stepped out of the building he was thrown into as he massaged his jaw.  While it hadn't injured him at all, the sucker punch he had received had actually stung a bit, which was a surprise even if he had been weakened by the poison.  Glaring around the area, he frowned as he noticed his targets escaping until his eyes alighted on the one that had struck him.  The mares back was turned to him, but the horn atop her head and her wings were easily visible to him, which explained just why he had gone flying.

“So, it seems that that mare wasn't joking when she said there were more alicorns and that they would be drawn in if I attacked this town.  So, may I have the pleasure of knowing the name of the first alicorn that shall be surrendering her magic to me?”  He waited for an answer, yet none seemed to be forthcoming as she just stood there.  He frowned at the lack of reaction and took a step forward.

“Well?  Answer me, or do I have to... What?”  He stopped when he noticed the ground below the alicorn starting to blacken as if burned by an invisible flame.  His question came in though when black flames began to pour out of the mare's hooves, and she turned her red, slitted-pupils on him and let out a ferocious hiss of anger.
> 66
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“Dashie!  Dashie!  Down here!”  Rainbow Dash paused in her flight to look down towards the calling voice.  Recognizing one of her mothers, Frost, the alicorn dropped down to land by the unicorn mare on the outskirts of Ponyville.

“Momma Frost?!  What are you doing out here?!  Don't you know how dangerous it is around here right now?!  Wait, don't tell me dad is here, too?!”  Rainbow Dash looked around anxiously for her father while her mother tried to shush her.

“Yes, I know that.  That's why I was out here waiting for whoever was heading out here to warn them.  Your mom and father have already left the area with Bella and the last stallion facing that monster.  Princess Aegis Flare though...”  She paused as she looked back towards where she had last seen the mare with a shudder.

“What?!  Did something happen to Flare?!”  The two looked up to see the rest of the princesses, minus Luna, coming in for a landing near them.  Twilight's question was answered by a crashing sound as a nearby building's wall was torn open as a pair of bodies went flying through it.

“Get off of me you crazy mare!”  With a roar, Tirek threw the bat-winged alicorn off of his head and away from him.  Aegis Flare quickly recovered as her wings spread out to catch herself before diving right back into the centaur's face once again, biting and slamming her hooves into it.  The two were soon lost from sight again as they went back in through the hole they appeared from, leaving the other princesses sunned in shock.

“No...  Not again.  Not another Nightmare.”  All eyes widened as they turned to Celestia who was staring at where the two had disappeared to.

“What?!  That can't be!  There's no way that she would become something like Nightmare Moon, right?!”  Celestia didn't answer Rainbow Dash, she only kept her fearful gaze on the building.  She didn't even turn when she heard the sound of another pony landing nearby, signaling the arrival of the last member of the group.

“Again with that spirit nonsense sister?!  I am sick of your attempts at trying to spare my feelings sister, but everything that happened back then was because of my own choices, not some imaginary Nightmare Forces that you invented!”  Celestia made to argue as her head whipped around, but was blocked by her sister's hoof over her mouth.

“We will talk about that later, but for now just know that appears to be an attribute all alicorns have.  I still only have a theory on it, but it appears to be a berserk state focusing on what you view as your enemies that draws upon your magic to boost your abilities.”  She pauses when the bat-winged mare cam into view after being smashed through another building further away, to land at the base of a tree.  The other princesses gasped when they saw one of her wings bent back in a way it shouldn't before it snapped back into place again.  Luna frowned when she saw this, as well as when she saw the tree she landed under starting to blacken as if from an intense flame.

“I at least hope that I am right about one thing.  The Elements of Harmony may have brought me back, but with them not being an option now it seems that defeating Tirek is the only way to end her state.  The sooner the better as it does not look like her transformation is complete, and she may not have enough magic to even do so safely.  It is a good thing that I brought this.”  The others looked worried for their friend, though Celestia's eyes widened as her eyes locked on an object wrapped in paper seals as Luna removed it from her back.

“What are you thinking?!  What could possibly possess you to take Megan's Lament from the Royal Vault?!  Do you not know what happened the last time it was used?!”  The younger princesses looked at the object as it was revealed, to find that it was a sword of some kind.

“That will not happen, sister, I do not plan to miss like that time.”  Cadance looked around at the other mares before stepping between the two sisters.

“Um, just what is this Megan's Lament and how is it so dangerous that it was locked away in the Royal Vault?  You always talked about how dangerous all the artifacts in there are, yet you never did tell me what any of them were.”  Celestia glared at her sister as she explained to the others.

“Megan's Lament is one of the most dangerous artifacts that we have stored in the vault, as well as one of the oldest.  The one time it was used, it created the Badlands and is one of the few weapons that can kill an Aspect of the world.  Which makes me wonder just why my sister brought it.”  The other princesses gasped at just what the sword could do as the solar princess once again turned a glare on her sister.  Rolling her eyes, Luna just pulled out a scroll from under her wing.

“This is why I brought it with me, and I am sure that you will agree with me that Tirek has been given enough chances.  It was dropped by Princess Aegis Flare before she flew out of Canterlot.”  Celestia grabbed and unrolled the scroll in her magic and began to read over it.  She wasn't sure exactly what she was reading at first as all she was seeing was a bunch of names and numbers.  It wasn't until she rolled to the top of the scroll that she understood, causing her to drop the scroll in shock.

“No.  It can not be.”  Her sister just shook her head as the others looked at her with worry.

“I am afraid it is.  Already now there have been hundreds that have lost their lives because of Tirek's actions.  Almost all of them the elderly and foals.”  This drew gasps from the rest of the princesses, causing Fluttershy to grab the list herself to stare at.

“What!?  But why would he be killing ponies if he is wanting their magic!?  It just doesn't make any sense!”  Luna shook her head sadly at Twilight before she looked towards her frozen sister.

“I can not say for sure, but it is likely that many of the deaths were due to him draining the magic from hospitals.  Many of the foals are noted as being age zero, and if their magic was taken at the wrong time there would be little chance of survival as the medical staff is incapacitated.”  Celestia whimpered at hearing of how some of her ponies were lost, while the rest of the alicorns looked sickened.

“Tirek needs to die.”  All jaws dropped at this, especially as it came from the least likely pony to say it.  Even Celestia was pulled out of her shock as they all turned to look at Fluttershy who had the scroll crumpled up in anger between her hooves.

“How many times has he been imprisoned just to escape now?  This is at least the second time, yet nothing has changed with him and he is even hurting others now.  He's even worse than a rabid dog who at least doesn't know what they are doing.  It's not like I want him to die, but if we imprison him again and he escapes, then he has shown that he will not change his ways.  Then it isn't just his fault for killing others, but ours as well for not stopping him when we know he is going to do so.”  The entire time her wing was stroking the sheathed dagger at her side, trying to reassure herself that this was the right decision.  The other princesses looked at each other silently before a crashing sound drew their attention once again as Aegis Flare was sent flying through another building into a tree.  Gasps of horror soon followed as the dust cleared and they saw the mare's wing hanging limply, hanging by a strip of flesh, and her legs twisted at odd angles.  Yet Luna's attention was focused on it as it slowly began knitting together while the others focused on Tirek as he stomped into view once more.

“I am starting to get tired of your struggling, so just stay down.  I would rather not risk having to kill you and not obtain your magic if I stopped holding back anymore.”  The only response Tirek got from the downed mare was a snarl of rage which only caused him to tilt his head out of curiosity.  Not once had the mare said anything after her initial assault, which he found odd for a pony.  Deciding to brush off the issue, especially as the mare was starting to heal up rapidly, he opened his mouth and prepared to drain her magic.

“Not so fast buddy!”  Before he could latch onto the bat-winged alicorn's magic he was knocked to the side as a cyan blur impacted the side of his head.  Before he could recover he the blur whipped around and slammed into the other side of his head as he felt a strong impact on his flank from the opposite side, sending him flying in a spin into the wall of a nearby building.  Growling at the interruption, he rose back to his hooves to face those interrupting him just to find two more alicorns.

“Well now, two more alicorns have finally decided to show themselves.  I take it from your actions that neither of you plans to surrender either?”  Rainbow Dash and Applejack snort in disgust at the centaur.

“Of course not ya mangy varmint.  There is no way that we are gonna let ya hurt our friend or our home.”  Rainbow Dash nods along with Applejack, while Tirek's eyes narrow as he focuses on the farm princess.

“Wait, Applejack!  How many times do I have to- Gahh!”  The centaur was cut off as his face was once again assaulted by the berserk alicorn as Aegis Flare had finished healing in the time he was distracted.

“Hey, do you know this guy, AJ?  He seems to recognize you from somewhere.”  The farmer shook her head as she cracked her neck to the side.

“Ya know that there is no way for that ta be possible.  He's probably just imagining things.  Now, ya keep hitting him high and ah'll go low, can't let Flare have all tha fun.”  The cyan mare nods though she still had to wonder just how the centaur knew her friend's name as she took to the air.

“Ugh, those two!  Why do they have to be so reckless, and at a time like this!?”  Celestia started pacing back and forth by the other princesses, all but Twilight looking at her with worry.  The purple mare was instead looking at her friends that were currently facing down the enemy aspect.

“Why isn't he just draining their magic?  He had ample opportunity to get Flare's so why...”  The librarian princess' eyes narrow as she watched as the three took on the centaur, the darker orange one at all available opportunities and the other two whenever they had an opening.  In fact, she noticed that Tirek was actually trying to do so when he saw an opening, but he was always stopped as one of the others slammed into him.

“Princess Luna?  Just how long does it take for him to drain a pony of their magic?”  Her question caused Celestia to pause in her ranting as all eyes turned towards her.  The night princess looked thoughtful before peeking around the corner at the battling quartet.

“Hmm, it should be a near instantaneous transfer as soon as his mouth opens wide.  He can even drain multiple ponies at once as long as they are all in front of him.”  Twilight brought a hoof up to her chin as she considered the information she had.

“Hmm, that means that he may not be strong enough to just pull it all out at once.  But he was already strong enough to drain Discord, so why can't he drain an alicorn yet.  Unless...  could it be that something with Discord's magic is interfering with his ability?  Or maybe it hasn't been fully absorbed yet and is fighting against his other magic?  There are still large parts of Equestria he hasn't drained yet so he isn't at full power yet and...”  She started muttering to herself for a second before her eyes widened and she looked up at the other alicorns.

“He's gotten overconfident and overestimated his capabilities after having drained Discord!  He must have come straight here without bothering to go to any of the major cities from where he was found!  If that's true then this might be the perfect chance to stop him!”  Quickly turning back to the other princesses, Twilight pointed a hoof at Pinkie Pie.

“Pinkie!  I need you to go help Rainbow and Applejack, give Tirek the full Pinkie experience and keep him from draining the magic from anypony else!”  The pink mare saluted before disappearing in a cloud of pink smoke.  Moments later the sound of a party horn could be heard from where the fighting was happening, along with a yell of frustration from Tirek.

“Cadance, Rarity, and Fluttershy!  Try and support the others however you can and make sure that they are moved somewhere safe if they get hurt and treat any injuries they get.  Try not to draw Tirek's attention too much if you can.  Princesses...”  Twilight paused as she realized what she was doing when she looked at Luna and Celestia.  As the other three alicorns took off at her orders, the sun princess shook her head sadly as she brought her hoof under the purple ponies chin.

“Do not be ashamed of taking charge in an emergency when you see a solution, Twilight.  I have been ruling alone for so long that I have forgotten that I do not always have the answer.  Despite my reservations of using that weapon, I will follow whatever plan you think is best.”  The younger mare looked over towards Luna who nodded along with her sister's words before she took a deep breath and went through the motions Cadance had taught her.  Steeling herself, her eyes hardened as she looked up to her mentor.

“Right, right.  While the others are up and close keeping him distracted, we will stay back and hit him from afar with everything we can.  We want to keep him off balance while your sister... well...”  She feebly waved a hoof towards the wrapped sword being held by Luna.  The princess of the night nodded as she started to unwrap the seals from it.

“As soon as an opportunity presents itself I will finish the battle.  I will not miss.”  Twilight slowly nods in response as she turns back to the remaining princess before inhaling slowly.

“As for us, I suggest that we stay at long range and hit him with our magic whenever we see an opening.  He doesn't seem to handle being hit from multiple angles that well and in different ways.  He's barely even holding off Flare and Applejack at close range with Rainbow diving in on him, with our magic we should be able to stop him, hopefully without needing to resort to that weapon your sister has.”  Celestia watched as her fellow princess moved to find a position to attack the centaur from.  She felt a surge of pride at seeing her former student finally stepping forward like she did, yet saddened that it had to be from a situation that may require the death of another being.

As Twilight suspected, Tirek was having enough trouble keeping the three alicorns facing him down off of him.  When the one wasn't in his face, one of the other two was either slamming into him from above or sending him flying to the side with powerful kicks.  That only got worse when the pink one joined in and started hitting him from unpredictable angles.  He wasn't even sure how she got under him after throwing her across the town.  As all the attacks were purely physical so far, he was surprised to be peppered with a swarm of telekinetic bolts followed by a large beam that sent him sliding across the ground a few feet.  Looking in the direction the attacks came from he found two more alicorns, one that he recognized.

“Ahh, Celestia, how nice of you to finall-  GAH!”  The large centaur was interrupted once again by the bat-winged alicorn as she flew into his face once again.  Reaching up with his fist he ripped the mare off of his face, leaving scratch marks which quickly healed up again, before throwing her to the ground and sitting on her.

“Now cut that out!  Now as I was saying-”  Tirek froze up with a look of pain on his face as his mouth opened wide, yet no sound came out of it.  Fluttershy winced as her ears flattened atop her head as Tirek stood up once again and flailed backwards with his rear hooves sending something flying into a nearby building, causing the wall to collapse.

“How dare you do that to me!  You, you!”  The centaur's voice would have been hilarious with how high-pitched it was, if not for the wet pool spreading from below his rear legs as one of his front ones appeared to be clutching between them.  Aegis Flare climbed out of the building she was thrown into, which happened to be Canterlot Boutique, shaking her head rapidly before a dark sack flew out of her mouth to the side.  Tirek glared at her while the other alicorn's looked at the object in disgust, barring Rarity whose attention was elsewhere.

“Did, did she really just tear off his...?”  Rainbow Dash trailed off with a gag, especially as she looked towards the centaur's rear legs where the flesh began knitting itself together.

“You are starting to get on my nerves, pony!  Never has anyone dared to do something so humiliating to me!  I will not stand for this any longer!”  Rarity's eyes narrowed as she shook herself out of her shock and glared at Tirek.

“Not stand for it?  Not stand for it?!  You dare say that after destroying my home?!  Oh, it.  Is.  ON!”  The yelling of the alabaster alicorn drew the centaur's attention, as well as the glow of her horn as she began to reach across all of Ponyville.  On seeing her, his eyes widened in shock, as well as a little bit of terror.

“You!  How can you be here!  I made sure that- Grah!”  Once again he was inflicted with a case of bat-to-the-face as the berserk alicorn blindsided him.  This distracted him from Rarity and her magic which start sifting through the rubble in her boutique, as well as through the many homes around Ponyville.  By the time Tirek managed to clear the crazed alicorn from his face it was too late to stop her as he was surrounded by hundreds of needles, scissors, and other sharp objects she scavenged up that she used in her profession.

When he caught sight of the swarm surrounding him, his pupils shrank before they came swarming in on him.  While he brought his arms up to protect his face, it did nothing to protect the other sensitive locations on his body, some of which were still sore from being regrown.  While most of the needles did little more than irritate the centaur, those hitting his tender areas were enough to enrage him.

“ENOUGH!”  Sending out a burst of his magic, Tirek sent the surrounding alicorns flying back to crash into Cadance, Rarity, and Fluttershy.  Twilight and Celestia quickly moved to catch the others, though they were unable to catch Aegis Flare as she was sent flying opposite the others. Glaring at the alicorns, the centaur began to focus his magic into a ball between his horns that steadily grew.

“It seems that I was a bit hasty in coming here and not draining more ponies.  Too bad for you that just means I will have to stop holding back and get serious.  A pity, since I doubt all of you will manage to survive and- GRAAAAAH!”  Once again he was blindsided by an orange blur as he was focused on the larger group.  Aegis Flare darted in on a direct course for his right horn and, using her momentum, slammed Tirek's head into the ground.  She didn't give him any further time to respond as she got a good grip on the horn and wrenched it sideways, snapping it off at the base and causing him to shout in pain.  She wasn't done there though, as she flew around behind him and proceeded to reunite him with his horn below his tail, point first.  This caused his shout to become a shriek, and the other alicorns to wince at the sight.

