> Spiders and Magic: Infinity > by Pen Dragon > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter One- It Begins > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter One- It Begins The night descended on three figures who were strolling through Canterlot. They were heading towards the museum where one of the most powerful artifacts in the universe was placed. Ever since Nova Corps was destroyed, it was thought to have been lost with it's destruction. Yet, by some stroke of misfortune, it survived and managed to have made it's way to Equestria. One of the figures turned to the other. “Are you sure it’s here?” “Of course it is! Our sources say that the artifact is here in this location.” The head of the group answered, pointing at an old museum. “In that case let’s just get this over with and get it to the master. You know, he has been looking for this for years now.” One of them explained, only causing the head of the group to grunt in response. “Tell us something we don’t know Solar! Now then, let’s get inside already.” Soon a purple aura formed around the hoof of the leader as a portal leading inside the museum opened beside it’s walls. When the three entered the museum two security ponies turned around the corners to see the intruders. “Hey, how did you three get in-” Before guard could his was shot by a inferno blast from Solar’s hoof. They could only chuckle as the second guard stood in place, frightened as sweat dripped from his forehead. Soon the largest of the three walked up to him, grabbed him and threw him with all his might into the wall. “Well done, Tidus. For someone who can only use hooves in a fight, that wasn’t half bad,” Solar complemented the massive brute who still hid under his cloak. “Hey Lucian, are you sure it’s here in this dump? I mean, we’ve searched this rock for two months now! Mainly because we had to… adjust to our recent change!” Solar explained, only to receive a light chuckle from him. “Don’t worry about it, because the tracer is picking up on a strong energy source in the building,” Lucian said as they headed towards the exhibit room. “I can’t believe that these primitives were able to get their hooves on the artifact,” Tidus said. “Well if I had to guess… Nova Corps must have thought that we wouldn’t be able to track it here. In a sense, it wasn’t a bad strategy considering that not many knew about this world.” But he had a feeling that there was more to it than meets the eye. “Well, whatever. Let’s just get that stupid orb and get the hell outta here.” Solar said, only for Lucian to roll his eyes at his little brother. But after searching the room for a few minutes they soon spotted what they were looking for and headed towards it, seeing that it was surrounded by beams of red light. “Patience, my brothers. After all, our master will be pleased that we managed to have acquired the Orb.” Lucian’s hooves began to glow as it took form of a dark mystical claw tearing through the glass as he reached in to grab the artifact, without triggering the alarms. Once he had it in his possession he could only chuckle as he placed it in his bag. “Now then, let’s return to the ship and deliver the package to-” Before he could finish a stream of webbing wrapped around his bag and pulled it from his possession as he fell to the ground on his back. Tidus and Solar looked around to see what had tripped their brother. Tidus looked around the corner of a statue only to have his legs caught in webbing as he is pulled into the air and kicked in the face. “You know, you guys would be better off stealing bits from a wishing well then doing this.” A Unicorn wearing a white and black suit with a spider insignia over his chest, stood a few feet from the trio. Lucian stood up on his hooves growling at this stranger, he was obviously different from the guards they dealt with moments ago. “Who the hell are you?!” Solar asked, as he shot a ball of flames at this new foe, who easily dodged it with a flip into the air as he fired webbing from his wrists at Solar’s face. “Just your friendly neighborhood Spider-mane,” He replied, shooting multiple strands of webbing at the trio, who dodged them as best they could, but the webs shot through their robes, tearing small holes in them as they dodged his webs. “Gah! So much for keeping a low profile, boys I think it’s time we ditched these ridiculous robes!” Lucian said, ripping off his robe forcefully, revealing a unicorn wearing a black trench coat with a white skull mask painted with red streaks, wielding two sets of gauntlets with double blades coming out. Solar did the same, he was wearing his a black suit as the rest of his body was consumed in flames. As for Tidus he was wearing a similar suit, but with no sleeves as his entire body was soon solidify with metal. “This is where you die, Spider-Mane,” Lucian said, as a purple aura surround his hoof, forming a sphere of energy and launched at him. Of course he dodged it with ease as he swung across the room, bag still in his grasp as more spheres of energy kept firing at him. “Get the Orb… We can’t disappoint the master.” ‘Alright what do these guys want with this Orb? Come on Peter Think? There isn’t much use for this thing hasn’t been opened in years.’ Before he could finish his thoughts his sixth sense started going off as the mighty Tidus threw an old, large, rusty shield at him, but soon leaped into the air and caught the shield with his web and with a swing of his web he fired it right back at Tidus’s face. Angering the stallion as he charged into a pillar where Spider-Mane was, but only succeeded in destroying said pillar and setting off the alarms. Lucian knew they were running out of time and needed to get the Orb now. “Urgh! Useless, Solar take him out quickly and get the Orb!” Lucian ordered, Solar nodded as he flew into the air, surprising the webslinger as he fired multiple balls of fire from his hooves. Still Spider-Mane was able to dodge them with ease as he swung in the air all around the room, leading the fiery inferno pony into a trap. “Hope you’re thirsty, because got you a nice cold fountain of Water!” Peter said, tearing the small drinking fountain with his bare hooves as it shot water into the air. Solar saw this and tried evading, but the webslinger had climbed up the side of the wall while he wasn’t looking and kicked him into it. Solar fell to the ground as steam ran off his body, flames dissipating as he coughed up water, before passing out. “Alright one down… two to go-” Before he could finish Tidus slammed into Spider-mane’s back with full force into the wall. Tidus cracked his neck and the wrists of his hooves as he approached the supposed down Spider-mane or so he thought. The webslinger then shot a stream of web at his face, blinding the mighty steel pony for a moment as he spun his legs around, tripping the pony to the ground. He began webbing Tidus all around till he couldn’t move anymore. “Okay that leaves only one more to take care of.” His spider sense soon began to go off before he got hit in the back by a dark energy beam coming from Lucian as he slowly trotted up to him. “So you’re him aren’t you? Spider-Man, just wearing a different outfit and… well, different species. Honestly I thought you were dead since out data claims you to be deceased, but now I know that isn’t true. You have all his moves, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. One of the many Avengers that defeated my master almost thirty years ago. Now I get to kill one of Earth's mightiest heros myself.” Another dark sphere formed around Lucian’s hoof as he was about to fire it, a dim blue light formed around Spider-mane’s horn as the eyes from the mask turned from black to bright blue hue, unleashing a surge of magical energy that sent Lucian flying across the room. With a deep sigh he managed to get up on his hooves. He couldn’t have cut that any closer if it wasn’t for his friend that was in his head. ‘Thanks Dream.’ ‘Pfft… if I wasn’t here, then you’d be burnt to a crisp. But I don’t think we’re done just yet,’ They both saw Lucian stand on his hooves quickly, growling behind that mask of his, noticing that his two younger brothers had fallen, only angering the warlock even more. Soon his gauntlets opened up, releasing two double blades on each gauntlet and charged at them. ‘Okay here he come, get ready Peter.’ Before they knew it Lucian attempted to cut them in two, but was able to do a double backflip over him, while shooting from his web shooters. But Lucian countered it by placing a small barrier in front of him, before firing lighting from his hooves this time at them, but thanks to Dream’s magic she placed a similar barrier of her own, before countering with a bolt of magic from Spider-manes horn. Lucian attempted to dodge it, but it barely scratched his shoulder. This only angered the warlock as he fired the blades from his gauntlet at his foe, but due to Dream’s and Peter’s synchronization they didn’t have their sixth sense and were barely able to dodge them in time. On of the blades from Lucian’s gauntlet’s had cut the side of his waist as they shot a beam of magic at the warlock’s chest plate, burning a bit. While he was distracted Dream began to heal the wound that was cause by the blade as if it didn’t happen in the first place. Lucian’s pride wouldn’t allow him to fail to the likes of this new adversary as they both began to exchange blows to each other. Even though Lucian wasn’t as fast as the webcrawler he made up for it with his magic and strength, while Peter and Dream kept up the pace as they, blocked every attack he threw at them. Every time he landed a blow, they would either block it or counter it with their own punches. Soon they did a backflip over Lucian and kicked him in the face, before landing perfectly on all fours. Breathing heavily as they began to come up with a new strategy. ‘Okay Dream, let me take over again. It’s harder to keep up with him if I don’t have my spider sense.’ Dream acknowledge this and simply sighed in response. ‘Fine… but I was finally able to have some fun. You don’t have any idea how boring it is to just sit in here and do nothing,’ She said, but she obliged and the blue glow from the eyes of the mask turned back to it’s original black color. ‘Don’t worry dream I’m sure more guys like him will show up in the future.’ ‘You’re being sarcastic aren’t you? ‘Yes, yes I am, ‘Remind me why I’m friends with you again?’ ‘Because you love me,’ But his thoughts were soon interrupted as Lucian stood up from that kick to the face. Breathing heavily as he used his magic to summon his blades again to his gauntlet. With a loud grunt he cracked his neck and other limbs. “It’s… going to take a lot more… than that to stop me!” Lucian stated as he got into his fighting position, but soon the doors to the front entrance bursted open and over two dozen royal guards came in with spears and shields as they got behind Spider-mane. But soon Solar and Tidus returned to Lucian’s side as the trio began to back up slowly towards a wall. “There’s nowhere to run! Put your hooves behind your head!” One of the Royal guards demanded, but Lucian could only laugh as his hoof began to glow again. A portal soon opened behind them and they slipped in quickly, but not before Lucian turned towards the Webslinger. “You may have won this battle, but this war is not over! Our master is coming and he’ll do whatever it takes to claim the power that rightfully belongs to him!” Lucian said, before slipping into the portal, before Spider-Mane could get to him. “Prince Parker… We will do everything in our power to find these scumbags and bring them to justice!” The Guard said as he turned towards two of his troops to begin searching for clues while the rest went to either clean up the damages that were made or begin their search for the trio that had escaped. “Would you like an escort back to Ponyville my liege?” “Nah… it’s fine, but actually could you ask Princess Luna to meet me tomorrow at the Castle? I need to talk her tomorrow and send a letter to Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. I think we may have a problem on our hoofs.” he said, pulling out the Orb from Lucian’s satchel. ‘Why go through all the trouble for this? This doesn’t make any sense…’ But his thoughts were soon interrupted by his companion. ‘Peter? I think I may have some answers as to why they seeked out this artifact.’ ‘You do?’ Peter asked, Dream simply nodded as she faced him in person within his mind. A women who had a greyish skin tone with black wings and long blue hair, she had purple lipstick and a blue tiara atop of her head and blue slitted eyes, appeared before him. ‘I don’t know much about the artifact itself, but what I can tell you is that this was given to Celestia, before you even arrived here in Equestria. As for who gave it to her… I’m afraid I don’t know… But I think Luna might know who though,’ Dream replied, but even though that information was helpful… He still had questions, but he believed that the answers were with Luna or with his beloved wife, Twilight Sparkle. ‘Well I guess it can’t be helped… I suppose we’ll find out in the morning, but right now I could really go for a glass of milk and cookies.’ He said, only for dream to roll her eyes as she shook her head. ‘You can be so childish sometimes… you know that right?’ ‘Hey you’re never too old for milk and cookies!’ ‘Fair enough, but first you may want to get that special tea from the shop for Twilight, before it closes,’ She reminded the stallion as he began to panic as he dashed out the front doors to retrive his special tea for his special lady. Elsewhere in Equestria Lucian and his brothers managed to have escaped from Spider-mane and those guards that had appeared, hiding at their campsite miles away from Canterlot. But for Lucian it felt like his pride had been shot down. He one of the most powerful and feared warlocks in the universe was bested by a spider freak in a unitard. Not to mention that the webcrawler bested both Tidus and Solar with ease. “If I had a little more time with Spider-Man than I could have beaten him,” He said aloud, only for Tidus to pat his brother’s shoulder. “Don’t worry… we may have underestimated him, but next time we’ll be more than ready. After all he’s a weakling and when the three of us work together we’re unstoppable.” Even though he had made his point, Lucian knew that this pony wasn’t like the other warriors he slew on Xandar or on other worlds. He was different. “And yet he was able to take you and Solar out with ease! We’ll have to take precautions next time when we make another attempt to steal the Orb-” But before he could finish Solar stepped in with annoyance. “Why are we even doing this?! I say we should just torch the place and leave this stinken rock. The master will understand-” Solar was soon punched in the face, by Lucian who had a look of malice across his face. “You know why we can’t do that Brother! The master wanted us to retrieve the Orb first before enslaving the inhabitants on this planet. And that means not drawing attention to ourselves.” He stated clearly as Solar got up on his hooves again. “Well that plan turned out great! We’ve been here for two months and we turn up with nothing at all. Not to mention those Royal guards are searching for us now and they’ll be sure to add extra security measures to protect that Orb this time,” He ranted, but realized that it was pointless to argue, seeing that he made his point. “And when has that ever stopped us? We have broken in and out of multiple