“No!  You fool!  What have you done!?”  Through all of this, the magic that Tirek had been gathering was bulging out of the perfect sphere that it once was.  At his words, the other alicorns noticed this and their eyes widened in shock.  Before any of them could react, the ball of magic shattered, sending bolts of energy flying across Ponyville.  The local princesses stared in shock as they watched their home get pummeled by the interrupted attack, before they turned to glare at the centaur, realizing that if it had enough power to do that now, what would have happened if he had actually finished his original attack?

“That is enough!”  Face full of rage, Tirek reach back to remove his horn before clubbing the bat-winged alicorn away into the others.

“You!  You ponies!  I am getting tired of all this!  Don't you know who I am!?  I am the Lord of all Magic!  Do you really think that you can defy me!?  Well, I have had enough of all of you getting in my way and denying me what is mine!  It is time to end this!”  As Tirek's rage began to burn brighter, a chill went through him as a voice whispered behind him.  One that he recognized and realized that he had not yet seen.

“Yes, indeed it is time to end all this.”  Tirek's eyes widened before he felt a sharp pain in his back.  Moments later a length of steel erupted from his chest, one that he was familiar with.

“What?  Where did you get-”  His words dissolved into a fit of coughing as he collapsed to his knees, having lost all feeling in his legs.  As he fell, Luna leaped away from him, detaching herself from his shadow where she had ambushed him from.

“At last it is done.  No more shall you harm our ponies with your greedy ways.”  Tirek blankly watched as the Princess of the Night slowly walked around to in front of him.  Suddenly, the dying behemoth began to laugh.

“Heheh.  Hahaha!  You think that this will be the end of things!?  You do not know the horrors that are coming for you now.  Not only that, but I will be back for you all, and there is nothing you can do to stop me!”  With a final gasp, beams of light began to erupt from the areas pierced by the sword.  As the skin around his wounds began to bubble, small globes of light of varying colors began to emerge.  After hovering momentarily, they quickly shot off in the direction that Tirek approached the town from.  The alicorns quickly realized that these were the magic from the ponies that Tirek had drained in his attacks around Equestria.  Some of the orbs didn't fly off like the others and instead dissipated into the air, hinting at the grim ends that some ponies had faced.

“It's over now, isn't it?”  The other princess looked at Fluttershy, and Twilight was about to nod when Aegis Flare collapsed to the ground.  The mare had seemed fine a moment ago as she had prepared to attack Tirek again, yet now she seemed unresponsive which confused the purple alicorn.  Quickly moving to check on her friend she gasped at what she had found.

“This isn't good!  She's barely breathing and her heartbeat is extremely faint!”  Her diagnosis drew gasps from most of the others, though Luna only calmly nodded as she walked over to the group, leaving Tirek's body behind.

“It is as I had expected.  While she was using an alicorn berserk state, her body was nowhere near mature enough to handle such a state.  I had noticed that she was giving off intense heat when we arrived, enough to scorch the area around her, yet as the battle continued it steadily eroded away.  Yet, the entire time she had a high rate of regeneration, meaning all her magic was focused on that, and possibly even more.”  It took a moment, but they all realized that she meant that she was using her very life to power the ability.

“But what do we need to do to help her?  Can't we just give her some of our own magic?”  Celestia shakes her head as she moved to stand next to Rainbow Dash.

“It is not that easy.  Your magic is very personal and without proper care, it could cause more harm than good.  As well with how weak she is she would not be able to handle the most basic of mana potions, let alone what it would take to heal her.”  They all looked at the downed mare with worry, until a chuckle sounded from above them.

“Well, why don't you just take her to the Tree then?  I mean why else would little old me have given you that book if not to use it?  A short walk there and, bam!  Everything is back to normal again.”  The group looked up to find Discord hovering above them all, back to his usual self again.  Applejack stomped her hoof as she glared at him.

“Now just a cotton picking minute here.  Just how is that Tree of Harmony gonna help us with healing Flare?  And what book?  Ya never gave us any book ta use!”  Discord blinked in shock for a moment before he opened a flap of skin at his hip.

“What?  But I was sure I gave it to you before I left.  I mean...”  He pauses as he pulls out a book that looked very familiar to the Ponyville princesses.

“Well, would you look at that.  I guess I didn't give it to you.  It must have slipped my mind when SOMEPONY distracted me before I went to find Tirek.”  He shot a short glare that quickly vanished when he saw the state the mare was in.

“Now hurry up and figure it all out so I can bring you all there in a jiffy.”  Twilight took the book and found that it really was the friendship journal she and her friends had been writing in.  Shooting a look of annoyance at the draconequus for taking it without permission, she looked more closely at it and found that six of the pages had been marked.  Checking each of the marked pages she stopped to ponder them all before noticing something about each of them.

“Girls!  I think I might know what he is talking about.  Each of the marked pages has one thing in common.  You all learned a very important lesson, and also gained an item that represented that lesson.  I think that those may be the keys to the chest at the Tree!”  The girls remembered the items that they had received somewhat recently, though the quickly realized a problem.

“Wait, but what about your key as well as Flarie's?  Neither of you got any gifts from somepony that you helped.”  Twilight shook her head at Pinkie in response.

“Actually, I think that Flare already has her key, and has somehow had it for years.  The crown she showed us that she got with Daring Do, I'm sure that is her key.  As for mine...”  Twilight trails off as she looks at the friendship journal closely as a shimmer passes across it.

“I think I have an idea on what my key is going to be.”  The others look at her in confusion before slowly nodding and each heading off to retrieve their items, leaving the three elder princesses to watch over the weakened mare.  Twilight went to retrieve the crown but was shocked to find that her friend's house had collapsed, having been hit by on of Tirek's stray magic bolts.  Luckily she remembered where the item was and was able to clear out enough to find the miraculously undamaged case that it was stored in and retrieved it.  Soon everyone was gathered back at Discord with their items, as well as some sad news.

“I can't believe how much damage Tirek did in so short of time.  Half of the buildings in Ponyville have some sort of damage to them, even my home by the Everfree Forest wasn't safe.  I am just glad that Angel was able to evacuate all the animals in time.”  Rainbow Dash nodded to Fluttershy's comment before speaking up herself.

“Yeah, even some of the cloud homes were hit by him.  On the way back I flew by the shelters.  It sounds like everypony was evacuated to them safely, though one had a scare when it was hit by his attack.  Luckily we made sure that they all could stand up to anything the Crusaders could throw at them.”  Sighs of relief passed through the group as they hadn't thought to check up on the townsponies, having trusted that the local guards could handle keeping them safe.

“Well, now that you are all here, how about a little change of scenery?”  With a snap of his fingers, Discord teleported the group from where they were to the cavern containing the Tree of Harmony.  The princesses quickly moved to surround the strange chest by the tree, while Discord's attention was on the tree itself as he tried to recall something.

“All right girls, if I'm right these items should be the keys to this thing.  Now, how we just need to figure out how they work.”  The six princesses set the items down by the chest and began to examine them.  Looking over Flare's crown, Rarity's spool of thread, Pinkie's shawl, Fluttershy's dagger, Rainbow's Wonderbolt jacket, Applejack's pear-apple bonsai, and Twilight book revealed nothing to them.

“I don't get it.”  Rainbow Dash said as she put on her jacket.

“How are we supposed to get the keys to this thing anyways with these?”  As she started poking at the box, her hoof slipped off to the side of it causing her sleeve to come into contact with it.  Suddenly it started to unravel from around her before forming into a key shaped like her cutie mark.

“Seriously?  All we had to do was touch it?  But did it really have to turn my jacket into the key?”  Rainbow Dash grumbled about losing her jacket, as the others looked warily from their items to the chest.  After only that moment's hesitation, they quickly touched the rest of the items to it, their friend being much more important than what their gifts represented.  Soon they had a stack of keys in front of them which they all placed into the box in front of them.

“All right girls, on three we all- Discord what are you doing?!”  Twilight glared at Discord as he used Aegis Flare as a puppet, marionette wires and all.

“What?  What?  You have to turn all the keys at the same time, don't you?  And do you really want to trust that it will allow one of those three to turn it?  Celestia always runs from fights, and her sister can't even face her own fears.  Though Lovebutt there might actually have a chance.”  This earned a glare from the pony in question, which quickly turned thoughtful.  Twilight just rolled her eyes at his antics, though mentally she had to agree with him on this probably being the best way, not that she'd tell him that.

“Fine, then as I was saying.  Three!”  While the exact three count wasn't clarified, Twilight's shout was enough to startle most of them into turning their key along with the others.  Each of the keys turned in their slot, though the one puppeted through Discord was a bit stiff.  They all stood there waiting, yet nothing happened.

“Discord?  Didn't you say something was-”  Fluttershy would have said more, but her eyes, along with the other six, began to shine with a rainbow light.  Discord and the others began to back away as the seven began to float off of the ground and gather in front of the Tree of Harmony.

“Well now, isn't this interesting?  This is nothing like what I was expecting.”  The three mobile alicorns look over at the draconequus questioningly.

“And just what is it that you were expecting, Discord?”  He glanced over at Luna before gesturing to the floating group.

“Well, certainly not this.  At the very least that thing should have opened by now.  Something else feels off as well.  Something... Familiar for some reason.”  At that moment the center of the chest began to unfold and a wave of rainbow sparkles began to flow out of it.  It all gathered in front of the princesses in a fog before it started to condense into a winged, bipedal form as tall as Cadance.

“It cannot be.  Is that an angel?”  Celestia stared in awe as the wings unfolded from the figure's back, though she couldn't see much else as the figure was a mass of rainbow light.

“An angel?  What's an angel?”  The figure appeared to look over the three princesses before it stared at the sword carried by Luna.  As it reached towards the blade, Celestia replied to Cadance.

“Not much is known about them, even when we were younger.  Legends say that they gifted ponies with many secrets long ago...”  She paused as the figure reached out and touched the sword, causing it to dissolve into nothing.

“...As well as take them away when they are no longer needed.”  Luna didn't react to the loss of the weapon as she also stared in awe as the angel walked away from the princesses and stopped in front of Discord.  He tilted his head as he looked at the figure before he winced and clutched at his head with his claw.

“Do... Do I know you?”  The figure didn't respond, yet a feeling of sadness radiated from it, as well as a sense of caring for the draconequus.  Slowly it leaned forward and planted a kiss on his cheek before moving on.  Discord's paw slowly rose up to rub at the spot as tears began to fall from his left eye unnoticed.

The angel moved to stand in front of the seven floating princesses where it stopped and appeared to stare at them.  Waves of surprise and grief radiated off of it as it looked at them which intensified when it looked upon Aegis Flare.  Something fell from its face, and upon impacting the ground blossomed into a purple crystal hyacinth.

“Is it crying?  Why?”  Neither of the other princesses could answer Cadance as the angel rushed over to embrace Aegis Flare in a full hug, wings and all.  Moments later the wings pulled back to show the creature apparently planting a kiss on the mare's forehead, causing her mane and tail to begin taking on the appearance of gently rolling flames before slowly settling down.  The mare was then set gently on the ground where the others could see that her breathing was no longer strained and her coat had gained a lively luster to it again.

The angel moved along the line hugging, though with less enthusiasm, and placing a kiss in the same spot of the other six alicorns, causing their manes and tails to flare up as well.  Rarity's gained a crystal sheen to hers, while Applejack's looked like golden wheat in the wind.  Fluttershy's took on the appearance of having leaves blowing through it, and Rainbow Dash's kept her colors while having arcs of lighting appear to pass through it.  Pinkie Pie looked as if she had a party going on in her mane with the look of confetti raining through it, yet Twilight's was more the opposite by looking like a void with streams of purple and raspberry colors flowing through it.

“Sister?  Is the angel doing what I think it is doing to them?”  Celestia slowly nods slowly to Luna as she watches on.

“Yes, it appears that their alicorn abilities are being more fully awakened.  I do not know how much more, but I believe that they may be on par with Cadance now.  Let us just hope that it is never needed to be tested.”  The other two nod as they watch the last of the princesses settle onto the ground.  The angel slowly turns, surveying them all, before nodding once and dispersing in a burst of sparkling motes.  That wasn't the end as they all poured back into the chest which began to sink into the ground.  The ground continued to rumble but slowly calmed as if the disturbance was slowly headed towards Ponyville.

“Ugh, what just happened?”  Looking over from where the chest was, the three alicorns saw that the others were starting to stir as Rainbow Dash was shaking her head while stumbling to her hooves.

“I don't know, but can anyone tell me why I can barely move?”  Heads shot up quickly at the voice as all heads turned to see Aegis Flare laying there with her eyes open and feebly twitching her limbs.

“Flare!”  Her eyes widened as a stampede started in her direction and she was caught up in a massive group hug.  She had a bit of issue breathing as Pinkie had made it there first and was squeezing the hardest out of them all.

“You idiot!  What did you think you were doing back there with Tirek!?  You almost got yourself killed fighting like that!”  The bat-winged mare could only blink as she tried to look at Twilight and attempt to figure out what she was talking about.

“What are you talking about?  Last thing I remember was getting my mother away from him and, well, nothing for some reason.”  The group glanced at each other for a moment before nodding.

“We'll tell ya later.  Right now we should get back ta Ponyville and make sure everypony is all right.”  Nods were exchanged all around though two of them were distracted, one by how distracted the other was.

“Discord?  Is something wrong?”  Fluttershy looked over to where Discord was still rubbing his cheeking and staring off into the air.  Hearing his name, the draconequus shook his head and looked over at the group.

“No, no!  Everything is fine!  Right, we're done here then?  Back you go then!”  Before they could say anything Discord snapped his claws, teleporting the alicorns back to Ponyville.  With one last glance over at the Tree of Harmony, he vanished as well back to his home to think.

<><><><><><><>

“Next time we see Discord, remind me to hit him with a lightning bolt?”  Rainbow Dash shook herself dry, being the only one to land in the fountain when they were teleported back.

“Ah think we have bigger things ta worry about right now.  Like getting Flare here over ta the hospital.  She may not be in danger, but she still isn't moving much.”  Applejack gestured with her hoof over to the mare who was on Fluttershy's back, the shy mare having refused to let any of the others carry her cousin.  Before they could actually decide on a destination, a rumbling drew their attention towards the edge of town and their jaws dropped at what they saw.

“What is it?”

“It's so beautiful!”

“It's sparkleriffic!”

“It's tacky...”  The group of alicorns turned away from the crystal tree that was suddenly growing on the edge of Ponyville to look at Aegis Flare.  She raised an eyebrow, one of the few things she could reliably move, at their reactions and tried to shrug.

“What?  It might look good in the Crystal Empire, but do you really think it has any business in Ponyville?  It would even look out of place up in Canterlot and you know how fancy nearly everything there has to be.”  Looking back at the tree, now appearing to have a building built within it, the others took a more critical view of it.  While it was still pretty, even Rarity had to agree that it didn't really fit in with much of Ponyville, even with the odd buildings scattered throughout it.

“Right, we probably should split up then or else nothing will get done.  Princesses Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and I will go to check that out and try to figure out what is happening.  Fluttershy and Rarity should focus on getting Flare over to the hospital to get checked out, while the rest of you let the town know that everything is clear.  I have a feeling that today is far from over.”  The others nod to Twilight and take off for their suggested duties while the four remaining princesses turn towards the crystalline structure.  Glancing around at the damage she saw to the town, Twilight really hoped that it was as much of a building as it appeared to be as she suspected that many ponies were not going to have a home to go back to for the foreseeable future.
> 67
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Most ponies were happy to live their lives with nothing exciting happening to them.  Yet there were others that went out of their way to find action, either through exploring dangerous terrain or facing down hordes of monstrous creatures.  The dark orange alicorn would consider herself one of the latter, yet she had one problem that she was willing to bet most others of that type didn't have.

“Fluttershy.  I told you I'm fine!  My magic is still a bit weak right now, but I can walk around on my own.  I have a lot of work to catch up on.”  Aegis Flare glared at her cousin from the wheelchair she was stuck in but was ignored by the other alicorn.

“Now now.  You know that the doctor said that you are supposed to take it easy for the next week.  Besides, your mother said that she would take care of everything until you are all better.  Now open wide...”  The seated alicorn grumbled as a spoonful of oatmeal was lift in front of her in a pink aura.  The other alicorns chuckled at the interaction between the two cousins as they relaxed in the throne room of the newly grown crystal castle.

“Well darling, you have to admit that this is all your fault for worrying all of us as much as you did.  While I can understand wanting to protect your mother and sister like that, it was still reckless to go off alone.”  Rarity flipped her mane back as she examined her hoof while taking a file to it.  Applejack lifted her hat to look over at the mare in her throne before glancing up at her own.

“Ah still can't believe that this here castle grew out of that box tha Tree of Harmony left us.  Not that ah'm complaining, the extra space sure came in handy what with all the ponies who lost their homes because of tha fight with Tirek.  It sure didn't help that much of that fight took place right in the center of town.”  The farm mare's words caused Aegis Flare to frown and turn her head away from her.

“Yes, I know I shouldn't have fought him like that, but after seeing him with my mother like that I just...  I only just got her back again, I didn't want to lose her so soon.”  Everyone pauses for a moment as her words struck a chord in them all before she continued.

“Still, despite how out of place this building is, it is surprising how much space is in it.  It could probably hold all of Ponyville, Canterlot, and Manehattan and still have room to spare, not that we could feed all of that though.  There is something else odd going on though, I'm just not sure what.”  She tried to look thoughtful, but it was ruined by Fluttershy as she brought the spoon back up to her mouth once again, causing her to bat her hooves at it.  Twilight looked up from her own throne, away from the multitude of scrolls she was reading through, and looked around what they had come to call the throne room.

“That really is a good point.  There is no way this building could hold even a tenth of what it does even with the best internal expansion spells we know of.  I would love to figure out how this place is like it is, but honestly, I have no idea where to even start.  At least ponies can start moving out again within the week as the least damaged buildings are repaired.  We didn't need as much of this place as we could have with those with undamaged homes allowed others to stay with them until their homes were finished.”  She gestured towards Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy as she said this, as their homes were far from the battle were relatively undamaged beyond random objects falling due to light tremors.  The rest of them were less lucky as Rarity's and Aegis Flare's homes would need to be completely rebuilt, while Twilight's and Pinkie's had taken damage to their living areas leaving them unlivable, though the working area was still in decent condition.

All seven of them had decided to move into the crystal structure for the near future so others that were uncomfortable with living in the building had somewhere else to stay.  With them moving in, they had a few deliveries of basic necessities from out of town so delivery ponies were constantly coming and going.  Considering the Golden Oaks Library's living area was seriously damaged, and repairing it would take the tree years to do, Twilight decided to move her personal collection out of the tree and into what would become her new home.  When she found that she had much more space to use than before, she also requested her collection that was still in Canterlot.  So a stallion dragging in a large wagon of books wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

“So where do you want this load of books?”  The room glanced up at the stallion as he made his presence known and Twilight waved her hoof to a nearby hall.

“There is a library down that hall on the right, just leave them in there.”  The stallion was about to follow her directions before he was distracted by a book on top of the pile he was pulling.

“Even this one that is buzzing and glowing?”  The princesses looked at him in confusion for a moment before they looked up at the pile to see what he was talking about.  Twilight used her magic to pull the book down, waving him off as she did so, and opened it to see what was going on with it.  The stallion left as she flipped through the book to find the cause of its magic, and when she reached the latest page her eyes widened.

“It looks like a message to Princess Celestia from my friends at Canterlot High.”  A look of surprise spreads through the group as they thought the portal was closed.

“How is that even possible?”  Twilight shakes her head at Rarity as she continues reading.

“I have no idea, but it sounds like they need my help.  There seems to be a bunch of new girls causing a lot of chaos in the school.  The way Sunset Shimmer described them, I think these new girls sound an awful lot like... the sirens.”  Pinkie let out a gasp of horror at the new.

“Not the sirens!”  More was said after Pinkie's exclamation, but Aegis Flare had tuned them out as something about the name seemed familiar.  It was only after Twilight had started putting something together that it hit her.

“Wait, can I see that book for a second?”  The other princesses looked at her, though Twilight was completely oblivious, before they shrugged and passed the book over.  Looking at the last entries she had to roll her eyes as Twilight hadn't replied yet.  She was about to look around for something to write with when she felt a tap on her shoulder.  Looking up she was surprised to see her mother waiting behind her with a pen.

“Looking for something?  Though with you being on a strict no-anything regimen until you've recovered I'm not sure what you expect to do.”  The mare winced at the chastising tone in her mother's voice before she turned the book towards her.

“I just need to know what the names of the sirens are.  If they are who I think they are then I may have something that could help out Sunset Shimmer.”  Bella Donna's ears perked up at the name and a cruel grin crept onto her face.

“Wait, little Sunny is the owner of the other half of this communication journal?  Give that here, I haven't messed with her in such a long time.”  Without waiting for an agreement, the older mare snatched up the book and began writing in it.

“Dear Sunny, it is good to finally find out where you have been hidden all this time.  Unfortunately, Celestia isn't nearby right now, and Twilight is busy building what looks like a portal so it is up to me to get more information.  Did you happen to get the name of these sirens, or did you put as little thought into it as when you 'borrowed' Celestia's regalia and attempted to take over her court when you were five?  Boy, you sure were adorable then.  Still, knowing their names could be just what we need to have an edge on them before Twilight heads over there.  Your old caretaker, Bella Donna.”  The group, barring Twilight, looked at the elder mare, wondering just why she wrote what she did.  The journal was silent for a few minutes before it started glowing once again as a new message came through.

Um, Mrs. Donna, this is Fluttershy.  The others told me to tell you that the names of the sirens are Adagio, Aria, and Sonata and also to ask why Sunset is curled up behind the statue whimpering.

“Aww, she remembers me.  And look, she did manage to get their name, do they mean anything to you?”  Aegis Flare groaned at her mother's antics before she sighed and nodded her head.

“Yeah, but now I need to go back to our house for something.”  She raised a hoof to forestall any complaints.

“No, I don't plan on doing any digging myself.  There should be a few workers nearby that I can get to quickly dig out something.  Also, mom, should you really be using those sticks to help you walk around again?  Didn't they have a replacement cart for you at the hospital?”  Her mother shook her head and stepped next to the wheelchair-bound alicorn before gesturing to Fluttershy to follow her.

“No, the storage area of the hospital was damaged and many of their supplies were ruined.  They rarely need something like that and the only spare they had was lost.  Besides, I used these things for years, sure they might be uncomfortable but at least they let me get around.”  While the younger member of the family wanted to argue, she just shook her head and pouted as she was wheeled out of the castle and into Ponyville.  While repairs were underway, there was still a lot of the town that needed work, though since it was Ponyville it was rapidly being returned to its previous state.  Even Discord could be seen helping out, though the results of that help left much to be desired at times as the tools he animated ended up causing almost as much damage as they fixed.

While they were delayed a bit tracking down Discord to curb his mischief, they only managed to stall him a bit as they brought him with to help find what the three were looking for, with only minor complaints from him.  Soon they were at the wreckage of Aegis Flare's home and holding a small pink seashell while Discord went back to 'helping out' around Ponyville.

“Is that what I think it is?  I've seen the things that you've collected, but I never looked at them closely.”  Aegis Flare nodded to her mother as she slipped her head into the necklace.

“Possibly.  It was a gift from someone I helped, and if what she said is true then this may be just the thing that Twilight could use.”  While Fluttershy was lost on what the other two were talking about, she did know that something that could help Twilight on the other side of the mirror was probably a good thing.  They quickly made their way back to the castle without stopping for anything, just for the seated mare to end up nearly burying her hoof into her face.

“What do you mean that Twilight already left?  Didn't any of you tell her that I left to get something that could help her out?”  The others looked at each other in confusion before Applejack stepped forward.

“Ya mean that ya didn't go out and find Spike and send him back here ta help Twilight?  We thought that that was what ya went out there ta do.”  With a groan, Aegis Flare looked at the portal before reaching up to touch the shell on her necklace.

“No, I was out there to find this.  It was a gift from someone I saved and, if I am right, is something that could have made her quest much easier.  Well, knowing Spike if something truly goes wrong he'll be racing back here to get help and I'll head over there myself to help.  Twilight may have mentioned meeting versions of the rest of you, but she hasn't seen one of me, yet.  Though there are some things I wanted to talk with Sunset Shimmer about.  I guess I'll wait to message her until after Twilight gets back.”  With another sigh and shake of her head, the mare leaned back in her wheelchair to watch the portal, hoping that Twilight didn't need the extra help.

vvvvvvvvvv

Twilight's adventure went off with few problems, Spike constantly corrected Twilight when she tried to leave them out of her store, and things progressed in Ponyville.  After a couple weeks most everything had been put back the way it should, with a few upgrades to some things that hadn't been touched in years.  This left the seven alicorns with a chance to rest before deciding what to do next, though one of them had other plans she had been waiting to get to.

“Good, looks like the coast is clear.  Come on Spike.”  Aegis Flare snuck through the castle towards the room the mirror portal was located, Spike in tow.  While she had mostly recovered from her injuries, both physical and magical, she was still told to take it easy for a while longer.  Despite how simple what she had planned was, she still doubted that her cousin would approve of her taking the trip.

“I still can't believe that you talked me into this.  I don't even know why you didn't just go and ask Twilight either.  At least I got you back with that little trip to Rarity's.”  The young dragon poked at the manestyle the mare currently had, one that she had used back during the Grand Galloping Gala.  She didn't know why he requested that style, but if it got him to help then she could put up with her mane being out of her usual braid.

“I just don't want them to know about what I'm going to do.  I need to see how they react first and I'm not sure if the others will understand.”  Spike may have been going with as an escort, but he still didn't know exactly what she wanted to do over there, though another who overheard wanted to know as well.

“Not sure if we'll understand what?”  The two froze as they came face-to-face with Twilight as she stood in front of the mirror portal.  Thinking quickly, Aegis Flare came up with the perfect distraction though she would probably pay for it later.

“Not understand fully how the portal works.  I mean, if something like this can be used to travel between dimensions, then why couldn't something similar be used to link up Canterlot and the Crystal Empire with here?”  Twilight was about to ask how she wouldn't understand something like that when her eyes lit up from the inspiration.

“That... That is genius!  How has nopony thought of something like that before?!  I mean, it can't be that much harder as it's only folding two points in the same dimension instead of trying to bridge two completely different ones.  All I need is...”  The mare quickly took off towards her lab to begin research on the idea right away, leaving the two to watch as she flew off.

“You do know that you'll never get her out of there until she finishes, right?”  The alicorn looked a bit sheepish before nodding.

“Yeah, but that's future me's problem.  Though it actually would be nice to just step through a door or mirror and be at the Crystal Empire.  It's been a while since I've sparred with Shining Armor.  Now quick, through the portal before anyone else shows.”  Putting words to action, the mare jumped through the mirror, shortly followed by the young dragon, shaking his head as he did so.

vvvvvvvvvv

The stature in front of Canterlot High stood as it had for years, and on this weekend it stood alone as students avoided the school for the day.  That was soon changed as a figure fell out of the pedestal that it was standing on, followed soon after by a second, that one a touch more gracefully.

“Oof, that was a bit rougher than I expected.”  Aegis Flare paused as she looked down at what were once her hooves but were now a pair of hands.  Out of curiosity she leaned back onto her knees and brought her new hands up in front of her to examine.

“Kind of freaky, huh?  I mean, it's not much different for me, but you should have seen Twilight when she first came over.”  Looking up the mare-turned-woman saw a green haired, purple-skinned child who looked somewhat familiar to her.

“Spike?  Is that you?”  The spiky-haired child just grinned as he offered his hand to Aegis Flare and nodded.

“Yep, and it's a good thing, too.  You should have seen the mess that Twilight almost made by trying to walk like she normally does here.  Good thing I'm an expert in how humans walk, not much different from how I normally do it.”  The woman looked over Spike and how he was standing before she glanced back at her own legs.  Taking a breath, she slowly levered herself up with her hands onto her feet and wobbled as she slowly got her balance before turning back to the reflective surface of the portal.

“Huh, that was easy.  Actually, this is much like how certain martial arts are done, but it feels more... natural somehow.  Though, hmm.  I'm actually kind of liking this look.”  Looking at her reflection she found herself wearing a black suit with a white shirt underneath it along with a black tie.  Remembering something, she quickly patted herself down and found that the things she had brought were inside the pockets of the pants.  She also found something else and when she pulled them out found them to be a pair of sunglasses, which she put on.

“Yeah, it does look really awesome.  Kind of like a secret agent or super spy.  Actually, I think you might even be a bit taller than Twilight was, maybe even older?  Now, what did you need me here for again?”  Standing up straight, the woman looked around to see if she recognized anything, shrugging at his last question.

“Well, first I need to find Sunset Shimmer.  She's the one to most likely know where what I am looking for is.”  Spike rubbed his chin with his hand as he looked around as well.

“Hmm, I'm not sure where she would be right now.  Twilight and I mostly stuck around the school or... wait she might be able to help.  Hey, Pinkie Pie!”  The dragon-turned-boy waved toward a figure that had just came into view and ran towards her, followed soon after by Aegis Flare.  The pink-haired Wondercolt looked around at being called and flinched when she saw Spike but it was quickly hidden by her usual smile.

“Spike!  What are you doing here?  Where's Princess Twilight?  *gasp!*  Is there another monster from Equestria here to take over our world and you need our help to stop them?!”  The two Equestrians look at each other before shaking their heads at the familiar reaction.

“Actually, we just need to find Sunset Shimmer for something.  I'm not sure what though since Flare here won't even tell me what it is.”  Pinkie looked over at the other person nearby and looked at her with a thoughtful expression.

“Hmm, nope don't think I've seen you before, but any friend of Spike's is a friend of mine!  Put her there.”  Aegis Flare looked at the outstretched hand before she put her own in it causing the pink-haired teen to pump it up and down.

“Good to meet you.  Twilight has told me a bit about you and her other friends over here.”  Pinkie gasps once again as she starts bouncing around.

“You're also one of Twilight's friends from the other side of the portal!?  Does that make us double friends then!?  Ooh, I can't wait to tell the others about this, but they're all busy for a few hours and after we were all going to meet at Sugarcube Corner.  Maybe you could come back then?”  Her eyes started shifting around, though neither of the two noticed it.  Aegis Flare looked thoughtful as she patter at one of her pockets and came up with an idea.

“Actually, that could be a good thing.  Could you show us somewhere that we could trade valuables for whatever money is used here?  I doubt that bits will be of much use on this side.”  Pinkie tried to come up with an excuse, but after a few moments of nonsense she just sighed.

“Fine, but there is only one place in town and the owners aren't very nice.”  The woman led the two Equestrian through the city of Canterlot until they came to an unassuming building with windows filled with various knick-knacks.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me.”  Inside the building Spike immediately recognized the two humans that were running the place and was immediately put on guard.  Aegis Flare just took it all in stride and stepped up to the counter before pulling out a small cloth bag.

“Well, hello there ma'am, and welcome to our fine establishment.  Can I interest you in some authentic antique tree brushes?”  Aegis Flare quirked an eyebrow at Flim, the one at the counter, before glancing over at Flam who was elsewhere in the room.  The woman only shook her head before setting four gold bits, worth a hundred bits each, and one platinum bit, worth five hundred, on the counter in front of the man.

“Actually, I was wondering if these were worth anything to you at all.”  Flim frowned as he looked at the coins, before his eyes widened and he waved his brother over.  His brother raised an eyebrow, but when he saw what was on the counter his own eyes widened before he quickly composed himself.

“Well now, what have we here.  We've seen a lot of those come through here, yes we have, but we'll definitely give you a fair price for them.  How does one fifty each for these four and a hundred for this one sound?”  Aegis Flare frowned as she looked at the two and she immediately knew that something was off with the price they were giving.  It was rather high from what she could tell by the prices of various items around her, yet the two seemed way too eager to acquire the coins for the price to be fair.  Still, it wasn't like she was going to need the money beyond this trip and losing the coins wouldn't put much of a dent in her funds back home.

“Hmm, that sounds much less than fair.”  The two men started trying to argue and backtrack a bit but she raised her hand up to forestall it.