facilities with ease. Besides these primitives only rely on spears and magic, where we have the superiority in power, and tech. The only one we really need to worry about is that Spider-Mane fellow.” “You know now that I think about… that’s the stupidest name I have ever heard.” Solar commented only for Lucian and Tidus to roll their eyes. Lucian pulled out his pad from his tent as he looked up the word ‘Avengers’. Going through the list he noticed many names that were on it. Ironman, Captain America, Doctor Strange etc… after a few minutes of searching he found the name Spider-Man and looked at the profile, saying the he was deceased. But he had a feeling that this webcrawler was the same person as the one on his profile, “We may not have much time considering that the deadline is in a few days, we’ll have to move quickly and find the Orb and bring it to the master. After that we’ll finally be part of our father’s black order." He said with determaination as his eyes burned blazing red. The Next Day It was a peaceful morning in Ponyville as Princess Twilight had awoken from her slumber, well rested as she hopped off the bed, but noticed that somepony was missing? ‘Where is Peter? I thought he came home last night?’ She thought to herself, only to hear the sounds of her door opening. There stood Peter Parker, her loving husband and famous hero Spider-mane. He was the embodiment of Order and Harmony was carrying a tray with pancakes, toast, and a cup of tea just for her. Even though he’s a bit weird sometimes that didn’t mean she didn’t love him any less. “Oh, there you are Peter, I thought you’d still be in bed?” “I just thought I should make… breakfast in bed for the two of us… Since you’ve been busy with work lately,” He said sheepishly as the two of them nuzzled one another. “Thank you Sweetie, but I thought we ran out of tea after Eris used it for a prank on Rainbow Dash,” She questioned as Peter set the tray down on the side of the bed. He looked back at Twilight with a gentle smile as he rubbed the back of his neck with his hoof. “Well the thing is Twilight… hehehe,” He laughed, avoiding eye contact with his wife, but knowing her she could tell that he was hiding something. “Peter… what aren’t you telling me?” she asked, raising a brow as she trotted closer to the stallion, who stepped back slowly. “Okay you see Twilight… I may have left to Canterlot to get you that special tea you always liked and… but as I was about to get it these crooks broke into Canterlot’s museum to try and steal an artifact for someone they worked for and I managed to stop them-” But before he could finish the Alicorn pressed her hoof over Peter’s mouth as she let out loud sigh. “Peter you don’t have to hide anything from me. You can trust me,” She said, embracing the unicorn as he returned it gratefully. At least until he received a wing slap to the back of his head, yelping in surprise. “That’s for not telling me where you were going.” “Ouch… Okay I won’t do it again, but those creeps at the museum wanted to take this artifact for some reason. They didn’t go after anything else… just this,” Peter than pulled out the Orb from last night. Judging by Twilight’s expression, Peter could tell that she had never seen it before either… unless it was in the newspaper articles, “Hmm… I think I remember Celestia-” But before she could finish, she paused for a brief moment. Remembering her mentor as a single tear rolled down her face as Peter wiped it away with his hoof. It has been six years since Tirek’s defeat and Celestia’s death and it’s still left a heavy impact on the young Princess. “I remember her telling me about it… She said somepony gave it to her for safekeeping.” “Do you know who gave it to her exactly?” He asked. “I don’t know… she never did tell me who gave it to her or why? Still why would they go after this? It doesn’t really do much, considering that nopony has ever opened it,” She replied, but Peter had a feeling that a certain Princess might know about it, once gets here later of course. “Well I think we should probably eat our breakfast first, before we figure out why they wanted to take it? Also I asked Luna to come over when she gets the chance… I figured that she might have some answers.” He said, getting off the bed before they both embraced each other once again. “Well we better eat this downstairs since we’re both up and about.” “You betcha, I’m starting to get hungry, ” He replied as his stomach began to growl, causing the mare to giggle as they both headed downstairs to have breakfast with their family > Chapter Two- Hidden Secrets > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter Two- Hidden Secrets After a failed attempt to retrieve the Orb, Lucian and his brothers received a message from The Other after messaging them of recent events. It wasn’t a very happy discussion to say the least for the trio as The Other glared at them in disappointment. “You mean to tell me that you failed to retrieve the Orb from some… Pony!” The Other asked, almost shouting at them, as Lucian did his best to explain the situation that had transpired from the previous night. “We were not expecting that much resistance from the