“But you are lucky that I am in a hurry and don't feel like trying to investigate at this moment.  Though I suggest that you start giving your next few customers a more than fair deal considering how much you've made from this one.”  As Aegis Flare peers over the top of her sunglasses the two gulp as they only now realize what she looks like and began to sweat.  Holding out her hand, they quickly gave her the promised money and subtly directed her towards the door.

“Wowie, I've never seen them look that nervous since the last time Applejack and Rarity came through and pointed out all the fake antiques they were selling.  But what do you need all that money for?”  The red-head flipped through the bills before pulling two of them out and handing them to Spike.

“Well it would be wrong to come here and not get Spike something for all of his help, maybe he can find something for his marefriends back home.  It would also be nice to have a little something just in case I...”  She stopped as they were walking down the street to look at a building in interest.  There wasn't much that she had for hobbies or to use to relax, having to spend all her time taking care of her sister, but there was something that always made her pause.

“That actually looks interesting.  You two go on ahead, I want to check this place out.”  After waving the two ahead, Aegis Flare moved towards the shop she noticed that was covered in neon lights.  Walking inside she frowned as she didn't see any records like she was expecting, but rows upon rows of smaller and shinier versions that looked too flat to work.  Still, the store looked like a music shop so she went over to a pair of hanging headphones next to a display and attempted to figure out how it worked.  It took her a few minutes of fumbling, but she eventually figured out how to work the touchscreen and started sampling a few of the songs.



“Um, eww.  Definitely not.”



"Tartarus, no.  Isn't there something that isn't going to make my ears bleed or excessively whiny?"



“Right, now this is what I was looking for.”  Aegis Flare closed her eyes and started bobbing her head to the music as she listened to it.  Just listening to the words she felt it was something that she would have listened to while working out in the Everfree Forest if she didn't need to be listening carefully to her surroundings.  Still, she felt as if she was missing some context to the lyrics as it seemed to be alluding to something at times.

Browsing the songs, she found many that she liked, many she didn't like, and a few like the first couple that grated on her ears.  While she was in a human form, her hearing was still much better than average so discordant sounds did hurt a bit.  Soon she had a small sample size of music and looked around the store for someone who could help her, strangely enough, she somewhat recognized the person at the counter.

“I was wondering if you could help me out with something.  You see, I've been out of touch with a while and want to put together a decent sized library of music to listen to.  Would you happen to be able to get me a selection of songs, including those like this group and unlike this group, along with something to play them with?  With however much this can get me.”  Vinyl Scratch looked at the indicated tracks for a moment before looking up at her latest customer then down to the four hundreds that she held out to her.  Bringing her hand to her chin for a moment in thought, she soon nodded and gave a thumbs-up before ducking behind the counter.  Coming back up with a small box and earphones, she brought it over to the computer next to her and a half hour later Aegis Flare was out the door listening to her new music.

Outside once again, the red-head looked around as she considered the directions she was given to get to Sugarcube Corner.  She knew she still had a while to wait until Sunset Shimmer was available so she wasn't in a hurry, but if her guess was right there was a faster way to reach her destination.  Taking a moment to think it over she nodded as she took a shortcut through a nearby alley.  As she traveled through it she gave no thought to the figures she saw in it and just lightly nodded her head to the beat.

“Well look here, boys.  Look like the Diamond Boys have a new customer.  What do you say we make her feel welcome?  Hey!  You there!  How about you give us that pretty little music player there and whatever cash you have as well?”  Aegis Flare continued walking down the alley as, with the music playing, she couldn't hear them.  Her act of ignoring them annoyed the four Diamond Boys as they moved to stand in front of her.

“Hey!  Do you hear me!?  Give us your stuff, now!”  Seeing the four in front of her, the woman could only roll her eyes and wave them off in a 'begone' gesture.  This served to enrage them while a new song started up on her player.



One of the taller ones pulled back his fist to throw a punch, but instead of connecting with her she vanished from his sight.

“Butch!  Watch out!”  Before he could react an arm was pressing him backwards while a leg was slid behind him.  Moments later the back of his head went crashing to the ground as the woman slammed him down.

“You bitch!  You'll pay for that!  Fido, Spot, sic her!”  The other two burly ones followed the shorter one's orders as they split up to the sides of the woman.  Glancing at the two, she only shook her head as she stepped into the charge of one and leveraged him over her shoulder into the head of the other.  The impact sent the two sprawling backwards until the slammed into the edge of a dumpster before falling in.

While her back was turned the final one pulled a knife and came charging at her.  With a quick flick of her wrist, she jabbed at the side of his hand, knocking the blade wide, before thrusting the back of her wrist sharply into his throat sending him down.  Spinning away from him she looked around at the group with her arms held high before she sighed and pulled out one of her earphones.

“Really?  That was it?  Well, that was a waste of a good song.”  The four could only groan from the positions that they ended up in as she started away.  Before she left the alley she paused and looked down at her hands with a frown as she realized that those moves came to her much easier than they should have.  She made a note to check up on the history of the unicorn martial arts when she got home as they seemed much more suited for a bipedal form than quadruped.

That was all for later though as she made her way to her destination which just happened to be where she thought it was.  After crossing the street and making her way inside she saw Spike and Pinkie at a large booth in the back.  She stopped by the counter to place a quick order before moving to join them as well.

“Well, you two look hungry.”  Spike paused in his gorging to look up from his half a dozen plates of food, Pinkie having twice that.

“Mmffrmmfgrmph!”  Aegis Flare rolled her eyes as Pinkie tried to speak with her mouth full as she took a seat next to her.  While she waited for her food, she scrolled through the playlist of her music player, looking at all the names and wondering if there were counterparts to them in Equestria.

“Hey, Spike.  I got your message from Pinkie, what did you want to... talk... about.”  Aegis Flare looked up at the new arrival, just to freeze as she took notice of how they looked.

“Spike?  Did you really have me change my mane-style just for this joke?”  Aegis Flare and Sunset Shimmer both looked at each other as they took in their matching hairstyles.  With a shake of her head the woman put away her music device as the food she ordered came and she looked over at the rest of the group that had entered before pausing.

Pinkie Pie came walking in behind the group along with Applejack.  Yet she knew that couldn't be true as she was sitting right next to her and in fact could now hear her hiding under the table.  There should not be two Pinkie Pies in the room, because if there were two Pinkie Pies then there was a serious problem which only could mean one thing.

“Pinkie?  What are you doing here?  Does Twilight know you've been messing with her portal?”  The group of humans, that all looked a lot like all of her friends minus Rainbow Dash and Twilight, looked at Pinkie Pie then at the woman.

“Um, darling, but how do you know Pinkie Pie and why are you surprised that she is here?”  Aegis Flare looked over to who she was sure was Rarity with a deadpan stare before she reached under the table.  With a bit of a struggle, she managed to get ahold of a clump of pink hair before pulling Pinkie Pie into view.

“Because that would be my Pinkie Pie, this one is yours.”  The group stared in horror as their gazes shifted between the two sheepish-looking Pinkies.  They could not understand just how such a thing was possible, though Spike was the first to realize what was going on as he face-palmed.

“Pinkie Pie?  Just how long have you two been switching places with each other through the portal?”  The Equestrian Pinkie gave a guilty smile as she counted on her fingers.

“Um, about two days after Twilight helped beat the sirens?”  This got a few groans from the others though there was one person that looked thoughtful.

“But how did you get away with it for that long?  I'm sure somebody would have noticed if you were going around without wings or a horn.”  Human Pinkie just tilted her head in confusion.

“But I did have wings and a horn.  What, was I not supposed to or something?”  By this point, Sunset Shimmer's brain had started to catch up with her and she realized just what was said.

“Wait, wait, wait.  Pinkie Pie is an alicorn over there?!  When did that happen?!  And who are you anyways?!”  Aegis Flare looked down and took a bite of her burger and carefully chewed as she savored the flavor.  Seeing this Spike sighed as he set his drink down.

“Oh right, Twilight never did tell you about our friends on the other side.  You see there are seven new alicorns and they all live in that new castle I was telling you about a couple weeks ago.”  Sunset's eye started to twitch at hearing about not just one, but seven new alicorns, something she had been trying to earn for herself.  She turned back to look at the woman blocking her Pinkie Pie in.

“That still doesn't explain...  Wait, does that mean you're one of the seven new princesses as well?”  Finishing off her first burger, Aegis Flare took a sip of her soda before sighing in contentment and turning to the bacon-haired teen.

“Yes, actually.  In fact, you'd probably recognize the other five other than me and Twilight.  Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy.  Though if your Pinkie turned into an alicorn going over there then that may cause issues in the future.  Oh, and I'm Aegis Flare, the one you've been talking to the past week through your journal when Twilight wasn't around.  My mother sends her regards.”  Sunset shuddered at the mention of her mother when she recognized the name of the princess before her.  Just the fact that she was told by the mare that she wouldn't come after her through the portal kept her from running away screaming.

“Oh right, you did say you were going to come pick up the information I found soon, didn't you.  Unfortunately, most of it was listed as classified information so I could hardly find anything about them.”  Sunset Shimmer frowned as she thought over what she had just learned as she pulled up the info on her phone.

“But seriously?  Princess Celestia always told me about how alicorns are special and so many other things when I kept asking to be made one, how could she just ascend seven ponies like that?”  She passed her phone over to the mare-turned-woman to look over what little she had gathered.  Aegis Flare thought for a moment as she looked it over.

“Actually, she only intended to have Twilight ascend, the rest of us were a complete accident.  We generally have to keep an eye on her when she starts her research and experiments so she doesn't blow anyone else up.”  Those from the human side of the portal looked confused, though Sunset Shimmer was pouting about all the new alicorns.  When Applejack put a hand on her shoulder, she looked up at her before giving a sheepish smile and a shake of her head.

“Though if your Pinkie is anything to go by, your entire group would probably be alicorns on that side now, too.  After summoning a giant alicorn to defeat the sirens it makes some sense.”  Sunset Shimmer froze up on hearing this as a dazed smile grew on her face.  Aegis Flare eventually shook her head as she set the phone down on the table.

“Well, that doesn't tell me anything that I wanted to know.  Still, thanks for at least trying Sunset.”  Rarity looked down at the phone and an eyebrow rose as she recognized the article that was showing on it.

“Ambassadors Bella Donna and Vanator?  Weren't those the famous ambassadors over twenty years back that tried to negotiate peace with the kingdoms of Transylmaneia?  The ones that had a fatal vehicle accident on their way to take a vacation?  I'm pretty sure I remember them from History class a couple years back.”  Aegis Flare nods as she snacks on some fries.

“On the other side of the portal those are my adoptive parents.  I was found by them being attacked by timberwolves when I was younger and I can't remember anything before that.  The thing is, somehow they are also my real parents but we know that to be impossible.  Considering most beings on our side seem to have a duplicate on this side, there was a chance that I  was originally from here somehow.”  None of the group knew what to say to that though as Rarity looked through what Sunset had found there was nothing about any surviving family anywhere.  In fact, all she managed to find about them at all was what was publicly known.

“Wait, Transylmaneia?  Isn't that where that big civil war is going on right now between the members of the ruling family?  Even members that leave the country aren't safe from it.”  Eyes turned towards Fluttershy as she spoke, causing her to cringe at the attention.  She flinched even further back at the intense look on the strange woman's face.

“What?  Did I say something wrong?”  Aegis Flare just shook her head.

“Not really, it's just on the other side you happen to be my cousin and your biological father was my Uncle Douchebag.  Probably one of the only ponies where I'd prefer Zephyr Breeze's presence to his.”  All this was said in a language none of the others understood but caused Fluttershy's eyes to widen in terror.

“Please don't say anything to the others, nobody even knows that my dad isn't my real dad so please don't tell them.”  Fluttershy looked pleading at her while the others looked at her in shock, not knowing that she knew another language, and not one they knew.  She got a small nod in response as Aegis Flare said one last thing.

“That would be for you to say, though there is one other thing.  I'm not sure if she is here or not, but on the other side I have a sister named Scootaloo.  I'm not sure if she is on this side or not, but if she is please look after her.”  The pink-haired teen slightly nodded though she looked confused about the request.

They talk took an odd turn as the phones of all the humans gave off an odd tone, eliciting groans from some of the group.  The grumpy looks the had deepened as well as their gazes turned towards Sunset Shimmer then to her phone that was still in Rarity's hands.  Before any of them could say anything the door to Sugarcube Corner burst open, revealing the last member of the Rainbooms.

“Hey Applejack!  Anon-A-Miss posted again!  I can't believe that...  Huh?  What are you doing here Sunset?”  The named mare quirked an eyebrow at the entering teen's comment.

“Why wouldn't I be here?  Pinkie sent a message out to everyone calling us here saying someone wanted to meet me.  Also, can I have my phone back, Rarity?  Might as well see what was posted now.”  Rainbow Dash looked from her to Pinkie to Pinkie and her mind shut down on seeing the second one.  Shaking her head she frowned as she looked at her phone.

“Huh, I could have sworn that Anon-A-Miss was going to be you.  I wonder who it could be then?”  Sunset's eyes narrowed at the cyan teen's comment.

“What do you mean that you thought it was me?  Haven't I already proven that I'm not that kind of person anymore?!  You're all the first friends I've ever had, why would I do something as stupid as this and give it all up?!”  Rainbow Dash rubbed at the back of her head as she looked down.

“Um, well, I mean who else could it have been?  You were one of the few that knew about the secrets being posted on here, and some of the pictures were even directly off of your phone!”  As an argument started up within the group, Spike, Aegis Flare, and the Equestrian Pinkie's eyes all met as they wondered what was going on.

“Hey, can I see that for a second?”  The redhead's words drew the attention of Rainbow Dash, who took in her appearance and came up with a quick response.

“What is it to you, you Sunset look-a-like?!  What are you, some kind of a spy?!”  A hand came up as the woman was about to respond, before she paused and brought a finger to her chin in thought.

“Really Dash?  Do ya have ta ask that about all strangers ya meet?”  The jock and the farmer glared at each other as they got in each other's faces.

“Actually, yes, you could say that I am.”  This answer caused the two to stop with the staring match as Rainbow Dash looked over in triumph.

“Ha!  You see!  I knew I would find one one of these days!”  Applejack looked over at Aegis Flare with a frown while keeping an eye on her friend.

“Please don't encourage her.  She's already hard enough ta deal with without her thinking she was right about that.”  The Equestrian princess smirked as she reached into one of her pockets to pull an object out and set it on the table.  She frowned as she looked at it as it was not the gemstone brooch she was expecting, but some sort of technological marvel that looked rather similar to it.  In her confusion, she wasn't ready to stop it from being scooped up by Rainbow Dash.

“This looks so awesome!  Is this your secret spy communicator or is it some other gadget?!”  She pushed one of the buttons on it just to have it shine in various colors.  Aegis Flare recognized it as the magic scanner as it was detecting the magic of the base pony types, alicorns, as well as something unknown.  Not seeing it do anything obvious she started to mess with the other buttons on it.

“Well, it does have a communication function, though it's usually only used to report emergencies or mission problems.  Then it has the magic scanner, a homing beacon, an emergency...”  Her eyes widened as she remembered one of the functions just a fraction of a section too late as the teen vanished in a flash of light leaving a burnt spot on the ground.  The witnesses to this event gasped while she could only shake her head in exasperation.

“Oh my gosh!  Rainbow Dash!”  Fluttershy looked on in horror seeing one of her oldest and best friends be vaporized before her eyes.

“And that would be the emergency teleport that sends them to the nearest princess inside one of the castles.  Not sure what will happen with it being used on this side of the portal though.  Probably should contact Twilight through that journal.  Now about this Anon-A-Miss?”  Sighs of relief were released all around as they realized that their friend was safe.  As a phone was passed over to the red-head, Sunset's journal started to glow and vibrate.  The bacon-haired teen had to facepalm at what she read.

“Dear Sunset, can you please tell me why there is a human Rainbow Dash fight with a pony Rainbow Dash?  From Twilight.  Seriously Rainbow Dash?  Fighting with yourself is the first thing you do over there?”  Spike chuckles at her reaction as he chews on his fries.

“Yeah, that sounds about right for her, both of them.  Granted ever since becoming an alicorn and princess our Rainbow Dash has calmed down a lot, especially when she started working with the Wonderbolts to improve them.  But seeing something that looks like her?  Yeah, she'll probably assume she's seeing a changeling or something.”  The others joined in on the facepalming as they imagined what was happening on the other side between the two.

“Well, at least she should be all right over there, right?  Though, if you don't mind I have to wonder why you look so much older than Twilight?  She looks about our age and I was sure she mentioned something about all of her friends being about her age.”  Aegis Flare looks at the gathered teens, then at Spike who nodded to her in agreement.  She looked up in thought for a moment before focusing on Sunset Shimmer.

“Hey Sunset, just how long have you been in this world and were you older or younger than your age as a pony?”  The teen looked surprised at the question before she thought about it.

“I think it's been about 5 years now so I should be about, 23 or 24 now over there?  Why do you ask?”  Aegis Flare groaned as she brought a hand up to her face.

“Oh great, that stupid portal has some sort of time dilation effect, or at the very least is inconsistent.  I ask though because it sounds like you've been gone over twenty years now on the other side.  I think the portal also does something that affects the user based on their self-image.  I kind of had to grow up faster than my friends when my parents disappeared leaving only me and my sister so it could explain why I look older.”  Sunset Shimmer's jaw dropped when she heard how long she was gone.

“T-twenty YEARS?!  I've been gone for TWENTY years?!  But... how?!”  The others looked at the mare-turned-teen with pity at having the new broken to her like this.  While they were consoling her, the Equestrians took time to eat more of their meals uninterrupted while Aegis Flare looked through the phone before she paused in her chewing and slammed her head into the table before swallowing.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me.”  The girls looked at her in surprise over her actions while Spike's eyebrow rose.

“What, do you have an idea of what is going on?  Because I sure don't.”  The red-head just slid the phone over to him as she continued to rock her head back and forth in disbelief.  Looking down at the phone, Spike tilted his head to the side as he started pawing at it.

“Huh, well it sure looks like Sunset did it.”  His response caused the teen's head to whip around to look at him.

“What?!  How could you say that?!  I mean I might have done this before we met, but after everything that has happened?!”  Her rant was cut off as Aegis Flare lifted her head up with a heavy sigh.

“Except that you wouldn't have done that and because it looks like you did it is why you didn't do it.”  A round of 'huh?s' from the others greeted her causing her to shake her head.

“It's hard seeing all of you and having to remember that you aren't as experienced as your counterparts on the other side.  I mean it's not like this was just like Sunset's plan to split you all up the first time, just with her as the target now.”  The group looks between her and Sunset as the realization starts to set in and faces start to become tinged with red.  Applejack recovered first as she looked at Sunset apologetically.

“Well if it ain't her, then who was it?  Ah can't think of anybody else that could have gotten those photos other than us here.”  Aegis Flare put her face in her hands for a moment before running then down it.

“Well I can't be sure, but this looks awfully familiar.  Something very similar to this happened on the other side of the portal in Ponyville, except it happened in a school newspaper.”  This meant nothing to most of them, but the Equestrian Pinkie and Spike's eyes widened in realization before the smaller one groaned.

“Wait, you don't mean it could be those three, do you?  Ugh, even in this world they have to cause problems.  Though how is your sister here if your parents on this side are... well...”  Aegis Flare just shook her head in exasperation at her sister, even if it wasn't her sister, causing problems like this.  His words did at least confirm that she had a counterpart over here somehow.

“It is a possibility, but she and her friends always seem to find ways of surprising us.  I just wonder who is keeping Scootaloo safe and out of trouble if nobody has seen a counterpart of me over here and our parents on this side are gone.”  The group was silent during this back and forth, but Fluttershy tilted her head as she recognized the name.

“Wait, Scootaloo is your sister on your side of the portal?  But if we all have counterparts then why isn't she Rainbow's sister over there as well?”  The woman paused as she looked over to the shy teen, causing her to duck back behind Rarity before she looked up thoughtfully.

“You know, I'm not sure.  It could just be a coincidence and they really are sisters, or she could have been adopted.  As Sunset found, everything she was looking for was classified so either could be true.  As if the time issues between our worlds weren't bad enough.”  She looked towards the ceiling in annoyance before she started in on another burger while Applejack was glaring at her.

“Ah don't know about all that, but ah sure don't appreciate what ya are insinuating there.  Ah know Scootaloo as well and if what ya are saying is true then mah own sister is mixed up with this Anon-a-miss business as well.”  Rarity nodded along with her as she remembered her own sister with the other two as well, though the mare-turned-woman just shrugged at them.

“It might be them, it might not be.  That's all for you to figure out, but you just have to ask yourselves.  Who else could have known about those secrets?”  She paused for a moment to think before looking squarely at Sunset Shimmer.

“It could even be more likely if nothing was done about the aftereffects of all the mind control that was used around here.”  Eyes moved to look at the confused teen before her eyes lit up in realization and she face-palmed.

“Ugh, basic magical saturation and contamination effects.  I can't believe I completely forgot about that.”  This earned her a few confused looks causing her to sigh.

“It was from one of my classes back with Princess Celestia.  Casting any sort of magic will always leave a trace behind that can be found by those knowledgeable enough.  Most of the time those traces fade quickly, but repeated use or more powerful magic takes a while to fade.  For example, earth ponies can use their magic to help plants grow, but if they do so long enough in the same area it leaves an imprint on the land making it harder for that area to be used for doing anything but growing plants.  Mind control spells of the level the sirens used would actually last for a while after they have left an area meaning those affected would still be aggressive for days, weeks, or evens months afterwards if nothing is done to correct the issue.”  Applejack and Rarity looked at her for a moment before looking downcast.  Fluttershy looked over her friend's shoulder at the older female with her head tilted in thought.

“So you mean even if it was them then there is a chance that it really wasn't their fault at all?  People's feelings have really been getting hurt from this.”  The red-head nodded in response, leaving the group to think about the implications of what they have learned.  As they did this she picked up another one of her burgers and bit into it with a small sound of appreciation.  Nobody had taken notice of anything odd at this point, but that soon changed when Rarity looked over at her for a moment with a frown as her eyes started to widen in realization.

“Um, darling?  You do know that they have meat in those on this side, right?”  Eyes quickly darted over to the seated Equestrian and began to widen as the rest of the group noticed what she was eating.  Aegis Flare only raised an eyebrow at them questioningly as they remembered Twilight's reaction to finding out she had eaten meat.

“So?”  They were taken aback for a moment, barring Spike and the Pinkies as they knew a bit of her eating habits on the other side.  Sunset Shimmer then remembered something about her that she almost forgot about as it was her mother that stuck in her mind the most.

“Right, your father was a thestral so you would have been exposed to meat.  But this kind is a bit different as it comes from cows.”  The woman and child's chewing began to slow as they heard this before they slowly swallowed.  Aegis Flare slowly looked at her burger before slowly lifting the bun up to peer inside.

“Do they talk here, too?”  She looked over to Fluttershy who slowly shook her head in response.  After looking between her and her burger a couple times, she just shrugged and bit into it once again, much to the shock of the others.  An eyebrow went up at their looks as she chewed.

“What?  It's good and I never waste food if I can avoid it.  Especially something that tastes like this.”  She got a couple of eye-rolls from her words, though a couple of the girls looked unsure.

“But, aren't ponies supposed to be herbivores, darling?  Twilight sure went into a panic when she learned that she ate a part of a cow.”  The others nodded along with Rarity's words, though there were also a couple frowns.

“Actually, horses and ponies tend to be more of a behavioral omnivore.  While they normally only eat plants, they can digest some amount of meat and will actually go after convenient sources of it if hungry enough or it is available.”  A few looks of surprise were shot over to Fluttershy, though not for her knowledge of animals but for the information itself.  One of the group was nodding along with her though, knowingly.

“Eeyup.  Ah've seen the horses back on tha farm when we forgot ta feed them a couple days.  One of them broke inta tha chicken coop and ate our best egg layer.  Applebloom couldn't sit for a week after that.”  Applejack shook her head at the memory before frowning at the thought that her sister might be the one causing all the trouble lately.  While she wanted to deny it, the reasoning that it could be her was sound, but there was only one way for her to be sure.

“Excuse me girls, but ah really have ta go.  Ah don't want ta believe it is mah sister, but if it is then ah want ta be sure.  Ah need ta go and talk with her just ta be sure.”  Winces greeted her proclamations, though the others nodded as she made her way to the exit of Sugarcube Corner.  Moments after they watched her leave a voice called out through the door as it opened once again.

“Hey girls, I'm back!  But where is Applejack going?”  Looking over, the group saw that Rainbow Dash had returned from her accidental trip disheveled, but unharmed.  While the three seated and eating stayed focused on their food, the standing group turned to the approaching teen.

“Well Rainbow Dash, if you had just refrained from playing around with strange toys you would...  Rainbow Dash!  What in the world did you do with your bra!”  Aegis Flare's eyebrow rose at this outburst as she looked up to see what was happening now.  While the returned teen looked barely changed, she did notice her hair was out of place and her shirt seemed to be tented out at two points.  She glanced over at Sunset Shimmer for explanation, but found her to be rolling her head side to side in her hand.

“What?  It's not like I need it.  Besides, she looked really cute wearing it after we had our fun.  Just don't tell her I said that.”  The mare-turned-woman joined the mare-turned-teen in her actions before she just sighed and reached out to tap the other on the elbow.  Sunset Shimmer paused in her actions to look over with a quirked eyebrow at her as she lifted her head up with a sigh.

“If those two are like the ones I remember, I'm betting they'll be going on like this for a while.”  The bacon-haired teen glanced over at the two arguing teens before she shook her head.

“Oh, you have no idea.  Or maybe you do, I guess.”  Aegis Flare grabbed a napkin to clean up around her mouth before she started reaching into a pocket.

“Then I guess I might as well ask you one last thing.  You see there was another reason that I came here though if things were different I might not have even considered it.”  Pulling her clenched hand out of her pocket the dark orange woman slowly opened it to reveal a seashell necklace which Sunset looked at curiously.

“I need you to tell me where the Dazzlings are.  I have some business with them.”
> 68
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Seriously!?  She cast that on a doll of all things!?”  Laughter filled the air as Sunset Shimmer reacted to Spike's story about one of Twilight's misadventures over the years.  The young dragon-turned-boy nodded emphatically as the third member of the group rolled her eyes and looked around the restaurant they were in.  On Pinkie Pie's recommendation, the human one, the three found themselves at what looked to be the human version of a donkey style restaurant, though with a lot more meat on the menu.

“Flare here was nearly as bad and it happened at the same time.  She locked herself in her basement for days doing research.  All of our friends had to go down and drag her out of there, not sure how she could even stand those guard rations for that long.”  Aegis Flare groaned as the story turned towards her and she shook her head at the disgusted look on Sunset's face.

“Why do you think I had an idea about what was going on with the whole Anon-a-miss thing?  Magic that messes with the mind in any way is not something to play around with, especially because of the after-effects.  Celestia was really negligent on that, though I heard that Cadance really got on her about it.”  The teenage girl winced at those words, but she couldn't find it in her to argue.

“She really hasn't changed much since I ran away, has she?”  The two others in the booth looked at her crestfallen face and winced at the expression.

“That's not to say that she isn't a good pony, but after a thousand years of ruling alone she tends to lose track of what is right in front of her.  She's been getting better now that there are others to help her and take up some of her duties, and I know that she wants to see you again.  You can visit any time now that the portal is open whenever needed.”  This brought a sad smile to the girl's face, though she was still unsure of if she would take up the offer.

“Maybe someday I'll take you up on that, but not right now.  Still, as fun as this is I really should get out of your way.  I doubt those three will want to see me or Spike when they show up.”  The older looking female of the two nods to the younger as she looks over the room as the two prepared to leave.  Spike paused before he left the booth and looked at his friend.

“Hey Flare, are you sure you are going to be all right by yourself?  They gave the girls problems when they were at the school.”  The woman just waves a hand at the concerned boy, not worried in the slightest.

“Don't worry, I have a couple of ideas to use, and if all else fails I have a trump card to pull.  Go have some fun while waiting and we'll meet at the portal later.”  Spike looks unsure but slowly nods to her before following after Sunset.  Not seeing the Dazzlings yet, she nods to the two as they head out, thinking on all the things that had been going on that day.  The transformed alicorn was left waiting with her thoughts as the time for those she was meeting with approached, along with the food she had ordered to go with it.

She did not have long to wait as the door opened once again and two figures entered.  Seeing the fuchsia and cyan skin-tones of the two, Aegis Flare assumed that they were part of the group she was waiting for.  It was further confirmed when the one described to her as Aria Blaze turned her head to stare directly in her eyes before marching over to her table, followed by Sonata.

“Were you the one who called us out here?  Just who are you, what do you want, and why should I not beat you to a pulp for making me come out here with this airhead.”  She jerked her thumb over her shoulder at her sister who was hovering behind her, bouncing around in excitement as she looked around the restaurant.  The seated woman calmly looked around for the third but failed to see her in the building.

“Yes, I was the one that contacted you, though I was told that there were supposed to be three of you.”  Her calm manner didn't sit right with Aria, especially as the woman appeared to know something about them.  Slamming her hands on the table in front of the woman, she glared at her trying to glean something from the calm demeanor of the person in front of her.

“Psh, whatever.  Come on Sonata, let's get out of here.”  She moved to leave, grabbing her sister's hand on the way by, but she was stopped up short when her sister refused to move.  Turning back to reprimand her, she froze as she saw a waitress bringing out a large tray of tacos, causing her to groan.  The siren groaned as she brought her other hand up to her face as Sonata looked at her with puppy-dog eyes.

“Are you sure you don't want to stay for dinner?  I don't think I could finish all of this myself.”  Sonata upgraded her eyes from puppy to kitty as she found a hat to clutch in her hands, completing the picture.  Aria sighed in resignation as she tossed her sister into the booth opposite the woman and slid in next to her.  She groaned as her sister started digging into the tacos messily before turning her glare ate the woman opposite her.

“All right, fine.  Why did you call us here?  And don't expect Adagio to show up any time soon, she's too busy whining back home.”  Aegis Flare just sat there for a moment and decided that it didn't matter much as it was probably easier to deal with the two already there first.  Glancing over at the siren chowing down with amusement, she snagged a taco for herself and took a bite before addressing the impatient Dazzling.

“Well, to sum it all up and make it quick, I would like to offer you all a job.”  While Sonata was still focused on eating, she did look a little thin, Aria was looking at her with suspicion.  After a minute of silence, she finally broke it.

“All right, I'll bite.  What's the catch, and why us?”  Instead of answering immediately, the suited woman took a deep pull from the soda she ordered earlier.  After letting the siren stew for a moment she finally met her eyes.

“The catch is that all three of you need to accept and that you will have to start training for the job once we arrive where we are going.”  Aria stared at her in silence for a few moments before she realized that there was no more information coming.  A look of disgust crossed her face as she slowly stood up from her seat.

“Seriously?  That's all you're going to say about the job?  That you want all of us and some training?  Oh yeah, not like that is suspicious or anything.  You know what, I'm out and there is nothing you can say to change my mind.  Come on Sonata.”  Aria stormed out of the building, though Sonata took a moment to stuff her face with as many tacos as she could in a short period of time.  That delay was enough for Aegis Flare to pull an object out of one of her pockets and dangled it in front of the ditzy Dazzling.  The waving object caused her to freeze up in shock and it was in that position that Aria returned to find her in when she noticed that her sister hadn't followed her.

“Sonata!  What are you still doing here!?  I said we were- Where did you get that!?”  Her anger faded away at the sight of the object, turning into one of sheer terror.  She swallowed nervously as the woman who held their very lives in her hand just sat there watching them.

“Don't you think your other sister would want to know about this as well?”  The two sirens-turned-human looked at each other, simultaneously realizing that no matter what happens, their lives changed that day.

<><><><><><><>

“Damn it Aria, stop pushing me!  What in Tartarus is so important that you had to drag me all the way out here?  Did Sonata do something stupid again?”  Aegis Flare looked up from watching Sonata warily eat through the offered tacos to see the poofy hair of the third siren of the group.  She watched as the more violent seeming of the trio pushed what she had been told was the leader over to her before shoving her into the seat next to her sister before Aria sat down as well, boxing her in.

“Seriously!  Just what is your problem!?  You just barge into my room to drag me all the way out here without saying a word and...  Wait, just who are you?”  The teen was building up into a rant but it was interrupted when she saw the woman across from her.  By that point she had put the item that had scared the other two away and was sitting on equal terms with the Dazzling, at least as far as she knew.