inhabitants, and this Pony you speak of has similar abilities that resembles that of a deceased member of the Avengers.” He explained, earning a curious hum from the Chitauri, the Avengers have been the enemy of their master for quite sometime now and hearing that one of them resided in Equestria was frustrating to say the least. “Very well… I shall convince the master to… let this mistake pass, but you three will have only three month to retrieve the Orb or you shall be punished!” The Transmission soon ended and the trio sat in silence. It wasn’t until Lucian slammed his hoof against the ground in rage as he let out a terrible roar. “Damn it all!” He shouted. Both of his brothers looked at each other before looking back at Lucian, remaining quiet until he calmed down. He didn’t know why, but he felt rage and hatred towards Spider-mane. They had the Orb in their possession and it was taken away by him, but this was an opportunity to take the Orb and leave this planet, but the question is how? “Brother? What should we do?” Tidus asked, looking at Lucian as he stood up, looking at him with his red eyes with new found resolve from behind his mask. “We have another chance Tidus… and we’re going to take it,” He replied, trotting pass him to a doorway leading to the outside. “We’ll find the Orb and take it by force, and if Spider-mane shows up… just leave him to me.” “Not that I’m against that… but it took us two months… Two Months! Just to find the Orb… why don’t we head to the source? Because let’s face it… this tracker doesn’t do shit!” Solar said, placing it on a nearby table as he trotted to Lucian’s side, who looked more angry than pleased. “Tell me Solar? How are we supposed to get the Orb without the tracker?” He asked folding his arms as he glared at his little brother. “It’s simple we blend in with the crowd, find where Spider-mane is and pretend to be friends with him until we find the Orb-” Before he could finish Tidus could only groan, before turning towards Solar. “You know we only have three month right? Besides from what his profile states… he has a sixth sense and would immediately tell who we are.” Tidus explained, before Lucian began thinking over what Solar had said. “Tidus this may be hard to believe, but Solar may be onto something.” Solar could only grunt as Lucian went on. “From what we’ve learned it only acts to those who are threatening, so all we have to do is hang our suits for a while… and suppress our powers until the time is right. We gain the ponies trust and we’ll have the Orb before the month is up and our father will have to let us join the Black Order.” Lucian explained. “So are you two with me or not?” Without any second thoughts, all three brothers bumped each other's hooves together and smiled wickedly as Lucian removed his hood and mask, revealing a Zebra with dark purple eyes, Solar and Flare did the same as they all began to smirk. “In order to bring down Spider-mane, we’ll need to blend in with the crowd, learn more about who he is, what his weaknesses are… And how to put him down for good!” Ponyville Castle “How long until Luna shows up, Aunt Trixie?” Mayday asked, eating a bowl of cereal as she looked towards the azure unicorn. “I don’t know May… it could be a while and your father seems a bit… Impatient for who knows why?” Trixie answered, raising a brow as Peter stared at the Orb while tapping the table with his hoof. “You know for a Princess who could teleport anywhere she definitely knows how to take her time getting here!” Peter groaned only for Trixie to roll her eyes in response. “You do know that she had a meeting today right? So it’ll most likely be awhile until she gets here, but I’m curious Peter about that little ball you have with you? What’s so important about it that you have to call Princess Luna all the way from Canterlot?” Trixie asked as Mayday flew besides her father to look at the Orb. “A couple of guys tried to steal this thing last night and I know what you mean. Just look at it! I doubt they would steal it just to play some softball with the Yankees, but then again they were probably just stealing it to play some catch.” He answered, only for Trixie to groan. “Even when you're stressed, you always have to crack a joke, why must you always do that? It’s like you want me to kill with your awful jokes!” Trixie said, scowling at the stallion as his daughter giggled. “It’s part of my charm and you know it,” Peter said grinning at the unicorn. Mayday looked at the Orb curiously as she gripped it with her hooves, examining to try and find some sort of clue to it. “I think this thing opens, but- I can’t… open it!” She tried twisting it with her hooves as her father chuckled. “I already tried that Sweetie and even with Dream’s magic, we still couldn’t open it. All we can do now is wait for Luna to get here and explain what this is?” Peter replied as he took the Orb in his hoof and set it back on the table. “Still why steal this?” “Well I’m pretty sure Luna can answer that-” Before Trixie could finish, Luna appeared beside the her in a flash, surprising the unicorn as she fell to the floor on her flank. “Forgive me for the intrusion, but you asked for me to meet