“I've been waiting for you Adagio.  I was expecting all three of you two to show up earlier as my offer concerns all three of you.  Your sister was kind enough to go and fetch you so you don't miss anything.”  Aria scoffs at her words, turning away from her, while the leader of the trio just blinks at her in confusion.  A few seconds later realization comes to her and her confusion turns to anger.

“Wait, you're the one who contacted us earlier?  I told you two that I wanted nothing to do with that garbage!”  In anger, she tried to shove her way out of the booth, but Aria wasn't moving.

“But 'Dagi...”  Sonata tried to talk reason into her sister but was interrupted by a hand being clapped across her mouth.

“No, Sonata.  I don't care what you have to say and there is nothing that can make me go along with whatever insanity you have yourself mixed up with!  Now let me out!”  With a hard shove, she sent her sister sprawling onto the ground before stepping out of the booth.  As she walked away Aegis Flare sighed and decided to use her final trump card.

“Is that so?  Melody Charm would be so sad to hear that, especially if that is how you treat your sisters.”  Adagio stumbled at the name and slowly came to a stop.  The look of shock on the faces of the other two showed just how much her words affected them all.  Reaching into her pocket yet again to retrieve the object in it the woman held it up as the teen slowly turned to face her, anger on her face.

“What did you just say!?  How do you know-  How do you have one of those!?”  All three sets of eyes were focused on the object in the woman's hand, a pink seashell necklace.

“Well, how else would I know that name?  It was a gift from her.”  The three blinked in sequence before Aria snorted in disgust.

“How do we know you are telling the truth, huh?  You could have just found that on some random beach.”  This was met by a swat to the back of her head by the orange-haired sister.

“Don't be a fool, Aria!  Just focus a moment and you can feel the power behind it!  What I want to know is what it is that you want with us.”  Taking a sip from her cola first, Aegis Flare described to her what she had already done so with her sisters.  After she was caught up Adagio looked at the woman speculatively.

“That just brings up more questions, like who it is that you work for.  I seriously doubt that Celestia or that the infuriating Starswirl would agree to anything like this.”  The name Starswirl caused the suited princess to raise an eyebrow as a headache began to take form.

“Starswirl?  Just how long do you think it has been since you were sent to this world?”  This question caused the three sirens to look at each other in confusion before the perky one spoke up.

“Only the thirty most boring years ever.  Hasn't it been that long back home?”  Hearing the small number actually broke the serene face that she was trying to cultivate as both her hands rose up to meet her face.

“Starswirl, if I ever somehow meet you I am so bucking you upside the head.”  With a sigh, she looked up to see the confused looks on the three faces before shaking her head.

“It has been over a thousand years since you were sent here.  I'd say that your punishment for what happened back then is long over, especially when you are no longer under the influence of those corrupted flashstone shards you had.”  Three hands rose up to reach at a spot below their necks with a wince before Adagio sighed in resignation while the other two looked frozen at the thought of so much time passing.

“So you even know about where we got those from?  You really did talk to our older sister, didn't you?  How is she?  And you still didn't answer me on who you were, though anyone that wants to hit that old geezer can't be that bad.”  Aegis Flare took a deep breath to calm herself as many pieces about the world fell into place, all of them involving time travel in some way.

“Your sister was fine last I saw her.  I found her a while back in an area that had a portion of the ocean transported to it with her and a bunch of other sea ponies.  She gave the necklace this after saving them all from being boiled alive by lava hounds that were also transported nearby and kept them safe until the phenomenon ended, sending them home.  And that leads me into why I came to you.”  She paused in her speaking to let the trio take in the fact that their sister was safe before continuing.

“My name is Aegis Flare, and I am one of the top leaders of the Equestrian Black Guard, a group consisting of diplomats and problem solvers for the country.  We currently don't have any official contact with the seapony kingdom which is where you three come in.”  The Dazzlings look away from her at each other before the huddled up and talked to each other quietly.  After a few moments of the family meeting, the three looked back over at the waiting woman.

“But why us?  You know our history and I really doubt that Princess Sunbutt will want anything to do with us.  Not to mention that mess with Twilight Sparkle...  Unless years have passed on the other side since she was here I doubt we are going to be allowed to walk free over there.”  Adagio and Sonata nod along with Aria's words, though Aegis Flare quickly waved them off.

“What they want won't matter as you would only answer directly to me and two others along with those we designate as your superior.  Besides, I really don't agree with Starswirl's insanity of using punishments that don't work.  I could probably make a list of the problems he has caused and it would be longer than the good.  It's probably why many of the spells he created are locked away in a restricted area.”  Her dislike of the ancient unicorn caused Sonata to chuckle, though the other two had to wonder why she was this way.  Looking at each other again, Aria just slowly nods to her sister who just sighed and shook her head.

“Fine, we'll go with you.  Anything to get off this dirtball and back home.  At least our older sister is still around.”  Her tone went from annoyed defiance to resigned sadness as she spoke, though before anything more could be said the third sister cut into the conversation.

“Wait!  Before we agree to go with you there is one more thing we want!”  The other two sirens groaned at the third as they could easily guess what was coming.  Aegis Flare just slowly nodded to her as she folded her hands in front of her.

“Really?  And what that would be?”  She looked into Sonata's eyes as the siren returned the look with all the seriousness she could muster.

“Tacos.”  Her reply was met with groans from her sisters as one of the alicorn-turned-woman's eyebrows rose?

“Tacos?”  Sonata nodded in confirmation to the question.

“Tacos.  All we can eat for as long as we work for you.  I don't know if they are a thing back home but I will not live without them.”  Aegis Flare's eye stayed raised for a moment longer before she shook her head with a smile.

“If you all agree to come along then you can have your own taco restaurant.  Just grab all the recipes you need so I can get all the ingredients you could want.  Gather everything you want to take with and meet me out by the Canterlot High statue.”  Sonata let out a squeal of joy at the counteroffer as she leaped over the table to grab the princess up in a hug before speeding out the door.  Moments later she rushed back in, grabbed as many tacos as she could hold, then rushed right back out the door again.

“Great, now she is going to be impossible to deal with.  Did you have to encourage her like that?”  A shrug was the only response to Adagio's question as Aegis Flare started flipping through the remaining money she had.

“I saw no harm with it, and it is probably better than having her constantly pouting.  Though shouldn't you catch up with her to make sure she doesn't get too crazy packing?”  The two sirens only then realized that they had a taco fueled sister on the loose, unsupervised.  The transformed alicorn chuckled as the two took off while she placed the payment for the meal down and signaled to a waitress.  With a smile at a successful mission, she made her way out to meet up with Spike at the school.

<><><><><><><>

“I still can't believe it's been twenty years on that side.  If I didn't run away like I did I'd almost be as old as Principal Celestia.  Yet, the mirror made me even younger, and if what you say is right the sirens were here for thirty years yet over a thousand have gone by in Equestria.  I have no idea how this thing even works.”  Sunset Shimmer glared at the statue along with Spike and Aegis Flare.  Pinkie Pie had already gone through after they made sure it was the correct one, so they were only waiting on the sirens no and were talking about the portal to pass the time.

“Well it was made by Starswirl, so who knows what he screwed up in its creation.”  The older woman frowned at the portal as Spike shook his head.

“You better not let Twilight hear you say that.  She'd go into on of her fits over someone insulting her idol.”  He only got an eye-roll in response before she smirked at him.

“Bet you'd be saying the same thing if you didn't come through as a human.  I remember how you and she interacted when you first came to Ponyville and you were more like master and pet than brother and sister/mother.  Could you imagine going through the portal with a self-image like that?  You would probably ended up as a dog or something.”  The two girls laughed at the indignant look that crossed Spike's face at the suggestion, though he admitted only to himself that he would be rather miffed if that had happened.  Their discussion was curtailed as a shout from down the street rang out, and they looked up to see the Dazzlings running up with a suitcase each.  Sunset was out of their view, hidden behind the older woman, but stepped back so that the statue was between her and the sirens.

“I was starting to wonder if you three were coming.  Did you get everything you wanted to bring?”  Sonata pouted at the question though didn't say anything as her sister's rolled their eyes.

“Sort of.  We had to stop this doofus from packing half the apartment.  You know how hard it is deciding what to keep when we have no idea what would even work in Equestria?  Now how are we supposed to get back to Equestria from here anyways?”  The woman was about to answer Aria, but it seemed her sister wasn't done with her complaining.

“But Aria, why couldn't I bring the TV with?  I'll miss all of my shows without it.”  The other two sisters just groaned as they rubbed at their temple in frustration.

“Sonata, we already told you that it was just too big.  And how do you expect to actually be able to watch anything on it from another world?”  The blue siren's levels of pouting only went up as she started muttering to herself.

“You don't know that.”  Her complaints were ignored as a familiar sound chuckle was heard from behind the statue, one the three weren't expecting to hear.

“Well, you three haven't changed very much I see.”  Aria and Adagio turned to glare at the figure that stepped around from the side of the statue into their view.

“Sunset Shimmer.  Just what are you doing here?”  While Adagio glared at the teenager after saying that, Aria added her own growl at her while Sonata just looked at her blankly.  The gold and red-haired girl just shook her head sadly as she brought her hands up defensively.

“Whoa, I'm not here to fight.  I'm just here to see how you three are doing.”  This only earns her looks of suspicion from the more self-aware of the trio.  Adagio stepped forward and looked at her with a glare full of hate.

“What, come to gloat over your victory?  How you robbed us of our powers and now you're going to watch as we are kicked out of yet another world?”  Sunset winced at the accusation before looking at her with a sorrowful expression.

“Do you really think that little of me?  Even after you said before that you knew about my past?  If anyone would know something about what you are going through after being freed from the control of a magical artifact it would be me.”  The glares continues until Aria turns away and Adagio lets out a huff of annoyance.

“Fine, so maybe you aren't here for that, but that doesn't explain why you're here.”  Sunset sighed and looked at the three waiting on them all.

“You might as well head on over, this may take a while.”  Spike nods, but pauses as Pinkie throws herself through the portal before following after her.  Aegis Flare crossed her arms and just leaned against the side of the portal to watch how things would play out.  Seeing as she wasn't going to leave yet, Sunset sighed and turned back to the Dazzlings who were staring at the portal in amazement.

“You mean to tell us that the way back to Equestria was there this entire time?  Why couldn't we sense any Equestrian magic from it before?”  Sunset Shimmer could only shrug as she glanced at the statue once again.

“I really have little idea on how the portal works, especially after Twilight messed with it.  It used to only open at certain times but she managed to make it where she can control it from her side.  As for why I'm here...”  She paused for a moment before looking at the woman next to her and sighed sadly.

“While I want to go back, I just don't think I'm ready to yet.  Since I'm still going to be here I just wanted to let you know that if you needed anything from here that you forgot then you could let me know and I'd send it over for you.”  Adagio continued to glare at her for a while longer and opened her mouth to reply but was brought up short.  Sonata had chosen that moment to move in front of her and look up at her with sad puppy-dog eyes until the older sister snorted in annoyance.

“Fine, if we find that any of the stuff we left works in Equestria we can ask her for help.  Now, will you stop giving me that face?”  The blue siren let out a cheer and jumped up to hug her sister who sighed and patted her on the back.  Soon the siren was bouncing around the other two as they just shook their heads at her antics.  After a moment the eldest of the trio turned her attention back to the unicorn-turned-human.

“Okay, so maybe we could use your help with that if it ever comes up.  At least to keep her quiet about it at the very least.  As for you...”  Her gaze turned slightly to the side to look at the other person.

“I was thinking back on what you said earlier and there is still one point that you didn't come clean on.  Just who are you to be able to protect us from Celestia if she finds out about us?  What's to stop her from just ordering you to get rid of us?”  Aegis Flare just rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses before she smirked at the trio.

“She can't.  There is an agreement in place that, while she can make suggestions, she has no authority over the Black Guard.  In fact, the only ones with authority over you during training are me, and whatever teacher that is in charge at the time.  So you don't have anything to worry about from her except maybe an annoyed frown, assuming she even remembers you.”  The two more serious sirens blinked blankly at her as they processed her words, once again wondering just who this woman was to be in command of something over the princess of Equestria.  Still, they decided, being able to go home after all these years was definitely worth the risk.

“Fine, but if you're lying to us then I will find a way to make you regret it.”  With those words Aria stood in front of the statue, looking it over before being joined by Adagio.  As they examined the portal, they were thrown off balance as they were struck from behind.

“Wheee!”  Sunset and Flare shook their heads as they watch Sonata tackle her sisters through the portal, with the latter wondering how the blue siren would react when around Pinkie Pie.  The alicorn-turned-human looked over at the teenager as she looked longingly at the portal.

“You know you can come along as well if you want.  I'm sure that Celestia would love to see you again.”  Sunset stood there for a moment before she shook her head slowly.

“No...  Not yet at least.  There are still things I need to do over here and well...  I'm just not ready to face her yet.”  Aegis Flare nodded as she tugged at the front of her suit, straightening it out as she stepped away from the statue.  Looking around once more she spotted Sunset's friends waving to her from down the street so they quickly bid each other farewell.  This left the princess alone with her thoughts as she prepared to head back to her own world once more.  Yet, as she prepared to make that final step she was stopped as she recognized a figure that she wasn't expecting exiting the front of the school.

It took her a moment, as there was only a faint feeling of familiarity, but she soon recognized the woman that had exited the building with a push-broom as the counterpart of her aunt, Night Wing.  She leaned back against the statue and watched as the woman brushed the snow away from the sidewalk, occasionally pulling some salt out of a pocket to dust over a slick spot on the ground.  As she passed the woman by the statue, she glanced up at her before moving around to the other side of it.  Aegis Flare was suspicious of the woman, but only over the fact that she knew her counterpart and had a guess on why she was working at the school, especially with what she had heard earlier.  Nodding to herself, she prepared to step through but sent out one last set of parting words.

“You don't have to hide yourself from your nieces, I know that your brother would love to know that you are helping to keep them safe, Noapte Aripa.”  The woman froze up at hearing her name in her birth language before her personal training kicked in as she ran around to the other side of the statue to confront whoever said that.  Unfortunately, she was too slow as when she came around the other side she found that there was no sign of anyone left in the area.

<><><><><><><>

Lights flashed by Aegis Flare as she traveled through the portal back to Equestria.  It wasn't long until she came out the other side, though it was into the sound of an argument between multiple ponies.  Shaking her head to clear it from the disorientation of going from biped to quadruped, she looked around to see the three sirens trapped under a magenta dome, with Twilight nearby lecturing an annoyed Spike and oblivious Pinkie Pie.  She shook her head and interrupted the peeved purple princess.

“Twilight, what are you doing with my new recruits?”  The mare, hearing her, turned to start in on berating her but froze as what she said registered with her.

“Finally you're through.  Why didn't you tell us that Twilight Sparkle was waiting for us or that she was a princess?  I would think that that would be an important bit of information to tell us.”  Adagio was busy glaring at the one princess so hadn't turned to see the presence of a second.  Her sisters had though so had a front row seat of the reveal of the third princess in the room, them being unsure how to react to the pink alicorn.

“Wowie, you too?  Just how many alicorns are there now?”  Adagio glanced back at Sonata questioningly for her comment.

“Too?  What do you mean by-”  She was cut off as she turned to look back towards the mirror and spotted the bat-winged alicorn that had came out of it.  Her jaw dropped in shock as a large number of her questions were answered just by that image before her.  Before she could voice her concerns though another being called out to the room.

“Just what is going on here!?  First, I find that you've been using the portal without my permission, then for some reason the I find the sirens somehow found it and came through, and they aren't even sirens for some reason any more!”  Twilight started to pace back and forth in frustration as her friends looked on.  Shaking her head, the orange mare stepped forward while examining the Dazzlings.

As she said, the three weren't in an aquatic form, though she wasn't really expecting it considering the situation.  In fact, the forms they each took fit rather well, with Aria as a pegasus, Adagio a unicorn, and Sonata as an earth pony.  The leader of the trio shook her head to clear it then glared at the alicorn that had caused them to end up in the situation they were in.

“What I'd like to know is when you were going to tell us that you were an alicorn.  Was this all just a trap?”  The mare in question raised an eyebrow, at that moment finding she missed the sunglasses, before shaking her head in response.

“Actually, I didn't expect Twilight to be out of her lab for nearly a week.  And they're still sirens, how else would seaponies blend in around coastal towns without anyone noticing them?  I'm not sure exactly which towns they use, they were rather quiet on that bit.  Of course, that's why I got these three, as a way to work out a way to contact them.”  Twilight's glare didn't lessen as she glanced at the trapped sirens-in-pony-form.