you here for an old Equestrian artifact if I’m not mistaken?” She asked as Peter showed her the artifact in hoof, her horn began to glow, levitating the Orb towards her. “So could you explain what this is exactly? Because I’m pretty sure that it’s not the world’s oldest baseball.” Peter said, already irritating the alicorn. “Peter, you have no idea what you're dealing with… This is beyond you.” Luna stated, but that didn’t stop the stallion from pressing forward. “Luna, three guys with super enhanced powers tried to steal this. A little information never hurt anypony.” Peter persisted With a deep sigh Luna placed the artifact back on the table before turning towards her friends and family. “Before you came to Equestria my sister was visited by a being from beyond the stars. I know little of this since I was imprisoned during the time. This being gave her this artifact to protect it from a mad titan of some kind. But there’s a lot more to this relic than meets the eye my friends.” Luna’s horn began to glow once again, levitating the Orb off the table. Everypony in the room watched as she began to twist and pull it with her magic, revealing a purple stone that illuminated the room. “Woah, it’s really pretty,” Mayday said in awe as everypony stared at the beauty of the stone within. “What is it?” “This artifact has existed long before me and my sister were born and I shall be taking it back to Canterlot so I can prevent what has transpired from last night from happening again.” She said closing the Orb once again. “Luna you know I’m not going to drop this until you tell us about it. I honestly have no idea what this thing is and if it’s older than you then there’s a reason why those guys wanted it.” Peter explained as Luna blushed in embarrassment from being regarded as old. “Fine… just don’t regard me as old Parker-” She said pausing in mid-sentence, recollecting her thoughts. “There are relics… that predate the universe itself and this artifact is one of them. My sister explained to me that this stone is capable of granting infinite power, but no mortal could wield it. The only ones that could use it’s power is myself, Twilight, Cadance, Eris… and you Peter. Now that you’re the avatar for Order and Harmony you too could wield it’s power if you so wished, but I shall be taking it to Canterlot where it can be protected by myself and the guards.” Luna explained, for Peter. ‘What do you make of all of this Dream?’ Peter asked as the women in his head gave her response to him. ‘If what she says is true… then do those stallions at the museum know about it?’ That was the question. If they knew about the stone and what it was capable of then he’d have to find them and get the answers from them. ‘If we’re going to catch these guys then we’re going to need some help.’ Peter suggested as dream nodded in agreement with her partner. ‘Who’d you have in mind?’ ‘Trixie and Sonata,’ He suggested with a confident grin. ‘Why not Eris?’ She asked, only for Peter to blush. ‘Even though Eris’s magic would be helpful… I think we can manage just fine with those two. Besides she’s always trying flirt with me even if it is hot… Please don’t tell Twilight.’ He asked only for Dream to chuckle in response. ‘I won’t say a word Peter.’ She replied with a wink. The Crystal Empire Shining armor struggled in his sleep as he shifted in his bed, sweat dripping down his forehead as he groaned in his sleep. Within his mind he was alone in the Crystal halls of the Empire, but beyond the halls he hears screams and cries for help. Without any second thoughts he dashes down the hall, hoping that his family is safe, but by the time he reaches the end of the hall he sees the crystal ponies running in fear as ships from the sky fly over them, destroying the city. Out in the distance he saw his wife, Cadance being held by the neck by a large bipedal being, who wore a golden gauntlet. The two looked at one another before the gauntlet began to glow and the crystal Prince watched in horror as his loving wife was incinerated. Soon the ground below him began to falter as the large being stood over with a vile smirk. “I shall bathe the starways in blood!” Was all it said as a dark purple beam fired from the gauntlet. After that Shining Armor awoke with a yell, waking his wife in the process. “Shining? What’s wrong?” Cadance asked, but all he did was hug her. “I thought I lost you.” He said, squeezing her tightly as she wrapped her wings around him in a loving embrace. “It’s alright Honey. It was only a dream, I’m fine.” She replied as she kissed her husbands cheek, before nuzzling him. “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to wake you… it just felt so real.” “Don’t worry… we’re fine, we’re safe here.” She assured him. “What about Diamond Aegis? Is he okay?” He asked as Cadance rolled her eyes in response. “He’s fine Shining, I promise… We have a big day tomorrow since Twily and Peter invited us to meet with them tomorrow.” She reminded him. “Please try to get some rest please?” “Alright… I’ll try.” The two soon went to bed immediately only for a voice to whisper within his mind once more. ‘You must prepare for the worst… is yet to come.’ To Be Continued