“Seriously?  You not only used the portal for something like that but tried to distract me so I wouldn't find out!  Don't you know what kind of problems that you could have caused by going to that world!?  They were banished there for a reason!”  A snort was the response she got from the other mare as she looked back at the portal.

“I really doubt that.  That hack Starswirl couldn't even bother with dealing with his problems so instead we have to clean up after him.  Even worse that he had to teach Celestia how to pass the bit to others all the time.”  She was too busy venting her frustrations that she didn't notice Twilight steadily going red in the face.  The rest of the room started to back away from the two, or as far as they could in the case of the siren, before she could explode.  Aegis Flare realized this too late as an aura of magenta magic wrapped around one of her ear and started dragging her towards the other mare.

“What!?  How could you say something like that!?  Starswirl was one of the greatest unicorns of all time!”  From there her rant only grew as the other alicorn couldn't get a word in edgewise.  Bella Donna entered the room not long after to find her daughter seated in front of a blackboard with Twilight Sparkle in the process of lecturing her.  Not wanting to interrupt she walked over to the other group seated in the back of the room as far from the two as they could get.

“So, what did my daughter this time?”  The three Dazzlings, freed from the shield when Twilight forgot about them in her anger, turned wide eyes towards the unicorn that hobbled over with her peg legs.  Spike let out a sigh of relief when he saw her as she would know what to do.

“She just insulted Starswirl AND Celestia over how they tend to always use banishment and stuff to deal with villains.  Not sure if it was intentional, but it did distract Twilight from your three newest recruits here.”  The unicorn's eyebrow rose at this before a smile slowly grew on her face.  The three sirens looked at each other in worry as a shiver of terror slowly crawled up their spines.

<><><><><><><>

“Ugh, finally!”  Aegis Flare pushed open the door to her room before flopping on her bed, leaving the door to slowly close on it's own, though not latching.  It had taken hours for Twilight to get through her lecture, though it did nothing for or opinion on the ancient wizard and inf fact made it worse as a few more items came up that she would need to look into later.  She was surprised that there wasn't anything on Celestia, though it may be due to the fact that Tirek was so recent and was something that Celestia had failed to deal with in the past.  She at least had a chance to stop by a friend's place in town to pick something up from her.

With that thought going through her mind she pulled off her saddlebags and pulled out something she had picked up earlier.  Looking over what had once been the music player she had bought in the world, she examined the crystal disc setup that it had become.  While it's shape was still much the same, the screen it once was had been replaced with a gem that displayed the name of the current song, which could be changed by touching a couple of smaller ones on the top.  The discs seemed to be what held the data for the music, which could be accessed through a small hole where the sound output was connected.

Vinyl Scratch had been surprised when she was shown the object, and took many notes before extracting a promise to be allowed to listen to the music on it sometime.  Aegis Flare had agreed along with making a request from the DJ to look into any thestral or griffon music groups as many of the songs she had listened to made her think more of them than the normal pony musicians that could be found.  It only took her playing one song over one of the speakers the mare had in her home to get her to agree as it was something new to her as well.

Shaking her head, the alicorn put thoughts of the music player, especially on how it had changed after coming through the portal, and instead attached the small speaker she had borrowed from the unicorn and set it on the end-table by her bed before pressing play.



As the music started her ear twitched towards the speaker and began flicking along with the beat.  Her eyes closed as she relished in the alien beat as her shoulders began to join in with her ears.  Soon she slowly pushed herself off of her bed to bob her whole body to the beat.  As it picked up her tail was flicking along before she started strutting along in the space between the door and her bed, flanks swinging along to the music.  But unknown to her she wasn't as alone as she had thought.

Her door had slowly creaked open a small amount as a purple eye peered into the room.  With a giggle, the figure dashed away, only to return a short time later with others.  The door was pushed all the way open to reveal Aegis Flare shaking her flank around wildly as she danced around to the music, bringing grins to the faces of her audience.  When a bright flash lit up the room, the dancing mare froze in place.

“Wow, that one is just perfect for the photo album!”  The frozen mare's head slowly turned to find that not only her sister, but her mother and all of her friends were gathered outside of her door looking in on her.  She was unsure how to react to the situation, but her gaze soon settled on the camera in her sister's hooves causing her eyes to narrow.

“Scootaloo, give me the camera.”  The filly looked up to see the glare on her sister's face before she gulped nervously and took a step backward, a path opening between the mares behind her.

“I'm serious, give me the camera.”  Scootaloo looked behind her to find the open path before looking once again at her sister, her wings buzzing.  As the alicorn's eyes narrowed even further, the filly let out a laugh as she rose up into the air on her wings before darting out the door and down the hall.

“Scoots, get back here and give me that camera!  SCOOTALOO!”  The gathered mares laughed at the antics of the siblings, happy to see the elder one in such high spirits.
> 69
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ahhh, I so needed this.”  Rainbow Dash sighed in relief as she leaned back to relax in the hot tub.  The ten princesses of Equestria had gathered at a spa in the Crystal Empire after having finished up with the events of the Equestrian games and was the first time they were all able to gather in one place since the battle against Tirek.

“Didn't you always say that you wouldn't be caught dead in a place like this, darling?”  The cyan alicorn cracked an eye open to look over at Rarity before closing it once again.

“Hey, I didn't see you helping pull a giant block of ice away from the city so it didn't squash anypony.  That thing was seriously heavy even with all the pegasii in the stadium helping.  It was a good thing that Flare did whatever she did to avoid those magic blockers so she could stop it from falling so we could get enough ropes to even do that.”  Over in the mud paths, which was of a slime-like consistency due to the ground-up crystals used in the spa's mixture, Cadance glanced over with a frown at the orange alicorn who was also in the hot tub looking over some paperwork.

“I've been meaning to ask about that.  Just how did you manage to get by everything that my husband had set up?  He didn't look very happy with you, especially during your little duel afterwards.”  The distracted mare opened her mouth to answer but was beaten to the punch by Twilight as she let out a groan of annoyance.

“Ugh, what is with you two anyways!?  Every time you two get together you both just have to start a brawl with each other.”  Celestia looked over at the lavender mare from her place in the mud baths, concerned over her harsh tone of voice.  Aegis Flare glanced up from the paperwork she was reading before she shrugged in response.

“What, it's not that odd for masters of their crafts to challenge one another.  Do you know how few unicorns out there are as skilled as we are when it comes to shield-based magic?  Who better to get around your defenses than someone else who knows how they work?  Hopefully next time I won't have to hold back as much.”  Luna snorted before she nudged at her sister next to her.

“My that brings back memories.  How often was it that you used that as an excuse when we sparred all those years ago when you lost?  How many times did you win again?”  Luna poked at Celestia with a wing, causing her to frown in annoyance and shove back with her own wing.  It didn't stop her sister who just kept right on poking until she retaliated by pouncing at her and attempted to shove her head into the mud.  All eyes were on the two while the conversation continued.

“Well, it sure didn't seem like you had much of a chance this time.  You didn't even get close to hitting him unlike last time, well, other than that ball of water at the end.  Kind of a cheap move really when you were already down.”  The darker orange mare frowned at Rainbow Dash's comment before shaking her head in annoyance.

“Yeah, well it's not like I was at my best at the time, having held up that chunk of ice alone while you gathered the pegasii to drag it away.  He was able to counter everything I did before and...  Well...  Let's just say he still hasn't seen everything that I can do and that cheap shot was a warning to him.  I have a few ideas ready for next time, some of which are still not ready for sparring use just yet.”  She glanced down at a hoof as she thought about some of what she had planned for future matches with the small grin.

“Um, but you still didn't answer Cadance's question about how you could still use your magic.”  Fluttershy's voice was quiet, but still clearly heard from behind her cousin, getting a massage by one of the spa ponies.  The group watched the two elder princes wrestle in the mud for a moment longer before looking back again, waiting for an answer.

“It wasn't really that hard.  He only put the inhibitors at the ground entrances while I flew in through one of the winged entrances, one watched over by a Black Guard member.  Of course, I found out from them that it wouldn't have mattered anyways and it highlighted the biggest issue I had with the so-called security.  The enchantments were only set to block external magic use and the use of runes.”  The other alicorns looked at Aegis Flare blankly at first, until Twilight planted a hoof onto her muzzle.

“That's right, you can't use runes and don't know how to use external mana.  But that still doesn't explain why you avoided going through the security measures, or even how actually.  I remember my brother talking about them before and he said that they were at every entrance and only a unicorn could disable them.  Every unicorn inside the building had to go through those gates, even guards so there couldn't have been any on those upper levels.  So how...”  She trailed off in thought.  The bat-winged mare just smirked as she continued in her reading before saying a solitary word.

“Changelings.”  Confused blinks met the word until Cadance groaned in annoyance.

“It was Thorax again, wasn't it?”  At the nod that came in reply, she shook her head before she froze in place and her head shot up.

“Wait, if he was inside and could shut down the gates, does that mean other changelings could have gotten in as well?!”  Another nod was her response which caused her to freeze up in horror at the implications.

“That would be the biggest reason why I ignored Shining Armor's plans because Chrysalis is still out there.  In fact, other than Thorax, I had four others that verified that their brands of magic weren't blocked and in place.  Luckily they weren't needed in the end even with that near disaster that did happen.”  The others, barring the wrestling sisters, stopped to think about the implications of what they had heard.  Ever since the attack on the capital, there had been searches for Chrysalis, yet no trace of her had been found.  Even Blueblood's actions in getting in contact with the actual changeling leadership hadn't led to any information.  Not wanting to think on it any longer, Cadance shook her head and looked around for a change of topic, her eyes settling on a certain cyan mare that she had noticed some changes in recently.

“I'll have to speak with Shiny about that later, but we're supposed to be relaxing right now.  Besides, I'm more interested in what is going on with you right now, Rainbow Dash.  You've all been here a few days now, yet I have not seen a single pony trying to impress you.  So spill, who is the lucky pony that caught your attention?”  Said mare jerked up at the attention while her eyes shifted around a moment before she closed them and let her ego do the talking, which had become rare for her.

“Oh, nobody important.  Just somebody finally as awesome as me.”  Twilight just snorted in disbelief at her friend, causing the mare to turn a glare on the bibliophile.

“I'm not even sure if that should even count.  You didn't even clean up after yourselves.”  Cadance looked at her sister-in-law in confusion until the purple princess pony rolled her eyes and began to explain, much to Rainbow Dash's wide-eyed embarrassment.

vvvvvvvvvv

Aegis Flare and Twilight Sparkle blinked in confusion at what they found in the castle throne room after leaving the mirror portal behind.  The rest of their friends, even Pinkie who they hadn't noticed had disappeared, were currently gathered around Rainbow Dash as she showed off an object on her head, her mane and tail still damp.

“So what do you think, Rarity?  How is this for new fashion?”  The mare fluttered her ears around, causing the cups covering them the rise and fall.  The two that had just entered the room looked at each other before Twilight rolled her eyes with a sigh and moved to stop what she hoped was just a prank in progress.

^^^^^^^^^^

Rarity glared at her friend as she was reminded of this, while the cyan mare tried to sink beneath the water to escape the gaze of the other princesses.  Cadance looked at the shrinking mare after hearing the story of how Rainbow Dash's first experience went.

“That is a new one for me to hear about.  Twins?  Sure.  Changelings?  Probably should plan for it.  But what is essentially yourself?  Hmm, two Shiny Hinies.”  The others expected her to continue speaking, but when she started drooling they realized that they had lost her to her fantasies for the moment.  Luna looked up from where she was currently dunking her sister underneath the mud.

“So would this be why Twilight Sparkle has been looking so annoyed since you all have arrived here?  I would have thought she would have been more cheerful after her demonstration of those fantastic mirrors she had sent both here and to Canterlot.”  Luna was yet again pulled back into the tussle with her sister as the others thought back to the mentioned mirrors.  While they weren't fully working how the mare had wanted, it had been enough to at least provide a new means of travel for the gathered princesses with two mirrors at each palace connecting to the other two.

“Well, for now only alicorns can use them so she isn't done with them yet.  The plan was to allow any pony to be able to use them to travel between cities.  Though as for what she is mad about, well it could be about a few things.”  Aegis Flare flipped through another page as Pinkie Pie took up the line of conversation while building a castle out of the mud.

“You mean how you and Rarity ignored her and began hiring new guards for Ponyville?  Or how you wouldn't let her read that book of yours?  Or maybe how you brought the sirens back from the world Sunset is on?  How about how you never graduated from school?  Maybe it's because you still haven't promised not to use the portal without her permission?”  Eyes turned to the pink pony for a moment before turning away once again as they tried to ignore the impossible thing she was doing with the mud.  Celestia, who currently had Luna in a headlock as she rubbed her hoof through her hair, froze as her mind registered the words that were spoken.

“Wait, what!?  The sirens are back!?  And you just let them go!?”  The eldest princess began to rise from the mud, leaving her sister to sulk behind her.  Aegis Flare just snorted in response to her panic.

“As if I would do something like that.  I saw a way to establish contact with the sea ponies once again and I took it, and my mom agrees.  She even personally took over their training.”

vvvvvvvvvv

“I really, really, hate you.”  Adagio moaned as she passed Bella Donna and her older daughter as she began yet another lap around the Ponyville Lake.  Aria wasn't far behind her, though was breathing nowhere near as hard even after having lapped her three already and was about to finish.

“Aww, stow it Adagio.  If you spent less time complaining and more time running you would almost be done.  Now hurry up and finish so you can join Sonata in relaxing in the water until lunch.”  The pegasus pointed a wing at the third sister in the nearby lake who had shed her earth pony form and was splashing around in her siren form, playing with some of the local foals.  The unicorn only grunted in response as she sped up her pace, leaving the three behind.

“At least two of you know how to pace yourself.  This is just a warmup for the real workout later.  I'm curious to see just how much you sirens can pull off of the standard training.  Though, I'm not sure what to think of Miss Record-breaker over there, yet.”  The three looked over at the blue siren as she swam in circles with a filly on her back, sometimes jumping high into the air.  Out of the three sisters, Sonata had gotten along the most with the ponies of Ponyville.

“Well, I'm surprised at how well she is doing.  After all those years in a different body, I would have expected you all to take at least a month to get this far.  I guess I didn't need to ask Spike to bring your lunch over early as motivation.”  Aegis Flare pointed towards the approaching dragon who was pushing a cart full of tacos ahead of him while accompanied by the Cutie Mark Crusaders as well as the local unicorn filly of the Apple family.  As she said this a cry of joy rang out from the lake before a blue blur shot past her, sending her spinning.  Aria could only sigh and shake her head at the antics of her youngest sister.

^^^^^^^^^^

Despite the panic that she went through on hearing about the Dazzlings, Celestia quickly calmed down when she heard that Bella Donna was involved.  In fact, she actually seemed to be a bit scared, which wasn't missed by her sister.

“Oh?  Is something the matter sister?  You were in such a hurry to go after them before you heard their story.”  The eldest alicorn's eyes shifted from side to side but refrained from answering.  The bat-winged mare rolled her eyes at the reaction and remembered a story from her younger days.

“She's scared of my mom a bit.  Oh, she respects her plenty, but there was one incident that my dad told me about.”  Celestia glared at her from the mud bath but was ignored by the mare.

“Imagine this.  The most perfect and delicious looking cake you have ever seen, with the juiciest strawberries you have ever seen and covered with a rich frosting.  The problem is, my mother cooked it so it is completely inedible and lethally toxic.  If she wasn't an alicorn she would have died instead of being sick for an entire week.  That would have been the end of it, but she decided to go back for leftovers.  My mom still can't understand why we don't want her cooking and keeps wanting to bake her another one.”  Luna could only shake her head while her sister turned her head away in embarrassment, while Pinkie let out a gasp of horror at the thought of an uneatable cake.

“Still, she was only slightly annoyed about that since she really had no plans for them at all.  Twilight was really angry about being overridden over if we would have guards around the new castle or not.  Rarity and I have decided on less conventional guards though.”  Twilight glanced up with a raised eyebrow as this was the first she was hearing about this from them.

vvvvvvvvvv

“So why is it that you want to join the new Guard branch?”  Aegis Flare looked over the documents she was examining at the mare across the table from her.  Along with Rarity, the two looked over the twitchy pegasus with her blood-red coat, platinum gray mane and tail, and a cutie mark of a knife stabbing into a hunk of meat.  Red eyes stared back at the two while the mare fiddled with a knife in one hoof, carving random designs into a piece of wood, many that looked rather disturbing.

“Well, I just love cutting things, I mean that's what my cutie mark is all about, right?  And when I saw that you were hiring for a new guard I thought to myself, 'Hey, the guards carry spears, I bet they use them all the time,' so here I am.”  The two princesses glance at each other for a moment before the interviewed mare's documents are set down.

“Um, right, well I can see that you are well skilled at what you do, but you are just not...”  Rarity's refusal speech was interrupted by the other alicorn as her hoof came up in front of her mouth causing her to pause and look over with a raised eyebrow.  Aegis Flare looked thoughtful as she looked over the mare more closely as she seemed to wilt at Rarity's words as if hearing them before.  An idea started to form in the back of her mind as she cleared her throat.

“You say that you are good at cutting things, right?”  The mare's ears which were starting to droop froze as she slowly looked up and nodded.

“Does it matter what it is you are cutting?”  Once again the mare slowly replied, this type shaking her head.

“If we accept you, will you only cut what we say, when we say it, at the risk of never being allowed to use your talent ever again?”  The mare's eyes slowly widened at each qualifier and she was nodding rapidly by the end of it all.  Taking on final look at the documents on the table she slowly slid them to the side and pointed to one of the two doors behind the alicorns.

“Take the door on the left.  Follow the hall until you get to the next room and wait for further instructions.”  With a squeal of excitement the mare bounced out of her seat and took off through the door.  Rarity warily watched her go and turned to her fellow princess once the door had closed.

“What was all that!?  She is obviously not fit for this job and is a clear danger to others around her.”  She held up the piece of wood that the mare had left and pointed to the headless body that was carved into it.  The other mare shrugged as she shuffled through the application of the mare, named Mined Meat strangely enough, before filling in some key information.

“Call it a hunch, but I'm betting she has been rejected quite often already.  She was reacting to your words as if she had already heard them before.  Besides, if she really is a threat like you say then it would be best to keep her close so we can keep an eye on her.  I'm sure that her new trainer can handle anything she can throw at him.”  Passing over the documents Aegis Flare showed Rarity the name of the new recruit's trainer causing her to raise an eyebrow before sighing with a shake of her head.

-------

“I want to be a marine!  YEAH!”

“Sure you do.  Door on the right please.”

-------

“...and I could really use this job, I'll do anything.  Nopony else will even hire me after what happened with my last job.”  Sour Sweet meekly kept her head down as she went through her interview.  She shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she was examined by the two princesses across from her.  The unicorn mare refrained from running a hoof through her yellow coat or pink and teal mane, trying to appear calm for them.

“And just what is it that happened at your last job?  I'm afraid that it doesn't say anything on any of your documents about an incident.”  Rarity flipped through the pages looking for anything she had missed while the mare looked on nervously.  When it looked as if nothing would dissuade them from this line of questioning the mare sighed and looked down sadly.

“Well, you see, it was totally an accident but THE BASTARD HAD IT COMING WHEN HE GRABBED MY FLANK SO I KICKED HIS THROUGH THE WALL and, and... Oh my, I am so sorry that happened again.  I just can't control her sometimes and...”  She was cut off as the orange princess raised a hoof and looked over at Rarity before nodding.  Rarity just sighed and shook her head in resignation as she had noticed a trend where if any pony seemed to be a misfit of some sort and Aegis Flare took interest she usually had some plan for them.  While the switch from a calm and peaceful voice flipping to one that was loud and aggressive was jarring, she couldn't see any other reason to deny her.

“Please take the left door and follow it to the end where you will receive further instructions.”  The unicorn looked crestfallen at this, not knowing yet that she had been accepted, but nodded as she made her way through the door.  Once she was out of hearing the princess turned to her counterpart.

“Well, what is it that you have planned for this one then?”  The orange princess marked down a few things on the paperwork before smirking.

“I'm thinking either a trainer or head maid for the castle.  Possibly both.  I'll have to check if she just can't control herself or if she has a second personality, but either will give her an outlet for those urges.  Still need someone to cover the butler side of things though.”  Rarity could only shake her head at this, though they had agreed that they each would be able to veto the other if they saw something they thought was important.  She had only done so once herself, but that was to absolutely deny one that had felt wrong to her, most likely prompted by her Element as she couldn't think of any other reason.  As for her fellow princess, she hadn't denied any of the interviewees yet, but those she accepted tended to be oddballs in some way and she always had a plan ready when confronted about it.  She just hoped that none of them turned out to be a mistake.

-------

'''So do you think I could be somewhere where I don't have to worry about fighting or anything?”

“We'll see, right door please.”

-------

“...So yeah, I have three black belts, graduated from Celly's old school, and have degrees in music and administrative science.  Nothing really clicked with me though and when I saw the flier for the job here, I thought, 'Hey, why not?' so here I am.”	The princesses could only stare at the mare across from them, not because of her resume, but because of how casual she was treating everything as she leaned back in her chair with her rear hooves up on the table.  While the green-maned, amaranth mare seemed to be a perfect fit for their new guard, her attitude was a potential problem and she might even be overqualified.  The two were unsure for a moment as to what to do with her, but Rarity slowly began to smile as something came to her.

“Well Lemon Zest, while your experience will be very useful for our guard I hope you are ready for things to be a bit different from what you are expecting.  Please take the door on the left and wait for further instructions down the hall.”  The mare's head tilted to the side in confusion as she looked at the two while Aegis Flare shot her friend a glance.

“What?  That's it?  Just go through a door?  Come on!  Don't you have something cooler?  Like a trapdoor or catapult?  You have a big button right there in the middle of the table, why have it there if you aren't going to use it?”  The princesses were confused for a moment before they looked down to see that, yes, there was a button on the table.  Out of curiosity Rarity reach over to give it a tap, only to have the mare across from them disappear from view as she slid down a hidden chute with a shout of glee.

“I did not know we even had that here.  How did we miss that when we came in here?”  The other princess only shook her head, wondering the exact same thing.

^^^^^^^

“...and those are only some of the more memorable interviews.”  The room full of alicorns just stared at the bat-winged mare as she finished her story.

“You have trapdoors in your palace?  Tia, why do we not have those in Canterlot?”  The eldest alicorn could only shake her head at her sister's question, while the pinkest pony present presumed to pop off.

“Why would you?  It's not like your place has this weird ability that allows it to change and add more neato things as they are needed or reshape itself to ignore the laws of time and space...  Huh, kind of like that one place Flarey found in that one Daring Do book.”  The red-maned mare shivered at the reminder before looking up from her paperwork to glare at the playful pink pony.

“Thank you, Pinkie.  I was trying my best to forget about that place.  Remind me to prank you later now.”  Rainbow Dash's ears shot up at this while her head whipped around to look at the glaring mare.

“Whoa whoa whoa.  Let's not be too hasty here, no need to go that far over something like this.”  The others were surprised by her reaction as she would usually be all in for a prank, especially on her fellow prankster.  Looking around at her fellow princesses' faces and their confusion, the cyan mare could only let out a sigh.

“Look, I'm all for a good prank, but I only did one small prank on her and she went overboard on her revenge prank...”

“You destroyed much of that previous week's work that I did and lost me a few clients at the time.”

“...I still don't even know how she even got up to my home while I was asleep...”

“Not that hard to get certain coworkers in on it if you spin it to them in the right way.”

“...but waking up with the plant all cocooned all over me when I woke up, and I mean everywhere, was completely terrifying.”

“It was a completely harmless plant.  In fact, it's one of the few plants that has near animal level intelligence that isn't dangerous.  It seeks out sources of heat and cuddles around it while being able to survive in extremely cold conditions.  I found it on accident and Daisy and her sisters are working to breed more.”  Rainbow Dash just glared at the mare as the others bounced back and force between the two.  They weren't sure what to think about what had happened, though some thoughts were going through the minds of a couple of them.

“Do you think I could get one of those plants?”  All heads turned to look at the princess of love after she asked the question.  Seeing how her wings fluttered at her sides, they decided not to question it, while also ignoring the same motions from Fluttershy.  With that distraction, Aegis Flare moved the conversation back to the original topic as Twilight didn't react much to the previous topic.

“Anyways, while the interviews were done as if we were hiring for guards, they won't be as obvious as they are in Canterlot.  Every guard will have a custom outfit that Rarity planned to design to fit in with the job they will be doing actual work in until needed.  Chefs, maids, butlers, even our advisers will each have some level of training to act as guards.  And since they aren't obviously guards they will largely be ignored, making them more approachable than normal guards which was the basis of Twilight's complaint about us having guards around Ponyville.”  Twilight's eyebrow rose at this before she turned her head away from the mare.  Seeing as she didn't acknowledge this as the problem the bat-winged mare continued on.

“As for the portal, that is being worked on with Sunset, since she's the one over there we are letting her set up a plan for it.  As for not graduating?  Well, it's not like everyone has the same opportunity to do so or even has a chance to.  Not everyone has a chance to go to a college or university.”  She looked across the hot tub at a pony across from her.  The problem is a certain pony was in the path of her gaze that she didn't intend.

“Hey!  I thought you said you wouldn't say anything about that!?”  Rainbow Dash's wings mantled out behind her as she objected to the mare's words.  Blinking, she looked down a couple of inches and saw that she maw have made a small error.

“What?  I was talking about Pinkie over there.”  The cyan mare blinked in confusion for a moment before she slowly sank down into the water slowly, Applejack's eye on her questioningly.  The others looked over at Pinkie in confusion as she pretended to be a monster terrorizing the castle she had built in the mud pool.  Turning back to the orange princess many eyebrows rose, asking if she was sure of her claim.  With a sigh, she used a surefire technique in getting the pink party princess to focus.

“Pi is exactly three point one four!”  Both Twilight and Pinkie froze up at this proclamation, though while the former was taking in a breath the latter burst out in outrage, surprising the other princesses.

“What!?  How can you say that!?  Pi is much more than that!  It's at least threepointonefourfineninetwosixfivethreefiveeightninesevenninethree two three, eight, four, six... Umm...”  Pinkie slowed to a stop before looking around to see the other princesses staring at her in shock.  Thinking fast she could only think of one response to distract them.

“Mud Fight!”  With a flick of her wing, she sent a shower of mud at all the other princesses.  Yet she wasn't ready for it all to immediately come flying back at her as the wave of mud hit a barrier, causing her to bury herself with her own attack.  As the fiery glow that had popped up around her slowly faded, Aegis Flare smirked as she powered down her horn and went back to her paperwork.

“As I said, not everyone is lucky enough to go to a college or university, not like they are all that important for everything.  Sure they are useful for some things like Twilight's magical studies, or Pinkie's mechanical knowledge, but they would have been mostly worthless when it comes to things like exploring the Everfree.  Tartarus, even finding out that Pinkie had the equivalent of four degrees wouldn't have been possible with a normal education, what with her having taken classes in just about every school that offers any sort of class that helped her build all those mechanical marvels of hers.  Also, I  think that also covers the pranking.”  The perturbed pink pony pouted from her pacified position.  Rarity chuckled at the antics of the two while looking towards the friend she had known longer.

“You know darling, it is such a pleasure to see you able to act in such a carefree manner again.  Ever since your parents disappeared you became really withdrawn, only opening up for your sister.  Seeing you opening up again now that your mother has returned?  Seeing you be able to express yourself and have fun again?  It is like a miracle to be able to see you open up so much.”  Aegis Flare just raised the documents she was reading to cover her face in response to Rarity's words, but it failed to hide the fact that her ears were reddening as the others chuckled at her embarrassment.  Rainbow Dash especially as it distracted the others from her earlier outburst, though Applejack made a note to confront her about it later.

“Anyways, unless it has to do with a highly technical field, I've found that most schools are worthless when compared to actual hooves-on experience.  Even more so as the books used at most of them are horribly inaccurate.”  Twilight's eye twitched at this claim but was stopped from interjecting by a wing brushing her side.  Looking over she saw Celestia looking concerned with a frown on her face.

“Do you have any evidence of that claim?  The EEA checks over all of the books that are used in my school and if something inappropriate is getting through...”  The eldest princess left the threat hanging as the others looked at her with worry.  Glancing up over the papers, the orange princess sighed.

“The EEA is probably the biggest problem when it comes to education, and I found that out through both research and personal experience.  If you don't fit their narrow categories they ignore you or plagiarize you.  That trick I used is the perfect example.  Hey Twilight, how many digits of pi are known right now?”  The purple princess perked up a bit as she moved into lecture mode, but paused for a moment when she saw the other rolling their eyes at her before she decided to just answer.

“Well, last I checked it was somewhere around seventy thousand.  I haven't checked in a while so that number probably has gone up a bit.”  At her words, a snort of disgust was heard from the mud pool and eyes turned towards Pinkie Pie who was looking away from them all.  Twilight looked confused about this response, but it quickly turned to shock at the next words uttered.

“And just how many has your family, the ones that actually originated the idea, gotten up to so far Pinkie?”  Her question was greeted with silence at first, though soon the mare answered quietly, not happy at having her secret revealed.

“Three million, one hundred forty-one thousand, five hundred ninety-two.”  Twilight's jaw dropped at this claim while the three eldest princesses all frowned, each not liking the thought of something like this happening.  Something that the mare said though tickled at her mind as Cadance spoke up.

“You said that you had personal experience with the EEA as well.  What was it that they did to you?”  The room went silent with this question and all eyes focused on the mare, waiting for her answer.  Seeing this, she could only roll her eyes as she continued reading.

“Well, that brings up what is probably the reason why Twilight has been so annoyed today since it wasn't anything else.  I wrote a book.”  Twilight growled at the mention of this, telling the others that this really was the actual cause of her attitude.  It still didn't fully explain all of the story though and the orange mare just sighed.

“Well, you remember how I reacted after Discord broke out the first time?”  Her friends nodded as they thought back to how they had found her in her basement after Twilight's own episode that time.

“I'm pretty sure I mentioned it, but that wasn't the first time I did that.  Back when I was on that Adventure with Daring Do the same thing happened afterwards.  But that time there wasn't anyone around to stop me until I eventually collapsed from exhaustion.  That was how Daring Do found me not long after and, after helping me recover, she convinced me to publish all my research into a book.  With her help, I managed to get it all organized and brought it up to the EEA as a potential educational resource, but they denied it.  I was told that because I had no 'official' education and wasn't 'properly' trained in magic that anything I wrote was worthless.”  She snorted as the other princesses' jaws dropped in horror, aghast at such blatant disregard from the educational body.

“Things would have turned out differently, but Daring helped out and I had a bit of revenge on them thanks to one of their own laws.  After she got it published by another group using her MEELs connections it solidified me as the only living expert on the subject.  I am currently the only author of a book exploring all that is currently known regarding anything related to time magic and time travel.  Because of that, any time someone wants to publish a book or research paper regarding the subject it has to go through me first for review and approval.  You wouldn't believe how many poorly written papers I've gone through, or how many blatant attempts at stealing my work have come through me.  But because they had the support of certain unicorn nobles nothing was really done about the attempts.”  Both Luna and Celestia looked angry as the story continued on, and vowed to look into just what was going on with the elder's school.  Twilight though, just huffed and looked away with her forelegs crossed.

“You still wouldn't let me read it.”  Much shaking of heads was what greeted the pouting mare while one mare just raised an eyebrow at her.

“Oh?  Did you want to read it?  You know you could have just asked instead of trying to break into my room in the middle of the night.  I would have thought that you would have learned from what Rainbow did in the hospital that one time.  Instead, you spent all night trying to unravel the spells on my room.”  Twilight's jaw dropped on hearing she just had to ask before she blushed at being caught out repeating the same mistake she admonished the cyan mare for.  Celestia just shook her head though she was curious about one thing.

“What did you mean by protections on your room?  Is there a reason that you needed to put up a shield over it while you sleep?”  The seven ponies that are now living in the new castle look at each other for a moment before their eyes settled on Twilight once more.  With a sigh as she shook off her embarrassment, she gave a serious look at the eldest alicorn.

“That... is a bit of a long story.  I think we may need to get some refreshments before I explain it all though.”  Celestia tilted her head curiously for a moment before looking at the resident princess. Cadance just nodded before ringing a bell to call in a servant to fetch drinks and snacks as they all settled in for a long lecture.